spaulagain Reviews

Reacher (2022– )

Decent action, corny dialogue

[7/10 · 12 January 2024]

I've stuck around through the second season. It's entertaining enough to keep watching. Some good action occasionally and the stories are decent. I like the actor who plays Reacher, he seems to act like he's on the spectrum or something which is entertaining. Not sure if that's based on the books or just his acting style. There does seem to be an over reliance on "my previous team members of yesteryear", gets old quick but is a trope continued through both seasons.

My main gripe is with the script. The dialogue is so unnatural. Everyone speaks in formal long sentences that come off so corny. It's like every other interaction is full of exposition, often with the most unnecessary information. Makes everything feel very wooden.

Also, whoever chose Maria Sten's hair styles needs to be fired. So ugly.

Gran Turismo (2023)

Entertaining but disappointing

[7/10 · 2 October 2023]

This film is entertaining but lacks the grit and rawness I expected from a Neill Blomkamp film. There are some fun directing techniques that add to the racing scenes and video game roots. But so much of the writing and direction feels overly Hollywood, corny and cliche. None of the characters ever really feel fleshed out so massive events have very little weight to them.

As a racing fan and someone who does track days, I found that the ridiculous exaggeration of racing and the horrible inaccuracies completely took me out of the film and made it feel comical rather than authentic. Coupled with the use of contemporary technologies and content, it was very distracting from what was a true story (kind of).

Overall it's entertaining especially for the average audience. But if you're a Blomkamp or racing fan, prepare to be disappointed.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Heartfelt, but lost it's magic

[6/10 · 20 August 2023]

The first Guardians film is one of my favorite movies of all time. It has such an incredible ensemble of comedy, music, campiness and heart that resulted in what to me is a perfect film. Easily in my top 10 along side Empire Strikes Back and Shawshank.

Volume 2 was great as well, but began to show the limits of Gunn's follow through. It overplayed the comedy, and didn't feel like an adventure.

Volume 3 is unfortunately even more subpar for the trilogy. From the beginning scenes, it felt rushed and contrived. From there on the whole film circled around Rocket's backstory which after the whole Ego thing, seemed quite repetitive. The story really only became a "Guardians of the Galaxy" in the last 20mins or so, and that was really just a convenient circumstance.

Sure Rocket's backstory pulled some heartstrings, but it also left the rest of the film scrambling to make sense of it all and create a plot with it. The humor was attempted, the plot was contrived, and the characters all felt like they were just their for a ride rather than driving the story with their decisions.

Vol. 3 is a disappointing end to the trilogy. Certainly better than any recent MCU film, but by far the weakest in the trilogy. Oh well.

Secret Invasion (2023)

They keep getting worse

[1/10 · 29 July 2023]

I thought Marvel had hit a final low after She Hulk and Ms Marvel. Surely with Nick Fury they could deliver something interesting and entertaining. NOPE.

They destroy his character, turning him into a pathetic do nothing has been. Create a ridiculous plot that leads to one of the worst climactic fights of all time.

NOTHING is redeeming about this show. It is boring, destructive and a complete waste of time. I haven't gone to see any of the MCU films since Spide-man: No Way Home, and now I'm cutting off the shoews. It's an insult to all the work that was put into the MCU for over a decade to just self destruct the entire franchise like this.

And to make it worse, the show runners and directors don't care. They openly dismiss the more than justifiable criticism. Then to see them strike because they aren't getting paid enough? They create garbage that's costing the studios millions of dollars.

This show is the nail in the coffin of the MCU. I'm sure The Marvels will be the dirt that finally buries this franchise.

Guy Ritchie's the Covenant (I) (2023)

Good story, worth a watch

[7/10 · 17 July 2023]

While this movie is not based on a specific true story, I really appreciate that it's sort of a love letter to the Afghan people who also served during the US engagement. Especially after we abandoned many of them in our cowardice.

Performances were solid in the film, although I didn't find myself overly engaged with the characters. The script felt a little awkward and flat so it didn't fully draw me into the story.

From a film making perspective, I don't think this is Guy Ritchie's strong subject matter, the action felt oddly edited. It was greatly hindered by some made for TV level VFX/CGI. Also, none of the firearms have any recoil while people are unloading magazines, even the AK which shoots 7.62. Unfortunately that really took me out of the action scenes. And the score was even more distracting in many scenes.

Overall it's worth a watch. But has a lot of sloppy/unfinished feeling moments that detract from an otherwise good story.

The English (2022)

Lots of style, some substance

[6/10 · 14 July 2023]

I'll start off with how beautifully shot this series is. Incredible compositions and scenery. The colorization and underexposure can sometimes be a little off-putting, but it creates a vivid level of detail and richness. The visuals are stunning. At times the Sun position seems to change between one character's view and another's which can be a little distracting. The music definitely tried to take a small hint from Dances with Wolves which was actually kind of nice as I love that score.

Now for the story. From the very first episode it was clear it was going to be a bit pretentious and cryptic in its story telling. At moments this worked really well and was quite effective with the payoff. But in many cases it just left me confused and frustrated trying to decipher this odd script or even understand the words spoken. Ended up using subtitles for most of the episodes.

The finale, of all the episodes, felt the most disjointed and confused. The creators clearly thought they had something special they built up to. But it hadn't been and it was not resolved in a way that felt satisfying. I did really appreciate how some of the challenges of the time were woven into the story, things like disease, conflict, technology, etc.

Overall it felt like a good homage to westerns, albeit greatly hindered by a pretentious story telling.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

The Last Crusade was the end

[4/10 · 11 July 2023]

I loved Indiana Jones growing up, especially The Last Crusade with Sr (Sean Connery). The balance of humor and creative action was just a blast to watch. Harrison Ford much like his role as Han, plays such a fun cocky but skilled character. Combined with mostly practical effects, the original films felt authentic and grounded.

When Crystal Skull came out, I had fun but it didn't have the charm of the original films and the overuse of CGI began to cheapen the action. And there was the whole Aliens thing.

Now, with Destiny, Disney has continued the trend of beating a dead horse until every last dollar is butchered out. With this film, it was so obvious they had no good clear objective or reason to make it for the story. Just a cash grab of an old legend. The action was better than Crystal Skull in some cases, but still over used CGI and felt disconnected. Indy is a tired old man, so exciting... and his replacement played by Phoebe is an obnoxious brat who no one likes. The end was a mess, the beginning was odd. If they really wanted to do this film, why not bring back Short Round as the "replacement" for Indy. It would have been an amazing handoff that makes sense to the story. Oh well. I wish I hadn't seen this film. I'm just going to consider The Last Crusade the end. And these other 2 films are knock offs. Not worth the money, stream it if you must see it.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Bland, unlikeable characters

[6/10 · 13 March 2023]

I never played the game so I went in with only the expectations of a well respected property. The first episodes seemed ok enough to keep me going, but I found Ellie pretty unlikable from the beginning and my understanding was she was supposed to be the softer more endearing character. From then on the show just got worse to me. The Bill/Frank episode was completely useless to the core story, and just felt like a love story shoved into an apocalyptic world where only 5% of it even dealt with the apocalypse.

The rest of the episodes failed to change my engagement with the main characters. I never felt invested in their story, or even cared if they servived. Each episode spent only a few minutes on the actual journey, and spent most of the time of the "main event" of the episode which never allowed the show to breathe and truly feel like a long journey for these characters. It seemed like them walking across the continental US only took them a week (vs 1883 which felt like a true journey across months of time).

Episode 8 was the first episode that was gripping and engaging, where I actually cared if Ellie made it and was vested in her outcome. But then the series finished with episode 9 which was an incredible let down. It all seemed to end so quickly, the stand off with Joel and the Fireflies was underwhelming and poorly shot IMO. By the end I felt like I just wasted an hour of my evening.

Production quality was decent which is why I gave it a 6. But the story and the characters were mediocre at best. Lame.

Wednesday (2022– )

Addams Family themed Harry Potter

[6/10 · 13 January 2023]

While watchable, I found the show to be far less entertaining than all the praise would suggest it should be. The cast is good, but the dialogue is just too stiff and contrived for me. It reminds me a lot of Harry Potter in that respect, never feels authentic or believable. As a result I never connected with any of the characters, and all the "suspenseful" thriller moments I was completely disconnected and borderline bored.

Wednesday is ok, she has her flaws obviously although I found her know it all personality was used way to often as an escape boat in situations she was caught in. She kinda grew as a character by the end, so at least there is that. Besides her, there was absolutely no other character that captured interest. They all seemed like shallow CW teen drama characters.

The mystery was probably the only thing that really kept me interested, even though I predicted the "bad guys" in episode 1. Overall it's ok, not worthy of the Tim Burton name even though he's involved, just doesn't stack up to his older work.

If you like Addams Family and Harry Potter, you'll probably enjoy the show. If not, you might struggle to stay interested. It's certainly not a 9 or 10/10 show. Some folks are too easily entertained it seems.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Relies on pulling heartstrings

[2/10 · 14 November 2022]

Entire film is dependent on getting at the emotions of the audience from losing Chadwick. Everything else is typical phase 4 garbage writing with nonsensical plot and boring characters. A villain that is easily defeated but takes a whole movie to do it, a child protegee, and an obnoxiously dumb super civilization really drag this film out to the point of torture.

I just don't understand what is happening over at Marvel/Disney. After a decade of fantastic movies with only a few being B grade, it is astounding how consistently BAD phase 4 is.

She Hulk and Wakanda are a perfect conclusion to this phase, dumb writing through and through. Other than Guardians 3, I'm done with the MCU. Complete waste of time.

The Grand Tour: The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick (2022) Season 5, Episode 1

EPIC Entertainment

[10/10 · 28 September 2022]

This episode is right up there with the old TG Reliant, Caravan, and English Channel episodes. Pure comedy gold with the perfect taste of diehard automotive enthusiasm.

It's starts off with the typical car of choice introduction which they do not disappoint. From there it continues to build up the ridiculous moments to some insane climaxes. I haven't laughed this hard at a show in a long time. What incredible journies these 3 have taken us on over the decades, and to think at their age they haven't stopped pushing the limits. This episode is in the top 5 of all time for TGT/TG crew.

Well done bros, what a return.

For All Mankind (2019– )

What if? We actually had good writers

[3/10 · 25 August 2022]

I was intrigued by the idea of this show. But almost immediately I was put off by the characterization of NASA and the astronauts. I guess I was expecting the same NASA as reality, just that they were not first. Instead we got a weird alternative that's uninspiring and focuses more on internal politics than actual science or technology. Some people might find it interesting, but it's just not for me.

For amateur space enthusiasts this might be interesting, but for hardcore fans of real space programs, this is a silly characterization that plays too fast and loose with pretty much everything.

The Terminal List (2022– )

Another cliche action thriller

[6/10 · 11 July 2022]

Production quality and performances were pretty solid. Underlying story was actually interesting although a bit sloppy in execution. Typical cliche moments here and there but not annoyingly so.

The writing is where this show falls short. Not cheesy, but just not great coupled with a couple stupid moments like "Eagle Scouter not a Boy Scouter", uh one of those is a rank, not a program.

Also, early on a brand new Cayenne was used by a character, and when it starting rolling from an accident it magically became the previous generation Cayenne LOL.

Moments like this throughout the series really just cheapened it. The final episode was also kind of boring especially compared to some of the episodes right before it.

Overall a B, I gave it a 6 because the current 8.2 rating is ridiculously high for this show.

Kinsey (2004)

Ironically uncontroversial

[2/10 · 6 July 2022]

For a film trying to show how Kinsey broke the back of old puritan morals around sex, it sure did a boring job of it. What's worse, is it tried to portray the new wave of sexual exploration as inheritly moral or right. Which is quite ironic given the gross and fraudulent nature of Kinsey's work.

But I'm sure if the film covered the real Kinsey, it would have the opposite effect the creator desired and turn everyone into puritans.

For a better time, watch Masters of Sex. You also don't have to worry about the moral conflict of supporting anything with Kinsey attached to it.

Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet (2022)

The irony...

[1/10 · 21 June 2022]

This show epitomizes what it claims to expose. Guarantee the show runners are more guilty of being radicalized by the Twitter blue checkmarks and media than most of the subjects in this show.

Propaganda beget propaganda...

Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill (2022 TV Special)

When Bill Burr isn't funny...

[1/10 · 16 June 2022]

...you know something is broken. His opening gig wasn't funny, like I really wanted to laugh but nothing ever landed. And his characterization of a certain individual was just so far off base it came off as a childish temper tantrum rather than any sort of comedy. Everyone has their bad moments, but that was so bad it knocked him waaaay down my tier list for comedians.

Then the other peeps came on, oooof. I should have known from the names listed in the beginning that it wasn't gonna be good. But wow, did they intentionally air these comedians bombing or do they really just have that much self righteous glory to think they were funny?

Don't bother watching this train wreck, I'd rather watch a cat vomit.

Tin Star (2017–2020)

Season 3 just ruined it

[1/10 · 10 June 2022]

I really enjoyed season 1. And while it bit odd and different, season 2 was interesting. This show has always been a bit quirky and weirdly edited. And the characters are a bit over the top. All stuff I could enjoy with a decent story and good action.

Then came season 3...

Absolute mess. Sometimes it's trying to be serious, other times it's almost mocking itself. The way they "unfold" the backstory is completely incoherent and really never actually reveals anything of compelling interest. Some people died, that's basically it as back story. What really sank this season though is the nonsensical character decisions and interactions. Absolute enemies will come to face to face, then literally just walk away without killing each other. Motivations seem to be non-existent as the back story never provides any weight to them. And Tim Roth's character seems to never give a damn about anything. Just whimsically walking through the streets, killing people and magically not dying when confronted with enemies. The mother and daughter characters are even more ludicrous and empty shell murderers.

This might actually be one of the worst written final seasons of all time. It gets to a point where it just feels like random scenes cut together.

The Flight Attendant (2020–2022)

1st season was fun, 2nd is insufferable

[5/10 · 21 May 2022]

I enjoyed the first season, it was a bit silly and quirky but had an interesting mystery and the performances were good.

Second season has been a train wreck. Cassie's character somehow continues with hallucinations that become so stupid it's like their own plot line. All the other characters have become idiots following Cassie's stupidity lock step. The seventh episode ended it for me. Just too stupid to continue.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019– )

Season 4 off track more than Mazepin

[4/10 · 16 March 2022]

I'm not a fan of F1. I much prefer endurance racing, it feels more grassroots and authentic. Drive to Survive S1-3 helped me gain interest in F1 as it showed some of the dynamics of the mid field players and the low budget teams which I enjoyed a lot. While I still find much of F1 a giant cesspool of elitist children, it was nice to see the teams who weren't used to winning fight their way to survive.

Season 4 seemed to completely throw that out the window and focus on the top team drama. And what's worse is it did it in a very biased, inaccurate way. Misattributing quotes out of context, and effectively redrawing the 2021 season into it's own story.

Now this show has become the epitome of F1. Rich corrupt assholes dictating the terms for everyone else to suffer. The only saving grace is the production which is absolutely stunning.

The Hyperions (2022)

Wannabe

[5/10 · 15 March 2022]

This film tries to be a love letter to Wes Anderson and the 60s/70s super hero genre like the Million Dollar man. Unfortunately it comes across more as some college students film project that got a B.

Performances were meh, cinematography was meh, story was meh, editing was bad.

The Fallout (2021)

Solid film capturing some human moments

[8/10 · 28 January 2022]

Everyone deals with tragedies differently, this film does a good job at touching on some of that. And thankfully focuses on a character who internalizes her emotions, giving us a nice window into how such people do live out their emotions through indirect means. Although a small note, I think it was interesting to see the mother over nurture initially and it was her father her helped her embrace her feelings on her own time. Side note, the David Hog character was a nice touch. An equally obnoxious opportunist. Thankfully the main character leaves him out. And that PTSD ending was fantastic.

Annihilation (I) (2018)

Atmospheric Masterpiece

[10/10 · 1 January 2022]

This film engrossed me from the very beginning. The passive pace and editing coupled with an incredible score created a unique ora. Then as we enter the shimmer the film unravels it's mystery with each major scene change. The character themes parallel with the complex but beautiful environment. And the ending answers just enough to satisfy you, but leaves enough open to keep you thinking afterwards.

Absolutely love this film. Has been added to my top 10 list.

The Wheel of Time (2021– )

Ooof, maybe I can force myself to like it

[3/10 · 24 November 2021]

Opening 30mins are boring CW style acting. Then after no build up of characters to be invested in, there's a big massacre thing which I didn't care who died or not. And that's when it gets really bad...

The CGI is so cheesy, it's detailed/sharp but clearly done cheaply with poor animation and very odd lighting effects. Couple that with characters that just stand there staring at things happening, and I've lost all interest.

Maybe I'll try the next 2 episodes, but I'm already salty from the first episode.

The Harder They Fall (2021)

It fell pretty hard

[5/10 · 12 November 2021]

I went into this film really excited, heard decent reviews and love a good western. Combine that with some blaxploitation and Tarantino style I'm all in. I also love many of the cast members.

Unfortunately this film is all style and absolutely ZERO substance. The set up of a revenge story completely looses all it's muster about 20mins in. All the characters are about as developed as an NPC in a video game. The plot is a complete shamble with characters walking into a dead end for no reason at all. Then get "trapped" into another plot point that introduces the most ridiculous scene with a white washed town, LITERALLY.

The final standoff feels so artificial and contrived because none of the story beforehand built up any tension to releave. Enemies actually just stand around each other as if waiting for the director to allow them to go after each other. So awkward.

And I'm all for an unorthodox soundtrack, but about 50% of the soundtrack was jarring and didn't fit the scene at all. This film tries too hard, making it's failure even more painful. Ooof.

Maid (2021)

Important subject, told haphazardly

[6/10 · 6 October 2021]

Started interesting, but continued to fall apart quicker than Alex's life. Especially as it got to the court hearings. The courts always favor the mother unless there is some serious record of drug use or neglect of the child. The minute the "judge" heard she was in a DV shelter, she acted surprised and the proceeded to give the child to the father. Even without police reports, that's just BS. And then the decisions afterwards, come on. Really lost me after that. The "anti rich people" undertones just killed it.