trelerke-politics Reviews

Five Star Chef (2023– )

The English are the best at letting you know you're not rich

[2/10 · 15 July 2023]

Ugly intro"POSH, POSH, POSH, will make their careers, win win win, push push push", and the people judging are silver spoon toffs, a kind of Gordon Ramsey - acation which is actually okay because this food is for silly, pointless rich, dipsh_ts who really have nothing going on in their lives except stuff/luxury/ so perfect for netflix. Another thing, is the idea that you'll never be able to experience this, but you're suppose to invest yourself in the outcome, it's cynical, particularly given the super huge wealth inequities, and "the demands of a five start guest" translates into debase yourself for A-hole empty wealthy people. See "The Menu" a little too on the nose, but expresses exactly how the judges and most guests should be treated.

The Gilded Age (2022– )

the best argument for nuclear war...

[2/10 · 22 March 2022]

If this is considered something we should watch now and people think it good/great/subtle/humorous - beyond slavery, genocide, endless war, I think we are doomed.

Really good actors mouthing crap lines in boxy, huge interiors, and CGI exteriors, it's like watching a bad puppet show with nicely dressed puppets.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019– )

rich children and rich "adults" whinge on

[8/10 · 15 March 2022]

This is amazing, a scripted show that parades itself as a reality/documentary. Thus, virtually no coverage of the great ending to the 21-22 ending because that would be a buzz kill for us rubes. We get no info on the teams and the technology, just on the drivers, just like astronauts and this is more than awesome because it raises money for Netflix and F1, as now we have 3 races in the US, it's money money money and all the reluctant teams have now been forced to participate in the show.

And what's not to like? Yachts, pretty people, private jets, 500-700 million dollar budgets and Chris Horner, country gentleman, envious, punching down, pure CIS testosterone, and we're all happy with that, well, I am, anyway, have no idea why, maybe it seems stranger to me than the dark side of the moon, or 30,000 feet down in the Marianas trench. This is why humans are amazing and humans suck, all this wealth and wealth related activity and amazing technology and creativity and the children driving the cars, as if they have a clue what this is all about.

I particularly love all the shots of the 500 foot cruise ships in the distance as the $500,000 launches casually ferry the talent. And to be clear, this is zero sum, all the money being sucked into wealth is sucked away from everyone else, there is no real argument to the contrary, just wealth, to the extent it even matters to them, sputtering crap to justify themselves. And, in terms of the US, Steinbeck said it best, "there are no poor in the US, just embarrassed, temporary millionaires" Humans, we're fools and WWIII is nigh, as it has always been.

Raising Dion (2019–2022)

would be better animated

[4/10 · 9 March 2022]

And the Pat "transformation" was easy to predict but completely unbelievable, and the plot movement, expectedly slow, was even slower than expected, so lots of fast forwarding. Actually, eff-it, these shows that try to mix big, world changing scify with family sappy family relationships are insipid and bizarre. How is this even a genre? I suppose if it becomes popular, it's fine, that which sells. And yeah, the poor young kid playing Dion. It's a mildly diverting show, but just that.

The King's Man (2021)

good poetry, crap movie

[5/10 · 24 February 2022]

This is a staggeringly tin-eared movie, great actors in service to some kind of silly idea of "great men" changing history with the obverse, "evil men/men/woman" being the cause of all badness, while a mountain of dead and cannon shells rises, not really sure this needed to be made, what was the purpose. The death of the son seemed gratuitous as did the father's brief alcoholic sadness and recovery. It was a bore, frankly - war wasn't averted, onerous conditions were imposed on Germany, no secret "Kingsman" could stop WWII, and we're now on the cusp of another war in central Europe/western Russian/Ukraine. This loud piffle of a movie pretty much captures the hopelessness of great power politics while offering a child's solution.

Clickbait (2021)

no hope, no exit, life sucks, but it only gets worse - but well-crafted nihilism

[7/10 · 13 September 2021]

You'll never get there from here, a very effective horror story, well acted, well directed, mostly well written. Maybe this is just life, some moments of job punctuating loss, pain, suffering and randomness. The one genius move here is to have this entire hellish story be a result of a bored, blown out woman, but along the way, everyone is already on the brink, or past the brink of cracking. We are left with not even the illusion of hope. Children are eternally traumatized, loss is everywhere, paranoia, and alienation. Similar to the "White Tiger" the lasting message is that we're effed, so enjoy the ride, or not, but maybe marvel at the good production values.

Sweet Girl (2021)

instead of the "sixth sense" we get "no sense"

[2/10 · 27 August 2021]

What a thrown together mess, unbelievable plot, stupid and obvious confession from the politician. The movie needed far more development, a few good moments, such as in the cafe between the seasoned and prodigy killers. And the big reveal was unexpected but more importantly, had no real impact. I suppose what would I expect from a Netflix "new" movie, a good rule of thumb, if it's new on Netflix and it's a movie its going to really really suck, like, boring sucks, not "so sucky that it's amazing" Stay away, you'll feel like you've wasted more time than usual watching Netflix.

Masterchef (V) (2010– )

is Gordon Ramsey getting fat? and is he and the rest of the judges getting tired of the drill sargent, faux drama schtick?

[2/10 · 19 April 2021]

Big spoiler here, this show is rigged!?!??! I know, I know, big surprise, and it's essentially using the medium of food as a massive, inadvertent hit against the US capitalist free fire zone, we all watch, because its almost like watching torture - "it's a joke, the gun wasn't loaded, ha ha" And the amped up, angry judge crap, fully male, beyond the obvious fake drama, it simply is old. There was only one season that transcended, an accident with a legally blind winner who neutered Gordon and Joe's ability to be fake angry. Aaron really has it bad as he doesn't do aXXHole, hope he got paid a lot. Anyway, watch this show if you think multiday dance contests are fun! (see "they shoot horses don't they")

Castlevania (2017–2021)

a super pleasant surprise, moody, complex, well written, great animation

[10/10 · 5 March 2021]

Where did this amazing series come from? Beyond the great animation/drawing, the writing and voice actors make this a very satisfying series. Indeed, this almost reaches a level, of dare I say, art? The emotional complexity of the characters is probably the most noteworthy, unexpected things. Baddies have a backstory, characters change, shallow characters deepen, there is weirdly, actual chemistry between Belmont and the Priest/Magician, how is that even possible? And the darkness is very appreciated, as our the philosophical musings. And yes, the animation/drawing is way beyond.

I Care a Lot (2020)

I care - not at all, a hot mess

[2/10 · 25 February 2021]

I wanted to love the movie, what a great setup! and it just fizzled and became some kind of hybrid dark comedy, ultra violence soaked, not funny, evil super villains fighting it out for most evil, super obvious, and sure, one glorious moment when Dinklage, in an attempt to appear anonymous, hides his face from the surveillance camera. But then there is the "wacky" scene at the hospital where the wacky russians mobsters shoot it out with the very capable and well armed hospital staff and merriment ensues, and death. There is no one to root for here, in an even vaguely interesting, anti hero way and there isn't one but two McGuffins, one standard - diamonds, and the other - an entire actor, Diane Wiest, who is very poorly used, mostly forgotten. And then, the almost killed characters, someone, Bourne level, escape their deaths, those wacky Russian mobsters again, and come back to do some very Bourne level stuff against the Russians, but this is not a female empowerment turning of the tables like in "Lucy" it's more like battle of the socio-paths - women can be socio paths too!. So, it's not believable within the framework of it's own construction, misuses actors, blows a very promising premise and finally, and this is the cherry on the crap sundae the evil woman socio-path is gunned down in the last 30 seconds of the movie, an obvious last minute addition that only serves to confirm this as a movie does not have the courage of it's convictions, and I'm not even going to talk about how this is related, or not to the whole B Spears conservator issues. That's all the time I'll spend on this maddening wreck of a movie

The Midnight Sky (2020)

another indicator that 2020 is a year gotten out of as quickly as possible

[2/10 · 28 December 2020]

The pandemic has also been disastrous for big movies, apparently. Great actors in service to a ridiculous, poorly told and overly slow/plodding plot. It's also a confused mess, and completely unrealistic, even given the SCIFY context, Clooney swimming around in Arctic water, and old man with some kind of terminal illness and then continuing on the mission. And it gets better, one disaster after another piles up, which is just another way of saying this movie sucks. Not sure what Clooney was thinking here. I don't need to go further, it's, at best, a piffle of a movie that deserves no more attention here.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

they made it WW 1984 because they wanted to save on production values

[2/10 · 28 December 2020]

And it's not like I like any of these super hero movies, maybe dead pool 1, maybe, but this was a truly inferior product, given this over determined, threadbare effort. I get that the it's been a bad year, but this is kind of a tiny little cherry on top. And I get it's hard to make movies in this time, but even then, wowsa, this thing sucks, smarmy, and what is truly weird, both painfully obvious and confusing at the same time, Given the money involved, I'm really not sure why this seems so low budgety. Don't spend extra time or money for this, it's, at best, a Saturday morning quick, fast forward through the painfully sentimental, viewings. Even as a xmas movie, it's a low mark.

The Great British Baking Show (2010– )

still love the twie, but it has lost it's "edge"

[3/10 · 14 November 2020]

The new 2021 season in the US is simply not very interesting anymore, the challenges aren't creative, the bakers (not their fault) aren't that interesting, except for Lottie, it might be the pandemic, who knows, it just seems absolutely the same, but yet, somehow, worse - I mean, a gelatin cake show stopper, frog pond pudding technical where none of the bakers came even close. There is a huge world of baking that is almost never accessed. The Japanese episode was all kinds of wrong, and it just seems exhausted, I don't even look forward to episodes anymore, they just get thrown on the netflix heap of shows I may watch, or not. It's inevitable, I suppose, as who will be the final few bakers, I was constantly pulling for Lottie simply because she had that thing, smart, quick, self-aware, super dry wit......Noel and Matt are trying hard with Matt being an extraordinary actor, (see Little Britain) but it's just another netflix show that is, unfortunately, starting to feel more and more like that horrid "Zumbo" dessert fiasco.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

a noble failure, but a failure, nonetheless

[2/10 · 28 October 2020]

I expect the unexpected with this director, sometimes it's really great - Sunshine, most of being John......but there are terrible misfires like Synedoche. This is in that vein, lots and lots of setup and time expansion/compression, unexpected dance scenes, the inevitable snow storm and the dying down (a la McCabe and Mrs. Miller) but it was a tedious mess, almost as if Kaufman was more interested in testing the audience than making a good movie. I kind of hate that.

Zumbo's Just Desserts (2016–2020)

Simon saves the show, but just barely

[3/10 · 27 April 2020]

This is a truly, mind numbingly awful series, incredibly unimaginative, repetitive with the least charismatic hosts imaginable. Seriously, we get a million different versions of cake and ice cream, layers and layers and layers, big cakes, little cakes, over and over again with the humorless hosts reading the same boring lines, I watched an episode here and there over the seasons and was simply gob smacked by the deadening repetition of it all. One obvious example of the miscues and poor follow-through was the criminal neglect of the Brazilian model/baker. The fact that they couldn't figure out what to do with an obviously effervescent and photogenic talent while the two top of a wedding cake stiff judges speaks volumes.

Lost in Space (2018–2021)

Perils of Pauline with more than a dash of a self-aware evil person, or a family centered space opera on the side of a roller coaster

[6/10 · 27 December 2019]

Hilariously silly, totally telegraphed space epic. If something will go wrong, it will go wrong. Will Judy get trapped by 4 velociraptors while running to save her dad from bleeding out ( a result of the convenient, titanium eating life form), what will happen next, OMG, and of course, it turns out fine, and the show runner knows you know it will turn out fine, like an amusement park ride, no one ever dies, people get really hurt, but future medical science! - or whatever! The cartoon threats are really that, yet the show has good visuals, and Parker Posey as the beyond evil chaos generator for the show. She is probably the best representation of a person who isn't really a sociopath, but simply a really awful person who knows she's awful and sometimes even regrets her awfulness though she pushes through her regrets to continue on her awful way. Kudos to the show runner for this - and for the absolute commitment to an almost fractal branching out of perils, disasters, emergencies, etc, Nothing will go as planned, huge disasters await, and nothing will break up the family Robinson.

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

well done for its genre, but only just, good acting on the part of Bale and Damon

[6/10 · 23 November 2019]

I used to race cars, still spend a bit of time on the track, so I know this story, even met some of the actual people involved here (I'm old), and I wanted to really like the movie more than I did. Of course the car porn was fantastic, the casual way in which iconic multi-million dollar cars were placed around the set and even some of the scenes showing the GT40 moving around the airport tarmac were very good. For the latter, they captured speed well here, which is very difficult. So, kudos. But the actual danger involved, although shown to some extent, was not given the attention really needed. I understand the dramatic demands for a movie, but I would think emphasizing the danger would only help. Just to be clear, there were two deaths in a five month period, Miles and Macdonald, although deaths and massive injuries were very common then, these deaths actually had an effect on the racing community. Also, to be clear, the Ford effort was massive, they simply hired the very best in the US to get the GT40 developed. It really was a huge disparity between Ford and any other team. In reality, once Ford got out the kinks, it was a foregone conclusion, no matter that Ferrari made amazing cars. In this regard, little was made of the genius and absolute necessity of Phil Remmington to the entire GT40 project, he was the actual development lead on the car and he was made out to be a Disney -like character, uncle Phil with almost no real role to play. Well, actually, the character of Miles, also an engineer on the project was a compiled character that included "Rem" but because Rem was the essential piece for GT40 development, they had to gesture towards him, I suppose. Again, it was an okay movie, very much in the genre, although a bit better acted, Damon and Bale fighting with each other, using food, a thrown wrench, the supportive, loving wife. Within the context of a buddy movie, the movie does work, but its too long and you feel it, although I did like the way Miles death accident was shown, not a lot of buildup, save for the music, and then a highspeed muffled crash, no huge histrionics after and then the both true and movie cliche line "sometimes they don't come home." I wanted more of the internal mechanics of that, I wanted more of Henry Ford crying in the car, a great scene, actually because both the absolute insanity of being in a racing car as well as his joy were conveyed, I thought that was a magnificent human moment, unexpected and worth the movie, on it's own.

The Irishman (2019)

pointlessly long rehashing of ugly organized crime with great actors, see it on Netflix

[5/10 · 16 November 2019]

First, the Hoffa story here does not comport with reality, after his prison term, he was washed up as an active leader, this pissed him off, he got increasingly crazy and threatening to the mob bosses. He was finally taken out and we don't really know what happened, see "living in Hoffa's Shadow" by O'brien. More to the point, although composed of a great many wonderful scenes, it didn't cohere as a movie, a particularly long movie. Much better to see it on Netflix, treat it like a limited series. Sure, we get to see Deniro and Pacino and Petchi, and others act together, but it's mostly the equivalent of sketch drama. Petchi and Deniro talking about "it is what it is" Pacino in front of the union crowds. Awesome, but not 3.5 hours awesome. Many of the professional reviews extolling the Irishman are mostly nostalgic about some great mafia movie past, per Scorcese and Coppola, but really? do we need yet another lovingly recreated long form treatment of these essentially heinous people doing heinous things. On top of it, these people are simply ugly, inside and out, driving shiny vintage cars. Hoffa and the others helped to betray and corrupt the union movement in the US, making it easy to vilify unions generally, hell the Kennedy's hated unions because of corrupt creeps like Hoffa. Maybe an indepth story investigating this angle would be intriguing. On top of this, the movie itself was simply confusing, the killing of Hoffa, which NO ONE officially has any idea of, was treated in a very confused manner, the step son was driving the car that takes Deniro to the hit on his father, what of this step son. Anyway, this really doesn't matter, it's a worthy Netflix viewing over 3-4 nights. And yes, they're are many Oscar worthy performances in the movie, probably too many, but on Netflix you can rerun these moments to your hearts content.

Parasite (2019)

instant classic, this generation's Rules of the Game

[10/10 · 7 November 2019]

As Jordan Peele is to race, Bong Joon-ho is to class. He creates strange, shocking scenes and stories from the seemingly mundane. A fancy house with an underground, with an underground prisoner. This is about how human civilization is the Parasite that drives everyone absolutely crazy. There will always be those few who essentially live off everyone else, the main point though, is we all suffer, maybe there is no solution but it really is this ugly, ultimately. The pin-head wife lives in oblivious vapidness, going on about the swan formation of tables for her spoiled son's birthday. A birthday party called the day after a hellish flood, well, at least a hellish flood that drives everyone in a working class ghetto to an evacuation center. Sewage backing up, blowing out the toilet,it's like the last scenes of the movie Titanic, except far less tidy, while the rich family enjoys the rain on their mountain top mansion. But far more is happening in a very small space, the con family is trapped under the coffee table as the rich couple watches their son's little Indian idyll play on in the Teepee on the lawn in the beautiful rain. (this focus on using American Indians as the spoiled child's play, forcing the fraud family to participate or else, is a masterstroke, as the play became real, toy symbol turned into actual violence). Switching back in time, the fraud family and the underground family essentially fight to the death. Bong Joon-ho mimetically has above ground and the underground and the naive disgust the wealthy have for how the poor smell. It's a little over the top, but in a way that is Brechtian, in showing the contradictions of our materialistic existence. Major props to Bong Joon-ho, it will be a classic.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

Torture victim who is also a murderer gets more screen for what purpose?

[3/10 · 15 October 2019]

Not sure what the director was thinking here. Given the backstory, that Jesse is simply allowed to stumble into he sunset per the finale would have been enough. El Camino has Jesse kind of quickly recovering, with some nods to PTSD, but then launched into regular Breaking Bad problem solving as if this is just a longer episode. Seems like such a lapse in judgement to get this thing produced, save for Jesse Plemons playing an amazing socio-path and the always great Aaron Paul. Like many here, I'm left asking why we need to explore the internal despair of someone so completely destroyed, he has almost been killed numerous times, betrayed often, with two girlfriends murdered, as well as other friends, kidnapped, tortured with the constant threat of being murdered and he is an actual murderer. I suppose people get into the scene by scene artistry here, Gilligan is always great but jeez, enough. Better call Saul was a far better tribute to Breaking bad, indeed, in my opinion, a better show as I really soured on the fortunes of Walter White after the planes collided in mid-air (can't get much worse than that). And to be clear, the finale was awful good, what went before, not so much, but not much more to be said,and for you, dear viewer, not much more to be watched.

Hyperdrive (2019)

massive irresponsibility on the part of the producers

[3/10 · 22 August 2019]

Episode seven.......one of the course features smashes the windshield of a car, driving glass into the racer's eyes. You would think that the producers would actually test these things thoroughly given the possible dangers. I race cars and I accept my fault in making mistakes on the track, going into walls and tires, which is not the same as the track suddenly throwing walls or tires at you. This is almost criminal negligence, and she easily has a court case. Of course, this will all be hushed up and money paid under the table.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

God, make it stop, make it stop

[3/10 · 28 July 2019]

He can make fun of Nazis and kill them in an alternate reality revisioning because that's what we all want to see done, but using the Tate Labianca murders as an alternate reality to explore hollywood and violence in US culture seems like a reach, theoretically as well as in Tarantino's actual movie, it's a mess, with weird shifts in tone and energy. And yes, every so often, little scenes that were great, like between Dicaprio and the precocious child actor. Mostly, however, it's a mess, off putting, not because it's difficult art but because it doesn't work, scene after scene for almost 3 hours. Would have walked out but I was waiting to see how Tarantino would land this smoking wreck - it wasn't pretty, there were no survivors.

Last Chance U (2016–2020)

more subtle than first blush

[9/10 · 22 July 2019]

Yes, there is a plantation mentality in play, yes major sports in higher education is a massive betrayal of academics but the ICC situation is more complex, notwithstanding the seeming oafishness of head coach Brown. Turns out that ICC is running on fumes before the new football program and that the football program brings in something like 200 new students who would not have been there anyway. So, it's a bit disingenuous to show the broken and denuded music rooms as if the football program was responsible for this. Brown knew this and he knew that the town knew this too. Yes, an unhappy, lost man, leading lost children, like an old, earth bound Peter Pan leading a city of lost boys, literally. And the real news does filter through, the English teacher who fully understands the terrible cost written on the bodies of the boys simply trying to better themselves in the only way they see as viable, tries to warn them that they only get one brain. While we're shown kids suffering repeated concussions and receiving non-existent to crappy medical care that is completely corrupted by the meat grinder needs of the football program. The kids, who are often far from home, have massive trauma in their lives, and little responsible supervision are mostly left to their own devices while all the supposed adults prattle on about how they care about the kids. And there is the $600,000 practice field that almost becomes it's own character throughout the season. More so than the other sad and hopeless seasons of the show, this was a particularly hard season. Especially given echoes of the racist, anti-immigrant sentiment voiced by the town's people regarding supporting "out of town/out of state" students..........a worthy, but difficult show to watch.

Shooter (2016–2018)

City Slickers meets an NRA commercial (optional lobotomy available)

[3/10 · 30 June 2019]

You need the "Bob Lee" double name thing to cover the southern cracker base, as well as the cackling insults thrown at Harris, making fun of someone having half a brain, needing therapy, clearly an effete pointy headed dip sh_t . Lots of gun porn, lots of guns, did I mention guns, more jokes at the expense of people that occasionally read, at the expense of people that don't love guns as much as Chuck Heston. Cynicism is written all over this thing. Guns solve everything here, just.like.they.do.in.the.real.world. The ironic thing is that Bob Lee also acts like down home Sherlock Holmes, having lots of moving-the-plot-forward insights that go way beyond just being a US trained sociopath sniper-assassin.

The Widow (I) (2019)

Another racist idyll in the heart of darkness

[2/10 · 21 June 2019]

What a mess of a TV series! An international mystery using the horror of the DRC, it's huge wars estimated at over 5 million dead in the last 20 years, mass rape, and social disruption. The short scene showing the manufacturing of cell phones does not serve as any kind of exoneration for the core exploitative use of the "exotic" Congo as backdrop. Most Africans in this sh_t show are shown as being really poor, really violent and really hardly people at all, save for the messed up evil general, who has terrible visions of the people he killed. The white Europeans traipse all over this wreck, their issues and needs drive the show, per the usual. In terms of the white people dynamics, all the main characters are poorly drawn. We find out that the widow is a captain in the Army, that the head of the aid agency is fully corrupt, the widow's husband a coward, and more importantly, practically everyone dies. Oh, and lest not forget, the whole white savior bit where the widow finally adopts the child. Her terminator persistence in looking for her husband does nothing but make this all even worse, the needs of white Europeans not just being more important, but the only important thing.