Gianopulos Reviews

Billions: The Big Ugly (2022) Season 6, Episode 8

I'm officially done with this show

[2/10 · 13 March 2022]

For many reasons this show has begun sucking on many levels this season, but it wasn't until I saw that they gave airtime to the traitor US soccer player in episode 9 that I lost whatever interest that I had left.

The Age of Adaline (2015)

Lead Guy Miscast

[8/10 · 23 May 2015]

Okay. I'm all ready to get into this crazy love story with Blake being hot, playing the lead as she always does. The story starts, a few tear jerks here and there, nothing severe yet. Then I see Dave Grohl come into frame! WTF? Yeah, Story ruined for me. NO chemistry between Blake and Game of Thrones boy at ALL. She had more chemistry with Harrison Ford then that guy. It would have been better to get the guy who played the younger Harrison Ford to play his son then the Dave Grohl clone.

I love Blake and will always support her in anything she does and that is why I gave this flick an 8. Harrison 1&2, Ellen and Blake were all great actors in this. The only thing that killed it for me was the hippie.

Tusk (I) (2014)

Weird, Intense, Funny and AWESOME. All in that order.

[10/10 · 5 December 2014]

Even if this movie totally sucked, which it absolutely does NOT, I would still give this movie at least an 8 because of Johnny Depp's performance alone. If there was ever a character that needed his own TV series or stand-alone movie, this would be it. The fact that I didn't even know it was Depp playing this incredibly off-beat, enchanting character made it that much better for me when I actually figured out it was him playing the guy.

I have to say that I have always been a middle of the road guy when it comes to Kevin Smith movies, don't really love them, but I don't really hate them either. I have a lot of respect for anyone who just grabs a camera goes out and gets it done, you have to. This movie showed me a lot of new levels of him. He has chops, skills, whatever you want to call it. The whole execution of this movie was pretty much flawless. The directing, editing, acting, all of it were worthy of any "A" listers. Michael Parks, like Depp, is a human chameleon and always blows me away with his performances. Tusk is no exception. His dry, humorous back door insults in this movie are of epic stature, as are his characters that he slips in and out of playing this estranged psychopath.

I'm recommending this to everyone. This movie was awesome. Period.

Undateable (2014–2016)

I really wanted to like this show..

[3/10 · 6 June 2014]

When I first saw Chris D'Elia was in a new show I was excited because I think the guy is pretty funny and I loved his work from Whitney. Then came Undateable. Have you ever been in a train or a bus when someone starts to sing in public thinking that they are doing everyone a favor by blessing you with their voice when in actuality you wish you had a plunger and a hammer so you could stop the awful noise from making you want to rip your earlobes off and stuff them into your own ears? That's how this show is.

The writing is awful, the jokes are campy and executed with the worst delivery, the whole singing deal is just annoying as HELL and the cast, aside from D'Elia is like a bunch of sub-pars from Central Casting who must have won a contest of some sort to win their parts. I don't think any of them are good. Okay, except for the one guy who looks like Egon from Ghostbusters, he's funny. The annoying guy who wines and sings all the time really needs to be replaced. He BLOWS at comedy. He's not even good a delivering his paint-by-number jokes.

To the people making the show: the same joke you keep trying to make funny by having moron number 1 singing to himself all the time, would actually BE funny if he sucked at singing. The fact that he is a good singer is not funny. It's awkward and comes across as if he's really trying to showcase his voice for the next American Idol season. I'm expecting this to get canceled quickly so Chris, I'm looking forward to seeing you in your next show.

Haunt (2013)

Beautifully Shot, but could have been scarier...

[8/10 · 1 February 2014]

I actually liked this story a lot. Loved the characters, the situation, the plot and definitely the cinematography. The two lead kids were very convincing and very likable. You rooted for them the whole time. My only complaint is that there could have been a lot more jump out of your seat scary tactics they should have used to add more horror. The setting was perfect as a cold old house somewhere in Canada most likely. Very isolated and creepy while also being very picturesque and beautiful. Everything that was done in the movie was done well, lots of good production value. Direction and acting was very convincing by all the characters. The scary old box they find looks really vintage and perfect for what it is supposed to be. I just wish the movie was scarier.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Dark Knight Rises? More like sinks.

[2/10 · 22 July 2012]

I am not going to give anything away here other then the fact that this is the worst movie of the trilogy. I went into this experience so wanting this to be a great movie. I really did. Needless to say my hopes were burnt to a crisp like the first Wayne Manor.

Aside from major plot holes and choices to leave out a lot of back story about main characters who now have new, unexplained idiosyncrasies, The whole story was told without any kind of time-line or rules at all. The rules about physics and the amount of power a human can have and others, just kind of got made up as the story progressed. Furthermore, I saw this at the ArcLight in Hollywood. A place known for it's great sound system and I could barely make out anything that Bain was saying because it sounded like Sean Connery speaking through a sub-woofer.

The acting was SOOO bad by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway it's almost like they had no idea how bad they sounded or looked and Nolan just decided not to tell then about it. Gordon-Levitt is normally a great actor. I like that kid in pretty much anything he does, but watching him in this movie was torture, bad lines, horrible delivery. I would give anything to watch the movie while sitting next to him just to observe how he reacts to his own acting. I don't blame him, I blame Nolan. If you're going to introduce new lead characters into the story, at least give us a little insight as to where they've been or why they are the way they are.

I'll just say that after sitting through the whole movie, I was reluctant but nevertheless satisfied with the more then obvious ending which was explained but did not need to be at all. It made me think about it for about a half an hour before I decided to not like it, whereas up to the very end, I was really angry about how I got duped into sitting through the whole movie up to that point.

Illegal (2010)

Very well done movie!

[9/10 · 8 June 2012]

Aside from a semi-typical movie about how Americans are prone to act like idiots when they are anywhere outside their normal habitat, This movie was Directed, shot and acted very very well! A very good story about the strife and hardships that illegal immigrants can suffer at the risk of trying to make a better life for themselves by crossing the US-Mexican border. The story intermingles the lives of several people who are put in compromising situations in order to meet their own needs. Amazing performances by Luis Bordonada J. Salome Martinez. My only frown is that the characters who play Americans, aside from Art Lefleur are not always convincing in their acting, and their motivations are basically just to be jerks, which throws out another motivation question: why do these people want to come to a country filled with these idiots? The story could have been just as good if not better if they showed the Americans being represented as respectable people bringing a ray of light to a seemingly ravaged and lawless land.

The Killing (2011–2014)

Finally! A cure for Insomnia!

[1/10 · 26 April 2012]

I used to read to try to get to sleep at night, but now I can just watch any episode of this highly over-rated show and be out like a coma victim in record time! Great job producers! Finally there's a show with a story that moves as quick as grass grows with a cast of nobodies that I could not care less about even if I was paid for it! The smartest thing you guys did was to cast a girl as the lead who is literally difficult to look at because she is so unattractive and lacks even the rudimentary basics from Acting 101! Smart thinking. The only think salvageable about this excruciatingly mundane waste of airtime is the drugged out partner who is equivalent to the Jessie character in Breaking Bad. Although surrounded by monotony, he is interesting to watch. Many thanks on getting me off my addiction to Ambien! I sleep like a rock now. Keep me posted on the new show you guys have coming out about paint drying! Maybe you can integrate the two shows! Just an idea.

Validation (2007)

Everybody can learn a thing or two from this guy.

[10/10 · 25 May 2008]

I had the pleasure of seeing this gem at the Phoenix Film Festival and I have to say that there are probably less then 1% of all short films made have the ability to make the audience well up with tears of happiness. That is precisely what this film did to me. Not only that. Whenever I tell someone about it I get the sense of welling up again just from re-telling it to them.

T.J. Thyne is perfectly cast as Hugh Newman, the uber-naive parking booth guy who works at the end of a darkly lit hallway and validates customers parking tickets while validating their lives at the same time. Just like any protagonist in a movie, he hits his roadblock and loses his mojo for a while but soon finds himself again, after he finds life taking him in another direction and gets back on the trail of making people's lives better. He finds out in the end that the good deeds had been doing for people in the past, that he thought were not changing anything or anybody, actually changed the lives of even the most hardened hearts and in turn find him the complete happiness that he had been searching for the whole time.

Kurt Kuenne did an AMAZING job with this film, period. From the finger-snappy acapella soundtrack to the directing, editing and cinematography; all of it is perfectly fit into this beautiful story. I only wish I could buy this movie on DVD. I've told so many people about it and wish I could show them! Hopefully soon!

London (I) (2005)

Stellar performances...

[10/10 · 20 April 2008]

I Caught this gem on late night cable television and was sucked right into the whole story, which reveals itself very intelligently and through some very intense and incredibly real scenes. I've seen Chris Evans in all kinds of comedic performances, but this one DEFINITELY puts him on the map as a schooled dramatic actor. His portrayal of his self-destructive side was amazing as was the perfect chemistry between himself and Jessica Biel. I didn't want the movie to end. I wanted to see what happens a year later. Hunter Richards wrote an incredible actor's piece here and any actor would be blessed to be able to sink their teeth into one of these roles. I'm guessing that he wrote this movie as a play since there were three distinct locations for each act. Very well thought out and incredible direction from Richards as well!

Spin (2005)

DJ walks into a mess and bites off more then he wants to chew.

[10/10 · 12 December 2007]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from the opening shot of the protagonist falling into frame, all the way to the end credits. This story is shot incredibly and told perfectly without one line being uttered from any of the actors. The direction proves to be very well done as the lead character is cast perfectly as a philanthropic DJ who is stuck with the ability to fix every mishap in the world with a spin of a record. He does so, but not without consequences that he also has to fix. The supporting players do a fine job as well. I think Winans shows his true genius in being able to write, direct and edit this entire project beautifully, not to mention the fact that he scored the film with his own music which is also fantastic! Great Job!

Pirates of Treasure Island (2006)

Oh, the humanity!!

[3/10 · 27 August 2006]

Granted, this movie is so monumentally bad, that there isn't a negative review out there that is negative enough to be able to actually capture how horribly bad this movie really is. However, I'm going to make an observation and say that there must have been two conflicting parties involved in the making of this movie and they never really communicated at all during the entire film-making process. Either that or the editor hated both parties and decided to try and end everyone's careers all at once.

If you are in such a dire need to see a pirate movie because Pirates of the Caribbean is no longer doing it for you, and you find yourself desperate enough to rent probably the worst pirate movie ever made, by all means, rent this movie, but do yourself a favor and watch the version with the commentary with the director (who plays a small part in the movie and actually does a decent job at it) and some other guy. I think it was one of the PA's. I'm not quite sure. I just know the guy had like five small parts in the movie.

First of all, having no dialogue only makes the movie better. Trust me. The two guys talking on the commentary track are hilarious! This seriously could've been another episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The weird thing is that the movie you are seeing with the commentary is almost a completely different movie. It actually looks better then the actual movie! When I say 'better,' that term is relative. Whoever decided to cast the blond girl as the part of the pirate who had killed 17 men and was supposed to look like a boy, must have been doing some serious hallucinogens at the time because this girl was so bad, she was the epitome of the word 'suck.' She was honestly the worst thing about the whole movie. Even worse then the Tom Cruise wannabe costar who was also horribly bad. If they had cast the brunette with the curly hair and the French accent (who actually had some decent acting chops and was much more interesting to look at) to play the blond girl's part, the movie would have definitely been a little more salvageable.

I think it's obvious that this movie was intended to be a spoof on the pirate genre, only somewhere down the line, someone decided to make it a serious film, which was a really bad idea. The cinematography was excellent for the most part. The editing was horrible. The acting was also horrible, with exceptions of a few small performances. The story could have worked for a spoof movie, but definitely not as an action-drama. Finally, if you're looking to find a good performance out of Lance Henricksen, don't think for a second you're going to get one here. I seriously feel bad for the guy. You can almost see in his eyes how depressed he must have been after doing films such as Dog Day Afternoon and Aliens to subject himself to this kind of ungodly poop.

Rose Red (2002)

Please Mr. King, Stop making your own movies!!!

[3/10 · 5 October 2005]

It's bad enough making yourself finish a normal length movie that starts out bad, but when it is a 4 & 1/2 hr. miniseries, You just want to punch yourself stupid thinking of the EXTENDED amount of time you've wasted that you'll never get back.

I'll just say that I watched this movie by myself, in my house, with no lights on and after it was over, I turned off the TV, turned over and slept like a baby. That's how terrified I was of this pathetic attempt. The movie was beautiful, it just wasn't scary AT ALL. The whole idea of voices being heard is scary for like the first 10 seconds of hearing it, then it just becomes annoying when it is happening throughout the entire film. The sets were awesome but once again, not used to scare the crap out of people. The puppets of dead people were OK, but not scary. There were so many points where I was predicting the old bait and switch trick, where they open the fridge and close it and there's a dead person screaming at you (which scares the crap out of me every time) and they never took advantage of it. I was to the point of being pi$$ed off because I wasn't getting scared.

The only redeeming factor in this movie was the performance of Matt Ross. He seems to be the only one on set who really knew his character, Emery, and played it to the hilt with no indecision. Very unique and effective choices.

This is to Stephen King. If you are going to put your time into writing a movie that is supposed to be scary, why not take it the whole nine yards and actually get a director who knows how to put together a scary movie? Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski, David Fincher even Wes Craven. You can always take a trip to Japan and get one of the bright new directors who are making ground-breaking horror flicks that we Americans are always taking advantage of by re-making all their previous works.

Narc (2002)

Anyone who says this movie is predictable is stupid and a liar.

[10/10 · 26 June 2003]

There is NO WAY anyone can predict the ending of this movie unless they themselves, helped Carnahan develop the story. This movie was awesome. The acting was superb. Liotta and Patric are phenomenal. Anyone that thinks that Carnahan doesn't know how to direct, is a complete idiot and has obviously has no clue what it is like to direct a film. This guy is awesome! Half the reason the acting was so great in this flick is because the director knew exactly what he was going for.

Aside from the part where Oak is talking about his wife who died, the editing was fantastic. The story is revealed in the best possible manner to keep the audience guessing until the last possible moment. Carnahan obviously knows what the heck he is doing when it comes to making films. Whoever doubts that is ignorant. The entire film is riveting and has one of the best endings since "The Usual Suspects".

Anyone who found the story too difficult to follow should demote himself or herself, and head back to "Deep Impact" or "The Core".

A Blue Christmas (2002)

Short comedy about two video store clerks and a customer.

[8/10 · 19 April 2003]

Set in a grimy Chicago video store, Douglas Bennett pulls off the role of Chuck, the crazy, spastic video store manager with animation and creativity. Newcomer Lindsay Woolf does a great job playing Amanda Pratt, the sweet little innocent video clerk who is ridiculed on a regular basis by Chuck for her good heart. The two work very well together. You can't help but fall in love with Woolf as she tries to do a nice thing for a regular customer and gets slammed for it. Fun story. Worth a look. Great direction by Brody.

The Thing (1982)

Groundbreakingly gross...

[10/10 · 25 August 2002]

One of my favorite horror films as a kid, John Carpenter captures the chilling temperatures of the Antarctic with a stellar ensemble cast led by Kurt Russell and Keith David. One of the few brilliant successes in the re-making of a movie. The Special effects are incredible even by today's standards, showing what can be done without Computer Graphics. Movie was cast perfectly with incredible performances by everyone.

The Accountant (2001)

Incredible writing, acting, and cinematography.

[10/10 · 22 August 2002]

This is by far the best short movie I've ever seen. Ray McKinnon does an incredible job portraying a self-destructive, crooked accountant who has severe issues over Hollywood portraying the southern man. Filmed in Georgia, the cinematography captures the long, beautiful, rolling landscapes set up against the deep blue southern sky. The characters are so perfectly portrayed by the actors showing their desperation in a very real, convincing way. This movie is a masterpiece.

Gosford Park (2001)

Bunch of Morons go for a weekend holiday with their servants

[1/10 · 11 August 2002]

This was hands-down the saddest waste of two hours I have ever experienced. I can truly say that I found more entertainment from watching the paint dry on my car. It is movies like these which make me ponder as to how people like Robert Altman ever made it in the business in the first place. I hated all the characters, I found myself wishing that a bomb would fall through the roof and either kill them or myself.