If you want to know what a movie would look like if it were made by people who think "well she was asking for it, just look at how she was dressed," this is the movie for you. The actors and actresses I'm sure did the best they could with the screenplay provided. But when you're asked to act in a morality tale about how desperately women need to be protected from their own emotions and experiences how much can one expect? Key takeaways: women tend to fantasize and/or imagine abuse; the men they think are their abusers are really their heroes; women will become insane and invent abuse scenarios if that will protect their delicate oh-so-fragile egos; and, most importantly, any claims of abuse by a woman are a fiction she concocts to save herself from any culpability from anything...ever.
Reviews
8 Reviews
Invasion
(2021–2024)
Apple strikes again with another cardboard show
1 September 2023
Sometimes you watch a show because of the potential. Maybe it offers a different take on a well trodden trope or features an actor whose performance is enough to transcend the otherwise insipid, uninspired dialogue and direction. Sometimes you watch a show because you so desperately want to believe you're missing whatever it is that critics claim to see. And sometimes you waste your valuable time watching a show only to have your initial instinct proved correct.
The first season was bearable only insofar as it offered the possibility of something good. The second season is complete garbage. Apple must've fired all the writers before the writers' strike and decided it'd be worth it to have chatgpt write the show. The second season is cringey at best and at its worst makes me feel for the actors and the poor decision their agents made in sticking them in this schlock. I hope they recover because some of them deserve material better written and with direction not provided by an AI drone raised on crappy sci-fi and the most boring, infantile fantasy.
The first season was bearable only insofar as it offered the possibility of something good. The second season is complete garbage. Apple must've fired all the writers before the writers' strike and decided it'd be worth it to have chatgpt write the show. The second season is cringey at best and at its worst makes me feel for the actors and the poor decision their agents made in sticking them in this schlock. I hope they recover because some of them deserve material better written and with direction not provided by an AI drone raised on crappy sci-fi and the most boring, infantile fantasy.
The Last of Us
(2023– )
Best Performance by a Young Actor
6 February 2023
Bella Ramsey's performance alone is enough to float this series. She gives one of the most convincing performances I can recall seeing in a person under 20, or really by any person of any age. She hits every emotional note and by midway through season 1 it is clear we are witnessing a star making performance. I can't wait to see what this young person does in the future. She is going to be one of the brightest lights in Hollywood for a long time if she maintains anything close to the level of excellence she displays in this series. One might not think a zombie apocalypse could provide a backdrop for one of the strongest performances of this century and one would be wrong.
The Handmaid's Tale
(2017–2025)
Great TV until...
24 January 2023
Easily one of the best of the best of all the "prestige" tv shows to appear on streaming services in this century. Until...season 5. How many times can one person be captured, escape, be recaptured, escape again, etc.?
In short, they milked the cow too many times. Season 1 was near perfect. Season 2 was fantastic, maybe the best season of the series. Season 3 was really good. Season 4 was compelling because I wanted to see how the story wrapped. Season 5 was outright stupid. It was poorly written, jumped the shark at every conceivable juncture, and was full of trite plot "twists." It abandoned all of the nuance of the story and devolved into a bad broadcast network "thriller" complete with guns and over-the-top melodrama. By the middle of this season I was rooting for exactly no one and I only finished it so I didn't feel like a sucker for having been taken in by the first installments.
In short, they milked the cow too many times. Season 1 was near perfect. Season 2 was fantastic, maybe the best season of the series. Season 3 was really good. Season 4 was compelling because I wanted to see how the story wrapped. Season 5 was outright stupid. It was poorly written, jumped the shark at every conceivable juncture, and was full of trite plot "twists." It abandoned all of the nuance of the story and devolved into a bad broadcast network "thriller" complete with guns and over-the-top melodrama. By the middle of this season I was rooting for exactly no one and I only finished it so I didn't feel like a sucker for having been taken in by the first installments.
American Rust
(2021–2024)
Too willing to jump the shark
6 January 2023
Much of the acting is superb. This might be Jeff Bridges at his best. And Maura Tierny is equally excellent. Some of the supporting cast is wooden sometimes making it feel like they spent all the money they had for casting on the headliners.
The examination of the decay in rural America is compelling. However, the writers were way too willing to jump the shark with some ludicrous plot lines. You really need to suspend your disbelief which is a real shame since the underlying pathos is all too believable. Perhaps it's an unfair comparison but this is Mare of Eastown without the excellent writing of that series.
The examination of the decay in rural America is compelling. However, the writers were way too willing to jump the shark with some ludicrous plot lines. You really need to suspend your disbelief which is a real shame since the underlying pathos is all too believable. Perhaps it's an unfair comparison but this is Mare of Eastown without the excellent writing of that series.
Too Old to Die Young
(2019)
One of the hidden gems of the 22nd century
7 October 2022
It's some of the best television I've ever seen. Take Ethan Coen and add David Lynch, then subtract any of the subtextual humor of their films before multiplying it all by American Psycho and you are maybe half way to where this miniseries will take you. Every performance is spot on. Not a single word of dialogue is extraneous or misplaced. It's a challenge for sure but you will be repaid with some of the finest art ever made for a tv screen. Each episode is over an hour long yet nothing is wasted. I'd run out of hyperbole before I could adequately describe this show. Easily one of the best things to watch in the densely populated universe of streaming media.
Tomato Red: Blood Money
(2017)
A Meditation on Poverty in Modern Rural America
25 September 2022
Julia garner is, as expected, mesmerizing. The role might hew a little too closely to the character she plays in Ozark, but in an hour and a half she brings similar nuance to a character she developed over many years in the Netflix show. Anna Friel as Bev is a subtle sensation and Nick Roux as Garner's on-screen brother is sublimely understated. Jake Weary as the male lead is in one of those roles where it's difficult to imagine anyone else doing it. He *is* Sammy.
Much of the dialogue is truly mesmerizing, a credit to Juanita Wilson whom it is impossible to imagine isn't from a trailer park somewhere in the impoverished American south. (I swear I'd read the ingredients panel on a Hostess snack cake were it written by her.)
This may be the most poorly titled film I've seen in a long time, the title suggesting the kind of story that we don't get. It's not an action flick. In fact, the genius of this film is that at almost no point is it about what you think it's going to be about. At one point it seems a light hearted caper, at another a wonderfully tragic and perverse love triangle, and at yet another a tale of revenge and regret and horrible choices to be made in horrible circumstances. But in that lies the movie's success. Separately these themes don't tell the story this movie is telling but woven together as they are the narrative theme coheres: being poor white trash is a desperate, powerless, anguishing situation, yet those who survive, survive. And sometimes we should pity them for it.
This film is why independent film exists and should continue to exist despite and especially because of the pressures the major motion picture industry exerts.
Much of the dialogue is truly mesmerizing, a credit to Juanita Wilson whom it is impossible to imagine isn't from a trailer park somewhere in the impoverished American south. (I swear I'd read the ingredients panel on a Hostess snack cake were it written by her.)
This may be the most poorly titled film I've seen in a long time, the title suggesting the kind of story that we don't get. It's not an action flick. In fact, the genius of this film is that at almost no point is it about what you think it's going to be about. At one point it seems a light hearted caper, at another a wonderfully tragic and perverse love triangle, and at yet another a tale of revenge and regret and horrible choices to be made in horrible circumstances. But in that lies the movie's success. Separately these themes don't tell the story this movie is telling but woven together as they are the narrative theme coheres: being poor white trash is a desperate, powerless, anguishing situation, yet those who survive, survive. And sometimes we should pity them for it.
This film is why independent film exists and should continue to exist despite and especially because of the pressures the major motion picture industry exerts.
This Is Not a War Story
(2021)
A hidden gem demonstrating the power and necessity of independent film
9 September 2022
So much pathos it's disquieting, exactly the way good dramatic cinema should be. With unsung performances by unsung actors, this film embodies everything good about independent film making. It tackles an uncomfortable subject with uncomfortable honesty. The realism is heartbreaking, the dialogue immersing, the acting inspiring. It's not often a movie of this caliber comes along, a shame given the power of the story it tells.
As the title aptly suggests, this is, most definitely, not a war movie. It is a movie about consequence, and conscience, and the courage to persevere.
I rarely write reviews but this movie was so good I'll do anything I can to encourage others to watch.
As the title aptly suggests, this is, most definitely, not a war movie. It is a movie about consequence, and conscience, and the courage to persevere.
I rarely write reviews but this movie was so good I'll do anything I can to encourage others to watch.
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