johnh22 Reviews

Echo 3 (2022–2023)

Leave it to Hollywood: Black Ops, Narcos, Terrorists...& THE MESSAGE

[5/10 · 31 December 2022]

Echo 3 is action thriller by Mark Boal, writer for Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, etc.

Echo 3 is based on 'When Heroes Fly' a series from Israel, I think. The story centers around the kidnapping of an American scientist and the attempted rescue by her brother and husband, former Delta force.

Episodes 1 & 2 are not too bad, but later episodes drag, and it is clear this story could have been told in two hours or three hours. The story starts to stall around episode 4 or 5. Lastly, shoehorned LGBQ characters and narratives are injected into the story: totally contrived to fit into Hollywood's MESSAGE.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Failure in Everyway

[1/10 · 6 September 2022]

Rings of Powers opening credits say it is based on Lord of the Rings, a prequel of sorts.

Two ways to review Rings of Power: 1) As a stand-alone artistic endeavor. Or 2) As an attempt to bring Tolkien's vision to life on screen,

1) As a stand-alone product, the Rings of Power fails as a stand-alone show. Editing and pacing are poor; the special effects leave something to be desired; costumes and make-up not great; there is yet no discernable plot. Characters are inconsistent.

2) As an adaptation of Tolkien. Whatever else the show may be, it is not "Tolkien"; nor is it (as the opening credits claim) based on The Lord of the Rings and its appendices in any meaningful way. This point must be driven home: the writers openly insisted that their principle was always to return to the book for guidance and inspiration; credulous critics have believed them. This is simply not true.

Did the show writers even read The Lord of the Rings? If they did, they fundamentally misunderstood it: in their hands, Tolkien's moral and imaginative universe is simply gutted. The Moral touchstones of Tolkien's world are piety, gratitude, and humility. In The Rings of Power, these virtues are absent; they are acknowledged only insofar as they are repeatedly rejected.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

Prequel Lacks "Edge, Imagination, and Iconic characters"

[4/10 · 23 August 2022]

The prequel to Game of Thrones (GOT) has arrived. This version takes place 172 years before the first series and focuses on the Targaryen line of succession: a male heir vs. Female heir. Go figure, medieval monarchies just have not gotten the memo on equal rights - Don't they realize it's 2022?

House of the Dragon is not bad compared to 'Rings of Power' - a very low bar indeed - but it is a pale reflection of the original: It lacks teeth; it's tame; it feels more like a history lesson than Game of Thrones. Frankly, House of Dragon reflects the wave of political correctness that has taken over Hollywood. The show has race swapped white characters; while the show also has a contrived focus on childbirth scenes and tends to push female characters at the expense of most of the male characters - Daemon is the only male character remotely interesting. To make matters worse, the characters talk like people from 2022 dressed in costumes.

Grades:

Casting: Grade D+. Actors do not reach the quality of the original series. Casting reflects the latest Hollywood tiresome obsession: racial quotas and affirmative action type casting - when they ignore the source material. It's a distraction for purely ideological, not artistic reasons.

Story: Grade C. The story feels like an Eilzabeth the Tudor queen period piece (with a little Richard III and Hamlet mixed in.) The original Game of Thrones had fantastic elements, iconic characters, and engrossing plot twists: House of the Dragon is mundane in comparison.

Production: A. Sets, CGI, costumes are HBO quality. Slightly inferior to the original, but still pretty good.

Overall: C-. This series could have been much better: The show runners were clearly terrified of criticism from the twitter crowd directed toward Game of Thrones regarding race, women's roles, nudity, sex scenes, etc. - but apparently gore and gratuitous violence is still o.k. House of the Dragon deserves a rating of about 6 or 7. I rated it 4 because the inflated ratings of 10 skew the results.

A League of Their Own (2022)

Fantasy with Zero Realism or Authenticity.

[1/10 · 17 August 2022]

A League of Their Own is nothing in common with the movie. Then who is it for? Baseball fans? No. Period Piece or Historical Fans? No.

A show about baseball set in the 1940s, yet has little to say about baseball and includes characters, plots, and themes that don't reflect the 1940s; in fact, the characters talk like people from 2022, not 1943. Why bother?

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Meandering Coming of Age Story. Shoehorned LGBQ subplot

[5/10 · 8 August 2022]

Official description: "The story of...Gary growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love."

Well, the running around part is right. The plot is meandering, lacks strong focus. While the acting is o.k., the movie does not have a compelling plot line. There is a vague endgame or goal: the romance itself, it's just an odd romance trying to hold together a chaotic plot. And... true to Hollywood messaging, the movie shoehorns a LGBQT subplot that comes out of nowhere near the end: Pandering drivel.

Hannibal (2013–2015)

Well Done.

[9/10 · 31 July 2022]

Review based on season 1 and season 2, so far, pretty good. 'Hannibal' is based on the character from "Silence of the Lambs" and "Red Dragon." Both were books adapted into movies I believe, I did not read the books or see Red Dragon the movie.

Unless you lived under a rock, you know the story of Hannibal Lector: crime, serial-murder, mystery, psychological drama. The drama is well done from every standpoint: Acting, Production, and storyline. Laurence Fishbourne is excellent, solid performance by all.

Dark Winds (2022– )

Top Notch Crime Story

[8/10 · 17 July 2022]

Dark Winds is a crime/ mystery based on Tony Hillerman novels that follows a Navaho Police Lt. As he investigates crime affecting the Navajo Nation, circa 1970s.

Grades: Plot: B, the story is interesting and progress well. Production: A, first rate. No cheap sets, costumes, etc. A strong effort was made to make this show look realistic. Acting: A. Strong acting performances, led by lead actor Zahn Mclarnon and supporting actress Jessica Matten.

Bottom Line: Dark Winds is well worth a try. Suspense, Intrigue, top notch production and acting.

The Terminal List (2022– )

Almost No Politics. Just Entertainment.

[7/10 · 10 July 2022]

The Terminal List is a revenge thriller. It's not like Death Wish or John Wick, it's more military oriented, a little like Seal Team with a revenge twist.

Grades: Plot: C. Production: B. Acting: B+. Constance Wu and Taylor Kitsch had standout acting performances.

Bottom line: Dramatic moments, along with Constance Wu and Taylor Kitsch makes this show pretty good. But, best of all, like Reacher, this show (with some casting exceptions) was close to being ideologically neutral - no preachy messaging in the dialogue at least.

P. S. The dark screen/ lighting complaints is puzzling to me. If I can't see the screen, I simply turn off the lights in my living room. It's a simple fix. I have an old t.v. And had no problems.

Pistol (2022)

Entertaining

[7/10 · 16 June 2022]

Biopic inspired by the Sex Pistols punk band and the biography by Steve Jones, Sex Pistols Guitarist and founding member.

I was there when punk was starting to wind down, listening to the Sex Pistols in the early 80s'. Steve Jones was an underrated guitarist, his rhythm was tight, his riffs were influential.

Pistols is a show probably more interesting to those who knew the band. I will say the story is one-sided. John Lydon was excluded, it is all based on Steve Jones version of events, and even that is dramatized, so who knows how much of it is accurate. That said, I enjoyed the music and the story line was engaging enough for me to finish this series in two weeks. Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcom Mclaren was the best acting performance.

My grades Story: B-; Casting: B-; Production: B+

Tribes of Europa (2021)

Apocalyptic Science Fiction

[7/10 · 30 May 2022]

Tribes of Europa involves the end of western civilization - Apocalyptic SciFi - where humanity has devolved into tribes, limited technology and no modern conveniences. Tribes fight for dominance and survival in some cases. The story centers around three siblings who must survive after becoming separated. Watch the original German version with English subtitles, 1/3 the dialogue is English anyway, rest German.

Acting & Cast: Grade C+, Acting was good enough to sell the story. No blatant P. C. messaging in the casting: The cast is a realistic mix of competent male and competent female characters, and the diversity in the cast roughly reflects the actual demographics of Germany.

Plot & Writing: Grade B-, Story held my interest. Politically correct messaging is toned down, which was a nice change from American television. There are some inconsistencies in how they present technology, but nothing too distracting.

Production: Grade: C, Sets, costumes could be better.

The Cleaning Lady (2022– )

Borderline Ridiculous in some ways. Yet Some Actors were compelling

[4/10 · 30 May 2022]

Cleaning lady is a story about a woman in America to get surgery for her son, but she finds herself caught up in the underworld of organized crime.

The Good: 1) Lead Actress and Actor- good performance and chemistry 2) Supporting Cast- Good performances by most actors, actresses.

3) Production is good, no cheap sets or camera work.

4) Story manages to create descent suspense 5) Good romantic subplot

The Bad: 1) Many aspects of the story are unbelievable, and some scenes seemed contrived to make the story lines work.

2) Politically Correct messaging underlies casting, dialogue, and plot.

Bottom Line: Fair, largely due to the lead actress.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Strange New Worlds (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

Star Trek in Name Only.

[1/10 · 29 May 2022]

Strange New Worlds (SNW) follows Christopher Pike, a character established in early episodes of the Original Star Trek "The Cage" and "The Menagerie."

SNW episodes are standalone adventures, in an effort to emulate the Original Star Trek. However, the similarities to the original are few and far between.

"Star Trek Strange New Worlds' takes place around 2259. Yet the characters act like they live in 2022, i.e., it's a 2022 zeitgeist: Strange New Worlds is essentially set in 2022, only with spaceships and tractor beams. The show is bogged down with 2022 political messaging and culture debates. Conclusion: The original "Star Trek" was great because it wanted its audience to think; it did NOT try to tell the audience what to think.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Watchable, but Flawed.

[5/10 · 30 April 2022]

Dramedy, Sci Fi, Dystopian plot line.

Two main problems: Lackluster ending and the romantic subplot is utterly unfulfilling because he is kind of a "simp" and the love interest is not even likeable.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

THE MESSAGE takes over the story

[1/10 · 24 April 2022]

Series based on comic book characters from Marvel.

Bottom Line: Nonstop identity politics - also known as the Never Ending MESSAGE completely takes over the story. As Roberto Duran would say No Mas!, Just give us some entertainment...

Outer Range (2022– )

Slow & Politically Correct, Bad Combo

[1/10 · 16 April 2022]

'Outer Range' is a fantasy or sci fi show set on a ranch in Montana or Wyoming.

The show has a supernatural, surreal vibe. Acting and production is above average. However, the plot moves slow, and politically correct messaging starts in episode 2.

All the talk about dark lighting is the least of the problems in this show.

The Thaw (2022– )

Main character is a bit of a "Mary Sue"

[3/10 · 7 April 2022]

The Thaw is a crime drama/ mystery set in Europe.

The series has a dark/ gritty feel, which is good. The story centers on a female detective investigating a woman's murder

The story is nothing special and the characters are pretty cliche. Although the main character is not a total 'Mary Sue,' the character does have several "Mary Sue" character tropes: Only she has the powers to solve this crime, everyone else is obtuse, arrogant, or just background noise. In addition, many of the characters surrounding the main character are one-dimensional, male chauvinist types whose sole purpose appears to be to impede her plainly superior investigative skills that allows her to see things better than everyone else.

Vikings: Valhalla (2022– )

A Complete Fantasy Pretending to be a Historical Drama

[1/10 · 26 February 2022]

The "Brave Heart" of television with a large dose of P. C. messaging.

"Vikings Valhalla" goes "all in" on the idea of amazon-like Norse Women; it's cliche, boring, and totally inaccurate.

Seeking women warriors in the past is a cheap way of scoring points with new audiences by making women act as men, when the reality was more complex. Glorifying male roles over female and presenting women as having importance only when they inhabited such roles overshadows the fact Norse women were equal to men in most ways, unlike most other societies of the time. Norse women controlled the wealth of the household, managed the farm or businesses, and made the most important family decisions about wealth.

There are many accounts of warrior women in the Viking myths; however, they were merely fantasy, not reality. There is no real archaeological evidence to suggest that shieldmaidens ever existed.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Greatest Fantasy of All Time.

[10/10 · 23 January 2022]

The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), based on the book by J. R. R. Tolkien, the father of modern High Fantasy.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien transformed fantasy. It spawned role playing games and inspired countless imitations - it literally embraced and celebrated the Celtic and Norse cultures that inspired it. Tolkien's aim was to create a mythology for Britain, and he succeeded - LOTR is truly a cultural phenomenon.

The Lord of the Rings film by Peter Jackson transformed fantasy on film. Before Jackson, fantasy films were usually low budget affairs, a niche. This film paved the way for Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and the rest.

Do yourself a favor: Read Lord of the Rings, then watch Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings - an adaption of the books that is faithful and revered by all true "Hobbit Heads."

Hawkeye (2021)

Hawkeye?

[3/10 · 9 December 2021]

Total bait and switch.

They finally made a show about Hawkeye...

Too bad Hawkeye is a guest star in his own show.

Disney is the bizarro King Midas, every beloved franchise Disney touches is stripped of its original character and transformed into modern, sanitized drivel.

The Wheel of Time (2021– )

Bitterly Disappointing. Huge opportunity was squandered.

[1/10 · 20 November 2021]

The Wheel of Time is an Epic fantasy based on Robert Jordan's books.

Now to lay down some context, "The Lord of the Rings" by Peter Jackson was an outstanding adaption. When I watched the Lord of the Rings movie, it was like the books came to life. Was LOTR exactly like the books? No. But the trilogy was close in most practical respects. No one expects an adaption to copy the books, but most expect the show to stay true as possible to the source material. They expect characters and main plot points to remain the same when at all possible.

For those who did not read the books and don't care about faithful adaptions, this series simply lacks personality, depth, or character. It will be forgotten a few years after it ends because the creators cared more about P. C. messaging than telling a great story.

For those who read the books: Jackson tried to bring Tolkien's vision to the screen. The Wheel of Time? Not at all. This series did not even try; it did the opposite and the showrunner bragged about it. For example, the characters are unrecognizable; the series made needless changes in character appearances, relationships, age, attitude, etc. But that was not enough, they also had to upend major story lines and lore. The changes were contrived solely to make ideological points: The result? The careful, intricate world building and character development that gave the beloved books life and charm were discarded - leaving a hollow shell.

Bottom line: The Wheel of Time has a CW network vibe. All the writers of this series had to do was stay true to the vision of Robert Jordan and get out of the way, much like Peter Jackson did for Tolkien - it could have been epic. How bitterly disappointing. Truly, a huge opportunity was squandered by arrogance. I believe the days of being excited about a book being made into a movie or television series are well over. The next dumpster fire will be Amazon's Lord of the Rings, that literally is not Lord of the Rings.

Black Summer (2019–2021)

Bleak Dystopian, Zombie Series

[6/10 · 24 October 2021]

Black Summer is one of the latest in the zombie genre. It's dark and serious - If you are looking for something light this is not it.

Bottom line. The series is watchable because it does suspense better than anything else, and it's structured non linear which gives it a different feel than the other zombie series.

The main problem is the the characters: they are mostly unlikeable - except the Korean girl - she channels "The Marathon Man" very well. But some of the characters are like puppets - for example, every single white man in the series is either a weakling, a coward, or a jerk - come on, man - it's lazy writing.

Kin (2021– )

Once Upon a Time in a PC Crime Family

[5/10 · 19 September 2021]

Organized crime story set in Ireland.

The main plot and cast is ok. But PC sub plots and themes destroy the suspension of disbelief - You can't watch this show and not be reminded of 'real world' culture debates - beyond annoying.

This is the story about the most carefully diverse, socially conscious mobsters in Ireland - complete with... the obligatory and clichéd gay character with back alley rendezvous.

'The Sopranos' is a much better choice in this genre. 'The Sopranos' managed to explore issues in realistic, creative ways and didn't make casting choices like it used the racial quotas from the Harvard University admissions board.

Heels (2021–2023)

Different, Held my interest

[7/10 · 6 September 2021]

Drama about a brothers that run and participate in a pro wrestling venue in small town Georgia. I have never seen anything like it before, so it gets points for originality at the very least.

Grades:

Acting: C+ One actress has a noticeably bad southern accent, but most of the actors do a good enough job to sell the story.

Story: B- Good pace, action, and even romantic subplots. One can find flaws if you look for them, but something about this story it held my interest.

Production: B The show looks pretty good to me, no unrealistic sets or bad camera work that I noticed.

Bottom Line: You don't need to have an interest in pro wrestling to be entertained.

Invincible (2021– )

Run of the mill.

[3/10 · 30 August 2021]

Based on a comic. Another Super hero show.

POSITIVES: Action, good pace. If they stuck to the source material, this show would have been epic.

NEGATIVES: A lot of blood and gore - it didn't bother me but it could turn some people off. Also, there is the typical P. C. preaching, race swapping, etc. - par for the course, but it's distracting and patronizing.

In my opinion, "Dare Devil" or "Punisher" is a much better option.

Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 (2017 Video)

Good for a short

[6/10 · 29 August 2021]

The medium (short-film) was my issue, I simply don't care for short films: Just too short to say much or do much. I liked the potential for the characters.