moizmad wrote:
SELF/Less - Ryan Reynolds in a screwball drama about new bodies and identites??? Couldn't keep track of who or what is who or what. A 1 and a half on the Moizmeter.

I found that awful and had to quit after half an hour.

PREDESTINATION - Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor…turns out everyone's the same person??? I got completely lost and only Sarah kept me onbored. A 1 on the Moizmeter.

“Love, Death, and Robots” season 2. The only mistake the producers made with this show was to market it it as a group of edgy, daring, innovative science-fiction short stories. Now, if they had marketed it as a group of tired, hackneyed science-fiction cliches that have been done to death a million times over the past forty years, I would have at least given them credit for honesty.

The first episode in this collection is cute and funny. The last episode actually starts to scratch at the surface of thought-provoking originality. The rest are dreck.

It was a classic example of the old Hollywood technique of trying to save a garbage screenplay by throwing a heap of cutting-edge special effects at it and hoping that all the technical bling will distract the viewer from the product's essential emptiness.

@Jamesonmount:

I think you might have put two quotes together by accident. The last part of my comment, which you quoted above,

“I also really liked the old Pablo Escobar series “Narcos”. Where he did whatever he wanted, ate lobsters, killed people, played aussie online casino, it was great. I am very sorry that the second season is over.”

Was not written by me.

OCULUS - from 2013? No name cast, maybe the worst movie I've toughed out for some time, I should get Oscar for lasting all the way. A goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

Fallopiancrusader- that is a hilarious review of love, death and robots. I’m still watching bits of the first season and there’s some good stuff there! The preview for the second season looks exactly how Jamesonmount describes it - all looks exactly the same. Sad to hear it went downhill so badly. The season 2 promos suggested it had.


Not watching much lately, but began the bbc cop drama Line of Duty. A couple episodes in and it’s spectacular. I can’t believe how much has happened in just a couple episodes. The plot is thrilling, and it must be researched VERY deeply. There are nuances to the way the police operate that are fascinating, seem very true to life, and that I’ve never seen explored on other cop shows.

fallopiancrusader wrote:
“Love, Death, and Robots” season 2. The only mistake the producers made with this show was to market it it as a group of edgy, daring, innovative science-fiction short stories. Now, if they had marketed it as a group of tired, hackneyed science-fiction cliches that have been done to death a million times over the past forty years, I would have at least given them credit for honesty.

The first episode in this collection is cute and funny. The last episode actually starts to scratch at the surface of thought-provoking originality. The rest are dreck.

It was a classic example of the old Hollywood technique of trying to save a garbage screenplay by throwing a heap of cutting-edge special effects at it and hoping that all the technical bling will distract the viewer from the product's essential emptiness.

I loved the first season, the second was generally uninspired. Still I'll see what the 3rd season brings to the table.

Genejoke wrote:

fallopiancrusader wrote:
“Love, Death, and Robots” season 2. The only mistake the producers made with this show was to market it it as a group of edgy, daring, innovative science-fiction short stories. Now, if they had marketed it as a group of tired, hackneyed science-fiction cliches that have been done to death a million times over the past forty years, I would have at least given them credit for honesty.

The first episode in this collection is cute and funny. The last episode actually starts to scratch at the surface of thought-provoking originality. The rest are dreck.

It was a classic example of the old Hollywood technique of trying to save a garbage screenplay by throwing a heap of cutting-edge special effects at it and hoping that all the technical bling will distract the viewer from the product's essential emptiness.

I loved the first season, the second was generally uninspired. Still I'll see what the 3rd season brings to the table.

For me, the first season seemed to take more risks and was more imaginative both in the stories and styles. It resulted in some excellent pieces and some that were just awful but at least they were uniquely awful. The second season fell into the mediocre, not daring to take risks.

I'm watching old episodes of Futurama and American Dad on Disney +
They're both good stuff. :)

I've also started watching White Collar.
It was always advertised after the old episodes of Miami Vice I was going through a while ago, so now that it was easily available to me I thought I'd check it out.

It's actually really bland. It stars a pretty male actor, there are a lot of shots of men in suits, there are under and over plots about the loves of the main male characters… these and other factors make me realise that show is aimed at over 30s women. In this world New York is a stylish place with great views, artist lofts, nice restaurants, parties on top of buildings with beautiful gardens and models and yet we mainly only see the handsome men in suits there XD

The story is about a handsome master forger who escapes jail just before his release date to go after his GF who has to leave him. The FBI capture him and he helps them with a case. Because he's such a MASTERFUL criminal and super intelligent fellow they hire him on to help them with other crimes and look handsome in his suit while in the office…

The stakes are pretty low and the characters are bland, unrealistic cutouts. Plus the FBI guy has a terrible haircut. I'm not enjoying it much so far.
I suppose they thought it paired well with Miami Vice because of the handsome protagonist/sophisticated city/fashion thing, but the plots and characters don't match up to that level. This is more like as if Miami Vice had been written by the Hallmark people.

I'm watching Fargo season 4 and enjoying it thoroughly. The show is packed with great performances but I can't take my eyes off Salvatore Esposito in any scene he inhabits. He plays Gaetano, the brother sent over from Italy to help sort out a few problems, but he might has well have been sent straight from the set of a silent movie, or a spaghetti western. His deliberately over the top characterisation is both cartoonish and menacing, quite something to behold.



Top quote:
“In the land of taking and killing, Gaetano is king.”

AWAKE - Gina Rodriguez, Ariana Greenblatt, Frances Fisher, Barry Pepper, Jennifer Jason Leigh and a cast of sleepers. Movie's title should be changed to ASLEEP, as I had all I could do to stay awake trying to make sense of this hogwash, but I did and it gets a 1 on the Moizmeter.

THE LITTLE THINGS - Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Chris Bauer, Michael Hyatt. Veteran cop Denzel sent to LA to assist detective Rami in finding serial killer praying on hookers. Chris and Hyatt help out as well and gosh by golly, Denz focuses on Jared, sneaks into his apt and finds the clue he needs. Now what to do with the bad guy? An almost 3 on the Moizmeter.

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN - Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bruce Willis, Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, Fisher Stevens. Norton is a private eye with a strange condition, makes weird sounds but most seem to ignore these as he is very good at everything else. His mentor Bruce gets killed and the chase is on, and sometimes gets very confusing. We are asked to believe Willem and Alec are brothers? whoa, didn't realize Willem is so short. NYC mostly run by crooks like Alec and we finally learn who killed Bruce, I think. Love affair begins with Ed and Gugu and everyone lives happily everafter? A muddled 3 on the Moizmeter.

NO SUDDEN MOVE - Don Cheadle, Benecio del Toro, Ray Liotta, Jon Hamm, David Harbour, Matt Damon, and a cast of thousands. Should have had the sub-titles on as couldn't make out half of what was said, blah, blah. Way back in late fifties these crooks try and get design of new fangled auto-part for exhaust fumes…I think. I got lost most of the time on who was doing what to whom. Many have aged not so well, Ray, Benecio, Fraser, whoa, and he was in the Mummy movies? The money seemed to go right back to where it started with most getting killed except one. A confusing 2 on the Moizmeter.

JOHN WICK 3 - got the kybosh after about 20 minutes.

THE DEBT - Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Martin Csokas, Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds, and Jesper Christensen as the Nazi bad guy. Takes place in Berlin, first part in 1965 then moves to 1995. Jessica is the younger Helen, Sam the younger Ciaran, and Csokas the young Tom. The 1965 gang capture Jesper but he escapes so they make up story that they killed him. In '95 they find out where Jesper is and Helen goes after him and will she get him this time? A darn good watch, getting almost a 4 on the Moizmeter.

Tomorrow war
0 stars- boring as bad reality TV.

OMG this movie was shit.

The premise is that in the future the world is about to be wiped out by an alien invasion but the scientists find a way to bridge time back to the 2000s and set up a stable pathway. They get people over 40 who were going to die anyway and give them a 5 day tour of duty in the future to try and kill the aliens… There's a world wide compulsory conscription, so if you're drafted you HAVE to go.

The first 30 minutes of this SciFi movie is dedicated to following the BORING life of a guy played by Chris Pratt. He's a veteran, graduates uni, can't get a job as a scientist so becomes a biology teacher, has a family, blah blah… 30 minutes of following his dull life all in desaturated colour till we finally get to the SciFi element, which is just a stupid magical wormhole thing to 20 years into the future.

The aliens they fight a just cheap digital knockoffs of the aliens from Alien, updated for current tastes: so they move fast and have wavy tentacles as well. They fight them with boring little assault rifles.

Nothing about this film is clever, interesting, cool, imaginative, striking, or clever. Not the visuals, not the costumes, weapons, aliens, concepts, ideas, not even the story structure or plotting.

The only thing this piece of unimaginative detritus would be good for is a videogame premise.
I only made it an hour or so in before I bailed.

All that said, the acting was good.

THE SEVENTH DAY - Guy Pearce, Vadhir Derbez, Stephen Lang, Keith David. The worst film I've watched all the way thru, beyond stupid. A big ZERO on the Moizmeter.

THE EMPTY MAN - James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root….2 1/2 hours of tedious nonsense, had to pinch myself from nodding off gets a big 0 on the Moizmeter.

THE CRAIGSLIST KILLER - (2011) Jake McDorman, William Baldwin, Agnes Bruckner. Based on true story but on the lame side. Med school Philip Markoff plans to marry Agnes but his dark side takes him to porn site where he killed a couple of pros. Gets arrested by Baldwin and commits suicide in prison. A 2 on the Moizmeter.

WORLD TRADE CENTER - (2006) Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal. Pretty good telling of the 2001 horror. Nic & Michael are cops who get buried under rubble after towers collapse, we watch from their view and of their loved ones above. A 3 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

Sherlock Holmes - the 2011 Guy Ritchie movie

It was ok, I found it pretty annoying actually. Ritchie's thing with speeding up and slowing down action is irritating, and Robert Downy Jnr as a Holmes isn't really the best fit. Jude Law was good as Watson though.

I saw Whip It the other day.

It's about roller derby women and their competitions, in Texas I think… probably Austin. Starring a lot of people Kristin Wig Elaine Page (Eliot now?), Juliet Lewis, even Jimmy Fallon when he was still cool and not a fat faced needy talkshow host XD

It wasn't bad, it had some good music.
The idea was that this young 17 year old girl is trying to fit in and find her passion. Her mum wants her to be a beauty queen but she finds herself in roller derby, skating with all the older women.
The team she joins are just playing for fun, but with her joining and actually being really good it gives the team new energy and they start rising through the ranks.

It was an ok film. Not amazing, but fun and well done. A good little airbrushed hollywood version of that early 2000 or late 1990s hipster rollerderby culture.

SAS: RED NOTICE (alternate title SAS: Rise of the Black Swan) Ruby Rose, Sam Heughan, Andy Serkis and a cast of thousands. Endless shooting and killing got it the kybosh about 1/2 way, getting a goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

moizmad wrote:
SAS: RED NOTICE (alternate title SAS: Rise of the Black Swan) Ruby Rose, Sam Heughan, Andy Serkis and a cast of thousands. Endless shooting and killing got it the kybosh about 1/2 way, getting a goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

Sounds like a film in the “john Wick” style. I hate that. They're boring and silly.
People used to make jokes about Schwarzenegger films like Raw Deal and Commando back in the 80s, but those were art films compared to the level of moronic shooting and endless dead bodies in the films of that style now.

————–

I actually saw Twilight yesterday.
It wasn't as bad as the criticism it gets. It's a romance action film with vampires aimed at teen girls. I've seen was worse, especially in this wish fulfilment young teen genre. I mean, something like Coyote Ugly was way more fanciful and negative in the message it sends.
The acting was fine, the writing was mostly fine… The only reallllly dumb thing was the vampire special effects.
Edward looked hilarious when he was moving at super speed. The wire tricks looked stupid, as they almost always do in movies. And the high speed piggyback ride he gave Bella was too stupid to be funny.

Obviously most of the criticism it gets is because it's aimed at teen girls. That's not cool.

EDGE OF TOMORROW - Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise, Noah Taylor, Bill Paxton. With a cast like that how could you go wrong? Easy, gave it almost 1 hr. got the kybosh, a huge goose-egg on the Moizmeter. Others liked it, gives one pause….

moizmad wrote:
EDGE OF TOMORROW - Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise, Noah Taylor, Bill Paxton. With a cast like that how could you go wrong? Easy, gave it almost 1 hr. got the kybosh, a huge goose-egg on the Moizmeter. Others liked it, gives one pause….

It's generally a widely lived film. I quite liked it, but not the masterpiece many claim. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Actually I like reading your opinion in films because they are usually so different to mine.

Ozone was saying about the John wick style of action movie, I have to mostly agree but I think it's just the state of movies all round at the moment. The bigger, better faster more thing has got a bit silly. Fast and furious movies anyone?

moizmad wrote:
EDGE OF TOMORROW - Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise, Noah Taylor, Bill Paxton. With a cast like that how could you go wrong? Easy, gave it almost 1 hr. got the kybosh, a huge goose-egg on the Moizmeter. Others liked it, gives one pause….

Tom's getting killed over and over *and over* in various hilarious ways was funny though, he must have a sense of humor to sign up to something as nuts as this. “Wait, my character gets crushed to jelly?” “Just keep reading, Tom.”

My family just got a Paramount+ subscription, so I can watch quite a few newer series I missed out on and binge some childhood favorites for nostalgia.

Currently checking out the 2019 Twilight Zone. The first season was mediocre, pacing felt a little off, like each episode was a scene too long and “twists” didn't have much punch. No real duds, but no gems either. (As opposed to the 1990s Outer Limits, which swung wildly from amazing to awful). A lot better than Black Mirror (which seemed to be a one-gimmick show, tbh). I'm three episodes into the second season. So far, the writing is much better in season two. Better pacing and good punchy twists that I saw coming but only as they got closer to the end. Also, there's no body horror or jump scares.

Anyway, it's not a particularly groundbreaking anthology series, but it's solid, and I'm enjoying it.

I saw 5 or six episodes of Only Murders in the Building on Disney plus.
Staring Selina Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin. With cameos by Sting, Nathan Lane, Tina Fey, and many others.

It's ok. Pretty fun. The drama is light, the comedy isn't over the top the way it often is with Martin Short…
Interesting to see Steve Martin as an actual old man instead of an eternally 40 year old with white hair. He looks ok but he needs thinner glasses so his nose doesn't look so big, needs to ditch the porkpie hat because those look shit on anyone, and needs a few more centimetres on his hair. It's too short, makes him look threadbare.

usedbooks wrote:
My family just got a Paramount+ subscription, so I can watch quite a few newer series I missed out on and binge some childhood favorites for nostalgia.

Currently checking out the 2019 Twilight Zone. The first season was mediocre, pacing felt a little off, like each episode was a scene too long and “twists” didn't have much punch. No real duds, but no gems either. (As opposed to the 1990s Outer Limits, which swung wildly from amazing to awful). A lot better than Black Mirror (which seemed to be a one-gimmick show, tbh). I'm three episodes into the second season. So far, the writing is much better in season two. Better pacing and good punchy twists that I saw coming but only as they got closer to the end. Also, there's no body horror or jump scares.

Anyway, it's not a particularly groundbreaking anthology series, but it's solid, and I'm enjoying it.

I watched the first couple of episodes and it was pretty forgettable. actually I can't remember much except the thinking the remake of nightmare at 20000ft was weak and something about a comedy show. Give me black mirrir any day, even the most recent season which was fairly weak. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I've started rewatching the orville as it's now on disney plus. I've previously watched season 1 and part of season 2. It seems better second time around.

I've also been watching Star trek lower decks which is great. One aspect I'm finding amusing with season 2 is that there are elements in common with my star trek comic Albion. Ferengi harkening back to their first appearances in TNG, a Kzinti crew member and things like that. They even had the mugato show up which is something I had been considering.

I finished the 2019 Twilight Zone, and here's my verdict. Skip the first season. Season two is solid, and I enjoyed it. There's nothing particularly deep or original, but it is well done. It was refreshing that it wasn't all “the dangers of scientific advancement” or modern technology themes. Some magical realism, some aliens, some time manipulation stuff. Excellent acting and production. It didn't feel like Twilight Zone, but it is a good anthology series (half of it anyway). Season two writing is very well done with good twists.

Oh, and one episode did get kinda gory nasty, which isn't my cup of tea. I'm glad it was just one. There was a lot of variety in the stories and themes.