garyvines-01290 Reviews

Baby Reindeer (2024)

Not for everyone, but a powerful story with some flaws

[6/10 · 21 April 2024]

The previews of this tell an autobiographical story of how an unsuspecting bar tender named Donny (Richard Gadd) fells somewhat sorry for an overweight, older woman who comes into his bar crying. He's nice to her and she instantly bonds to him in an unhealthy way. Ito goes on for quite some time before he reports it. The lag in time for his reporting is explained in the series so I won't go into it here.

The things I liked about it.

1. The acting of the leads. Richard Gadd was ok, but Jessica Gunning carried the movie.

2. The first 4 episodes were good, then it sort of went from a dark comedy to just dark.

3. I haven't seen someting quite like this before 4. The ending and not in a sarcastic way, it ended kind of nicely for me.

The things I didn't like.

1. The character of Donny. He makes stupid decisions and then when whines about why his life sucks. Hello!

2. The actress who played Teri wasn't a very good actress.

3. This didn't need to be a mini-series. The whole story could have been told in an hour and a half movie.

If you're a member of the LGBTQ+ or a woman or identify as a woman, you may like this story better than those not in any of those communities. It's definitely not a family series so don't invite the kids.

Beef (2023– )

Very good!

[8/10 · 15 April 2024]

I am a fan of Steven Yeun, who I had seen in The Walking Dead (TWD). I have to admit, that when his character departed, I liked the show a little less, so that says something about his talent as an actor. I chose to watch this only because I hadn't seen him in anything since he'd left TWD. The show initially starts out as a beef between 2 strangers who nearly have an accident in a parking lot when Yeun's character Danny Cho is backing out of his parking spot and nearly hits someone in a white SUV (Ali Wong's Amy Lau). Their lives become inter twined as they both plot ways to get revenge on each other which initially starts out as juvenile pranks, but turns darker and darker as the series progresses. As the series moves on, we learn more and more about each of the characters that makes you have more sympathy for each even though some of the things they do are mean, selfish and self centered. The acting is great in this and, as a point of reference for the direction, I had seen Justin H. Min in "The Umbrella Academy" and thought he couldn't act at all. He did much better in this so it could be that he had a better director and it may not have been a reflection of his talent.

An all star cast and it meets all of my criteria of being good, in that it has a beginning a middle and and end that resolves nicely with a little bit of magic.

The Midnight Club (2022)

Liked it, binge watched the whole thing in 2 days

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

I really wasn't sure what this mini-series was about, so I thought I'd give it a try. It follows our lead Ilonka (Iman Benson) who, at first, appears to be a bright young girl ready to head to college until she finds out she has terminal cancer! The setting is 1994 and she starts to explore the world through the internet and finds a hospice for young people her age and decides to live out the rest of her days there. There she meets a few guys and gals her age and even a love interest Kevin played by (Igby Rigney). Every night, they meet in the library and tell each other anthology type scary stories that are loosely based on their own lives or fears and sometimes they end in cliff hangers. This alone would have interested me, but there is a supernatural element, and strange things go on in and around the house. The doctor in charge of the Hospice, Dr. Georgina Stanton, is played by none other than Heather LangenKamp known as Nancy from the original Nightmare on elm street. Don't let that put you off, she's honed her acting skills quite a bit since her Elm Street days and does a good job. There is also a neighbor named Shasta who sheds a light on things to our lead that appears hidden from the others.

Sad, heart warming, scary and fun all at the same time. A great watch and homage to some horror/thrillers from the past with a heart.

I love the way Mike Flanagan tells a story except that I like my stories to have a beginning, middle and end that resolves nicely, which ALL of his stories miss some part of this as that he likes to tell his stories in a circular way so he likely will never get above a 7 from me but I do like his stories and I also like that he re-casts actors he's used in other projects, they all do a great job.

The Watcher (2022– )

A pretty good watch even with some flaws (more like a 6.5)

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

This is apparently based on a true story in which a family is harassed by an unknown "watcher" who continues to write them threatening letters indicating that they know their names and the goings on inside the house. A great cast of supporting characters help this mini-series elevate from a great concept to a decent watch although the story itself is a little convoluted and there are plot holes that don't resolve.

A couple who are a little bit older than one would expect with 2 school age children move to the suburbs to escape the big city. They are met with less than enthusiasm by creep, weird neighbors and, of course, the watcher who sends them cryptic messages. The pool of suspects grown with each episode but that starts to get a little tiresome as that you come to expect it and then come to expect it to not be them. A few too many red herrings for my taste but still worth watching.

All of the actors in this do a great job and carry the story to a better viewing opinion than what this would have been with a more amateur cast. I didn't immediately identify anyone that was mis-cast except for maybe the leads who are a bit older (in my opinion) than what would have been for school age children.

I did appreciate that this was a mini-series and not a movie as that more needed to be explored than what could have been done in an hour or 2.

Worth a watch, worth the binge, it's not great but its entertaining.

Farscape (1999–2003)

Interesting

[8/10 · 30 March 2024]

This follows American astronaut John Crichton who is propelled into the far reaches of space due to his newly discovered worm hole technology. He finds himself on a prison ship with aliens of all shapes and sizes. The ship itself is alive and we get to to follow the adventures of the inabitants as they try to escape the galatic police known as the "Peacekeepers." Think of Buck Rodgers (if you're old enough) meets Battle Star Glactica meets Return of the Jedi meets Star Trek. It is unique and unusual and the stories are well told. The one I recalled from the first run in 1999 was "Bone to be wild," where I learned somethign intereting about one of the Aliens, but I didn't actually watch the whole series until 2014 (wow, that's 10 years ago now.)

Loved it liked it less in the later episodes as one of my favorite charactes left and only returned once.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Loved this, it actually made me go back and read the book

[8/10 · 30 March 2024]

So, If you weren't familiar with the orginal movie "The Shining" you may not be completely familiar with the goings on in this show. Its a folow up to the 1980 Movie the Shining Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duval as a couple entrusted as the winter over care taker of the Overlook hotel. The hotel shuts down in the winter due to all of the roads being cutoff to it and they are hired to maintin it during the worst of it. He's a former school teacher who lost his job due to drinking and she's a stay at home mom with thier young son Danny whose been in psyhological turmoil ever since his father hurt his arm durng a drunken night. Their overlook winter over is sort of a reset for the whole family. Shortly after their arrival, the boy and the hotel's head Chef Holleran have a Psychic converstaion which the chef referres to as "The shining" which his grandmother also had. The ghosts of the overlook begin to show themselves to Jack (the Father) and convince him that he needs to kill his family. The mother and son esacpe eventually and the boy grows up and uses his Shining to help eldery patients pass on, hence his name "Doctor Sleep." Fast forward to today and we find that there is a group of psychic vampires who hunt down and kill children with abilites as that their "Steam" the let off when dying sustains them. Danny (Doctor Sleep) befriends a young girl with an incredible shining that is attacting this group.

I loved it, and if you're into that sot of thing or were a fan of the original or read Doctor Sleep, which I recommend, you'll like this. Be warned, its a long movie as that Stephen King tends to tell longer stories.

Poor Things (2023)

What the heck?

[1/10 · 17 March 2024]

Looked interesting from the previews, but it didn't have a beginning, it just sort of started in the middle of an ongoing story in the short time I did watch it, I watched a very good actress act like an infant, piss herself and I had to turn it off she. Started playing with a dead guys member. That and the grating music quickly had me put off and not interested in where a story like that could go. We were also eating dinner which I don't recommend as that it's gory up front. They also took the already ugly Willam Defoe and made him uglier without explanation at least during the brief time I watched.

Midnight Mass (2021)

Not bad, definitely worth a watch.

[8/10 · 17 March 2024]

If "The Stand" were edited down and cross bred with "Salem's Lot" (yes both Stephen King references), then given just enough love story and drama to keep them in a gray area of both, that's the definition of this mini-series.

The series opens with our lead male character Riley Flynn played by Zach Gilford apparently immediately after a fatal accident caused by his driving under the influence. He's sent to prison for 4 year and after returns home to a small island town that looks like it could either be off the coast of Maine of Washington state or both at different times. His doting mother is excited (Played by Kristin Lehman) but his disappointed father (played by Henry Thomas) isn't as welcoming. His young brother Warren (played by Igby Rigney) sneaks out at night to smoke weed with friends and has a crush on Leeza who's in a wheelchair due to a hunting accident. I know, this all sounds like of convoluted and more like a daytime soap opera than a horror movie, which was what I thought too until we meet Father Paul, the replacement of the towns former aging Catholic Priest who took a trip to Israel but didn't return and Father Paul was sent as his replacement. His busy-body, judgey, church-lady assistant Bev Keane rubs everyone the wrong way, but she is devoted to the Father and helps him out even when things with him get a little weird.

Mike Flanagan known (by me) for "Doctor Sleep," "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Fall of the House of User" among other anthologies and great horror stories in the last few years does this little gem. I had seen all three of the listed shows he's done but didn't know this one was in existence until this past weekend when I found it and I have to say I appreciated the way he told this story. I like that he tends to use the same group of actors as his primary players and they always sink deeply into their roles as they are all great actors. The two leads (Zach Gilford and Kate Siegel) are very good actors and bring depth and gravity to their characters that was required due to their dark backstories. Samantha Sloyan nailed the church-lady right on the head another great actor. Annabeth Gish, great, Rahul Kohli, Great, Henry Thomas, Great...Hamish Linklater....good. Yes, he's a good actor and he did a good job in his character, but there was something not-quite-there for me as him as this pivotal character. First of all, I hated the character so that could be part of my "less than" assessment of him and the second is that he's surrounded by great actors so good stood out more to me. The story with him started to grate my nerves about him and his preaching and ranting ran a little longer for me than I think I wanted it to. Quite a few characters launch into a lengthy back-story and that I found interesting and hanging onto every word, while when he did it my mind would wander and I would want him to get to the point.

My judgement of a movie or show is that they should have a beginning, middle and end that resolves nicely with a little bit of magic. This one had all of that so that immediately gets it above a 6, great actors bring it up to 7 and the story itself gets it to an 8. I didn't care of some of the characters as they were unnecessary and I didn't like how it ended, even though there was resolution it was a little to dark for me to give it higher than an 8.

The Color Purple (2023)

As a fan of the orginal and not a fan of musicals, this one landed well for me

[9/10 · 15 March 2024]

I'm not going to give a synopsis of the plot of this movie because the Color Purple is well known. This one was made into a musical and was on broadway for sometime featuring Fantasia Barrino in the pivitol role of Celie, Tarji P. Henderson as Shug Avery, Danielle Brooks as Sofia, Corey Hawkins as Harpo and Coleman Domingo as Mister. If I didn't know what the movie was about and heard this as the cast I would want to watch it but that's another story.

While there were some departures from the original movie, they kept the heart of the movie beating and to me, the singing was done just enough to not be annoying but enhanced and added to the story.

The actors and director managed to keep the emotion, gravity, humor, drama and tension of the original such that this movie was just as moving as the original. I loved the Whoopi Goldberg appears in it as to give her blessing to it and sort of pass the torch to the younger actresses in this.

I have seen division in the reviews and I'm on the "loved it" side of the house and I'm skeptical of remakes and musicals (avoid Les Miserables at all cost if you're not that into musicals). If you're a fan of any of the actors in this, watch it, you even get to hear Taraji P. Henderson sing, which I didn't know she could. She was a perfect Shug Avery, I was skeptical at first but she nailed it.

The only reason I didn't give his a perfect 10 was the few departures from the original, the length of the movie was a bit long for me but so too was the original and while Fantasia Barrino is an accomplished singer, sometimes her voice is a bit grating to me, especially her long solo in the movie, but that's a matter of taste on my part not talent on hers as that she is clearly a talented singer and actress.

The Good Nurse (2022)

A little bit better than I expected, I didn't realize it was based on a true story

[7/10 · 14 March 2024]

This movie features Jessica Chastain as a nurse named Amy Loughren who's newly employed at a hospital such that she doesn't yet receive medical benefits. She needs to work for a few more months before she can get them and due to an ongoing medical issue, this becomes a very important part of her job and her life as that she has 2 young daughters at home and is struggling financially since her medical conditions is costing her out of her pocket. While at work a new nurse shows up Charlie Cullen played by Eddie Redmayne. He's kind of a goofy and awkward guy but nice enough and soon he and Amy and her daughters become fast friends. They become such good friends that he is allowed to watch her daughters and eventually her babysitter (which was costing her) is needed less and less. Charlie discovers her need for medical benefits and agrees to help her in the impending months before he benefits arrive. In the meantime, something starts happening to patients that appear to be on the mend who start dying unexpectedly. Amy discovers that Charlie is responsible for the deaths and, at great cost to her job, benefits and potentially her life, agrees to help the police stop him.

I didn't know this was based on actual events until the end of the movie when updates on the actual people flashed at the end.

While this movie isn't really a thriller, horror or even a phycological thriller, it does fall into a drama with horror overtones as there is substantial body count, although not done in a violent way. The actors were VERY good with well written story, but it didn't really have a lot of punch until the end when the drama comes to a head. I think I appreciated the sort of muted way the characters were portrayed until the end when their acting abilities were called on the carpet. This movie isn't bad, I just kind of didn't know what to expect as I hadn't heard this story before. It's worth a watch, just know there aren't any jump scares (that I recall anyway) and it's a bit of a slow burn.

Anyone But You (2023)

It was ok, but fell very short of other movies that were similar

[6/10 · 2 March 2024]

Girl meets guy, guy helps her go to the bathroom, they sleep together apparently during a break she's having from her fiancée. She leaves in the AM, thinks twice about it, returns to hear him saying disparaging things about her, only to serendipitously run into him again as that her sister is marrying his best friend's sister (same sex marriage). They go to Australia of all places and her parents invite her ex-fiancé to the wedding, while the guy's ex-girlfriend is related to one of the ladies getting married. They decide to play nice in order to deflect her ex and attract his ex and get through the wedding as that they keep getting into tiffs that the brides are afraid will ruin the weekend.

Oh man, yeah, it's as bad as you think. Now similar stories have been told like Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynold's "The Proposal," or even Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum's "lost city," or even harken back to the late Brittney Murphy/Ashton Kutcher's "Just married," would all fall into this category of love/hate ROMCOM. The others that were listed all had excellent supporting characters played by great actors that carried the movies to where they were above like a 5 on our 1-10 scale. They weren't academy award winning by any means, but they were cute and fun, but not forced. Not this one. You've seen the movie if you watched the trailer, really only the Leads in this are any good, even though there are veteran actors as the parents. Maybe the poorly written/badly executed movie didn't really allow them to shine like they could have I don't know. To me the real standout was Glen Powell. He could do more, if given the right direction, the leading lady Sydney Sweeny, doesn't have the acting chops to carry out the complex character she was written as. You needed an Amanday Seyfried type to have the acting chops to pull this off, and it seemed that was what they were going for. Who is the current Kate Hudson but in their early to mid-20s that has the talent to pull this off? I don't know.

I hated the best friend Character Pete, played by someone named Gata. Maybe he's not an actor, he sure didn't seem like one here. You could practically hear the director telling him what to do. He wasn't funny, didn't have any chemistry with the Lead and delivered his lines like, well, someone who can't act.

The two ladies who were getting married, didn't seem to have chemistry together at all, I know they weren't the focus, but again, it looked like 2 actors who'd never met before got thrown together and told to make it work, it didn't.

So the story is stupid, the writing is terrible, you've seen the move if you've watched any of the trailers, most of the actors can't act and those who could were sent to the background with only a few lines here and there....but, this movie had a clear beginning, middle and end that resolved nicely. I was at about a 3 or 4 for most of the movie and at one point just wanted to turn it off (somewhere around the scene where they were digging in each other's buts), but the ending was ok and they did this cute thing with Natasha Bedingfields' song "Unwritten," which I liked.

Dark Harvest (2023)

A mish-mash of horror types that almost delivers a classic, but had its flaws

[7/10 · 25 February 2024]

This movie is about some mid-western town in the 60s that has some sort of curse where the teenage boys have to attempt to kill some pumpkin headed beast every Halloween. They are locked up for 3 days before hand and not fed so that they're crazed enough to go out searching for "sawtooth Jack" who kills upon site. If the beast isn't killed before midnight apparently there is a long stroke of bad luck and their crops won't grow.

I wish the movie had explained why this happened? This movie sort of starts in the middle of the overall story but didn't explain why they have to defeat the best, why it comes back every year and how that even came to be in the first place. It does however start at the beginning of the story in that Richie Shepard's brother Jim defeats the beast and his family is then gifted with cars and a nice home. Jim drives off with his quote "they're aren't any stops signs on the black road," or something like that, then he drives off. Fast forward to a year later, Richie is now kind of thug and runs with some greaser type guys who steal, and get into trouble. Richie is now waived from having to participate in the "run," however, feeling overshadowed by his older brother he wants to. Along the way he's picked on by the school Jocks, befriends a black girl who he is sweet on and the story unfolds that maybe his parents aren't so happy with their current position. Richie keeps getting letter from his brother, but its never clear exactly where he is. The town also has some dark group called the Guild which governs everything that goes on in the town.

The move mashes up varying horror elements, most notably the creature feature Pumpkin head, children of the corn, the purge with some elements of other movies, enough that it makes it interesting, but I don't think this movie ever figured out what it wanted to be. The actors are all really good, I think Casey Likes really had the depth and gravity for his role and Emyri Cruthfiild was believable as the town female badass, all the way up to the end. The ending I had an issue with. I'm gong to write this with spoilers because it bothered me so much. In the end, the winner of the runs drives out of town, only to be stopped by the sheriff and forced into the corn fields where he's killed, buried, dug up at a later date, has a pumpkin put on his head, then hung up to dry where the pumpkin fuses to his face and somewhere along the way imparts him with pyrokinesis and superhuman strength. This is going to happened to Richie because of course he wins the run, but both he and his girlfriend are total badasses through the whole movie up until the end. Richie is of course pulled over by the town sheriff, forced out of the car and into the field where he attempts to thwart the effort of him being killed and put into the ground by shooting the sheriff, only to have some farmer whack him in the head with shovel and bury him anyway. The whole time I expected his girlfriend to make some attempt at saving his life. Instead, she's in the car crying and Richie's father finds her and tells her to go. The biggest plot hole was that both of them were complete badasses, she was enough of a badass to go on the run in the first place when girls don't even have to but was willing to risk her life only to be in the car and cry while her boyfriend gets killed and buried, the character wasn't written like that and created a giant inconsistency for me.

I was entertained and there were some gruesome parts that almost seemed added in as an afterthought. Some editing of this movie could allow for a wider audience to enjoy but the way it is now it's just too dark to get a higher rating than what I'm giving it.

Mea Culpa (2024)

Soulless, bad movie!

[4/10 · 24 February 2024]

This movie is dull and put on. It has the feel of a Lifetime movie but less interesting. Kelly Rowland plays a supposed tough Chicago lawyer but her character doesn't translate the grit or depth that a tough lawyer character should have. She has only one note and an expressionless face. The only expression that helps her is when she smiles which she should play more roles that would allow that. And the lead actor.... Ug! He's terrible! He can't deliver a line to save his life! He doesn't come off like an artist at all, he comes off like a professional athlete attempting to deliver a line like a cheesy commercial. I lost interest way early on. The characters are all dimensionless, vapid and predictable. The story could have been better with the right actors and director but this one is awful. I'm going to try and finish it but I'm not interested enough to do so.

Eileen (2023)

I liked it but it's missing something

[6/10 · 17 February 2024]

This movie is about a homely young woman named Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) who works at a prison, takes care of her alcoholic father (Shea Whigham) and apparently is a voyeur in her free time. She does basically the same thing everyday and goes unnoticed by most everyone until one day, the lovely Dr. Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) shows up like a flower in dirt pile. She takes an interest in Eileen unlike (apparently) anyone else in her life ever has.

I wasn't sure where this Movie was going to go, Horror, psychological thriller, lesbian love? The short answer is that I don't know what this movie wanted to be or what the director wanted the movie to be. I'm not all about labels, but this movie needed something to work toward as that it was somewhere in the middle of genres and made it seem unfinished and unrealized as a result. Movies should have a beginning, middle and end that resolves nicely and a little bit of magic. This movie starts in the middle of 2 or 3 different stories and simply stops without an ending which is why I couldn't give it too high of a score.

Should you watch this movie, sure, why not. The actors all do a great job with a disjointed story. There's kind of a cool twist that made me sit up as that the movie hadn't really captured me up until that point.

May December (2023)

Kind of wanted to like this more than I did

[5/10 · 4 February 2024]

This felt like one of the "ripped from the headlines" Lifetime movies that have recently come out, in that it explores the forbidden love between an adult woman and an underage guy about 20 years into their relationship. Julianne More is the older woman, Charles Melton the younger guy and Natalie Portman (Elizabeth) is the actress interviewing and researching the part since she had been cast to portray her in an upcoming movie.

The movie explores the dynamic between the couple years later and through the eyes of the Natalie portman character who is researching for her role, we get to meet Julianne Moore's character (Gracie's) former husband and son from that marriage who, incidentally, is the same age as Gracie's current husband. Gracie and Joe have 3 children together and the twins (the younger) are just about to graduate from high school.

With 2 of the cast as actresses who I've heard of before, I was very interested in this movie. I expected there to be an "a ha!" moment or some twist to the story that would cause me to sit up and be like "oh wow!" but that never happened. This movie was shot like a B 1970s or 1980s psychological thriller and even the music in it led one to believe that something more was about to happen, but it never did. I hated the music BTW.

One of the most interesting things in the whole movie was the guy, Joe, raised Monarch butterflies and released them. In this hobby, he apparently has an online friend that he's pushing the boundaries of their friendship with but, since there is a distance, he never acts on it. The second most interesting thing was Elizabeth went to the kids' school and spoke to the drama club about what it was like to film a sex scene, that was pretty good.

Gracie apparently is emotionally fragile, cries herself to sleep every night and speaks with an odd, child-like lisp that is never explained and isn't continuous through the whole movie. She does it sometimes and doesn't at other times.

While I initially liked the Natalie Portman character, as the movie went on, she was just bland and meh and when she does do something that I won't reveal here, it just makes her character a terrible person in my opinion. There is not redeeming qualities to this character.

So, If you watch this movie, don't expect big reveal or plot twist or even something cool to happen. It never happens. Watch it if you're bored, like Natlie Portman or Julianne Moore or any of the other actors in it and have nothing better to do.

Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road (2023) Season 1, Episode 0

A great start for this Doctor and a fun and interesting Christmas special

[10/10 · 5 January 2024]

In this special we get to see the newest doctor played by Ncuti Gatwa and his companion Ruby Sunday played by Millie Gibson. Ruby is adopted as that she was left at a church as a baby by a mysterious woman. She is currently being plagued by little goblins who make bad circumstances for her and apparently have a appetite for babies! While what may have been off putting for some, this episode brings back a youthful funness that Matt Smith's doctor brought to the series during his run. I love the new doctor, I love his youthfulness and I loved how this episode was able to give some of the idea of the range of acting that Ncuti Gatwa brought to the character. I don't mind that he's LGBTQ+ as that it's simply acknowledged and then got back to Doctor stuff. In the past, some of the LGBTQ+ characters shoved it down your throat like the Captain Jack Harkness character especially in Torchwood and the Bill character with Peter Capaldi's doctor made it too much of a focus.

I always loved the Christmas specials and I loved this one. Was it disjointed, well yes, could it have been better written, yes. Was it a great, fun story that resolved itself quickly and gave us enough of a peek into the characters that we want to see more, absolutely! In my last 4 reviews, I mentioned that I had stopped watching the series sometime during the Peter Capaldi's doctor after he began to travel will Bill. I didn't like that version of the doctor and couldn't connect with the show any longer. When David Tennant came back with Catherine Tate, I watched to see how I would feel about the return of Russel T. Davies and let me tell you, I've missed him a lot.

I'm hooked again and I want to see more, something I didn't think I would ever say again with this series.

Doctor Who: The Giggle (2023) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

What a great way to say goodbye (for now) to David Tennant's Doctor and hello to Ncuti Gatwa's doctor.

[9/10 · 25 December 2023]

I began watching Doctor who in the 80s with reruns from Tom Baker's time as the doctor so that Doctor was the one that imprinted on me the most and the model which I hold all the other doctors thereafter. I got to meet Sarah Jane Smith, Harry, Leela, K-9 and then I dopped off thereafter. When Netflix first started, I decided to try to start from the beginning and watched the first doctor and some of the second. It's hard to find all the earlier seasons as that BBC purged their files at some point after the series was going and those files are lost. I did get to see the episode of the "toymaker," and hadn't seen him again in a long time. The Daleks, Cybermen the Master, they all keep churning back up but I haven't seen him since Doctor 1! There is no better actor I could think of that could bring the toymaker to life than Neil Patrick Harris. He was perfect for the part and I'm thinking he'll show up again later on.

The toymaker is a celestial being that has unlimited powers, but he chooses to use them for trickery and jest. While he seems harmless in his actions, he's actually deadly but for some reason likes to toy with the Doctor as that he's one of the more clever begins the toymaker has encountered.

Watch this episode if you liked Russell T. Davies storylines, David Tennant as the Doctor, Donna or Neil Patrick Harris in anything.

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

This was what I missed about Doctor who, the dynamic between the doctor and his traveling companions and the great storylines and mysteries they needed to figure out

[9/10 · 25 December 2023]

I had stopped watching Doctor who sometime in 2019 around the time of Peter Capaldi and Bill. Something about that guy playing the doctor I didn't like but when he had Clara, she softened his harsh, but Bill just didn't do it for me, and I quit watching.

When I heard David Tennant and Catherine Tate were coming back, I had to watch, and it was like no time had passed. I watched the final Jodie Whittaker episode, and she wasn't bad, I had just lost interest before she came on so no offense to her. Then the "Star Beast" special and I was hooked. I've missed the dynamic between these two as that it always felt the most familiar.

The story is a good one, the TARDIS has landed on a spaceship at the edge of the universe where there aren't even any stars. There doesn't appear to be anyone else on board and the Doctor and Donna must figure out how to get off the ship since the TARDIS took off due to sensing imminent danger. Things get interesting though when they do finally run into other beings.

If you liked doctor who during the David Tennant years and especially during the Donna and Doctor years, then you'll love this episode. If you didn't care much for the Donna Character, watch theses specials anyway as that the writing is much better than what sent me off the tracks in 2019.

Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

Loved seeing Donna and David Tennant's Doctor together again.

[8/10 · 24 December 2023]

I had stopped watching Doctor who during Peter Capaldi's run. I didn't care much for the Billie Character and the story lines weren't capturing me any longer. When I found out that Catherine Tate and David Tennant were going to reprise their roles, I was very happy and excited to see it and let me say they didn't disappoint.

The story is about David Tennant's doctor (the fourteenth) who had regenerated in an old form after the 13th doctor who presented as female played by Jodi Whittaker was injured and regenerated. We find that Donna has a family now, in addition to her grandfather and mother, she has a husband and daughter who we find out is a trans female. The doctor isn't supposed to see Donna as that she can't remember being the Doctor/Donna or she'll die. Donna's daughter aptly named "Rose," has discovered a small furry creature that calls himself the "Meep," who she's helping only to discover that 2 other groups are also looking for this creature. There is a twist here that I won't give away, but this episode takes you right back to the era of Doctor and Donna, and we get to also get to meet a new character in addition to Donna's family we meet Shirly Bingham played by Ruth Madeley who utilizes a wheelchair that has some surprises in it that we get to see. She works for Unit and you get to see more of them in later specials.

If you liked Doctor Who in the first few seasons and watched during David Tennant's turn as the doctor, watch this episode. You don't necessarily need to have watched the episodes I missed with Peter Capaldi/Jodi Whittaker, but it may help.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (2022) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

This made me want to start watching this again

[7/10 · 4 December 2023]

I dropped out somewhere during Capaldi's doctor. I didn't think he was very much like the doctors I had come to love. This was unfair to Jodi Whitakers doctor as that I had no desire to watch this any longer. Well, I didn't have anything going on this past weekend and had seen that David Tennant and Catherine Tate were going to return, which sparked my interest. I wanted to kind of get caught up, but this episode was moderately self contained and wrapped up nicely. I liked that they brought back doctors and companions from the original series, but unfortunately, I didn't really watch it when those doctors or companions were on minus breifly watching Pete Davidson's doctor and Tegan. I would have loved to had seen Tom Baker's doctor and maybe Leela or Romana. Sara would have been the best but I just couldn't with the actress having passed. Anyway, this has brought me back and I look forward to seeing the Doctro (tennant) and Donna again. I'm also looking forward to seeing Ncuti Gatwa as the new doctor as that I loved him in "Sex Education."

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

Interesting and entertaining even if there were some plot holes and mis-castings

[7/10 · 1 December 2023]

A show that takes elements from Edgar Allen Poe works and weaves them into modern day with all of the mystery and intrigue that his works provided. Honestly, I'm only moderately familiar with Poe's works but was still able to identify most of the stories' Poe references. I wasn't familiar with his work "Fall of the house of User," so I wasn't sure if this held true to that or not and in the end, didn't care. The story is about a brother and sister played by Bruce Greenwood and Mary McDonnell in modern day and Zach Gilford and Willa Fitzgerald in the 70s. In modern day the siblings own a pharmaceutical company "Fortunato," that they obtained by nefarious means in the late 70s. The primary drug they sell is advertised as not addictive, but it is indeed. The Brother has 6 children, apparently only 2 of which were with his wife who he was with in the 70s, named (of course), Annabel Lee. The rest are apparently out of wedlock but he chose to take care of them financially anyway.

We find out early on that all of the children meet ever increasing gruesome demises and the show plays on that. It's interesting as the show is narrated by the brother's perspective and he is confessing his crimes to a district attorney with whom he has had a checkered past.

What I liked about it: the storyline, very compelling stuff. I found myself wanting to watch more and more of it. The character Verna, I thought that was an interesting thing to do with the story. She's a recurring character in different manifestations that visits each of the children prior to their deaths. I liked the Character Camille and Juno, the actresses playing them did quite well with the characters.

I had issue with the character of Perry Usher, played by Sauriyan Sapkota. In the story, he seduces (in a way) his older brother Fredrick's wife played by Crystal Balint. Where I had the issue was that the actress playing Fredrick's wife (Crystal Baliant) is beautiful and written as a pure character who bakes amazing cakes that look like everyday objects. The actor playing perry is a young, skinny guy that, although he's a good actor, I didn't buy that he could seduce his borthers wife, at least not her. There was no pre-exsisting chemistry, there was nothing in the storyline to indicate that character would be capable of something like that and it made no sense that she would have put herself in a compromising position. Not with that guy anyway.

The other casting issue I had was with the older version of Madeline Usher. While Mary McDonnell is a good actress, she's most notable for motherly roles and that came out in this series, but I don't think that character was supposed to be like that. The younger version in the 70s had her a diabolical mastermind, however in the persent day she had prom hair, dressed too young and didn't project ball buster at all. I'm not sure what went wrong there, but it made no sense to me.

The other issue I had with the story was the unnecessary use of bi-sexuality, sex and sexuality and nudity. While I don't have an issue with any of those things in a show or movie, they should have a reason to be there. In this story, they served no real purpose, the characters that were bi-sexual could have been written as either straight or gay and been just as effective. Some of the sex and nudity could have been implied or simply left out with just as much impact. Also, the sex and nudity was a bit more overt in some areas, then left out of others.

Overall this was a great series, and I recommend it. Yes, if you liked the Haunting of Hill house, you'll like this too. I liked the director's take on these stories so I don't have as much an issue with him as others, but that's just me. Watch it, and if you don't like it you can turn it off.

A Haunting in Venice (2023)

The preview contained all the best parts, you don't really need to watch the rest now unless you liked the first two movies in the trilogy

[6/10 · 15 November 2023]

I watched "Death on the Nile" and "Murder on the Orient Express," (and liked them) and what the three movies all have in common in addition to Kenneth Branagh (who does a great job by the way), they all feel aimed at a younger audience, kind of like a made for TV movie instead of a suspense thriller like I expected. With a few minor tweaks and edits, this could be a PG movie of the week. In this particular movie, I was hoping for more than the typical red herrings and plot twists that the other two movies provided, but alas it was more of the same. Don't get me wrong, it was worth watching, especially if you watched the other two movies, but there was something wrong with this and I'll explain what I mean.

For me, a movie should have a beginning, middle and end that resolves with a little bit of magic. I had everything I wanted in a movie except an ending that resolves, or as I should say resolves nicely. This one did not. It almost seemed kind of thrown together so that you'd gasp. I figured it out way early on.

The goods: The gothic scenery was worth a watch alone. The setting was incredible and the story itself was an interesting story. Also good is the acting of Camille Cottin, Jude Hill, Kyle Allen and Kelly Reilly eventhough her character wasn't written very well.

The bads: The writing, character development and some miscastings. Tina Fey is a comedic actress and can't really hold her own against this cast. Her character is written as chipper and smart and probably should have been a younger actress. I would have liked to had seen her cast as the medium that Michelle Yeoh played. I would have liked to had Michelle Yeoh in more of the movie, instead of what amounted to almost a cameo.

And the main reason I didn't score this higher, was the ending. There is a major plot hole here. Spoiler alert ahead: The mother as the killer, Ok, but it was obvious early on. There was a plot hole in that she, as a woman of smaller stature, basically drowned Hercule in what amounted to a bowl of water in a chair. He could have gotten out of that very easily. Second, she talked her doctor into killing himself by stabbing himself in the back! Seems kind of difficult to achieve and he did it with no protest, I had issues with that.

So, if you watched the other two movies, this is more of the same. If you liked the other two movies, you'll like this one. If you didn't watch the other two, read the reviews and watch the preview you'll get everything you need from that alone.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

Read this before you watch if you're a parent or squeamish.

[6/10 · 14 November 2023]

This movie is about the ship voyage that physically transported Dracula to England via the Demeter. The crew includes a doctor who was a last minute replacement of another deck hand who quit. The doctor befriends the Captains cabin boy who is also the captain's son who is about 10 years old. During the early parts of the voyage there is a disturbance in the cargo hold which reveals a woman who had fallen out of one of the crates and is assumed to simply be a stole away. While this plot device seems benevolent, women on ships in that day was considered very bad luck. This sends the crew, minus the captain and doctor into a rage and they want to throw her overboard. With permission from the captain, the doctor administers a series of blood transfusions that he believes will help her fight off her "infection." Then, day by day things and people begin to disappear.

The goods: this movies started at a 9 to me since the idea of a vampire on a ship seemed very interesting. The cinematography was amazing. The on shore scenes were so picturesque.

The idea of the story, to my knowledge, hasn't been done before. It did keep me all the way through.

The actors overall did very well, considering one of them was a child.

An interesting end.

The bads: A few plot holes existed such as the length of time it took someone bitten to become zombified. This was throughout the whole movie

The main "bad" for me was the death of the child. Yes, children dying in vampire movies isn't new reference 1979's Salem's lot. In this story, the death wasn't as much a plot device or something to fuel revenge to kill the vampire, instead it was overt, unnecessary, and was sad enough that I almost wanted to turn the movie off afterward. Then I was given hope that, like the girl before him, that he could be revived by blood transfusions, that wasn't considered and he was simply given up on and went up in flames, literally. This story could have had some degree of redemption (for me) but his death just brought this movie down for me.

The other death scenes were all a little more gruesome than most other vampire movies. To me this was unnecessary.

So I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone squeamish, even a little. Don't watch if you're a parent to a child. This isn't a family movie.

I would recommend if you're into harder core horror, like vampire movies and aren't a parent.

Mortuary (1982)

I had no idea this had Bill Paxton in it

[5/10 · 2 November 2023]

This movie is about a college-aged girl named Christie (played by Mary Beth McDonough best knows at that time for her work on the show "The Waltons,") whose father, a psychiatrist, dies in his pool, but, through dreams, Christie believes that his death was no accident. She is dating Greg, who recently went to a warehouse with his friend Josh where they discover that Christi's mom and Josh's boss (a Funeral Home owner) are involved in some sort of dark ritual. Josh does not make it out of the warehouse, but Greg does.

Christie also sleep walks and upon coming out of one of her trances, she sees a dark figure attempting to stab her.

Now convinced that that same person responsible for her father's death is after her, she becomes even more paranoid.

Ok, now my thoughts. The way the movie reads when I wrote it sounds like a group of 10-year-old girls sat around in a circle and made up a movie. It is silly, there are plot holes everywhere, the acting is terrible, the story is terrible but I absolutely loved it! I can't explain why, maybe because, watching the movie as a 50 year old man instead of a 9 year old will change the lens through witch you watch the movie. I laughed out loud many times, whereas when I watched it as a child I was terrified.

The bads: The writing, editing, storyline, special effects, acting, directing and production

The goods: It's laughable in a good way, it's old school horror/slasher so if your into that you'll love this one, the house (even back in the early 80s that house was beautiful), Bill Paxton! Bill Paxton delivered quite a few over-the-top performances back in the 80s and this one delivers. His character is kind of a creepy mis-fit and he plays it well.

Don't watch this if you're expecting "Halloween" but do watch it if you want to giggle at bad 80s clothes, movie production, and storylines with a few slasher elements included...and Bill Paxton!

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

It was like there was a joke going on that I wasn't in on.

[2/10 · 26 October 2023]

Apparently, fans of writer/director Jim Jarmusch get this sort of humor, but to me it wasn't funny. It felt like all of the actors were type cast or attempting to act as a type cast in the roles they were in. I kept expecting the 4th wall to break and hear the director yell "cut!" then get onto the entertaining parts of the movie, Even if this is a spoof movie, it's still not funny or entertaining. Those types of movies are supposed to be a little silly but at least they're fun and to some degree entertaining, this we like watching beige paint dry and on Tuesday with the power out.

If you're in on this sort of thing and a fan of the director, then you're going to love it, I expected more from an all-star cast at least.