english-bill-34-910037 Reviews

Luck (I) (2022)

A feature-length Mucinex commercial

[3/10 · 6 August 2022]

The animation wasn't terrible, but can't figure out to save my life why they based some character designs off the old Mucinex commercials.

The story was pretty boring. I couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters, their challenges, or their successes.

It's a shame when so much money, energy, and talents go into a production but the end result is completely bland and unmemorable.

The Old Man: IV (2022) Season 1, Episode 4

Bad enough for me to quit the series.

[2/10 · 2 July 2022]

During the first three episodes, I thought the series was going to be one of the best of the year. This episode was so poorly conceived and written that I will not watch anymore.

Beyond the obvious reasons to hate this episode, I have a very difficult time believing that Chase was maintaining multiple identities so successfully that one of them is a multimillionaire, and that his successful company has just accepted the fact that no one has ever met him.

Like everyone else, I thought the ending was completely unbelievable. If Zoe was smart and ambitious enough to pull that off, she never would have found herself in the situation that she did with her ex-husband. She has been extremely unlikeable since her first scene.

While he might be morally obligated to get her out of the immediate harm that he had put her in, there is zero chance that Chase is dumb enough to involve her so deeply in his life on the run, much less make her his pretend wife!

Either he's brilliantly cunning or he's really stupid, he can't be both. But, that is precisely what's the writers are adding us to accept. I will not and do not.

Wrath of Man (2021)

Yawn. Warning: May cause drowsiness

[3/10 · 15 June 2021]

If you can't predict every single thing that happens in this movie, you are not very bright. There is no doubt at any point in the entire movie as to what the outcome will be.

There's nothing clever, there's no twists, it's just a very boring and predictable waste of time.

It saddens me to think of what kind of great film or television could have been produced with this budget.

The Perfection (2018)

Watched it in 30 minutes

[2/10 · 12 June 2019]

For the first 15 minutes I thought this movie was going to go somewhere interesting. Then I found myself skipping ahead minute by minute when it was obvious nothing was going to happen anytime soon. And then something really interesting would happen. And before I knew it, I was skipping ahead again, waiting for something to happen.

A few incredible plot twists later (as in, incredibly unbelievable and poorly executed), we finally arrive to the end. The final 60 seconds of this film is the most ridiculous writing I have ever seen in a movie, and I've seen Howard the Duck.

BoJack Horseman (2014–2020)

An animated show that feels more real than most live-action series.

[10/10 · 31 August 2014]

Netflix, in their continuing mission to provide premium content to their subscribers, has another hit on their hands with BoJack Horseman. I had some reservations before watching the first episode, because there hasn't been a great new animated series in several years now. But with such a great cast on board, I figured it was worth a try. So glad I did, because it ended up being the best original comedy I have seen in a while, animated or otherwise.

It does not take long at all to get wrapped up in the story of BoJack, a has-been actor known for his role as a single dad in a popular early '90s sitcom. Having not acted in the 18 years since the show was canceled, he agrees to pen a memoir in an effort to relaunch his career. When confronted with the reality of how he is perceived by others, BoJack becomes desperate for acceptance and redemption from both the public and his inner circle.

For the most part, people from normal walks of life are portrayed as humans, while the elite class like actors and their agents are portrayed as animals. It's a surprisingly effective method to humanize these characters to whom the common person does not easily relate. Will Arnett, Kristen Schaaf, Aaron Paul, and Amy Sedaris all give their characters a 3-dimensional quality that is difficult to achieve in a 2D platform like animation. It helps that it is wonderfully drawn, with many subtleties that reinforce each character's persona.

Instead of a loosely assembled pile of anecdotal stories with characters that are just given a reason to exist, all the events during each episode contribute to the progress of the plot over the course of the first season. With episodes picking up exactly where the last one left off, the show feels more like a 3-act mini series than a TV show. That said, there are plenty of crass jokes and innuendo that will satisfy viewers who are not vested in the overall story.

I am delighted that the series has been picked up for a second season and to see in what direction the story of BoJack and his inner circle takes us.