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jendarden
Reviews
The Undoing: The Missing (2020)
Lifetime movie? Seriously??
I like to read reviews either during or after watching shows, movies, miniseries like this because often other people pick up on interesting details I may have missed. I am really surprised at several "Lifetime movie" comparisons. I get the feeling that might be because that mediocre quality shows might be the typical fare that some viewers choose to watch. This series has an outstanding cast, great filming and production and so far, a riveting story to tell. Far, far better than Lifetime movies. HBO and the Lifetime channel are not even of the same quality, ever, HBO being much much better.
Corrina, Corrina (1994)
Love this but...this review belongs in Goofs but no idea how to access writing a Goof...
I do love this movie, seen it several times. But I never noticed until today that during the scene where Manny (Ray Liotta) plays imaginary violin w his dad that his dad appears to be wearing ear buds...in the 50s???!!! Headphones then were HUGE, where did the buds come from??
Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak (2020)
Worthwhile but fragmented
These stories told in various places in the world could easily have been told in chapters on each individual reason and story from that region and the individuals on the front lines (as this series claims). Instead, each of 6 chapters is fragmented, trying to tell 4 or 5 stories at the same time. Worthwhile but will practically make feel like you have ADHD trying to watch because you have to switch mental gears every 10 minutes or so. I don't mean that as a joke about ADHD, but it's like trying to focus on a strobe light.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Book of Esther (2018)
Unrealistic
This episode seems to completely overlook the facts that Rollins is not only out of her jurisdiction she's totally out of line. How does she end up in the suburbs with no back up, even breaking into the home with no warrant and ultimately kiling a child with seeming no remrimand. Yes, the father is a horrible person, the cult-like atmosphere is reprehensible but come on! There's no question that a detective-level cop could get away with this. Too off the wall and unrealistic for my taste even if it's based on a fairly recent situation that it miirrors. I disagree that it's supposed to be Randy Weaver, there's a much more recent situation that this episode reflects. Again, what the heck is Rollins doing going totally off the rails?!?
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Missing (2019)
Disappointing in many ways...
I have no clue how this episode got an overall rating above 8. It could have been a decent episode but for the myriad of disappointing writing and production blunders. First, I could not agree more with a previous reviewer who commented on the mother: the exaggerated NY accent combined with some kind of speech impediment, all of which was distracting from what was a barely believeable story to begin with. Let me be absolutely clear, no offense meant in ANY WAY to persons with speech impediments. She "kidnaps" a boy who might pass as a replacement for her own son who died in an accident caused by his drunken parents yet nobody seems to miss the kidnapped "replacement" child. A teacher, a neighbor, ANYONE could easily tell the difference yet nobody seems to. A six year old kid (maybe not a 1 or 2 year old) would be old and astute enough to enough to know and realize that something was wrong, remember his sister and ailing mother, for sure. I could go on and on about the poor quality of the characters, the plot, the whole boring premise but enough said. I love L&O:SVU but this is by far one of the cheesiest, most poorly executed episodes I can remember. Booooo!!! SVU can and does produce MUCH MUCH better material!
House of Cards: Chapter 52 (2016)
Oops, just one little oversight...
I love House of Cards, stopped watching during season 3 first time around but sheltering at home April 2020 due to Covid19 has allowed me to pick back up. Just one comment about this episode. These American wannabe terrorists (evidently some kids in rural Georgia or somewhere) have kidnapped 3 members of an American family, demanding that a Guantanamo detainee be released. So it's all set up, ready to have communication between these kidnappers, the detainee, the U.S. government agencies, etc. But when it all goes down and the detainee goes off script, all hell breaks loose, partly because the detainees last few hurried sentences to the kidnappers were in Arabic, nobody knows what was said, everybody's scrambling around. Umm. Given the work that went into setting up this communication, did this scenario never cross anybody's mind and/or did it not occur to anyone (ANYONE???) to possibly have a translator on hand?? Really? That seems pretty farfetched to me. Pretty big OOPS!!
Goliath (2016)
Billy Bob Thornton deserves praise but...
What the heck is Dwight Yokam doing on screen??? I honestly do not understand how he possibly got the parts in both Sling Blade but more recently Goliath. He has a TOTALLY flat affect and for gods sake he needs to cut that tumbleweed hair. He's a great singer but he really should stick to that. I found him to be SO BAD he's nothing more than a distraction, adding nothing as a character. It could have been a great character by the right actor. As far as the series, season 1 was AWESOME but you might as well stop there. Just like True Detectives, the first season was great, a shame that they (meaning the two shows, Goliath and True Detectives) were followed by such duds...
Criminal Minds: Under the Skin (2020)
Where have we seen this before...?
I realize it's been about 30 years since the film Silence of the Lambs was made but so much of this episode mimics that classic film it should embarass the writers/producers or at least
make them feel sheepish. From the making of a "skin suit" to the scenes where the viewer thinks one character is showing up at the right place which turns out to be wrong then quickly alternating to another character arriving at the right place (in SOTL, the FBI mistakenly shows up at an abandoned residence just as Jodie Foster in her amazing performance as Clarice Starling knocks on the door of the actual serial killer, the one making the skin suit, (albeit from women's skin for totally different reasons) it feels like outright plagerism. Perhaps there was an assumption that the 30 year lapse would make viewers forget but I for one am extremely disappointed with Criminal Minds for doing just that. While I do realize that Silence of the Lambs itself culled from some real historical killers such as Ed Gein who made lampshades and other things (I think even the "skin suit" from women's bodies he obtained by grave-robbing) this just has a cheap, rip off feel not like the high standards Criminal Minds has entertained us with for years. Not a great episode to begin with but the plagerism sort of adds salt to the wound as the saying goes. Ah well, final season and CM has been losing steam (and quality) as it's on its way out but still, a disappointment.
The Outsider (2020)
Arrgghhh!!
I agree with others who've said they'd like access to all the episodes. I just started watching tonight, am on episode 3 and already know for sure that I'd binge watch the whole thing like I did with True Detective (which another viewer mentioned). I think streaming has spoiled us all, giving us access to what we want to watch and when we want to watch it. I was born in the 60s and anyone else born in the earlier days of TV can remember waiting an entire week to watch the next episode of whatever was our thing. I don't even bother w "regular" TV anymore, lost my tolerance for commercials long ago. Everything I watch now is streamed - Netflix, Amazon, Hulu. The glory of early cable TV was that while you had to pay for it, it was commercial-free and better, more reliable picture quality since we no longer needed antennas (or coat hangers if one got desperate!). Unfortunately that's no longer the case. The only difference is instead of 3 major networks there are dozens, all with commercials even though we still have to pay for cable. I much prefer paying individually for the networks I prefer. Ah well, a first world problem, indeed...omg, I'm starting to sound like my elders, "I remember the days when..." LOL!!!!
The Outsider (2020)
Arrgghhh!!
I agree with others who've said they'd like access to all the episodes. I just started watching tonight, am on episode 3 and already know for sure that I'd binge watch the whole thing like I did with True Detective (which another viewer mentioned). I think streaming has spoiled us all, giving us access to what we want to watch and when we want to watch it. I was born in the 60s and anyone else born in the earlier days of TV can remember waiting an entire week to watch the next episode of whatever was our thing. I don't even bother w "regular" TV anymore, lost my tolerance for commercials long ago. Everything I watch now is streamed - Netflix, Amazon, Hulu. The glory of early cable TV was that while you had to pay for it, it was commercial-free and better, more reliable picture quality since we no longer needed antennas (or coat hangers if one got desperate!). Unfortunately that's no longer the case. The only difference is instead of 3 major networks there are dozens, all with commercials even though we still have to pay for cable. I much prefer paying individually for the networks I prefer. Ah well, a first world problem, indeed...omg, I'm starting to sound like my elders, "I remember the days when..." LOL!!!!
Criminal Minds: Entropy (2016)
Best of Season 11...
I discovered Criminal Minds when it was in Season 7 and have since gone back, watched every episode from Season 1, Episode 1. By Season 11, sadly the show had begun to lose its footing. So this episode was a refreshing reminder of how good this series can be. The psychological and intellectual cat and mouse played here by Reid and hit-person Cat (played masterfully by Aubrey Plaza) was stunning! While I doubt Cat can rattle off statistics covering every topic possible, for the first time in 11 seasons it appears Reid has met his match to some degree. Even though he ultimately outsmarts her (as we knew he would) there was genuine tension which, once it started, never let up, not once for the entire episode. My only disappointment was the ending seemed a bit contrived. For this super intelligent criminal who's existed as a hit-woman (if that's the proper term) for years to suddenly fall for Reid's trick by becoming sentimental, desperate to see her father just seemed well, mushy. But it's CM and they always come out on top, right. Regardless, it was still a pleasure to watch this battle of the brains mental chess game between the two. Bravo for an excellent episode!!!
Criminal Minds: Scarecrow (2016)
Episode okay, User Reviews starting to grate on my nerves...
This episode was okay, nothing spectacular. Religion used to propagate nefarious agendas been used many times before throughout this shows many seasons. I love to read User Reviews, they often help me see interesting viewpoints. I will say that a particular reviewer who chooses to review every single episode has gotten on my nerves with ever present descriptions that are just words, seem to have no meaning such as "well shot and lit overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric" along with "direction is alert and sympathetic"...wtf does that even mean??? It's one thing to read the oddball phrase now and then, it's another when they literally seem copied and pasted over and over from one review to the next and which never limit themselves to reviewing any particular episode but seems compelled to review the entire show, reffering to several series, episodes, actors and other miasma before simply reviewing the episode. Ah well, to each his or her own.
Criminal Minds: Limelight (2008)
Close but not quite there...
This was a unique episode where for once, the protagonist is actually an FBI agent. The team first declines the case which opens the door for the first of many unsettling behaviors by Jill Morris. When Rossi and Reid decline, she presents false evidence to keep them on board, her goal obvious from the beginning: making a name for herself by working alongside Rossi, distinguished agent and author. Her attempts to make this happen are unethical and reckless from the get, and she ultimately pays a serious price for her arrogance, greed and pathological desire for recognition. We know it's fiction when someone with such glaringly self-centered actions would likely, in the real world, be red-flagged for her behavior during a performance review and would not likely continue to be kept on, not only as an agent but a - what? - Section Chief? Whatever the equivalent of what Hotch is to his team. She's just too narcissistic, self-centered and despite her Wall of Fame in the office, a somewhat pathetically unhealthy, quietly (sometimes not so quietly) desperate person.
America's Book of Secrets (2012)
Not even bothering
I only had to read the descriptions of a few episodes and watch 15 minutes of the first to realize this "docuseries" is nothing but a conglomerate of conspiracy theories, urban myths, etc. It's a shame what has happened to the History Channel. It used to be about historical events but has gotten totally dumbed down over the years. It would be great to have a really good History Channel or network. PBS does its best but runs on such a limited budget it's amazing what they are able to produce. Bring back the HC from early days of cable and let us see some in-depth, well-produced documentaries!!!
Criminal Minds: Identity (2007)
Meh, okay but not great
Still, I almost have to leave a comment for those reviewers who live in/near Great Falls or are at least familiar with the area. The comments were surprisingly alike, that it's not Great Falls nor Montana represented well. Believe me, they do the same thing with Virginia. Even though Quantico is in Virginia and any "local" scenes look pretty hip and cultured, episodes that take place in Virginia make it look like everyone lives in the sticks and are happy to have running water or some such. God help West Virginia...enough said.
Criminal Minds: Red Light (2017)
Two of the best, hands down...
Two of the absolute best episodes of Criminal Minds are the two meetings of the minds of Matthew Gray Gubler (Spencer Reid) and Aubrey Plaza (Cat). The first took place in a semi-posh restaurant and this second one which while taking place in a dreary prison is transformed to a dreamlike setting in a classy ballroom with Spencer and Cat the only two present. Something about the chemistry between the two characters is mesmerizing, as believable as if the two have known each other for years. No question if they were cast in a romantic thriller they would set the screen on fire. The match of these two wits and wills is unrivaled by any other episodes of this entire series. There's a lot more to the story but I could not resist commenting on this one aspect. The push-pull of the verbal match along with the apparent steam between the two is irresistible. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!! Rock on, you two!!