tles7 Reviews

Crash Course in Romance (2023)

Really delightful in so many ways, but who was the real monster?

[8/10 · 3 May 2024]

The romance of the main couple combined with the suspense of the psycho killer were perfectly blended. We aren't sure who are the real monsters of the story. But we later find out that it is the mothers and their ability to steam roll, sabotage and destroy other students' lives to further their own kids' pursuit of education, who are the true monsters of this story.

The professor's assistant being the true killer was predictable as soon as you saw the first moment of his jealousy of Ms. Nam. At first, his character seemed like he had a gay crush on Choi. So, we are given a "red herring" which makes one of the students appear to be the psycho killer....very typical in Korean drama. Another thing in Korean drama is how characters hold back in making a simple decision that can so easily avert danger or scandal. In general, it was tolerable here.

However, having all the families have a happy ending is a bit much, even for Korean drama. Two things that were hard to believe in the writing:

1. When the mother shows up, the daughter is repulsed by her. Her decision to go to Japan and destroy her aunt's feelings was sudden and made no sense. I kept wondering if her behavior was caused by a bump on her head. If she truly wanted to try living with her mother, why do it in a way that was so hurtful and mean? It wasn't realistic.

2. In addition, the mother, who was an incredibly stupid, arrogant, shallow, sneaky, lying character, suddenly becomes, thoughtful, caring and selfless? ...so quickly??

It would have been better if the daughter PRETENDED to want to go with her mother because she knew that if she pushed it, her mother was too selfish and did not want her daughter actually going back to Japan to live with her. So, the mother would then just leave on her own. That would have been better writing than the mother having this out-of-character noble redemption.

I also wondered why after the mother does leave in the story, there was no conversation about why the daughter behaved so mean and hurtful. There should have been a talk and confrontation between auntie and niece. Anyway, I recommend the show. It is totally worth your attention.

The weirdest part of the show was Uncle winding up with Nam's friend and employee.

Korean Drama is often a bigger budget Hallmark with violence :)

Something in the Rain (2018)

Dreary and dragged out.

[3/10 · 27 March 2024]

Where to start? Romance movie? You have to be kidding. The people in this movie are so dysfunctional that it is hard to believe that any romance, even if allowed, could blossom from any of these people? Jin is a product of an extremely abusive mother, who obviously has mental illness. So, Jin grows up with no confidence, makes terrible choices and can't be assertive because she grew up being constantly beaten down. Everyone enables the mother's illness. She's allowed to always be nasty, angry and hit people and they just take it. When the father says to Jin, "your mother only wants the best for you". That's the scary part. The mother only cares about what other people think and is ultra controlling. Jin is rather immature for someone approaching 40 but that is understandable coming from a mother like that. So of course when a nice looking boy comes along and soothes are broken ego...well, a romance ensues. So what about Seo. Well, he has his own issues, maturity is one of them. He is 27 going on 17. The joint lying that the couple continues without thinking ahead is an example of their childlike behavior. His cockiness sometimes comes off as obnoxious. In this romance, he is clingy, needy and quite controlling. He can't give Jin her space. He always has to run after her even when she is doing things that need not include him. He just shows up. When someone is that clingy and can't be alone, that's never a good indication of a healthy relationship. Jin comes from a controlling mother, right? So, this behavior is not foreign to her. Jin's continuous attempts at connecting with her ex is one of her many poor choices. This movie is annoying, the characters are mostly dislikable. The best scenes are the office scenes which seem to make sense. En so I'm guessing they hadn't seen many good ones!.

Adoration (2013)

Gives new meaning to the word "cheesy"

[1/10 · 15 March 2024]

I don't know how to find a way to make this movie anything but pointless and gratuitous. The creepy story is laughable at times. The dialogue scenes don't seem to justify anything other than making the love scenes perhaps more titillating. I found the plot mostly predictable even the idea of the boys finding women close to their own age but then still having fun with "auntie". I guess the idea that it is daring makes you sit through it longer than you should. There is a monotone blandness to the film. Although I can't think of anything in particular, Europeans make these kind of movies much better.

Thirty Nine (2022)

Incredibly Moving

[10/10 · 13 March 2024]

Heartfelt story of 3 young woman, longtime friends facing leaving their 30s. They find love, deal with family issues and tragedy. The last episode can leave you sobbing. The depiction of the closeness in the women's relationship is very well written. Son-Yi-Jin proved she was an incredible actress in Crash Landing on You and here she confirms her talent and ability. You do get the expected over abundance of sentimentality that is common in Korean Drama, but here it all just really seems to work. I had to laugh, the three actresses look much younger than American woman usually look at forty-ish, but hey, it's Korea, the land of the plastic surgeon and flattering photography. Jeon Mi-do looks all of 25, so adorable and pretty. I totally recommend this film. My only complaint would be that in reality the last couple of weeks (at least) of someone dying from Pancreatic Cancer is not being home, eating porridge and then you pass one night. Having seen it myself, it's a couple of weeks of the most excruciating pain as your organs start to shut down, accompanied by the mental withdrawal from reality and the people around you, This is what happens when one's body prepares to die from cancer, even with the morphine.

Castaway Diva (2023)

Fun entertainment

[8/10 · 31 December 2023]

Not on the level of Attorney Woo but a fun story and you admire the talent...you are never bored. The performances are excellent by all. You have music, romance, a psycho killer that creates suspense...who can ask for anything more. If you can believe she was on an island for 15 years without needing tons of psychotherapy and that no one easily recognizes anyone from their past...ok. Some other things to note:

1. She learned how to swim on the island? How did she fall from the boat and wind up on an island 40km away...no way she floated...most people who can't swim would panic anyway.

2. They kind of throw you a red herring making you think that the Woo Hak is Ki-ho....but it never could have been him. You see Ki-ho in the military still going to the spot where she was supposed to show up in Seoul. But, if Woo Hak has no memory before the beating then he would not be able to remember and would never be the one showing up in Seoul.

3. Wouldn't the father have been arrested immediately when he was found guilty of planning the car murder with the hornets/bees. He would not have been able to slash the adoptive father.

So, if you think about things as you watch, you just have to accept it all.

Narcotics: Pit of Despair (1967) (1967)

Seems like Jack Webb on steroids

[3/10 · 18 March 2023]

Wow, this was dated even when it came out. Not so much over the top like reefer madness, but more like the incessant lecturing that you saw in the worst Dragnet episodes from the 1960s. It appears to be made in 1967 but it has the look of boys and girls a few years earlier. The party scenes are hilarious. I assume these types of films were shown in schools, although I was in middle school in 1967, and never saw this. What a difference in 55 years. Now we have crack and legalized pot. I saw this on TCM. I wonder what the cast thinks of this film, seeing it today. I would like to see this done by Rifftrax.

After.Life (2009)

Could have been so much better.

[3/10 · 18 March 2023]

So, even from the beginning you have to swallow the unrealistic situation of a freshly killed car accident victim going directly to a private funeral parlor. In real life, the body would sit in a morgue as a customary investigation would need to be done. No corpse to a funeral parlor in 8 hours. The funeral parlor also would not have any of the victim's possessions. That would be at the morgue or at the police station.

The movie wants to be something but we are not sure what. Is she alive or dead. Well, she was embalmed, we saw this...so not alive. Was Liam Neesom crazy? Evidently. Is she seen moving in the prep room and in the coffin by anyone when she is alone, other than us? No, so she is alive.

But wait, the boyfriend is setup for murder by the mortician at the end. Why? The mortician somehow finds a boy to hang with who also sees the dead girl.

What a coincidence! Who takes care of that boy since he appears to be living with someone who is comatose or dead? The fact that Ricci clouds up a mirror is proof for the girl that she is alive? She already knows she is breathing and moving around....right? The movie is contrived silliness. But as bad as this film is, the treat is to see Ricci mostly in a red nightie and often nude. That is worth the price of admission.

Pet Sematary II (1992)

Needs an MST3K treatment

[1/10 · 21 January 2023]

Easily the worst movie ever made of a Stephen King story. The evil stepfather is so over the top, it's hard to believe that the mother could bring up such a great kid and marry this character which is a cliché of a bad movie bad guy. The music alone makes the viewer laugh out loud. The ending of all the characters can be predicted in the first 10 minutes. I don't want to make this a spoiler but if you want to laugh at a really bad movie, this is the one. If Rifftrax or MST3K can get the rights...this is the one to do. Most laughable comment. "You need to get home, your mother is worried sick about you". The fact that she is married to a psycho doesn't seem to worry her. There is little suspense in the movie because everything happens right away, no build up. There are so many ridiculous moments, Watch the movie and have a good guffaw.

Interrupted Melody (1955)

Good movie! but...

[7/10 · 7 January 2023]

This nonsense about Parker not lip-syncing is very apparently false. Maybe there are some spots where she sang live but there are times when you can see that it is lip-syncing, particularly on the long shots. MGM was so adamant about lip-syncing in pretty much all of their movies whether it was to the actor's voice or someone else. Not so with the other studios. All in all though, the film is very entertaining and at times, moving. The story was nominated for an Oscar and you can see why. Not a big fan of Glenn Ford but he is OK in this film. It's Parker's show and she comes through with a great performance.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Entertaining but the biggest science error ever!

[7/10 · 23 November 2022]

Good movie, sexy alien...great rapport...lots of action. I look forward to Star Trek 4 if it ever happens. It's been delayed for a long time. OK. The entire ending solution hinges on blasting rock music in space to destroy the alien ships. Everything catches fire. Using the song rather than a frequency like in the old Earth Vs. Flying Saucers is more believable. However, almost everyone knows...SOUND DOES NOT TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE. THERE IS NO SOUND IN SPACE. There may be some sound around the gas near a black hole but that is it. Sound needs a medium later a solid, liquid or gas. Jeez..Really???

Heavy Petting (1989)

They made it boring!

[2/10 · 16 September 2022]

This is a very repetitive documentary. After about a half hour you start wondering if you've seen some of the stuff they shown already earlier in the movie. You've got old sex education clips, you've got clips from old movies, you've got live present day people talking about their experiences which you mostly don't necessarily want to hear. They also have excerpts from shorts on dating. There's just a bunch of editing all over the place. Not to mention, that the whole thing looks really cheap. Everything is grainy. They look like they have public domain trailer clips of the theatrical films. All in all, it becomes a tedious and dull affair.

Dancin': It's on! (2015)

Sad, but true... worst movie of the year.

[1/10 · 14 September 2022]

It's obvious that the viewers who gave the film a "10" were likely friends of people involved with the film or actors in the film. The film is so terrible that you can only shake your head and laugh out loud. RiffTrax does it up quite well. I am sure it was created with love and good intentions but it is painful in every aspect...from the acting, to the ridiculous story and atmosphere. You often find yourself saying "You have got to be kidding me". Seems like they were trying to bring us an old fashioned romance film but it was just an inept attempt. The dancing is OK, but to be honest, the film is such a drag that it's hard to have the dancing come off as outstanding. It just feels like it's part of the mess.

Beyond the Dream (2019)

Love story that keeps you guessing.

[7/10 · 8 September 2022]

Promiscuous, abused clinical psych student meets delusional schizo. The performances are powerful, the ending ambiguous. The psychological jargon is rather simple-minded and it feels as though the entire faculty are actually not much ahead of the students. Real Yan is the head professor's favorite but it is difficult to know why. She doesn't seem to be particularly insightful.

I didn't believe the ending. Did Real Yan show up as Yan Yan? Was he dreaming the final minute? Was the ending her delusion? Was he choosing Yan Yan over reality? Who was the most self-destructive and co-dependent? They were made for each other evidently. I think the ending needed more clarity to finish the loop.

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: A Splinter Off the Old Block (1962) Season 4, Episode 5

One of the better episodes in the last season.

[6/10 · 30 August 2022]

A show that deteriorated greatly as the seasons went on. The stories became so silly and dumb that it was amazing that it lasted four seasons. The shows that centered around Maynard became so ridiculous that they are painful to watch. However this episode introduced Duncan to inject a younger cast member that really should have been the age of Hickman when the series began. Hickman was at this point a 30 year old and college stories just really didn't make any sense. They also give Duncan a blonde fiery counterpart, the new Thalia. The later episodes only became better when they were about Dobie, Zelda, a return of Thalia, or his parents who were wonderful in their roles! Of course, after a while Duncan gets on your nerves. The shows fourth season saw a huge ratings drop. Dobie and Maynard were just getting too old and unfortunately at this point Maynard seemed too mentally diasabled and juvenile. There was no place for the show to go.

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Names My Mother Called Me (1962) Season 3, Episode 24

Tuesday Weld lines for Giselle

[6/10 · 15 August 2022]

Lines and delivery made for Tuesday Weld but given to Diane Sayer. Weld appeared as a comeback a few episodes earlier and said that she was returning, enrolling at Dobie's junior college. It seemed like she was coming back to the show. The episodes were followed with a new blonde with a delivery and personality that sounded like it was originally written for Tuesday Weld. Diane Sayer as Giselle only appeared in two episodes. Then she was gone. Typical of the shows in that era there was no continuity across episodes. Gisele was introduced in the second episode as though she was never in the previous episode.

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Disappointing follow-up

[6/10 · 18 April 2022]

I liked how the story begins with how the whole invasion began. They should have spent more time on this. As a matter of fact, this should have been a worldwide view of how humanity failed against the invasion. Instead, you get a story that at times makes you wonder if you missed something (on the pier especially). Also, the son appears to have gotten stupid since the first movie. The ending is rather contrived. With all the periods of silence in the movie and the style of showing two or three parts of the story all intermingled at once, you get very aware of the director "doing something". It weakens the film. The ending is so contrived that you think....."say whattttt". The characters' decisions in this movie make for many plot holes where their actions in the original are not something you question. So is the sequel how they get the daughter's discovery out there, If you can believe no one else figured this out. For that matter, I wondered how this type of creature can create and fly a spaceship. Do they multiply here? Were they kicked off a planet like Alien Nation? These creatures don't seem to have intelligence, organization or government. It's like the dinosaurs figured out how to build a spaceship and fly through space. The movie grossed about $350 million so there will be an unnecessary sequel. Watch a movie called "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" from the mid-1950s and you will see the same "discovery" on how to kill the monsters.

Bonanza: Between Heaven and Earth (1964) Season 6, Episode 9

A bed-wetting story in disguise

[7/10 · 7 April 2022]

The story opens with Joe's nightmare, a visit by Ben and then Joe returning to bed, staring at the sheets and retreating to a nearby chair and staring at the sheets again. This is how they only could handle a bedwetting scene with the restraint of 1964 TV censorship. It's not mentioned in dialog. What happens? The story becomes a lesson in how childhood traumatic experiences can shape you as an adult. Michael Landon was a bedwetter until he was 14 years old, hence this story line.

Tiger Bay (1959)

Great film to stumble onto

[9/10 · 5 April 2022]

This movie came up on youtube as part of their recommendations. This is the spoiler, so stop reading now. I wonder if the producer's realized that the ending of the film is not what the audience was rooting for. In those days, you couldn't get away with murder in American or British films. But alas, no, he has to pay for his crime. Hopefully, the jury was sympathetic and he had a good lawyer! The film makes it clear that Horst's character was no killer or pervert. Even though he kills, they make the victim and her lover despicable people. At the end, you can guess that she jumps and he will have to give himself up to save her. Regardless, it's a fine movie.

Holiday for Lovers (1959)

Painful

[1/10 · 19 January 2022]

The colorful opening credits give the impression that this is going to be quite a film. This most boring family had no chemistry. There was none between parents, nor was there any between the daughters and their respective loves. Carol Linley was fun to watch but of all the men she would choose that were part of the military, Gary Crosby? Really? Did the producers think that every single scene with the main cast which was done in front of a rear screen projection was not going to be noticed? Was the audience of those days so naïve. This movie needed an affair desperately by the parents with someone. Skip it.

Audition (1999)

Sadistic and not all that compelling.

[2/10 · 17 January 2022]

The build-up is slow and the sadism is over the top repulsive. The symbolism is simple minded. Unfortunately, there is a large viewing audience that is immune to watching this kind of violence because of their attraction to these type of movies. If this type of violence doesn't make you blink an eye, psychotherapy should be in your future.

Fredric March Presents Tales from Dickens (1959– )

Pretty awful

[3/10 · 24 December 2021]

Basil does ok here but the production is short, cheap and without nuance. His characterization is not very layered. For example, Marley's ghost shows up and Scrooge's response is so matter of fact. There is no fear or dread. This is quite a dull version.

A Snow Globe Christmas (2013 TV Movie)

Simply awful.

[3/10 · 15 December 2021]

The only thing that's good about this movie is Donald Faison. He is quite funny. They made the lead so totally unlikable for so long in this dreadful version of a plot that has been done many times over before.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

Interesting but, that ending!

[5/10 · 6 November 2021]

Modern concoction with some suspenseful moments. Dracula gets killed by forcing himself through a thorn bush. I guess this Dracula doesn't know how to turn into a bat and chase Van Helsing. Christopher Lee is absolutely sedate in this role, the early menacing energy all gone.

Only Murders in the Building (2021– )

How strange.

[4/10 · 31 October 2021]

This is the strangest collection of reviews I have ever seen. It seems that most of the reviews are from people who love Selena Gomez and are answering back to a lot of the reviews where people obviously hate Selena Gomez. All of these "9" and "10" ratings don't seem genuine for such a take it or leave it show. It doesn't have the "oh, I gotta binge because I can't wait to see what happens next" feeling. It is more like "It is just ok" or "meh". To give it such high ratings means it compares with the greatest things you've ever seen. Did those people just come out of hibernation? There is something off here.

Maggie (I) (2015)

Fascinating change to the usual

[8/10 · 28 October 2021]

Engrossing film. A pandemic with a zombie twist. No need to go into that it's not the usual Arnold movie. It is about the love of a father and his daughter. What do you do when your child is terminally ill but also a danger to others. Strangely, it seems like it was only contagious when someone gets bitten. People don't seem to be all that petrified about being near the infected until they are actually close to being full zombie. I can imagine some of the theatergoers being disappointed that it's an Arnold movie and a zombie movie and there's hardly any action. Well, that's what makes it a good film. It's a different take on a played out, monotonous genre.