RockyMtnVideo Reviews

The American Buffalo (2023– )

A prescient tale, indicative of humanity's inability to see the forest for the trees

[10/10 · 21 October 2023]

Very simply, this film is an important story. I have to think that this is Ken, going out of his way, to subtly make a point. He could have told this story years ago, but choose "now" to do so. It is a tale of stunning ignorance and stupidity, and ought to be a must-see for everyone. Specifically, it shows how humans can simply choose to be blind to an unconscionable nightmare fiasco that they are creating, at a rapidly increasing speed, simply for the sake of money. It VERY MUCH mirrors what the larger human populace is repeating right now, except this time, WE are the buffalo.

Ken's film exhibits the fact that you can turn _some_ disastrous situations around, even though, historically speaking, we seem to have not been inclined to do so (just ask the Passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger, and even the mastodon, how it worked out for them).

Again, a great story. They should be showing it to kids in grade school, as that might result in some important conversations around the dinner table at home.

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Biff was actually the smart one...

[4/10 · 3 June 2023]

I decided to watch all three of these recently, and realized that I clearly had forgotten how problematic (and annoying) the two sequels were.

One of the things that made the first movie so good was that, generally speaking, Marty was constantly out-thinking everyone around him. In short, he was the clever one. In re-watching the series again, I realized that I must have not paid much attention when watching the two sequels (eons ago), because Marty is written as being a total moron in the sequels, continuously ignoring what he has been told to do, and continuously being too stupid to avoid (obvious) problematic situations, such that everything that goes wrong (repeatedly) is just the result of his ridiculously low IQ.

I really do feel like the first film is enjoyably re-watchable, because Marty is the clever one, and drives the plot forward with his actions. I am clueless as to why they seemed to have lobotomized his character in both the sequels, because it reduces them both to just being seriously frustrating viewings. I certainly doubt that I'll ever watch either of them again.

In the Dark of the Valley (2021)

Horrifically depressing story, that sadly, is still unresolved

[10/10 · 30 April 2023]

I am a believer in space being important to our future, and have always been a big NASA supporter. I was shocked and dumbfounded to see all of the "slimy" things that the aerospace companies, AND NASA, had undertaken to continuously avoid doing what was right, not only to properly provide the appropriate monetary support to the families impacted by their negligent behavior, but even worse, all the political "crap" that the (involved) aerospace companies, and NASA, have engaged in order to try to continuously avoid any responsibility for cleaning up the radiation mess that still exists in this area of California, to this day.

Everyone should see this film. The corporate and government malfeasance demonstrated by all of the parties involved will dumbfound you.

Wednesday (2022– )

NOT an old Addam's family comedy. It's just a great, extremely dark, series.

[10/10 · 24 November 2022]

I'll make this short, and not divulge any spoilers.

I really enjoyed this a lot, and certainly hope that it gets additional seasons. The sole (minimal) levity in the whole series relates to a few situations involving "Thing". Beyond that, pretty much everything else revolves around a dark story line, and dark events (monsters, killings ,etc.), with the main character (Wednesday) determined to figure out what is going on. Ortega provides a stunningly great performance as Wednesday, and there is a great supporting cast, who also do an excellent job, to complement Ortega's performance.

This is really just a horror series, although, for the most part, considerably more subtle than the typical horror outing. It's Ortega's consistent character that keeps the viewer embedded in the ongoing activities, and not allowing it to slip off into some lesser (silly) genre. It's definitely an interesting binge.

Haven: The Trial of Nathan Wuornos (2015) Season 5, Episode 16

Horribly written

[3/10 · 7 August 2022]

I love Haven, but this episode seems to have been written by a ten-year old. There are so many idiotic moments, but I'll just chose one. When two people are sent to save someone stuck in a serious, time-sensitive, deadly situation, they take on their task with NO sense of urgency, whatsoever. Do they run? NO! Do they stay focused on the problem? NO! They just casually wander along, chit-chatting with each other, like they don't have a care in the world.

One could potentially blame that on the director, but there were numerous other idiotic situations in this episode, that follow similar, ridiculous plot lines. It was extremely poor, and disappointing writing. Someone in the production team should have "cleaned up" this mess.

Taken (2002)

I have rewatched this many times over the years

[10/10 · 4 March 2022]

This is not a slam-bam, action SciFi story like you might see in a present day movie. This is a highly interpersonal story whose events play out over just under 60 years. It centers on three families, which each span three to four generations, and the series is just under 15 hours. All that info is available on the IMDB home page for the series, but I repeat it here because there are a lot of reviewers who complain about there having been too much "interpersonal" screen time, and too little SciFi screen time. When you depict nearly 60 years of family lifetimes, there is going to be considerable screen time dedicated to the relationships of those people. Importantly, by and large, most of that interaction is related to the story being told, so I really don't understand those complaints. Bottom line, if you just want a hard-core, fast action SciFi, this isn't it. If you want to see a well written, extremely interesting story, with an alien abduction theme as its "core SciFi theme", it would be difficult to find something better than this series.

Alien abduction "news stories" aren't really seen as much as they used to be, but it's somewhat amazing how many books still show up every few years, which still purport to have new information about what happened in Roswell in 1947. My point being that aliens, and alien abductions are hardly a dead idea. What makes this series "that much better" than it might have been is the fact that many of the actual alien-related "events" that played a part in keeping the abduction story in the "real news", have been interwoven into in this story line.

As alluded to early, I would argue that the series is also highly re-watchable. I watched it when it was originally released, and bought the DVD set as soon as it was released. I pull it out every few years to enjoy it again (which led to this "20 years late" review). YES, it is a "standard definition" series, hence the DVDs. It was, however, shot wide (16x9). The filmed components still look pretty good, even on a large screen 4k set. The special effects look "decent" (and some better than decent), but obviously aren't as stunning as what you are used to seeing in 2022, but they suffice. Bottom line, don't let that deter you from giving the series a look, because it won't keep you from enjoying the story.

The big issue as of this writing is where to find the series on a streaming provider, and even that varies dependent upon what country you live in. As of this writing, the six DVD set is still available on Amazon, at what seems to be a reasonable price for ~15 hours of storytelling. (Don't hold your breathe for an HD version. It would require a complete re-do of all the special effects, and that would be enormously expensive.)

Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021–2022)

Give it a chance

[9/10 · 23 November 2021]

Full Disclosure: I am a Blade Runner fan, having seen the original film (just shy of age 30) when it originally opened. Whereas Star Wars, Alien, etc. Had painted a SciFi world elsewhere in the universe, BR suggested what OUR world might look like, in the "not too distant" future. I also thought BR 2049 was a great follow-on (as well as some of the other live-action video shorts that preceded the release of the second film). In short, I enjoy this world and I am glad to see anyone attempt to add to it. Admittedly, I have a built-in bias as a result.

This series is telling a story set between the two films, and at only three (of thirteen) episodes, at this point, I can't really understand how some reviewers have completely discounted it. I think it has setup, what seems to be an interesting premise, and I intend to see how to plays out, somewhat assuming that it will expand on things that "may have happened" between the two major films.

I do agree with some of the complaints about the nature of the character appearance in these episodes. There are some pretty stunning series these days (Netflix seems to have buckets of them) where the character's looks, and movements, seem extremely natural. But, something is just "not quite right" with the "look and feel" of some of these characters. It isn't "horrible", it's simply "slightly off", enough so that you notice it.

Also recognize that these episodes are relatively short, so there's only so much plot that they can lay out in each episode. So, as said above, if you want more stories in the BR universe, give it a try. I'm "hoping" that over the remaining 10 episodes, it will continue to be interesting, and I guess that I'm not willing to "throw it under the bus", based upon the character rendering not being "perfect".

The Chestnut Man (2021– )

Just "OK", due to poorly written police activities

[5/10 · 1 October 2021]

The first half of this "murder mystery" is really good. It lays out a set of horrific, ongoing crimes, that set up the major police investigation in the second half. My problem with the second half is it is loaded up with one stupid (police-related) thing, after another. Put simply, police officers going into potentially dangerous settings, all by themselves, often without having any bothered to tell anyone else where they were going. Even dumber, creeping into buildings where their might be dangerous suspects (again, alone), as though they are trying to be cautious, but then, yelling "HELLO", "IS ANYBODY HERE?". I. E. Basically ensuring that if their suspect is there, they've ensured that person knows they are there, and exactly where (the police officer) is.

In short, the police-related procedures seem to have been written by a 10-year old. An officer making that kind of "mistake" once might be acceptable, but when the whole plot is driven by people continuously doing those same things repeatedly, it just ruins the whole story. I sat through the final half of the episodes, just to see how it played out, but it was a frustrating (as in "unbelievable") finish to what had started out as something really interesting.

Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021)

Sort of the offspring of a mix of Lynch and/or Cronenberg films, bred with the series "Six Feet Under"

[7/10 · 16 August 2021]

I'm glad that I watched it (sort of like being glad that I watched Six Feet Under... once), but, as with SFU, most of the main characters are extremely narcissistic, so this series is difficult to really have anybody that you are "rooting for" as it plays out, and thus, I'm probably not inclined to watch it a second time.

From an outright "horror" perspective, this is certainly one of the more twisted films of its genre. For some folks, it's probably worth watching, just for that. And it certainly earns its TV-MA rating, in numerous categories. Let's just say that it's NOT a "family film".

I would recommend it, primarily because it has a number of things that happen, which I'm almost certain that you will never have seen before, in any other film (and, maybe never ever see again?). It's the sort of production where you are definitely left with the feeling that somebody must have been seriously tripped out on something, when they conjured up some of the core components of the episodes.

Anyway, I'm obviously avoiding getting specific because I want to avoid any spoilers. I'd just repeat that if you do get into horror films, you probably should give it a try. I am certain that you will see something new and different, somewhere along the way.

Tenebrae (1982)

If you only care about the gore and nudes, it is probably OK, but...

[2/10 · 16 March 2021]

The production values are minimalistic. I loved the police detectives who seemed to know nothing about their firearms, and were in fact, at one point, pointing their pistols at each other. The detectives seemed to not care about half a dozen people touching evidence, that might have contained fingerprints (at a minimum), or some other evidentiary information.

Furthermore, some of the characters, especially the victims, clearly seem to have had a lobotomy, resulting in IQ's that would be represented by negative numbers.

Sure, it's "just horror", but there are smart/clever horror films, where the characters don't seem to be intentionally trying to be killed, and you are "pulling" for them. That wasn't the case for any of these characters. I just bailed out about midway through, and decided got not waist any more time with it.

Argento has had some good work, this was not one of them.

Sijipeuseu: The Myth (2021)

I really hoped this would work out, but...

[4/10 · 23 February 2021]

This series has what seemed like a great SciFi premise. As the series info already tells you, it is a series involving time-travel. I don't understand why someone puts so much money into developing a series like this, and then totally destroys it with completely unrealistic activities.

Specifically, there are situations where trained teams of determined assassins are shooting at someone (one of the protagonists), at relatively close range, but none of them manage to land a single shot. And then moments later, the protagonist literally stands up and starts talking to them (the assassins), but instead of shooting, the assassins all just do nothing. In another scene, involving a different protagonist, there is a time-sensitive activity that he is desperately attempting to perform, but then, he sits there, seemingly frustrated, and does absolutely nothing, acting like a two-year old child. Somehow, I guess the writers imagine all of these moronic actions will endear us to these characters, instead of (as in my case) make me think that these characters must all have IQ's in the single digits, because nothing they are doing makes any sense whatsoever (assuming that they value their lives), and nothing that is happening around them is based on anything that is even remotely realistic.

Again, it is sad to go into to this thinking that this will (and should) be an interesting, and possibly thrilling series to watch, only to have "Keystone Cops" styled behaviors and situations, from the two main characters. Maybe this is a common Korean approach? I might believe that, except that the series "Black", even though it contains some fantasy-based aspects, clearly shows that this sort of unrealistic silliness is totally unnecessary (which is what makes it so great).

So, if you don't mind having to completely ignore laughably unrealistic situations, in order to get caught up in the rest of the story, then maybe you will enjoy this. But if those (wholly unbelievable) things drive you crazy, you should simply skip this.

Spycraft (2020–2022)

Narration! A broken record in these reviews, but...

[5/10 · 12 February 2021]

... I cannot sleep without having joined in with the chorus of complainers. I hope that Dylan Berry (as listed in the credits) is never employed again, after having worked on this series. To be unable to properly pronounce words, and/or names, is just ridiculous. He is definitely "out of his league".

However, to be totally fair, the Production team should also be cited, for their complete lack of oversight. The lack of intelligent narration should have been caught, and corrected, before this series ever hit the air. It's complete sloppiness that this didn't happen.

The content was interesting, but the narration just continuously drove me crazy. I was cringing on a regular basis, instead of absorbing the programming.

Challenger: The Final Flight (2020)

Important, cautionary reminder; Solid documentary

[10/10 · 16 September 2020]

Full disclosure: I am a space enthusiast. I would have loved to go to space. And I vehemently support the US manned space program.

However... I have lived through all three major US space catastrophes, where we managed to kill (as of today) 17 astronauts in spacecraft (albeit three of those on the ground), and the sad truth about each of those tragedies is that they occurred because of people who put "schedules" and/or "money", ahead of crew safety. My "impression" is that, at the moment, we seem as though we might be over that hurdle (in our space program), but if for no other reason, this four-part documentary should serve as a cautionary tale, as it clearly shows how seemingly intelligent people, can make extremely dumb (or selfish) decisions, with total disregard for human life. It also clearly shows how, when incidents like these occur, you absolutely need to bring in a bevy of _independent_ outsiders to oversee the inevitable investigations that follow, because the guilty parties (be they individuals, or corporations) will go out of their way to try to gloss over their culpability, in having caused failures on this scale.

The focus of this documentary is different than a lot a previous efforts that cover this tragedy. It does go into a lot of detail about the root cause of the accident, how it was already a known (and very concerning) problem, and how/why managers within the contractor (Morton Thiokol) and NASA ranks choose to rationalize away the risks, simply to try to keep the shuttle program "on schedule". But this documentary spends just as much time talking about the seven people who lost their lives, and numerous family members and friends of the astronauts participated in new interviews, to give a more thorough understanding of who these people were, and what their lives were before the tragedy, and could have been, had their lives not ended so unnecessarily.

Also, there are interviews with people who risked the livelihoods to come forward during the Rogers Commission investigation, to provide information that no one else was providing, which clearly detailed the root cause of the accident, and the culpability of the people who decided to ignore the warnings of "impending doom". And, as with the family members, there are also new interviews (somewhat surprisingly) with the key (living) Thiokol and NASA employees who participated in the (flawed) recommendation to launch Challenger, even though their own engineers were vehemently opposed to doing so.

Anyway, this is an important slice of US Space Program history, and the series gives a solid understanding of how/why this tragedy occurred, as well as an "up close and personal" look at the people involved. I highly recommend it.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Utterly ridiculous... but, that's the whole point.

[9/10 · 6 September 2020]

What is this film about?

It's a love-letter to Chicago, disguised as a road picture. In this case, Dan and John on an almost continuous journey around more Chicago locales than you can count on all of your available digits.

It's a musical. Throughout the "road trip", the film exploits every opportunity to enlist so many musical legends (who find reasons to "break out in song"), that you probably won't be able to keep track of all of them, either.

It's an excuse to throw in a long list of famous comedians, and other celebrities, strewn throughout the movie in bit parts, just for grins. (You should pay attention to almost every character that shows up along the journey, as virtually all of them are someone famous, e.g. even Twiggy shows up at one point.)

It's an excuse to destroy, in unimaginably creative ways, an entire mall, and numerous other buildings, as a result of chases, vendettas, etc., just in case you need an "action fix" to "round out" the movie's musical and comedic experience. (A decent percentage of those destructive activities, perpetrated by Carrie Fisher's character.)

There is a "plot thread" that provides an underlying reason for Dan and John's journey, but it's just there to facilitate all of the craziness. The journey is never boring (there's never time to get bored), and it is an awful lot of fun.

I finally decided to review this, while watching the 2020 4K UHD release (which, as an aside, looks great). I would be remiss not to mention that it's a bit hard to watch the film, and not feel a hint of sadness, based upon the fact that 40 years on, from its original release, so many of the actors, musicians, and comedians it features, are simply not with us anymore. For some, that is simply a consequence of age, but there are far too many others that should have still been with us. The only silver lining is that we get to see why we enjoyed them, while we had them.

I highly recommend this. It successfully melds so many film genres together into a single film, that it's almost impossible not to have fun.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

SciFi as Art. Possibly, a generation-specific film?

[10/10 · 2 September 2020]

It's a faster moving world these days, and some viewers seem not to be satisfied without a continuous feed of gratuitous action. Films that take their time in delivering their story, seem to not be capable of feeding the adrenaline needs those viewers. Some viewers complained that this film was too long, and "could have been" tighter. If you are someone who wants the plot points "quickly ticked off", scene after scene, so you can get to the final outcome, then this film is probably not going to satisfy you. I should also say that if you didn't find Blade Runner compelling, then this sequel is probably going to be a non-starter.

As background, I saw Blade Runner when it first opened. It was stunning, both in its beauty, and, albeit dystopian, its view of the future. Everything about it was captivating, and when I left the theatre, I had a feeling similar to the one I had when I walked out of Star Wars, roughly five years earlier. I knew that I had seen something that would still be special, decades later, and I "wanted more" from that same universe. I obviously didn't expect that, in the case of Blade Runner, it would be a 35 year wait for that to happen.

The spoiler-free version of this story, assuming you are familiar with Blade Runner, is that (per the title) this takes place 30 years after the original. The original film ended (depending on which "film cut" you saw) with Deckard and Rachael attempting to run away to "somewhere" that they hoped to be safe. We see nothing of those intervening years (acted out) in the sequel, but instead, find ourselves in the middle of what starts out as a police activity, but, purely through a chance discovery, quickly is recognized as something that has ties to the final moments of the original film. Suffice it to say that several different factions (at least three) quickly become interested in the implications that result from that police investigation, and the rest of the film plays out with its main character, pretty much caught in the middle of those factions. The film does, sometimes directly, and sometime indirectly, provide some closure to the fate of characters from the original film.

So, what is good (in my humble opinion) about this this film (and why I never get bored re-watching it)? Denis took his time "painting" this story. He didn't just rush through the new film's plot points, in an effort to "tick them off", in order to squeeze them into another, standard, box office "two-hour" movie. The original film was as much about "look and feel" as it was story. If you were sitting in a theater (or a dark room at home), you "soaked in" Blade Runner, just as much as you watched it. My "impression" is that Denis recognized that he needed to create that same feeling in the sequel, and that there were points in the film where he could have simply "jump-cut" to the next scene (i.e. the "next destination" for that character). Doing so would have saved a truck-load of money in VFX, but instead, Denis choose to paint a tapestry of the same (albeit 30 years newer) dystopian world, and allow the viewer to "simmer" in that dystopian soup, as the "character at that moment in the film" made his/her way to their next destination. As with the original movie, there are many visuals of this world, both from the ground, and from the air, where you are given the time to absorb its unique appearance. Some are fantastically futurist, and others depict the dystopian mess that exists "just outside of" the "better places" to live. In short, it attempts to continually be every bit as visually compelling as the original, so that you always feel more like you are in those places, instead of simply viewing them. And lastly, the film score, albeit a new score, attempts to adhere to a similar "electronic" feel as the original, which, from the very beginning, also serves to evoke the feeling that this is one continuous story. (Not unlike how John Williams' Star Wars scores instantly tie those films together, even before you see the first scene.)

Again, to avoid spoilers, it is hard to say much more. As stated earlier, if you wanted more of the Blade Runner "universe", then I would be surprised if you did not really enjoy this sequel. If all of the special effects movies of the last two decades have put you in a place where a viewing of Blade Runner left you wondering "what was all the fuss about", and/or, if you just don't care what happened after that original movie ended, then you might as well spend your time viewing some other film.

Helter Skelter: An American Myth (2020)

Not just a re-hash of old news

[10/10 · 31 August 2020]

Pretty much anyone who was at least in their teens (or older) at the time of the Tate-LaBianca murders knows the basic facts, and knows the name Charles Manson. The murders were horrific, and the fact that some of the victims were well-known celebrities, made it front-page news across the US, and beyond. And before the crime was solved, some of the bizarre aspects of the murders had people speculating about all sorts of crazy motives. E.G. because Roman Polanski had directed the movie "Rosemary's Baby", which involves devil worship, some people made the "leap" that it must have been devil worshipers who murdered his wife and friends.

Why is this documentary different?

Firstly, it goes all the way back to Manson's early (somewhat miserable) childhood, and takes an in-depth look at his life from that point, all the way up to the point where he originally began to gather up followers, and undertake his more well-known communal lifestyle.

Secondly, it contains a considerable number of new interviews, of people who had contact with Manson and/or members of his so-called "family". And more importantly, it contains (current) interviews with a number of the women who were members of the "family" at the time of the murders. These are women who were not involved in the murders, and only became aware of them after the fact, but at the time, they were still Manson devotees, and still under his Svengali-like influence. Of course, they are all in their 50's or 60's now, and can talk about Manson with a detached perspective (and with a bit of shock at how much influence he had over them at the time, and how naïve they were, due to their age and previous dysfunctional family lives).

Lastly, it provides an in-depth look at the subsequent (absolutely crazy) trial, even including a current interview with someone who sat on the jury. It also covers the crazy things that were happening outside the courthouse, while the trial was underway.

The six-hour (six episode) documentary spends its first half just documenting the details of Manson, and the "family", before the murders occurred. It provides a more in-depth understanding of how Manson preyed upon young, disenchanted girls, and was able to sell them on his communal life style, as a means of providing them with the "family" that they had never really had before. It goes on to show how once they were under his influence, he was able to get them to do just about anything, and convince them that it was the right thing to do, be it participate in orgies, or murder innocent victims, in his attempts to foster a race-war. And it closes out by covering the arrest of the murderers, their (many months long) trial, and the aftermath.

Bottom line, the documentary manages to cover a lot of territory in its six hours, and does so with a large number of more recent "first person" accounts, instead of simply stitching together content from old headlines, or years-old books. If you are at all curious about this "dark" event in our history, and how it came about, then I think that you will find that this documentary will "hold your attention". Just be forewarned that it does contain some graphic content, and as such, it might also continue to play on your mind, long after the documentary is over.

Tell Me a Story (2018–2020)

I came for the pedigree, but found it woefully lacking

[3/10 · 26 August 2020]

Between Kevin Williamson, and several the actors involved, this seemed like a sure bet, but I watched more than half of the first season, and just couldn't take any more of it. The problem, for me, is that there isn't one likeable person in the whole series. Certainly, there are many stories (even some of the so-called classics), where that is also the case, but usually applied to a much smaller group of self-centered people. Here, though, everyone is either super sleezy (e.g. criminals, murderers, etc.), and/or super stupid, doing not just one stupid thing, but stupid, after stupid, after stupid. Regardless of the attempt to spin some fairy tale inspired, horror genre story, it just fell short of the mark for me, by requiring every character to be so unbelievably dumb.

It's one thing to populate a story with a few idiots, because certainly, they do exist in the real world, but to build an entire series based upon every main character being an idiot, and never seeming to learn even a single lesson, from all of their previous mistakes, just didn't seem like entertainment to me. Maybe I just missed the point, and the whole idea is that this is a different universe, where "common sense" didn't evolve as a human trait. If that sort of universe sounds interesting to you, then you might enjoy the series.

The Cold Blue (2018)

This is how it really was...

[10/10 · 2 August 2020]

I've seen some reviews here that question the Allied Command tactics, and/or whether some of the bombing activities were appropriate, or not. This isn't a film about whether the war was prosecuted in the best possible manner (to be critiqued in "Monday morning quarterback" style), it's a documentary about the men who were given the extremely dangerous job of flying directly into the German defenses, to attempt to deliver ordinance payloads that would hopefully damage the German war machine to the degree that it would allow the allied forces to turn the tide of the war. It's about those men flying into what amounted to a shooting gallery, day after day, fully aware that their odds of survival were not much better than the odds from a typical coin toss, and yet, continuing to do so, over and over again, because they knew that their efforts "might be" enough to tilt the balance of war, just enough, so that the D-Day invasion, and subsequent push into German held territory, might have a chance of succeeding, and finally turning the war around.

If you want some insight into the risks that were taken, the sacrifices that were made, and see it "up close and personal", in amazing, restored color film footage, shot from these aircraft during their missions, then you really won't find anything better than this. And instead of just having a voice-over, done by some third-party narrator, this film is narrated by WW II veterans who flew missions in these aircraft, and hence, are giving first-hand accounts of their own experiences, comparable to the activities that were captured by the original filmmakers.

In summary, this is extraordinary footage, captured at great risk to the filmmakers who rode along on the missions, in order to capture it. It is an important, up close and personal, slice of US military history, the likes of which are rarely seen, and a real tribute to the sacrifice of so many brave flight crews who played an important part in the eventual Allied victory. It is well worth your viewing time.

Radioactive (2019)

Just weird

[4/10 · 25 July 2020]

It's not clear what message they are attempting to send in this film. Are they trying to convey that Marie Curie was a genius, or an idiot? At one point in the film, people are already making claims that radiation is causing health issues. Long after that concern is expressed, Marie is still sleeping with, and apparently (at least sometimes) carrying around, a bottle full of radium (almost like it is a talisman). And yet she then tells her daughter that should doesn't won't her working in any radioactivity-related research, because radioactivity could endanger her health. Having not read any biographies about Marie, I just can't help but wonder if any of this is based upon factual evidence, or is it all just embellishment for dramatic effect?

And then, the film is interleaved with numerous future events, in the midst of telling Marie's story. Each of these segments depicts mostly horrific events related to future uses of radioactive-based inventions, e.g. nuclear weapons, a nuclear reactor meltdown, etc. What does any of that have to do with Marie Curie? She didn't INVENT radiation. Radioactive material simply exists, and she just happened to discover some of its elements. Showing all of those future events sure seems to send a mixed message, seeming to imply Marie Curie's culpability in those events (which is, of course, ridiculous). Each of those future insertions just seemed completely unrelated to telling her life story, and they were (in my opinion) simply a waste of time, and a useless distraction.

The film has some excellent actors in its cast, but I just felt like they were misused, giving you only a shallow and confusing look at the life of this important scientific pioneer. I don't mean to imply that it is unwatchable, but as someone else has already said, it seems more like a soap opera than a legitimate biographical account.

Babylon 5 (1993–1998)

B5, just the facts...

[9/10 · 19 July 2020]

With this series finally making its way into the Streaming universe (on Amazon, as I write this), I figured that I should take a moment to finally write a review, especially since I enjoyed it so much, when it first aired.

Generally, great writing. As with any series, there are a few filler episodes, as well as obvious allegorical episodes, which don't really do anything for the larger, series narrative, but as a whole, most of the remaining episodes drive the series in the direction of its larger storylines, easily making it one of the best of the SciFi series. It is extremely unique in that this series had a major, long-term story arc that already spanned the first four seasons, but was laid out from the beginning (even at the time of the original pilot movie). Seeing some of the things that were alluded to at the very beginning (but really made no sense at the time, and also went unexplained), finally come full circle, years into the series, as "major reveals", really made you appreciate the effort that went into the storytelling.

Probably my only complaint with the series is that the musical score is unnecessarily overdone (i.e. too loud and dramatic) at times when the dialog and acting were more than sufficient to deliver the appropriate message. Put simply, the loud scoring actually (annoyingly) draws attention away from those dramatic scenes.

One has to go into the series understanding the state of CGI at that point in time. With the likely budget that the production team had to work with, for a syndicated (non-network) series, the effects are quite amazing for the time period. However, they were essentially working with graphics capabilities that were not dissimilar from those being utilized in video games of that era. If you were watching them on a typical (4:3 ratio), small screen TV of the mid-90's, they looked reasonably good. Of course, much larger screen sizes are the norm these days, and "stretching" that CGI content onto a larger screen (that is likely to be >2 times larger) means that those effects show their age. You simply have to "look past that issue", and not let it distract from the excellent storytelling. (You will see that some CGI looks "passable", whereas some of it looks overly pixelated, but again, none of it is up to the standards of 2020.)

The series was "shot wide" (on 35mm film), and the episodes (not counting the original pilot movie) are all 16x9 presentations, even though they were originally "cropped" back to the 4:3 aspect ratio, to fit on the pre-HD TV screens. Because that original wide content was not lost/destroyed, we now get to see all of the extra content that existed to either side of the originally cropped picture. To be clear, none of the episodes were "finished" at a high definition picture quality, so they won't look "super sharp", on a high definition set, but they will fill the full 16x9 HD screen, and it's great to be able to see them in that full, wide-screen presentation.

The movies... As of this writing, Amazon Prime is airing the series, but there are five "key" movies that are also associated with the series, which may not be as readily available. Certainly, both the entire series, and these five movies (in a bundled package) can still be procured on DVD. The following lists the films, as well as when to watch them, based upon their original air dates. (In other words... these movies were essentially "special, longer, episodes", which aired during the run of the series. Sometimes between seasons, and sometimes, simply as "specials", right in the midst of a season.) Bottom line, watching them out of order (especially, "In the Beginning") can result in serious spoilers!!! Those movies are:

The Gathering (the original pilot, that aired before the series started). THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT, and you really need to watch it FIRST. Interestingly, Amazon includes it for free as part of Season 1, BUT they list it at the bottom of the season, AFTER all of the other episodes. Don't be misled by that placement. As noted above, it is the "pilot", and should be the first thing you watch.

In the Beginning (Aired between Season 4, and Season 5).

Third Space (Aired during Season 5, between Ep17 and Ep18).

The River of Souls (Aired during Season 5, between Ep19 and Ep20.)

A Call to Arms (Aired shortly after the end of the B5 series, and before the beginning of the spin-off series, Crusade).

Just a postscript/update:

In late Jan. 2021, it was announced that Warner Bros. had remastered this series, using 4K scans, and a lot of cleaning up, to rebuild High Definition (i.e. 2K) versionsof the five year series. They also have taken the CGI elements (which existed separately), and upscaled (and tweaked/enhanced) them so that they look far better, and then blended them back into the new HD episodes.

This is mostly, but not completely, a good news story. Aside from the original pilot (The Gathering), none of the remaining films, mentioned at the end of my earlier review, appear to have been included. Also, The Gathering was NOT remastered, because its original film elements were lost, in the Northridge Earthquake (but it is an integral part of the series, so it could not be left out). A second difference is (as described previously) the original DVD release was a widescreen (16x9) picture, including edge content not shown on the original series. This remastered series was cropped back to its originally broadcast 4:3 content (i.e. the older NTSC TV size), forfeiting that DVD edge content.

I would be lying if I didn't state that the remastered (but cropped) episodes do look significantly better than any earlier version, so that is probably the best way to view the series.

Lastly, it is unclear at this time whether these will ever be released on media. They can be "bought", for digital streaming, in several places (e.g. Amazon and iTunes), but be aware that this appears to apply only to the series, and (bizarrely) in some cases, does not appear to include the crucial pilot episode (The Gathering), without which a viewer would certainly be confused. The only location where it appears to have been properly accounted for (probably due to is Warner ownership) is HBO Max, where the full series is presented with "The Gathering" pre-pended as "Episode 1" in the first season.

So again, generally good news, but your "milage may vary", dependent upon where you view the series.

Tron: Legacy (2010)

A solid storyline, set in a VFX work of art

[9/10 · 8 July 2020]

First, you don't really need to have seen the original Tron, in order to "follow" the sequel. If you know nothing more than its IMDB synopsis, the opening of Legacy does a great job of providing enough backstory to get you going.

I should say that I didn't care that much for the original Tron. It was trying to do something unique, but the VFX technology wasn't quite where it needed to be, in order to support that effort, and there are times that, to be blunt, I thought the characters were just a bit to "squirrelly". I like my SciFi (and/or fantasy) when things are a bit more tense/serious, and Tron didn't seem to express that feeling.

What makes Legacy work for me is that it sets a completely different tone, from the outset. It's a much more emotionally darker film, and the main characters are pretty much in peril, throughout the whole film. It has two things going for it, from the beginning. It has a good storyline, built around a son, trying to understand what happened to his father years ago; and today's VFX are up to the task of providing a strikingly different digital world, as compared to the original.

But there's also a "third rail" that adds an unexpected boost to the film, and that's the Daft Punk soundtrack, which continuously drives the "feeling" of the film. That's even more true, if you have a subwoofer-laden sound system that can fully "express" DP's bass-infused score. Put simply, there's a lot of the film that you can simply "feel in your bones", which adds a whole other layer to what you see on the screen.

The IMDB synopsis, and minimal plot detail above, is enough to know going in. Providing more detail would just be spoilers.

In summary, there is a solid, deeply personal story arc, intermixed with some great action sequences, all supported by an especially engrossing soundtrack that compliments the story perfectly.

(For anyone still lucky enough to have a 3D set, the 3D blu-ray version is worth the money. The flim is 2D, for the short period that it is in the real world, but the 3D kicks in when Sam is transported into the digital world, i.e. "the grid", which serves to give it a far more unique appearance, to set it apart from reality.)

Deadwind (2018–2021)

Interesting, intricate criminal investigation, but not without some annoying problems.

[7/10 · 7 July 2020]

This series is difficult to properly review. I think that it was worth watching, simply because the storylines in the two seasons (so far) were complex, and it was intriguing enough that you wanted to see where everything ended up. I won't delve into either of the main stories, but each involved a complex number of characters, and you were never sure where things might go next. Again, all that was worth the trip.

It also had what I thought was a solid cast of actors, who carried their performances as convincingly as they were written. The problem with this whole series is that whoever wrote it (or maybe it's a directorial issue) seems to have never been exposed to any actual police-related activities. I realize that the main character has intentionally been written to be non-conventional, but nobody who goes as rouge as she does, all through the series, would ever be allowed to continue to be active in any large police organization. You quickly begin to lose count of all the (really) stupid/wreckless things that she does, not only endangering herself, but all of those around her, and yet, despite some occasional scoldings, her superiors just continue to let her run amok.

So, again, I am glad that I watched the series, simply because the stories were interesting. I recommend the series for that alone. But you need to be prepared to suspend your beliefs with regard to how the main character has been portrayed, and if you can't live that, then you might has well not watch it at all. (Again, no fault of the actor, as she's obviously just portraying what was written, or how she was directed.)

Valley Uprising (2014)

Two movies for the price of one

[10/10 · 7 July 2020]

First and foremost, this is just a great documentary. To be able to delve into the origin story of hard-core climbing in the Yosemite Valley, which is at least a half-century old, and have nearly all of the pioneers providing current interviews and background information, and have the rest at least represented in supplemental footage, just seemed to put the entire story on really solid ground. Having not had any substantive knowledge of the genesis (or evolution) of Yosemite climbing, I found all of this to be highly informative, and entertaining.

Even for someone with no knowledge of climbing at all, just delving into the lifestyle, personal dynamics, and continuous cycle of one-upmanship, generated by this rogue's gallery of mountaineers, is as engaging as any multifaceted drama, and certainly as hand-wringing as the most high octane horror film.

My title above, alludes to the nature of that last point. Unless you are heavy into climbing, or some other dangerous sporting activity, this is one of those films where you need to keep a hand-towel nearby. If you are into terror/horror films, or any other genre that leaves you sweating with fear or trepidation, then this film can certainly be a temporary stand-in for one of those film outings. Most people would consider standard mountaineering to be a "hazardous sport", but as you watch that comparatively tame activity evolve, over time, into some of its newer variations, where someone is climbing a 3000 foot, vertical face, with absolutely nothing other than their bare hands (i.e. no ropes, or safety equipment of any kind), you are almost certainly going to need that towel, to wipe off the sweat that will be pouring from the palms of your hands.

Bordertown: Ihmispeto 2/2 (2019) Season 3, Episode 3

Not too smart...

[2/10 · 12 May 2020]

I have generally enjoyed the series, because of the quirky protagonist, but I felt compelled to submit a review of this episode, because it was just really dumb. I mean, we have Kari going up against a cold-blooded serial killer, who, in a confrontation with Kari, earlier in the episode, has already mentioned Kari's daughter. And yet, later on, after Kari himself has been confronted yet a SECOND time by the serial killer, and also, after Kari has, in effect, stolen, and hidden, the killer's own daughter, it never seems to cross Kari's mind (or the minds of any of his fellow police officers), that Kari's daughter should not only be under guard, but probably ought to be hidden away in a safe house. And, of course, as would be expected by anyone with an IQ greater than 5, the killer does, in fact, kidnap Kari's daughter.

It was just a real setback (in writing), in what are usually pretty decent storylines. It's super frustrating and disappointing that such a lame plot could actually make it "out the door" without somebody calling "foul", and forcing the storyline to be more believable.

Doctor Who: Praxeus (2020) Season 12, Episode 6

I feel sorry for the actors (almost more than myself, as a suffering viewer)

[30 April 2020]

The writing is just so awful. This week, we have the writing staff sending a companion into a quarantined room, and then (with his bare hands), pulling the cover off of the quarantined patient, and THEN, reaching out and touching the quarantined patient, in a hospital where EVERYONE else has "gotten the heck out of Dodge", because of that patient.

And then, not five minutes later, we have another companion deciding to blindly follow some alien through a transporter device, about which they known nothing, and with no idea where it leads. But that's actually not the stupidest part. The alien was clearly in a suit, with specialized breathing components, making it obvious that they probably can't breath our atmosphere, which, to anyone with an IQ above 5, would sort of suggest that the atmosphere at the other end of that transporter, might be "unfriendly" to humans.

So, I can almost hear the showrunner saying, "this week, your characters have to act like you have the intellect of a two-year-old, and do outrageously stupid things". It's insulting to the cast, insulting to the viewers that have had to put up with the horrendously poor writing, and sadly, just the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of how far "off the rails" the series has gone, under the current production/writing team.

I simply do not understand why someone at the BBC hasn't stepped in to put a new showrunner, and writing team in place, before they completely destroy one of the most beloved series in TV history. The series used to be clever, and sassy, but now it's just a waste of time.