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Reviews
The Rental (2020)
Been here, seen this...
I Know What You Did at the Rental House!
Despite having a decent cast and decent directing from Dave Franco, the story here isn't really anything new. The fact that the audience learns nothing about the killer also adds to the frustration of a not-so-original script.
The biggest problem with the film is how long this slasher movie takes to get to any actual slashing. All of that happens in the last 30 minutes of the movie and none of it really amounts to much. One killing is done off screen and one of the victims pretty much brings about her own demise.
It's hard to really care about a serial killer when no clear motivation is ever given. The movie spent an hour making us care about characters that in the end are meaningless to us. Since the killing are left to the very end of the movie, the audience doesn't even have time to worry for them.
This is a movie with a TON of setup, and very little payoff.
Sex Education (2019)
Sad for the end, happy for the journey
This was a show that had me crying and then mere seconds later laughing. There were so many beautiful defined characters in this show, characters that were well written and gorgeously performed!
As I finish the final episode of the last season, I can't help but be sad that it's over. But what a journey!
This show was about so much more than sex. It was more about identity. It was about letting go of past trauma and no longer allowing it to block your future. It was about acceptance and finding your people who will love you no matter who you are or from where you've come. It was about asking for and giving forgiveness.
This show was amazing from start to finish. I'm sad that it's over, but in rejoicing that I got four wonderful seasons.
Dead Boy Detectives (2024)
Brilliant show!
I'm only on episode 2 of this show but I love everything about it! It's well written with very funny dialogue, but its greatest strength lies with the performances! There are a lot of quirky traits, funny one liners, and plenty of excellent interactions. The entire cast is fantastic, but a stand out is Yuyu Kitamura as Niko! She usually gets a random line that brings belly laughs to scenes. She plays the part to perfection!
If I had to pick one thing I don't like about this show, it's that it takes place in Port Townsend yet was quite obviously not filmed there. I've been to Port Townsend and it's actually one of my favorite places on earth. I was excited when the show told us that's where the main characters were headed. Sadly, this was obviously filmed in Canada and I can't fault them for doing this. It's cheaper to film in Canada but try to make it look like Washington State.
Still, I feel robbed that two gorgeous dead guys never actually made it to the state where I live!!
Man vs Bee (2022)
Excellence even down to the score!
Rowan Atkinson shines as a novice housesitter going up against a buzzer. This reminded me of an old Donald Duck cartoon where he fought against Buzz Buzz. Donald wanted to listen to a baseball game, the bee wanted to listen to classical music. I rooted for the bee in that, but in this, I kinda wanted to root for Man because the bee WAS kinda villainous!
What really stood out for me was the superb score for this show! It sounded very classical, like high class accompaniment for a show with such a silly premise. I ended up buying the score and enjoy the wonderful melodies the composer came up with.
All in all, this was a really great watch!!
Kindred (2022)
Even with additions to the story it doesn't amount to much
I really enjoyed the novel that this tv series was based on, so I was excited to see that it had been adapted. In the first episode, I was excited to see they added a little twist regarding Dana's family history, something that I figured would enhance the story.
Unfortunately, things didn't really go anywhere very interesting. While the acting was good most of the time, there were moments when it was more awkward and novice. They made the unfortunate choice to use the same actor to play Rufus although many years pass between Dana's visits to the past. Anyone who has kids knows how fast they grow, and in the novel, Rufus' growing into a man had great bearing on the story. Keeping him a kid despite the passage of time is illogical and robs the story of his growth into a monster.
Every time they deviated from the novel, I was hoping for something interesting, but so little was done with the changes. I can see why this was cancelled, and though I have yet to finish this show's only season, I'm not looking forward to any unresolved cliffhangers they're going to leave for the audience.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Did the filmmakers listen to the lyrics of their own songs??
The original animated movie had heart, soul, subtlety and nuance. This remake has none of that. The songs are lackluster versions of the original. I love Melissa McCarthy, and she's the only part of this that's enjoyable, but all the beautiful subtle asides of Pat Carol's vocal performance are missing in McCarthy's. She plays the part well, but the filmmakers destroyed her song by completely removing an entire verse. They seemed to forget that Ursula is a villain and decided to remove all the deliciousness that made her a baddie!
Daveed Diggs is so talented, but they messed up his song, too. "We got a hot crustacean band!" except the band is nowhere on screen! That verse where Sebastian lists members of the band? Yeah, not one of them is shown. And the instrumentals for the song are SO boring!! It's like they're giving their absolute minimal effort for the entire song.
Halle Berry is gorgeous and has a beautiful voice, but even her version of "Part of Your World" is disappointing. Instead of the breathy, hopeful "Wish I could be" line, she adds a bunch of extra notes to "be" which makes me think she maybe didn't understand the point of the song. Nor did the filmmakers.
For years, people have mistakenly thought that Ariel's love was Eric. Listen to the lyrics of her "I want" song. She's not singing about the dude. She's singing about our world. She's obsessed with our world. Not the dude.
And Ariel kills Ursula at the end?? So how did Eric earn the trust of Triton?? Where the hell did Ariel learn to steer a ship?? Why the holy hell did they ruin this story??
The whole movie is a mess. Life under the sea should be so much better than this. Oh wait... it was!! Avoid this and go watch the original, gorgeously animated film. Howard Ashman's fingerprints were all over that. He understood the story, the characters, and how to do a beautiful musical. The creators of the terrible remake had no idea how to tell this story and it sadly shows.
JFK: One Day in America (2023)
Still untold stories to uncover
This documentary is fascinating! All the movies, books, and documentaries about this tragic day, and this one still managed to tell me things I didn't know!
I think what makes this documentary different is that it is told completely by people who were actually there, from investigators to secret service, to the guy who helped them catch Oswald, to the a freaking coworker of Oswald's whose story alone is worth watching this documentary to see. I'd never heard his story before, but it sure is amazing.
There are even accounts of people who closely surrounded Jackie, who tell little details I don't remember hearing before.
With the wealth of info already presented about the assassination, this documentary still had some new information and insights to show! Definitely worth the watch!!
Back to the Beach (1987)
Corny but fun
Sure, this movie is corny, but I think it knows it. But watching Annette Funicello singing "Jamaica Ska" as she dances down the beach in a polka dot dress with a big Minnie Mouse style bow? Or Pee-Wee Herman singing "Surfin' Bird" while being carried away on a flying surf board? Or Don Adams giving us his legendary "missed it by that much?" line? Or the remaining cast of Leave it to Beaver judging a surfing contest? Or Connie Stevens commenting on Annette's breasts?
Come on, you just can't hate on this flick! It's full of cameos, tongue-in-cheek jokes, and a kid named Knife, for crying out loud. That Mouseketeer Annette gave birth to a goth kid is just hilarious!!
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
I watch this every year on the twenty-third day of the month of September
A. A Great Movie B. The Greatest Movie C. Are you crazy? It's B!
I've seen several women play Audrey (Including Tom Skerrit's daughter Erin!) but for me Ellen Greene will ALWAYS be the original Audrey. That squeak she does when she finds out the plant is named after her makes me laugh every time. Frank Oz directed one hell of a movie.
Of course, there are many things to love about this film: the cameos, the performances, the music, the sets, the freaking plant!! The level of amazing achieved in this movie is so rarely seen these days. Without this film, I doubt Disney would have heard of the brilliant Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and we never would have gotten that wonderful Disney Renaissance starting with The Little Mermaid.
And, of course, there's the legendary story about the poorly received original ending that stayed true to the stage version: the plant wins. The ending was quickly reshot and the original lost to history until that wonderful day in 2012 when the director's cut was released with the original ending loving restored! Both versions are outstanding, but that original ending is fabulous.
You better believe I watch this every year on the twenty-third day of the month of September!
Willa (2019)
Strays from the short story but pretty good
I was excited to find this after reading King's short story. While the film strays from the King short story, I like what they did with it. Their take on it feels a LOT more tragic than how the short story presented the tale. I thought they did a great job of adapting this, and the special effects looked pretty amazing. It kept with the spirit of the source material, but also gave a little twist in a significant change from the short story. I think there's a bit more of an impact in the change they made, like I said, it does make the story a little bit more devastating.
Adapting a Stephen King story can be tricky, but I feel like the pulled it off. Nicely done!!
Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed (2023)
Great documentary, be prepared to do a LOT of reading
The first two episodes of this documentary series focus heavily on members of Menudo. As a result a LOT of the dialogue is in Spanish. It really got exhausting having to read so much. I would have preferred translators speaking the dialogue if only to save me all that reading. Sometimes I couldn't keep up because they spoke very fast. I felt like I ended up missing so much of what was being said as a result.
It's so sad what happened to these boys and I truly hope this Edguardo guy gets what he deserves. Hopefully the Menendez brothers can also get some justice for what they went through. What they did was horrible, of course, but you have ti wonder what choice they had, or if they even felt they had any other choices.
Such a sad, tragic story.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies: We're Gonna Rule the School (2023)
Not sure who this is for...
Little tip for creators of musical comedy shows: if you're going to set your show in a specific era with a specific sound and tone, it's probably not a good idea to have all your music sound modern and like nothing from the era you're trying to recreate. This was exactly the mistake Elvis made, when Baz Luhrmann decided to include hip hop music in the scenes with African Americans.
From the very beginning, the show took me right out of the 50s when they updated the classing Grease theme song to sound like a generic, modern, boring hip hop song, rather than the 50s sound they gave us in the movie. You know why the movie Grease was a hit and is now considered a beloved classic? Because they did make all the songs Disco. I'm not sure this show has any kind of lasting power when right off the bat it forgets the era it's trying to recreate.
And yet it's trying to copy the movie because so many of the characters from this show are reminiscent of characters from the movie. It's so busy trying to emulate the movie (except the music) that it doesn't bother to give itself its own identity - unless they're trying that with the bad music, in which case I have to wonder who this is for. Few fans of the original movie are going to want to hear the songs done in a modern hip hop style. Are todays millennials going to be interested in a prequel to a movie that came out decades before they were born?
While some of the characters are interesting, I'm just not sure this is a show that will (or maybe even should) make it.
Pushing Daisies: The Legend of Merle McQuoddy (2008)
I'm perhaps biased about this episode
I was almost 2 years old when Pete's Dragon hit theaters, and I was instantly obsessed with the musical film. To this very day, it's one of my favorite movies. I have all the songs and dialogue memorized and I even named one of my cats Elliott after the lovable dragon.
So, when this episode first aired and it became apparent that I wasn't the only one who loves the movie Pete's Dragon, that there were others out there who would devote an entire episode of a fantastic TV show as an homage to the Disney movie I've loved since I was two, well that instantly made The Legend of Merle McQuoddy my favorite episode of Pushing Daisies. I was already a fan of the show from season one, but episode nine of the second season is, and always will be, my very favorite episode of the series. It was a Bradley Dazzle Day for me the night this episode first aired.
Heart and Souls (1993)
One of my all time favorites!
I love this movie so much! Everyone in it is fantastic, especially Robert Downey Jr each time he takes on the characteristics of one of the souls when they enter his body. Particularly hilarious is the moment he's used by Penny to get into the BB King concert. "I am a mother!"
And not only is the story and idea really sweet, but you've also got a fabulous score from Marc Shaiman. It's seriously one of his best! It has a whimsical little motif for the funny moments, and then this gorgeous melody for tender moments.
I first saw this as a teenager and immediately fell in love with the story and its characters. I recently rewatched it in memory of recently departed Tom Sizemore (Milo) and the film still holds up!
Steve Byrne: The Last Late Night (2022)
Even his house band heckles him!
Admittedly, I'm only nine minutes into this but I'm not sure I'm gonna make it through to the end. The premise is interesting. He sets the special up as a late night talk show. He comes out as though he's doing a monologue and I'm not sure if it's his delivery or the material, but I just haven't laughed once. It's like he studied late night monologues and copied the worst jokes from them. At one point he pretended explaining the jokes to a woman in the audience but from the sounds of polite laughter from the rest of the audience and the solo clap he got on a truly stupid joke, I feel like she just didn't find him funny, and she wasn't the only one.
I've seen other Byrne specials, and they were much better than this one. Not really sure what happened here.... When even your band is heckling you, something is very, very wrong.
Velma (2023)
I'd rather watch the shows with Scrappy Doo than this
From the very beginning of the first episode, Velma makes it clear that its jokes will be meta, tongue-in-cheek, and painfully unfunny.
It opens with a bunch of girls in the shower, with perfectly placed soap suds to cover up fine details, while it tries to make clever self-aware social commentary jokes about the sexploitation of women. It would have been funnier if they'd cut to the boy's locker room and poked fun at penis size by having large and small soap suds. But no, the uninspired writers of this show didn't think of that.
Neither of the two episodes I watched got any better. Lazy jokes and changes to characters we already know for no reason seem to be the only things this show wants to do. I wouldn't mind the changes if anything interesting had been done with them, but this show would rather rely on lazy stereotypes and unfunny gags for its humor.
I'll admit, I laughed a couple times during episode 2, but it wasn't enough to make me rush to watch further episodes. Maybe the writers figured out how to write actual good jokes and gags, and make their characters interesting, but there are a lot better written things I'd rather watch before giving this show a chance to prove itself.
Snow Day (2022)
Probably would have been better as a non musical
Anything can happen on a snow day!!
Okay, this movie isn't perfect, and several of the songs are forgettable, but much of the cast in this is really good and I think they did a better job with the pacing of this than the original. The storyline with the parents handcuffed by the kid was probably the weakest of the side plots, but I think the good aspects of this outshine the weaker ones. Michaela Russel shines with youthful optimism that I think tops that of the girl from the original. I've always loved Mark Webber from the original, but I think Ky Baldwin does a better job of showing the painful awkwardness of the character. Claire's interest in Hal is done better here, through the attachment she has to the whale necklace. The scene is not about his whale snow sculpture but rather his special the necklace is, and not because the dumb jock boyfriend gave it to her.
The achievement of the second snow day is a LOT more believable here than in the original and I liked the change of the crow to an AI robot. It served the story pretty well and probably saved them the trouble of having to rent a real bird for the shoot.
Again, it isn't a perfect movie, but I don't think the target audience will care about that. Not gonna lie, though, how Lane changed out of her skates so quickly for the big finale musical number is beyond me....
Uncoupled (2022)
Yes, it's funny, but with beautiful, heartfelt moments
This is a very smartly written show with characters that are not only well written, but also fantastically performed. It throws curveballs at you, but it never feels like it's a contrived plot device to further the story. The whole thing feels very real and genuine. I love this show!!