scottjtepper Reviews

One More Shot (2024)

One More Shot Too Many

[2/10 · 6 May 2024]

This is a sequel to "One Shot." The conceit of that movie was that it was supposed to look like it was one long "shot," that is the camera stayed on the actors for the entire movie, with no obvious scenes. That could be interesting but here it is distracting. There is not merely one "more" shot but a whole bunch of them as the camera quickly whizzes by set up, or follows an actor in the dark with an obvious break ion the action. The attempt tp compress 90 some minutes of action into a 90 minute film doesn't work. It did work for One Shot and it doesn't work for More.

What we need is One Shot Less. Waste your time on some thing less bland and poorly constructed.

Fool Me Once (2024)

A decent yarn, well acted but slow in pace

[6/10 · 27 January 2024]

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE FINAL EPISODE!

The story was a bit of a cheat, making us think Maya is looking for the murderer of her husband when she well knows who dunnit. Instead, she's trying to figure out why her husband killed her sister, after which she killed her husband.

There are lots of detours, feints and false leads, but it all comes together in an unsatisfying finale.

The pace is slow and the focus on the lead detective's iatrogenic illness seems to fill space more than advance the story. A tight four episodes would have told the story better.

Nevertheless, it is worth watching, and if you're reading this you already have.

(A special brava for the little actress who played the young Lilly. She seemed to run into every actor's arms and was able to hold her own with the mature actors. Of course, this is probably due in part to the director and the little girl's mother who was almost certainly there for every minute the little girl was in front of the camera.)

Foe (2023)

Utter Trash

[8 January 2024]

What a waste of time. The actual story would take about 15 minutes to tell. It might make a short, but its length of almost two hours is just too much.

As for it being a science fiction tale, the only two things that are in the future are the Tesla-like car the actor playing a government official drives -- once -- and a slow moving flying ship. The concept may be futuristic, but what's on the screen is just a boring story involving three actors.

I won't bore anyone with the story, because frankly there wasn't one. This was the director's vanity project. I'm sorry I watched. I thought something was going to happen. Nothing did, and the twist was signaled about halfway through.

I stayed with this film to see how it would deliver that twist. It delivered it ham-handedly.

Utter trash and a total waste of a viewer's time.

The Age of Adaline (2015)

Sweet movie; predictable but comfortable

[10/10 · 24 October 2023]

This is a lovely movie. It is predictable, but very sweet. Blake Lively and Harrison Ford give terrific performances. Showing the different eras in which Adaline is involved gave the movie some depth and the "meet cute" was different enough to be interesting.

While the "scientific mumbo jumbo" explaining Adaline's condition and "recovery" are word salads, she is true to dealing with her predicament. On the other hand, the suspension of disbelief has to be strong to deal with a second snowfall event during a traffic accident. Get by that and you'll enjoy this little masterpiece.

This is a movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. If you're not too much older than your date (or significant other), it's a good movie to share with him/her.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023)

Lifeless and Disappointing

[2/10 · 6 October 2023]

The Caine Mutiny, novel and motion picture , were brilliant depictions of the pressures of World War 2. The truncated court martial movie written by Herman Wouk, which was essentially a stage play, lost a lot of the drama of the novel and war movie, but the dialogue and courtroom scenes were still excellent. In neither motion picture did Wouk make a convincing demonstration that LCDR Queeg wasn't full blown insane. Here Queeg's insanity, and whether the Caine's men could have acted together to keep Queeg from faltering, was a bit more ambiguous, but only because of the poor acting. But the courtroom scenes were boring and lifeless, the changes made to modernize the tale were failures and in the end it was just an awful film full of exposition and little else. Kiefer Sutherland was an unconvincing Queeg. Jason Clarke as Barney Greenwald was even less convincing. And the closing drunk scene at the celebratory party, lacked any of the sizzle of the original war movie or the subsequent courtroom drama.

Modernizing the film made absolutely no sense. The missions were caricatures of what the Caine went through in World War 2. And for Greenwald, a successful lawyer, to abandon his profession because of 9-11 and become a Naval aviator (in an advanced jet requiring years of training) was ridiculous. If the Greenwald character decided to forego his life as a lawyer to serve his country in the middle east because of 9-11, it's doubtful he'd still be doing it two decades later.

This was Friedkin's last movie. It will be reviewed with praise for that reason. But Friedkin's final work was sluggish, uninspired, lifeless and disappointing. If you come away with a "what the heck was that?" feeling, trust me that you will not be alone.

Reptile (2023)

So Much Promise, Such a Poor Delivery

[4/10 · 2 October 2023]

All movies require a suspension of disbelief. But you expect that your screenwriters will have some connection to the real world. That the major plot lines or the comments about every day life won't be stupid.

You would expect that. Not here.

A minor example, right at the beginning of the film. A harbinger. The screenwriters apparently have no experience with automobiles. In one of the opening scenes between two young women swimmers talking about a nightmare in a locker room, one of them talks about the horror of being stuck in a car in a tunnel. And that she had to "turn the battery on." Huh? Anyone who drives a car knows you turn on the IGNITION.

The three screenwriters couldn't get that right? One is a neophyte director/screenwriter, so he probably takes the subway. Another is a world famous actor, so he's probably driven around. You'd think the third would have some idea what you use the key or fob for in an automobile. Nope.

And the major plot point for which the real estate agent was killed -- that her broker's commissions were somehow being invested in real estate to avoid taxes -- is preposterous. That's not how it works. And selling houses worth almost a million dollars and for 6 sales she generates the whopping sum of $70,000 in hidden commissions? What is she selling - doll houses? No. Houses in the high 6 figures.

Of course here the "sales" all involved civil forfeitures from planted narcotics. Civil forfeitures aren't that easy. There are defenses to them. After a number of these forfeitures (like, two maybe), someone would get wind of the scam. Here the only one who figured it out was the kooky neighbor. He must be a relative of the kooky faux scientist in the Moonfall movie.

And what's with the Benicio Del Toro character's injured hand, and the re-injury and treatment at the end? Mysterious? For what reason? Never explained. Never an issue. There for no reason. Chekov would be very disappointed.

And so was I.

This turned out to be glop, spoiled by screenwriters who don't have a viable connection to the real world. What a disappointment.

The Great War of Archimedes (2019)

Overwrought Acting Ruined this Film

[2/10 · 15 August 2023]

This was an interesting story, whether true ore not. (Probably more not than true.) But the movie was ruined by overwrought and overly dramatic acting by almost all concerned. The older Admirals were the best among the actors, but the young lead (Masaki Suda) was a real mess.

On the other hand, the special effects were truly excellent although the sinking of the Yamato at the beginning of the film was devoid of context. It would have been better had it been at the end of the movie.

While I was glad there was English dubbing, the dubbing must have lost something and the voices didn't seem to fit all of the actors.

Overall I hesitate to give it a 2 stars, but that's all it's worth.

Jack Ryan (2018–2023)

Season 4: A smoldering, confusing, disappointing mess

[2/10 · 15 July 2023]

The fourth season of Jack Ryan was confusing and awful.

Was Ryan interdicting drugs? Dirty weapons? Or what? How did enemies immediately become trusted friends and allies?

Here's the spoiler: And the final scenes, where the chairman of the committee overseeing the CIA (if that's what it was), was implicated, was too predictable.

While all of the interactions between the bad guys and the good guys required fantastical suspensions of belief, the writers couldn't even handle the easy stuff. The Director of the CIA is nominated by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate. But in Jack Ryan's world, the confirmation is done by a committee of the Senate! Tom Clancy must be spinning in his grave. He sweated the details.

The disrespect for the viewer turns this potboiler from a 5 to a 2.

Living (2022)

Well done but sad film

[7/10 · 19 June 2023]

I'll get it out of the way at the start. Bill Nighy is superb. A brilliant character study. But more than that it is a condemnation of bureaucracy as well as a repressed and stratified society.

It shares many aspects of the futility of living in a modern, complex civilisation with Kafka's works. But it does go overboard with "suspicions confirmed" about the worst of government and government bureaucracy.

Some of the movie didn't ring true, such as the man Nighy's character meets who shows him underclass life. But the rest is just fantastic.

It is a very sad movie, and not very uplifting. Which is why I gave it only 7 stars.

Nighy should have won the Oscar for his performance. Short Round was good. Nighy was great.

Sharper (2023)

Actual human beings do not act like this

[3/10 · 20 February 2023]

Sharper has been mis-named. Dumber would be better. But even that is not a great title. Everything every actor does is incredibly stupid and these are supposed to be smart people, most of them living on their wits?

Tom could have inherited the money he desperately seeks at the end, but he was too much of a jerk to his father. Better to get involved in an incredibly convoluted plot after his death to get his money. Yeah, sure.

This movie is junk. Julianne Moore is mis-cast and 20 years too old for one of the actors and 20 years too young for the other. This was a a waste of my time and a waste of all of the electrons that died.

Joyland (2022)

A brilliant film

[10/10 · 3 November 2022]

This is a brilliant film. It will be a strong entry in the Foreign Film category, but like Parasite it should also receive a Best Picture nomination. And Alina Khan is revelatory. She deserves a nomination as Best Actress. But the entire cast is fantastic.

I was fortunate enough to see a special screening of this film and was moved by it.

At a time when transgender rights are a divisive social issue in the United States, one can only imagine how much more difficult it is for a transgender person in a strict Muslim society. This film touches upon that issue, but is broader than that. This is a film of love, family, expectation and belonging.

I was stunned by the ending. This film is a masterpiece.

Endeavour: Striker (2021) Season 8, Episode 1

Second Weakest Episode in the Series

[1/10 · 20 June 2022]

What a disappointment. After waiting for a couple of years this is the best Endeavour can do? Aside from the anachronistic episode dealing with viatical sales decades before that was legal in the U. K. (the writers had no idea!), this is clearly the weakest episode in the series. And it is very poorly directed.

Nothing in this episode was believable. Nothing was rational or reflected what actual human beings would do.

This series is ending at just the right time.

As for Shaun Evans, a director he is not.

Outer Range (2022– )

Plodding unbelievable neo western where something interesting happens only occasionally

[2/10 · 17 June 2022]

The 8 episode arc could have been covered in 3 episodes with no loss of quality, drama, suspense or anything else. Instead we have a steaming pile of slow slog with only occasional things of interest.

The ROI is just not worth it. I hung with it all 8 episodes to figure out the mystery (I thought Autumn was Royal's 1886 sister come back to haunt him). Close but no cigar. The actual reveal of who/what Autumn is (and that she could survive an 1886 Bison stampede) is moderately interesting, but the universe that's been created means there are no limits to the ridiculousness that will come in seasons 2 through 8.

I for one found the all out truck vs. Truck gunfight one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen on a TV.

Unbelievable. I'm done after 8 episodes.

Senior Year (2022)

Not Shakrespeare or Chekov But a Joyous Send Up of Today

[9/10 · 15 May 2022]

If you want an hour and a half of fun comedy, Senior Year is for you. It's not a drama with lots of psychological insight and numerous twists except for the one big twist at the beginning.

Sure the movie is predictable, but it's fun and the takes on today as contrasted with the yesterday of 20 years ago leads to hilarious juxtapositions.

Alicia Silverstone's lengthy cameo itself is well worth the movie.

No, it not Shakespeare or Chekov, but it's fun!

The Endgame (2022)

Garbage

[1/10 · 13 April 2022]

This is terrible TV show. I'm trying to figure out how the villain gets redemption after all those deaths she's caused. That's the only reason I'm watching.

The villain, in a holding cell, and being interviewed by the HEADS of various government agencies (sure, that's how they spend their time running their agencies) has a different outfit for every episode. And she's in some bizarre holding cell with no facilities for eating, sleeping or attending to other human functions. Just like the hostages at the banks her crews have taken over.

The dialogue has gone from snippy to dreadful. By Episode 7 the writers and actors are just mailing it in. It all sounds fake. The repartee between the two female protagonists (antagonists?) is just ridiculous.

Nobody in this garbage does anything that remotely seems like a decision an actual thinking human begin with a brain would do.

I'll continue to watch, because this is so bad it's MST3K bad. In maybe 10 years this will get an award as the worst TV series of the third decade of the 21st century.

Just dumb. Still waiting for the payoff but I suspect it will be just as dumb as the rest of the show.

To the costume department: keep these great outfits coming for the imprisoned outlaw lady. And make sure she flashes enough cleavage to keep the 12 year old boys interested.

All the Old Knives (2022)

Take out the sex scenes and there's a slim story

[10 April 2022]

This was a bit of a mashup film. It was obvious when Henry Pelham, Pine's character, was sent out to "investigate" that he was a likely suspect along with the characters played by Pryce and Newton (Celia Harrison).

Since Pelham knew that Harrison was innocent -- he, after all, was the source of information that led to the 120 deaths -- why he had a hit man there at all was inexplicable, unless he was trying to cover up his crime.

His motive of protecting Harrison to allow 120 deaths was preposterous. CIA agents know they may have to sacrifice their lives in service to their country. But since half the movie was sex scenes, maybe Pelham was thinking only with his small head.

And the method of Pelham's dispatch -- poisoning -- was ridiculous. Good luck making that look like a suicide.

Without the sex scenes you've got maybe a 45 minute film.

All in all a poor effort and a waste of Newton's talents. Three stars seems generous, but then Newton is entitled to a nine and Pine and the script to minus 6.

Moonshot (2022)

Treacle

[1/10 · 1 April 2022]

A Hallmark TV-style Movie from the cramped quarters (er, I mean set) of a spaceship involving two cartoon characters with no chemistry for each other (or anything else for that matter). Except that Hallmark would pass on it as too formulaic, obvious and dumb.

This treacle is passing for entertainment these days and was breathlessly advertised by HBO Max in a direct email campaign to its hapless subscribers as something to watch. It's not. It's just awful.

Don't waste your time. Yes, it's good the actors and the crew got paid, but HBO Max should be ashamed of itself.

The trillions of electrons that died for this trash deserved better.

Windfall (2022)

A Wasted Opportunity

[4/10 · 21 March 2022]

This bare bones thriller misses the mark. The CEO and Nobody are cartoon characters. We get a hint of the CEO's motivations from his sneering arrogance. But did he have a family before the one he wants to start with the Wife? What exactly makes him so nasty and abusive? Did he ever struggle? We know nothing more about him than that he is very rich and an entitled a**hole.

As for Nobody, we know even less, just that he is a bumbling burglar who failed to notice the camera pointed directly at his car when he parked it on the side of the public road prior to his burglary. If we knew why he was doing what he was doing, we might have some sympathy for him. As it is, he gets what he deserves in the end, even though he is not disposed to violence himself. He has, after all, terrorized an innocent couple.

The most relatable character, the gardener, is the only one who has a backstory, as slender as it is. And he is a cartoon character himself, after being surreptitiously asked to call 911 he stumbles around the house as if to ask the CEO if he really means it.

And now we come to the Wife. Yes, her husband is an arrogant jerk. Yes, she is taking birth control pills which means she doesn't really want a family with the billionaire jerk. But why? Her back story is hinted at, briefly. But why is she motivated finally to knock off her hubby? For the money? For the freedom? Because he is an arrogant, entitled a**hole?

It's not like the back stories would have made the film too long. The action runs about 85 minutes, little more than a movie of the week. And it is terribly slow. The titles and opening sequence are remarkable for their lassitude and lack of anything meaningful. Nobody's walk through the house at the beginning only hints at the lack of action to come.

All in all a wasted opportunity. Perhaps a better film maker can do a remake.

Pieces of Her (2022)

Utterly Unconvincing

[2/10 · 7 March 2022]

Your lead character - Jane Queller/Laura Oliver - has to carry both storylines. The one from the past and the one from the present. So, naturally, you get an actress who can stand up to Toni Collette and be the early version of her, right? Nope. You hire some pretty square faced actress who looks, acts and talks nothing like long faced Toni Collette.

Well, then, your second most important lead is Andrea (Andy) Oliver. She, at least, will resemble her mother, right? Nope. Looks like she came from a totally different family altogether. And not from Nick's, either.

So you have two storylines you try to weave together into a coherent whole and what you get, instead, are two utterly unconvincing stories played by perfect strangers, not family members.

Other than that . . . Well what else is there?

I watched to the end to see all the big surprises. A waste of time and electrons.

The Weekend Away (2022)

Watch every detail

[7/10 · 6 March 2022]

Like Chekhov's gun, which is shown at the beginning and which becomes an important plot point, so there is a Chekhov object that, in the end, turns the whole story.

So you have to watch every detail.

And since I checked the "Spoiler" box, you aren't here if you don't know what that object is.

How many of us thought to remember the object from the very beginning of the film to see when it would turn up again?

A fairly decent whodunnit, but for the footage at the water's edge which fingers the wrong suspect. That footage was a cheat.

Reacher (2022– )

The Full Size Reacher

[10/10 · 4 February 2022]

This Jack Reacher is 6'5", comes in at 260 lbs and what a difference it makes.

Lee Childs' hero arrives on the small screen as originally envisioned, not some 5'6" pretty face lightweight.

The action is non stop and the stunts are great. The viewer has to suspend belief on occasion since Reacher comes out of almost every brawl -- or worse -- only with a few scratches and all the bad guys wind up dead. But this is the Jack Reacher we all love from Childs' books.

I heartily recommend this series. I binged it and don't feel guilty about that at all.

Daughter of the Wolf (2019)

Richard Dreyfuss Must Have Needed the Money

[1/10 · 6 January 2022]

At 89 minutes this piece of garbage is barely feature film length. But it's not a feature film. It's little more than a short that has been expanded by 60 unnecessary minutes.

It's pretty much unwatchable except for the scenes involving the wolves which I assume are wolf-dog crosses. They were great. The rest was terrible.

The most unbelievable scene -- and there were many -- was Gina Carano's rescue from the icy water by one of the kidnappers she had shot and was abusing.

Richard Dreyfuss' career has hit a new low in doing this film. He must really need the money. And, by the way, this fine actor was terrible, too.

Miss Sloane (2016)

This was the screenwriter's first script.

[1/10 · 1 January 2022]

This was the screenwriter's first script. It shows. But not the director or Chastain's first. Shame on them.

Real human beings don't do any of the things Chastain and most of the others do in this film. It is utter fantasy. The legal concepts are utterly ridiculous, too. A witness asserts her Fifth Amendment privilege not to incriminate herself as to answers that might incriminate her. Testifying to some things does not constitute a waiver of the witness' rights. HIPAA, in effect for more than a decade before this movie, would prevent Congress (or pretty much anyone) from obtaining Miss Sloane's medical records unless she had waived her rights. Clearly she did not. The writer knows nothing about American law and no one cared.

So the writer got it wrong right at the beginning. And wrote about people doing things no one would ever do.

I can't see Why Jessica Chastain was so anxious to do this film except that it allowed her to be a heroine, and an unbelievable one at that.

Noisy junk. Sadly.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Morally indefensible and absolutely unnecessary

[2/10 · 24 December 2021]

Without Matt Damon this film makes no sense. Jeremy Renner gives it his best, but he's no Matt Damon. Rachel Weisz is nice eye candy, but she reminds me of Christmas Jones, Ph. D. in TWINE. An utterly unbelievable character.

The plot is an utter mess, but entirely predictable.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

Top Notch Film

[10/10 · 21 December 2021]

I thought Groundhog Day was the perfect repeating day movie. And then came Edge of Tomorrow with its own take on the genre. Both were enjoyable. I didn't think they could be topped.

They were. This sweet little film, with several jaw dropping long takes thrown in to show the director's triumphant techniques, is a sleeper which needs to be acclaimed far and wide.

It should get a passel of Oscar nominations, from the two lead actors to the direction, screen writing and film editing. But knowing Hollywood, where connections count the most, I suspect we'll be disappointed.

But if you're reading this, you will be disappointed if you miss this perfect little film. Watch it.