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wendyjo-91826
Reviews
Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (2024)
Nostalgia, lack of footage, boredom, and narcissism
I was very excited when I saw this four part series about one of my favorite bands. I've been listening to Bon Jovi since high school (mid-late 80s), and couldn't wait to learn about their early days and see the behind the scenes stuff that you never get to see.
The first episode was decent. It gave us a little bit of background on the start of Bon Jovi, how they had some struggles making it big at first, and I really appreciated a glance at the old days in New Jersey. It gave us a bit of a teaser about the health struggles Jon has endured with his voice in the last few years.
However, as I moved into episode 2, I found myself getting a little bit ... bored almost? I really appreciated the commentary by Bruce Springsteen, but I was really hoping for a bit more behind the scenes from their concert tours. They've been around for 40 years, they've made about a million songs, I was really hoping for some more raw footage from their days on tour. Especially when I found out how they toured pretty much non-stop for the first few years, concert footage was definitely lacking. Still I tuned in for the last 2 episodes.
But the third episode is where my rating moves from 6 to 4. Everything had become very repetitive and uninspiring. I had to keep reminding myself that I still had another episode to bear...maybe by episode 4, it would improve?
Nope, because that's when the narcissism really kicked in and became a blinding migraine. When you say "I don't have a messiah complex", you are pretty much saying that you do - in fact - have a messiah complex.
And then there's the issue with his voice. I get that Jon Bon Jovi has made his living using his voice, and it's still pretty much his livelihood. But you've had 40 good years!! Stop feeling sorry for yourself on camera, deal with whatever emotional demons you're dealing with off camera, and then go out and do some philanthropy. Instead Jon makes it look like he's got the hardest life imaginable, simply because he can't sing 100% anymore (or 80% of 100%...). Jon, it's time to just say "thank you and good night."
Clock (2023)
Women's rights, holocaust survivors, or psychological thriller? You decide.
Was this a movie highlighting the pressure women feel to have a baby? Was it a movie about Holocaust victims? Was this movie a psychological horror about a childless doctor trying to get all women pregnant so she can live vicariously through them? Or was this two hours of my life that I can't get back? You can answer yourself, but here's my take:
As other reviewers say, this movie had a lot of good potential. El, a successful, married woman nearing 38 doesn't want children, but all of her friends have kids and so she feels societal pressure to want the same things. Her father, the son of a holocaust survivor also pours on the guilt because our heroine is the last in that family line. El has some inner demons which are never fully investigated or clarified. But for some reason the director wants us to believe she is somehow "scarred" by her family history of the holocaust. Mind you, her Jewishness is not a part of her life at all, yet she often talks about how "we" were treated in the Holocaust. The holocaust was beyond horrible, but are we supposed to believe this is her reason for not wanting children? Seems like a weak connection, but ok, I'll go with it....
So then the movie switches gears and drives is right to a creepy "modern" asylum-like research facility that is - of course - in the middle of nowhere. So now, you're thinking "oooh, this is where the doctor is going to perform some weird therapy"...so this movie must be a psychological horror. Cool, I'm totally on board with that because the film is listed as...Horror! The doctor in charge of the trial is convinced that all women want to have babies, but maybe their brain chemicals need some tweaking. Ok, because said doctor lives in this facility, and it seems likely that she never had children. So this doctor's "I'm gonna pump you full of hormones and hallucinogens" approach seems worthwhile. El has some strange side effects while at the clinic, but does see it through until the end...(and by the way, did I mention that her mom died of breast cancer at an early age? No doctor in their right mind would give a direct descendant HORMONES, which are usually what breast cancer thrives on. But I digress...)
Even when El leaves the facility, the horror keeps happening. And although El is acting SUPER STRANGELY, none of her friends seem to really notice, care, or show support. But, hey, it's a Hulu movie so I'll keep watching....
But then...it just all falls apart.
Her husband is in on it, El drives back to the clinic to "stand up" for a woman's right not to want babies, and starts to appeal to the women at the clinic that "it's not real". Yes, everyone in the trial is just hallucinating and none of them really want a baby ...ugh. Then - plot twist - earlier in the movie when El went and hammered the only remaining heirloom to survive the holocaust, it turns out she actually killed and disemboweled her father. The cops show up, there's a little car chase, and El plunges to her death off of a cliff, only to awaken unscathed and see a fish crawling out of the sea..... No. I did not make that up.
Some reviewers talk about the symbolism of the walking fish and El's father's insistence on her having children. But I realized then and there that the last two hours of my life were simply two hours ill-spent.
If you watched this movie, what do you think?