Change Your Image
rjd-40718
Reviews
The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023)
The one "miss" in an otherwise solid series
Overall I enjoyed The Last of Us. Wouldnt say its in my Top 10 series of all time, but it was worthy of my time and I give the overall series 8 stars out of 10. And I say that as someone who was not familiar with the video game.
This episode however is far and away the weakest of the series. Now before I get to negative, there were a couple of interesting tidbits: We see where Joel gets his truck. We see a couple chilling flashbacks to and reminders of the initial outbreak. We also see raiders (who are ominously hinted at elsewhere in the show) appear on screen for the first and only time this season. But overall it slowed the pace of the series and you could almost skip it without missing anythng important. They could have spent a lot less time on Frank and Bill's boring love story and a lot more time on things like Joels trading network, Frank's journey from Baltimore to falling into Bills trap, and maybe even some of the backstory of that group of raiders (similar to how the cannibals in colorado are presented later in the series). And they could have done this by making Bill and Franks relationship more subtle like Joel and Tess, who obviously had something going on.
Anyways, I didnt like this episode but it was the exception, not the rule. Critics who fawned over the episode are either brainwashed or cowards who are terrified of the PC mob. But dont let this discourage you from watching the rest of the series, which is solid.
Billions (2016)
Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic...then it goes downhill.
Season 1 and 2 were absolutely fantastic. Bobby Vs Chuck with great supporting characters on both sides (my favorite being Wags). The show was full of intriguing political and Wall Street drama all over the place. You could tell the writers were a bit left of center, but for these two seasons (which were shot before the 2016 election) I thought that on the whole they did a good job of keeping the political slant in the dialogue pretty balanced. 9 stars out 10.
Then Taylor (along with the writers' very bizarre obsession with pronouns) was shoehorned into the show towards the end of season 2. At the start of season 3 Taylor became a main character and things went downhill. Asia Kate Dillon is a mediocre actress who gets way too much screen time. On top of that the storylines in seasons 3 and 4 have not been as good and the writing has become lazy. Additionally - and this is actually kind of funny - Its also become clear from the dialogue that the writers are frothing at the mouth with white hot, seething rage over the failure of their preferred candidate in the 2016 election (LOL). Axe and Chuck (and Wendy and Wags and Dollar Bill and Charles Sr) still have their moments, which is why I give seasons 3 and 4 two stars instead of zero.
Overall that averages out to 4.5 stars out of 10 (rounded up to 5 here instead of down to 4 out of respect for how good the first two seasons were).
The Affair (2014)
Season 5 is a sad, slow death for an otherwise good series
I would give The Affair 6 stars out of 10 and here is how I arrived at my rating: Seasons 1 & 2 were very good - 8 stars out of 10. Seasons 3 and 4 had some issues and were not quite as good, but overall watching the show was still worth my time. Those seasons get 7 stars out of 10.
Season 5 however is an absolute train wreck which I give 0 stars out of 10 to. Joanie is such an unsympathetic, unlikable, whiny, self righteous narcissist that she overshadows every other character and every other storyline that is waiting to be tied up. In the span of 6 episodes Joanie has almost surpassed Noah as the most loathsome character in the main cast, and that is saying something considering a.) how stupidly and selfishly Noah has acted throughout the series and b.) the fact that Joanie got 5 minutes or less of screen time in 5 of those episodes. Combine that with the nonsensical "We are all going to die because of global warming" storyline which the NPC hack writers have shoehorned into the plot (at the expense time that could have been spent on flashback sequences where we could have gotten to know Joanie as a younger woman and maybe developed some sympathy for her) and you have a complete dumpster fire. Joanie's unhinged rant at her husband in Episode 6 ('I've been cheating on you and I am a terrible mother but it's your fault because of climate change and the patriarchy and stuff!') could easily be replaced with stock footage of Fonzie jumping the shark.
I'm still curious as to how Helen ends up, to learn more about Cole's later years, and to see whether Ben is ever be held accountable. I've invested enough time that I want to see how things conclude, and there is always a chance that things will improve as the show wraps up in a few weeks, so I'll see things through. But man this season is a disaster so far.
High Noon (2018)
Bomani Jones: The dumbest man on television
Bomani Jones has failed at everything he's ever done at ESPN yet somehow remains employed. This show is another monument to John Skipper's legacy of failure. It's already been cut from an hour to a half hour and needs to be put out of it's misery and cancelled.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
An unmitigated disaster
Congratulations to Rian Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy, and Bob Iger. You have all dumped gasoline on one of the most beloved saga's in the history of film and set it ablaze. Here are some thoughts and questions from 150 of the longest minutes of my life:
1.) Poe's prank call to Hux, Luke milking a space cow, Snoke admonishing Kylo on his ridiculous mask - play them one after the other and you have a robot chicken montage.
2.) the purple haired admiral surpassed Jar Jar Binks as the most annoying and pointless character in the entire saga (no small feat)
3.) Princess Lea flying through space? *palm to forehead*
4.) Space Vegas: What the hell was the point of Benecio's character? or Finn and Rose's mission? or releasing those horse creatures? ug.
5.) Yoda is cool with destroying the last remnants of the Jedi movement he spent hundreds of years defending? Yeah, ok.
6.) So much for learning more about Snoke's backstory. What a waste of screen time on a character that had the potential to be interesting. Instead he turns out to be a poorly written, poor man's Palpatine with a half assed character arc.
7.) Rey's wooden acting continues to make Hayden Christensen look like an Oscar winner.
8.) I really feel bad for Chewbacca. At least Han, Leia, Luke and Admiral Ackbar have been put out of their misery. Poor Chewey has to suffer through another movie.
Critics giving this movie positive reviews are just mindless NPC hacks. Rian Johnson & Kathleen Kennedy can whine and call fans misogynists all they want, the fact is they re just not very good at their jobs. They both should be fired and run out of town on a rail for this disaster, but Bob Iger probably gave them big raises. I really wish negative stars were an option, but I'll settle for one star.
Get Up! (2018)
What the hell was going on in John Skipper's head?
Both Get Up! and the SC6 catastrophe are monuments to failed, disgraced former ESPN president John Skipper's 'cocaine fueled rampage of destruction' (footnote clay travis). Skipper blew up Mike & Mike and paid whiny, talent-less hack Michelle Beadle $5 million a year (!) to put together this absolute dumpster fire of a show. Oh and ESPN also spent tens of millions of dollars on the new studio. And when he got fired - er, "resigned" - he actually said with a straight face that his cocaine addiction didn't effect his decision making at ESPN? riiiiiight.
Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (2017)
absolutly awful
The Leather Special was a waste of 57 minutes of my life that I will never get back. Awful, absolutely awful. Amy Schumer is as funny as a dead baby. 2.8 stars is way to high for this dumpster fire of a performance.