mdking-49244 Reviews

Career Opportunities (1991)

Last twenty minutes ruins the film

[5/10 · 16 July 2023]

Ok, so it's not as good as John Hughes' other films but this had potential.

In fact, up until the last twenty minutes when the two crooks/killers turn up this is quite an enjoyable, if somewhat daft, little comedy.

It feels a lot like Mannequin in the set up and it could have had a really sweet ending where Josie has to go home with her abusive father, only for Jim to sweep in and rescue her and take her to California etc.

But instead we end up with a ludicrous final act where the two crooks somehow get in to Target despite it being locked up, get conned by Jim in to handing their guns over, only for him to hand them back, Josie teasing the crooks by riding on a kids rocking horse before stealing their car and Jim immobilising the crooks with a double barrelled shotgun that fires about 8 shots without reloading!!! There's also a whole segment involving Jim's father that seems like it was working towards a "I'm sorry for being so hard on you son" moment, that never gets resolved.

It feels like those last 20 minutes were written by someone else who hadn't watched the first two acts.

Both Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly were doing a decent job of selling the "loser gets the hot girl" premise and it's such a shame that the film played out in the way it did.

Fringe: The Same Old Story (2008) Season 1, Episode 2

Why is this rated so highly?

[2/10 · 5 January 2023]

Having watched the pilot the night before and been non plus about the whole thing I thought I'd try episode 2 to see if it could generate a spark of interest, and quite honestly I won't be going beyond that. What an utterly preposterous plot. I'm totally shocked at all the good reviews for this garbage. The guy who plays Walter is so bad, how on earth did he get the part? Talk about putting you to sleep with his monotone voice. And the two other older characters are almost as bad. The FBI boss couldn't act his way out of a paper bag and the obvious corporate "bad guy" has no redeeming features so far. All three of them were grating on me by the time the episode was half way in. The only reason this episode doesn't get 1 star is because I liked the other two lead actors, but that's about the only positive in an otherwise terrible show!

Fringe: Pilot (2008) Season 1, Episode 1

I'm not sure how I feel about this!

[5/10 · 4 January 2023]

I've had the complete Fringe blu ray box set sitting unopened on a shelf for 5 years and finally decided to give the pilot a watch and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, which is unusual because most things for me are pretty cut and dry. I liked the story and what I think will be the premise of the show and I liked the actors and most of their characters but there was something not quite right that I couldn't put my finger on until I read another review on IMDb. Some of the plot points are so utterly ludicrous that it made what could have been an excellent pilot episode in to a mediocre one at best. And (spoiler alert), "killing" the character they spent the whole episode trying to save at the end of the episode made it all seem completely pointless. It all seemed a bit rushed and forced. I will carry on with the next few episodes and see if it gets better but at this rate I be can't see me managing all 100 episodes, but maybe time will tell!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

This is supposed to be a comedy?

[5/10 · 12 June 2022]

Don't get me wrong, I watched this film and I quite enjoyed it. The performances of all 4 main characters and very good and it was a reasonable way to spend 90 minutes of my time. But how it can be described as a comedy I have no idea. I didn't laugh once, not even a smirk or a chuckle so I'm rating it based on that premise because as a drama I'd have probably given it a 7 or 8.

Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020 Video)

Predictable!

[4/10 · 30 April 2022]

11 characters, 8 men, 3 women. Guess which 3 survive at the end? The story was ok, the acting very bad and CGI average at best. One good "jump scare" though. Overall avoid (although it's marginally better than Deep Blue Sea 2)

Ghost Whisperer: Pilot (2005) Season 1, Episode 1

One of my favourite Pilot episodes ever

[8/10 · 22 December 2021]

I've watched the Pilot episode of Ghost Whisperer a half a dozen times because I just really love the way the series starts. It introduces Melinda and Jim as a newlywed couple really well, has a couple of scary moments and gives us enough information about Melinda's powers to instantly buy in to them. Maybe I'll try and re-watch some of the other episodes again now.

Daybreak: Post Mates (2019) Season 1, Episode 8

Just listen to what Sam says

[9/10 · 13 October 2021]

I was watching this episode getting really annoyed at BOTH Josh and Sam's behaviour and then Sam said one line in the swimming pool that made me realise why, regardless of what other people are putting in their reviews, that they're still worth rooting for.....

Thunderball (1965)

Continuity Department

[2/10 · 11 October 2021]

Worst 007 movie in my opinion. Shockingly bad cast (Sean Connery notwithstanding) with really bad acting, a stupid plot and a really rubbish villain! There is a credit at the beginning of the film for someone working in the Continuity Department. I hope they weren't paid a lot because there are plot holes galore!

Loki (2021–2023)

Complete and utter garbage

[1/10 · 26 July 2021]

Who on earth at Disney authorised this? And who on earth is giving it 10/10.

Worst thing the MCU has released, a snore fest of the highest order and a complete waste of the best villain in the MCU and the best actor in the MCU. And all to set up a storyline that everyone knows is coming anyway.

Avoid at all costs.

Get Smart (2008)

Why is Steve Carell considered to be funny?

[1/10 · 6 July 2020]

Based on the reviews and the fact that I have seen a fair few "funny" spy films recently I gave this a watch on Netflix with reasonable hopes I would be entertained. I was not! It's fair to say that this is one of the two worst comedies I have ever seen. (The other being The Boss starting the talentless Melissa McCarthy). Even Police Academy: Mission To Moscow is funnier than this! Why people consider Steve Carell funny I will never know? There was genuinely only one funny moment in the whole film and that was right at the beginning. Complete waste of an hour and 45 minutes of my life!

Game of Thrones: The Long Night (2019) Season 8, Episode 3

Awful

[1/10 · 29 April 2019]

With the exception of season 5 I've enjoyed Game Of Thrones but this episode was so boring, and really poorly lit that I couldn't wait for it to end. I've no idea what the battle scenes were really like because I could hardly see anything that was going on, the storytelling made no sense and the music was so dull it just dragged the episode down even further in to a complete snorefest. The whole episode could have been done in about 15 minutes. And at the end of it we get a character who has been built up for 7 seasons killed off in Tje blink of an eye without ever finding out what his motivations were. Utter and total garbage!

The Boss (2016)

Awful, just truly awful!

[1/10 · 8 September 2018]

This may very well be the worst film I have ever seen. Melissa McCarthy just isn't funny. Avoid at all costs!!!

Star Wars: Rebels: The Call (2016) Season 2, Episode 15

Oh dear!

[24 July 2017]

I've been a late starter to Rebels, I've only just gotten in to it this last month (July 2017) by binge watching it, and until now I've really enjoyed it, but this episode really lets the side down. It's totally unrealistic and Bill Wolkoff (who wrote the episode) needs to hang up his sci fi writing boots and go and hang his head in shame somewhere.

Spoiler...

Space Whales who can jump in hyperspace, and Ezra can survive in space riding one of them without a space suit, really? Utterly shocking, avoid at all costs!!!