phljrhgsu Reviews

Home (V) (2023)

Heavy-Handed Tedium

[3/10 · 19 February 2024]

At the beginning, this film promises to present a nuanced study of cultural tensions within the closed, but surprisingly complicated and diverse Israeli Haredi community.

Unfortunately, it ultimately morphs into a loud, manipulative caricature of a violent struggle between corrupt, irrational community leaders and a bullheaded first-time entrepreneur who should have known better.

Any commentary on the tensions between tradition and innovation, between conservatism and modernity, are lost in the bloodbath. Benny Fredman clearly shouldn't be directing traffic, let alone a movie with such delicate subject matter.

Modern Family: Clean Out Your Junk Drawer (2015) Season 7, Episode 8

The episode that made me stop watching . . .

[1/10 · 14 September 2023]

Poor script-writers think its funny to concoct situations where established characters act woefully out of character. In reality, all it does is make the viewer stop caring about the characters, and about the show. There is absolutely no way that Jay would ever consent to participate in such nonsense, even if Gloria were threatening to withhold sexual favors. And then even more impossible that he would experience such a contrived breakdown. The actors should have been embarrassed to see their characters turn into such caricatures. This is really a shame, because this was once the cream of the crop. But a good crop turns to junk when handled badly.