sherilcarey Reviews

Chronicle (2012)

Not for me

[3/10 · 22 January 2023]

Two be things as far as what I like or don't like on screen: 1) apparently the so-called "found footage" style is not my thing. It's super boring. And 2) I'm not into tragedies or any kind of wallowing in the worst of who you can be or what can happen to you. This was depression fodder, not entertainment. I could be depressed on my own, been there plenty in the past, and then care about this mess on my screen even less than I do now. I highly recommend you spend your budgeted movie time on something better than this. There was some decent talent in some of the parts of putting this together. Too bad it was wasted on making thos movie!

Royal Pains (2009–2016)

Better in the earlier seasons

[6/10 · 25 August 2022]

I really love the dramedy thing and this one was pretty great as it started out. It happened gradually so it is hard to say exactly where it started going downhill. But the early seasons are good and the later seasons are... well they went down pretty fast. It was sad. If I were rating just season 1 that would definitely be at least 8 stars.

The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

Unsubtle

[6/10 · 19 June 2022]

It was in some ways a good movie and quite emotional. But it was quite unnecessarily heavy handed in some parts and also a bit wacky for mixing in Hollywood substitutes for a more common, more grounded world view. I know that aspect will bug some audiences as it was also a bit of an annoyance for me. Aside from those two big flaws it did accomplish what it was going for in provoking emotion in me as a viewer.

The Big Bang Theory: The Killer Robot Instability (2009) Season 2, Episode 12

not up to par

[4/10 · 16 May 2022]

This episode was still funny in some ways but it was also quite irritating. They have this character who is constantly massively offensive towards women in general and incredibly creepy and then when someone finally blows up he is supposedly "sensitive". You know they make a lot of fun from him being a creepy and nasty person and then they ruin that with whatever bizarre thing they are trying to do pretending that women are supposed to be good with his millions of inappropriate speeches. Suck it up ladies and let the man say whatever he wants no matter how disgustingly or degradingly he treats you.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

the postmodernism shows

[2/10 · 15 May 2022]

I want to say the positive first which is that most of the cast did a fairly good job. I think they did as they were directed to do and they pulled it off. However the writing was pretty dreadful. And I find the directing and editing to be in question as well. This movie really, as with so many things out of the modern entertainment world, not much better than a slog through someone's misanthropy and postmodernist, unhealthy, unhappy crap. I hope for the best for those who are so bad off, but I don't care to wallow in it with them. This left a lot to be desired.

AI Love You (2022)

my first Thai movie

[7/10 · 21 February 2022]

This was pretty cute, especially during the first half. Their were some great aesthetic qualities that I really loved with the anamorphism of the smart buildings. The parts with the villian got pretty campy and wouldn't appeal to everyone. But I am pretty good at suspending my disbelief and at rolling with a little camp or low production value or whatever. If you are good enough at those things and other watching skills that can be needed to explore cinema from all around the world you may enjoy this. I am glad I watched, for sure!

Downsizing (2017)

very disappointing

[3/10 · 20 February 2022]

This idea certainly had potential. Sadly in the end it was just a vehicle for a ton of Hollywood's most stereotypical mistakes, straight out of the stereotypical problem of most of Hollywood seemingly living outside of reality or logic or common sense. It had just a very few good moments, but was overall just a kind of schlock.

Jericho: Return to Jericho (2008) Season 2, Episode 0

the writing starts falling

[5/10 · 8 January 2022]

This is where you really see some ridiculous levels of poor logic, poor standards and poor philosophy when the writers just couldn't resist putting in there ideologies that they want to see replace the concepts of justice and due process. They made a lot of mistakes here. Post apocalyptic is interesting is great to explore. It is a shame when it gets such ridiculous mistakes as this episode evidenced.

The Waltons: The Fire (1973) Season 1, Episode 16

weak

[1/10 · 1 January 2022]

This was a weak handling of the issues designed to showcase the writers belief that all reasonable and intelligent people agree. There is no logic or reality in it. And it is particularly timely to see given how far that fallacy has gone so many years after that airing. It is a shame that such weak heads for logic had such a strong influence through storytelling to influence the culture towards thinking in fallacies. Much as I enjoyed The Waltons as a kid, it is noticeable on the rewatch how many weak and fallacious bits are intentionally worked in from the early episodes. Anyone who wants to use this show I'd recommend that you can watch with your kids if you can have good discussions about the fallacies in it and in that way use it to make use of the teachable moments. I'll have to read some fo the writing soon of Earl Hamner Jr to see how much of it came from him. It is at least interesting in seeing how people fall to nonsensical thinking, to the emotional, etc. And once recognizing all the flaws it is nice to see the rest where there is a backdrop of wholesome and good things.

Mistletoe Magic (2019 TV Movie)

its a ten for me

[10/10 · 24 December 2021]

There were several things in this that were really particularly well suited to me as if they had me in mind to include those little elements. But I will say that for anyone and everyone this is pretty high level as made for tv movies Christmas movies go. There is no using the Lord's name in vain, no course language or jokes. I could name quite a few more elements that are so common from hollyweird that are all absent here. It just leave the movie elements to stand on their own. And it gives the audience a break from the lowest common denominator distractions that most writers have used as crutches for decades now. How often do we get to see writers willing to work on their craft in all honesty and without garbage & interference material? I'm glad I watched!!!

A Heavenly Christmas (2016 TV Movie)

a little off for me

[6/10 · 11 December 2021]

I always find it a little odd in the more modern films when they make it sort of feel like it is all about it being wholesome and good except the beliefs and values they show are like pale reflections of real beliefs and values. Older black and white films often pull it off some because the films feel more like fantasy and less like the real world. But the modern ones remind me that the movie makers don't understand the deepest and most important things. It is sad. Otherwise this would have been as high as 7 or 8 stars for me.

Lady and the Tramp (2019)

meh

[4/10 · 19 November 2021]

This wasn't for me. I love the original, still to this day. And although some of the live action remakes have been fun to watch, this one really... well, it just wasn't fun. I didn't notice anything inappropriate or upsetting. I just could barely pay attention. I ended up working on a puzzle, letting it play through all the way and still irritated with it playing through long before the end. Who knows? There could have been stuff some folks would want a warning about that I just wouldn't have noticed since it was so unwatchable for me, a very poor remake. Anyone who knows me would be tempted to think it was because the original Lady and the Tramp movie was so high among my faves. But I really do not think that was it, even if it would be for some fans. I'd warn people off of this one, although I will say that they did change a few things that I found to be odd or even bad choices. But overall it seemed to me more like it might have if it had been very low budget from unknowns rather than from a giant of the entertainment industry with real Disney source material before the company grew into something so very different than the original company had been. I haven't bothered to research. This may have had ALL different folks involved compared to the remakes of animated classics that I liked.

An American in Paris (1951)

Not For Me

[4/10 · 15 November 2021]

I hate to rate this down this much, but I had to go with how much I, personally, did not enjoy it. Then I'm also thinking hard about what audiences this is for, now that I know it is definitely not for me. I'd say it would have to be someone today who has a strong appreciation of ALL things dance and who likes Jazz a good bit more than I do. I'm I am somewhere in between someone who loves all musicals and someone who just doesn't like any musicals. For me the storyline here (though I do like many old movies and at least several musicals) was weak. I did not find the characters or their relationships or the plot well done or compelling. It seemed to me that they were not the kind of people I'd seek to get to know at all and/or like a weak excuse to put the stars they wanted to showcase on screen. Alternatively you might say a weak excuse to string together all the choreography. But by all means, keep in mind, we are all different in tastes and interests and your milage may vary.

Paterson (2016)

This is a poem

[8/10 · 2 November 2021]

This is actually a poem. The start was slow to gain my interest. The general movement throughout the film is a slow stream but the waters are crystal clear and you can see the beautiful, smooth pebbles beneath.

If you have values, as I do, that lead you to wish for movies without nudity you deserve a warning that the movie makers do not share those values.

Really if you are looking for any sort of conventional movie this is unlikely to be what you are looking for. I recommend anyone who wants to watch this, watch it in a setting where you are committed, quiet, patient and still; a private theatre room would have been good.

Northern Exposure: Sex, Lies and Ed's Tapes (1990) Season 1, Episode 6

"piddly little thing like marriage..."

[3/10 · 31 October 2021]

This is interesting just in the sense of analyzing what was good about a show that had so much of the hatred of families and values behind the writing and looking back over a lifetime of so much of that in such a high percentage of what the entertainment industry liked to put out. It really doesn't work at all in this episode for the rewatchability showing the level of hate of it they did and trying to disquise it as stupidity and nothingness out of the character the most involved in it. It was just grotequery which weirdly did match really well with the use of the name Woody Allen as a figure for inspiration... all things out of a world that as a whole hates good and healthy things and venerates things as unhealthy and harmful as old men who rape their step daughters.

Being Human (2011–2014)

really a mixed bag

[3/10 · 25 October 2021]

It's been so many years, I don't really remember enough about the original series. But I do seem to remember it may have also left me with mixed feelings. The parts where they create an alternate world where vampires and ghosts and such exist is interesting and fun in a way. But in this case, sadly, they use it as an outlet to make some of the show just scummy and wildly unhealthy, rather than imaginative and interesting. Between the snuff film style, vampire gore porn scenes they like to film, (not to mention the actual plot devise of exactly that within the show) and Sally rapist ghost (far the only example of them asking the audience to justify and sympathize with the most scumsucking and unhealthy choices possible), this show isn't going to be pure entertainment, nor is it ever going to leave anyone better off for having watched it. Its just a mess.

A Christmas Carousel (2020 TV Movie)

somehow misses its mark

[6/10 · 23 October 2021]

I'm a person who tends to like a lot of made for tv Christmas movies. Admittedly plenty of those I have liked have had low production values or have even been excessively cheesy. So I really had to think through why this movie seemed so off to me. There were Christmas decorations in the sets. There was talk of Christmas and the use of it in the timing of things. And somehow the movie felt as though it wasn't really a Christmas movie at all. With the exception of the singing of a charming "old carol" there was an incredibly odd feel of it not really being Christmas at all. The actor who was supposed to be touched by the singing of the older carol did a nice job in hearing it and responding. At least there was that.

As for the rest of the movie: They had a unique twist with the carousel but then they did little to nothing with it. They started with the "unveiling" of a carousel that was actually not unveiled but that the children had to get inside the tent and ride with no view. No explanation or reason to educate the audience if that would be a real thing, just a very unsatisfying unveiling that didn't make any sense. They moved on to a project in another country which had the same carousel horses rather than the historical idea of carousel horse that were each individually hand carved pieces of art. They gave the restoration project a ridiculously unrealistic timeframe even for proving they were great or that magic seeming things happen at Christmas then really basically ignored it throughout the majority of the movie, to their own detriment because it had nothing to do with the real conflict they wanted to use in the story, which was a very cliche I-don't-want-duty- I -want-art thing that a million works of pulpy type fiction do when using royalty. They introduced the odd element of a wishing horse but also mostly ignored that, gave it no fantastical support elements, and then just used it in one very flat moment for a few seconds at the end of the movie. Cheesy on purpose I can get behind sometimes. I'm pretty great at suspending my disbelief and going with it, if a movie maker gives me any excuse to do so. Sometimes cheesy is a lot of fun. But they just made that a cheesy or odd thing and then left you hanging with an initial moment of not really liking the idea, rather than playing it up to be fun in any way, shape, or form. The main romantic lead was a man with a great voice but otherwise was somehow wrong in the role. The costuming was unnecessarily weak. Like I said, I'm sometimes ok with low budget but there were some fairly serious problems in the costuming here and there, especially the prince's formal uniform mockup he wore at the end of the movie which fit him terribly and gave him, or emphasized, the weakest and most sloped shoulders ever filmed as royal shoulders.

It is ok for some elements to be subtle in a movie, of course. It can even be great. But I think they maybe went for subtle where they should not have. The father's subtle romance flickering to light was the better romance in the story and I wish they had given it its own ending moment towards the end of the film more than they actually did just alluding to the idea a little. In any case, I suspect the problems ran all the way through the writing, directing, editing, everything. This was a wholesome, clean movie with a few good ideas that could have been much better. At least it wasn't full of the nastiness of people who hate decency and goodness. I'd have ended up marking it with a couple of stars less, if that were the case. But as it was, it deserved some real critique. I know there were some people involved who can do much better. I think they should have separated the carousel idea from their need to do another royal romance at Christmas thing and made a good, solid movie about the restoration of the carousel. It might have even been great, though they first need to do some real research and learn a little about that topic.

Happy Accidents (2000)

Just not Good

[2/10 · 19 October 2021]

For some audiences this can never be good. I wanted to figure out a way to give it more stars for the decent acting. The writing, the tone, the conception of the world as the movie makers see it or want it or whatever all add up to just another post modernist wallow for over 90% of the movie. This is made by and for people who reject every foundation and prefer to float on the shifting winds of what they feel or want in any given moment. So they seek something, anything that can make them feel. I'm sure for some audiences they got a few moments of feeling here. But the emptiness that comes out of that paradigm shows in a million ways. It was bad. And I'm sorry I happened on it and gave it a shot.

A Christmas Prince (2017)

great casting

[8/10 · 9 October 2021]

These sorts of lower budget or made for tv films do not have a reputation for being the best production values or the best writing and I acknowledge there are a few things here I could pick at. However I really enjoyed this quite a bit. And I especially want to compliment the choices in casting for most of the parts, especially the queen and the main character. There were others that were just as good or nearly as good, so that I feel a bit bad about only mentioning those two. Perhaps I can also give honorable mention to the Prince and his little sister. If you are ever into these types of films, I do recommend this one.

Oh and it was clean, so three cheers for that! I do get so tired of all the low caliber and all the bad side effects to films that come from it!

To Sir, with Love (1967)

wow

[10/10 · 3 October 2021]

This really stands the test of time. Great story, great acting. In a time when many people want old divisions to be current and work to stir them up seeing this amazing part of the progress that was made was so wonderfully heartening. There are always some who are wise and good...even today. We just have to look to the good and keep telling the truth about that instead of joining with popular fallacies, dogmas and evils. But seriously, even from just a cinema perspective don't miss Sidney Poitier in this picture. Without any of the tricks you're used to in modern films you will see something deeper and better than 99% of what tries to come off as profound in this day and age.

Baby, Baby, Baby (2015)

Potential almost realized

[5/10 · 30 September 2021]

You can tell there is something in the writing and the directing and in so many areas. But everything here looks like potential and then most of it ends up ugly. In its effort to be honest it did have at least one really great gritty truth that resonated for me personally. But for the most part it was way too based in the lives of people who lack any foundation to manage to do well. For that matter I suppose that may be the essence of the writer and director, lacking a solid foundation. I so wanted to like this more than I did. And I did watch to the bitter end.

The Greenhouse (2021)

Postmodernist Wallow

[3/10 · 29 September 2021]

There were several things that were done well here with the filming and the performances, but the writing was not one of them. This really just comes across as made for, about, and by people who like emptiness, who even prefer that over anything real or solid or healthy. I suppose it could have been meant as an exploration of that, as a cautionary tale, but I doubt it. I think even among postmodernists who do like that, most will dislike this film for its plodding pacing. I could have overlooked the pacing if it had had any redemption or growth or goodness or wisdom. But as it was, the film was just bad.

The Wedding Plan (2016)

Loved this, went in blind

[9/10 · 19 September 2021]

I went in with almost no idea what I was about to watch and I cannot remember ever having watched an Israeli movie, but who knows, I have a terrible memory. My attention issues kicked in just a tiny bit with reading the subtitles from time to time. But I ended up really glad that I watched this. I agree with someone who said that the pacing isn't what you are used to. I agree with the person who asked the significance of the girl in the chair. I mean to say that I agree the young lady in the wheel chair had significance that either wasn't well enough explained or that I missed somehow. And I agree with the reviewer who commented that this isn't an outright comedy, or at least it wasn't for me. But I did really like it a LOT. And weirdly, I did sort of guess a bit of the ending, just not completely and not with 100% confidence. I am glad there was still that tension of mystery for me wondering if I was right and trying to make my predictions more complete, make them make more sense!

A Wedding (1978)

a very particular style

[3/10 · 19 September 2021]

Well, to be honest, for me this was just not good at all. Too bad. I'd have loved to have had a good laugh today. But I will say it was made in a very particular style and for anyone who generally finds that style funny, you might want to try this the next time you're in the mood for a comedy and searching for something you've never seen before. You'd have to browse the reviews to clues about who the people who like it are and what other stuff they like. Also I was watching for the sets and they were good. I wish I'd had better picture quality to see them a little better. I also couldn't help but enjoy the 70s bridal party look. The costumes were also really worth it for me. Honesty a person could throw a whole costume party with 70s bridal party as the theme. Too much fun.

A Husband for Christmas (2016 TV Movie)

In a low budget category still really enjoyable

[7/10 · 18 September 2021]

The two leads were really well cast, imo. Both gave good performances and had good presence. They were great together on the screen. I also noticed the father of the bride part. With a script with some flaws and all that, I was impressed with these at least. And in general, as someone who likes the category, I definitely recommend this to others who are looking for this kind of good fun.