Change Your Image
dbking-45398
Reviews
Nintendo Quest (2015)
A WINNER IS YOU
I suppose I'm of a similar age to the protagonist in this movie and his friends, and I've got to say that even after all these years, seeing those grey NES cartridges getting stacked, sorted, and lined up gives me tingles. I can't help it! I still have my own personal collection from childhood stored away (all seven games I collected between birthdays and Christmases).
The movie's a fun little romp, filled with neat tidbits about classic NES games and a cool look at some independent game stores across Canada and the US.
One omission that seemed strange to me was that the filmmakers largely left out any details regarding money, both in terms of Jay's overall budget and how much he ended up paying for the majority of the games. Ostensibly, this was to keep the story focused on "the pursuit," but without key details, I found myself beginning to lose interest since it was never quite clear what was at stake.
But it was all worth it for the segment with Todd Rogers. In particular, the scene where he points out to Jay all the games he cheated on... er I mean, has the high score on. Hilarious!
Flip or Flop (2013)
It's OK for Background Noise
I'm a sucker for any of these home improvement shows and it's easy to have on in the background, which is probably why it's always playing at the dentist's office. That being said, after really watching this show up close a few times I've caught onto things.
So first let's be honest. Neither Tarek or Christina really come across as talented people. I'm sure they were both perfectly good real estate agents in their previous careers, but essentially every episode of this show is the same. They buy a dilapidated house, their contractors come on-site to fix it for them, some crisis arises that rocks them to the core and makes them question their investment, but in the end they still walk away with a big healthy profit.
So in almost every episode they make a profit. OK, that's wonderful and all, but neither of them actually do anything or add anything insightful. Christina is there to hold the cell phone while Tarek speaks (they can afford an $80,000 Cadillac, but not a cell phone mount?) and her contributions to each house are basically as follows:
1. Let's make the kitchen bigger 2. Let's make the master bathroom bigger and put in subway tile 3. Let's paint the front door a bold color for "curb appeal" 4. Let's add subway tile for the kitchen back-splash
Wow, what would they ever do without her. She's also pregnant for at least half the episodes so she quickly excuses herself from the job site as soon as any real work needs to be performed. The shows are so formulaic that Tarek even makes the same joke each time, "Hey now I get to design the house by myself!" And all the viewers must be wondering, "OK. Why not?"
But I don't mean to just pick on Christina. Tarek is an idiot too. He's actually on-site and seems to be available in person or by phone to make decisions when needed, but this guy never has a clue what he's talking about. If it wasn't for the backing of their mysterious investors and HGTV, these two wouldn't be able to run a successful lemonade stand, let alone a real estate business.
And here's the deal. The producers obviously ran the show for test audiences and realized that despite their pretty looks, Christina and Tarek are really lacking in personality. So now they run a "family moment" at the beginning of each show which usually means we get to see a staged scene of them hanging out at home with their daughter. It could have worked, but 20 seconds later they cart their kid off to Christina's mother's house where I can only assume she spends most of her time. I mean, we never see her otherwise and I doubt that Christina is taking her along on her many shopping trips and visits to the salon (seriously, I've never seen this woman wear the same thing twice).
I give this show 4 stars of 10 because despite all of its problems, it's still nice to have on in the background. It requires very low attention from the viewer, which is perfect in this modern age with all our distractions from smart phones and other stimuli. The contractors they hire are clearly talented people, but if HGTV genuinely wants to improve the show, I would suggest cutting Tarek and Christina and finding a different team of flippers who know a little about construction and DIY work. Given what I've seen, I'm not sure that the two of them are even capable of changing a light bulb.