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The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Painfully Slow
The horrors of what the women in The Handmaids Tale go through is unsettling and a reminder of how art mimics real life. The terrible way women are treated in the fictional world Gilead is nothing more than a constant reminder of how poorly women have been treated throughout history and in many of the places of the world today. The female plight is still a perilous journey even today as religious and political figures continue to strip away the freedoms and equality of women. Mirroring so much of today and the fragile thread that is our democracy as we try to recover from the Trump Era destruction of democracy.
That aside The Handmaids Tale is a truly compelling story that is best experienced in the book or the 1990 film adaption. The latter being an appreciate telling of the story for those of us who had yet to read the book but wish to experience the story.
The Hulu adaptation was an unnecessary slow burn into an already compelling story. It suffers on many points. The first is the wooden acting of Elizabeth Moss. She's not meant to be a lead and it's apparently obvious from The Handmaids Tale. She's not the sorta actress who bring strength to June and makes you root for her. Instead Elizabeth's portal is boring, lazy and tiresome with her amount of screen time. Which is a problem as the story is told through the view of June.
Second is the slow burn of the story. I found myself skipping so much material and doing minimal online research to make sure I didn't miss key plot points. The back stories was where I found myself fast forwarding the most. I only wanted more world building in Gilead which was dragged out to such a point I lost interest. I eventually found myself caring less for June and more for Serena Joy and Ofglen. Which is the only reason I continued to watch for as long as I did.
Third is going beyond the book. TV writers should had learned their lesson from Game of Thrones and why it isn't wise to stretch a story beyond the source material. But greedy studios being what they are will milk it dry until it's completely ruined beyond recognition. An instance is the freedoms the TV writers have given Ofred as she continues to defy the laws of Gilead with no consequences. Her actions got her friends in trouble and she didn't care. Watching fellow Handmaidens get tortured and punished for Ofred's actions knowing she would suffer no consequences made me hate Ofred to a point I no longer wanted to watch. Her actions would had gotten her killed if Ofred was held to the same accountability as the other Handmaidens.
If you really wanted to continue the story past the book why not explore more on the uprising and the over throw of Gilead?
Raised by Wolves (2020)
Terrible view of Atheist masked as sci-fi.
I really wanted to like this show but after five episodes in I just can't find anymore interest in it. With great visuals it draws you but it falls flat an awful story.
In a distant future a war broke out on Earth between atheist and theist leaving the planet uninhabitable and humanity's only hope is Kepler-22b a planet on the far side of the solar system. Now the two factions are in a race against time to see who can colonize the planet first. Atheist wanna send human embryos with two androids to save the human race and the theist wanna send the last remaining humans using cryosleep.
Seems okay so far. Yet for me this is where things go from fantasy to ridiculous. The theist are shown as an advanced society with superior tech and an android that annihilate people with a loud shrill cry. While the atheist are shown as a dirty, poor violent militant group. So my problem here is theist have held back society for thousands of years where atheist have moved society forward. Atheist are more inclined for the preservation and protection of the planet (as we know it's all we got) where theist are more destructive and believe they'll live another life after death. Theist have shown through out history to destroy and slaughter those who do not follow their ideology. So understanding these facts alone puts the story of Raised by Wolves on a road of ridiculousness.
Terrible character. There is absolutely no likable characters here at all. Father is the only decent one and at times he gets annoying. Campion is awful. Mother is all over the place emotionally. Why do these androids have such high emotional output to such a degree it makes them a threat to the children they are sent to protect. Mother's abilities are also all over the place. She can change her appearance at will (using this only once), can bring a dying fetus back to life by just pressing it against her chest, can burn wholes through walls and melt object with her breath, can put out such a high pitched cry that can cause humans to explode. Yet it's unclear as to how she can explode a creature leaping towards a child and not the child which is only a foot or less from the creature.
Not sure where these 9 or 10 ratings are coming from. Maybe this show connects with some people. For me I find it insulting, lazy and just plane boring.
Why can't we have a great Sci-Fi series where people visit a lush planet sprawling with life. Not some boring wasteland of a planet with one creature that's poorly CGI'd.
And where the hell is the water? How are you gonna inhabit a planet that has no water? At least I don't recall ever seeing any.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Disrespectful to the Books
I read the books when I was young and they were the start of my love for horror. What made the books so powerful was not just the stories but the artwork. I was excited to see such nightmarish artwork brought to life on the big screen. If you are as well prepare for disappointment. This film makes a pour attempt at being scary but remained boring throughout. The current trend now is to borrow from the popularity of Stranger Things or IT. You know where you have likeable preteens tackling supernatural forces with a little humor thrown in. This film tries the same thing but fails. The kids are unlikable and the acting is mediocre. The film also borrows atmospheric elements from Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece The Orphanage. From the trailer you already know that the short stories are told through one main over arching story. One very uninteresting one at that. You only get five of the stories and they are rewritten to fit this film which can be forgiven if done right. They were not. Without giving to much away I'm gonna stop here.
So what did it get right? Atmosphere (although not original), visual effects, and that is all I could think of for the moment.
What it got wrong, failed to capture the true creepiness of the books, borrowed heavily from other ideas (IT & Stranger Things), jump scares, unlikable characters, pour core story, and just boring.
See it if you wish but don't go in hoping it does any justice to the books. Cause it won't.
The books need to be told as a TV series with the best short stories are told as an episode. Through a window of time where character development excites you for things to come. Not like this big screen schlock.
Bill Nye Saves the World (2017)
Ignore Most of these Negative reviews.
It appears many of the negative reviews on here are from people who do not share the same views on each topic bill addresses. They come in argumentative and attack a show they understood very little about.
First & foremost this is not the same show from when you were a kid and Bill addresses this with the first episode. Second, there is some science to the show.
This show addresses common issues that most of us are already aware of. Yet due to our political state, we must address the issues again. Some people claim the topics are dumbed down and they are because that's they only way some people will pay attention.
Personally, I enjoy the show. It's fun, informative and tries to reach people. It seems preachy to some but I feel most people don't care or listen to real issues of the world. As a fan to Bill Nye I enjoy the show. Far better than the other crap that keeps people blissfully ignorant to what's happening.
The Hollow (2015)
Please Be Quiet.
You know one day they'll find a way to write a horror movie that doesn't revolve around stupid people. I have a bad feeling about this. Nope let's do it anyway. We should stay here and survive. Nope lets go out and track down someone we know is as good as dead. Please be quiet, it'll hear us. Nope, let's keep yelling. Let's completely ignore every warning put in front of us and go blindly into danger.
No characters deserved death as much as these sisters. If that's what you could call them, I guess you can, since they were written way, I guess you have to. Please stop screaming and being as loud as possible. This just drove me crazy. they couldn't have died fast enough.
Terrible, terrible film. Watch at your own risk. Still better than the Poltergeist remake.
Poltergeist (2015)
Don't believe all these 10 star reviews.....
Who are these people who seem to have a love for this crap? Some even claim to be fans of the original. This cannot even stand on it's own merit much less as a remake of a classic film.
Polterghast 2015 is a fine example of why the classics should never be touched. This movie was emotionless, bland and very hard to make it through. Luckily it was only an hour and thirty minutes (or so). There is no build up, no character development, no storytelling. The audience is treated like children and spoon fed vital information, for example how the bodies were never relocated. You get one cliché jump scare after another. The hero roles (originally played by women) are replace by males. The family is as drab as as a Scy-Fy Channel film, and it doesn't help the acting is horrible. Wasn't sure it was just terrible writing, a poor budget or if the writers just were not fans of the original but this film fails in every way.
Avoid at all costs and if you must watch a terrible movie maybe you should just watch Sharnado 3. At least it knows where it stands on the grand scale of things.
Interstellar (2014)
Not Very Stellar
First off I am a big fan of Mr. Nolan, Anne Hathaway, and Michael Caine. I love epic Sci-Fi stories and was impressed with the 9.1 rating this film had received by IMDb users. Yet this movie is the most over-hyped schlock I have seen in years. I got burned and now I know. This will be the last time I see a film based on the IMDb user reviews and I thought the review scale for Netflix was messed up. So here is where I stand with this one.
The Good: Some good visuals, especially the journey through the wormhole. The soundtrack is nice. Love the realism of no sound in space. The A.I. of the robots was cool and one of the most entertaining aspects of all the characters.
The Bad: Poor character development. The soundtrack was very over- hyped with many reviewers on here. So were the visuals. Weak story development. Unrealistic references to science. Silly time travel plots. Predictable. Way too long. Boring! And some very cliché plot twists that you could see coming.
Mr. Nolan is a fantastic director and he had a great cast to work with here. Yet his latest two efforts (The Dark Knight Rises & Interstelar) are just lazy. Interstellar tries really hard to sound intelligent but like The Big Bang Theory (TV Show) it uses generic "dumbed down" ideas (mostly unrealistic) to fluff it's own silly story. You'd think with a great creative mind such as Nolan that he'd piece together an epic love story told through an awe inspiring space and time back drop but he doesn't. You have no real connection to the characters and could care less if they live, die, complete their mission or save humanity. The heartfelt moments are forced with no real connection to the audience. Once second Cooper is driving in his truck all teary eyed as it cuts briefly to Murph chasing after him, then bam, he is in space. What sorta connection is that? Furthermore why was so much attention focused on the daughter and not balanced with the son. Then you have some serious plot holes like, what made the Earth so doomed? I guess the assumption is we did. It tries to explain "The "Others" but when you learn who they are it just adds the plot holes. I don't wanna give too much away so I won't reveal "The Others" by revealing more plot holes, you should be able to predict it half way through the film. Also why would Mann go through such great lengths to maroon the crew on the crappy Ice Planet? I guess the writers needed another predictable twist. Then you have Tom being a d!ck for no reason other then a failed attempt to build tension.
Look I read several reviews talking about this film being Nolan's masterpiece, with great characters, beautiful and realistic space shots, and a perfect score put together by an epic heart wrenching love story. It is none of these things. Plus the comparisons to 2001 A Space Odyssey is misplaced. With so many ten star reviews I am left with the assumption that many of those come from people connected to Nolan's crew, Nolan fanboys, or the McConaughey obsessed. I would advise you to watch at your own risk. As a fan of both drama's and sci-fi this film is a poor excuse for both. More shocking is how so many people ripped Luc Besson's Lucy a "new-one" for it's misrepresentation of "5% of the brain" theory and this film with far more problems gets more praise. At least Lucy was entertaining.
My five star is for the few and far between cool visuals and the nicely used audio.
Upon looking through some of the reviews it is apparent that this film was a major hit in India. As most of the 10 star reviews are from India, which seems trolled to me.
The Purge (2013)
Not well thought out!!!!
I was excited about this film for it's originality, something truly lacking in Hollywood right now. Yet the film left me with mix feelings. The premises is that you have one night a year to give into your primal instincts and commit any crime without any persecution of any kind. Yet this film makes the ruling out as if everyone just wants to kill someone. Now maybe I missed something but I don't feel murder would be the leading crime if such an idea was ever brought to reality. Truth is thievery and rape would be the leading committed crime. And what about pedophiles, they just get one night to do what they wish without any repercussions. I guess with this concept it was easier to focuses on murder and not the more troubling crimes. Truth is murder is more common during an act of passion or for some other stupid reason. Holding out to one day a year to commit such an act is in no way feasible. The story it self is okay, not real scary and filled with moderately likable lead characters. The girl who played Zoe kept making me think of a younger Eliza Dushku. Truth is this story has so many holes it puts it in high competition for Looper for the poorest thought out script. Truth is it's just another way to make ethnic cleansing, on the poor and feeble. Yet the poor and feeble would be higher up the food chain for the crimes seeing how they would go to greater lengths from desperation to get what the wealthy and beautiful people have. hence why rape and thievery would be the top committed crimes. So a sequel is in the work and my hopes is that you have an avenging angel who kills those who try and harm the less fortunate. Yet I doubt it.