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EricBombardier
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The Machine (2023)
Not the best not the worst
I'm able to switch my brain off and kinda just waltz thru movies that are at that level so it was a solid 5 stars. It's overproduced for what it is and that's probably why I give it a 5, but it's "The Machine" story being milked for what it is, a good story that, as time goes on, start to feel more like an overinflated teenager's story that loses any sense of credibility at all, that is not a great story after all. It's unfortunately the thing that pushed me to realize that I'm getting a bit tired of Bert's inflated ego and that maybe outside of the machine and his forced high pitch laugh, he doesn't have much else to offer.
The Orville (2017)
Watched this show go from great, to superb.
When I started watching The Orville, it was great, new and different with a great character development rarely seen on TV anymore. It had a quiet way of making it interesting, yet have some comedy and some drama.
I'm very pleased by the subtle changes that the production made within three seasons which veered this show into an even better direction. I wondered why I liked the show so much. But I figured it out. It's futuristic but also retro. I remember the "good old days" when shows had depth and meaning, entertainment and substance. This is it, without the cheesy can't-watch-it-today feel to it. It's a show that is, and forgive my wordplay here, very down to earth.
Ali Wong: Don Wong (2022)
It's just vulgar and prejudiced.
I mean, this type of comedy used to be a thing and I'm not sure why this is still something that exists.... Good on her to do what she likes but as a comedy fan, I've seen this a million times decades ago and it's time to let the colonoscopy and vulgar sex jokes (for the sake of vulgarity) give space to a more cerebral comedy. Or maybe I just need to watch something else. It's not terrible, some chuckles are there but the constant change of voice and the constant sex jokes, coupled with the "I want to have sex with any guys I can" and "I hate my life" gets old real quick. The fanbase seem to enjoy it so there's the market...
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)
Confused movie that's all over the place for a laugh.
I was thinking of watching this after getting my kid into the original Chip 'n Dale episodes from the 90's. But this is not appropriate for kids.
It's a confused, pothead comedy with a ton of mild punchlines, unhinged jokes and weird but also, not in a good way, easy movie references. If I was stoned, it would have been funny. But I'm not. If I was, I would watch something else. This is not Chip 'n Dale. This is Dale CGI and chip in cartoon form. Confused much?
It dwells in a dark world that looks at the behind the scene of the (cartoon) actors of a kid's show who have personal issues, anger, drug addiction (cheese) and visit such places as a drug den and an unhinged world where everything that didn't work so well in the animation industry ended up, which makes me ask myself, was there a need for this?
Chip 'n Dale was a good show on it's own, I don't think it needed a Seth Rogen type of reboot but I guess if you're old and watched it as a kid and want an updated, short span type of humor, this is it.
Uncharted (2022)
It's based on a game.
As a stand alone movie, this wouldn't get more than 4-5 stars from me, but since it's based on a game, it can get away with the extravagant action scenes, unrealistic killing scenes and cheesy acting that it gets away with. It's a fun, juvenile film that is not very developed but it's not the point. It's an expensive 120 million USD movie that could have been a masterpiece but it's not trying to be that.
Turning Red (2022)
But twerking though? Really?
The movie is good, but while I'm no prude, I find it a bit too much having a "13 year old" girl character twerk in an animation movie. It's not the kind of stuff you want any kid to see and imitate. It's rather of bad taste. I understand the story of coming of age, but this rather sexualizing act shouldn't have been done in a Pixar movie.
It's PG, sure, but they know this would be watched by every kid from 3 to 13.
Michael Che: Shame the Devil (2021)
Sigh...
This special unfortunately feels flat with it's low energy. The jokes are mild and the delivery feels pretty sleepy. Many jokes are past their epoch and most of the jokes will give you a chuckle at best. There is an attempt at being political but, surprisingly enough coming from Michael Che, the political content is not very well deeply explored and basically consist of superficial analysis about white racism, Donald Trump, Democrats and wokeness. Also jokes about Caitlyn Jenner? Geeeeez... In my opinion, this might be funny if you are a little desperate to laugh, which is what it felt like coming from the audience.
I'll still give a 5 stars rating since he hasn't done a special in many years and I like the guy.
Dexter: New Blood: Sins of the Father (2022)
Ahh not again.
I understand the attempt here. Dexter needed to die. But did he have to kill an innocent man first?
I think a few different endings would have pleased the crowd. This ending was an attempt to fix the ending of Dexter season 8, which doesn't work because this is a stand alone show. But then at the same time, murderers be murderers and sometimes they're killing good people and there is no changing that.
Ending 1: Dexter slips out of jail by choking Sgt. Logan, not kill him, how rude are you. Runs away with Harrison right to the ending credit.
Ending 2: Or runs away with Harrison and then Dexter gets shot by Angela that was standing in the middle of the road trying to block them from escaping which provides a good last few words of love from Dexter to Harrison, then byebye Dexter.
Ending 3: Or, Dexter tries to escape jail, gets shot by Sgt. Logan and Harrison shows up, exchange numbers and words of love, byebye Dexter.
People need to understand that this show is a stand alone, kind of, and the audience is not the same as before. Therefor this show should have ended differently than the ending of season 8 should have been. But hey, still ok in my book.
Theo Von: Regular People (2021)
I really like Theo Von
I really like his comedy style, his podcast and other podcasts he do. He's a great story teller.
But this comedy special is everything Theo isn't (to me), besides the stories.
Too much pacing back and forth, he spent most of his time one one side of the frame than in the center, furiously walking and talking. Theo is great at telling stories but they need, in my opinion, to be told in a calculated, slow(er) manner. This was too energized and not fitting the content. Jokes fell flat quite a bit. I still give it 6 stars because he's a good comedian and doesn't deserve lower.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Not funny, not good either.
I thought that I would at least give it a try since the reviews are raving about how good the satire of this movie is. I usually like satire. I didn't like this movie and for many reasons. I understand the angle and satire really applies to politics, but satire of this level is not for me.
The humor is juvenile and would have benefited from at least just a bit of intellectual exercise in it, but no, not this one. Which is weird because this movie is supposed to be there to actually have people think. All I thought about was how can they portray everyone in such a dumb way? I get it, politicians are this, journalists are that, but man, everyone in this movie is half witted and barely able to have any humanity. Was that the point of the movie? Everyone doesn't care? If so, ok, not funny.
Also. When you think that the punch line is coming, ready to have a laugh or at least a realization, an epiphany, you realize the joke is already done and all that's left is dumb people in positions of power.
It's a cold soup. It's a child's play written by a child. It's a bomb with no explosives. It's a 75 million dollars movie to show what we already know. People suck.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Not all bad. Not that good
Unfortunately, there are too many reused scenes and styles from the original Matrix to my taste. Flashbacks are ok if they are needed, but to completely vampirize the original movie is somewhat of a cope out. Should have made it an original on it's own.
The storyline is quite boring and in my opinion felt more like a TV show story than what a 2.5 hours movie should have been. The movie is not well executed, it's devoid of an interesting story. Unless you spend 10 episodes on the subject of Neo and his emotional issues, this was kind of a waste of time.
The special effects are really good, amazingly good. And it's the Matrix. So I can't bring myself to give it lower than 6/10 but to be honest, this is about a 5. So disappointed.
Nobody's Fool (1994)
Paul Newman made this a masterpiece
This movie is literally a glimpse in the life of Sully, if Sully was a real person. Paul Newman made this character so realistic that it dragged the entire movie and the other characters towards that realism. It's a slow-paced, sad and relatable story of an old man without a plan that is going through life as is, and as if that's all he could do. The small wins of Sully are feeling good and the loses feel bad. That's how good that movie is.
Besides Paul Newman's performance, I have to admit that all the other actors played their roles perfectly. This movie is a gem and always keep in mind that Bruce Willis took a humongous pay cut to be in that movie, while he was making tens of millions for the Die Hard franchise.
The Gambler (2014)
Great ingredients, bad recipe
From the start of the movie, you can tell that it is well edited, directed and acted. The music is good and each scene is filmed with intent, precision and interest. But not too long after you're supposed to be fully immersed in the story, something slips. Something's wrong. Something is just not right. The story starts to retract from it's charged beginning and spirals out of control but not in a good meaningful-at-the-end way. Things make no sense.
A high stake gambler that, all of a sudden falls victim of borrowing too much money, but then gets it for free from his family, and then blows it all up to end up borrowing again from another lender, fiercer than the first, stuck in a story of who will kill him first, all of this, so he can have a cheap twist to end up eventually paying it all at the end?
The story is not well thought and it's a shame because it had every single marker of a great movie. Unless the movie is about a degenerate gambler who, all of a sudden, for whatever reason, starts to play with fire just for the heck of it.
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
Pretty disappointing
I mean, the first movie was one of a kind, almost but the sequel is a highly typical sequel, with all the ingredients of the first movie, but with so many holes and uncharacteristic behaviors from the main characters that it just feels like a rehashed meal that didn't go as planned. It's disappointing to a point where it's hard to watch because things are rushed and other characters are introduced and killed almost immediately just so the story line can progress to get to the inevitable end that is the exact same end as the first movie. I rolled my eyes so many times that now I have a headache. Wasted potential.
Deadliest Catch: Bloodline (2020)
This version of Cutthroat Kitchen is okay.
I mean. I really like the Deadliest Catch but not a big fan of the drama based story line of this one. It's still much better than all the other shows but yeah, I'll stick to the regular show.
Woman in the Woods (2020)
It wasn't that terrible....
Just hear me....
If you put aside the fact that the official cover has literally nothing to do with the movie (no, there are no gorillas, nor a plane on fire, or any fire in this movie, and also the lady on the cover is definitely not Mercedes Cabral), I could have made something better in Photoshop in less than an hour.... Put that aside and give this (estimated) 1million dollar production a chance.
A chance to talk about Philippines folklore, to tell the story of someone who's roots were strong but not native to where he was transplanted. This is not a story about what most people want to hear about, it's a story about what is known in the Philippines but that not many people outside of the Philippines know. It's a story about a strong culture that has many resident living abroad who have kids that have never been "back home".
To me, it is very interesting. Is it a great movie? No. Is it a bad movie? Not really. I thought the movie was confused, but peeling a few layers off made me appreciate it a little more than what I felt at first: First, don't have expectations, forget the gorilla. Second, the movie is Filipino folklore lived through the main character's own story in the present. It's a bit confusing, but I can't see it done any other way. It would have either been a Fight Club type scenario, or a movie like Apocalypto. They chose this hybrid, which is fine for a small production.
It's not gonna blow your socks off, but if you're opened to have a glimpse at folklore, it's decent enough.
The Nature of Things: The Real T.Rex (2018)
Love the information, don't like the childish approach.
Don't get me wrong, I like the angle this episode takes, it is filled with information that gives us a good insight on many aspect of the T-Rex that were not really discussed or put together before. It does present this beautiful animal as a complex living thing in a complex world but there are so many parts that are hard to watch if you are looking at it from a serious point of view.
Besides the giggling like teenagers while crushing bones with a press (while saying that this is the bite of the T-Rex (no it's not, it's a very slow press), there are this quote that really got to me. They are trying to figure out what kind of noise the T-Rex would do. They use a crocodile calling sound and lower it by 2 octaves. Ok, I get it, we don't know really, we probably won't know until we have some kind of tech that could be rebuilding the sound precisely with the measurements of the skull, yes. But this guy saying: "This could be the first time for 66 million years that this sound has been heard on earth" is the equivalent of an alien eating sand and calling it ice cream. No, Sir. This is not a sound that wasn't played for 66 million years, unless you had a recording studio 66 million years ago that played with the sound of a crocodile and lowered it by 2 octaves. I might be nit picking here though. Maybe the T-Rex sounds exactly like a deep voiced crocodile....
Doctor Sleep (2019)
You can't do that.
This movie is unfortunately a 1980's movie made in 2019 but lacks what made the 80's movies great, and lacks what made the 2000's movies great. It feels like Blade meets Interview with a Vampire meets The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus meets Stranger Things meets Twilight. It's too commercial: a ramped up teen movie that has a splash too much of horror to be for teens, and an insufficient grown up movie that lacks the depth and realism of what movie fans crave. It also feels like there are 2 movies going at the same time, one is good, one is childish.
It's a 3hr movie that fails to hook from the start, however extensive the scene decors look like, and fails to deliver a plausible well-delivered story, however supernatural it might be.
It's a movie to watch to say you have watched it, and a movie to suggest to friends that have nothing else to watch, so they can say they watched it.
Jim Jefferies: Intolerant (2020)
Stuck in the mud
This is pure Jim Jefferies. The problem is we've seen this act many times and unfortunately it doesn't deliver with the same punch as the previous shows. It actually feels like a version 1.2 of his previous specials. It's not different enough to feel new and refreshed, it's a little too much of the same that it feels almost like an "unseen footage" from 2018. Jim is good, but you can't serve the same menu 4 times.
Space Force (2020)
If you like Steve Carell
The premise of the story was good. The timing of the show was great. Everything was in place for something spectacular. The supporting cast was really good too. The only problem I found was that most of the comedy was a bit too infantile and repetitive. It's a funny show with a serious ridicule but way too "highschool" for my taste. It could have been great if Steve Carell's character was a bit more mature in his comedy and less serious-ridiculous-infantile. I didn't dislike the show, I was just overwhelmed by how far you can see the jokes coming and a bit underwhelmed by the complexity of the comedy.
Anthony Jeselnik: Caligula (2013)
Awesome
I revisited this special last night and just like his more recent special, Mr Jeselnik delivers an amazing comedy show waltzing between the "enough" to "almost too much" dark comedy. It pushes the limits so brilliantly that I find myself thinking I should be offended but the derision of it all keeps me laughing and not debating the ideas too much.
It still holds today, maybe even moreso than in 2013.
Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward (2019)
Shameless
It's not as much a special as it is a dance between both sides of the line that defines the limits that we should never cross in comedy: It crosses it brilliantly and shamelessly and in this day and age, it is refreshing eventhough Mr. Jeselnik has been doing this kind of comedy for a long time. It is delivered flawlessly to a point where it feels unrehearsed and maybe even off the cuffs.
It is also refreshing to get such a great jaw-dropping, eye-popping, one punch combo, misdirection-filled comedy-laced hour in this, yet again, day and age where anyone can get their specials on TV and bore us to death. This is not it.
This is comedy.
The Outsider (2020)
Good old Stephen King, in a new era
First off, let me say that this TV show starts off great, gets mild around the middle and then gets cold on the last 2 episodes... The whole concept of the Stephen King style was great in the 80's and could still be great to this day but would have to be adapted not to be firstly, heavily typical of a Stephen King adaptation and secondly hyper commercial in it's structure. With characters that are mostly very cliché, minus one or two that are not, this show relies too much on an atmosphere that isn't really there and a twist that crumbles at the later episodes. In the 80's, you had to explain certain things that are now obvious since everyone pretty much spend all their time watching shows and shows like this, well, they have been written in all shapes and forms. One flagrant example of these explanations is when "Jack Hoskins" comes down from the hill where he was shooting,in the last episode and tells the group "he's in there, kill him". I mean, why do you think they were all there in the first place? This babysitting is annoying and the story should have been better developed not to have to do things like that. And examples of the sort, I have a lot of, like how easy is it to kill the "Outsider", a probably very old and pretty powerful being that just folds under almost nothing. And his lack of power eventhough he gets people to do some of his biddings, fails miserably to have them do simple other things... The 80's are over, build something witty that needs no childish explanation.
Chris D'Elia: No Pain (2020)
"Weird-faces-surfer-bro-high-school-hippy-dude" comedy
I really tried to watch the whole thing but I just couldn't. Too many bland punch lines and awkward silences. The whole thing is disorganized and feels like an "off the cuff" impromptu first show after your last special came out. Too many weird voices and attempt at physical comedy that's been done 100 times. It can be described as "weird-faces-surfer-bro-high-school-hippy-dude" comedy.
Copycat Killers (2016)
Not a 7, not a 1.
I mean, it's not the worst tv show I've seen but it's really not the best either. The worst part of the show is how laborious it is. The editing is repetitive to a point where they can have the same clip of someone saying something 3-4 times during an episode and some correlations are far fetched. The stories are interesting but too diluted with uninteresting, boring content.