This film has one fatal defect, JJ Abrams. That this talentless man-clown was allowed anywhere near the Star Trek franchise is a tragedy of our times. This production offers an interesting story and a sterling cast. But the staging is all Abrams, that is, nothing. Glitter and explosions and violence is the most dominant element here, not the story. I find it strange and a little infuriating that Abrams is even allowed to make any film, and here he gets his hands on such a great franchise. The Enterprise goes on a rescue mission that turns out to be a trap, and Abrams style mayhem ensues. Roddenberry never would have made such a piece of trash. He was all about the story and never about over-exploited, over the top violence and special effects, which is all that Abram knows. He knows nothing about story telling at all, just special effects. This may be the most meaningless, over-produced and foolish Star Trek film ever made. Abrams has no business being anywhere near this beloved franchise.
Reviews
126 Reviews
Monkey Man
(2024)
Dev Partel Overdose Fail
25 May 2024
One unknown guy, Dev Patel, a scrawny, untalented but energetic overdose machine. There is always a serious red flag to any film that is written, directed and starring one guy. Especially this guy. He is not believable in any way as an avenger or even as a victim. This is a mouse pretending toe be a lion, and that-s all you see, that is all there is. A meaningless gore and violence film for the subset of people who get off on such things and that is it. Dev Parnell casting himself as the protagonist is just strange. Whatever little talent he may have as a writer, he is not at all believable in any way as figure and avenger, it is kind of sad that he thinks so. Also, having a cast that has some real world acting experience would have been helpfull.
Civil War
(2024)
Plastic Garbage with zero sense of reality
25 May 2024
C'mon man. While the idea of visualising an American civil war is perhaps irresistible at this point, this ain't it. For one thing the US President has an unreachable fortress beneath the White House and that's where he would be. Not wandering around upstairs. This is just bullets and mayhem with no coherence. No ideaology is proclaimed and they have in this case what appears to be the left, rather than the rabid right, doing this civil war. I only watched this because Durnst was in it. I am a big fan, but she is wasted in this film. The main cast is fine, they are good actors doing their work. But the writing, directing and editing is 3rd rate, meaningless instruments used badly to fail to tell a story that makes any sense. It is like a series of cut and paste scenes from different movies pasted randomly together with grunts and grimaces for a story line. The people who made this film are shallow people with cameras. I actually watched this thing. I am sorry that I did. You will be also.
Agreat collection curated by the clueless
30 March 2024
This is about a collection of books curated and owned by what appear to be rich Amsterdam collectors. It could be fascinating, yet it is clear that the curators of this unique collection have no idea at all about the collection itself. The entire video is about the antiquity and rarity and craftsmanship but really not one meaningful word about the content of the collection itself. You also need serious subtitles. The video is presented in what seems to be English but not one person who appears on camera speaks English very well at all. It seems the owners are very proud of their collection of rare books but have no real idea of the contents, or much interest in the contents of these many volumes. It is the most inarticulate presentation of a rare collection I have ever seen.
Road House
(2024)
Unrealistic, badly acted, mot credible
29 March 2024
Lots of fight scenes by actors who have no idea how to fight. In real life if you get kicked and punched in the face dozens of times you are going to the hospital, possibly the morgue. But here our so-called hero barely shows a mark and keeps on being the under layer, non-believable character of this childish and artless film. Eventually a deadly villain shows up to dispatch our hero. He is a very ugly man, over-muscled, with a squeaky little boy's voice and no acting talent of any kind. I had to look up this terrible actor to realise it was in fact Ewan McGregor, once a boxer who failed miserably. One can see why. He is absurdly bad as enactor and grotesque as a person, and the film goes downhill from there. This is basically a fight film with a minor subplot about taking over the property of the Road House. <cGregor turns in one of the worst acting performances ever seen, second only to our hero who is also not an actor at all; all of them doing beat downs that no human could survive for reasons that no on will ever understand. This film is an insult to the innocence and grace of the original Roadhouse film. It is an insult to the very idea of even the loosest standards of good film making. Worst remake ever.
A highly selective and false narrative
14 March 2024
This is quite an interesting documentary about the cold war period and the development of the atomic bomb. Yet, so much has been left out, a narrative designed to mask and cloud the true facts. When discussing the war with Japan and the choice to drop the bomb, it was never mentioned, for example, that every military mind on earth new Japan was well defeated at that point in time...that the so-called need to invade Japan directly was and is a myth. They don't mention the near impossibility that Germany was working on a bomb, another myth. Lots of important facts like this are left out entirely. One could say this series is a bit more propaganda than real truth. And that is deeply unfortunate. Viewer beware.
Shōgun
(2024–2026)
A more mean spirited version of the original
13 March 2024
Shogun way back, the first televised version, had far more elegance and detail than this version. Shogun 2024 is a darker, more mean-spirited version of the origanal book and TV series. It is also racing through the story, this version, omitting so much detail of the story of an English pilot findinh himself in an inter-clan Japanrse war. They have also changed the origiunal story line into a much more violent one than the original. The cast for the most part is outstanding, but not as exciting as the earlier TV version. They are duller, meaner, and darker. The absolute square man playing Anji-san is terrible in this part, the most impotant guy in the story. He is dull, excessively masculine and without an ounce of humor or grace. He is a blunt object, in this version, placed between warring ego-maniacs. Though lavishly produced, there is no grace to the photography or the staging. There are so many subt,le scenes in the original that are entirely missed here. Interesting certainly, but deeply flawed.
The Daily Show
(1996– )
Jon Stewart Leves Apple. Duh.
11 March 2024
First of all, Welcome Back Jon Stewart. It is no surprise that Stewart was to much to handle for (puritanical) Apple. Stewart is used to speaking truth to power and that is something not allowed at all at Apple. Stewart is unique and better unchained than the fake culkture that prevails at Apple. I stopped watching Daily Show after Stewart left. I did not like Noah at all. I find him unwatchable. But since he left the show has jump-started its game and brought forward a diverse and interesting cast, along with Stewart. In this present age, this climate among the world leaders, the empty and dangerous agendas of the political right, the Daily Show remains a formidable front in the puch back on over-reach and assault on human dignity made by many at the top of the political right.
Fear the Night
(2023)
Fascinating Maggie Q Executive Produces a Bomb
6 March 2024
Maggi Q is such an interesting actress. She has yet to be given the correct script to showcase her potential. Oddly enough she is the Producer of this turkey of a film. Home invasion yes. Middle of nowhere. Yes. No help will arrive. Yes. Way to many people get killed. Yes. It would have been far more interesting showcase of Maggie Q's martial talents if none of the innocents were kiled, but bow, howdy, a lot of innocents are killed in this. An absolutely terrible script. Absymally generic of the type just described.. Also: the wardrobe. Trult ugly, brutal wardrobe for everyone but Maggie Q. She looked just fine. Anyone else had been the star of this nonsense I would have turned it off after 10 minutes, seeing the wardrobe of these ladies. But I repeat that Maggie Q is such an interesting actress. I hope someone in HollywoodLand can figure out what to do with her. So far they have this jewel of of character and no idead what to do with her. This is nonsense otherwise.
DogMan
(2023)
Suprisingly moving, yet goes to dark
12 February 2024
The beginning of this film are so interesting, even emotional. We find a young man (the actor as both old and young are fantastic).....who endured a brutal childhood and found a kind of salvation with his dogs. As his story unfolds, we see an emotional range from all the actors, that is brilliant and shows a side of reality that is beautiful, namely how the people at the edges of society help one another that those who live in the Great American Dream can never acheive, or even comprehend. As the film develops, however, it goes into a grim and violent darkness. Thatg makes sense for a "scary movie" I guess, but these producers and writers had a chance to make a film unlike any other, that went to a more profound and gracious, even clever place. It seems a sad waste of creative effort. They came so close to making a unique jewel that falls apart at the dark ending. Even so, it is a beautifully made and acted film.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(2024– )
Glover is poorly cast. Unwatchable,
5 February 2024
Glover's entire vibe, body language and comportment is cartoonish. He is supposed to be a spy yet he has such odd body language and just enough arrogance that such a role is impossible. After he and Mrs Smith meet and we go through what that's like, they get their first assignment to follow a lady. They find the lady and Glover looks like such a doofus, so poorly cast, and such a worthless actor, in this part, I could not watch another seccond of this bad idea badly executed. I can't imagine which Hoolywood genius had the idea to do this. Casting an interracial couple is very good, but Mr Glover is not right. A big phooey on this one.
Fatal Flaw : Missile Hijack
3 February 2024
Phooey. There is a fatal flaw in this story. When there is a scene of 650 top secret missiles, it is being transported by one truck and a single driver. This would never happen. This truck would have been excoreted by a serious security team front and back. There are also notifications that mucy be made to local authorities on the route. While Reacher and his crew are closing in on the reasons why their friends were killed, there is this crazy scene which just seems impossible. Lee Child, though he has abandoned his Reacher, always wrote a very plauible story. This interpretation by the writer of the episode is actually nonsense. A big phooey on this one. 10 phooies.
Ferrari
(2023)
Casting Adam Driver is an insult to filmaking
24 January 2024
Adam Driver pretending to be a legandary Italian. Christian Bake originally cast? Who made this odd, rather creepy film? Were there really no Italians who could act Ferrari? The rest of the Italian cast is played by Italians. Adam Driver, honestly, is a freak. I can't stop seeing him as himself. He is not that good of an actor even though the makeup staff transformed him to another guy entirely. The opening scenes do not seem right. The story seems to begin well in the middle of the saga of Ferrari but completely out of context. We also see a kind of agressive tension that does not seem Italian at all. I have lived in Italy the last 20 years and never seen any of them act like this. So, interesting, but hard to watch with Adam Driver's great hulk peering out of the acting.
The Marvels
(2023)
Disney Ain't Marvel
16 January 2024
So Stan Lee passes away and we get Disney now in full control of Marvel stories...and boy is there a difference. I could not finish watching this really bad film, it is just junk from scene to scene. The cast, I feel so sorry for them because the cast is a fine group for the most part...but the story, the effects, the directing are all jumbled up into a real mess. The premise is interesting but they have no idea what to do with it. I have never been a fan of Disney, maybe when I was 10 years old, back in the early 60s, but this is not at all Walt Disney. This is Disney INC and a massive number of talentless paperwork and book-keepers make their films these days. This is just junk slammed together by people who have no idea how to tell a story or stage intelligent effects. This film is not a Turkey, it is, in fact, just garbage. RIP MArvel.
Maestro
(2023)
Bradley Cooper. Zero equals zero.
18 December 2023
An empty bag of mostly water. I have watched in near disbelief as Mr Bradley Cooper is starred in film after film. As an actor he is zero, I see nothing, feel nothing, learn nothing from his body of work. That he has Speilberg's endorsement is, to me, the kiss of death. Mediocrity is the A-Listers new genre. A white man actor, Cooper is so generic that his plastic nose, his acting parts, his very presence adds nothing at all. Why the movie going public is even interested in a film about Berstein is a puzzle. List your favorite music right now. Is Berstein on your list? Making films about below average composers by using a well below average actor makes sense somewhere. Cooper is an empty bag. I try to watch him, but there is nothing there to see. And as for Leonard Berstein, honestly, who cares?
The Curse
(2023– )
Stars for Espanola, stars for Emma
3 December 2023
Fielder is utterly without talent, as an actor or as a writer. It is a mystery how this got made in the first place. New age property developers buying up property to remake Espanola. There are probably a majority population of Espanola are Pueblo Tiwas American Indians and most everything else is Hispanic, So this is an LA idea made by Anglos but planted into a community very distinctive that makes little sense. The idea iis interesting. But the execution comes off as boring, inert. The supporting cast has a few good parts, but are played by some of the ugliest and most untalented people ever. The guy who play the producer / cammer guy is actually much worse than Fields, he is essentially unwatchable. The biggest question coming out of this is how Emma got trricked into this part. It could almost be good, as the cultural peek into Espanola New Mexico culture, thin as it is here, is quite charming. I used to live just north of there off and on for decades.
After the Sunset
(2004)
Stars for Harrelson and Hyek
28 November 2023
No for Brosman. This film has that fatal defect, Pierce Brosman. Why such a sterling cast wold agree to star under Brosman is a real puzzle. Brosman is one of those actors when you see him on the credits you can pass on watching the film. Talk about zero equals zero. Brosman in my view in unwatchable. A generic bland Englishman who looks like an extra in any movie he is in. This otherwise charming heist film has a fine cast but the casting of Brosman, and the tortured script writing involved in presenting him, is a fatal flaw. It is in fact a mystery as to how and why such a dull and uninteresting man could have been cast as the lead in this. Just think, yourself, of all the fine actors who could have filled this role? Would you, on your worst day, have picked Brosman?
The Killer
(2023)
First of All-That Soundtrack
25 November 2023
The guy in this film would never listen to the music in this film, whicjh mostly seems to come from a Micrsoft Zuni, and that tells you a lot about this crippled dog of a film. The soundtrack is insufferable. Most of the inner dialogue we hear is just a few repeated phrases. It takes forever ( I went out for Pizza) to get from one scene to the next. The people doing the sound were taking magic mushroom maybe. Dull, promising a soimething that never arrives. Tilda Swenson is on screen about 3 minutes. She does it very well at least. This is a deflated debackle that follows a flatforuma to a dead end tropical island. A Turkey for Turkey day.
Navajo Police: Class 57
(2023– )
The Illusions of Progress
21 October 2023
This documentary reveals many shadows ad revelations well beyond the experience of a group of American Indians going tio police school. The devestating rise in crime and violence on drugs. The absolute decline and possible collapse of traditional culture, language, ceremony and familuy support. The Navajo are a people I spent time visiting in the 1980s. I do not even recognize the culture I see in this documenary. The most shocking and painful revelation was that most of the Navajo shown in this video are Christians. The Navajo had one of the most excellent indigenous religious traditions, that all seems gone now replaced with prayers to Jesus. I am an Ojibwe American Indian, like the Navajo, we Ojibwe have our own religious and spiritual traditions that we preserve and cherish. That the Christians have overtaken the traditional relion of Navajo was very hard to watch, to comprehend. This is like watching the victims try to protect themselves, as each cop and candidate is an inheritor of the oppression and denialism of US Federal policy, it is a documentary, well made, about a broken culture using its broken people to inch themselves forward. It is mostly, for me, a very sad and disheartening story.
Badlands
(1973)
Martin Sheen. No thanks.
5 October 2023
Martin Sheen is so terrible in this film. He is not believable on any level. So much fine crafsmanship went into this film that it is a real shame. I wonder what the back story is on how he was cast for this? He is so bad, as an actor, in this film that he actually detracts from the story, from every scene he is in. His voice is to deep. His posturing set to resemble James Dean is very fake, and he does it very poorly. Perhaps much of the blame is on the director who could not, or would not get an actual performance from this Sheen charecter. I have never really been a fam of Chalie Sheen and performances like this are exhibit number 1. He is almost unwatchable. A serial killer, kidnap film of the luscious and exceptional Sissy Spacek. She is the only real reason to watch this murder and run-away story. It is on this film that Spacek met her soon to be husband, Mr Fisk the set designer. The sets he makes are exceptional in this film. No other set designer, perhaps, does such a good job of integrating the set with the story. If Sheen were not in this film I would have given it an 8. He just about ruins this film.
Sioux City
(1994)
People who know nothing like this film
11 September 2023
I am an Ojibwe American Indian. Once again I endured yet another Hollywood film that hopes to be a story about American Indians. And fails. As have so many. Phillips is a tiny part Cherokee. All his acting adult life he has used that tiny edge to star in some of the most awful films and TV series where he plays some ango writer'0s version of an American Indian. And fails. This one he actually produced. Some reviewers gave it a high rating. It is clear that when people know nothing at all about American Indians they can make up a story and pretend, with their good intentions, that they have done something. And failed yet again. Everything here is wpng. The story is trite and shallow. The great exploration of tribal beliefs is laughable. The painted chicken feathers pretending to be Eagle Feathers are everywhere. It is just sad how incorrect every detail truly is, even though Phillips was certain he was making something great. It is boring beyond endurance. The writing is childish. Most of the actors are stumbling, unprepared, and just foolish. Fail on all counts. But at least he had such good intentions.
Such a poorly made series
4 September 2023
Ugh. Most of the secondary cast in this series are truly untalented actors, nearly unwatchable. The editing, costuming and directors work is really terrible. This great and interesting story brought to video is just a terribly bad effort. The casting is in particular very bad. I have rarely seen so many talentless people in one series. I find the story confusing, fragmented. There is so much jumping around it is nearly impossible to understand the story in a clear and linear way. Many of the so-called actors garble and mumble their speech, it is easy to entirely miss important story details because the acting, enunciation is so poor. This edpisode has some great moments, surrounded by gibberish and scenes that have no context. This is a great story being told by producers and directors that have not a clue as to tell the great story that should be here. It is truly disappointing how badly made and preented this series is.
The Wheel of Time
(2021– )
what is this series about?
3 September 2023
Casting: just awful casting. At least half the actors in this series are unwatchable, random people with no talent at all. Some in the cast are very good. The story jumps all over the place. The viewer is in the middle, not sure where the beginning is and often with no idea what a particular scene is even about. The writing, editing and casting are just terrible. There seems to be a story here somewhere, but hard to find. The directors are also awful. I am well into season 2 and the story makes no sense at all. I have no idea how I, the viewer, got to where the story is. Aside from some nameless doom on the way, coupled with some yet unknown saviour, most of the story seems random and just jumps around. I find it confusing and tedious. I have wanted to like it. The lead actress and her sword-fighting protector are very good actors, very interesting characters in the story line. The fat old women who play bosses at the sacred school are just sad ugly bags of mostly water. So what we have here is a very poorly put together version on film of some very good novels wherein there is a complete failure of producers, casting, directors and editors. A mess. An abolute mess.
Boyd Holbrook: worst villan ever
30 August 2023
Boyd Holbrook the actor : zero. Just terrible.
Boyd Holbrook the villan in this series : zero. Building an entire series around this terrible actor, this stupid criminal is just so strange. The castotherwise was great. The story was awful, just nonsense. The villan as he is shot with bullets at the end, there is a tape revealed. No one explains this tape. So we have a sterling cast. A story that is mostly empty, a villan played by one of the most bad actors ever, and Givens floating like a ghost through the whole meaningless story, all put together in a package that is pretty close to being unwatchable. The only good moments comes at the end when we see an old villan, a masterpiece of a legendary villan, has slipped out of the prison Givens put him in years ago. Teasing us with the possibilities. Other than that, this was truly terrible story telling, an insult to the fine cast, and the viewer. Dozens of dangling incomplete details in particular is truly bad story telling.
Boyd Holbrook the villan in this series : zero. Building an entire series around this terrible actor, this stupid criminal is just so strange. The castotherwise was great. The story was awful, just nonsense. The villan as he is shot with bullets at the end, there is a tape revealed. No one explains this tape. So we have a sterling cast. A story that is mostly empty, a villan played by one of the most bad actors ever, and Givens floating like a ghost through the whole meaningless story, all put together in a package that is pretty close to being unwatchable. The only good moments comes at the end when we see an old villan, a masterpiece of a legendary villan, has slipped out of the prison Givens put him in years ago. Teasing us with the possibilities. Other than that, this was truly terrible story telling, an insult to the fine cast, and the viewer. Dozens of dangling incomplete details in particular is truly bad story telling.
The most boring couple in the world
16 August 2023
The entire storyline of the daugher and her husband, the scottish minister and teacher, is unwatchable. I mhave muted every scene. They are the two most boring actors playing the most boring couple in the world. The effect is almost numbing. Their story arc is boring, their personalities don't exist, and what any of it has to do with the main story line is a mystery...as seven seven has these 2 dull people reuring to 1980s UK. There is overall, suddenlly, as well, a lot more praying, a forced imposition of some evngelical bent to the writing that was absent before, and now is in many scenes. The entiure story arc sems to be falling part as the writing gets bogged down and lost in trivia and homey scenes. The entire idea of the 2 time dimensions is handled by another useless actor, the so-called child of these 2 boring people who is also not at all interesting in any way. This season, so far, the entire magical premise and the actual and real story that could be todl has fallen apart. Snoooooze.
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