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cheryllauer
Reviews
Sugar (2024)
It Just Jumped the Shark
I was mostly enjoying this film noir starring Colin Farrell. Interesting cast pulled from a lot of good character actors. I really enjoyed the old film noir clips inserted appropriately within certain scenes. And he had a cool classic car too. But then this week they revealed he and his group are aliens from another planet!?!? Give me a break. Totally ruined the show for me. Why must everything involves science fiction, super heroes or zombies these days??? I actually had to check my ears when they said "we'll take it off-planet..." Why couldn't they simply be VIA or something? I guess that's too mundane for millennials or something. That silly plot twist lowered my rating by two points.
Argylle (2024)
Poor Rip-off of the Jewel of the Nile
As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew it was copying the Jewel of the Nile movies with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. Yes, there were differences, but why does no one on Hollywood have an original idea anymore?
Too much choppy photography during the fight scenes and way too many fight scenes. What is it with all the hand fighting scenes in movies and TV shows anymore. I find them tedious and boring. If they'd cut them down some, this movie would have come in at 2 hours instead of a ridiculous 2 and 1/2! There just wasn't enough plot to support a movie this long.
Bryce Dallas Howard was good in the role, but it's kind of the same role she plays in all the Jurassic Park movies. Sam Rockwell was a surprising choice for his role, but he actually did well. I did like the switching out between him and the Argyle character from the books. Bryan Cranston was good as always.
Overall it was a lightweight, mildly entertaining romcon and my husband enjoyed it. Haha!
A Gentleman in Moscow (2024)
I didn't read the book
So I have no preconceived notions about this show. I'm actually enjoying it a lot.
Well, I know that having black people in Russia in the 1920s is absurd, I can get past that to enjoy the plot. Anyone who won't watch the show because of that is missing out on a very interesting story.
I particularly liked episode 3 where the Bolsheviks took all the wine labels off the wine in the hotel part where the Count is staying. I googled this to see if it was true and supposedly they did this to get rid of the elitism associated with wine. What a waste along with destroying all the art in the hotel.
McGregor is doing an awesome job in the roll.
I would highly recommend this show as there is not a lot of material out there that is not superheroes or continuation of franchises right now.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Way Too Long
I like long movies, but 3 & 1/2 hours was ridiculous!
I appreciate the sad story, but they did not half to make it so draggy and redundant at times. We get that Ernest didn't talk throughout a long interrogation, but we didn't need to see it all. Then he was gonna testify and King talked him out of it, but then in the end, he did. I'm glad Molly recovered from the poisioning and drama of her almost dying. It was just too prolonged like everything belse in the movie.
DiNiero was very good as he is in everything. DiCaprio was just too angry looking as he is in everything lately. Lilly Gladstone was just okay. Not Oscar worthy in my opinion
While it was an interesting story, I can't see people these days sitting still for 3 &1/2 hours in a theater! I watched it on streaming and was happy I could pause it when it got too tedious.
I am certainly glad Oppenheimer won best picture as it was such a much better movie.
Marriage (2022)
Disappointing Based on the Talent.
I've seen almost everything that Nicola Walker has done and she's always excellent. Sean Bean is good in the things I have seen with him. I checked it out dispite the mediocre ratings. But it was so annoying, I had to stop watching it right before the end of episode one! There was just too much annoying bickering! I mean, how long can they argue over "jacket potatoes???" When they weren't bickering, there were all these painful pauses in conversations between the main characters and with other people. I'm sure the creator had good intentions to show the downfall of a marriage, but it could've been done in a much less annoying manner. It reminded too much of a lot of Wooduw Allen movies where everyone is arguing or talking over each other all the time.
Colin from Accounts (2022)
Hidden gem - Definitely not takeoff on the office
Don't let the title throw you off because this is nothing like the Office. The title refers to the little dog.
I don't know how I missed this hidden gem on Paramount+ until now. It's excellent! A bit of dark humor mixed with a unconventional love story. But still it is quite enjoyable. Leave it to the Australians to come up with an engaging comedy. I find myself watching more and more British or Australian shows because they seem to be better than what the US is coming out with lately.
Both of the lead characters are very good even though I have never seen them anything before. They have great chemistry! The Colin is very appealing with his little "wheels". Fear not, he is not really disabled (I googled it).
I just saw that it has been renewed for a second season, thankfully.
The Curse (2023)
Painful to Watch
I had to stop watching after one and a half episodes. I've watched shows that are considered "cringe-worthy" before, but this was just horrible! I finally had to stop watching after the art display with the native American woman screaming. Besides just being plain stupid, that was just too annoying to keep going.
None of the main characters are likeable in the least. Again, I can usually tolerate that fact in a show if the plot moves along and is interesting. This definitely was not.
Is this the best new content that Showtime can come out with anymore? I generally love all their series, but this one is not for me. I can't imagine a lot of people could tolerate the annoying actions by the characters very long either.
Fellow Travelers (2023)
We Get It
The show is interesting, but the frequency of the sex scenes is too over the top for me. And I'd say this if it was a heterosexual love story.
We get it, but they need to spend more time on plot IMHO.
All that said, it's good to see Matt Bomer not playing a straight man for once. He's a very good actor and I've enjoyed him in everything since White Collar.
The music and scene decor for the changing time periods is great. I do think they should've aged the main characters a bit more for the 30+ year time lapse.
I knew about Red Scare of McCarthyism, but this show does a great job explaining his hypocrisy into going after homosexuality as well.
World on Fire (2019)
A Bit Soapy But Watchable
I enjoyed the show, although it is a bit soap operish with the love triangle.
The characters are interesting and the actors are excellent.
As some others have said, Lois walking around with a large pregnant belly was ridiculous and unbelievable for the time. The fact that she was still singing and performing for the British version of the USO is ridiculous. This is where it lost a lot of credibility for me. If you are trying to make a period piece, don't pander to today's fashions and culture.
Also, the fact that she slept with Harry at all seemed ridiculous for the character. She knew that he was lost to her and so she gave him a goodbye shag? Seems very unplausible for the time.
The Marfa Tapes (2022)
Excellent Stripped Down Album
I believe this was done during the first year of CovId and shows Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall having a relaxing get-together around a campfire, doing some great stripped down acoustic songs they'd obviously been working on during the lockdown. It makes the viewer feel like a firefly eavesdropping on their "jam" and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I like actually prefer they stripped down version of Miranda's song. Geraldine than the album version that came out on her Palomino album later. Can't believe the hate for this video on here at all. If you don't like Miranda, don't watch it, but don't trash it for others who might enjoy it.
City on Fire (2023)
Great Series
I really like this series. Can't believe some people gave it such negative reviews. Especially love the redemption of Will's character. That was the best part about it. Lots of twists and turns, but really loved how everything came together in episode 7. I wasn't crazy about Sam or Charlie's characters, but the rest of them made up for it. Also, some great casting! Just wish picture was not so dark. I noticed this on almostvakl of Apple's programming. Episode 6 particularly was very difficult to watch for this reason. Thankfully I had a Pixel phone that I could turn the brightness up on because my fairly new Samsung TV was almost impossible to watch.