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drchristianaz
Reviews
Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
Another chinese propaganda film
I usualy enjoy Jason Statham films but not this time. For his part, he was believable and carried his character in typical Jason Statham fashion. The other characters were flat, one dimensional and may as well have been reading from the screen. The special effects were lackluster and not up to 2023 standards. Who puts a bright white border light around a screen? Like an edge light around your computer monitor right now. It would shine a light back towards you and only make looking at that screen that much more difficult/irritating. The dialogue was contrived. I was able to predict several of the quips written into the script. I won't buy the blueray/digital code because I doubt I'd ever enjoy watching it twice when the first time was boring. That and It's pure chinese propaganda and is a film that caters to china. I've no problem with a country making a film for the domestic market but by the same brush stroke, I'm not part of that domestic market so it isn't for me, even with an English speaking actor.
Raised by Wolves (2020)
Takes suspended disbelief to another dimension
This show takes suspended disbelief to another dimension. It starts off a little implausible with the crash landing.
Technology advanced enough to travel interstellar and quite literally grow humans in a petri dish but can't manage a controlled landing? Come on, Space X managed a controlled landing of a tubular vertical rocket in present day!
Then these seemingly advanced androids can't figure out what is causing the children to die? Perhaps it was the gaping hole in the roof of the dwelling while it was snowing outside. (first episode at about 14 minutes)
Then there is the Mother android. She just completely transforms from an android into Vision from the Marvel Universe. How HBO isn't being sued is beyond disbelief.
This show is utter crap.
Not worth watching and definitely not worth the efforts of all those producing it. I love sci-fi but it seems lately that the only sci-fi made is total crap.
My Son (2021)
Pedestrian film with a misleading claim.
The movie itself was fast paced, riveting and keeps you interested. It does seem to have 1.3 plots going on though, the 1st plot is the obvious one, the disappearance of the child. The .3rd plot is one related to our protagonists private life, more specifically, his work.
This .3rd plot us useless, pointless and never rises to the level of being a distraction. It never diverts the viewers suspicions away from the obvious.
The child's mother's new love interest is also a useless character as he adds nothing.
The local police dept. Being removed as lead investigators without other boots on the ground actively looking for the missing child is just plan moronic. To suggest that order came from the nations capital is an even greater insult to the viewers intelligence.
Then, their is the antagonists. At one point, there is dialogue that suggests the antagonists have done this before and it is a routine thing for them, the taking of children yet the police seem to be treating the missing child of the protagonist like it's an exceedingly rare event for this remote town.
Over all, it is a pedestrian film that relies more on the audience not thinking or asking questions than it does on the script to build the narrative.
This brings me to the script. This film likes to advertise that James McAvoy was not given a script. I highly doubt that is even remotely true. Think about it for a second. If one character is completely off script, how can the others follow one? The likelihood the off-script actor is using dialogue that will allow the script to make sense is completely improbable for a single scene, never mind an entire film.
A script tells the actor how each scene is being set up, where participants will be, what they are or will be doing, what props are used etc etc.
So we're supposed to believe he "winged it"?
Besides, there was an earlier film for this premise just a few years ago, all he had to do was watch that and he had an idea what this was about.
The ending is the worst part. What authority would arrest or file charges against a parent that was abandoned by the police in the search for a missing child when that parent injures or kills one of the kidnappers? That is perhaps the most moronic aspect to the whole film. That the dad would be arrested/charged because he rescued his kids and killed a kidnapper in the process.
This movie really deserves zero stars for the director/writers/producer.
I Care a Lot (2020)
A waste of time, honestly, I'm surprised it was made.
This movie is rife with the latest and greatest politically correct character traits at the expense of keeping the plot believable. It was somewhat believable up until the half way point. It took a dramatic turn for the worse soon after Peter Dinklage's character showed up, though that was not of his doing.
While not plausible, it was still within the realm of Hollywood story telling that the elderly character played by Dianne Wiest could be committed against her will by an unscrupulous doctor and medical advocate with the help of a naïve and dull judge.
The idiocy started with the botched execution of two characters that have zero survival training, zero military or police training and for all intent and purpose, are office employees more comfortable with Excel than self defense. Yes, the Russian mob, former or otherwise, have blundered two simple executions and our would be victims are now suddenly savvy enough and insidious enough to take on people that are adept (or rather should be) at killing.
Honestly, I turned it off with 23 minutes left to go. I could not stomach it any longer after Rosamund Pike rescued her love interest in the nick of time before the apartment exploded.
The writers went so far out of their way to create strong female characters that emasculating the male characters wasn't enough, luck and fortune had to favor them as well, contrary to all logic, even that little bit the audience hold onto when watching a movie.
Under the Dome (2013)
Read the book, love the show.
I read the book and I am watching the show...while the book is different (my imagination is not the same as the show's director and/or writers) but it has enough there and what is different is enjoyable.
The concept is original, the characters believable and there is plenty of room for growth. I do see a few thinks they messed up, like having wind but hey, it's a TV show and they can only do just so much.
The CGI is fine, the accident effects are very realistic and they are keeping elements like the military's presence on the other side of the dome low key, a bit lower than I'd expect. If this were to really happen, I suspect we'd see a much larger government presence that a few Army Humvees and tents.
Oh, I wish they kept Jeff Fahey.