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mile8green
Reviews
Renovation of the Heart/It's a Fixer Upper (2019)
Get To The Point, Already!
I lowered my expectations in order to subscribe to Pure Flix, which is where I found this movie, but after 30-minutes, I had to bail on it. As is typical with movies on PF, the problem here is the writing.
You have this massively materialistic and superficial woman who is unhappy in her relationship because she isn't getting what she wants for it. All the while, the couple is financially broke and she has no clue. They're behind three months on rent and facing immediate eviction but she is completely unaware. Really? The actress gives a fine performance, but the character has to be believable in the first place. I just couldn't get passed it because the character is not only unbearable, but the story just does not move along. Get to the point, already!
Live + Local (2022)
Little more than a morning radio show
The writing of this show is a big gamble and they rolled snake eyes. Nearly the entirety of each episode is the two on-air talent doing their radio show, so the viewer experience is more like listening to morning radio. When I sit down to watch television, I want to watch TV, not listen to morning radio. So, despite there being a little bit of story line weaving episodes together that concerns tensions around talent and management, each episode is a disappointment. The behind-the-scenes is less than 5 minutes in a 38-minute episode.
Breaking Strongholds (2021)
Has great potential, but needs work
I found this mini-series on Pure Flix and thought I'd give it a try. At first, it looked like it was going to be much better than most faith-based content, but it began to fizzle the moment the lead actor came on screen. I could tell he has no acting experience, so I looked up the show and its cast members on this site and it looks like none of them have much acting experience. When you take that into account, it isn't too hard to cut them some slack. For someone with no Hollywood resume, Tori Garmon is especially impressive - they should have put her in the lead role and written it accordingly. She's the most talented person they have in front of the camera.
The most impressive part of this short series is the production value. That element seems as good as what comes out of the mainstream and the writing isn't bad, either. It develops a bit slowly like a drama and there are signals that those behind the camera have experience and have some idea what they're doing, such as the final scene in Episode 1. That shows you they understand the pattern and have not pridefully ditched it to go experimental.
It appears to be produced from a church that uses church folk as cast members and has a low budget. The first thing that tipped me off was a flashback scene where two 40-something women play themselves at age 13. They really should have found a couple of teens to do that scene with. A woman who is clearly in her 40s cannot pass as a girl about to turn 14.
This show is worth watching as long as the viewer knows what he or she is getting into. It has a lot of potential, but needs a budget and experienced actors to live up to the ceiling the writing and production gives them.
Breaking In (2018)
Racist Movie
The film opens with a Black American watching television, then putting on a watch and going for a run. He gets hit by a pickup truck driven by a White American who appears to have hit him on purpose. He slowly gets out of the truck and slowly walks toward the victim, then stomps on his head.
The next thing you know, the lead character is taking her kids to the estate after her father has passed away and she is spending the weekend getting it ready for the estate sale. Three more White American Men are then the bad guys, breaking in to steal money from the safe. The mother and the children have been separated with the kids in the house and mom on the run with one of the white men trying to kill her.
This can be expected from today's Leftist Hollywood. Most violent crime is carried out by Black Men and most crimes carried out on Black Americans are carried out by Black Men - not White Men, but you know who it's okay to target with racism these days.
Buried (2010)
The guy dies
The viewer spends 1 1/2 hour in a coffin with a guy who has been buried alive with a cell phone and a few other supplies, never going to any other locations - not even flashbacks - only to have the guy die at the very end.
7500 (2019)
Worst movie I've seen in a long time
I kept waiting for this movie to go somewhere, but like a plane that never gets off the ground, it sputtered. They attempted to tell the tired old skyjacking story from the point of view of the cockpit and, though that's unique, the whole movie is single-camera and takes place inside that cramped little space. That's it.
The pilots get settled and the flight attendants begin boarding. They take off and one of them opens the cockpit door. A Muslim terrorist rushes the cockpit and the rest of the movie is a conflict between the hijackers and the surviving pilot over opening the door or not. In real life, the door is not opened after passengers board, so the whole movie is based on a device that is divorced from reality.
DCI Banks (2010)
Cops have to have firearms!
This is the second time I have tried to watch a British cop show; the other was Luther. The acting is great and so is the production and whatnot, but both shows prove with no doubt that police officers must be equipped with tasers and pistols. Whey they don't have them, they get killed in situations where they would have lived if they had been properly equipped. Obviously, the Brits are too liberal for their own good. Weakness kills.
Tin Star (2017)
Well-written so far
I'm only 7 episodes in on Amazon, but I wanted to give the show some praise for the two best things about it.
1. It's well-written. Many episodes start with a dramatic event that takes place at the end of the story, then flashes back and works up to where the episode started. I like that.
2. The scenery. I've never been up to the Canadian Rockies, but from watching this show, I will have to try to visit in my lifetime. The scenery in this show is breathtakingly beautiful.
With that said, they didn't need to sensationalize with sex, nudity, and gory violence. It goes past the point of supporting the storyline and is just cheap.