Change Your Image
nsadocnyc
Reviews
The Buccaneers (2023)
Simply Atrocious.
The series, a modern bastardization of Edith Whartons final novel will leave the viewer in utter disbelief. For a novel showing the distinction between American and London socialites, the class system and the place of women within that caste, this show slaps Edith Wharton in the face.
It is a severely disappointing and unsuccessful attempt at copying Bridgerton, Queen Charolette, and The Gilded Age.
While those three latter period pieces have a modernization inherent they are true enough to the period to allow the viewer to suspend disbelief and be carried into the stories.
This remake by AppleTV+ has none of the wit, character development, charm, or dimensionality of those shows that it is obviously attempting to, and failing at copying.
It is a sad state of affairs when a show that takes place in 1870 is rewritten so that viewers are not offended. For Nan, an underaged, teen girl to have spoken so brashly and impolitely to an elder upper class man at the Queen's debutant debut would have been the scandal of the entire London Season and suffered her chances at finding a husband when it would become her turn to debut. Somehow the writers seem to think that we, the viewers, would say 'good for you Nan!'. Instead it destroyed the believability of the entire show. For even though Nan and her constantly shrieking friends are Americans, they were raised in NY society, where there was still decorum and a sense of propriety.
Skip this show.
AppleTV+ DO BETTER.
Drag Me to Dinner (2023)
Drag me to hell...it will be less painful!
The premise of Drag me to Dinner was intriguing, has some of the best drag artists performing it, stars Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Bianca del Rio. All of that can and should magically add up to a stellar show, advancing the art of drag and comedy.
Then the first episode began and it all went to hell very quickly.
The show's premise is a farce, the acting from the queens and from NPH and fellow judges was pedantic at best, and the editing was abysmal.
NPH whom I have loved and followed since Doogie Howser, MD up through Hedwig, and ASOUE knows how to be an incredible comic actor; and yet here he feels awkward, uncomfortable and out of place. You know something horrific must be happening if Bianca del Rio keeps her mouth shut, which she does for most of every episode.
The show jumps and cuts back and forth so much it felt like some one was doing cocaine in a blender while editing this dreck. The viewer has no idea what to focus upon, nor do we have any empathy for the teams "competing". The production value is sophomoric at best.
Everything is overtly forced, overacted and manipulative.
Why do you have to make a mockery out of hard working drag artists? Why not make it as the title promised? A group of drag artists hosting a fabulous dinner party with help from friends all to show the world that the queer community is not a joke.
After the second episode I couldn't stomach anymore.
The Consultant (2023)
A lot of Marketing Hype for a complete disappointment
There was a lot of marketing hype put into selling this dreck to audiences.
The show starts out with a surprise act that would compel you into watching to find out what happened and why it happened. Christoph Waltz who made a name for himself in Inglorious Bastards and was brilliant in that is just recycling what he did in that movie only with more fatigue.
This series has so many situations completely out of touch with reality that it makes the suspension of disbelief impossible. There are too many unknowns in one episode, that over the course of the series are just dropped and never picked up again. Did they forget to film several pages each episode?
After the act in episode 1 and, the unknown to anyone, Consultant waltzing in to takeover, why doesn't anyone question it, or why has no one contacted the police or FBI--anything to give it a touchstone to reality? They just all go along with it?
In one episode characters are against the Consultant and in the next they act as best friends. HUH?
The only character who seems real, and not a 2-D cardboard cutout, is Craig, played by Nat Wolff. He is the ONLY one who seems to have an emotional arc and relatable in any way. And Nat's portrayal of such is great. His counterpart Elaine, played by Brittany O'Grady is purely beige and uninspiring.
This show is so poorly written and produced that by the end of the series I was so angry to have wasted so much time on garbage.
Boyhood (2014)
Worst Film of the Year
Just because this movie's gimmick was that it was filmed over 12 consecutive years, so you witness the kids growing up, does not make this a fantastic movie.
The script was awful and went no where. It was nothing but a series of boring, unending vignettes strung together to try and tell a story. Which it failed to do.
The characters are one-dimensional, uninspiring, bland, and apathetic. What child, when given a birthday gift--teenager or otherwise--has no reaction, as if he/she is in a permanent brain-dead coma?! How is that 'just like real life' ? Those raving about this movie are just those trying to jump on the bandwagon of the Emperor's New Clothes. Well, (spoiler alert) the Emperor is NAKED! They are saying 'it is just like real life.' I don't know anyone who acts like what was portrayed in real life. No one (outside of Patricia Arqette's one outburst) reacts with any kind of emotion, passion, or pathos.
I have had more entertaining experiences getting pat-downs from TSA at airport security. Don't waste your money. Don't waste your time. If you want to see a movie about kids growing up, filmed over several years watch the Harry Potter series. At the very least you will be entertained.