svtcobra331 Reviews

Alice's Fishy Story (1924)

What planktonrules said, except

[5/10 · 12 April 2024]

Note that there was a black kid, he was pulling the wagon that the fat kid was in. Funny for the time, I guess. The Little Faux Rascals did look very much like the real Rascals. So that was fun.

As a fan of how films are created, it's fascinating to behold these early works where filmmakers were essentially hobbyists and not artists. Walt Disney wasn't a comedian with a sense for comedic timing, he was a hobbyist integrating live action with animation, and if he drew a cat skating for way longer than is funny, then by God he will include the entire uncut scene.

Hey, films were new, we can't expect Shakespeare... or South Park.

Doona! (2023– )

Brilliant Artistry

[10/10 · 17 November 2023]

This series grabs you, and students of film should be required to study all the brilliant techniques, pacing, shot composition, story, likeable characters, tragic yet likeable characters, selfless characters, simply a brilliant production.

The story continued to surprise the viewer by breaking cliches, and one innovative character trait was a character who was comfortable asking uncomfortable questions and seeing through the fake answers people gave. Message: relationships must be built on truth.

Also, the story told was new: that the point of dating was not to live happily ever after, but to become a better, more mature person.

China Beach (1988–1991)

Fun for left wingers

[3/10 · 2 August 2023]

This show is fun if you like to celebrate defeat without possibility of success. The entire army was portrayed as lusting for war but totally incompetent. They were never portrayed as professional, thoughtful, passionate, patriotic, etc... The main character is a cork floating down the river, metaphorically. She is always subjected to the insanity of war, since it is depicted as something that is inconvenient to her. (mind: blown) She goes through VC tunnels that are really scary, and magically comes up pretty close to her own base... wow, the metaphor, so subtle.

She goes home on leave, and while having whiskey with her breakfast takes the time out to enjoy the snap-crackle-pop of milk on her Rice Crispies. Epic storytelling, right?

This show wasn't MASH. It's not Tour of Duty. It's more like 1990 sensibilities were somehow placed in 1968 people, and there is the turnoff: when Vietnam was being discussed, people who were in favor of the war and people who were against it were all good people.

China Beach oversimplifies everything as either good or bad. Yawn.

King the Land (2023)

The low ratings are crazy

[9/10 · 1 August 2023]

This show got off to a slow start, and it's less fun when some characters are just blindly ragingly mean.

But the two leads have good chemistry, the gals hanging out is fun, and Mr Ngo is passable comic relief. This show introduces a little, and ever episode introduces a little more.

The chemistry of this story is basically Mary Poppins in a dog-eat-dog world, some far-fetched though passable events that make for escapist storytelling, and the Little Women theme of surviving in the modern world.

It wouldn't be a KDrama if the handsome lead didn't meet up with the most gorgeous gal in the world... who has a BF.

Again, the first couple episodes are OK, but the story gets more interesting.

Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)

Great study of humanity

[9/10 · 26 February 2023]

This is not the star trek where Jordi technobabbles or the Enterprise is doomed but five minutes before the hour Kirk pulls off another miracle. This show takes the time to tell one story per season, with an overwhelming theme of "humanity" and "family" that are the subject of the fiction.

And Season 2, with the theme of relationships (running from them, needing them, the pain of losing someone, etc) has a ton of heart.

Slight downgrade for the depiction of ICE agents... Seriously, a police/ICE raid without covering the back door? I'll believe the transporters and Borg Queens, but not modern cops failing to follow the most basic operating practice.

Good show, though.

1899 (2022)

Brilliant story... really slow start

[8/10 · 8 January 2023]

This is one of those series that gifts the audience with plot twists and wonderful anachronisms.

About anachronisms: there are bad ones due to lazy filmmaking (e.g. Referring to Youtube in a movie set in 2004) and there are good ones meant to reveal that there is more to the story, such as the palmtops in the short-lived series Ascension.

1899 is a well-done dark story with the look-and-feel of a horror film. The ship plays the role of a haunted house and the cast is not winnowed by the cliche mistakes such as "let's split up".

There is a mystery to be solved, and the tech that keeps popping up adds to the mystery. This film qualifies as sci-fi, you'll see why.

Then there's the ending. The viewer gets the impression that an accountant stuck his head in the writer's room and said "ok, you've got ten minutes to wrap it all up"... so they enter a whirlpool?????? Wait, is the Life On Mars the American version?

The show is an epic journey, though.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Ugh

[4/10 · 17 December 2022]

Bleak with no point. A loser has a poorly thought out idea, the bleak reality of the sex trade, and out of nowhere a lethal disease. I have no idea why anyone thinks this film is cinematically significant. The answer must have to do with the naked bodies, the suggestion of s&m, and the guy giving John Voit a bj just out of the shot.

Fans of filmmaking will enjoy comparing the shot of Voit on the crowded New York sidewalk, grainy with blue tones, to the vivid and colorful shot of Dustin Hoffman in full regalia as Tootsie.

Getting back to this film, there's no hero to root for, it's very similar in bleak oppressiveness to Papillon, which also was a miserable viewing experience.

Wednesday (2022– )

Brilliant

[9/10 · 27 November 2022]

Tim Burton's sense of the dark and Ms Ortega's surgical skill in deadpan delivery make this an explosion of smart, fun escapism. It is as effective at creating an alternate/undiscovered reality as the Harry Potter series.

Cliches approach, and then are dashed. Lots of stereotypical characters are introduced, then the cover is opened to reveal the book inside. So aside from all the deliciously morose humor, the mysterious monster, and tension between the townies and cutters (ref: Breaking Away), is the wonderful and sometimes painful interaction of the students as they themselves grow and sometimes grow together. Aside from the ones that die.

Double Threat (2022)

Fun movie for youths

[6/10 · 18 October 2022]

The story and execution... lol, not this movie's strong point. A lot of WTH moments that would never make it into a big budget movie.

Oh no, the guy fell over the edge of a precipice that the filmmakers didn't define how high it was...did he died?

Oh, they're heading west... everyone knows there are no paved roads between Saint Louis and the Pacific Ocean. That sort of thing.

OTOH.... Very solid Yvonne Strahovsky(sp?) -esque actress, which is essentially like saying "modern day Katherine Hepburn ".

Fine actors who really breathed life into their characters, very good dialog, interesting core question: are we who we want to be, or who we have to be to survive.

This movie ain't Shakespeare but I enjoyed it.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

LOL "horror"

[2/10 · 23 September 2022]

There were so many jokes made about this film in the 70s that one night in college when they showed it for $1 I had to see it.

I like a cult film or a good horror film. But this film was just poor in every regard. The story, the acting, the fake suspense (it's not really suspenseful if nobody is stupid enough to yell "here I am" while trying to hide). Even the film was cheap.

The laugher: it was during the Cold War and there were a hundred Japanese foreign exchange students in the theater with up. The movie was so stupid that all the Americans were laughing hard. At one particularly ridiculous moment, doubled over in laughter, I turned and looked at this Japanese gal named Miko. She and all her friends were holding hands and were in absolute terror, and she looked at me doubled over in laughter.

I guess if it's the first horror movie you've ever seen it might be ok, but we all know the jokes that have been made about this genre: Badguy chases girl, she has the option of choosing a gun, knife, grenade, or banana, and grabs the banana.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)

Freedom

[10/10 · 19 August 2022]

This is the true story of a people who struggled against oppression to seize control of their own destiny.

A people who stood up for their own sovereignty, not allowing Vlad Putin to choose their dictator. It is a modern day struggle for civil rights, no different than Martin Luther King Jr's struggles in the south, except this time the oppressor has machine guns and likes using them.

Uncharted (2022)

Goonies, but with more budget

[6/10 · 13 August 2022]

Good movie for teens, no real point to the movie, just lots of ancient clues in public places that have survived the Spanish civil war and land developers. This is a film that is a business project designed to generate money, versus Indiana Jones having a moral high ground.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022)

Off the charts delightful

[10/10 · 28 July 2022]

Firstly, the story is the predictable idiot savant story. So forget the destination, because the journey to get there is sheer delight.

The viewer is taken into the customs of Korea, into realistic problems of aging couples, the justice system, being on a new job, and the autistic person who seems to be oblivious to menace, but then at times will just shut down, holding her head in her arms, unable to cope.

The acting is first rate, I can't say the dialog is wonderful because I don't speak Korean, but the subtitles are spot-on.

The autism isn't so much a focus as a dramatic tool in telling a story. WYW understands that she is an adult, but she relates to her father as a child, and has a child-like fascination with whales. Her character is essentially Pinocchio... or maybe a humanoid robot like Arisa.

Dramatically, WYW presents as an almost comical robot, though highly intelligent and watchable. The comedy, aside from one extended "gurgling stomach" scene, is smart. The characters are human, sensitive, and honorable, which makes for pleasant watching.

The artistry of this series is also stunning. My goodness, it felt like Heaven seeing WYW in a wedding dress.

The Sea Beast (2022)

Call me Ishmael

[9/10 · 17 July 2022]

This is a friggen cartoon yet I'm blown away by the storytelling. Well done and a fine update to... oh belay that. This is a story that contrasts reality with fake news, and careers with family... well done. I do, however, despise the new cliche of "child of color" is more stable and knowledgeable than heterosexual white male... constantly... for the entire movie.

Vacation (1983)

Not funny

[2/10 · 15 July 2022]

I remember seeing this film in 1983, it had just opened, the audience was a college crowd in a great mood ready for some good laughs.

The movie started and it was soon clear that the writers had substituted stupidity for comedy. The entire theater was silent throughout the movie except for a few chuckles at the incredibly ugly car. We all left the theater in silence.

Worst comedy ever.

12 Strong (2018)

OK, but too Hollywood

[6/10 · 15 July 2022]

Saving Private Ryan set the gold standard for war movies. War, from a soldier's standpoint, is about watching the people next to you die randomly, and that zinging sound could be a bullet that will randomly select someone to die.

Any specOps movie is already in the real danger of being a chest-thumping jingoistic movie. This was no exception. All the cliches were there: The soldier who promises his wife he'll return, the soldier who shows up to base unshaven and out of uniform "because he wants to serve", and don't get me started about the battle scene.

In fairness, the logistics elements were well handled and the reality of war being about uncomfortable flights, unknown venues, not knowing what's next, that was well done. The principle ally was well portrayed.

But this movie claims to honor some huge battle, and it does this how? Anyone remember the Lone Ranger TV show, where the LR would be riding Silver at full speed and firing away with his revolver, landing every shot? Anyone remember the show Man From Uncle, where the badguys with machineguns in a concrete position had elevated shots at the goodguys, who came charging in broad daylight shooting their brens from the hip, taking out all the badguys without losing a goodguy?

That's this movie's final scene. Just awful.

Oh, but with 100 goodguys on horses in a cavalry charge against 100 guys with AK-47s (who would do that?) a couple extras got shot off their horses... and thank goodness no horse got shot (sarcasm). It seems like Hollywood's ability to compose a battle scene hasn't improved much since John Ford's Stagecoach, where the passengers were able to pick off Indians.... Indigenous Americans, whilst the Indigenous Americans were totally unable to do anything to the passengers.

Whoever had the job to choreograph the battle scenes was overpaid.

This is a good movie for highschool students and right wingers, but it's little more than a shoot-em-up movie.

Level 16 (2018)

Clever and suspenseful

[9/10 · 13 July 2022]

Excellent acting by everyone involved.

Excellent, off-the-wall setting and a new story idea (for once).

This is a classic suspense film that film students should study. It dances between the genres of "horror", "suspense", and "sci fi". I wasn't sure what I was watching, and the style of the settings is a triumph of imagination over cgi budgets.

This is a dark film, so it's not going to be a good date-night film unless your other half is cool. It's slower paced, there's no naked women, so I'm not sure teens or twenty somethings will like it... and it demands that you look up away from your phone, so addicts probably won't "get it".

For the rest of us, it's a fine film.

The Love War (1970 TV Movie)

A good film and great window into history

[9/10 · 11 July 2022]

This film was a well-crafted story. It still works as a film that's based on a story rather than characters or production values. Ms Dickinson shines as the wholesome girl-next-door with just the right amount of verve.

The basic story is that two teams are going to fight for Earth's destiny. One team is evil cheaters that wants to destroy Earth, the other team altruistically wants to preserver Earth for its own inhabitants. The movie becomes interesting when debating the question of "who are we to fight" and "these people are warlike anyway".

Film fans will enjoy this movie.

Historians will also enjoy seeing 1970s California. Billboards, not so many cars, no imported cars.

Then there's the cringeworthy: it used to be an acceptable plot mechanism that a beautiful woman sits next to the handsome man and they form a connection. That doesn't work so much in a modern film. Excusable since the film was on a budget and they didn't have budget for a time lapse where the couple eventually meets. It still caused cringe, though.

A bit of shame also: every extra in the movie is white. This was AFTER all the civil rights marches. So if anyone today thinks a switch just got flipped and all the racial problems went away, this film, like all other films and tv shows of the era, didn't employ people of color. This is historically noteworthy but doesn't make it a bad or offensive film.

Fans of the movie making process can savor all of the modern techniques that could have been used to add impact to certain scenes and if drone cameras were available back then the battle scenes could have been better choreographed.

Three solid actors in this movie, including "Dan Travanty" still sporting a squeaky voice. Mr Bridges was my hero as a kid watching Sea Hunt, and he did fine. Ms Dickinson was very easy on the eyes and played an early version of an empowered woman who was still feminine and likeable. Not the distant kung fu expert of Emma Peel nor the bumbling but competent That Girl. Just a gal you like to be around that has your back and knows what she wants.

The Terminal List (2022– )

Ruined by one or two scenes.

[7/10 · 5 July 2022]

The overall story was pretty clever and well told. The things that can be forgiven: 1. Hollywood thinks SEALS have massive upper bodies versus the real-world decathlete body.

2. The cliche "mean old military" show of force against the FBI.

3. The cliche "old officer wants to cash in".

4. The cliche "pursued goodguy saves pursuer's life".

The things that can't be forgiven: 1. Actors having no idea how doctors, officers, and secDefs carry themselves in real life.

2. In no possible galaxy would a secDef allow a reporter to yell at her for an extended period.

3. A reporter's job is to get the story, this reporter goes postal with a bunch of touchy-feely accusations that don't apply in the real world.

Snowflake Mountain (2022)

An Exercise In Morbid Curiosity

[2/10 · 25 June 2022]

A science fiction story from sixty years ago envisioned a future society in which wealth, combined with physical and intellectual laziness, led to a class of people who valued a grotesque appearance. Fact follows fiction.

These people are all downers. They are lazy, arrogant, somewhat stupid... who would want to watch these guys? They're like background characters from the old Starsky and Hutch tv show.

I watched the first episode... that's enough for me.

Black Summer (2019–2021)

Both Brilliant and Awful

[7/10 · 12 June 2022]

A viewer has to excuse a lot. Why are the lights on, how does everyone have electric lanterns everywhere that still have good batteries, and why do they leave them on all throughout a large mansion. Why do these people try to hold onto a full auto weapon when they know a single headshot is all that's needed?

Some of that is excusable... ok, a terrible zombie plague happened and people are terrified to go outside, that explains the fully stocked stores. And it's early in the apocalypse, so we're with the first and second group of scavengers. And night scenes of the Mansion need to show the other rooms, so to tell the story the viewer needs to see the room back there, so excesses of lanterns is for dramatic intent.

But this show isn't about an essay on humanity/society as is Walking Dead, it's primarily a horror show. And I must admit that I did jump once or twice. As a horror show, the zombies do need to be a bit more menacing than the predictable walkers we all know and love. I wouldn't mind a certain speed increase, but these zombies turn too fast. The story misses the slow separation of body and soul, and the conversion is no more meaningful that another blonde getting stabbed in those 80s slasher films.

Another weakness stems from Hollywood writers and actors not knowing the first thing about guns or military tactics. The way several armed groups with trigger fingers approached the stadium, ugh. They couldn't possibly think up having scouts, covering fire, etc. It was just a bunch of untrained loonies with fully automatic weapons and shotguns.

And the stereotypes. If society breaks down (when?) and a thug strongman has access to a potential trophy wife, sorry, but he's gonna tell her that he has a plan and they can run away together. Versus the Hollywood 'he's going to try to rape her, but the cavalry will arrive Just In Time!.

Saving graces: The horror elements are well crafted.

The acting is solid.

Solid production values.

The story stays interesting.

Stupid people meet their just rewards.

The Protégé (2021)

Smart Movie

[9/10 · 1 April 2022]

Very effective use of film noir and the classic Hollywood Detective genre, Masquerading as an action shoot-em-up flick.

Samuel Jackson blesses us with an epiphany of good bad and evil as he did in Plip Fiction.

One or two plot twists, which is always fun.

The ending leaves one saying "that was stupid", then " wait I don't get it", and finally "OOOHHH!" People who say the movie is crummy probably didn't actually get the ending.

Inventing Anna (2022)

Brilliant acting, characters, and presentation

[10/10 · 25 February 2022]

This story is smart, so mouthbreathers won't like it.

Ms Garner nails the role. If the viewer knows nothing of the real story they are kept in suspense as to what are Anna's motivations and background.

The way Anna affects people who meet her, the brilliance she exhibits, and the relationships between Viv & her husband and coworkers are gold.

There's also a Downton Abbey sort of fun by having a peak into the Socialite world.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (2022)

Important topic but poorly researched.

[5/10 · 25 February 2022]

We already knew that the crashes were caused by MCAS, that Boeing tried hard to blame the pilots, and that Boeing "gamed" the FAA to get the 'Max out there. Two things that I heard for the first time on this documentary were: 1. After the Boeing/McDonnell merger, the McDonnell people took over. (how absurd is that?) 2. There was little chance that the MCAS could be deactivated in time should the need arise.

So that's all fine, and Boeing deserves to be taken to the woodshed for the MCAS disasters, but the lame reporter knows nothing about aircraft or design. They spent a lot of time talking to assembly workers, implying that they were being forced to ship aircraft with manufacturing problems when in fact the crashes were due to a single point failure in the design.

The documentary didn't spend one sentence on how that was allowed to occur.

I believe that the military has a version of that aircraft, they identified the single point failure, and said "nope", requiring additional hardware to be installed. Not a word on that in the documentary.

How effective of a fix is a software patch when the problem only happens when a piece of hardware fails?

And where is the outrage over Boeing's initial work-around: "if the aircraft pitches down uncontrollably, disengage MCAS".... I would either turn MCAS off on the taxiway or else not pilot the death trap in the first place.

Finally, the documentary exhibits no understanding between the topics of structural integrity, quality inspection on the assembly line, quality built into the design of the aircraft, fly-by-wire systems and their advantages, and how the design process works. The result is a tabloid documentary.

Death to 2021 (2021 TV Special)

Wickedly funny

[10/10 · 30 December 2021]

They captured it all. The Right Wing Infonews nut, the clueless citizens, the scientists, the regal celebrity. Ms Channing seems not to have aged a day in the last half century, and she delivered smokingly devastating one-liners.

I thoroughly enjoyed this the whole way through. LOL @ how they captured the disassociation from reality of the antimaskers and insurrectionists.