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Reviews
Paul T. Goldman (2023)
A hilariously cringe non-stop car crash impossible to look away from!
I can say with all certainty, the people writing the bad reviews DO NOT GET IT. I hate to sound like a pretentious dbag but they're completely missing the point.
If you like The Office you need to watch!! The entire thing is Scott's Tots!
This guy is completely genuine in thinking he's getting a true crime doc series made about him and his "crazy 100% true life story"... and performs unbelievably rehearsed "interviews" to go along with re-enactments starring him. But the REAL story is how nuts this guy is. The story is told through Paul's screenplay coming to life (wink) alongside behind-the-scenes insights that slowly chip away at his lies and/or delusions.
I'm only 3 episodes in so I'm not sure how I feel about the possible cruelty yet... I DO feel bad for him because he's clearly being tricked somehow...but he is so insufferable my sympathy builds and fades continuously. And so much of his story is obviously BS... or is it just written by the mind of a 10 year old who's watched a lot of law & order? At this point, it could be either and the suspense is gripping me!
Anyways, if you're a fan of weirdos you'll love it!
Painkiller (2023)
Group Project gone wrong
Pain Killer is a perfect example of what happens when everyone focuses on their part of a group project, and no one is in charge of the bigger picture.
Somewhere between episode 2-3 it becomes clear that this series is has no tonal direction. Like the editor was getting different notes from everyone, and appeased them by switching back and forth between the dark reality (dope sick), and energetic making-light-of terrible things via characters' perspective and pacing (wolf of Wall Street).
The actors do a good job. Notably, Uzo really carries the emotional burden of the entire show, but it's undercut by lack of focused tone. Although I would have enjoyed a few more sprinkles of known faces, I don't have any gripes with any of the acting. For a second I thought it was Dennis Andres playing Glen, and I was disappointed because he would have evoked more empathy in the last few episodes for me.
This show is a weird watch because I had to constantly ask myself, "what's wrong here? Why does this feel...cheap?". I knew going in, that I would be watching the same story as Dope Sick, and I was game to see it told in a different way. But it didn't hit for me.
The most concrete note I have (that wouldn't call for dismantling the story build) is the music! Some songs are so on point, but the majority feels wrong. They disregarded the opportunity to set a through line with instrumental pieces. It seems to me that they spent their licensing money on moments that don't matter (such as ODB in e2, Rick Ross in e3 & every party scene) and put cheap instrumentals that can only be described as "royalty-free conspiracy YouTube vid tension builders" in the real emotional moments that needed carrying.
Lastly, I would bet money that the testimonials from real victims that open each episode were an afterthought, sadly. They come off as an attempt to keep the topical seriousness, but honestly degrades the real stories being shared. And it bugs TF out of me that they didn't use a quality prompter. In every single one you can obviously see the person's eyes darting between reading their lines and the camera. I'm not criticizing these very real people, they're not actors, and they're sharing something incredibly painful which deserves respect... it's 100% on the producers to bring the correct materials in order for the stories to be the focal point, and they failed.
Overall, a disappointing look at how important pre and post production are.
A Small Light (2023)
Beautifully done!!
With only 2 episodes released at the time I'm writing this, I can't vouch for the entire season.. but I'm LOVING it So far! Cinematography is a great mix of artsy/creative and mainstream- artsy for me and mainstream enough for me to watch with my mom who isn't into a lot of the dark and "weird" shows I like. I really appreciate the balance of tension and pure emotion the writers are managing to build in a story we all know.
I'm the type of viewer that can't enjoy other elements properly if bad acting takes me out of the story... but this has been wonderfully cast! Otto, and Miep have been truly incredible so far, and I look forward to exploring the other characters in the coming episodes!
I felt the need to write this review because the only other written review is 1 star based on it not being historically accurate... and I can't stress this enough, ACCURACY /= A GREAT SHOW. A Small Light has managed to portray a horrific, and already thoroughly told, point of history from a different perspective. For everyone who sat in history class and said "I would have done xyz if I was around when nazis were committing war crimes", this gives peek into what that would have been like to actually make those tough choices... and the story is captivating regardless if it's an actual diary from the time.
This is a clear step forward in Hulu's originals track record, 100% recommend!
Swan Song (2021)
Enjoyable, but not a GREAT film.
Great story of a man who was big-city fabulous in a drab small town. Definitely one to watch with the fam! But I couldn't help but take mental notes of filmmaking blunders while watching. For example, not shooting certain scenes in 60fps, and turned very choppy as we saw them in slow-mo...I'm sure the editors did their best to make the scene work & strike the right emotional cord and sacrificed technical correctness for the needed emotional pull...which I understand and value..you gotta do what you gotta do with what you have at the time!
But I found the portrayal of Pat's illness and the choppy memories and/or hallucinations to be very confusing but not in a good 'Shutter Island' way.
Credit to the filmmakers because this was no doubt a low budget production...I just think certain decisions held this film back. Specifically, better music would have gone a long way! And the scene where Pat was seeing the man gardening, and then later joining in, was just weird AFFF to me..it was first shown almost like it was a flashback..but then we see that it's during his sweatsuit journey..but yet he somehow has all his rings on (even though he didn't put all his rings on until later 🤔). Anyways...it felt not very well thought out.
But still for his pantsuit alone and the joy seeing an old queen find his light again is worth the watch even though it's not iconic..still enjoyable!
Y: The Last Man (2021)
Very surprised at all the bad reviews! It's quite good so far
To be fair, I have not read the graphic novels, and didn't know it existed until reading the reviews..but IMO the majority of criticisms were way too harsh! Some of them are angry with how much "girl power" there is..and the other half thinks it portrays women badly...which if you ask me, that means feminism it's pretty moderately displayed.
With the episodes I've watched, I too have wondered why everything is going downhill FAST when there's still half the population left. But after some deeper thought, it makes sense to me. It's not like people just disappeared into thin air, the men were in the middle of doing regular things so there's bound to be a lot of destruction taking place everywhere at one time. It'd be literally impossible to get things back and moving in a month (or whatever the timeline is, I'm pretty sure it's just a couple weeks so far). Not to mention literally everyone on earth is grieving, and most likely traumatized if they saw a loved one's organs liquify in front of them.
I do wish the presidents son was a better known actor..the audience should be more bonded to him. But it's def not stupid of him to "follow a monkey around"...he's terrified, alone and his pet is his only comfort. That being said, if he was played by Joeseph Gordon Levitt or similar, that part wouldn't be under so much scrutiny.
To the point someone made about the show being too "woke"..."left good, right bad" etc..I completely disagree. I am quite liberal and I found the (ex) presidents daughter to be a very likable and relatable role, she stood up for herself and others...and I don't think it's far fetched, or political to say that a super right wing politician who (from what we've seen) isn't nearly as productive and pragmatic as Diane lanes character, shouldn't be in charge. IMO this show is just displaying the actual polarization of Americans...not necessarily good or bad.
Anyways, give it a chance because it's definitely not bad...I'm still looking forward to see where it goes for the rest of the season, and crossing my fingers that it's not a "Manifest" situation.
Clickbait (2021)
Just got better and better
At first I was like 🙄 okay so he's a dirt bag...but it got juicier and juicer from ep 3 and on..highly recommend!