lu-50527 Reviews

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999– )

Olivia gets in the way

[9/10 · 23 March 2024]

Since Olivia Benson became in charge after Captain Cragen left things have taken a deadly turn - where situations get fatal for the special victims.

Olivia manages to insinuate herself into investigations and fudge things up so that people get killed due to her presence. Like the time she checked in on a neighbor who was being held hostage - the bad guys would have run off without money - but because a police officer was in the house at that point, the husband lay injured bleeding on the floor for hours, and the head hostage guy was killed by bullet an inch from Olivia's head.

Not to mention where she got everyone's-son Good Guy Dodds killed by Brad Garret. That was a real doozy. They went there specifically because they feared he was going to kill his wife with domestic violence and knew he owned guns and Olivia did not search him or the house, and she leaves Dodds in the house with a homicidal maniac with nothing left to lose. The amount of times I yell INCOMPETENT at the tv is getting ridiculous, but that was Just Wow!

How about when she gave the slip to her Bodyguards so she could chase after serial killer William Louis and then he held her at knife point and nearly assaulted her but framed her for his death? Oh that! She has to play the HERO and be the center of attention, otherwise it wouldnt be a Tuesday.

So many examples where her actual presence made minor situations 100% WORSE, but 0% with Cragen in charge! When did Cragen act crayzee?

Then there is the Olivia flavor - why is it all over everything? She assigns the cases, she questions the victims, the questions the perps, she discusses the cases with Barba, she raises her son, she sits in courtroom drama, she testifies, she makes things worse.... She's all over it!

Olivia is a curse and a jinx.

Soul Food (1997)

How in the heck?

[6/10 · 25 April 2023]

How in the heck do you portray Vanessa Williams, Vivica A Fox and Nia Long so unattractively? I was thinking it was impossible for one family to hit the genetic lottery with this much beauty, but these ladies' styling choices of hair, and makeup is so unflattering, they make ME look good! Is it possible the only woman in the 90's to look attractive are En Vogue and The Supermodels? For real, the 90's look were not kind to these gals, they look aged beyond their years and frumpty as dumpdty! The movie is mediocre and cliche - and i expect a whole lot more from plots. I could predict what was going to happen every step of the way, but thats ok by me. Just fix your hair better!

It's Complicated (2009)

Meryl laughs her way thru this one

[6/10 · 24 December 2022]

This movie was ok, but my review is based entirely on the way Meryl Streep laughs her way out of every line of dialogue. Who am I to disparage the good name of MS? Please. I know. But if you do a rewatch, how can you not notice? She laughs at the end of 90% of her dialogue, I'm wondering what acting technique this is from The Great? The only time she doesn't laugh is when she is in a scene when she is sombre or contrite with Adam, the architect, or sitting on the bed with her children, even then she may have snuck in a flippant petit rire, I can't keep count. This is coming from a huge Meryl Streep Fan. I found it oddly distracting, then I was bemused, then I was in denial, then I was perplexed, then I was distracted again. Oh well - a mystery of life. It's complicated, I suppose!

All About Eve (1950)

I don't like her

[5/10 · 3 October 2022]

Can't Margo just say that? And everything would be ok?

The best thing about this movie is Thelma Ritter (as usual) when she interacts with Eve. Total hilarity!

The worst thing about this movie is Anne Baxter's acting as "Eve". 80% of the dialogue is self-depreciating drivel. She constantly looks off into the distance to give her lines meaning. She speaks in low tones like she's delivering grave important news when talking about a hat. She's muted and serious and false and fake and she's "acting" the whole time - and maybe that's the point - to depict that Eve is a fake - but I can see how fake the acting is from Anne Baxter!

Eve is such an over-the-top FAKEY its hard to believe her claptrap of a performance was ever taken seriously, let alone nominated against the Divine Miss Bette...

When Eve falls on the bed and has her lady tantrum and pounds with her fists on the mattress when questioned by De Witt - this scene is so amateur and silly and just like something you would do when play acting at home with your five year-old sister, only a sasquillion times worse, that I wonder how Anne Baxter could ever show her face in Hollywood again.

PS. Thelma Ritter = the Queen of dry delivery (before Bea Arthur came on to TV screens in later years).

Frailty (2001)

Blah

[4/10 · 16 January 2022]

This movie was too long for starters.

SPOILERS:

1. Why is an FBI agent travelling ALONE with a man to see where bodies of a serial killer are buried. Doesn't sound like protocol to me.

2. We eventually see that when Daddy "touches" the demon he sees their sins. The victims are indeed vile people who have killed but they are NOT DEMONS! Serial killers are bad people but they are not vampires, other-worldy creatures, immortals, or demons. They are still people - so DERRR!

3. The modern day murders are given no screen time or explanation so who killed the people in the present time? Adam? Fenton? Who knows?? Just sloppy!

4. FBI agent gets told by Adam-person that he knows he killed his own mother - lunges at him - get overpowered by a much younger powerful man - and meets his demise. Why not wait for evidence? (There is none). Why not arrest Adam for these bodies that are buried everywhere? (It would be the arrest of the decade and nobody would question him and believe a convicted killer). But yeah - nah - Do it your way!

Too long - too many holes - couldn't wait for it to end.

And Just Like That... (2021– )

Hello Lover

[10/10 · 14 December 2021]

Yes, the gals are back. It opens with the three of them having lunch in a coffee shop, like old days, except a different coffee shop.

I noticed several particular patterns of speech that were wonderful throwbacks to their characters' distinct tones and trademarks. Their friendship was evident and pronounced. When Miranda points to her head and ask Carrie "The hair?", and Carrie responds "Fabulous", I loved it. Complete sentences are not always necessary when you really know someone and often a single word or a meaningful glance is robust communication. They've still got IT.

Yes.... there was more than one scene where Miranda is trying to be earnestly and unnecessarily politically inclusive, but ends up behaving incredibly intrusive and oblivious; and it was a cringe-fest. The viewer was embarrassed, Miranda was embarrassed, everybody was embarrassed, for her and at her. And I loved it! I love it when main characters DO NOT get it right. They are not pieces of paper - they are supposed to be human - flawed - foot in mouth - inappropriate - act like themselves - just like real people do every day, including us.

For example, when Carrie walked in on Big dying on the floor, I was thinking "Call an ambulance, you fool". But instead Carrie did what Carrie would do. She gasped and grabbed him on the floor and slipped in the water, and did not call an ambulance and kissed him and held him tightly and awkwardly. When faced with extreme situations, people react differently to other people. Maybe something told her he was on his last breath and she didn't want him to go alone, so she held on for the last moments of light as she felt memories and emotions dripping down the drain? Whatever the reason, she behaved like Carrie, not like you! Get over it people.

That's what I don't get about the HATE about this show, (from alleged fans who seems to do nothing but criticise professionally). The characters are being themselves. So Charlotte has a trout pout? So what? So do other people!

We love these characters. We shouldn't try to make them like anything else, or want to mould them into something sexier, funnier, younger, older or smarter. I love them for who they are. They are part of the glorious fictious universe of SATC that has been a helluva ride for decades and their choices, and miseries, and mistakes and successes are what made the show what it was. Keep it coming.

EDIT: I am obsessed with how much i hate this show. I will keep watching till the death! I'm all in now.

1) Is Che the only gay person in town? She's at every bar opening, every queer launch, charity auction, every public forum, she is the only one left, I'm convinced. Man! Do they like to talk, or what?? The sound of their own voice is orgasmic to their own ears. I gotta say, the kitchen scene with Miranda was something i dont ever want to see again - CRINGE! Che has TONS to say about EVERYTHING! Blah.

2) Poor Charlotte has zero storyline of her own. She's married, she's got kids and that's all they wrote. Her descent into Pollyanna-ville is annoying, and she was always my least favorite character but her prim and proper tics are not entertaining. Sad face.

3) The woke-ness I'm convinced is a satirical social commentary about everything that's wrong in this politically-incorrect, over-apologetic, terribly confused universe. Because they just CAN'T BE SERIOUS!

4) Miranda is losing her mind and getting fingered mistaking it for love. WTF? She used to be a savvy lawyer, now she is walking around farmer's markets looking out for Che, like a homing beacon. Now that's entertainment!

5) Carrie is still all about clothes, ball gowns, and herself. There is not much else to Carrie.

Hanging out till the end to see how it all ends. Annoyed that i live in a world where people get paid $1 Million per episode to create this poop.

Happy the girls are back though. Im in a love-hate relationship with, And Just Like Krap.

Gravity (2013)

Buffoon in space

[2/10 · 28 November 2021]

Sandra Bullock clumsily bumbling, hurtling, crashing, and bumping aimlessly and uncontrollably through space made me seriously consider that if there was ANY truth in this movie - which is portraying the sheer incompetence, ineptitude, and inadequacy of astronauts - that in all SERIOUSNESS i doubt that humans have ever successfully been launched into space! Ever!

If the producers think being in space is this clumsy, untrained, unprepared and without safe guards or protocols of any kind, they might have filmed it with an actual chimpanzee - that would have been more believable.

And after seeing this movie.... chimpanzees in space have all my faith!

Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Why is the mother so old?

[4/10 · 8 October 2021]

Not going to comment much on the plot. Other people have summed it up.

Some of my random thoughts on this film:

Why is the mother so old? When i watched this as a teen, there was always something fishy i could not put my finger on - it didn't sit right. Well, now i know Julia Roberts was cast at 22 years old and her 'mother' in the movie was a 69 year old actress who looked more like a great-grandmother. It was so weird, and still is. I don't think anybody else has commented on this. This is not a criticism of the acting ability - i was just too conflicted to take the mother/daughter scenario seriously - and it was intricate to the plot! A woman of 40-ish could still have been afflicted with blindness or stroke or any number of ailments that required clinical care, so i was baffled by the granny.

The love interest guy wore brown contact lens, when he has natural blue eyes. This made his eyes have no flecks of color, or resemblance to real eyes in human form - i always thought that was a strange thing.

Also, when he first approached her at night - in the garden picking apples - and creeped up on her stating they could arrive at an "arrangement" she should have whopped him in the head! That come-on lacked finesse, to say the least!

And our savvy heroine flushes her wedding ring down the toilet (presumably because she wants no reminders) and looks away without checking to see if it has actually been flushed away! But what? Why? There is a whole OCEAN next door where it could disappear, poetically, into oblivion. But, nah, yeah, the TOILET in their house is good too!

And lastly, when he takes her to school to play dress-up in drama class wardrobe pieces, just so he can get pervy and watch Julia's character undress, and he dances with her... Notice how he literally jolts her arms/body with every move he makes. He is trying to rip off her limbs and cause spiritual pain. The actor literally cannot dance to save a life, and she would have been sore and in pain after a twirl on the dancefloor with that oaf.

As for the husband, his character is sufficiently crazed and commandeering, however the relationship displayed no truth. What was the connection between the husband and wife? Their interactions were contrived. I was not riveted - it left me cold.

The Fourth Kind (2009)

Milla whispers everything

[3/10 · 30 September 2021]

Yes, I've said it! Milla basically can't speak in movies - she WHISPERS her lines in every film. This film had me so frustrated, i did not finish watching it. I thought, maybe she will get better as it goes along - but the continued whispering of Milla's voice (as usual) just got me peeved! It is distracting and annoying and i wonder how she gets hired.

Yes Day (2021)

No Day

[1/10 · 21 April 2021]

If they were my kids, I would run away from home! What compels me to write this is the pushover dad says 'No' at the end, it was so passive and uneventful. But they delved into it, and he explained to his son sometimes a Dad gotta put his foot down! Whaaaat? Where was the outraged discussion about consequences and trust, and destroying a house? Nothing, just grounding a child who is 10 and has nowhere to go except school. Dumbfoundingly impotent.

The Sinner (2017–2021)

Cora is a doormat

[1/10 · 12 June 2018]

SPOILERS

The main character is such a doormat - it is nearly unbelievable.

She does EVERYTHING her creepy sister tells/asks her to do (yes - guilt over being born perfect is a factor) and her crazy mother... being blamed for everything during her formative years, but still...! She is also extremely easily led by JD where she only questions him once near the end. Any wonder this character gets duped, used and passed around...? JD does not hold her in high regard at all, but why should he? She's a sycophant. Her sister is demanding and entirely selfish and outright weird. Their little sex exchange on the single bed... Phoebe wanted to know what it was like, but really Cora wanted to say NO but went ahead anyway and did what she did.

It's very difficult to 'like' a character with no spine, and yes, due to her unique disturbing upbringing, Cora is understandably awkward. But as a character, right from the start, she is also introverted and is silent when others speak. It makes it hard to like her. The mother is psychotic and damaging, very hard to like her. The sister is manipulative and shifty, very hard to like her. Three of the main characters and very little to like. You get the drift...

The timing is also a factor - get ready for things to move at a glacial pace!!! I'm on episode 7 and just finding things out from the beginning. Ok, draw me in... but YAWN.