exmach Reviews

Napoleon (2023)

Scott's Waterloo (where Scott is French)

[3/10 · 25 November 2023]

The film is visually stunning. However, it's just a superficial gloss on the history, contains little to no character development, and not very strong acting for key roles.

More than that, it's an entirely unconvincing portrayal of Napoleon. If you've watched Waterloo (1970) you've seen a very convincing Napoleon with an American accent. Here, by contrast, you see what looks like, on screen, to be a pothead American with limited emotional range talking through lines that a Napoleon might have said. There's also no development of N's motives, ambitions, scheming, charisma, etc. The real-world Napoleon had millions follow him for a reason; none of that is conveyed here, beyond the mere idea that he provided military victories.

Apparently, Gance wanted to do a six films on N, but found the task to be overwhelming and so abandoned it. Even with a 'director's cut' here, it's doubtful that Scott's telling of the story can be salvaged, let alone adequately and fairly told.

Dumb Money (2023)

Patently inferior to the documentaries

[5/10 · 7 November 2023]

This is an important story, one that everyone should learn about -- the true version, at any rate; that includes understanding some technical (but not overly technical) details about what happened, and why.

With this film, unfortunately (as with many others), Hollywood treats its viewers as 'dumb money'. This one prioritizes the industry's current identity politics mandate -- even over and above the class conflict and issues regarding market fairness -- over relaying critical information and details to the viewers about what sort of chicanery and shadiness actually transpired.

As examples, the film did not even spend two minutes explaining to the viewers about: how the Robinhood app actually worked. E.g., the shares were NOT coming from the open market per se; Gill's actual views; what was really happening and said on Reddit; why the government ceased its investigation; the big money that got behind the short squeeze (e.g., Burry, R Cohen, et al); the IMPORTANCE of the disconnect between investing and investment "fundamentals" here (i.e., people investing not because they truly believed in the company's underlying value, and surely not merely holding stock and investing even more solely because Gill himself did so...).

The filmmakers also enjoyed parading their current favourite American congressmen before the viewers. Funnily enough, however, the film ignored WHY those legislators' political colour team members in the Executive branch -- including the named oversight bodies -- quashed the investigations. One wonders why...

A relatively popular four-part documentary on the GameStop saga is overly long and misses certain critical details (indeed, perhaps the most heinous tidbit in the tale). Even so, it's far superior to this movie. So, save your money and watch it, or a comparable documentary, instead. Alternatively, perhaps just read the book upon which this film was based?

The acting was mostly good, but the script was weak and, again, the omissions in key details are unforgivable. A nice followup (independent) film would nevertheless be about the film industry being rigged too and how it's a propaganda tool.

C*A*U*G*H*T (2023– )

Funniest thing I've seen in years

[10/10 · 15 October 2023]

Viewed this on the other side of the world. You don't really have to know Aussie culture to get/appreciate this. It's the funniest series I've seen in years. It's quite dark humour too. The ending could have been stronger, but everything else was pure gold.

The American guest stars were great -- and kept in their rightful place (mostly in the back). Even Sean Penn was willing to not take himself seriously (for the most part), being a good sport. (So too were the Aussie media/news folks.)

Completely takes the -- well-deserved -- piss out of the media, the politicians, the military, and rebel/resistance groups all in one go. The focus on media self-obsession and indulgence was a nice touch as well.

Definitely give this show a chance if you can access it.

How to Become a Cult Leader (2023– )

Worth considering the show's full applications

[4/10 · 4 August 2023]

This series was a superficial gloss on several cult leaders and cults. The level of information was quite low, but the narration was entertaining.

Whilst it alludes to several of the leaders' study of psychology and psychological techniques, with others' intuitive grasp of how to manipulate psychologically, much more should have been said about this -- including about what to look out for.

In terms of a 'playbook', or strategies for gaining and maintaining such power, the show makes a fairly convincing case that our own governments operate this way too. More particularly, it is reasonable to infer that mainstream liberal and progressive ideologies, and the institutional power bases that promote them, utilise such 'cultish' practices. For they involve: concerted efforts to control information flow and efforts to discredit alternative sources of information; policing forms of speech (determining what is 'correct'); conveying a meta-narrative that is just a mishmash of conflicting beliefs without ever really trying to resolve the contradictions therein; exploiting emotions to present certain beliefs as rational and logical and to discredit others (without ever addressing the merits); etc.

The Witcher (2019– )

Ruined by poor writing

[4/10 · 31 July 2023]

The first two seasons were worth watching; the third is not. There's a good reason why the show's star has quit: the writing has become terrible and uninteresting. Contemporary identity politics tropes cannot compensate for poor writing and the ruination of the characters. It's a pity, too, as there was no reason for the show to commit self-sabotage in these ways. Responsibility rests with the writers first and foremost, but obviously others are liable for having taken a high-quality franchise and flushed it down the toilet thus.

If you've not started watching the series, don't commence it now. It's not worth the investment.

Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful (2023) Season 6, Episode 1

White lotus quality to the episode

[7/10 · 23 June 2023]

This was a fun episode, though you can see why some fans think it strays too far from the traditional Black Mirror format. Furthermore, the idea that anyone, other than people who knew her, would bother to watch the Joan show is a bit suspect.

This episode struck too close to home for many of the American viewers, given their dislike of it. That may be in part based upon what the show says not just about about the American media, but also the zeitgeist and personality of a certain American demographic...

A bit sensitive, are we?

What if the mirror here is perfectly reflective -- as White Lotus was?

The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

Fascinating to watch this film today, despite its many flaws.

[5/10 · 23 June 2023]

It's fascinating to watch this today. Ostensibly based upon Gibbon's work, it basically inverts that author's thesis about the reasons which led to Rome's collapse. Why do so? To advance a present-day political agenda. (Note that one of the screenwriters was blacklisted.) Whilst subsequent scholarship has challenged Gibbon's thesis as to the core causes of the Western Empire's collapse, basically everyone agrees that bringing the Germanic tribes into Roman land was a fatal error.

The film, however, rejects that. It suggests that Rome's failure was to not fully embrace and include those people, and so to not adopt a policy of tolerance, equality, and pluralism. This, rather than sustain its policy of strength and ruthlessness that had always served the republic and empire well (the rival view articulated by several of the Roman senators in the film), was the real cause of Rome's decline and fall.

If you re-watch this film, it is those Roman senators who express the rival view who are vindicated by history. Regardless, the film is fascinating, and indeed important, as a propaganda piece.

The acting is mostly good and the scenes' scales are often impressive. However, the narrative drags a bit and then it leaves things in a rather boring fashion.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

The best part is that it's all true

[10/10 · 15 May 2023]

This was literally the best, funniest new film I've seen in years. Now, to be fair, Hollywood mostly produces garbage these days. So, the competition isn't too strong.

Even so, this film produces the best kind of laughs. You know the ones where you can't keep still and can almost cry from laughter? There were plenty of those. It is absolutely hysterical.

The writing is genius, the acting superb, the narrative compelling, and the music unparalleled.

THIS is unquestionably the best thing Daniel Radcliffe has ever done. He should forswear the HP franchise and have this role noted on his tombstone.

Adolf Hitler: A Last Appeal to Reason (2017)

This doesn't work, even on its own terms.

[3/10 · 6 April 2023]

The film plays recordings of Hitler out of historical sequence, with footage from the war (amongst other things).

The viewers should listen carefully to what H says and judge if they're consistent. Is H anti-imperialist, or does he say he wants (a) the colonies lost after WWI and (b) Eastern Europe for Germany?

Was the war the English and French's fault? What does H say about going into France? (Why do they stay thereafter?) The Poles are accused of having done horrible things to Germany before the war? Even if that were true, why did H divvy up Poland with the USSR? To prevent the English and French playing a role there? Wouldn't you want a buffer with the USSR, since you think Bolshevism is pure evil?

It's definitely worth watching this to learn about H's rhetoric and propaganda, but it can't be taken seriously as a report of his real views, Germany's real policies, or H's ambitions.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

The simulacrum of a fantasy film

[3/10 · 1 April 2023]

I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, but don't have a strong stake in the D&D world to worry about the film's fidelity to the game's lore, etc.

This was an extremely boring film. Indeed, it could be said that they didn't even try to make a good movie here. It contains recycled tropes, a very thin plot, and wholly uninteresting characters. The attempts at humour all fall flat too.

The actors aren't to be faulted here per se (save for taking on the jobs); there just wasn't a quality script to work with here.

Is Hollywood finished? Is the American industry so completely uninterested in producing anything of quality anymore?

The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023) Season 1, Episode 3

Preposterous

[4/10 · 21 March 2023]

The episode concerns preppers, ones who have been expecting an attack on their town for years. When the the attack finally happens, the main prepper is standing wholly exposed, in the middle of the street, in order to open fire on the raiders (and so gets shot in the process). His partner, awakened by the gunfire and other noise, haphazardly grab a pistol -- a PISTOL, when the two of them are shown to possess an arsenal of machine guns and rifles -- out of a drawer.

Given what we know of at least one of the main characters in this episode, this is simply not credible and a function of ill-thought-out writing.

Babylon (I) (2022)

Better than the critics claim

[8/10 · 24 January 2023]

To say that the film is imperfect would be an understatement. To my mind, its biggest flaws are its excessive length, the ending, and the anachronistic multiculting, as it were, of the pre-WWII film industry crowd (which simply wasn't credible).

Nevertheless, the film was mostly captivating, the acting superb (especially by Robbie and Pitt -- including the latter's intentional mediocre acting scenes), and there were quite a few laugh out loud scenes -- and not just for crude stuff.

Perhaps one ought to know something about Hollywood during the period in question to understand some of the references (and jokes), but that doesn't seem to be essential.

The professional reviews of Babylon are suspiciously harsh, but, more importantly, seem to this reviewer (at least) to simply be off base.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

White Lotus tears the mask off of liberals and the 'critical' left

[7/10 · 30 December 2022]

This show is deeply political, even if one wishes to just call it a comedy. Whatever screenwriter Mike White's subjective intentions may have been, White Lotus is a satire of the present-day American 'critical' left and liberals, including their identity politics fixations.

White Lotus presents contemporary American personality archetypes (ones that most of the rest of the world find insufferable, if not despicable). We all/many of us know (of) Americans who fit each character.

For example, the younger characters sanctimoniously mouth the ideology of their PC educators, but are completely rotten and will do NOTHING to change the system for the better. As another example, near the end of the first season, the father claims that people won't actually forfeit their positions of power/privilege.

This ISN'T a condemnation of liberals by the left; it's a condemnation of the entire modern left and its identity politics as being impotent to catalyze change (which, for the right, might provide some comfort).

The main characters are all insufferable, which make the show itself infuriating. Obviously, this is by design. It's like Beneath the Planet of the Apes film where, after their masks are removed, you see the hideous mutants as they really are. To preempt one criticism of this interpretation, note that "white" bourgeois capitalist culture need NOT have to produce these personality types and this culture; indeed, it didn't happen in Europe and the British Commonwealth, after all.

Glass Onion (2022)

Ironically enough, it's far stupider than Clue

[2/10 · 25 December 2022]

A great cast and good acting can't save this film from its idiotic, superficial script. Glass Onion is the simulacrum of a good whodunit.

The first half is quite good, the rest of the film entirely disappoints - and not just the climax. The conclusion, moreover, beggars belief, i.e., that anyone would do something so stupid and barbaric when there were a multitude of ways of acquiring sufficient evidence, e.g., recording the conversation on your phone...

More time should have been spent vetting the script for quality and logic.

There was also a needless amount of celebrity name-dropping in the film for some reason.

Harry & Meghan: The Complete Story (2022)

Self-defeating propaganda

[2/10 · 11 December 2022]

The couple aims to present itself as victims -- particularly, victims of racism. However, the show *itself* provides enough information to not only counteract that proposition, but to serve as a self-refutation. The real causes of her popular and institutional rejection are, unwittingly, laid bare -- particularly by M herself.

Despite H&M's testimony, and certain talking heads' ideologically-driven commentary, the program itself shows how the main problems everyone had/has with M are that not only is she an American actress (one wishes the program discussed Wallis Simpson...), but also a person whose politics are not in accord with the monarchy qua institution! The show itself evidences that, not only did M refuse to work within the parameters of her official role (non-partisanship, particularly), she openly represents a politics that is hostile to (British) constitutional monarchy. This was the subversion not of a racial caste, but of an institutional role.

The program furthermore demonstrates that M knew nothing about British culture or its institutions. (As just one example, she admits to learning the kingdom's anthem off of Youtube just before she was required to sing it.) Hence, she could not possibly represent it in title or in essence -- including it must be said, for patriotic Black Britons.

One can fairly infer from this very program that M is not a person who would or could dedicate herself to a life of service, one wherein your political and social preferences must almost always remain private, in furtherance of a unique form of governmental role. As UK constitutional law sources will attest, the monarchy serves as nucleus for national identity, unity, and stability, and in furtherance of a Commonwealth. M is the antithesis of this.

To be sure, for Americans and republicans (small "r", i.e., republicans vs monarchists), there's nothing wrong with being the antithesis of that. They don't and needn't have such values or ideals. It would, however, be wrong to feign having and representing them; and even worse to go to someone else's country in order to subvert them, to whatever degree one is conscious of doing so.

1899 (2022)

It's nowhere near as good as Dark

[6/10 · 24 November 2022]

The season could have been half the length; it was loaded with filler.

The resolution, perhaps more importantly, beggars belief, i.e., that the code could be, and needed to be, hacked from the inside - let alone that this couldn't be accomplished countless cycles before. Indeed, since the 'hacker' Daniel could change the relevant object/key, it also seems utterly superfluous to have dragged Maura through the process (repeatedly) without having just attempted that from the outset.

The show's PC politics are a bit obnoxious, but not as bad as most Netflix products these days.

Some of the CGI also looks a little cheap, but it's not very bothersome.

1899 probably doesn't warrant a second season.

Ugly Delicious: Fried Chicken (2018) Season 1, Episode 6

This may be news to some, but there's a whole world out there that ISN'T America

[1/10 · 6 November 2022]

It's simply astounding how this chef (Chang) can fly around the world yet still spend the preponderance of the episode focusing on American politics -- in an extremely superficial way. The meaning of this particular dish in the USA does not and need not have this meaning for others. Get over it.

The best part was the pseudo-sociologist painting all white American people with a single brush, even though the super-majority of those folks aren't just immigrants, but also ones from the non-elite population who obviously brought their own traditional cuisines with them.

This show would not be produced outside of the USA because it's too dumb.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Alloyed (2022) Season 1, Episode 8

It sucks. Get over it.

[3/10 · 14 October 2022]

The episode was extremely rushed. Galadriel's failure to alert her fellow elves about Halbrand's true identity was simply incredible - in the original sense of the word (not credible). Further, the idea that -- within *this* narrative, not Tolkien's original -- the elves would nevertheless continue the project of constructing the rings or, rather, not destroy them immediately thereafter after Elrond at least has figured things out (having found the scroll), is also silly. If ring production was just about saving all the elves from decay, then why just make three? What need, moreover, is there to additionally gain 'spiritual power' over the unseen world if the metal alone does the healing/preservation work?

I also fast-forwarded through the overly-long Harfoot farewell scene. Amazing, too, how our Wizard regained full mastery over the language just after the combat.

The show needs new writers. The tropes used to try to delegitimize the show's critics just aren't credible anymore, if ever they were.

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Great for first two-thirds. Alithea is the perfect progressive white woman.

[5/10 · 3 September 2022]

The stories are wonderful, and wonderfully shot, till we get to London. Then, the theme and vibe of the film changes - to superficial preaching and banality.

Alithea, the directors and writers suggest, is the perfect white woman: childless and alone, satisfied by an academic career (in the pursuit of pseudo-knowledge) and periodic visits by a Djinn. The conspicuous, slow shot of a religious woman in traditional garb pushing a pram passed Alithea's home informs the viewers what a progressive future should be and what actually constituted progress. So too, the old ladies next door simply exist as superficial foils to advance a political harangue; too bad it's entirely unconvincing. Like other reviewers, it's impossible not to note that these scenes occur as the film loses its footing, becoming boring and somewhat aimless in terms of narrative and plot. It ought to have ended sooner than it did, since the first two thirds really were special.

Pirate Gold of Adak Island (2022– )

It's all very straightforward and logical

[3/10 · 7 July 2022]

I have no idea what people are complaining about regarding this show. This is all very simple. It merely requires some straightforward deductions. Consider:

At some point before before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Templar Knights had made the crossing. They buried their gold on Oak Island, where it remained hidden till it was found by members of the Confederate States of America in the 1860s, who were visiting Canada while on furlough. Those soldiers brought the gold south of Mason Dixon where it was minted into coins. After the Civil War, President Jeff Davis was captured with that treasure. The Union soldiers who'd apprehended Davis smuggled the horde up to Lake Michigan. To throw people off their scent, those Union soldiers led people to believe that the gold was in a boxcar they'd dumped into the lake; in actuality, it was transported to Washington DC, where it was melted down to make US dollar coins. Those gold coins were then transported to the West Coast for use in the government's shady dealings with the underground seal pelt (black) market. The gold thereby ended up in Captain Gregory Dwargstof's hands. He then hid that gold on Adak Island in cans even though he was hastily retreating from government forces.

While it remains unclear who Dwargstof told exactly about the gold (moreover, he was ostensibly the sole survivor of a shipwreck), and although there seems to be NO written record of him or his horde from his time period, it's obviously the case that he was real, he had the gold, he buried it, and told others on which island it was buried.

Anyone could figure this out. Jeez...

The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024)

THAT's all Season 3 is?

[5/10 · 24 June 2022]

So, the whole season just amounts to a variation of Back to the Future 2, wherein Reginald Hargreaves is Biff Tannen?

How could anyone believe, moreover, that the characters are so nonchalant during the apocalypse this time round?

Regarding Episode 7:

First you cry like a little girl, then you hit a woman in the face? Time to f'n MAN up, Victor.

The Boys: The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies (2022) Season 3, Episode 5

Why tell the comic book story when you can just propagandize about domestic affairs instead?

[2/10 · 17 June 2022]

Like much of American television of late, The Boys has been completely repurposed for domestic propaganda purposes. It's just so completely transparent and weak.

Do you not care about your international audiences at all? Are the writers and producers completely oblivious to the fact their very efforts in this regard completely vindicate both their opponents' and international allies' views about the power of the American media and its duplicitous ends? Are the American viewers completely oblivious to the fact that the very writers and producers are a constitutive part of the problem they're superficially satirizing?

My friends globally, who cross the full political spectrum, are giving up on this show. Tell us the story of The Boys (even if tweaked somewhat), not this crap.

The Storyteller: The Soldier and Death (1988) Season 1, Episode 5

As close to perfect as storytelling and television can be.

[10/10 · 5 June 2022]

I watched The Soldier and Death as a child when it first aired, and flashes of the show have periodically crept into my mind throughout the years. Having re-watched it now for the first time in 2022, I feel privileged to have viewed programs such as this, which today would be shielded and censored from children's eyes (if aired at all). This story (and its presentation) has an inexplicable (at least in terms of my ability) quality that - can - touch the deepest parts of the psyche.

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast): Everybody gets a second chance (2021) Season 3, Episode 6

Good series overall, but the last season needed to lay off the propaganda

[6/10 · 14 April 2022]

The vantage, recall, is that of a fairly sociopathic youth. So, why spew the writers' present-day political views through his mouth and pretend they hold weight rather than being completely undermined thereby? (Having watched the doc about the real life Max Schmidt, moreover, from what the viewers can glean of him the writers of 'How To Sell' don't even try to have the politics match.) In the same vein, the multicult aspect was an equally unnecessary distraction from the plot in the third season - save of course if your aim is really just to condition the viewers for the Brave New World.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Predictable American Swill

[3/10 · 1 January 2022]

As a non-American, the film was boring and predictable: you knew that the American script was going to make one side's view represent the 'pro-science' and righteous one, whilst the others had to be both dispositionally incapable of adhering to science and put full faith into the capitalist (the Musk-ish character) in a way that conflicts with science. The latter HAD to lose in order to drive home the fact that that subset of Americans are ignorant, sociopathic, bigoted, bad guys. It's exactly the same formula of vitriolic diarrhea that Hollywood has fed the globe for the last few years; but it's reductionist, stereotypical, hateful, false. More importantly, it obscures the real divisions over anthropogenic climate change in America and elsewhere.

The film even snuck in a dig at the opposition to illegal immigration to the United States; but query whether, given American consumption rates of resources relative to the rest of the world, it's even a good idea to bring more people into that country to replicate its norms - let alone that they -including in all Blue States and cities - systematically exploit their illegal immigrants in violation of all labour laws, health and safety laws, etc. How does this hypocritical, evil American Democrat practice square with global worries about climate change?

Some further failings. For one thing, how'd the scientists get telescopic images of the comet going on downwards slope if it's heading straight for earth?

For another, if DiCaprio's character didn't even know about the Russian-Indian-Chinese effort till informed that it had failed, then what, pray tell, was his 'Don't Look Up' Campaign even trying to accomplish, since by then it was already too late to stop the comet anyway (and he knew they couldn't convince the President)?

Further, why would other countries have waited so long to mount their own efforts to interdict the comet? Are we in the rest of the globe so incompetent and SO COMPLETELY dependent upon the USA for everything? Doesn't this show the rest of the world how myopic, self-obsessed, and hubristic American Democrats are? For the conspiratorial: are we meant to think the American government sabotaged the rival effort? (By the way, thanks, American Democrats, for pushing the Russians into the arms of the Chinese over the last five years in the real world. GREAT job in global strategy).

Moreover, film's obnoxious push of a strict binary between believers vs non-believers, one that track the two main American political parties, made the latter half of the film extremely boring. It's also clearly not how America itself works (E.g.1 the Blue states where the auto industry plays a heavy role and don't immediately halt their production. E.g.2. The traditional anti-vaxxer cohort being composed of hippie, alternative, 'natural medicine folks, who hold the same views about the Covid vaccines. E.g.3 The continued disbelief of American democrats that the DNC had faked the whole Steele dossier and that America's corporate media knowingly lied to the whole world for four years about collusion). Since climate change is a global concern, how can this square with countries like Canada where the liberal and social democratic party (NDP) are entirely dependent upon tar sands oil in Alberta and car manufacturing in Ontario to prop up the economy and pay for the federal system?

Don't get me wrong, people should look up. There are basic facts we all need to take to heart about: anthropogenic climate change; Covid (and its origins); and about the American cult of celebrity and Hollywood constituting a tool of propaganda and domination, both of which Americans of all political stripes should unite in brotherhood to destroy.