brelanda Reviews

Flynn (I) (2024)

Alt Right Redemption

[2/10 · 13 May 2024]

While some of the information about Ex-General Flynn is factual well documented, it is all placed in a manner to put the best light on the life and times of "Patriot General Flynn".

All people who are interviewed and used to extol the virtues and patriotism are either Family or Right wing fanatics (Tucker Calison).

Every time something bad happens it is always some body else's fault. While disclaiming the contact between the Trump campaign the Russian's the Muller report stated at least 17 Trump associates had contacts with Russians or Wikileaks and had at least 100 face to face interactions, phone calls or electronic messages with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures and at least 51 people.

This "Documentary" ends without a mention of the fact that on May 30, 2020 Flynn said Trump should impose martial law to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It seems this was not important to the narrative in his "Life Of Service" to democracy.

When China Met Africa (2010)

Unknown Information

[3/10 · 26 December 2023]

This documentary seems to be made up of only raw material.

There is no direction in the production. First you are doped in on a Chinese farm owner and you see his interaction with the farm help that he employs, who seem to be people who just wander in that morning. Doing all the work manually, plant seeds by hand, cover with hoe, weed with hoe. All the while people are talking and.wandering about.

Next you are dropped of at a road work company where you see the boss give a pass/fail test of some people to see if they can drive a truck well enough to get a job.

Then the scene change to the interaction of some government officials doing some official things.

At no time during this production is there any sense of direction or purpose.

Is the actions of the Chinese and the African governments a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know and you won't get any clarity in watching this pic.

3 Feet Ball & Souls (2017)

Emotional Story of Hope Over Dispare

[7/10 · 26 December 2023]

This film is an emotional roller coaster, mostly on the down side, but with a satisfying ,hopeful, ending.

As the story opens a group of four people (two men and 2 women) gather in a small shed with a three foot diameter Firework shell in the middle. It become obvious that they have all gathered together to commit suicide. After a short contentious conversation between the three older people (two men and one woman) with the teenage girl. She grabs the detonator and sets it off, There is a flash and suddenly the scene is back to where the first person is back in the shed.

The story proceeds as each time the shell goes off the people in the room gather more and more information about why each of them are planning to commit suicide and come to realize that their reason are not as insurmountable as they initially thought.

In the end they decide not go through with their plan and we see how each of the members lives proceed and that they all end up making a contribution to their friends , family and society as a whole.

Mickey Saves Christmas (2022 TV Special)

Too Sacchrin for its Own Good

[2/10 · 11 December 2023]

Like all Disney efforts this short has the heart of kids in mind, but unlike the good productions this one has none of the restraint on over the top cuteness.

The music is harsh and garbled. Could nobody say to the producers and director "This is too much". Too many songs with no purpose and no charm. Caned generic not memorable of singable.

All the regular gang is here and for the most part they all play their respective parts, but something is not quite right. Donald has acquired a gluttonous trait and is going to the sweets at every chance. Goofy, the known harbinger of disaster, is oddly just a background player and neither helps or hinders the proceedings.

Strictly for the Six and under crowd.

My Love Affair with Marriage (2022)

Exploration of the Female Experiance

[8/10 · 1 October 2023]

A combination of classical animation over a paper mache backdrop make for an interesting ,but not distracting, setting.

The story covers the life of a female from conception to about 30 years old.

At critical points of her life a short clinical medical explanation of the changes in her body and mind chemistry give a background the the ways she handles the outside world and her reaction to the world and the people in her life.

The frequent song interludes do nothing to advance the story and could have been removed with little effect.

The strong spirit of the main character supports the whole story and is a model to be studied for all writers, producers and directors.

Super Senses (2015– )

Inteesting collection random facts

[3/10 · 28 March 2023]

Another nature film with no real aim other than give a collection of random facts about the animal world and its similarity and differences between the human sense of the world and the way various species interpret the surrounding environment.

While most species see, heal, smell, taste and touch the world in a similar way, some sense the world in extreme ways. Dogs smell more than humans. Elephant even more than dogs. Birds seeing into ultraviolet part of the light spectrum. Some snakes using special receptors to see into the infrared part of the spectrum.

Rather a dull presentation of the facts in a scatter shot order.

The Oil Machine (2022)

Well Inensioned, but porly exicuted.

[3/10 · 21 March 2023]

This documentary covers the Oil Industry as it relates to the way it was implemented in Great Britain concerning the North Sea.

It covers the uneven and poor management of the sectors of the North Sea. The way the government, in the 70's to the present, prioritize financial gains over environmental concerns or energy independence.

A lot of information is contained in the film and well developed, but the production is so flat and uninspiring. It will take viewer all the concentration and desire of a college student pulling an all-nighter to pass an exam on the history of belt buckles in relation of the development of pants.

It's all in there, but next to no one well get anything out of it.

Vic the Viking and the Magic Sword (2019)

For the Under 6 Crowd.

[2/10 · 27 January 2023]

Low grade Adventure for the small set.

Lite violence and nobody gets hurt bad.

Weak plot with a lot of running around to no real end in mind. Animation is average for a TV film. At least there are no annoying song during the film.

Vic is the small weak son of the leader of Viking bad of misfits. His father has no faith in so small a boy and always thinks he has the correct answer to any problem and that is to not think and attack.

Bad things happen and nobody knows what to do, but little Vic. Who rubs both sides of his nose and then under it, thinks for a moment, Snaps his fingers and in a shower of stars has the answer to any problem.

Koati (2021)

South American rip-off of "The Loin King"

[1/10 · 2 January 2023]

Hear we go again.

Once again a bunch of people who want to make a Movie.

Animators, Check.

Voice Talent, Check.

Green lit by a Production Co., Check.

Song Writer, Check.

Original Story, NO.

Story? Story? Story! I've got it. We take to Loin King and re-do it. Lead - Panther not Lion, keep the bird assistant, but make it Female. Change the Hyenas to Snakes (Nobody likes Snakes). Have leader die saving a small helpless life. Lady snake (with vaguely Russian accent), part of the ruling council, take over and tricks the rest of the animals that their home is now unsafe and all must move to a new location that only she knows about. Fringe member of group, who knows something is wrong, is cast out and must find his own way, finds piece and then determines to go back and save the group. Through in a couple of generic songs and you have a movie.

If there is absolutely nothing else to watch it's OK, but beyond that I give it a hard pass.

The Demons of Dorothy (2021)

Surreal Life and Dream of a Movie Script Writer

[4/10 · 30 November 2022]

This short film is a depiction of a repressed writer trying to complete a scrip for a film, while dealing with her own sense of herself and how she relates to the rest of the "Movie" world.

The title character, Dorthy, spends her time bouncing back and forth between her writing of a script and the depiction of the script. As well and her interactions with her, mother ,producer and her imagined interactions with her idols. Who constantly put down her vision of her film.

In a dream sequence she thinks she is at a screening of her story the Cannes Film festival, only to see her story so totally watered down that she rejects it and goes into the film and remake it as she wanted.

On Allotments (1976)

Rather Dry Scenic of East London

[4/10 · 16 September 2022]

This documentary cover the peculiar scene of the collection of small pot farmers of East London.

In 1887 the Allotments Act was introduced in England. Which made it possible for local authorities to acquire land for allotments - by compulsory purchase if necessary. It also made it compulsory for local authorities to provide allotments where there was demand for them.

The "Allotments" are small parcel of land to be famed for personnel use.

This film covers a number of plots that are being reallocated and to be converted to a Lori (Truck)) park.

Much of the film is just a series of slow pans showing the "allotments" inter cut with some interviews of the people who tend them.

Agent F.O.X. (2014)

Strickly for the Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig set

[3/10 · 22 August 2022]

Painfully slow and simple.

OK for the under 12 crowd, but for the rest of us it's painful to watch .

Story to contrived for the audience it is aimed to entertain of instruct.

Voice acting exaggerated to the max.

Art simplified and unimaginative.

Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (2018)

If Your Emitional Age is Under 12, It's Great

[1/10 · 21 August 2022]

This is another film that thinks if you keep hitting the viewer over and over with the same S#!^ it will make you think it's funny.

It is not!

I could only stand the first 35min. Before I had to stop watching. I don't know how it ends and I don't care, and neither did the people who made this picture. It is nothing more than a string of bad ideas one after another.

If you are not a 12 year old boy watching with a bunch of you friends, laughing at the cursing, the lame sexual jokes and over the top violence. Give the flick a hard pass.

Fries! The Movie (2021)

A Good Overview.

[4/10 · 21 August 2022]

This documentary covers all the points necessary be called a "Documentary".

The backbone of the film is French Fries, but it does not follow a strict historical narrative.

The film runs back and forth about the science and the art of FF to the history, the evolution and the migration of the FF across the world.

An enjoyable watch, but not a definitive expose of the subject.

The Amber Light (2019)

A Documentary, But Not a Collection of Names and Dates

[7/10 · 27 July 2022]

This is not the sort of documentary where you are going to learn about Whisky.

This is the sort of documentary where you will learn about Whisky and the why it is a part and parcel linked to Scotland.

This is a film concerning the romance and poetry between Scotland and Whisky.

H.P. Lovecraft's Witch House (2021)

Here We Go Again.

[3/10 · 27 July 2022]

Another "Adaption" of a H. P. Lovecraft short story, and once again the writers have no real idea what the story is about and therefore create a new story an attribute it to Lovecraft to get an audience.

They take a few salient points (student, math, other dimensions, stolen children) and write a story.

This story has a female lead. She is working on the principle that right mathematics and geometry can create a portal to other detentions. Because an ex is seeking to get her, her professor sends her to a remote house for her safety. This of coarse puts her right in the sights of an occult group seeking to resurrect a long dead witch.

The reminder of the film is a collection of events to bring this about.

Save your tine and read the original H. P. Lovecraft.

Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone (2017)

Earnest Attempt

[2/10 · 17 July 2022]

Cocoon Central Dance Team was the originator of this performance art piece.

Like most of this type of entertainment at its best it can be an experience that will transcend what is happening before your eyes.

This however is not one of those events. Being a creation of a "Dance Troop" (I guess it's supposed to be ironic) there is little to no dancing and what there is is of the lowest skill.

As the first five minutes of the show progress I was expecting something in a Dadaist performance, but then the degenerated into a series vignettes withe little to no style or punch.

Aliens, Flamingos & Ecstasy (2019)

Unevin, but OK

[4/10 · 6 June 2022]

Adult does not mean pornographic, although some nudity and intimated sex acts are present.

As the story line says "Simply put, 6 eclectic and diverse animation styles present some....."

Some of the stories are straight forward and easy to understand, others are very abstract and will leave you wondering just what was the point.

Circumstantial Pleasures (2020)

Confusing

[2/10 · 6 June 2022]

This is the sort of film one would expect to be on a loop in a avant-garde Art Expo, something to watch with someone else with a glass of wine and explore the meaning of life. But to sit down and watch, no way.

This 65 minute plus feature is a collection of shorts with no cohesive connection, with the possible connection of being all done with the same materials.

Cutouts from comic books, Construction paper, envelops, magazine pictures and other similar pieces of detritus. The sound tract is similarly composed of.looped sound and music.

Birds Like Us (2017)

A Story in Search of a Plot

[3/10 · 14 February 2022]

Inspired by Farid-Un-Din Attar's (13th century Persian Poet) Conference of the Birds.

The main story revolves around a female bird, Huppu (voiced by. Alicia Vikander) who is about to lay an egg. In the society where she lives all the birds sacrifice some of there eggs to the ruling Kondor (voiced by Jeremy Irons) in exchange for the fruit they eat to live.

After she gains some insight that there is more to the world than the small protected tree where they have all lived. A group of four birds go on an adventure.

This is where the film go badly. The characters are relativity well defined and the animation is well executed. Voice acting is acceptably, if not inflected.

The story just seems to wander from point to point. The main linking character, the Bat (voiced by Khalid Abdalla), who presumably, is giving sage advise at just the right point to help the birds advance in there understanding of the greater world is far too enigmatic to be understood by these simple birds.

I'm not sure who the film is aimed to reach. It's far too complex for children. It's too mixed up for adolescence and too boring for adults.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Complete Rewright, Wrong

[1/10 · 24 December 2017]

Here we have a holiday classic ruined. The original story was a display of someone who is an outcast from the mainstream because he does not, for some unknown reason, can't relate to his neighbors. So thinking that he can not fit in decides to ruin their fun so they will feel as bad as him at this time of year. As his plans come to fruition, to destroy their holiday, he realizes that the holiday is not about material things and thus gains happiness for himself and others. In this remake FORGET IT. Now we are surrounded by the most evil, vile and duplicitous race of things (think a race social climbing insects) whose only though is "How can I show I'm better than you". This time we are given a history why the Grinch is a self imposed outcast, because of a bad childhood trauma, this is a nice touch. From this point on the film goes down hill and fast. Every person you meet is only acting for their self interest. What can I do to show how much better I am than everybody around me. Quite frankly if I was to go to this town and was around these people, even for a short time, I would get out of town as fast as the Grinch had. The only saving grace is little Cindy, the incorruptible child. Who sees the good in all and in the end helps all in the end come together. This film is a complete disaster, with the exception of filming some of the animated sequences in live action. Skip it and watch the original animated TV show or better still read the book with your kids.

TV's Funniest Animated Stars: A Paley Center for Media Special (2015 TV Movie)

This Show was Produced for and Catered to Fox

[1/10 · 26 December 2015]

It has been a long time since I have seen such a blatant job, to produce a show to make the customer happy. Throughout the length of the program the lions share of the air time is spent lauding the extraordinary "heights" of the productions shown on the Fox Network, for a network that extols the virtues of conservatism they spent an extraordinary amount of time wallowing in the lowest forms of comedy.

Time and time again, with a fifty plus year catalog of animated stars to choose from, they fall back to the past ten or so years to pick the best and if not the best the most prolific. Quantity over quality is a poor substitute for the finding the best in any subject.

Even when including the greats of the past the newest versions were shown, with the exception of Micky's "Steam Boat Willy", when available.

All thing considered the two hours spent watching this program was little more the seeing Fox pat itself on the back for doing a great gob of skewing the voting to put themselves in the best light as purveyor of "TV's Funniest Animated Stars: A Paley Center for Media Special (2015)"

How Murray Saved Christmas (2014 TV Special)

This is not Dr. Seuss.

[1/10 · 6 December 2014]

Just watched this travesty of a Christmas Special.

A pointless but clever string of rhyming, singing, and punning.

The constant striving to be clever with the rhyming left me crying(and not with laughter).

The writers were, I guess, trying to make a sort of a Dr. Seuss story, but alas they have neither the wit nor the wisdom to pull this story off. The town name "Stinky Cigars" lets the viewer know from the start that this is going to be a bad trip. This is the town where all the mythical and real characters of all the holidays live and none of them are to a one a character that you would like to run into, even on their holidays. Worst of all Santa is portrayed as a mean, greedy and ignorant boss. The elves, that make the toys, are worked day and night, no breaks and no pay, that they gleefully sing about.

One of the worst things about this travesty was that during the half hour break a commercial ran to tell one and all that in ten days you can own your own copy of this trash and "Make How Murray Saved Christmas a holiday tradition" The show was not even finished being shown and they already expect you to go out and buy a copy.

As far as I can remember there was only one well executed pun in this travesty, when Santa was looking to get some toys, after waking up from his concussion, one of the closed stores is called "Salvador's Dollies" complete with a melting clock on the marque and lamp post.

Unless you revel in the vile, skip this.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie (2010)

Uneven, But Not That Bad

[3/10 · 3 February 2013]

The origin of this film would seems to be films of Tim Burton. The main character is a girl of high school age called Dixie. At the onset of the picture we see an early trauma in her life where mother, unhappy for a long time, informs her hubby that she is leaving him because she can no longer stand his work, he is an undertaker. Dad is the eternal optimist always upbeat always happy and always trying his best for the ones he loves. Dixie, like most teenagers, is beset with the problems of teenagers, fickle friends, unapproachable guys, and mean girls at school. After a particularly bad day at school Dad takes Dixie to the local fair to try and cheer her up, where the mean girls trick her into seeing her old best friend kissing the guy she longs for, this sends her running in a rain storm into the woods where a tree struck by lighting falls on her. She wakes up in a grave a Zombie in the world of the dead where she meets Isis and later Gonner. The three join together to open a portal back the land of the living where they can set right all that had gone wrong in their lives and at the same time thwart the evil plans of a zombie witch bent on entering the living world with her zombie army.

The CG is OK, but nothing special. The voice acting adequate and professional, but again nothing special. The story could do with some major rewrites. In the Zombie world thing pop up when needed, the story does not have the feel that if the characters were not there the place would not exist.

All and all not a bad film, not a film to seek out or a film to avoid, but a film to watch when nothing else is available to watch.

Sea Level (2011)

Good start but needs a lot of help.

[2/10 · 14 May 2012]

The opening shot shows a wonderful world with vivid colors beautifully rendered. The landscape the characters get to work in is rich with many diverse settings. The voice acting is adequate to the characters. The story on the other hand is all over the map. Two main characters are clearly best of friends and have been for a long time, but nothing they say or do explain how or why they came to be friends. The shark at random times is off trying to eat one or of the other fish in the neighborhood, with no luck. Going back to the shark's home, a well furnished shipwreck, he is waited on by three other fish. In being hospitable to his guest he offers four other live fish to Pup. This is just about as bad an idea I can think about placing in this story. Cut to a shot some sort of evil factory spilling filth into the ocean period,no explanation no people no nothing. Next is the introduction of an evil Eel living at the bottom of a crevasse with an army of crabs, what his place in this story is about as nebulous as many other things that go on. Watch this film if you want it has some nice scenes, but do not expect a cohesive or logical plot.