robbenn69 Reviews

San Andreas (2015)

The 5/10 is because of Alexandria Daddario's boobs and Carla Gino's butt

[5/10 · 21 September 2023]

While the film is entertaining, I kept asking myself could that really happen? Could the Hoover Dam crumble due to an earthquake? No. Could a helicopter fit into a tight crevasse to rescue a girl trapped in a car? Not likely. Are rescue people so incompetent that only Duane Johnson can save people? No. Can a helicopter even make it all the way to San Francisco from LA? Possible but unlikely. Would earthquake-proof buildings in LA and Sand Francisco crumble like they were made from sand? No. So, while I love Duane Johnson, this picture was about as real as one of his wrestling matches. The only redeeming things about this film are: Even beat-up and dirty, Carla Gugino's ass looks great in tight jeans and seeing Alexandria Daddario running around in a tank top. At one point Ben is obviously looking down at Ms. Daddario's heaving bosom and says, "You are absolutely amazing." That's the best line in the film.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Too Much James Bond BS mixed with the Twilight Zone

[6/10 · 12 July 2023]

While this film is enjoyable, they went too far with the action and stunts. It should have been more like "National Treasure" or "The Davinci Code" with a little action thrown in. Instead of this being about archaeology, adventure, and history; it basically became a James Bond film with outlandish stunts, such as fighting on top of a speeding train, riding a horse in the subway, and car chases with the corresponding mayhem. And can a 80 year old man accomplish what Indiana Jones does in this film? I think not. I am surprised they didn't just digitize Harrison Ford throughout the entire picture. The first three films were fairly realistic in a classic adventure film kind of way. Yes, there was a little supernatural stuff, but it was plausible. This movie goes into the realm of science fiction with time travel. Despite the fact that Albert Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity proves that time travel is impossible, we are supposed to believe Archimedes, an ancient Greek, figured it out? The only thing missing was the opening narration by Rod Serling. Also, as a graduate of Hunter College, I took umbrage that they didn't film it at Hunter College. Two of the four buildings of the Hunter College campus are old enough to have existed in 1969. Overall, it was an entertaining film despite many flaws, but I think this should be the end, No more Indiana Jones films.

5th Borough (2020)

Worst Piece of Crap I Have Ever Seen

[1/10 · 30 April 2023]

Looking at all the good reviews this film received, I can only say, that the filmmaker's family must have wrote most of them. This movie is such an embarrassing oeuvre, that the principal actors should be banned from ever being in a film again. Even Audrey Landers, who is usually a decent actress with an impressive cv, acts wooden and distant. Lilo Brancato is a poor man's Robert DeNiro, and that is not a compliment. The editing was awful with no exposition as to how we get from one place to another in the film's plot. It's as if a series of short films were put together with absolutely no segues. I kept watching, hoping for one little redeeming quality and was left numb and disappointed. The writing is atrocious, I am not sure it even had a script and was ad- libbed, badly. Here's the plot so you won't waste precious time watching it. Filmaker, director, and writer Steve Stanulis plays Nico, whose daughter is dying from brain cancer. His wife played by Tara Reid is an NYPD Internal Affairs Detective, which is totally unconvincing. I am not sure why that was even in the story. Since the bar that he owns with three other friends is failing, they resort to getting involved with Uncle Angelo played by Al Sapienza who just seems tired throughout the film. Lilo Brancato and Joseph Russo play brothers. Sonny and Charlie. So, the four of them start committing robberies for Uncle Angelo. They pull off a diamond heist where what they steal looks like bad costume jewelry from Goodwill or a Salvation Army store. Then they impersonate cops and rip off a drug dealer. Uncle Angelo decides to give all the stolen money to drug rehab agencies. WTF? After 2 jobs, Sonny is like, "Screw this, I'm going with plan B." What plan B is, I am not sure. First he meets with a sketchy Asian dude and makes some kind of deal with him that is not explained. The Asian dude says to his associate, "I never want to see him again." The implication being that he is going to get whacked by the Asian guy, right? The next scene we see Sonny getting into a Escalade and is talking to Feds. Is the guy sitting next to him his lawyer or some guy he just met? Who knows? Meanwhile there are these two stupid NYPD detectives running around accomplishing nothing. Why are they even in the film? Did Stanulis offer them parts in the film for investment money? There seems to be no other purpose for them in the film. Next scene is Sonny in a jail cell (when did that happen?) talking with his brother Charlie. Charlie decides to be a "stand-up guy" and side with Uncle Angelo, who has his goon blow his brains out. Oops, guess that wasn't a good decision. Also in the film is Charlie's stripper girlfriend played by Erin O'Brien in another pointless role. If she is there for eye candy, they could have done better. She is unconvincing as a stripper and has the body of a 13- year old boy. Why was she even in this film? It ends up with Lilo Brancato fake crying, Charlie dead, Nico's daughter overdosing on heroin, and Nico getting arrested, I think. It just ends with him on the steps of his house and Tara Reid inside screaming with grief. The story is all over the place and we don't know how we got from one scene to the next. This film is useful for one thing, it is so bad, it should be used in film school to show how not to make a movie. I have seen better films made by high school students on Youtube.

Murder, She Wrote: Weave a Tangled Web (1989) Season 5, Episode 10

Bigamy is a crime and so is prostitution!

[3/10 · 7 April 2023]

This episode is not awful but it is problematic. Vivian Proctor (Pamela Bellwood) is a working woman away on business a lot. She is the main means of support for her husband and his two children (her stepchildren). There is no explanation of what business is so lucrative that would require her to travel so much. However, given the later developments, it would not be much of a stretch to think that Vivian is a high-class prostitute. Here's why:

Vivian is a bigamist. She has a wealthy, elderly husband Miles Austin in New York City who "swept her off her feet" with his wealth and status but they couldn't have children which Vivian wanted but Miles doesn't care about. She also has a stay at home husband, Ralph (James Sutorius) in Cabot Cove with two children from a previous marriage, who's only job aside from taking care of the kids and household is to prepare taxes. Vivian claims to have met him on "a business trip." Then there is Eric Bowman (George Chakiris), a shifty, gambling addicted, womanizer. Vivian apparently has something going with him too, because he calls her at home, telling the pathetic, Cabot Cove cuckold that it's business. Vivian speaks to him and agrees to meet him at a shady motel on the outskirts of town. Eric owes a mob-connected bookie $50,000, which he tries to steal from his soon-to-be ex-wife, Margo (Gloria Loring). When Eric is found dead with Vivian's keys next to him on the floor and a note on some fancy stationery found at the Proctor household, it is obvious that Vivian or, perhaps, her husband committed the murder. Meanwhile, Jessica finds out Vivian's secret in New York at a society party given by Vivian's wealthy husband. Vivian begs Jessica to keep her secret from the Ralph. While Jessica protests keeping the secret, she does keep it and even goes to the trouble of working to clear Vivian and Ralph of the murder. This is done with a delightful bit of acting by Angela Lansbury, which is the only good thing about this episode. Although it is understatedly humorous when Sheriff Metzger (Ron Masik) is explaining his case against Ralph referring to him as "the wife."

What annoyed me throughout the episode is that bigamy is a Class E felony in New York and a Class E misdemeanor in Maine. So, Vivian is a criminal in two states and yet, Jessica helps her out! Why? Because she is such a nice and good person? Vivian shows absolutely no guilt for being a bigamist, nor cheating on her husbands with Eric Bowman. And by committing bigamy, she is hurting the NY husband, the Maine husband, hurting the stepchildren who love her, and cheating on both of them with Eric Bowman. In traditional New England she would have been pilloried and had rocks and rotten vegetables thrown at her. There is nothing sympathetic about Vivian Proctor and I don't understand why Jessica shows her any sympathy at all, let alone help her. Of course, it is necessary for the plot that Jessica helps, but this doesn't fit with Jessica's upstanding, moral character. The show ends with NYC hubby, "who took it quite well," when Vivian told him the truth, giving Vivian a quiet divorce. If he met her as a client of a high-class prostitute, then this would explain how he "took it well." And when she mentions to Ralph that she has something to tell him, they go into the house arms around each other. This also fits for a weak, cuckold type of husband. After all, he probably met her as a client too. Remember, she met Ralph on a "business trip."

Duel on the Mississippi (1955)

An Enjoyable Film About a Little Known Historical Period

[8/10 · 23 January 2023]

I do not know why so many of the reviews of this film are negative. It is a thoroughly enjoyable film with lots of action. There are so few films whose stories are set in the immediate post-Louisiana Purchase period. The real history behind the story is fairly accurate and, despite some movie-serial tropes, it is well written. I was pleasantly surprised to see the iconic John Dehner affect a Franco-American accent, which would have been the norm for a second generation, Louisiana plantation owner. It also fits that his son, ably played by the handsome and dashing Lex Barker, would have no trace of the same accent, because by that time, English was becoming the norm in New Orleans post Louisiana Purchase. The weapons are accurate to the period, as is the idea that sugar was a rising commodity that Cajun Bayou-Raiders would steal. As in most of the Antebellum South, only a small few wealthy plantation owners would own all the land and slaves, while the rest of the citizenry had to survive as best they could. Now, was the movie a bit unrealistic and trite? Yes, but it is not a documentary! It is a good escapist film that has conflict, swordfights, romance, and light comedy. All the actors were wonderful in their roles, particularly. Ian Keith, who chews up the scenery and steals every scene he is in. Then there is the beautiful, copper-haired Patricia Medina as the apropos named Lili Scarlet. She brings a modern-day, feminist ideal of a woman-in-charge, good at business as well as skilled in wily, feminine charm. I enjoyed this film very much and think you will too. Just do not watch it expecting a Western film or a Documentary, just watch it with popcorn and enjoy.

Return to Sender (I) (2015)

Return to Editor: This Movie is Not as Described

[3/10 · 9 January 2023]

I chose to watch this film because I enjoyed Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl. No one plays a troubled, beautiful, sociopathic woman better than she. The movie started off well with her character, Miranda Wells, a nurse whose life is looking up with a career promotion and a new house. She is super capable, with a restaurant scene where she performs an emergency tracheotomy on an obese choking victim. Considering that she is not a doctor, this was a risky procedure for a nurse to do, basically, stab a guy in the neck with an unsanitized steak knife in exactly the right place without hitting his carotid artery. Nurses may know anatomy, but they do not perform surgeries which is sort of what a tracheotomy is. So I am not sure why that was in the script. Yes, someone off-screen says, "no one can get their arms around him," to perform the Heimlich Maneuver. But the next thing that could have been done is pushing him over the back of a chair. This is where the rapist, a restaurant employee, first sees her. Later, one of her nursing co-workers sets her up on a blind date. As she is waiting for the blind date guy to come over, a guy knocks on the door who she thinks is the blind date guy. She says she wasn't expecting him as he is early. He goes on to brutally rape her and then runs off. Then blind date guy shows up with flowers, sees the situation, and calls the police. The trauma of a raped woman is played perfectly by Rosamund Pike. However, this is where the movie goes off the rails. When she is interviewed by the police post-rape, and asked if she knew her rapist she says yes, and in the next scene we see them arresting the restaurant worker she bumped into seconds before the tracheotomy scene. So, she lets this guy into her house thinking he is the blind-date guy but then recognized him from the restaurant? Huh? Why did she not recognize him at the door as the guy from the restaurant? Her nurse co-worker says that the blind date guy works with her husband. Does she know the friend's husband works in the restaurant where she did the tracheotomy? And if he doesn't, why does she recognize the restaurant guy and let him in thinking he is her blind date? I would have expected some dialog like, "You're my blind date? I saw you in that restaurant where I saved the choking victim," or some such. We only find out that he saw her in the restaurant saving the choking victim near the end of the film. Then she deals with the PTSD of her rape by befriending the rapist over a period of weeks or months in what almost seems like seduction. This makes no sense the way it is shown in the film. There are allusions to prison rape where the rapist has got like a hundred stitches down his side when a gang shanked him and when he gets paroled he says intimate things about missing his cellmate. Did he rape his cellmate and that's why they ganged up on him and shanked him or was he the one raped? We never know because there is no exposition. Then there is a subplot where she poisons her father's dog because he jumped on her and ripped her dress. WTH?? And we only get that admission at the end of the film as well as finding out she let her mother die. Before that, she seems to have made friends with the dog and the only warning we get that she may be doing something to the dog is that her father, played sympathetically by Nick Nolte, notices changes in the dog's behavior or health, wanting to take him to the vet. Why didn't he? He would have found out that his daughter was poisoning his dog with "hospital food." Hospital food is awful and I doubt a dog would even eat it, but that is how it is played. She gives the dog "hospital food" from a small baggie that looks like it would only hold pills. Then when we get to the climax of the story, where she is torturing the rapist, we never see exactly what she did to him. Did she castrate him? Did she cut his legs off? We know she cut his left hand off because we see blood on the blanket around where his wrist is (though we clearly see his hand moving under the blanket), and there is a scene involving a clearly, rubber novelty cut-off hand (the kind you can get at Halloween) flopping on the floor. Seriously? You couldn't get a prop better than this? What did she do to him? In the one scene when she flips the blanket off, we should have the bloody, shock of what she did to him as he is screaming but the scene cuts away to her visiting her seemingly catatonic father. She tells the father that the rapist won't ever come around again, then fade to black. What?! The movie ends abruptly just like that. Are we to assume she killed him? Or is he being kept alive for more torture in her basement? Being a nurse she would know how to do that. And as another reviewer pointed out, what about his parole officer? Parolees have to report to a parole officer, wouldn't he be missed with witnesses including her dad knowing the rapist was working at her house? This movie is a mess and a disappointment to Rosamund Pike fans. Nick Nolte is great, but I think I lost respect for Rosamund Pike who is now typecast into the same role as in Gone Girl, a vastly better film.

Tulsa King: Go West, Old Man (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

Not "The Sopranos" That's For Sure

[4/10 · 21 November 2022]

When I saw the promos for this show, I was excited to see an older Stallone embracing his heritage, and playing a mobster. I cannot believe he has never played one before this show. He certainly looks the part of a Mafia goombah. The premise of the show is that after spending 25 years in prison and keeping his oath of Omerta, Stallone's character, Dwight David Manfredi has nothing to return to. His wife divorced him, his daughter disowned him, and his Borgata aka Mafia Family has moved on. They suggest he go to Tulsa, OK and start some kind of organized crime syndicate there. Why Tulsa? I don't know. It is an odd choice of Western cities to send him to. It looked like an ironic, comedic Sopranos in the New West. I thought it was an interesting concept. However, it doesn't work, at least the way it is currently written. First off, no Italian family would name their kid Dwight David (after General Eisenhower). The very concept of an Italian Mafioso with a name like Dwight is laughable. Italians from the generation of Dwight's parents would only choose a Catholic saint's name for their son. Then the concept that he comes out of 25 years in prison not knowing about anything of the present day is ridiculous. He doesn't know about Uber or smartphones? Did no one from his crew ever visit him? Was there no TV in the prison that the inmates watched? The next stupid thing is that he bullies and threatens the legal pot dealer into paying him extortion money. Why didn't the pot dealer just call the police? His product is legal and his business legitimate. The minute Dwight left, I would be on the phone to the cops. Yet, Dwight goes around assaulting and beating up everyone yet no one calls the cops. Here's another stupid bit of writing: He askes the lady at the front desk of his motel to call him a cab and she says they don't have cabs, just Uber. That is nonsense! Tulsa, like most places, has some form of taxicab service. How did they survive before Uber? Dumb. The only redeeming quality is Stallone. He plays the Italian mobster role very well. The show has a lot of promise but the writing needs to be better. The dialog is completely unrealistic, the supporting characters are uninspired, boring stereotypes and the situations Dwight and Tyson get into are ridiculous. I hope it gets better.

Hawaii Five-O: Leopard on the Rock (1969) Season 2, Episode 11

Typical Five-O Confusion

[5/10 · 14 April 2022]

In the episode, it is stated that Jakall is a dictator of an Asian nation. They didn't even make up a fake country name, just referring to it as "Jakall's Country." The actor playing the dictator is Greek, doing what sounds like a Spanish-speaking English accent, not an Asian one and looks Hispanic despite being Greek. The names of the dictator's countrymen, sound a bit like Malaysian or Indonesian but clearly they aren't. Otherwise the plot is good but the ridiculous casting is why I gave it a five.

The Afterparty: Aniq (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

Hysterical

[8/10 · 9 February 2022]

I had seen this advertised so much, I finally broke down to watch it. And I was not disappointed. The first episode was very funny. Tiffany Haddish is funny as a quirky detective. It was well acted and all the players were fantastic. A truly stellar cast. I can't wait to see the rest of the series.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Space Vampire (1980) Season 1, Episode 12

Bram Stoker in the 25th Century

[2/10 · 30 November 2021]

This is the most ridiculous episode in a ridiculous show. It's like the producers gave up on creating a legitimate sci-fi action show for a campy sci-fi parody in the style of 60s TV show "Batman." The Vorvon aka vampire isn't scary, but comical with the worst unibrow ever and fangs that are apparently for show, because it drains blood through its fingers on a person's neck. Wilma is Mina, Buck is Jonathan Harkness, and the audience is incredulous. Only his victims can see the vampire until the end of the show when everyone can see him in order to fight him. And of course, Wilm completely cured of being a vampire. Such a disappointment from the beginning of the season.

Fantasy Island: The Ghost's Story/The Spoilers (1982) Season 5, Episode 22

Stupidest Episode Ever

[1/10 · 18 October 2021]

I have loved Fantasy Island since I was a child. And yes some of the stories are ridiculous or poorly written and unhistorical. However, I still enjoy the show. This episode is without a doubt the most ridiculous one I have yet seen. A cowardly ghost who is cursed to haunt a house yet; he can leave, wear moden clothes, and go to the pool area of the resort? There is no explanation how he was able to be so scary that there is a $100,000 reard for anyone who can stay in the house for 2 hours and 2 men run out traumatized after 5 minutes, but Tanya Robert's has no problem and helps the ghost. How about this for a line, "A 25 year old girl with a 250 year old ghost is a big age gap." And because she falls in love with him of course,, he ends up leaving the island with her. At least it wasn't the "So and so had a Fantasy too," tripe they usually use. The other story was only slightly better. Dr. Kelly Garrett from Emergency is being hunted by a bounty hunter because of bank robbery which, of course, didn't commit, falls in love with a lonely window, and chaos the bounty hunter who's after him. Total dreck!

Bliss (I) (2021)

Not at All What I Was Expecting

[4/10 · 23 August 2021]

The ads for this film on Amazon Prime imply that this is a Sci-fi film about alternate realities, similar to "The Matrix." Regrettably, this is not that film. It is not a Sci-fi film at all. Admittedly, the busty and beautiful Salma Hayek attracted me to watch this film, and she does look beautiful even as a homeless woman. But I have never regretted a decision more, having watched this turkey.

SPOILER ALERT FROM HERE ON:

Salma Hayek is addiction personified and it is a good part for her to play because I would never have watched this film had she not been looking sexy in the beautiful surroundings of Split, Croatia, where this was filmed. It looks like a beautiful Greek island or the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

The movie is about the sordid world of drug addiction, in particular crystal meth addiction, mental illness, and homelessness, from the users point of view, I suppose. Bill Nye the Science Guy has a funny cameo in the film as both himself and a fictional version of himself. The film's pace is very slow and uninteresting until Salma Hayek enters the picture. After her arrival, the pace picks up a bit with plenty of boob shaking action from Salma as she runs around a lot in a tank top. Despite this, the picture is just awful and depressing. And with all the money he has made, why can't Owen Wilson get his nose fixed? I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it's distracting.

If you were looking for a brilliant Sci-fi film about alternate realities, do NOT watch this film. It is slow moving and as dry as a peanut butter sandwich on toast without any milk to wash it down. I cannot believe after all the hits these two actors have had, they did this piece of crap. Most disappointing.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Negative Comments Aside, This Movie is a Blast

[10/10 · 6 August 2021]

There are several mentions of the Vietnam War in this picture, which is fitting; because this is basically the Vietnam War done as a Sci-Fi film. I kept thinking of parallels to Platoon as I watched it. The forced drafts to go to a war that is pointless, the massive death counts, the demonstrations and riots. At one point the main character tries to flee after being drafted, like many did during the Vietnam War era; fleeing to Canada. The enemy they are fighting has many natural advantages, just as the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong did with their ability to conduct guerilla ops and to utilize the jungle, tunnels, and knowledge of territory to their advantage.

The Vietnamese beat the crap out of the French, and so the US was brought in, when all that started to go badly, LBJ escalated the war with massive drafts. Basically the future people are France and the present people are the US. However, unlike Vietnam, the twist comes in the second half of the movie when the main character's daughter figures out a way to use biological warfare to win.

Many of the reviews on here for this film speak of plot holes. Show me the film that doesn't have plot holes if you really want to look for them. Most films have some kind of plot hole, if you really think and pick apart the storyline. I admit, that I kept thinking, "why didn't they just nuke the aliens?" Or, "since fire seems to kill them pretty well, why not use incendiary bombs and flame throwers?" What it comes down to for me is: Was I entertained? Did what I see affect me emotionally? Did the film take me to someplace else?

The answer to these three questions is an absolute YES. I was entertained, I was invested in the story emotionally, and I forgot real life for 2 hours as I was transported to the future. The acting by Chris Pratt is stellar. I had no idea he was that good of an actor. The supporting cast including JK Simmons, was equally up to the task and excellent. The CGI was amazing, very lifelike. It may not be a great film, but it's not "Sharknado." It is a good, entertaining, well made film. If you are not into Sci-Fi, then don't watch it. If you want a suspenseful, thrilling ride, then this movie is an excellent choice.

John Adams (2008)

Well done for look but grossly inaccurate.

[6/10 · 10 September 2020]

I watched this miniseries when is first came out in 2008. As a history buff, I enjoyed it. Now, I am rewatching it as a history student working towards my PhD. And it is utterly laughable how they place Adams in the center of everything in places he could not have been. In the first episode, Adams literally walks out his front door to the State House square where the Boston Massacre happened, as if it were around the corner. NOT TRUE! Adams wasn't at his "in-town" residence during the Massacre and even if he were, he would have to run a few blocks to get there while the bodies were on the ground, not just walk around the corner. In the second episode which takes place on April 19, 1775, the date of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, he hears shots, rides his horse from his farm located in Quincy, Massachusetts, south of Boston and within minutes is at the site of a skirmish with Redcoats and Patriots lying all around wounded and dead. Lexington and Concord are approximately 30 miles away to the Northwest of where John Adams' farm was located. I doubt he would have heard musket fire from 30 miles away. Even in a modern automobile, avoiding interstate highways (there were none in 1775), it would take an hour to get there. By horse, even at a full gallop, around 90 minutes to 2 hours. Now granted, he might have rode approximately 10 miles North, because as the British soldiers were marching back to Boston, the Patriots were skirmishing with them from cover of trees, and come upon the result of one of those skirmishes closer to Boston, but even then, muskets are not as loud as a modern gun and I find it hard to believe he would have heard yelling, screaming, and gunshots from 10 miles away. And that is the first two episodes. All in all, it is a good attempt to educate the public to give them a sense of what life was like during the founding of the United States but for serious students and scholars of History, don't bother watching.

McCloud: The 42nd Street Cavalry (1974) Season 5, Episode 4

Ridiculous

[2/10 · 27 July 2019]

How long does it take a lawman from Taos, NM to learn about big city police work? Apparently, 7 years. And why does a lawman from Taos, NM even need to learn big city police work? The whole premise of McCloud was dumb but this episode is the most unbelievable plot I have ever seen on television. McCloud gets assigned to the NYPD Mounted Unit training department in Pelham Bay Park. As a NYer I can tell you, that's not where it is located. While there, he sexually harasses a female cop in mounted training, who repeatedly asks him to stop hitting on her and consider her only as a cop; not a female cop. This scene could be used in a sexual harassment training video. I guess it was the time period. How things have changed? Then after getting involved in a chase with bad guys, a cop gets killed and McCloud involves himself and the Mounted Unit trainees in an elaborate undercover sting, complete with McCloud being thrown in jail with a suspect, escaping from custody with the same suspect during a road block superbly acted out by the trainees including fake gun play with blanks in the guns. But it works in getting the female trainee and McCloud in with the bad guys. What utter nonscence!

King Charles III (2017 TV Movie)

A poor Shakespearean version of the English royals

[1/10 · 25 March 2019]

This film is an absolute insult to the monarchy! It is nonsense that the monarch would defend freedom of the press while Parliament would want to restrict freedom of the press. Charles acts more like Francis Urqhart from House of Cards than the actual Charles would. This teleplay based on a stage play is very much how Shakespeare would probably write it, but Shakespeare never wrote about current monarchs. He wrote about past monarchs where the history was a bit more subject to interpretation. The fact that this film errs completely from the actual people it portrays, Charles, William, Harry, Kate, and Camilla, is not only an insult to them but an insult to Shakespeare. No one in this film acts as the real person They are portaying would. Kate Middleton, as a conniving, Lady MacBeth type? BS! William as a insecure, confused weakling? BS! William is an officer in the Royal Army. And the first statement, Charles makes after his mother dies? "Finally, I am king. I thought she would never die." Could you imagine Prince Charles who works so hard in philanthropy as Prince of Wales being happy that his mom is dead so he can now be king? GARBAGE! It would have been much more appropriate with a fictional monarchy in a alternate universe UK. Don't waste your time on this crap. Watch "The Crown" instead.

The Titan Games (2019– )

American Ninja Warrior is better

[4/10 · 13 January 2019]

With NBC promoting the crap out of this show I was eager to see it. After watching 4 episodes, meh, I'm bored and don't care who wins. It is very repetitive. They have the same 5 or 6 challenges swapped in and out. Many of the matches are very lopsided, with Dwayne Johnson's wrestling background, possibly even scripted. For example, in one challenge where 2 women were pushing on opposite sides of a wall that slides on a 45° arc: Woman A has pushed Woman B almost off the platform (the goal) then like Hulk Hogan rising from the mat after a brutal beating, Woman B recovers and wins. ??? Whether scripted or not, these contestants are incredible athletes. But it is just boring with the same bunch of challenges over and over again leading to a monotonous "Mount Olympus" showdown that almost always ends with someone running away while the other person is bogged down somewhere. It is exciting the first 2 or 3 times I saw it now it is just predictable and boring. With American Ninja Warrior, it always feels fresh and new because they have all sorts of clever obstacles to get through. Even though that is basically the same show each broadcast, the contestants wear outlandish, homemade costumes and the banter of the hosts is enjoyable. With all the variation of obstacles and them adding new ones all the time it always feels fresh and exciting. The Titan Games are a titanic snorefest.

Castaways (2018)

Survivor on CBS does it better

[3/10 · 12 August 2018]

Terrible, if you want to see a castaways survival show, watch Survivor on CBS.

Beauty and the Beast (I) (2017)

I don't understand the hatred

[8/10 · 4 July 2018]

There are so many bad reviews for this film that I'm wondering if I saw the same film. I read all of the negative reviews and all I can say is, this is not the 1991 animated Disney version, GET OVER IT! I enjoyed this film and isn't that the point to get enjoyment? I think some of not all of these negative reviewers are just haters who before even seeing the film had their minds made up to trash it and then found ways to do it. Fiactorrstly, yes, I agree that Emma Watson was miscast. Her singing isn't horrible but it isn't up to par to be the heroine of a musical. Ewan MacGregor is a very good singer (see Moulin Rouge) but his version of Be Our Guest is a little flat compared to Jerry Orbach. In his defense, Jerry Orbach started out as a Broadway musical actor, MacGregor did not. That's a big pair of shoes to fill. His accent was not too bad which is one of the biggest complaints I saw. He sounded authentically French which is to not do a parody of Maurice Chevalier. This is what most actors do including what Jerry Orbach did. I thought Dan Stevens was good as the beast but the CGI make-up was a mistake, it would have been better to use traditional prosthetics. Josh Gad was very funny and stole most of the scenes he was in. The change in Gaston from conceited fool to conceited villain was also not a good change. Unlike most of the reviewers, I thought the CGI effects were good and really enjoyed what they did during Be Our Guest. Could the film have been better, perhaps, but it was not deserving of the horrible things people had to say about it. It certainly deserved better than 1 or 2 stars. If you don't believe me, look at the Metascore which is based on professional film critics. It is green and a fairly high score.

Taxi Brooklyn (2014)

Not Too Bad If You Suspend Disbelief

[6/10 · 2 July 2014]

Firstly, I have not seen the pilot for this show yet. I only watched the second episode of it because it came on after America's Got Talent and I was too lazy to change the channel. I enjoyed the show but have the following problems with it:

1. NYC taxis have a plastic divider between the front seats and rear seats. This cab doesn't have one for obvious reasons of all shows set in NYC, to see the passengers in the back. But it's still wrong.

2. NYC taxis are in no way as "souped up" as this taxicab is. It's insane, the stunts this guy does with his cab are impossible for the average driver to do in a standard taxicab with standard suspension, engine, transmission, and tires.

3. There is no explanation for why he is such a skillful driver or why he is as observant as Sherlock Holmes in finding clues and analyzing them.

a. Perhaps they could come up with a back-story that he was a detective in his native country (France) who raced cars as a hobby.

4. Why is Chyler Leigh's character such a c--t? She is thoroughly unlikable despite being a sexy bitch.

5. While the cab driver is always complaining about losing fares giving the female detective rides, he seems to spend as much time investigating as she does. Why doesn't he just drop her off and then split; to pick up fares which is his living?

This show has much promise with good chemistry between the main characters, good plot lines, and lots of great action scenes. The producers just need to work on filling in the loose ends. If you're looking for a more realistic cop show, watch Law & Order this is just for escapist entertainment on par with "Knight Rider" and "The A-Team".

Believe (2014)

Worst production values ever

[1/10 · 30 March 2014]

This show looks more like a film student's project than a professionally made TV show. Scenes supposed to be in Atlantic City, NJ are obviously shot in and around NYC & it's environs which look nothing like the real Atlantic City. I laugh every episode when I see a goof or ridiculous plot twist. Examples of low production value: they try to pass off the NYC subway for a commuter train from Philadelphia and pass off the Resorts World racino at Aquaduct racetrack for an Atlantic City casino (love the addition of a craps table which the racino is not allowed to have). A.C. is only 3 hours away, why not just shoot it there? Even the NYPD uniforms are wrong and laughable. I just don't get it. With all the money and talent in NYC's film industry, why are the sets, costumes, and locations so badly wrong? It looks amateurish.

Then you have bad plot lines and stupid plot twists which you can read in other reviews on IMDb. I BELIEVE that NBC should just cancel this piece of crap.