FilmFanLifelong Reviews

The Curse of Oak Island: The Italian Job (2023) Season 10, Episode 23

Give the viewers EVIDENCE

[3/10 · 9 May 2023]

And talk about evidence. And deal in facts. Or cancel the thing. After that loonie woman author in season three (I think) I was hoping we'd never deal with simple, abject nonsense/guessing about every single thing. The narration is unbearable.

I've taken to watching episodes on mute due to the narration.

"Could this be the blah blah blah ... that connects the treasure to the Knights Templar/Colombian treasure/Incan treasure/a horcrux from Harry Potter?"

Someone needs to come up with a drinking game where you take a sip every time the narrator makes a baseless supposition or asks a ridiculous leading question with literally NO EVIDENCE.

We'll all be drunk before the first commercial break.

The Curse of Oak Island: A Barrel Full of Clues (2023) Season 10, Episode 20

Love the story, tired of the narration

[3/10 · 11 April 2023]

"Could this finally be the . . . " ten times every episode is driving me crazy. Narration is just driving me crazy.

Absolutely love the hunt but the "Could this wall have been ... " nonsense is exhausting. I'm to the point I watch with closed captioning and even then it's excruciating.

It's a compelling enough story without the soap opera/pro wrestling-style narration. Reminds me of Geraldo Rivera and the mystery of Al Capone's vault.

About the actual chase for the treasure (which I truly believe is there still, not only because of the show, but having read everything available from Sullivan and O'Connor's detailed works, to the ridiculousness of Joy A. Steele's hypothesis on the island (which fits none of the evidence) to the oldest snippets and articles.) there's a great story in and of itself.

I hope the Laginas do find it, I feel their science-based approach is the best of any of the previous hunters.

The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022)

Excellent, excellent prequel

[9/10 · 26 December 2022]

The haters on here I'm not understanding.

What is most hilarious is people commenting on elves as if it's history. So they've chosen a creative, non-traditional way to portray elves-so what? To be butthurt about it is like people who are mad about Harry Potter as if he was a real person like Eisenhower or Jefferson.

The obvious lifting of parallels from Kurosawa's Seven Samurai notwithstanding, this short series is filled with interesting and vibrant and interconnected characters which contribute beautifully with the series. Brother Death and the rest of the band are fully fleshed and well portrayed.

My complaint: wish it was 12 episodes or more rather than four.

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness (2021)

Pretty fascinating theory

[9/10 · 16 May 2021]

And not the "down the rabbit hole" conspiracy theory I was thinking I might see. Some solid investigative journalism, lots of things I didn't know about a case I know a LOT about, and in several cases some highly unlikely coincidences that say the original story might not be all on point.

The Serpent (2021)

Missed a chance to be near perfection but still terrific

[8/10 · 15 May 2021]

And the only reason it's not a 10 is the odd cinematic choice to constantly jump back and forth in time (THREE MONTHS EARLIER, FOUR MONTHS LATER, SIX MONTHS EARLY, THREE MONTHS LATER). I rewatched the first episode just to count the jumps in the first hour. Twelve times. You almost need a calendar to keep track of where you are. I was hoping it would slow down after episode one. Nope. Episode 2 there's MORE time jumps.

It's infuriating. "Oh look, they're alive." Nope. Now the next scene, they're dead. "Oh know. They're dead." Two scenes later: "Oh look, the couple that was dead is alive again." Two scenes later: "We're investigating their death." Couple more sequences: "Alive again." Ugh.

Episode three there's seven - SEVEN - time jumps in the first 19 minutes. One every 162 seconds. It's beyond "storytelling" it's distracting AF. And it doesn't get any smoother or less frenetic. It's eight hours where every 4-5 minutes it time jumps.

Such a great and compelling tale. Absolutely discombobulates a terrifically acted and well-told story.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)

Two stories

[3/10 · 14 May 2021]

One is the actual investigation by the LAPD and Coroner's office.

The other is the most ridiculous spin down the conspiracy rabbit hole.

Compelling in degrees but not all that fascinating. The "web sleuths" spinning out every possible stupendously ludicrous conspiracy theories RUINS this.

History of Swear Words (2021)

Hilarious.

[10/10 · 16 February 2021]

Informative. Great fun. Truly LOL and Nicholas Cage doesn't take himself too serious. Not sure what the prudes on here are expecting for a series called "The History of Swear Words". A natural extension from Carlin's 7 dirty words.

The Twilight Zone (2019–2020)

Terrific work

[10/10 · 16 August 2020]

Original and daring in a lot of ways. Even if you've watched all the originals they have found ways to introduce unknown twists and turns.

Those who complain about it being somehow social media or politically "influenced" apparently aren't scholars of the original series and are no longer remembering the many, many social issues Sterling and the writers addressed.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark (2020–2021)

I'm at a loss for the negative reviews

[9/10 · 3 July 2020]

This is a story about Michelle's chase of the EAR/ONS but it's truly a master class in documentary filmmaking. The chase gets under your skin. It unveils itself in a breathtaking manner. I am amazed that I hadn't heard more about the crime and the chase before this film.

Nightflyers (2018)

Fascinating

[9/10 · 6 December 2018]

New and yet familiar. It pulls from Event Horizon, Solaris, Silent Running and Brainstorm. Truly good sc-Di and unpredictable and engaging. I'm unclear why any true fan of the genre would be writing the bashing reviews it's getting. I love it.