arbitonandson Reviews

Christmas Twister (2012 TV Movie)

A Movie that is So Bad it is Actually Good !

[5/10 · 8 November 2020]

This is one of those fun, cheaply made movies - that has so many flaws, that it actually adds to the enjoyability of the movie !

It is about a series of Tornado's that hit a very hot, tropical looking Texas (which itself is quite amusing) around Christmas. The Tornado's CGI consists of a series of what look like blades of hay whizzing across the fore screen, while the scenery in the background remains very static - especially considering it is in the midst of a Tornado. It is funny to watch - it really is !

You get lots of daft things happen - for example a TV station is hit and a fire breaks out in a sub basement - yet the smoke and flames are billowing out the upper floors ! A pregnant woman gets trapped under a very light wooden shelving unit, that another character struggles to life. They both pass out in a room that has barely any smoke - then are perfectly fine a few minutes later ! As is the kid that got buried under some rubble !

My favourite bit was when everyone ran inside the mall and the doors were locked due to an incoming Tornado. One kid didn't make it - no-one except the girl who fancies him really notices, and he is comically swept away ! Later those same doors are magically unlocked !

It really is a fun movie to watch because it is like a spoof / comedy ! It wasn't supposed to be - but you just can't help smile at the stupidity of the characters, the poor script, the poor CGI and the very funny moments which really make you wonder what the people who made this were thinking !

Head High (2020– )

Great Sporting Drama suitable for all

[8/10 · 24 July 2020]

Every now and again New Zealand manages to produce some really great TV series. This is another of their good ones !

The series follows the boys from two schools - one a very posh rich school, the other a poor under funded one. Both are neighbours and both compete for the same rugby cup. The series primarily follows the boys and the coach, from the poorer school, along with their families and friends.

It takes us on a journey or determination in the face of adversity, friendship, loyalty, loss, love etc. It handles each situation well and keeps you entertained throughout the episodes. It doesn't end up boring or feel forced like many dramas and ins't so deep that you end up feeling depressed like others !

Give it a try if you are looking for some good light entertainment for the night. It might not be to everyone's taste, but i think you will be pleasantly suprised at how good it is.

Greyhound (2020)

I Think They Shortened it - But Great Movie

[8/10 · 10 July 2020]

I am pretty sure that there were some extra scenes that were cut out of this movie as i remember watching the trailer a while back and seeing more of an introduction to the command and the Naval journey.

That said, this movie was very well done. It does cut out a lot of the slow drama and build up that a lot of these movies have, and it gets right into the heart of the action from the start. For some that may be a bad thing, but i found that it just captured my attention quicker as many movies often make too much out of the prelude to the action scenes.

The scenery and CGI was nicely done and Tom Hanks was excellent. This wasn't a fancy movie with a big shocking ending, it was a nice steady action movie. It keeps you hooked and you feel like you are truly along for the ride. The drama and relationships to the characters is subtle but it is there. I would say it was definitely an emotional journey - one that made you connect to the loss of life that was experienced on these journeys.

A very good job from Mr Hanks - not Oscar worthy - but one to watch again and again !

Hamilton (2020)

Is this what passes for a good musical in the USA ???

[2/10 · 4 July 2020]

I gave up after the first song - it was awful ! Musical stars are supposed to be the best singers you can get. You watch a musical partly for the theatre and partly for their amazing talent. The actors in this musical had none of that ! During musicals even when the lines are spoken, they are crisp and clear. In this they were just mumbled and rushed. The actors singing voices were very sub par.

This isn't a musical - it lacked everything a decent musical is ! I have no idea why so many people thought it was great. I can only assume they have never seen the truly great musicals such as Joseph, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King and Kiss me Kate !!

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Very Sweet Story and a Great Nod to Eurovision with Some Cameos from Past Winners

[8/10 · 27 June 2020]

This was a bit slow in parts but was well worth sticking with. It is actually a very sweet movie that captured the heart of Eurovision very well. I believe Will Ferrel did the movie as he was a big Eurovision fan, and whoever wrote the movie knew the show well as all the songs were spot on for the typical Eurovision songs !

It had a bit of something for everyone, comedy, romance, mystery and a moral about how not to give up when the odds are against you and how to be true to yourself.

Well worth a watch, and if you are familiar with Eurovision you will spot many former winners at the party in the Castle !!

Artemis Fowl (2020)

Ok if you are bored and can stand bad acting !

[2/10 · 12 June 2020]

Wow - the acting from the main characters in this is so so bad !! Ferdia Shaw (Artemis) and Tamara Smart (Juliet Butler) are just so wooden ! They sound like they are reading from a script, and at times just rapidly reciting their lines ! The only one of the child actors that could act was Lara McDonnell who plays Holly Short ! And Josh Gad, for some reason, makes a perfect dwarfish character !

As for the story - if you don't know the books, then it is ok. It passes the time, but don't bother paying to see it. It is more like a made for TV movie than a Disney style blockbuster !

4th and Forever: Muck City (2020– )

Interesting if you like American Football

[8/10 · 11 June 2020]

The series follows two high schools - Pahokee and Glade Hills - in an area of Florida called Muck City. The are has a small population but has produced over 200 NFL players with 60 of those going to the top of their game. They say their towns exports are sugar and football !

It follows the rivalry between the two schools and the young players on the teams as they train for the Muck Bowl - the competition held between the two schools.

If you like American Football, it is an interesting show. It shows how hard the boys work and how hard they train to try and make it in the world of football.

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (2019)

Sweet movie with a nice message

[9/10 · 29 March 2020]

This was a very cute movie. It is loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, but has a heartwarming moral message throughout. The whole premise is about not judging a book by its cover and that you should judge people through their characteristics and not their looks.

The movie had a bit of everything for everyone, with some good humour and fun characters. It was nice and clean and not at all scary for younger children. It was just a good sweet movie !

The music was cheerful and fit the animation well, and the animation was very well done. The Koreans excel at computer graphic and CGI work so that is to be expected !

Tommy: In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (2020) Season 1, Episode 1

Oh dear - Another Woke Feminist Liberal Show !!

[3/10 · 15 February 2020]

I had high hopes for this show as the characters seemed pretty entertaining and the actors quite good. However it soon became apparent that it was another of those shows !

So rather than just having a goof female police chief - she is a woman who was formally sexually abused by a previous employer, is a lesbian and was chosen because the previous male police chief slept around with his staff, and several male officers in the department ran a child prostitution ring !

Then the first episode is all about an ICE controversy. You have a LAPD officer falsifying an arrest to protect an illegal immigrant wanted by ICE. The police chief then storms in and takes the child out of the situation and arrests the mother and officer. She then gives the child to her daughter for safe keeping - her daughter happens to be bi-racial and hates her mother for putting her career ahead of her.

All the older men in the show are misogynists and the chief interferes in the case more than any chief would !! It feels very much like a female version of Deputy !!

Why oh why can't they just make a police show that focuses on actual crimes rather than liberal politics ! Or a show about a police chief who acts like a proper chief rather than a gun ho detective !! The writers of these shows have lost the plot and really need to go and review the old school shows to see how it should be done !!

Utopia Falls (2020)

Meh, nothing special - a mix of X-Factor Cheese and the Hunger games in a very average storyline.

[3/10 · 14 February 2020]

So - this program is just weird. It is supposed to be set in the far flung future where everyone is accepted and equal - yet people are divided into sectors and classes (by their work position), and they pay tribute to their founder through dance ? Why - no idea !!

For a futuristic utopian society - they really haven't evolved much and the society is very Nazi like in its presentation - even down to a salute and propaganda posters !

You can tell from the start that the show is aimed at a black culture, because even though everyone is supposed to be equal in race, there are more black actors than there are any others and hints of black musical culture and art are scattered throughout. I guessed the creator was black before i looked him up and before Snoop Dog was revealed as the voice of the archive - a library found by the supposed 16 year olds (who look like 20 - 30 year olds) dedicated to the past. So this entirely defies the initial concept of the show.

The show comes across as a rip off of the hunger games and a singing / dancing show such as the X-factor.

The whole episode is just weird and the singing is far too autotuned to be enjoyable. They all sound like they belong in a tacky boy / girl band ! The dancing is also lacking individualism and the dancers were obviously choreographed by the same person. I don't know if this was supposed to be deliberate or not ?

The actors and actresses weren't good enough to hold my attention through this strange puzzle of a show. Everything is just all over the place and as such it didn't hold my interest long enough to make me want to watch a second episode !

9-1-1: Lone Star (2020– )

Even if you ignore the diversity - the writing and scenarios are so bad !!

[2/10 · 29 January 2020]

Ok so i am up to episode 3 due to a mixture of boredom and wanting to give the show a chance.

Episode 1 - is about recruiting a diverse team because such diversity is lacking in other Texas firehouses !! so instead of one or two diverse characters - they go all out. The only thing they are missing is someone with a disability !

Episode 2 - is about Rob Lowe's character worrying about loosing his hair due to him having cancer. So much so, he even has a night terror about it ! The emergency situations they deal with are ew and far between and very forgettable !

Episode 3 - is about hijab gate. The muslim firefighter looses her hijab on a call and is filmed without it on. She freaks out about it and that is all i remember from that episode because again, the emergency situations take a back seat to the drama. At the end a woman is seen driving directly into a tornado !!

Basically all the show focuses on is the teams drama, and even then it is so superficial ! You don't connect to any of the characters, they lack any depth at all and just appear to be ticking boxes.

The original 9.1.1. is a great show. The emergency situations take precedent and are used to tell the story of the characters involved from both the firehouse to the call centre. This is nothing but a cheap copy of that show and should really have another name !

Dolittle (2020)

Fun for young children, but that is about it.

[5/10 · 11 January 2020]

I just couldn't get past Robert Downey Jr's really bad Welsh accent ! I really don't know why they made him Welsh ! It is a hard accent for anyone to emulate - let alone an American !! He would have been much better if he had been able to keep his American accent as i think he was concentrating too much on his accent and not enough on his character !

The CGI and talking animals were fun and well done, but the movie was lacking compared to the Eddie Murphy ones. Eddie Murphy's character fir far better and the comedy in the originals was more natural. In this, everything just felt a little over done or a little over the top.

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: Pilot (2020) Season 1, Episode 1

Cute and Heart Warming as well as Funny !!

[9/10 · 8 January 2020]

I quite like ~Jane Levy as an actress. She is usually found in light hearted comedies, so i was expecting similar for this, and i wasn't wrong. It is actually quite a sweet feel good comedy with some serious moments. It is probably more of a dramedy.

Jane plays a computer coder who has trouble connecting with people, until she experiences and earthquake while having an MRI. All of a sudden she can hear people's thoughts as music or musical numbers. Using this she is able to help a colleague who is suffering depression alone and is able to hear he father for the first time after he has been locked into his body through a neurological condition.

She has to deal with her crazy colleagues and work out hope to cope with her new found power with the help of her music loving neighbour.

It is very well done and is quite different from anything i have seen before. The musical numbers are cheesy but not overly so and are short and choreographed in a manner that adds to the storyline rather than detracts from it. It is easy to handle even for those that don't like such things !

So if you like light hearted comedies that don't take themselves too seriously, with good storylines, then i recommend that you give this a go !

Party of Five (2020)

If you ignore the political message, it is actually pretty good !

[8/10 · 6 January 2020]

So the original Party of Five features a group of children whose parents were killed in a car crash. In the remake the family is Mexican, and the parents are deported for having no papers, leaving 5 children to grow up on their own. The eldest is a 24 year old who just wants to be a musician, two angsty teenagers - one a star pupil, the other a not so bright jock, a bright young girl and a baby.

The musician has to abandon his dreams and step up to the plate, running his parents restaurant in the process. The two teens start doing badly at school and the younger children don't do much in the way of drama yet.

It is quite similar to the original series and a compelling watch. If you ignore the typical political woke message which is all too common in TV series these days, it is actually a good show. The message is not thrust in your face like some shows and they don't go into the name calling and political diatribes you dred but expect, which is refreshing. It is also likely that now the parents have been deported (which is the main issue of episode one), that the message will fade into the background and the series will focus on how the children will cope - or at least that is what i hope the show will do. If it doesn't i will no longer be watching !

I recommend you give the show a go even if you are not into the liberal minded stuff, as i think you will be surprised at how well the premise works for the story line. They have kept quite well to the original even as far as the fact that the new characters do indeed resemble the old ones !!

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019–2023)

Boring and not up to the usual Disney standards !

[3/10 · 16 November 2019]

This is nothing like the original High School Musical. The cast in their documentary style discussion of their own roles remind us that this show is supposed to appeal to fans of the originals as well as new ones. However any fan of High School Musical will be disappointed. It lacked the energy and charisma of the original and the stars just didn't have that traditional Disney spark ! They were dull and flat in comparison and it felt as though they were trying to hard.

Additionally, the documentary style breaks in between were annoying. They occurred every 5-10 minutes and basically consisted of the stars reviewing and discussing their own characters !! I just wanted them to shut up so i could carry on watching the show - it was more like an annoying ad break than a compliment to the show !

This will probably suit younger viewers better than older ones. However if Disney are hoping to re-create the success of the originals - then they will be disappointed !!

American Princess (2019)

Quirky, fun and light hearted

[8/10 · 3 June 2019]

This is a great little comedy. It doesn't take things too seriously and is a nice light hearted watch.

Amanda finds herself needing to get away from her perfect wedding when she finds her fiance cheating on her with another woman. She ends up at a renaissance fair where she finds a group of oddball characters who take her under their wing and give her the friendship she finds she is lacking amongst her rich friends.

The first two episodes follow her as she tries to come to terms with her situation and her pre-conceived notion of those often found at such fairs. You also get a glimpse into what is in store as it turns out the woman her boyfriend cheated with also has links to the fair and she has a grudge to bear against Amanda !!

The characters are a great mix and the comedy is well written without being over the top or in your face. There are no horrible laugh tracks and there is enough action to keep you entertained for the duration of each episode. You meet a lonely and power hungry queen, a camp Shakespeare who doesn't know his own plays, a mud wrestling pauper, a buxom washerwoman with a heart of gold, a ditzy but kind couple, a man who likes his stick and a drunk preacher man amongst many others.

Enjoy the laughs and don't over analyse it - you won't be disappointed.

Wolves and Warriors (2018– )

Good programme about a wolf dog rescue centre

[8/10 · 22 September 2018]

This programme centres on a rescue centre staffed by veterans, many of whom are sent there to help with psychological / coping issues after their service. The series follows the work they dog with the dogs, the dogs and the rescues.

Most of the animals in the shelter are wolf-dogs - not wolves. They only have about two wolves. The wolf-dogs are quite a high dog content so are very friendly and are quite sociable. They look more like huskies than wolves.

The show is well produced and the content interesting. You get to learn about the stories behind many human and dog characters and get to see how the centre is run. It is run very well and lets the dogs be dogs.

The narration is a bit basic and is aimed at people who don't understand dog behaviour. For example, they play up an injured and bored wolf-dogs aggression, even though his tail is wagging, and then act shocked when he is all friendly and happy after having his injuries treated and is released into a pen with a companion and lots of stimulation ! But considering how most shows overly heap on the drama - this one isn't too bad. It tends to stay factual for the most part.

I recommend this for anyone who likes dogs or animal rescue shows in general.

I Feel Bad (2018)

It just doesn't work

[3/10 · 20 September 2018]

This is supposed to be a family comedy about the life of a working mum, but it doesn't come across well. The problem is her workplace.

The mum works with a bunch of geeks as a video games developer or artist. At work - she doesn't work, but spends the day getting her co-workers to help her with her family, or asking them about her life and whether they think she is doable etc !! It isn't funny and is a bit daft really because who would actually do that ? That part of the show just doesn't work with the family comedy situation which actually wasn't too bad.

If they just made the show about her work life it would be much better.

Not to mention that i am pretty sure they yellowed up / tanned the children to make them look more half indian than they really are !! Something which again doesn't work especially as the grandmother and grandfather are very pale skinned actors and actresses themselves along with the mother (who i think has also tanned up a bit for the show !).

The show just tries too hard to be the next major comedy (borrowing aspects from several other successes in the process) and fails very very dramatically !

I Am Dragon (2015)

A Beautiful Russian Fairytale

[9/10 · 12 September 2017]

This was a stunning movie. It felt like a fairy tale from old Russia told through beautiful imagery and storytelling. As a non Russian speaker - the visuals and acting were only enhanced by the Russian language that sounded almost poetic and added to the romantic feel of the movie.

The cinematography was lovely and fit perfectly with with the story and the Russian actors were perfect for their roles. Their facial expressions truly brought the story to life.

It is nice to see Russia can make such movies and Hollywood could learn a thing or two from them !

Monster Trucks (2016)

Great Movie - Not Serious but Fun to Watch

[8/10 · 27 January 2017]

I don't know why people think this is so bad. You have to remember it is aimed at kids, but it is reminiscent of Free Willy and the Loch Ness Monster films that are similar. It is cute and endearing with a sweet message. It has a fun plot with a lot of laughs, a cute monster and some action and adventure. It is lighthearted and easy to watch.

It is not going to win any awards but the acting and CGI are all pretty decent, as is the script ! I think this is a great watch if you want to go and see a lighthearted comedy or a movie with the kids. It is strong enough to keep adults entertained as well !

The family of monsters are especially comical as they behave like big slimy dogs !