Another wickedly weird day in Riverdale. So this episode raised new questions for me... Is Chic alive? I mean, Betty threw a kitchen knife at him but all we hear is that Charles and Glen are going to be okay. I can't even begin to explain how I watched the whole 'pincushion Man scene... it was a whole new level of crazy even by Riverdale standards. It went from wedding to extending the family trauma in 0,3 seconds. Next question: Why would Tabitha leave Jughead chained to a desk in a bunker full of candles ALONE? Next up: Did Veronica actually think Chad was going to let her go just like that? The guy is a literal copy of her father in terms of shadiness, hello daddy issues. And lastly, did Penelope, Cheryl and Nana really want to sacrifice Minerva and did they actually just pray for WIND?
I can't wait to see what kind of craziness comes next. I solely watch this show as an escape to reality nowadays... thinking 'well, we might have a global pandemic but at least we don't have a massive prison escape orchestrated by the town mobster/ex-mayor that causes my serial killer brother plus his fiancé to come to my doorstep to get wed and lowkey also play a very murderous game in front of children'.
WHYYYYY why why why why did they have to bring Archie and Veronica back together. Most bland, chemistry-devoid, toxic relationship on this show. Archie's relationship with Betty felt so much more natural. Archie and Veronica could both date outside the friend group, could they not? Can Veronica not have a spicy relationship with a new character? Someone she has actual chemistry with? Can Archie and Betty find people outside their circle? Can the writers not let Betty and Archie's exciting romance last because they're too uncreative to write Archie with anyone but Veronica? Why does everything always have to be between these four? And why does it always have to return to Archie and Veronica? Why can't they let the old boring relationships die? Shoot me. These writers suck
Anyway besides that, Jughead going crazy is a hilariously bad storyline. Kevin and Fangs' relationship has no stakes in it, because they barely get any screen time, so anything dramatic that happens between them isn't really impactful or affecting. Cheryl continues to be awful and vindictive and entitled and manipulative and she reeks of "peaked in high school and can't get over it". And she's so weird man. The party shit was so contrived and so strange and so obviously driven by some ulterior motive and everyone was just okay with it?
Really didn't enjoy this one.
This was, without a doubt, the best episode of season four and one of Riverdale's best of all time. It was incredibly coherent, well-written, and gripping, and all of the pieces from previous episodes came together to form a perfect puzzle.
I am very impressed that the writers managed to keep track of all of their flash-forwards and clues, and deliver such a coherent and satisfying endgame. The writers clearly planned this all far ahead, giving us clues about the Stonewall Four, the Baxter Brothers franchise being stolen from Forsythe, Chipping's murder, and the terrifying Halloween night prank, right from the very beginning.
So many jaw-dropping moments and so many unexpected twists here. There was not a single dull moment in this packed episode. It also played like a season finale, complete with full-circle resolution-- ending the episode back in Pop's, toasting to a normal rest of senior year, bringing us right back to when the madness began.
This was truly phenomenal. Though season four suffered from a tonal rut in the first half, it quickly got itself together in the second half to deliver one of its best plots. It was clear from the beginning that the writers had something great up their sleeve with the Stonewall Prep storyline, even when the other plots were starting to flounder.
This, though, exceeded all expectations.
This episode is just 45 minutes of people doing shitty things and avoiding consequences and not learning anything. Is Cheryl taking back the Vixens supposed to be a sassy slay queen girlboss moment? Because she really doesn't deserve them back. Her place was taken by an appointed coach after she missed a billion school days/practices without informing her cheerleaders because she was busy talking to the dead corpse of her brother and thinking her house was haunted. And being made to seem like a lovable little vulnerable sweetheart because of it. And vilifying the family members who wanted to get psychiatric help for the woman who was TALKING TO A CORPSE. She can't fathom that her absence necessitated a replacement, that's so unfair to her. So she locks her replacement in a room and takes over. Most infuriating thing I've ever watched. No consequences will ever fall on Cheryl, she can just do whatever shitty thing she wants and the story will treat it as some kind of empowering moment.
Archie's uncle is the same god damn way. He gives Mad Dog the drugs, and Mad Dog takes them, and Archie is rightfully angry. But then Archie's uncle gives some bullshit speech about "Mad Dog can make his own decisions" and Archie goes oh my god he's my uncle he's family what was I thinking I miss my dad and he forgives him for selling his friend drugs that put his health at risk. Jesus Christ every time Archie is poised to take a step forward he just cries about his dad and reverts to forgiving everyone and clinging to literally everything that has his dad's name on it, no matter how bad it is for him. His uncle has been a consistently shitty person so far, and Archie's mom has told him that Frank is a shitty person, and Archie forgives literally everything he does, and the story acts like that's the right thing for him to do.
Really frustrating episode to watch. Fuck all these characters I hate them.
[8.5/10] Well hell, they got me good on the twists here. I suspected that the ostensibly helpful orderly had his own agenda, and that when he talked about Number One he might have been talking about himself. But there’s a whole mess of things that I did not guess, including:
That's a lot! It’s effectively making One the show’s Big Bad, give or take Brenner himself. And I gotta say, kudos to the casting directors and Jamie Campbell Bower. He leans into the utter creepiness of One a la Cillian Murphy or Daniel DeHaan. You by him as a sympathetic and troubled yet evil and menacing figure, which is a hard line to walk, and it sells some of the mishmash of cliches that the character represents and succeeds despite.
To the point, One is an odd mix of Agent Smith from The Matrix (“Humanity is a strange kind of pest”), Magneto from X-Men (“We’re superior to them”), Darth Vader from The Empire Strikes Back (“Join me and think of what we could accomplish”), and even Emperor Palpatine from Revenge of the Sith (“Oh no, right after my villainous invitation to powerful young soul, lightning turned me into a scarred ghoulish figure!”). HIs monologue is a touch hammy, and feels pulled from a mix of these other sources, but the superb performance and intensity of the scenes makes it work.
Say what you will about Stranger Things as it reaches its mid-season break, but they can still put together a damn good set piece when they want to. The stand-off between Eleven and One is terrifying. The raw intensity of the two having a force battle a la the one she had with one of her telekinetic bullies in the prior episode, the sheer horror of the way One drags her around as she claws at the floor and hangs in the air, and the rousing but still unnerving way she turns the power back on him and disintegrates him into another dimension is jaw-dropping and riveting.
At a thematic level, I like One as the antithesis of Eleven, her dark reflection and ultimate nemesis. The show implies that he’s been repeatedly abused by his parents, which lends to his dim view of humanity and the way he powers his abilities with sadness and anger. He was not born a monster, but made that way, and it tainted his perspective and his approach to generating his unique talents.
Eleven is the opposite. Time and again, we’ve seen her power through difficult situations not by resorting to pain, but instead, like Max, by reflecting on the people she loves and who care deeply for her as well. It’s telling that when Eleven tries to summon strength from recalling her mother being ripped away from her, or the death and destruction she witnesses as a consequence of her removing One’s inhibitor, it’s not enough to defeat him. But when she recalls her mother’s love, the act of creation and instant bond and affection, it summons a power that One has no ability to withstand.
For all this season has been teasing that Eleven needs to return to negative emotions to regain her powers, I love the subversion that, at the end of the day, it’s the remembrance of that love which not only spurred her to victory on that fateful day many years earlier, but which restores her power now. I still find Brenner to be a morally questionable figure. The show’s treatment of him still makes me a little queasy. And I still feel uncomfortable about Owens’ willingness to throw in with him, even if he thinks it’s necessary to save the world. But all of this ethically dubious “training” lands in a strong place thematically, vindicating Eleven’s bonds with the people who love her as the source of her power, and pointing to the lack of such care and affection as the thing that unfortunately doomed poor Henry Creel.
I don’t know that every part of it adds up logistically. It feels like it conflicts with some other things we knew about the Upside Down, and the attempt to bring together the cosmology of the Demogorgon, the Mindflayer, and Vecna into one consistent effort plays more than a little clunky. But ultimately, it works at an intuitive level, which is good enough for me.
Plus hey, there’s a lot of Star Wars and Harry Potter here, which isn’t terribly surprising given some of the references in the show to this point. (The former, not the latter, obviously.) One is basically tempting Eleven to turn to the darkside, to use negative emotions to spur her use of The Force. The offer to join together is very Vader and Luke, or even Kylo Ren and Rey. And the contrast between a child born of love and one born without it is very Harry and Voldemort. On balance, it makes me think that Eleven will ultimately try to save One in some way, to redeem him, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see in July when the last two episodes of the season come out.
All-in-all, I haven’t loved the Eleven storyline thus far, but this takes into a pretty shocking yet compelling place, about where her flashback adventures fit into the larger story of Stranger Things, and about how who she is informs what she can do in a way her foe absolutely cannot despite all his own malevolence and power.
Oh yeah, and other stuff happens in the episode too! Who knew?
I still don’t like the Russian rescue business, but at least they went somewhere with it. It remains insane that they were able to bluff their way into a secret Russian prison, bring a weapon inside without getting frisked or bothered over it, and hold a warden hostage to get most, if not all, of what they want. This plan makes no sense, but hey, Murray’s Yuri impression is gold, so it’s got that going for it.
And yet, Hopper and the crooked guard’s fight with the demogorgon is reasonably cool. The CGI for the demogorgon was off here, as it didn’t move or react properly. The design remains terrifying though, which does a lot of the work. Plus the Duffer Bros. and the fight choreographers do a good job of adding tension to the scene by having Hopper struggle to light his spear torch at first, and then force them to improvise when getting behind the super-thick doors before the flame runs out. It’s a well-constructed set piece, even if I’m pretty much done with this storyline.
To the point, Hopper and Joyce embracing after so long apart and so much each has been through in the interim should be a moving moment. I felt nothing. I can’t say that Stranger Things didn’t earn the moment. It showed each character going through a hell of a lot to reach it and reflecting on what each means to the other. But the whole thing has been so wildly implausible and tonally different from the rest of the show, coupled with a bit of character assassination last season, that it ultimately holds no emotional weight for me. At least we’re hopefully done with it for a while, though they still have to figure out how to get back to America, which is another layer of implausibility to overcome.
The two teams of junior detectives working back in Hawkins/the Upside Down is a treat as well. There’s parts that I still don’t like. I continue to not understand why they’re leaning so hard back into Steve/Nancy as a couple, but I’ve said my piece on that. The Upside Down looks pretty bad here much of the time, with the actors conspicuously pasted onto green screen backgrounds that breaks immersion. Dustin turns into an exposition machine at one point, which serves to set up the Vecna reveal more than anything happening in his corner of the story. And as clever as some of the solutions are, there’s occasionally some shortcuts taken to avoid the inevitable trial and error of communicating across dimensions that feel convenient, albeit within the realm of acceptable willing suspension of disbelief.
But there’s a lot I really like here. The dynamic of both quartets works really clicks. As lukewarm as I am on Nancy and Steve as a couple, Eddie having a heart-to-heart with Steve about how he’s an unexpectedly decent guy and that Nancy would clearly go to hell for him is the best sales pitch for it so far. Robin’s hyperfixation on the risk of rabies after Steve’s bite is also an on-point bit of fun characterization. On the other side, I’m glad they added Erica back into the mix as the younger kids try to bridge the gap between worlds and keep their stories straight.
I most appreciate the crew figuring out to go to Eddie’s trailer in order to rescue their friends. It pays off the crack in the ceiling the show’s been teasing for a while now, and there’s a crude logic to the sense that every kill from Vecna creates a breach between their worlds. The rope climbing escapade makes for a neat visual to boot.
God help me, I also enjoy the twist of Vecna going after Nancy given her guilt over what happened to Barb. We don’t really have much setup for it -- no headaches or other visions -- but maybe Vecna’s powers are stronger within the Upside Down. More than anything, I dig how it plays on the character’s history in a meaningful way. Much as Max felt guilt over what happened with Billy, Nancy feels the same about the best friend who died while she was too busy having fun to notice. Bringing the two together like that, in a way that plays on Vecna’s M.O. and a prior psychological hang-up for Nancy, is a surprise, but in a good way, finding points of harmony between past storylines and current ones in a way that works.
Overall, “volume 1” of Stranger Things’ fourth season has been a disappointment. So many of the plot threads this year have come off like wheel-spinning, table-setting, and throat-clearing. Some of the core strengths of the show remain, mostly in its characters, but you can feel the show’s creative team spinning out at times. And yet, the high points, when they pay all of that build off, are quite high. Between Max overcoming vecna at the midpoint, and the triumphs and revelations in this mid-season finale, the show can still soar when it brings everything to a climax and puts its cards on the table. I hope we see more of that in the last two episodes of the season.
(249-word review) Despite being different from the usual: this time, it was about piecing together foggy events from far in the past and the one who supposedly did it being front and center from the beginning, this episode was more about depicting the sadness, loneliness, and emotional reality of the impact of which war can do to a man/person; while that has almost certainly been portrayed many times throughout the medium of television and film, that doesn't lessen this instance's impact, and unless you fail borderline unhumanly-miserably, that never will. Charles Durning gave a commendable performance.
Besides that, the acting, across the board, was the second-biggest draw; Alicia Coppola stood out, with a more subtle induction by Sasha Alexander and Mark Harmon (and more subtly, the score had its perks, too, with the most distinction and variety in the show it's been): right behind the effective attempt at putting a needed, appreciated light on the horrific reality that, unfortunately, plagued so many people that were lucky enough (or unlucky) to live another day, even to this day with more recent sufferers unrelated to the arguably worst war/battlefield occurrences in the past, like with Ernest/Ernie Yost, which is even more unfortunate.
Even though this episode didn't seem good enough to warrant a higher rating, at least in my eyes, it was still sufficiently engaging, on top of its importance, for obvious reasons. It certainly didn't fall into the threshold of giving it a rating lower than I gave it.
I was so disappointed in this effort from Adam Sandler. I have loved most of his movies as far back as his idiot days of The Waterboy and the like. But I thought he had started to turn the corner with Click. Sure it still had kicks in the groin and fart humor, but there was finally message hidden in the crude humor somewhere. Sadly, there was no corner to be turned. This movie is utter regression. Scenes that had shooting fish with his butt and the gross concept of him "satisfying" every elderly lady who needed silky smooth hair in the salon was too much to handle. I'm talking over the top gross out for a Sandler flick. The one neat part for us middle agers was one of the "customers" in the salon was Mrs. Garrett from Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes fame. Lastly, I used to be a big fan of Rob Schneider. But now he has played an Asian(Chuck and Larry), a Palestinian, a Hawaiian(50 First Dates), and a Bayou Boy(The Waterboy) all with the EXACT same accent. Come on. There were several funny parts in this movie but I can not come up with one good reason to watch it again.
"Rule Number 9, never go anywhere without a knife."
Based on the episode title, I went into this expecting an exciting episode. I wasn't disappointed. I wouldn't say I was expecting it to be better than it was, but it was a step-up from the previous two episodes: that's for sure. The comedic bits were good; the ones between Tony and Caitlin stood out the most. The moments between Gibbs and Tony stood out, too. In general, the comedic bits were all good.
I liked the somewhat comedic undertone of yet another jurisdiction battle between the FBI and NCIS. I like that Agent Freedman said that he was warned by Agent Fornell about Gibbs, only for him to get outsmarted, too. The callback was nice. Mark Harmon and Sasha Alexander looked pretty good in those uniforms, especially him. And I wonder if Sasha ad-libbed the last bit of dialogue at the end or improvised the little dance that Caitlin did. Something about the end gave me that impression.
Speaking of Agent Freedman, the actor played Malcolm Carruthers in L.A. Noire. What almost seems like a tradition of actors showing up in this show, who later on voice-acted a significant video game character, continues. I wasn't sure it was him at first. He looked different, and his voice wasn't as pronounced as in L.A. Noire, which makes sense. This episode premiered years before L.A. Noire was released.
There was yet another actor that caught my eye, not in terms of acting but rather familiarity. As in me: recognizing him. The actor was Michael Gaston. There's just something about him, man. His voice, the way he delivers his performances; I don't know. But something about him seems to immediately give you an impression, regardless of whether the character he's playing is a "bad guy." Do you know what I mean?
Maybe it's because the only two roles of his that I'm familiar with, he played a bad guy. Thomas Carter in Blindspot and Gale Bertram in The Mentalist; I'm less familiarized with the latter. Was his character in that show even a bad guy? It's been much longer since I've watched whatever episodes of The Mentalist he was in; his role in Blindspot is in recent memory.
Anyways, he caught my eye, and it was nice seeing him show up in this episode. Also, for some reason, he reminds me of Noah Emmerich a little bit: specifically, Stan Beeman from The Americans. Well, from the little bits I've seen of that character: I haven't watched The Americans yet. Something about Michael's general acting performances gives off a similar vibe. That's a little something else that came to mind. I wonder if anyone else has gotten that feeling of similarity between the two actors.
Yeah, this episode was better than the previous two. It was pretty simple. With this case, the storytelling unfolded to where all you could do was watch it happen. There was no room for theorizing about who the culprit was. You had to wait for the episode to reveal it, although once the final act was at hand, it was predictable and easy to tell who it was before the characters came to that conclusion. But even though that may pose a problem for some people, I thought this episode was enjoyable, as was watching everything unfold. It was a nice and refreshing change from the somewhat lackluster previous episodes.
I liked this first episode. I am a huge fan of the original and have watched every episode thanks to my parents' DVD collection.
The character of Ben seems interesting. He doesn't feel like an exact copy of Sam except for knowing multiple languages. I'll be interested to see how much more is done with his character. I like the change of his hologram being his fiancé. I kept seeing people complain about it but I'd rather something different than just having a repeat of the Al & Sam dynamic.
Setting some scenes with Project Quantum Leap themselves was pretty cool. In the original series, we would get maybe one or two looks at what was going on from that perspective. That being said, there was one scene in that space that felt off to me. Maybe it was just the ways the lines were being read but I found it awkward.
The actual time travel was a simple one this time around but I find that completely fine. There were plenty of episodes of the original that had even lower stakes than this. From the preview shown at the end, it seems like they have a lot of more interesting leaps planned ahead which I'm excited to see.
Overall, this was a decent start to the series. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
The one 16 year old girl says she's supposed to be "this great detective", the other 16 year old girl buys a bar and trades it for a diner and the third 16 year old gets crowned king of the Serpents. I don't think the writers even remember their ages at this point.
I'm not happy with the way this whole Black Hood season ended. It really feels like the writers had no idea who they wanted to put under the hood and halfway through the season they heard the theory of Hal being the Black Hood and they decided to roll with it like two episodes before the finale. For once there are no subtle hints for it to be him before episode 20 and on the other hand the whole reasoning and execution at the end felt hollow and cheap, especially the part about THE DARKNESS™. I thought at least one of the adults would finally address this as mental illness, but nope. Don't think we'll ever get to see any of them in therapy either.
Three things that I'm curious about - Chic, Alice's dead son and Polly.
Chic just disappeared and we still don't know anything. Was there even a point to begin with? I thought his creepiness would be relevant somehow, but nothing happened. I'm wondering if he'll come back next season.
Then there's Alice's dead son. I was actually thinking he's not dead because we really didn't get to see anything about him. It felt really tragic to know that Alice saw him and closed the door in his face, but I thought it would connect more with the overall story or with Chic.
And then there's Polly who definitely had something going on. I wonder if we know this mysterious guy who helped her or if her mother will get dragged into a weird cult. And I actually find this much more interesting than the cliffhanger that Archie is arrested (I was sure there would be some bloodshed after Jug's weird announcement) and Hiram is still planning to deal drugs on the New Southside. I was actually hoping for him to leave Riverdale or go to prison at the end of the season, but apparently his cheap mobster story will continue.
And even after all these complaints every week I'm still excited to watch new episodes and do enjoy it. It's over the top and crazy but at the same time I find it so entertaining :D
The Final Countdown seems to be two different entertainment options edited in to a fairly good film. What I mean is you have your Hollywood movie with the fascinating premise of a U.S. Navy captain facing the dilemma of the history paradox. When the U.S.S. Nimitz enters a temporal disturbance(cheezy effect) the ship is sent to Dec. 6th, 1941. Captain Yelland(Douglass) must decide whether to interfere with the imminent Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This piece of the movie is probably 3 stars. The second level of the movie is a documentary on super carriers before there was a History Channel. It was as if the second unit just filmed everything that happens on a carrier and they used as much as they could. For 1980, a lot of this stuff had not been seen before. As an example, I cite the scene where they do an in-air refueling of two F-14's. Not really necessary to our story. Lots of takeoff/landings and the part where one of the planes' tailhook won't come down so he lands with the arresting straps also very cool but off script. I would recommend this as a unique view of the time travel conundrum and for the very nicely shot documentary.
The Rookie as a cop show has been interesting on a number of levels. Like all cop shows it's steeped in copaganda so hard you really can't divorce it from the very premises it sustains. That said when you look past that there's something there. It's been amusing, disappointing and confusing trying to watch it, as a show, react. I wouldn't dare suggest it's one of the best procedurals or even one of the most popular or most expensive but it's compelling. Even when it does make everything about Detective Nolan. ONe of the biggest questions about a show with a premise that breaks with graduation is where does it go from here.
They've teased it before, they've tried and failed before but they're introducing a new rookie. This rookie like Nolan sticks out. And like Nolan, they're going to treat this rookie like a robot expecting them to get over all their issues "OR ELSE". It's weirdly performative insisting that the LAPD are trained with a soldier's discipline. I'm resisting the urge to go into how different that is from reality and why it matters that these shows insist that police both need compmassion and are super human, again. But i'm very invested in seeing how this rookie will affect the dynamic.
Gone campy
If I didn't have such fond memories of this show from my childhood, I probably would have jumped off here. This episode was way too campy. The show looked like it started taking some cues from the American Batman TV series that would have been on at the same time. There were screen pop-ups and even Spider had a lame scene where he coughed smoke after the briefcase had exploded.
The Gigantic Claw...hmmm...well it wasn't the worst we've seen until this point. It did have a few special attacks when it shot missiles and also launched some kind of rope that ensnared giant robot. Started to get a bit confused about giant robot's link to Johnny Sokko. Sometimes giant robot fights perfectly normally without Johnny there. At others, he can only perform basic moves. In another case, he went to a complete standstill. Just saying.
The special effects here were terrible. Pay attention to the spinout of the Gargoyle car. The claw was not as bad as the normal miniaturization effects. Finally they seem to be getting the monster right. It was really good to see U5 have a part in the story and get some decent screen time.
Far from the worst...
This installment had a lot of firsts for the series but the monster / storyline seemed pretty formulaic. We have now learned the female agent's name is Mitsuko. Someone must have told the writers to get her more involved because for three episodes, she barely existed and now we have a story that revolves around her since it is her brother who is in peril in Arabia that they must save. We also learn the secret Unicorn ID process and that all Gargoyle agents have a bomb in their chests that explodes when they begin to give information. Giant robot uses the radion eye ray attack for the first time. It was strange how he struggled with the neck chain from Ligon-Tyrox and then had no effects from the forehead drill penetrating his outer shell. The plot to destroy the oil fields seems very prophetic in retrospect as the world has been held hostage by oil since the early 1970's. Where did Johnny get the genie clothes and bomb from? Same level of cheese as usual from the squad but with the change in venue to the Middle East and a somewhat tight plot line this episode isn't too bad.
So much going on...
Where to start? Of course everyone knew Raj and Divya were not going through with their wedding plans. I felt like it was kind of a copout for her to use the fates and the plague as the reason for her decision but it was there all along. Their nitpicky fighting while learning the tango would have been how their marriage was.
Jill leaving for six months just when she and Hank seemed like they were rekindling their relationship was fairly unexpected. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I like Jill very much but not necessarily with Hank. This tied to the medical part of the show with Hank catching a misdiagnosis of Ben with Lyme disease which had been confused with MS. That guy did not seem very appreciative almost like he was reluctant to give up the MS and his slogan, "I am not my disease".
What about Eddy? His difficult decision to do the time or accept Boris' offer of a life of freedom without his family. We'll have to wait and see... This show has become one of the best on TV. Too bad it is buried in the summer slump.
I got really worried when this started off like every other movie of this genre. Submarine travelling in the deep making some kind of electronic pinging sound(which they don't). But that isn't what troubled me. In the establishment shot it says they are in the Aegean Sea at 200 hours. They couldn't even get that right. It is said zero two hundred. That is how you do military time. No hours. Need the zero in front or it could be mistaken for 2000 which is 8 PM instead of 2 AM. Then there is the usual garbage like the leader of the seal team being called Captain but wearing the rank of a Lieutenant. The same collar device means captain in the other three branches but not in the Navy. Navy personnel do not salute indoors. Or uncovered. Or say Ten Hut to mean come to attention. In addition they are not wearing seal pins. Not sure what that is but it looks like air wing. Also, SEAL teams are not all officers. One only with the others being enlisted men. OK. Off my soapbox. The movie was terrible. They did have a pretty large special effects budget. Tons of real looking explosions. They do not seem to mourn the loss of their comrades very adamantly.
Heading in to this movie, I was expecting a large cheese factor based on what the cable info button told me about the flick: "A washed up baseball player heads home following the death of an old friend." I don't think that captures the spirit of the movie at all. Firstly, I wouldn't really refer to Billy as a washed up baseball player. You would at one point had to have been someone to earn the right to be called washed up. We learn in the movie that he quits AA ball when he drops a flyball and his team loses. Not much of a ball player there. I will agree that he is washed up, but as a person. Secondly, I wouldn't really call Katie an old friend of his. She was so much more. It started with her being his babysitter, then friend, then teacher, and then lover for a few brief days. Then she is out of his life for I'd guess around 15 years. With that aside, their story is nicely done. The whole time I had a nostalgic "The Big Chill" feel inside when everyone gets together to remember their suicidal friend but this movie was different since Katie was a large part of the flashback sequences. Jodie Foster was outstanding as usual and steals every scene she is in. Mark Harmon is at his best once he is given the ashes, you sense he understands the mission but would rather not have to deal with it because he could possibly have ended up like Katie. I would recommend this movie. There are a lot of 5 * reviews here but you have to know it's not one of the greatest of all time. There are a couple of really cool bit parts in this one. Watch for Helen Hunt as Billy's grown up pregnant sister and also the seductress who gets to Jonathan Silverman is one of the aunts from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
As I watched this movie, I was amazed at just how far Drew Barrymore has come. She really hit rock bottom in the early 1990's getting constantly cast as the "bad girl" in nearly every flick she was in. Her image didn't start to take a turn for the better until "The Wedding Singer". But I digress. Drew was a just a little too weird in this movie. I know she had some mental health issues, but what exactly was she rebelling against? Her parents seemed to be ultra cool, she was a high schooler with her own wheels and freedom to do almost anything she wanted. I was a little confused by Chris O'Donnell character also. He seemed to be very happy in his role as the "parent" to his two younger siblings and his goal of being an astronomer. But I guess the movie isn't called "Mad Love" for nothing. He is a better man than I for putting up with the mood swings Casey would go through on their escape trip. When she got their car wrecked I surely would have lost it. When it became clear that she really did need medical help, he still refused to take her back but by that time, I guess he felt that they were in to deep. Like I said, this isn't one of Drew's better works. You would have to wait a few more years after this movie for that
This movie was wrong on so many levels. It was as expected though. Jessica Simpson flat out can not act. We all knew that. But she wasn't the worst singer trying to be actor in this flick. That honor goes to Willie Nelson. His lines were mechanical and painful to hear. There had to have been someone better that auditioned to play Uncle Jesse. The paper thin plot line was about equal to one episode of the TV show in strength. It basically serves as an excuse to drive the General Lee all over Georgia to some VERY sweet stunts with a secondary purpose of letting us see Daisy show off her assets. Note that the boys seemingly drive all night to Atlanta to get the core samples tested but when they run in trouble with the law, Daisy shows up to save the day immediately. Just a minor complaint. Possibly most annoying was the character of Billy Prickett, the towns favorite son and four-time winner of the road rally. He not only looked exactly like Ben Stiller's character in Dodgeball, he was played the same. There was some entertainment value to this movie. I did enjoy it to some extent and got exactly what I was expecting.
What a poorly conceived chronicle of Pink Floyd or as the crazies in this tome call them "The Floyd". It starts off at Wish You Were Here telling us how the album was a tribute to original Pink Floyd front man Syd Barrett but not explaining that he was forced out of the band due to drug induced mental health issues and that is why "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was written for him. The major theme of this DVD is the increasing control Roger Waters exuded on the band in the song writing and producing. By the time The Final Cut was released in 1983, the other members of Pink Floyd were basically studio musicians for The Roger Waters Experience. With that in mind, EVERY bit of concert footage used (lots) was from tours AFTER his departure from the band. Horrible. The concert footage is almost ruined by the copyright info overlay that looks like it was made on a Commodore 64. Waters does come across as the big jerk in the two 10 second interviews they show of them. I would have liked to hear more of Waters and Gilmour's opinions on the music instead of the cover band. Interesting that after Waters' departure from the band, they go on to have their lone #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic while most fans can not name a single song by Waters off his solo albums. The other annoying part was the star rating of each album as it is discussed. They gave every Pink Floyd album during a twenty year stretch 5 * except for The Final Cut. I am a huge fan but COME ON!!! Stay away from this and watch any other Pink Floyd title.
This won the Academy Award for worst movie ever made. It is craptastic. Similar to the other reviewers, I spent 8 years in the Navy on submarines and had to laugh out loud several times during this. Between this movie and Crimson Tide, one would think that the Commanding Officer of a U.S. submarine is at the whim of the XO(Crimson Tide) or JAG(this movie) to be relieved of command at a moments notice. I know it's the movies but 3 men picking up a 3500 pound torpedo plus a submarine that can withstand a direct torpedo hit AND a mini-sub loaded with C-4 AND take a Tomahawk through it's belly is ridiculously ridiculous. There is one point in the movie where one of the men is calling off depths as the boat is going down and he says passing 1600 while in the camera shot the depth gage shows 1026. If the people who make the movie don't care, why is the viewer supposed to? Watch the end credits and you will see the entire crew who worked on this travesty are Russians, every name ends in -ov. I'm sure the US Navy had NOTHING to do with this garbage. Lastly, you DO NOT salute on a submarine or when not wearing a cover(hat). Maybe they should have paid a Navy vet $20 to be the technical advisor.
This is a must see for any 1980's movie nostalgia fan. It has everything you want in your trip down memory lane -- the soundtrack, a valley girl, a cool robot, Star Wars references, and Tom Skerritt who appeared in 94% of the movies from the decade(I may have made that up). The best part of this movie is the strong young cast in some of their earliest roles. You have 22-year old Tate Donovan playing a spoiled high schooler Kevin who barters with his father to receive a new Jeep for going to camp. Lea Thompson who lives and breathes for camp yet somehow gets wooed by Kevin in to sneaking out past curfew. Kelly Preston as the combo Valley Girl/perfect SAT's here in a minor role. The surprise for me was Joaquin Pheonix(credited as Leaf) in his firt major film role. I didn't even recognize him until someone pointed it out then it's perfectly obvious. He does very well here as the robot lovin', Star Wars quotin' 12 year old who ends up saving the mission with his brave space walk. Lastly, we have 25 year old "high schooler" Larry B. Scott as Rudy the mission specialist. He is better know as Lamar from the Revenge of the Nerds franchise. Shockingly the special effects were actually decent. For 1986 the shuttle scenes and even the action sequences trying to retrieve the oxygen from space station Daedalus were well done. There was a little bit of the people speak slower in space stuff but just a minor thing. Overall, this is an enjoyable trip down memory road for the Gen X crowd.
This movie was so close to being really good yet our director seems to veer off course at every important point. I did love our introduction to Gray and Sam the brother/sister duo whose lives are so intertwined that several people mistakenly think they are a couple. As an aside, I did not know Heather Graham could dance so well. Back to the story. When they learn of the couple thing, they both get mildly weirded out and decide to find a partner for their sibling. Gray has shockingly amazing success on their first try when they run into Charlie in the park and she sets her up with Sam. Those two hit it off so well that we get a quick wedding. This sets off some biological explosion in Gray that has her suddenly feeling like she's gay. Dr. Sydney, her therapist(Sissy Spacek) can't seem to help. Luckily, Gray has befriended a super nice taxi driver Gordy who gives better advice than Merlin the Magician. Without giving too much away, that's your story. Bridget Moynahan was great but Alan Cumming as Gordy probably gets the most laughs. But is this comedy? Tough to tell. That's where I have a problem with the directing. Everything turns out too cute as Gray struggles with her "coming out". I don't have a problem with it not being realistic as some point out, I would just like it to be consistent instead of all over the place.
Over the years I've seen many Woody Allen films, many copycats of Woody's format and now with Promises! Promises! I've seen where Woody got his idea as we see Tommy Noonan as the writer, producer, and star of this film as the ultra-neurotic Jeff Brooks, who is so stressed out, he can't manage to make love to his wife Sandy played by Jayne Mansfield. You read that right. Sound like Woody? Having been born after Jayne died in 1967, I have never seen anything she had ever done. I gave this one a chance because of a line in a famous Seinfeld episode from Season 4. But I digress. This movie is not good. The only really interesting character is Claire Banner who is staying in the cabin adjacent to the Brooks'. There is a ridiculous scene where King Banner (Mansfield's real life husband at the time) performs a weight lifting exhibition in a tux at his birthday party. The ladies seemingly get their hair done every day. Finally, the reason most people watch this is Jayne bearing her bountiful bosom. Honestly, she is sexier with her clothes on as she fills a dress niceley. They must play the same 5 second clip of her topless 5 times in this movie. I hope all movies from the early 1960's weren't like this.
It is strange to call this a sequel to the somewhat entertaining 100 Girls from 2000 but there isn't really a better word. None of the characters carry over but the theme is the same as well as the style. If you think you want to see both of them, I'd recommend watching 100 Girls first because it is layed out a little better for understanding. Here we have Sam, our hopeless wannabe artist who on the worst day of his life meets Hope(Mary the paralegal from HIMYM) who manages to restore his smile. Through a convoluted set of circumstances, Hope falls into a state of depression that Sam can't seem to pull her out of. Sam gets to know all the women in the building as he tries to discover what is bothering Hope. Wait, I forgot to mix in some snot, porn, and private parts jokes. I guess it got a little corny there for a bit. Then it's happened--Hope has finally snapped out of her doldrums to profess her love for Sam, turns out her depression was for far more philsophical reasons than even Socrates could understand. But now Sam has lost his smile again. And in a completely not surprise ending...well, give it a watch. It is actually not as bad as Im making it sound.
Fred Savage is definitely trying to emerge from the stereotype of being the kid from Wonder Years. I will say he has a bit more success here than he did as Number 3 in Goldmember, though thats not saying much. Strange casting choice as our lead, Steven, since it feels not only unbelievable that he would be with Chloe in the first place, but also his transition into the nymphomaniac his best friend pushed him into. She just seems to be everything he wasnt. Add in the great advice and not so role model behavior from Jack on relationships and you have yourself a soup sandwich of self-esteem. Luckily the bartender somehow has some influence on Steven and gets him to see the error of his ways. I'm not sure what to make of the ending. Maybe I have become so programmed to want everything in a neat little package with this happened to so and so and they lived happily ever after but we get none of that here. We are left to wonder what happens to gold-digging Jack and Alexis (Amy Adams before her career exploded)and even more, what does Amelia do? This isnt a bad movie like you might expect, worth a watch if you are a fan of anyone in the cast.
I will get to the figuring it out part in a bit. I thought the story was a little too out there. The movie is set in 1960 and Hobbs' wife has been dead for 15 years we are told. That coincides with the end of WWII. How much medical knowledge of cancer and how many medical resources during war time are we expected to think were devoted to treating the wife of a janitor in war torn England? Michael Caine's acting is strong enough to generate sympathy for his cause and purvey his deep love for his wife. Why is Miss Quinn(Demi) speaking in a British accent? We are told twice during the movie she is an American who studied at Oxford. Now back to the figuring it out part. Do you know why we are finding it difficult? Answer: it's insane. Our janitor struggles to make it down the vault passageway for his first trip using her phone call as a distraction and dumb luck with the security man eating a crumpet at the exact right time. Remember we are talking about 4000 pounds of diamonds. How many trips do you think that would be pushing a single cart across a MARBLE floor without damaging it? I won't elaborate as to make this a spoiler but I was a little disappointed. The story was a little more than a heist flick. There was the social commentary on the health care industry, glass ceilings, and blood diamond oppression in South Africa. Maybe they were biting off a little more than they could handle in one hour and 45 minutes. Nice acting by all, I especially liked Joss Ackland(Bill and Teds Bogus Journey, Red October) as Sir Ashtoncroft. Give this movie a chance despite my minor rants here, it is a decent watch.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I tossed this in my queue. I was born in 1970 so maybe I was trying to see what I missed. Answer: not much. As others have mentioned, the 3D thing kind of ticked me off. Perhaps a note or something on the info page for this movie should mention the need for them. Since this is Super Bowl weekend and there are glasses available at the grocery story for the half time show and tomorrow's episode of Chuck, I went and got some. Didn't help. Could not get the 3D effect to work with the glasses upside down, backwards, one eye open, no eyes open, etc... Now that I've read the Wiki article, it states the movie is not shown in the traditional red/cyan filter format so I'm even more confused. When the 3D doesn't work, it makes some of the scenes look all the more ridiculous like the pool cue and the shots at the amusement park. This movie has many of the same elements of a porn movie, except worse. The same repetitive soundtrack, HORRIBLE editing, paper thin story, bad acting. The only 2 people who have a story are the ad exec and his stewardess and their "ending" does not exactly mesh too well within this movie. Don't even get me started on the fetishly freaky lamp sex scene. That's right, 3D sex with a lamp. I wish I could say something positive but I have racked my brain and it's drained. As a side note: This was the most profitable 3D movie of all time. (wiki)
This movie does not try to fool you into thinking it is something it isnt. Around the first 15 minutes of the film are spent at the pool of the private resort giving you the sights like the traditional pool scene in every episode of Love Boat that takes place after you meet that weeks guest start boarding the Pacific Princess. But I digress...Here we meet Jack and Ben, two pretty lucky guys who have their own suite, no worries, and the ability to get drinks on their vacation. The antics that ensue are reminiscent of dozens of other movies(and maybe some Scooby Doo cartoons). It is entertaining enough to hold your interest, barely. People to note here are obviously Johnny Depp in his next role after Nancys boyfriend in Nightmare on Elm Street. He does show a lot of that charisma that has become his trademark. We also have Callahan from the Police Academy series in a great part for her. But the one I liked was Andrew Clay (pre-diceman moniker). I dont think he acts in his movies. He IS the character in the movie. Here is Curt could easily be named Ford Fairlane and you would not know the difference. Enjoy.
