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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
Somewhat Interesting But Ultimately Falls Flat
I fell victim to the marketing ploys of this show and was excited for this show to be released, watching most of the series the day it was released.
It is well made and had a good production value. Well shot and for the most part well acted. But I find the subject matter to be dull and the writing to be a bit lazy.
This is a spy show that is missing all of the quintessential "spy things" found in the genre. First off, the characters are basically Craigslist Kirkland-brand spies. They are not very good at their jobs and they are following the orders of a chat-GTP style entity. Also, the series is episodic, so they are in a new location doing a new task every episode. This is okay, but 90% of the episode is spent examining their relationship, while 10% is spent doing a few spy things.
All of the realism in this show is spent on relationship building. It's like a committee sat down and wrote a standard rom com using fights, quirks, and highlights from all of their previous relationships and packages them into a show. Needing a hook, they threw in a few lazily-written spy scenes to match it watchable.
I'm being a bit harsh here. The series is somewhat enjoyable and the relationship scenes are pretty well executed and well thought out. But if you are looking for an espionage/spy show with any sort of realism, this isn't it. This is a show about the fake marriage between two people that just happen to be spies.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Stop Giving Zack Snyder So Many Chances
I will preface this review by saying that I am a huge fan of any type of sci-fi or fantasy world building. I know that it is extremely difficult and takes a lot of imagination to create a world and bring it to fruition in any sort of medium.
With that being said, this was simply a bad movie. The characters were bland and underdeveloped, the plot was paper-thin, and the movie was heavily-reliant upon many slow motion action sequences. There were many times at this movie that I laughed out loud at the absurdity of some of the slow-motion shots.
I think we need to take a step back and ask why Zack Snyder has been continually given all of these large budgets to make his "visions", which all turn out to be versions of CGI-reliant, slow-motion plotless "epics". When 300 came out and that technology was someone new everyone loved it, but here we are almost 20 years later and he is still playing his "greatest hit" to the tune of a $90 million budget.
The Morning Show (2019)
Takes Itself Too Seriously
While the technical aspects of this show are great (cinematography, lighting, editing, etc) I think it kind of beats its themes into the ground a bit. A whole season about MeToo, a season and a half about dealing with COVID... while I get the appeal to stay current I think it's a bit much. Take, for example, a show like The Newsroom that also covers hot-button topics. Almost every episode is about something different because the news is always changing (hello 24 hours news cycle).
I mean, at the end of the day, this is about a morning show. People tune in to Morning Shows for an easy watch - celebrities cooking recipes and the anchors petting dogs for a local shelter - not hard-hitting anchors breaking stories.
The shows is well-made, but I found it difficult to care about characters when their entire identities are their work. Don't create bland, emotionless characters and then try and get me to care about their self-induced struggles. The show seems to be built on conflict, much of it being created internally. They also seem to run out of plot points a lot for a show that is supposed to be focused on somewhat current events.
I know this review seems pretty negative, but I am pretty harsh having worked in the industry and being a big fan of this subject matter. Overall, the show is well made. It just could be a lot better. Many people will enjoy this show and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Give it a watch for yourself and see what you think. I just expected more from the excellent cast and the amount of money they sunk into this thing.
Beckham (2023)
Not a Soccer Documentary
If you are expecting a soccer documentary in the style of the Gerard or Maradona documentary, then this one is definitely not for you. This is a documentary that gives you glimpses of one man's relationship with the public eye and his wife.
I think my main issue with this documentary lies in a combination of the focus and bias of the story. The documentary made it seem like Beckham never did any wrong and that his exit from all of these various teams were the team's faults and not his.
I know that the "Beckham Brand" has become way more than soccer, but why interview all of these legends of the game if you are going to show a combined 20 minutes or so of fame footage? Game footage used to set up stakes and explain his contribution would have gone a long way towards building suspense and drama.
Also, it became very apparent to me that Director Fisher Stevens knew very little about the sport he was making a documentary about. Here he is interviewing so many legends of the game and he's asking them what they think of Beckham's hairstyle at the time. I also was not a fan of him being the co-lead of this documentary, including his questions and even his insight in some scenes.
I think overall it was well shot and well arranged for the most part. The craziness of this man's life as a global brand was truly something to behold and I'm glad I watched the documentary. I just thought this could have done a lot more for showing his on-field achievements and utilizing an unmatched cast of interviewees. Beckham had a crazy life and I would have liked to dive into the controversy more than just glazing over it.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Amazing film, almost a masterpiece
My overall feeling about this film is that if the filmmakers would have spent just a bit more time refining it then we could have had a masterpiece on our hands.
The set design was maybe the best I've ever seen, the acting was understated but very good, the cinematography was fantastic, and I enjoyed the unique methods of storytelling littered throughout the film.
However, I thought that the editing needed to tighten up (it took a while for the film to build up) and the dialogue writing was mediocre (it reads very matter-of-fact, almost like a Hemingway novel).
Overall, I thought it was a well-made movie that is definitely worth a watch. It is very nice to see a film that is practically shot in a partnership with the actual group of people affected by the story. But, with a bit of refinement in script-writing and editing (maybe the edition of better sound mixing and score) we could have had a masterpiece on our hands.
Citadel (2023)
A Lackluster Debut Marked by Lazy Writing
This is an initial review of the first episode of this series.
While this is an intriguing concept in the vein of Jack Ryan/Jason Bourne and the many spy adaptations that have been brought to the big and small screen lately, it fails to live up to the hype.
The first thing that jumped out to me about this series was the cringy-ness of the dialogue and the lazy plot writing. The initial meeting in the trail between the two main characters debuts with very poorly written dialogue that felt like it was trying way too hard to be clever. The action scenes that followed were pretty well executed, but nothing I haven't seen before.
The plot tropes that followed have been seen in a ton of spy movies/series already, it felt like a soft-boiled crowd-sourced spy series where they threw a bunch of heavily-used spy tropes in a blender to make something basic and unimaginative.
The bottom line is that this series has failed to find a unique identity and very much risks being forgotten over time. The action scenes were pretty good but the characters seem to be basic and unmemorable so far. To be fair, it's very early in the series. But unless is seen something unique from a story perspective that captures my attention, I am not going to waste my time watching further. I hope things improve but I'm not optimistic.
The Night Agent (2023)
Intriguing But Ultimately Not Worth Your Time
I'll try and do this without spoiling anything, but the main message here is that this is show is unsuccessfully trying to capitalize on the success of shows like Jack Ryan and Reacher. The first few episodes start out by giving you enough mystery and intrigue to be engaged (if you suspend some disbelief and logic) but ultimately the show gets a bit ridiculous.
While there are some good characters (the main duo is fun to watch, has good chemistry, and you really root for them) at some point the writing goes a bit off the rails and becomes pretty unbelievable. Basically, the writer or writers of this show are good at dialogue writing but not very good at fleshing out the big picture logic and circumstance that would make this a good spy thriller.
I am basically just posting this review to say I would not recommend starting this because it has a decent enough of a hook to keep you watching and the payoff really isn't worth it. Around episode 7 things start to get really unbelievable and that continues throughout the rest of the series. Pretty well made though with some decent acting, storylines, and dialogue. Just the motivations of the characters are very one-sided and not fleshed out at all, and a lot of it simply does not make any sense.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
A Surprisingly Good Movie That's a Lot of Fun
I'll start off by saying I have never played D&D or seen any of the past iterations so a lot of the references and Easter Eggs probably went right over my head. With that being said, I did not go into this movie expecting much. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see a movie that I thought was a good mix between humor, adventure, and emotion.
After movies like Warcraft and A Dungeon Siege Tale basically trying to do this type of fantasy/medieval/RPG world building and failing, this movie perfectly balanced good humor, story, and action without relying too much on exposition dumps or heavy CGI action scenes. The set design was fantastic, the locations were well chosen, and the CGI was both effective and used sparingly.
Overall, this movie was pleasant, well-paced, and a lot of fun. Chris Pine was fantastic, Michelle Rodriguez was great for the role she was in, the Bridgerton guy was pretty good, and the hapless mage was good as well. Hugh Grant, the powerful female wizard, and the female animal-changer did not do the best job - but I don't think they really needed to.
This movie is a pleasant escape for a couple of hours and really comes together in terms of story, humor, and action. It's a fun movie for all ages, not just for hardcore fans of D&D and RPG style games/films. Most of the jokes hit the mark and a few come off a bit too Marvel-y but I would definitely recommend it to most people. Watch it and see what you think!
Daisy Jones & the Six (2023)
A Sparknotes PG-13 Version of the Book
*this is my review after reading the book and watching the first 3 episodes of the series*
I'll start off by saying this series is missing a few things: sex, drugs, and heart. The series is well shot, the story is pretty well adapted (although the script is almost word for word excerpts from the book), and the soundtrack is very good (both original music and chosen songs).
This series contains most of the 70s-era music tropes, but fails to include two of arguable the most important: sex and drugs. The novel is full of drug-fueled escapades of the colorful characters, showing the glamour of life on tour and in the studio and making you feel like these people were the coolest people alive at the time. The series makes it seem like they are a low-key amateur soft rock band and a struggling waitress that just can't seem to put it all together. Give me more Rocketman or The Dirt or literally any band from the 60s, 70s, or 80s.
This series just didn't seem cool to me all. If you want something similar but a million times better I would recommend Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. That wonderful film has everything this series lacks: intrigue, passion, loss.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this will get better with the 7 episodes left (even though it seems like we are about halfway through the story), but I'm not holding my breath. From the descriptions of the characters I just thought Billy would be this leading man sex symbol with a gift that's also a terrible curse and that Daisy would be this extremely attractive free spirit that is a light in every room she's in. I didn't get that from these first few episodes. Hopefully it gets better!
Babylon (2022)
A glossy and chaotic film that suffers from a loss of identity
I think this movie is a prime example of why editing is so important in film. The editing and story of this filmed turned what could have been an insightful and comedic look at the pre-Hays Code era of cinema into a debacle with the pacing of a skit comedy show.
While this movie had great set and costume design, interesting camera movement (although sometimes a bit aggressive), and pretty good acting, the narrative structure was chaotic and the whole thing felt like a bloated mess with no direction.
This film was a weird mix of Ruben Ostland-esque class satire, Old Hollywood musicals, a DW Griffith style grandiose production, and college party movies.
I honestly think that Damien Chazelle picked a few Old Hollywood themes and stories like the influence of African American music at the onset of the talkies, the difficulty of transitioning for a few actors at the dawn of audio in movies, and the Hollywood "American Dream" that turns out to be a mirage and lumped them all together through a vignette of scenes that sometimes drew on for far too long.
This all sounds harsh. The movie was enjoyable and sometimes easy to watch, it just took over 3 hours to tell a 90 minute story. Old Hollywood was fun but a facade. The chaos and excess looks appealing from the outside but it will chew you up and spit you out and no one will bat an eye. We get it.
6/10 - could have been an 8/10 with better editing.
You People (2023)
Funny Jokes but Ultimately Vapid and Inconvenient
With a great cast, an interesting concept, and a trailer full of good jokes, I was actually looking forward to this movie. While the movie delivered on some good jokes for the first hour and some spontaneously laughs, it ultimately became a study of race relations rather than a comedy film.
The relationship between the comedy, important themes, and story of this film is where things really went wrong. It started off as a bit of a strained, cringy rom com in the style of Meet The Parents at the beginning, but ended on a very sitcom-like manner.
It just felt like the creators of this film had a lot to say about the worst aspects of race relations. It's like when a couple gets in a fight and they start spitting out the worst things they can think about one another that they have been saving for "the big fight". From Holocaust references to slavery references to discussions about the "n" word, they were trying to hit all of the hot button topics as often as possible. There was no conversation about the normal things that bring all people together. It seemed like every conversation had to include some reference to an uncomfortable observation from the world of black and white race relations.
This might be fine on it's own, but it's not as if the filmmakers were prepared to study or reflect on any of these issues. They were more interested in shock value for the purposes of comedy. An action that left the movie vapid and meaningless in the end. This was defined by the fact that they tried to fight this fight the entire movie and concluded it with a classic "love conquers all" cliche ribbon-on-the-top ending.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Emotional but Unnecessary
Overall I thought the film was emotional and showed flashes of brilliance, but it ran too long and failed to make an impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.
I am by no means a huge Marvel fan, but it seems like every film or show in this phase has nothing to do with the grand scene of things. This film, the new Thor film, and the new Doctor Strange film all provided a somewhat entertaining 2 hours but all basically failed to connect to the overall "plan" of the MCU, other than showcasing a new character or giving us a cameo from a B list Marvel celebrity.
I think it is a bit arrogant that Marvel continues to lean on its superior special effects, forsaking plot and character development to create the film equivalent of one-and-done roller coaster rides. They market the hell out of these movies and get everyone excited for the new chapter of an established character's journey, only to establish new characters without connecting their stories back to the MCU. Obviously, they are going to continue doing this because of the money, but it would be nice to give the fans a semblance of a vision, rather than making us tune in for a new adventure from one of 30 newly-established characters.
This movie was more emotional than most Marvel movies because of the passing of Chadwick Boseman, but overall I thought it was a bit long and a bit unconvincing (other than a great performance from Angela Basset). I think the bottom line is that if you want, you can skip this movie and not feel bad about being out of the loop for future Marvel projects.
Music Box: Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (2021)
Enjoyable But Focused on the Wrong Aspects
I thought that this was an enjoyable and entertaining documentary but it watched more like a college film thesis then a true-to-form found footage documentary. While it is always important to highlight the social and cultural ramifications of an event such as this, I felt the filmmakers spent too much time trying to explain what happened during the festival and compare it to modern events.
This is an insanely entertaining and bewildering story to tell and there is real footage of everything that happened - show it to us! I thought this documentary had a very loose and unstructured feeling: it didn't know what it wanted to say but it tired to hard to say something.
I think with a documentary such as this if you just gave a thorough detailing of events with background from performers and attendees then that would be enough. We don't need New York Times writers hypothesizing about why they thought people were angry in the late 90s or concert attendees giving us their "woke" take 20 years after the fact about what happened.
The sheer absurdity of this event is enough to make a compelling and honest documentary. For me, this came down to too much speculation and opinion and not enough objective footage of the event itself (the subject of the documentary).
WandaVision: The Series Finale (2021)
Disappointing Ending to a Great Series
From the first episode, I thought that WandaVision was a really unique show about a woman's grieving process. The mystery and intrigue that began the series was a really great step forward for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first 8 episodes built towards an interesting conclusion for a very unique and creative vision (no pun intended).
However, I thought that this episode kind of destroyed all of that. The focus on this episode seemed to be to make everything all "neat and tidy" and add a few classic Marvel fights of people shooting beams of energy out of their hands and flying around.
The dialogue for this episode was weak, the writing was pretty lazy (especially with the conversation between Monica and Wanda in the end), and there was an extreme reliance on CGI as a plot device.
The progression of characters in this episode was a bit ridiculous too. I assumed that Wanda was going to turn into the villain, or at least an anti-hero of sorts.
Also, is Director Hayward really the villain here? I know he used unorthodox methods but a woman with supernatural abilities came into a town and imprisoned the entire population after breaking into a highly secure government facility. He tried to shoot a kid (who wasn't real), but other then that I think he was just trying to stop Wanda from causing any further harm.
Think about this example. A woman is really sad because her talking computer stops working and then decides to kidnap a bunch of people. The police come onto the scene and a standoff ensues. She then captures multiple police office and their equipment (combat vehicles, what have you). This standoff diverts a ton of resources of multiple crime fighting units around the nation for weeks on end. Like in that situation is she really the hero? Should we let her just walk away and just be like "oh yeah it's all good, don't worry about it."?
And then of course, we have the multiple most credits scenes at the end reminded us to remain subscribed to Disney plus because there are more explosions and superhero fights coming later!
Overall, I thought the series was a creative step forward for Marvel but the ending left me bitter and sad.
Ted Lasso (2020)
It's good for what it is
Ted Lasso is a well-made, pretty well acted feel-good show that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you are looking for an easy watch that will make you feel a little bit better about the world, looks no further. This show also has a few running themes that give it a bit of depth and substance throughout.
What this isn't, although, is a sports show. Yes it's a show set in the world of English football, but only through a narrow American viewpoint. It throws out a few industry terms such as "kit" and "pitch" and "set piece", but they are mainly used as the butt of another American/British language joke.
I really want to love this show and I did enjoy watching it, but as a sports fan it made me cringe a few times. I think there was only one episode that actually showed the sport being played and that was the final episode of the series. I honestly don't know why people keep making so many shows (Ted Lasso, Friday Night Lights, Ballers, Club of Crows) about sports where they don't actually show the sport being played. In the case of EPL, just about every English kid on the street has a good enough looking game to pass as an at least semi professional footballer. Why not show a few matches?
Overall, it was a strong show but it was missing that realism and the dramatic stakes that are prevalent in real subject matter about sports. This is a romantic comedy, it isn't a sports show.
Kingdom: Lie Down in the Light (2017)
A Great Wrap-Up to the Series
I felt the need to write a few things about this episode because I read through what others had said and was disappointed. I felt that this episode was the perfect conclusion to this series.
While the storylines of some of the characters seem to meander at times, I felt the ending brought focus onto what this entire series is truly about: combat and conflict. Everything in Alvi's life will always come second to fighting, and I think the finale perfectly highlighted that.
While this series definitely isn't perfect, the last two episodes made me very glad I stuck with it. A group of people tortured by life's constant struggles come together to form a pseudo-family that revolves around one singular theme: fighting. The series ended right where it began. A good ending to a good series.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A Tour de Force of Cosmic Proportions
After watching this movie I had to wait a few hours before writing this review because of how drained I felt after. So many characters and so many moving pieces unite for a visually stunning finished product that wraps up decades of works from thousands of people.
Honestly, it was all a lot to take in. The many twists and turns and careful attention given to each character made me think this would be much more manageable as a mini series or even a full season of a TV show. Since that is not commercially viable, we have an elongated character-driven action film that tries to focus on over 20 characters and their emotions and motivations.
Since we have been introduced to these characters before, we feel invested in their journeys throughout this film. These leads to a speedy 3 hour emotional roller coaster ride as we are quickly taken through the many actions of reactions in so many characters in such a tight time frame.
While the planning and execution of this was done well, I couldn't help but feel that there were many distractions that disconnected me from the story and reminded me I was watching a movie. Matthew Berry from ESPN on a speaking role? Why? Joe Russo as an emotional man in a strange therapy group talking about crying during his date? Why? Referencing films during the movie that some of the actors in the movie actually started in... All of these serve to distract from the final product and the central themes and developments of the plot for very little payoff.
However, overall this was a well made movie. Great visual effects, a great cast, a well-written story, and good management of all of the central characters. Yet, there were those glimmers throughout the movie that kept poking you to remind you that you were watching a Marvel movie. This, at times, felt like too much. This was a great end to a long and well thought out project. Yet, somehow I don't believe for a second this will actually be the end. It seems like this movies will keep coming out until audiences have had enough, which won't be anytime soon.
Russian Doll (2019)
It Doesn't Work for Me
I went into this with an open mind, but also as huge fan of Bill Murray's Groundhog Day. But even overlooking the mimicry and pretty obvious plot holes, it fails to be original and that's what troubles me.
It seems like Natasha Lyonne is just playing a, over-exaggerated SNL-skit version of herself, her character doesn't seem to have any dimension or any core drives. She repeats the same day over and over but it doesn't change her: she still goes to the same places, does the same things, and interact with the same characters in the same way. There is NO character development between any of the main characters, it's like the insane earth-shattering event of continuously dying by very implausible methods doesn't change them at all.
To me, this show is basically just if you took Groundhog Day and mixed it with NBC's The Good Place and added a bunch of unnecessary sci-fi elements and an over-sexualized, one-dimensional supporting cast of characters.
But honestly, the show is pretty well shot. Nothing Earth-shattering, but a fluid Hollywood style that makes it watchable. Also, some of the back and forth is pretty funny, although the tone is often crass and abrasive.