whiskeyTango-06 Reviews

Fargo: The Useless Hand (2024) Season 5, Episode 9

This show used to be great

[3/10 · 11 January 2024]

Seasons 1 and 2 of Fargo were unlike anything we'd ever seen before... it was new and refreshing, odd and pleasing. And, although weaker, season 3 did some amazing things as well... some very amazing things.

Since then, it's been lazy/typical Hollywood hogwash - mainly because the show's creators couldn't stop themselves from injecting that which kills all things in entertainment: their soggy social and political beliefs... all while piling-on the unneccesary: increasingly deranged and unmotivated violence.

They won their audience over with high-end craftsmanship, then they rested on their laurels thinking they can do no wrong.

Instead of fighting to keep their audience interested, they lecture and misrepresent the members of the audience that they loathe.

They are no longer entertainers, but self-appointed lecturers... the court jesters think they are the wise counselors... they think they can ridicule the very people who who gave them success, and then they wonder why the audience always abandons them.

This is exactly what happens when a show creator or entertainer thinks he is more important than his audience.

World War 1: American Legacy (2006 Video)

A Masterful Look At A Terrible Thing

[9/10 · 24 November 2023]

This documentary is amazing, and interesting, and it does not waste your time. It sticks to the facts and - unlike so many others - it does not editorialize nor does it attempt to rewrite history.

World War 1: American Legacy is masterfully crafted.

This film is chock-full of rarely-discussed facts, and what a great treat it is to see hundreds - maybe thousands - of images rarely seen before.

The filmmakers take a simple approach: a well-written script aligned with stunning still images, and herein lies the mastery.

And then come the amazing stories. Stories define us and these stories define for us a time long past, but a humanity that still exists.

Unlike social media "creators," the makers of this film understand all that goes into the making of a greatly-focused and informative documentary.

If you skip this one, you'll never know what you missed.

Above and Beyond (II) (2014)

A Great Personal Story

[10/10 · 4 November 2023]

A tiny sliver of a story from WWII? Perhaps...

the big stories get told over and over and over - with great attention, yet offering nothing new - but it's the little ones that can really make a difference.

This story might not seem important to some, but it is important because, although the big stories make headlines and hollywood titles, it's the genuine "little" stories like this that preserve the true human condition throughout history.

This documentary reveals wonderful details of a pilot trying to survive behind enemy lines in the second world war that have never been presented before. And it's a great joy that this story is told by the daughter of the adventurous pilot.

SEAL Team (2017–2024)

Cavell is no Mamet

[7/10 · 11 April 2019]

Try as it does, this show has neither the depth nor the honor that "The Unit" has rarely failed to exhibit.

Too much "look, we say cool military stuff and don't shave!" and nowhere near enough humility which as real operators know, is a a true sign of valor.

The Pacific War in Color (2018)

COOL FOOTAGE, Poor History

[5/10 · 9 April 2019]

Violence and gore seem to trump historical accuracy here - but whatever.

Why dazzle the mind when you can dazzle the eye (when you're not making your audience vomit)?

O! So shocking! Just because you *have* footage doesn't mean you have to use it, we get it - war is hell.

Mostly great footage, overtly gory, wrapped in a rather lazy telling of factual military history.

The Way We Weren't (2009)

Amazing Short Cinema

[10/10 · 14 January 2019]

I caught this short as a festival screener and I was incredibly impressed.

The writing caught my interest, but the direction kept me watching; the two are inseparable, as all films should be.

Beautiful, amazing work!!!