JimBurd Reviews

The Neighbor (III) (2020)

To Be or Not To Be

[9/10 · 22 November 2020]

The average life is full of twists and turns, and you never know where things will lead. A young woman is despondent and planning to kill herself. When a self-involved neighbor intrudes, he's too concerned with his own problems to be aware of the impending tragedy that he's temporarily interrupted. But that just might be the ray of light this girl needs.

The writing is very, very good. Fast paced, and realistic. The acting and directing are also top notch.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Horrible and unwatchable

[2/10 · 25 September 2017]

Maybe it's a Guy Ritchie thing. Maybe you love him or hate him. But for me, this movie just sucked big time. I never really cared about any of the characters, except for maybe the Mage. Multiple times during the movie, the scenes switch rapidly back and forth between 'past' and 'present'. Big effing whoop! It was needlessly confusing, and didn't add anything useful to the movie. I would have been SOO much happier if the scenes has just been displayed in Chronological order.

And the scene at the end, where the Norse leader threatens Arthur and then capitulates for no obvious reason ... what the hell was that all about? It added nothing to the story line, and it just came off (to me) as COMPLETELY nonsensical. If the Norse were as strong as depicted, then there's no way they would have capitulated so quickly and meekly. Total rubbish.

They Died with Their Boots On (1941)

Historical Rubbish

[2/10 · 19 June 2017]

The history in this film is just horrible. Other reviewers and the 'Goofs' section contain a decent list of them, so I won't recount them here. The fact is, this film pretends to be a portrayal of George Custer, and that simply can't be ignored.

The thing is, I like history. A *lot*. So the many, many, many historical inaccuracies in the film are a constant distraction. I simply cannot ignore or excuse them. This totally ruins the film for me, hence my score of two stars. From Custer's entrance to West Point, to his fake promotion, to his respect and empathy for the Indians ... it's all made up and fake.

If they had simply made up all the names (of people and battles), then it might have been an enjoyable film. But as it was ... nope.

Adam Ruins Everything: Adam Ruins Going Green (2016) Season 1, Episode 26

Far Below Par

[2/10 · 4 January 2017]

I usually enjoy watching the episodes of Adam Ruins Everything, but this episode fell far, far below the standards set by the previous episodes in the series. Not that I'm a Green fanatic (far from it), but the episode was riddled with logical flaws and questionable assumptions. As just one example, Adam claims that walking to lunch is worse for the environment than driving because the carbon produced in making a cheeseburger is more than produced by driving. (Because the carbon cost of beef is so high.) But if you walk and eat the same lunch, then you are obviously producing less carbon. And if you eat more food to make up for the calories expended during your walk, then let's count just the carbon used to produce those calories. And if you eat a large fries instead of a medium fries (to make up those calories), then the carbon footprint is very small. Probably a lot smaller than driving to lunch.

The episode was full of really great points and information, and they get tossed around with so much nonsense that it ruined the whole episode for me. :(

Taken 3 (2014)

Decent movie ruined by editing

[4/10 · 30 October 2015]

The plot of this movie is hard-to-believe, at best. But then, this is true of many action films. However, what could have been a pretty decent action movie is completely RUINED by the editing of this film. During the action scenes, most camera shots last two seconds, tops. This makes it almost impossible to follow the action.

Instead of understanding what is happening, the viewer is left just staring at the screen as a series of images fly past. At one point, a car plummets down an elevator shaft. The car crashes at the bottom, and our hero starts to get out of the car. How will he get out? We'll never know as the camera cuts away to an aerial scene, and an explosion occurs that takes out the entire elevator shaft. Did he get away? Well, of course he did; this is an action flick, and the hero can't die! But it's left as an exercise for the viewer to figure out how he escaped such a large explosion. Pff ... whatever!

I, for one, will be thrilled when this current fad fades, and we can go back to watching much more enjoyable films where the camera can hold a shot for tens of seconds.

Curiosity (2011–2014)

Don't waste your time

[2/10 · 13 February 2012]

Oh, wow ... this show is BAD. The material presented is not that new, but much (most?) of it is presented as if it is a stunning new discovery. The filmography is horrible. I can't stand the shaking camera, the constant out-of-focus shots, and the panning-out-of-focus-extreme-closeup shots. I had to just listen to the show and ignore the video portion in order to make it through the episode. I imagine someone is trying to make a name for themselves, trying to get away from the "standard, boring" style of most documentaries. But it was so constantly distracting that I lowered my rating from 5 to 2.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Utterly Bad

[2/10 · 21 December 2006]

Are you kidding me!?!? This movie was just non-stop stupid. The only thing that kept me from giving it a 1 was the (real-life) photography. I realize that this is a fantasy, but I just didn't "get" this film. The over-all story line was weak and silly. The bulk of the acting struck me as being too wooden, and being that way on purpose. The animations were cartoonish, and always stuck out as being such. Again, this seemed on purpose.

This movie had gotten such good reviews, that I figured that there had to be some redeeming value that I had not seen. I watched the movie all the way through to the end, thinking that something would happen to change my impression of the film. All it accomplished was that it wasted another hour of my life.

If you watch this movie and like it, then more power to you. But if, like me, you're halfway through this film and you're thinking it is extremely dumb, then you might as well eject the DVD because it doesn't get any better.

This movie probably appeals much more to Bill Murray fans, which I admit that I am not. But given that, I still thoroughly enjoyed Scrooged and Ground Hog Day, so I don't think that this explains my dissatisfaction with this film.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

Very good kids movie

[9/10 · 24 December 2003]

No way I think this movie deserves its current rating of 3.5. OK, the movie doesn't make it into my personal top ten. But I watched this with my 10-yr-old daughter, and she was laughing out loud through a lot of it. She thought it was great! I thought it was fine; certainly as good or better than the average kids movie.

Inferno (1998 TV Movie)

So schlocky it doesn't even qualify for campy.

[2/10 · 14 June 2003]

Absolutely horrible movie. Not a bad plot concept, but executed horribly. Cliché storyline; bad script. So schlocky it doesn't even qualify for campy. This is the kind of movie that gives sci-fi a bad name.