SgtSchultz00 Reviews

Collision (2009)

Great realism, great acting, nice tight script w/no filler

[8/10 · 15 July 2022]

Excellent TV mini-series that doesn't suffer from the "Netflix effect" - making things long just because you can.

Each of the 5 (yes, only 5) episodes it tight & moves the plot along nicely, without a lot of the fluff or filler you often see in series 8 or 10 episodes long.

The acting is superb, and the casting for each part was impeccable. All the actors look as well as act the part. And it all looked & felt real - none of the "oh come on, no one would do that" I often yell at the TV.

Does show how random parts of life can be.

Highly recommended.

Chloe (2022)

Too drawn out & oblique & stretches credibility

[6/10 · 7 July 2022]

There is a good, crackerjack story inside the 6 episodes, but you have to look hard to find it. As presented, the storytelling is vague & also elongated - the "Netflix Effect" of making things longer because you can. It really should have been no more than 3-4 episodes, and would have benefitted from a clearer presentation.

Also there are too many times when Becky's actions stretch any kind of believability.

So overall it's OK viewing if you can't find anything else.

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Gratuitously graphic & pointess

[2/10 · 21 May 2022]

Do we really need to repeatedly see people peeing, farting & puking? And couldn't we do without needless full frontal male nudity? Yes to all, but clearly director Joachim Trier doesn't think so. I'm sure it appeals to the "reality" bunch.

And after all her loves, trials & traumas, does the lead character learn anything (as claimed in the marketing?). Nope - no insight, epiphany or revelation. Just carries on as before, to the next thing.

Don't waste you 2 hours. 1 star each for the lead & cinematography.

Ófærð (2015– )

Good series, great cinematography, but worst police force ever

[7/10 · 11 February 2021]

The series is a good view, and the cinematography is rare & outstanding. But this has to be the worst police force that wasn't a farce.

Andri, the lead who apparently has a good reputation as a cop (even though he's crossed the line before), doesn't appear to be very bright, strategic or insightful. He is always a step behind whatever criminal activity is happening. Hinrinka sometimes adds some human insight and Asegir is a nice man who screws up a lot of things & would rather be playing computer chess.

So basically this group plods through each season chasing clues & criminals until finally people reveal things in the latter episodes. So Columbo or McGarret Andri is not.

Nevertheless, enjoyable to see if you're looking for something to watch.

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976 TV Special)

Worth seeing for Margaret Hamilton's brilliant Wicked Witch of the West reprise

[7/10 · 6 February 2021]

Margaret Hamilton is absolutely spot-on in her reprise of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. That alone is worth enduring this hour -- she's amazing when almost 40 years had passed since that original role.

Otherwise it's campy and sometimes borders on creepy (singing about "Kids"?). And who the heck ever thought putting Kiss on a Paul Lynde show was a good idea?

But if you're a Wizard of Oz fan, then watch it for Margaret Hamilton.

A Man Called Ove (2015)

Full of sadness & tragedy

[5/10 · 30 June 2020]

If like your movies to keep adding sadness & tragedy as they go on, this is the one for you! Why anyone would write this, let alone make a film of it, is beyond me. If I want sadness & tragedy I can read the news about Climate Change. For a movie, I'd like to entertained.

Yes there are a few lighter moments, but essentially it's a total downer.

Fortitude (2015–2018)

Morphs from a detective drama to a gory horror flick

[5/10 · 15 February 2020]

(This refers to Season 1). Fortitude draws you in & builds up the suspense as a taut detective drama, but then veers off and takes you on a stupid ride through a gruesome horror flick. It's a huge disappointment it couldn't deliver on the way it started.

Aside from taking an easy way out, it also has several scenes that are directly pulled from other movies, specifically Star Trek Wrath of Khan, A Fish Called Wanda & The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So it's not even that original.

On the plus side, the acting is pretty good. But don't waste your 9-10 hours.

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

Great attention to period detail, but what about a story?

[5/10 · 16 December 2019]

I'm sure Tarantino & team had a great time getting all the period details right, either through sets & props or CGI. But they seemed to have forgotten about the script -- the movie is actually pretty dull.

Things pick up toward the end when events & dates begin to converge, but it's slow going to the first 2 hours. Would have been nice to have a more compelling script to go along with the great visual presentation.

The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show (2019 TV Movie)

Uninspired singing...bad writing...lame acting...and those are the good points!

[1/10 · 11 December 2019]

This is likely the worst Christmas special I have ever seen. It's such a train wreck you almost want to watch for the next cringe-worthy moment. Kind of like "Plan 9 from Outer Space".

The rating on here is absurd. Given the show was made by Amazon & IMDB is owned by Amazon, I can only assume the rating is artificially inflated by Amazon bots.

On top of it all, Kacey looks 100% plastic...which I guess fits the rest of the show.

Insipid.

Keeping Faith (2017–2021)

Very good until cheap stunt ending for Series 1

[6/10 · 2 November 2019]

Here's an engrossing series that has it all -- excellent actors throughout, good storyline and beautiful exotic locales. Yes, it gets slow at some points & tends to go off on tangents. And some of the story was predictable at the outset.

But the big issue & dealbreaker for me was the cheap stunt ending for Series 1. It is so out of line with the rest of the series, I can only think it was foisted upon the creative team by a corporate suit. It makes no sense & is totally incongruous.

What a shame, because it was quite good until then. I note where writer Matthew Hall said it took him 3 years to write Series 1 & then had to do Series 2 in under a year, so can't imagine it improves.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Perfectly Unoriginal

[6/10 · 27 December 2018]

You know a sequel is in trouble when its 2 biggest moments are:

1) a snippet of music from the original (Spoonful of Sugar) 2) the appearance of a star from the original (Dick Van Dyke).

But that's the case in the new Mary Poppins Returns, a pale imitation of the original.

And It's pretty shocking, given the time, effort & money put into this film, that they didn't come up with a new plot or essentially songs. So instead of jumping into chalk pictures, they jump into a scene on a bowl. Instead of a tea party on the ceiling, the room turns upside down. Instead of chimney sweeps on roofs, we get lamplighters doing roughly the same thing. Instead of flying kites, we get balloons. And all the accompanying banal music pales versus the original. It's really a shame they didn't try to do something new here.

Lin-Manuel Miranda tries his best within these constraints, but they even give him the same terrible cockney accent that DVD had in the original. Emily Blunt was more entertaining in James Corden's "22 Musicals in 12 minutes" than she was in this, and Ben Whishaw is downright dour as Michael. Only Emily Mortimer adds some charm & sparkle as Jane.

All that said, it's still moderately entertaining for a couple of hours, but for that we can thank the original Mary Poppins.

Killing Eve (2018–2022)

Terrible writing, totally unrealistic

[2/10 · 22 July 2018]

The only more inept "spy" than the ones in this ridiculous series would be Inspector Clousseau.

Cook dinner for a murderous assassin who breaks into your apartment? Sure!

Chase a murderous assassin into a dark nighclub unarmed? Why not!

Walk up to her unarmed & expect her not to shoot? Certainly!

But if these scenarios sound good to you, then you'll like this totally unrealistic show about the most inept bunch of MI-5/6 staff you've ever seen, complete with plot holes through which you could drive a truck. Otherwise, watch something infinitely better like "The Game".

The Bridge (2011–2018)

Dark, complex, thrilling with unforgettable characters

[10/10 · 15 May 2018]

The best TV series in recent years (others include The Game (UK) and True Detective Season 1 (US)) because the writers & actors kept the quality at the highest level for 38 episodes over 4 seasons. Each season is as good as any other, and adding new major character in Season 3 allowed the writers to keep the series fresh. You'll have to watch them all more than once to incorporate all that's going on. And lastly, Sofia Helin as Saga is epic. A don't miss!

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Nothing Original Here at all

[4/10 · 4 April 2017]

This movie is simply a mildly altered version of the Manson story. Everything that happens in the cult is almost precisely what went on with Manson. And Olsen's "mesmerizing" performance? Well she simply pouts the entire movie. So if that's your idea of brilliant acting...

Worst, there is no ending. It's almost as if they ran out of budget at 4:15 PM, or their camera's hard drive filled up so they stopped.

So all in all it's totally unoriginal, incomplete & ultimately uninteresting. Skip it & read Bugliosi's book instead. Or, if you want to see a truly gripping movie about being sucked in & then pulled out of a cult, watch "Ticket to Heaven".

Blue Jay (I) (2016)

The Duplass Brothers had a free weekend...

[3/10 · 28 December 2016]

It seems like the Duplass brothers had a free weekend and a handy black & white camera, so they said "let's shoot something & see what happens". The problem is what they shot was uninteresting, has no character chemistry and virtually nothing happens. It's obvious that almost all of the dialogue is improvised, and it comes out forced & banal. This is NOT another "Before Sunrise", which had a real script, great character chemistry & a fantastic locale. Instead it's the Duplass brothers indulging themselves & boring any viewers. There's a reason this had no major theatrical release, right? I guess it's arty & trendy to praise this half-baked effort, but it's nothing more than a waste of time. And for reference, I loved "Togetherness".

Winter's Bone (2010)

For snooty critics and film "auteurs" only

[4/10 · 2 September 2013]

I can't for the life of me understand why this was nominated for an Oscar. Yes I heard it was dark & bleak...but I still expected it to be interesting and/or gripping.

Instead, it was a hard to follow story about a multitude of the worst low-lives, all of whom somehow have Dish Satellite TVs in their shacks. How the main character got any type of values and determination is beyond me, because it wasn't from her "family".

After over an hour of this, it was time for the fast-forward button just to bring the movie to a merciful close.

I'm not a person who only likes "happy" movies, but when the plot is only mildly interesting, the story is hard to follow, and the characters are almost all despicable, it's not worth the 2 hours investment.

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973)

Straight Laughs from Start to Finish

[10/10 · 18 February 2012]

It's really hard to make good comedies. Usually they revolve around people being stupid or incompetent. That's why this one is so amazing -- it's not only hysterical, the laughs are non-stop from start to finish without relying on "formula". And for that, you can mostly thank the incomparable Louis de Funes. His physical comedy, delivery and facial expressions are all sure to keep you laughing the entire film.

With its theme of Jews & Arabs (and Frenchmen), I was wondering how this would hold up after 9/11. Well fear not, it's still as funny as it ever was.

Even if you're not generally a sub-title fan, watch this film when you're looking for something funny. Just be prepared to laugh for 90 minutes straight!

Ticket to Heaven (1981)

A taut, gripping film

[2 November 2011]

Based on the non-fiction book "Moonwebs" by Josh Freed, "Ticket to Heaven" is a gripping thriller about an unsuspecting young man who gets sucked into a "religious" cult, obviously the Unification Church (though not explicitly mentioned in the film).

There's very little time wasted with extraneous or slow scenes...hence you quickly feel the sense of foreboding as David first comes in contact with them and eventually is taken under their spell. The methods outlined in the film are truly insidious.

Great acting abounds, and most of the cast has gone on to have very successful acting careers (click on the links of the cast). An added surprise is a very young Kim Cattrall, who actually acts in this film, versus the vamping character for which she later become so well known.

There's a great laugh in the credits at the end, when they use the usual legal disclaimer that says "all events and persons in the film are fictitious". If only!

City Island (2009)

An undiscovered gem!

[11 September 2011]

I don't know how this one slipped through upon theatrical release, but it's well worth your time to seek out.

Superb acting all around from mostly both well-known and lesser-known actors (compare Emily Mortimer in this and "Transsiberian"); crisp, imaginative plot and lots of laughs along the way make it winning combination. Andy Garcia's audition scene alone should have you rolling in the aisles.

Add to the above great cinematography, with on-location shooting at City Island and elsewhere in NYC and I think like me you'll find City Island great fun and worth repeat viewing.

Cypher (2002)

Too clever for its own good

[11 September 2011]

Cypher starts out with an interesting premise -- corporate espionage -- but then attempts to add twists & turns and layer upon layer, before pretty soon you have no idea what is going on, who are the good guys, who are the bad guys...what you're watching at all.

The (apparently) deliberate monochromatic visual tones, pedestrian acting and dull CGI sequences don't help either. By the end I was rooting only for the film to end so I could get more space on my DVR.

A film with some similarity, far better done, is Inception.

My rating should really be 5.5/10. Hard to understand what why so many folks rated it so highly -- one of the few times IMDb ratings have steered me wrong.

Frenzy (1972)

Hitchcock without qualifications!

[8/10 · 3 September 2011]

At last, a Hitchcock film that can be recommended wholeheartedly, without any qualifications. For me, too many of them are great up to a point, but then have major plot or character issues. (Such as "Man who Knew too Much"...would any parent really stay cool knowing their kidnapped child was on the floor above them?) But this one is crackerjack suspense from beginning to end, with no plot holes or characters acting completely unrealistically.

A lot has been written about the "graphic" rape scene, and while that may have been true when the movie was made, it's not anymore, although it still is very intense & disturbing.

I do wish the movie didn't end so abruptly, and I'm surprised the last line (which I won't repeat here for fear of a spoiler), hasn't become more famous in popular lexicon.

But by all means, and without any qualifications, see this film. One of Hitch's best!

So Evil My Love (1948)

A woman scorned....

[6/10 · 20 June 2011]

Enjoyable film-noir story (based on fact) with Ray Milland playing an against-type crook with guile, who "falls in love" with Ann Todd's Olivia, and in the process gets her to lie, steal, connive, and even set up her best friend. Does that bother her? Not really, but interestingly what sends her over the edge is that she finds out Ray also has a girlfriend on the side! Moral of the story: you can manipulate your "lover" into doing all sorts of bad deeds, just don't cheat on her too!

The film could probably be tightened up with better editing, but it still holds your interest. No it's not "Gaslight", but still something not to miss if you like film noir.

Waterloo Bridge (1940)

Engrossing, Sad Wartime Romance

[7/10 · 20 July 2007]

This is a fine picture with a radiant Vivien Leigh...I just wish it weren't so sad. This was her first picture after GWTW, and I actually liked her much more in this one, probably because her character was more sympathetic.

It's interesting that because most of the film is done via flashback, you immediately know how things will unfold, and you watch the rest of the film just waiting to see how they get to the ending that you already know will happen.

I can't quite figure why they cast Robert Taylor in the lead male role, as the film is set in the UK and he doesn't even attempt a British accent. I think William Powell would have been better, but that's probably just a nit.

Although some parts are dated (how could they not be), a really good film when you're in an emotional mood!

Cold Turkey (1971)

Would Have Made A Nice One-Hour TV Show

[4/10 · 30 December 2006]

I can understand why Norman Lear went into TV -- in "Cold Turkey", he takes an amusing light premise, then stretches the life out of it to try to turn it into a feature-length film. Unfortunately, despite some droll social commentary here and there, he fails. The film just takes too long to tell the story, which would have been better down in a one-hour TV show.

To make it worse, Dick Van Dyke is completely miscast as a priest -- you just can't take him seriously. Other familiar faces show up here and there, but basically this is one film that really has nothing to recommend about it.

UPDATE: I just read DVD's autobiography, and he mentioned often thinking of joining the clergy. Since he didn't, maybe he knew he would be miscast too!

End of the Game (1975)

Great Setup, Bad "Ending"

[5/10 · 25 November 2005]

Well as others have commented there is some great acting here. My favorite is Robert Shaw as the villain, but Martin Ritt as the inspector is also quite good.

The problem is that the plot mostly makes absolutely no sense (I can't believe they didn't somehow change what was in the book), and the denouement is more or less unfathomable. It's almost like they had a great setup and didn't know how to explain things or end them.

As others mentioned, the film is enveloped in fog and is quite grainy. Switzerland was never that foggy when I was there! And the music didn't really match the action on the film.

All in all, from what I can tell, skip this and try the book.