Change Your Image
starsurfer83
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Riding 79 (2016)
Nada, nada, nada, nada . . .
Menos que nada pasa en esta película.
Boring is a word to describe it, but you will be infuriated at the horrible acting of a little girl and the whiny antics of the lead teenager.
Barf!
Star Trek: Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows (2019)
Coming Together
Captain Pike is the star here with some great secondary work from L'Rell and Tyler. The portents for what all of us know are going to happen to his character add depth to that one episode he was in . . . and they're laying the groundwork for what's assuredly going to be a moment of triumph and grief (griumph?). I also appreciate showing other factions of Klingon society (reminding more of the Minbari here from B5), because no fictional society has been more pigeon-holed than the Klingons.
Star Trek: Discovery: Perpetual Infinity (2019)
Rough Waters: Part II
Along with the previous episode, this constitutes the roughest patch for this series to date. Family coincidences, last second escapes, plot holes galore were all fallacies of the b-movie era, melodrama over rationality, . . . and when played for campy effect, they can be fun and silly . . . but when played as serious SF, your credentials have to be questioned. Thankfully, the series will get back on track after this for the rest of the season. But WOW! True, ST: TNG had its clunkers in its writer's strike shortened second season . . . but that's with the good writers on strike. These two episodes are being written by the current . . . employed . . . creative team.
Ugh!
And Charlie Brown thought it was rough having the football snatched away from time after time . . .
Star Trek: Discovery: The Red Angel (2019)
A Couple of Rough Episodes
In a row . . . This is where the producers prove they're more tied to the ideals of the Star Wars universe than to Star Trek. Long lost relatives as a plot device worked well for Star Wars because it was more of a space fantasy than science fiction. Star Trek, living on its own merits, has a different aesthetic for a very good reason . . . and it needs not apologize for being a science bound show FIRST.
Star Trek: Discovery: Project Daedalus (2019)
Tension Building
There is a simmering undercurrent of tension building as the season moves along. Part of this is because of the overall season arc that the writer's are weaving rather masterfully for us. There are tense moments aboard the station with the audience having a more omniscient viewpoint than any character. The stakes are raised little by little with each episode. What an arc!
Now, because of the showrunning pedigree, there, of course, were brain farts of logic and science. That's too bad, because the narrative is compelling. I just wish the science consultant had the power to override the b-movie slights popping up throughout the season, because they really do undercut the overall impact of the show.
Star Trek: Discovery: If Memory Serves (2019)
From Beginning to End Star Trek True and True
The TOS clips at the beginning whetting the appetite for the events of "The Cage" gave me goosebumps . . . and then for the show to go on and lay some of the groundwork for that tying all of the ST universes together . . . just WOW!
This had everything . . . a good ol' fashioned brawl pulling no punches (though after some flat melodrama) . . . espionage on multiple fronts . . . the Discovery version of the Cage bald dudes (lack of formality intended! . . . they just creep me out), . . . and then, finally, the "angel" brought back to land and described somewhat scientifically.
Keep it coming! Though, the Discovery isn't the only ship I'd want to be on . . . I'm also feeling a little bit of insurrection myself . . . almost ready to join Team Georgiou.
Star Trek: Discovery: Light and Shadows (2019)
Underwhelmed
I just thought the Spock reveal was going to be so much more . . . and then there were those Matrix cyborg devices that somehow have jumped cinematic universes . . . and then there was a comment about trusting your gut being on equal footing as employing scientific methods.
Too bad, because Captain Pike is becoming one helluva character to root for (bring on the action figure!).
Star Trek: Discovery: The Sound of Thunder (2019)
Sound but not Sight of Thunder?
I need some help here. I am very familiar with the Bradbury short story of the same name as are most of you (butterfly effect, time traveling, squished butterfly = toxic trolls come into power and write reviews on IMDb). I just am missing if there are any connections between the two, or this is just a coincidence of titles.
This being said, this is another beautifully shot episode with top notch special effects. It's also a great character study of Saru and the acting chops of Doug Jones: from his arm movements to his gait and facial expressions, we have a performance under prosthetics that is flawless and powerful.
Star Trek: Discovery: Saints of Imperfection (2019)
Wine and cheese
Yes, this episode had its slice of cheese, but it was a fresh slice and a throwback to the heart of what Star Trek is: science with a heart of gold. The entire episode is also just impressive to watch on the big screen TV. It's crisp and the special effects pop . . . truly movie quality.
So, I've talked about the forgivable cheesiness to the episode, now for the wine, or should I say whine. For all of you bigots who skidmark their underwear because of the inclusion of gay characters, go away. Star Trek is not for you. Science fiction is not for you. Heck, the current century is not for you. Hours upon hours of Roddenberry's universe prove that your kind is soon to be extinct. Please, go down with dignity. Pettiness definitely does not become you.
Can't wait to see how they flesh out Section 31!
Star Trek: Discovery: An Obol for Charon (2019)
Uneven
But fun . . .
First, let's just dispense with the melodrama. At no point does anyone with a measurable IQ think any harm is going to happen to anyone. That's just soap opera Super 8 mush mash wasting DJ"s considerable talents. That being said, the new character (rescued a couple of episodes ago) brings a swarth to the events that echoes McCoy of TOS.
Star Trek: Discovery: Point of Light (2019)
A surprise around every corner
This season not only feels like Trek but also is becoming a compelling SF story in its own right. The Klingon battle was thrilling . . . the Starfleet race not so much . . . but the writers did a great job planting seeds and spiking the brew to what will hopefully be a great payoff later.
I am enjoying the fleshing out of Spock's mother as a deep character who was held in such high esteem by her son.
Star Trek: Discovery: New Eden (2019)
Classic, almost to a fault . . .
This season is continuing to feel like true Trek. Though the concept of this episode has been hashed out previously in not only Trek but other science fiction shows as well (Farscape has a great similarly themed episode - I, E.T.), the writers keep it fresh by tying it in with the current mythos of Discovery. I am also impressed at just how beautifully shot this show is.
Great job Frakes!
Star Trek: Discovery: Brother (2019)
Feels More Like Trek
I felt underwhelmed and disconnected to the series and characters of the first season. Now, as the second season starts, we have an episode that is more grounded in characters with a touch of levity that warmed me up to the crew for the first time. Here's hoping for more of that
traditional tried & true Trek
feel for the rest of the season. Of course, I'm going to be suspicious of the show runners every minute every second of this show's run (given their track record and connections to Jar Jar), but if they are the Trek fans they say they are, maybe they will continue to step up their game.
And as for the actor playing Pike . . . WOW! That was perfect, just knowing what his trials and endgame will be . . . the portrayal was humanizing and adds a tragic depth.
Keep it coming! Expectations are high.
Bride of Re-Animator (1990)
Left at the altar
And the light dims in this sequel to the original cult classic . . . until the grand finale when a menagerie of bizarre, random, gruesome images flash by like the nightmares of childhood or the bad trips of the seventies. Lovecraft would not be disappointed with the madness on display throughout though Hitchcock would guffaw at the meddling screenplay. If the first movie juiced our brains at the sheer absurdity of it all; this one attempts to cut out our hearts while they're still beating. Too bad it was a half-hearted attempt to do so, because there are some priceless moments of deadpan humor here.
Re-Animator (1985)
"Details Later"
A stalwart attempt at transferring the deliciously perverse Lovecraft from serialized pages/demento brain to the screen. For the first half of the movie, mystery unfolds and characters become more complex as motivations are revealed. Science is afoot; ethics are a footnote; and any given character is, at once, one foot in the grave and one foot out. David Gale as Dr. Carl Hill is a subtle villain and has a scene (restored into the new cut of the film) that is as masterful as it is disturbing. In it, the writers have given him lines that have sculpted rhetoric into a work of twisted art and that are used to darken the tone and creepify nerves already unsettled. Of course, the star is Jeffrey Combs who gets lines like:
What would a note say, Dan? "Cat dead, details later."
Don't expect it to tango; it has a broken back.
This is a movie that does not bring up the moral conundrum of life as sole purvey of God, because it flat out does not acknowledge such an entity even exists. It is a movie, though, that shows that no matter how removed we can be from sanity and willing to accept the consequence of our actions, life is more than the sum of its parts . . . and if not that, it at least shows life is more than some of the squishier of its parts . . . especially when those parts are splattered across the walls, floors, and ceilings of a morgue.
Brazil (1985)
Spinning in Circles
Wild. Zany. Wacky. Bamboozled. If you're looking for a movie that has imagination and s you aint seen before (because you're tired of Hollywood focus groups and canned writing), this is a movie to check out. Warning: don't expect anything from the narrative. This is more like that time you strayed from your comfort zone with either alcohol or drugs or laughing gas at the dentist's office . . . and you just kicked back and let things unfold in front of you. Perhaps some of it was hallucinated, imagined, untruly remembered later, or even real . . . but, at least for once in your life, it was an experience you never forgot.
Wyrmwood (2014)
Meh
Not horrible but nowhere as near as inspired as the hype machines would have you believe. It's pretty much the equivalent of a couple college dropouts discovering GarageBand, making some mix with allusions to better, greater works and then expecting to have it picked up by a record company, because it's "all that a bag of chips." Some reviewers have said it has a Mad Max vibe . . . but which Mad Max (1, 2, 3, Fury Road)? It would definitely be the first one due to its indie feel, frenetic energy, and a pair of inspired ideas concerning the zombies. But that's it as far as connections go. On the plus side, this movie doesn't have any major studio trappings and doesn't feel canned or phoned in like much of what Hollywood produces. Overall, it's a lot of been there done that (when you were seventeen years old).
Busanhaeng (2016)
Adrenaline!
What an adrenaline rush!
This is a thrill-a-minute escape from zombie doom movie that combines the better parts of Snowpiercer with the basic premise of World War Z. There is a freshness to how the survivors wiggle out of one harrowing situation only to find themselves square in another . . . that is, until the last act when the movie descends into genre clichés and predictable action fare. Until then, though, be prepared to be short of breath and on the edge of your seat as a divorced father connects with his estranged daughter in the wildest way possible: on a zombie train!
Død snø 2 (2014)
Flush both #1 and #2 down the toilet
A distasteful waste of time with every genre cliché thrown in the book to give Nazi zombies their due. The film making is so bad, that the tone seems to shift to the side of the NZ's throughout a large chunk of the movie. Hitler most likely danced with glee so fervently for his follower's portrayal in the first two movies (especially with the movie's acidity towards gays), that Director Wirkola has planned to resurrect him for the final chapter. This movie is the equivalent of your know-it-all cousin who is too dumb to realize that living in his mom's house on wheels isn't as cool as he would have everyone believe.
Død snø (2009)
Movies Only a Nazi Would Love
I watched both Ds movies as a double feature, so my review covers them both as one long, been-there-done-that movie.
What a distasteful waste of time with every genre cliché thrown in the book to give Nazi zombies their due. The film making is so bad, that the tone seems to shift to the side of the NZ's throughout a large chunk of the movie. Hitler most likely danced with glee so fervently for his follower's portrayal in the first two movies (especially with the movie's acidity towards gays), that Director Wirkola has planned to resurrect him for the final chapter. This movie is the equivalent of your know-it-all cousin who is too dumb to realize that living in his mom's house on wheels isn't as cool as he would have everyone believe.
Juan de los muertos (2011)
Chistes que chistes
A dark comedy that is rather politically subversive. This small budget movie shames a fair chunk of better funded Hollywood fare by being better written and serving biting comedy that sinks its teeth into you as fiercely as a zombie would. The movie fizzles 4/5ths of the way in then ends with a bang. Kudos to the young director, Alejandro Brugués, who has crafted an entertaining and intelligent zombie movie better than its source material (both Shaun of the Dead and DeadAlive), and it's a whole helluva lot funnier.
(I don't know how the English translation plays, but if you speak Spanish, you will bust a gut!)
Rammbock (2010)
Brains over Flash
A survival tale set in close quarters with the members of a gated apartment complex coming to terms with a viral outbreak. Make no assumptions here about the genre; this is a character study.
If you're looking for your average zombified killfest, look elsewhere. However, if you are into watching a writer take a main character through the angst of worldly cares that soon pale to otherworldly ones, you'll enjoy this small movie.
One big plus is that there are no stupid for stupid sake moments in the movie, making this one of the rare zombie movies that values living brains over cheap thrills.
Fear the Walking Dead: End of the Line (2019)
Going South
In the Olympics, there is no sport called Treading Water . . . because . . . of course not! There's nothing interesting about it. Unfortunately, this is what this show has been doing for too much of the season.
The finale, like the last few episodes, had no plot or engaging arc. There was no resolution, no feel good moment (not even the wedding was written to be interesting), no ideas to ponder, no suspense at all . . .
I feel bad for the actors as they give it their all and have created characters I generally care for.
I feel shame for the writers. There are so many talented people in this world who would love the opportunity to lend their skills to this show. And, while writing this, I think I have a come up with a plot line. A pair of writer-showrunners somehow become the leaders of a small band of survivors (nepotism, misplaced loyalties, deception . . .) and because the most talented survivors are kept on the sidelines, the whole group goes down in flames.
I know that's not fitting for a series that needs to create a sense of perpetuality . . . but it could be stretched into a ninety-minute movie.
Bring the popcorn . . . I'm going to make this happen.
Fear the Walking Dead: Today and Tomorrow (2019)
Nothing New
This new villain seems to be a quilt of pieces of things we have already seen in the TWD universe.
Plus, a major strike for seasoned zombie killers still getting surprised that a zombie is around the corner.
Fear the Walking Dead: Leave What You Don't (2019)
Graphic Novel Connection?
What do y'all think about the new villain's methods and the last community found in the original graphic novel. It seems to be a mirror of that society's ideals (reward the strong, eliminate the weak).
This wouldn't be the first time Fear took the graphic novel's plot points . . . and now, as I think about the implications, I like the idea . . . because that will free up the upcoming Grimes features.