samkaysam Reviews

The Master (2012)

Not as good as it could have been.

[4/10 · 29 July 2022]

Phillip Seymour H is good and charismatic in this. Joaquin Phoenix does his "I am acting now, nominate me" bit. It's about a Ron L Hubbard type cult leader and a PTSD afflicted ex-navy guy. And their quest to find some mutual meaning and absolution in life .. Or something.

It does go on and takes liberties with narrative structure, presentation and all such things.

The Good Place (2016–2020)

Nice show feel good show.....

[8/10 · 8 October 2021]

Great show. Great characters. Bummer ending. I mean this is an escapist fantasy show about the afterlife, then lthey end their lifes? Sacre bleu! Part of my enjoyment and experience watching the show was the warm fuzzy glow of this beautiful eternal world filled with quirky funny characters. Searching for blissful eternal life. That was a major part of the feel good charm for me. So the end was like a gut punch. Other show can deal with the eternal void.

Anyway, recommend the show overall. It's pretty good.

American Sniper (2014)

Exactly what it says in the title

[5/10 · 19 February 2015]

Well...exactly what it says in the title. A very skilled sharpshooter,perched somewhere out of site, picking off one by one, those whose brutal ex-leader "had" WMDs. Not really much of a story. I'm sitting here trying to recall dramatic moments from the movie that stand out, but cannot. Understandable, since this is so recent, it's still playing right in front of our screen, and therefore cannot be embellished much.

Only, seeing the troops running around Iraqi villages, house to house, terrifying and being terrified by the locals, brought home the sheer futility of their mission. It's clear both sides regards the others as the bad guys, in very sharp contrasts. And when you think about it, in this scenario, if I'm the judge, I gotta rule in favor of the locals. Heart breaking to see what these young men had to go through, since it was never their fault.

Skyfall (2012)

Emo Bond no fun

[2/10 · 19 February 2015]

I thought the first Daniel Craig movie, Casino Royale was a decent step in the right direction after the ridiculous Pierce Brosnan period where Bond was in full on self aware parody mode. But after QoS and now this, this Bond has veered too much to the other direction. Look, if you don't like Bond, then don't be making Bond movies. There's plenty of other scripts out there.

This Emo Bond and his ridiculous blond villain with his lame mama issues plot and his hipster Q who hates gadgets and his henpecking M and his home alone Scottish hideaway, enough. Go away already. Even his dour facesake , Vladimir the Putin seems to be having more fun than this emotionally wrenched soul.

Please bring back the dashing, fun loving agent we all fell in love with. And the rifle opening.

Argo (2012)

"Hostages" safe once they got to Canadian embassy, right at the start.

[4/10 · 2 February 2015]

This what bugs me most about the movie, imho never regarded the would- be hostages as being in any danger, once they escaped the storming of the American embassy into the warm bosom of the friendly Canadian embassy. And this happened right at the beginning of the movie. Really, just create "fake" genuine Canadian passports, fly them in, fly the people out. Just regular civil service efficiency.

Also: 1. Iranians completely oblivious to existence of these people. There was no point person in Iran to even worry about existence of these potential hostages. 2. Iranians busy consolidating revolution. Therefore no time for these low value targets. The symbolic act of storming embassy and taking hostages was already done. What value was six more? 3. Fake movie idea was nonsensical. I still wonder why they thought anyone in Iran would care, or even give credence to it, and the execution of it was just way too contrived. But you the impression it's why the movie won the Oscar. Hollywood celebrating itself.

I give for 4 cos I love any recreation of a historical time and place and mood that looks "authentic" to my eyes, even if it might not necessarily be.

Obsessed (2009)

Hamburger, but with only the two buns.

[3/10 · 4 September 2013]

Others have already expanded on the films shortcomings, so I will restrict my observations to one aspect.

This movie really is much ado about nothing. The pivotal event that's supposed to be the meat and bones of this movie never happens, presumably because Miss Perfect, that's Mrs JayZ for you, could not bear/refuses to be cheated on. Not even in a movie, a thriller to be precise. Not even one about an office affair/one night stand gone wrong! Talk about ego. The omission of this crucial event robs the story of whatever suspense, motivation or drama potential. Really, everything else that follows is nonsensical stupidity since there is no there there.

Long story short, Big Mac, but without the patty.

Furious 6 (2013)

Insulting to one's intelligence, CGI action lame!

[1/10 · 19 August 2013]

There's a lot of things I can say about this, none of them complimentary, but who has the time? Instead I will restrict myself to a few questions I hope someone may answer, so I can maybe have a better appreciation for this mess.

1. Is an army commander allowed to give orders that put the lives of entire nations at risk in order to save his own skin, such as happened when whatever-his-rank-was had a gun to his head by Hobbs, so as to let the bad guy go, so as to possibly save the spouses of those two guys who can't act? Not to mention the troops heavily outnumbering our so-called heroes plus the bad guy. 2. Once he was let go (the baddie at the army base scene), why did they immediately try to recapture him. I mean they had him, then let him go, then immediately tried to recapture him without there being any change in the situation as far as they knew. Did I miss a key detail somewhere there? 3. If a properly forewarned army base is not able to defend itself against a bunch of thieves, what's the point of having such a base? Couldn't they call reinforcements just in case? 4. Why send the worlds most dangerous chip out with the world's most smallest convoy? 5. Why did the baddie put up with such a flaming red security risk in the person of Toretto's presumed-dead-but-alive girlfriend Letty? Why not put a bullet through her head soon as Toretto starts pitching up? Why believe in amnesia? It's not like you can see it. 6. On a related note, the Letty character was actually a genuine baddie. Why was it assumed that we sympathized with her?

There's so many other questions but honestly I don't have the energy.