robbotnik2000's Reviews

Monkey Dust (2003–2005)

7/10

30 January 2021

"Monkey Dust" is a 3 season 18 episode series of a compendium of animated shorts. The animation is cheery with the bright primary colors and jaggy moves of good computer animation, combined with revisited dark and perversely humorous themes which get revisited and played upon. Themes such as badly broken relationships, implied moronic violence, and skewed motivations are rapidly brought up and dispensed with. Characters are often killed a la "They've Killed Kenny!" (reference to Southpark. There are sometimes ideas buried in the mini-plots, there are some disturbing images, but within 60 seconds you'll be off to something else. There is political critique, social observation, but if you want to gaze thoughtlessly at the moving bright images, you'll know shortly whether this is the entertainment for you. Broadcast in the early 2000s, some of the presentations are understandably dated, particularly as regards homosexuality. If you gathered from the above that the show is not for children, you are correct. Elementary school aged, preteens, should not be exposed to this.

Another show which is less in-your-face, wilder in themes, but has less perversity and reference to sex, and ranges deep into philosophical issues if you care to follow, but not totally unlike this show would be "Xavier, the Renegade Angel". If you like Monkey Dust, you might want to check it out.

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Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

1/10

This crapfest is big right now, but who will remember or watch this ten years from now?

2 January 2021

Just saw this incredible crapfest which is more montage than movie: The high points are the bad guy is played by an actor, Pablo Pascal, who can go from cheesy to sleazy to creepy and then incredibly sad. The plot revolves around a wish-fulfillment crystal with a premise that could have been interesting if treated with respect, but nothing plotlike is respectable in this assembly of action and digital sequences which show no respect for inertia or gravity, like the earliest of the Batman movies where he could web swing with infinite speed and no sense of mass, here we have a golden lasso and it seems to be infinitely long and grab airliners except when it is too short coming off of a telephone pole and runs out.

Kristen Wiig is the other most talented person here, a comedian who can act, but her character has no solid basis, starting at comically inept and suddenly, due to the wish-fulfillment crystal, given some? all? of the powers of our heroine who she knows as Diana Prince, not Wonder Woman, but when she makes one wish she gets the whole package somehow. And then her awful lines. At one point she says "I want to be an apex predator!" And the movie apparently calls her CHEETAH. If you know anything about apex predators, cheetahs are NOT.

The best description of the movie in general is it starts over the top and goes on from there. If you are happy with that, go for it.

Gal Gadot has to do more acting in this sequel, and she fulfills the description "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." Chris Pine gets to be her re-animated lover from the first movie, who died then but is returned due to crystal wish action. Nevertheless the makeup job done on him makes him look like a creep. The chemistry between them is nonexistent, partly the writing and partly the acting.

There is some attention paid to show cars and some references from the 80s, but other than some confusing clothing references it simplifies life for the director and cinematographer to not have characters able to send communications via cellphones or internet. And what about all the great 80s music and top songs that could have been incorporated to give this some flavor. The orchestrated music was unimpressive, just the usual fast notes and crescendoes that go along with all the other repeatable 'action' movies. Otherwise, why this is set in the 80s seems to be as random as pretty much every other character and plotpoint in this, yes, I'm gonna say it again- CRAPFEST.

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Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

7/10

A well orchestrated satire on the art world with horror thrown on top

13 November 2020

I ended up liking this more than the average reviewer star-giver, and that is a rare occurrence. The story does not so much center on as hover over various members of an inbred and self-aggrandizing art world, attractive people on the outside, but semi-aware of their corrupt practices of stealing each others' clients and assuring a nice return off their wealthy clients. As attractive and well maintained as it is immoral. Into this self assured world come the works of an outside artist, apparently deceased, whose work is brilliant (And very reminiscent of the actual artist H.R. Giger, who gave the Alien francise its unique look). It offers what several of our favorite characters believe to be a free ride, major returns from ignorant clients on the work of an artist who can't complain and is safely out of the picture (they think).

Our actors form a picturesque ensemble: Rene Russo as the owner of a gallery, Zawe Ashton and Natalie as workers, Toni Collette as an art expert making the move from museum drudge to highly paid consumer representative. Artists played by Daveed Diggs, and John Malkevich; and our main character, Jake Gyllenhaal as an oh-so-precious art reviewer who can make and break your ordinary artist by his mastery of relational high-sounding artistic gibberish.

The writing is good. The music and soundtrack selections well placed. I found the movie quite entertaining. The horror theme is somewhat pasted on and not totally seamless with the plot.

I think those most critical of the movie might place more importance on the criticisms/ satires of the art world that are part of the movie. Also maybe if they are more serious about their horror. For me, I enjoyed the action, the interplay of relationships and the devolution of people into the horror element.

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Young Adam (2003)

5/10

Good Actors, Good Cinematography, Out-of-date story

13 October 2020

This is one of the few films I might be too young for, and I'm not young. While I like all the actors, loved the settings and how they were filmed, I had some fundamental problems with the story and how it is told. I'm not going to spoil the plot, but I think there is a basic dishonesty in that one of the characters knows a lot more than the viewer does from the outset, and that this is not made clear changes the character of the story. I was with the movie throughout the watching of it, but afterwards I felt cheated. Furthermore, there are flashbacks in the movie, and it was not obvious which were the flashbacks or what order they were in. Usually there is a key to a flashback, in some change in coloration or preceding sound or symbol, but I did not see it here. Also, if you are not aware there is a book and that it came out in the 50s, locating this film in time is not easy either unless you are familiar with the era and specific place. Also the title is not clear. I miss the imdb forums where this could have been discussed in depth. I am a fan of musician and composwer David Byrne and his music was one of my reasons for watching the picture and I enjoyed some of it, but a lot of it felt repetitive or an attempt to channel Philip Glass, which is not something David Byrne needs to do. When you have a story of solid sadness it is useful to break it with some humor, even if it is gallows humor. Not enough of this was provided.

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Rise of the Warrior Apes (2017)

3/10

Some good closeup photography, but Jane Goodall this ain't

28 June 2020

"Rise of the Warrior Apes" has some nice photography and great 'ape personality' stories, but it suffers greatly by lack of balance and hard information. All it wants to do is concentrate on male ape relations highlighting on violence, emphasized by overdramatic music. It's sort of like 'Cops' for apes ("bad boys bad boys") It lacks depth and background which would enlighten the viewers as to the overall situation of chimpanzees in this area, and how human expansion in the overall area (Uganda) might be driving the development of what is (apparently) a supergroup of apes. We learn nothing about the relationship of the males to females or young. We don't even know, when they fight, HOW they fight or if they use tools in fighting. This is a remarkably uninformative video document after all is said and done in an hour and a half 'documentary'. The 'anthropologists' who are interviewed provide a lot of general talk and supposedly have spent many years in the field, but they do not sound like they really KNOW anything much about the species. It boils down to lots of fights, some only surmised by the disappearances of some of the male apes. So in the end most of the photography boils down to lots of head shots of apes. Many of them not really identified. I think this deserves to be ranked more as ape violence porn framed as a pseudo documentary. Unfortunately this is closer to Tiger King than to the great research done by real animal behaviorists such as Goodall and Fossey (yes, Fossey did gorillas, not chimps. Point is she communicated a hell of a lot better than the people in this festival of chimp tantrums).

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Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

4/10

If you don't get Sonic, you won't get 'it' (the movie)

7 March 2020

I'm giving this movie stars for energy and color. I'm not giving it any more stars because it's nothing more than a vehicle for a game character with absolutely no sense to the story beyond it's - hello! - a SEGA game character.

It is likely you are a game fan and will like this movie very much. Go in piece. I have no background with this character or its franchise and I did not find that the movie engaged me on any level. I like Jim Carrey but he was being a standard Jim Carrey character with nothing new there. The animated character was full of trite observations that are standard wiseguy cracks, also nothing new.

I'm not going to dissect the plot such as it is because why bother? It'll just make it look like I expected plot, character development, any kind of logical cohesion, etc. I'm not sore about it, just uninvolved.

All I'm saying is that it wasn't for me. If I had a couple of interested grandkids, I'd've cheerfully kept my mouth shut except for the popcorn spillover. All I'm saying here is that if you're not into Sonic, you won't be into this flick. If you are, you will likely be into it. There has been far worse on the market.

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In the Mood for Love (2000)

6/10

Beautifully done excruciating film

12 February 2020

I wish I was more cultured, more cultivated, but I could not wait for this film to GO SOMEWHERE. It was done in a similar manner to an English period piece, good photography, good cinematography, good looking leads, but they sort of drift through the story, and THE THEME. OVER and OVER. Pluck pluck wheeze wheeze, sounded like an excerpt from a well worn European piece, the same exact musical phrase. It became an earsore. Will they consummate their friendship with a more intimate act? And will it be worth it to anyone if they get there. Inquiring minds got worn out with the waiting. Thus no spoiler here!

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The Ledge (2011)

5/10

'Daring' yet sereotypical take on fundamentalism versus secular approach to life

5 February 2020

Just saw "The Ledge". I liked the beginning a lot more than the progressive path through the movie. In the end, I enjoyed the cinematography more than the plot.

As I'm writing this, I don't know the name of the city it takes place in, but I thought it was a good city for the scapes that were included, particularly the open shot at the very start of the movie. The setup between the very religious husband and the 'sadder but wiser' neighbor and central character is a comparison of stereotypes. There are close-minded funamentalists but they are not found married to women with the background protrayed by Shana, the Liv Tyler character. There are open-minded men with checkered pasts, but they are usually not as buff looking and sensitive as the main character. I kept waiting for some twist in the plot to develop, as if it would turn out that the wife was playhing out a hidden agenda. But for all its daring to contrast the opinions of the main (white, heterosexual) men in conflict, it was formulaic. If the writer had put more work into the main plot and not added the diversion of the subplot regarding the policeman and his sad discovery at the opening, it might have been a more memorable movie. I thought the professionalism of the camera work was superior to the rest of the movie. The music was adequate. It prefigured the emotional content pretty strongly..

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The Hummingbird Project (2018)

7/10

Simple Story About Complicated People

14 January 2020

It's a straight on race story. Our guys have an idea to beat their ole bosses at accomplishing fast electronic market trades. They secure financing and resources to get things done amidst quickly arising and accumulating technical human and money woes. What makes the story for me is the actors- Eisenberg, Skarsgard, Hayek and Mando. Seen 'em all in very different films and they work together well here. Not familiar with writer/ director Kim Nguyen but expect to be seeing more from them. The music didn't linger in my memory but it fit the film. The story was minimal and the introduction of side stories and elements to lighten the mood was minimal as well. But overall it was watchable and entertaining.

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Jojo Rabbit (2019)

5/10

The How and Why Wonder Show of the Holocaust - Or Not

16 November 2019

"Jojo Rabbit" stars good looking people, some of them doing good things, others saying bad things. One of them doesn't make it through the movie. It has a simple take and a simple lesson: "Oppression is bad."

Jojo is a young boy with a young boy's simple view of life. He admires his teachers, and they tell him to admire Hitler. So he does. But he not only admires Hitler from afar, but he interacts with Hitler right in his own room apparently as an imaginary friend/fuhrer. The director, Taika Waititi, dons a somewhat brushier mustache than the mini sported by der real Fuhrer, and plays a buffoonish version of Adolf.

The overall effect is to preach an easy lesson to the young, but like an antivirus, it weakens the power of the adversary. The real Hitler was smart, quick on the uptake, and not known for his gentle humor. And the real nazis practiced mass marches, enforced obedience by the entire population, and at the very least heavy duty beatings to any opposition no matter how slight.

This does not have enough of a grasp on its subject to reach the level of good satire. It remains at a level more like Hogan's Heros. It presents a candy-color superficial grasp of Nazi Germany which barely feels either Nazi or German. Compare this to a much greater movie, "Cabaret" which did achieve its aims.

So what is gained by mounting such lightweight stuff? Does it take much courage to fight this, or is Jojo merely overcoming social embarassment? There are several character scenes in this movie, one which is traumatic to the young hero, but its effect is blunted by only showing the victim's dangling feet. It isn't badly done, but its effect is limited because such a heavy time of death and danger is trivialized, particularly at the end with some dance moves being displayed about 2 generations ahead of their development, not to mention many anachronistic expressions and asides.

So I'd describe the movie as a live action comic book to present some 'bad stuff' that happened. This doesn't make it bad. But it is far from great.

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Time Trap (2017)

5/10

Attractive Cast; Characters not that bright, writers somewhat less so

18 October 2019

A 'professor' about the same age as his students, missing parents from the flower child age with a VW Bus to boot, people who search for missing people who then go missing themselves, ropes that keep braking, a cave with the bluntest stalagmites in the world, a fountain of ----- youth? All mixed together for your watching pleasure. Oh, did we mention that going into the cave results in time dilation? That too.

It is an attractive mess of attractive people, some good car dialog to get things to a level of believability, and some real enthusiasm and some effects done inexpensively but well.

If you like your indie sci-fi done with enthusiasm and good looking cast, dive right in there. There are more enthusiastic ratings among the reviewers and I believe they are sincere - just not critical. I like my plots a little tighter. Hell, I like plots to be a LOT tighter. And I don't understand why an abandoned VW bus is found fresh and brightly colored when a similarly abandoned pickup somewhat later in the movie is found full of unconvincingly applied overgrowth.

The folks behind the movie tried hard, but they bit off a lot more plot than they could work with. Ultimately they called it good and had everyone wake up in a different place at the end.

I would like to think the writers and directors and producers will learn from this and go on to greater things. Maybe even more movies. This is beginner material, contrived but effort is visible.

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The War of the Worlds (2019)

5/10

H.G. Wells gets bogged down by Downton Abbey

16 October 2019

Please leave the mannerisms of Edwardian foppishness to the folks who have that down so well at Downton. Why introduce a mannered predictable socially unacceptable romance into what could have been an antique Sci-Fi potboiler? What could have been transformative becomes turgid. What could have been spectacular becomes stultifying. H.G. Wells had a terrific imagination. Why couldn't the adaptation at least try to make us move to the edge of our seats? I've only seen round one of three but I'm left severely disappointed by the unimaginative writing and the very slow start.

What with Spielberg's disastrous rendition of the classic yarn a few years ago, good ol' Gene Barry is still master of the field with the Yanks' 1953 oh so 50s retro color version which at least had some damn pacing.

I'm going to give the next episode a lookover, but I'll be ready to be put to bed with all the 'excitement.'

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A War (2015)

7/10

A simple war story of confusion at the front, trial at home

13 August 2019

Warning: Spoilers

From "The Caine Mutiny Courth Martial" to "A Soldier's Story" and "A Few Good Men" there has been much to mine dramatically regarding the life in uniform, whether at the front or in training or in barracks versus the life as understood at home, and the life as understood under military or civilian law. In "Krigen" we follow the lives and events of a Danish team on point in Afghanistan, as well as the life of the commander's wife at home looking after her children in the absence of their father. Life for all is complicated when confusing action at the front is put under legal scrutiny at home. After the commander calls in an air strike while trying to evacuate a wounded comrade under fire, he is put on trial back in Denmark. It wasn't clear to me if the court was military or civilian. He is put in a situation where he (apparently) must lie in order to defend himself. It is hard to imagine this occurring in the United States where a person need not testify against himself. I found the crux of the Danish plot somewhat confusing. "Krigen" Shows a snatch of life on the Afghanistan front from one of the European "coalition of the willing": Denmark. The Danish soldiers are enmeshed in a foreign land with a language that they do not speak and rules of engagement. The squad leader is with his command when they are under fire in bewildering circumstances. After the action he is charged with civilian deaths. This was somewhat bewildering. Possibly it is based on a real event the Danes are aware of. To me the action under which they were under fire was confusing. That is as it shoujld be. War is really like that. But after the commander calls in the strike, they are no longer under fire. This would seem to corroborate his call. The movie was well done. The cast was believable, the effects excellent. Not too garish. It was like a quiet "Black Hawk Down". The commander is apparently put under a civilian court, not the more familiar (to Americans) court martial. But under actions such as this, civilians die all the time. If they are being occupied by insurgents, then they are under the same danger of attack. Ever since air strikes this has been a common occurrence. A similar them is covered more clearly in an episode of "The Good Wife" (Season 3 Episode 9: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot") where the lawyers are hired to assist an air controller who calls in a drone strike which kills civilians. In that episode, there is a similar issue of civilians being put at hazard while a valid military target is hit. In that case there was no squad under fire, however the overall situation was explained in American military terms, which were easier to understand and less confusing than the situation of "Krigen".

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Sword of Trust (2019)

7/10

Captures the Insanity of Present Day Conspiracy Nuts with hapless normal people

10 August 2019

I just finished watching "Sword of Trust" and I give it above average marks as a movie. I thought it had good entertainment value, it had something to say without preaching it, it was well cast and well written. It was a low budget movie which used its resources wisely. And above all, it made no pretentions to be anything but what it was, and that puts it above average right there. I was not familiar with the works of Maron or Shelton prior to this movie, but I will look out for their names in future. The story is simple and contains appropriate weirdness for this time in which it was made. Early on a pair of women receive an unexpected inheritance from the estate of an ancient relative: a Civil War sword that is argued to be "proof" that the South won the Civil War. I think writer even invented a new internet term, 'prover' (at least I had not heard it before). A pawnshop owner gets involved and the action mostly revolves around the interactions of the characters involved. I enjoyed Marc Maron's writing and acting, the writing was wryly humorous and observant. The acting was understated. I especially liked Jon Bass' performance as the internet junkie (barely) staffing the pawnshop. Michael Watkins and Jillian Bells' character interactions were believable to a point and well acted. Supporting character Toby Huss was properly 'over' acted and Dan Bakkedahl was solid. I think it was well directed, well acted, the dialogue was cute and humorous for the most part. The background music went well with the rural/ semi-suburban ambiance of the picture, which I also liked. Some of the action is improbable, but it is no more improbable than most movies, including high dollar high attendance shows that are not as entertaining. This movie is about ordinary Americans in an age where the most ridiculous ideas are peddled to all and sundry allowing anybody to partake of any of a collosal amount of conspiracy theories including that the earth is flat. If you like this movie at all you may be interested in a great audio album that predates the internet by a couple score years but does not predate the current insanity: Firesign Theatre's "Everything You Know is Wrong". It was consistently funny and way way ahead of its time. And still is.

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Empire (2012– )

8/10

Not a HISTORY, but a tasty personal SAMPLER on the subject

20 July 2019

Another review of this 5 part show takes great umbrage to Jeremy Paxman's presentation: It is more of an in-depth review than I'm going to write. In part, it says: "The history on display is pretty weak sauce. Subjects are often only partially covered, with one or two events picked out for special attention whilst others are ignored or omitted entirely. The interviews are invariably with 'ordinary people' rather than experts, with the result that many are simply meaningless." This review is first rate and I agree with every word of it. But I'm going to give Mr. Paxman's work a pretty good star rating for some of the reasons enumerated. It is a PERSONAL look at the Empire from multiple perspectives, especially the perspectives of many of the colonized. I found Mr. Paxman personally engaging, the photography was specacular, he owes a great deal to his cinematographer. The subject of the British Empire is a VAST one, and there was no way to give it completeness with five installments and this presenter. And it was not in any chronological order. It was PERSONAL. In the first episode he goes superficially into the history of Gt. Britain in Palestine and the Balfour Declaration and the King David Hotel bombing of 1946. Because he can interview one of the Israeli participants. He gives India much more space, but India is much longer and larger than he can possibly fit in. Perhaps my favorite episode was one that I had least hopes for before watching: "Playing the Game" where he gave a personal Englishman's view of the sportsmanlike ethos with which the upper classes were raised, and how it permeated and inflitrated the self-view and world view of the would-be colonists. So I found this a worthwhile and engaging series and I agree that it is not by any means historical, nor is it meant to be. The colonies that became my nation are barely mentioned, the role of the English Republican government in establishing empirical intentions, many many other factors are simply not there. Consider this a small selection of oeur d'oeuvres. And tasty!

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California Typewriter (2016)

10/10

Making the once familiar once again familiar

19 July 2019

A beautifully shot, paced, and variegated documentary which brings together multiple flows of narrative, starging with a 'murder' story from the road at the very beginning and including people who are fascinated with the typewriter as history, the typewriter as cause, the typewriter's guts as a source of creative art, and simple typewriter collecting. The people are varied, informed, have something to say, and the documentarian is absolutely in charge and invisible. The music selection was impeccable and probably left out Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" as too 'near the bone'/ trite to be used for a movie that has a lot of stuff to show while carrying more than one message. A masterwork which I thoroughly enjoyed

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The Dig (2018)

5/10

Very Simple Story, Well Presented but Excruciatingly Told

18 July 2019

A man returns home after years of incarceration, having completed his sentence but his victim's relatives have yet to find their lost one. He says he can't remember what happened. Good casting, good acting, but so slowly paced in order to get out this basic tale of guilt and, possible repentance? I got through it by fast forwarding the flick. In a theater I would have glanced at my watch a thousand times or at the slightest invitation fallen asleep. There is a basic technical question one would ask, assuming that the action takes place in the latter part of the Twentieth Century or the early Twenty-First, there are no cell phones involved, so it's hard to tell. But certain searches for underground items can be augmented powerfully by equipment or, dogs? No dogs in this part of Ireland apparently. Compare this story to a very similar but much richer story in the movie "Winter's Bone". That movie was much richer in character and place, while concentrating far more on a single protagonist. Final impression it's a drawn out stage play of sorts. I'd watch the actors again, but be very wary of the writer director producer. Not enough story here.

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Yesterday (III) (2019)

8/10

Simple Premise Done Right

30 June 2019

My first reaction when I heard the premise of this movie was that it was going to be a stupid pandering flick to get the pocket money of the tragically hip who don't really remember but think they do. I went through the 60s, on the youngish side, and was NOT an immediate fan of the Beatles. But this movie was well written, well cast, and offers great entertainment while making some pointy points. It is good natured and a trifle daring, towards the end. I was surprised at how well hooked I was, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The cast was excellent. Patel has an expressive face, Lily James is sweet and endearing. I like Kate McKinnon but I think her character was either under utilized or unnecessary to the overall scheme of things. Ed Sheeran played an interesting supporting character quite well. I recognized Sanjeev from television series "Unforgotten". He is excellent in everything I've seen him in. Here he contributes to the domestic believability of the main characters and appropriately humorous.

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The Drowning Pool (1975)

5/10

Has not aged well, if it ever did

19 June 2019

A pretty tired effort, especially the screenplay. I do not recall the Ross MacDonald story, but if it called for a two story room to be filled with water as a plot device, maybe the fault is in the original. . . Tony Francisosa came across to me as ludicrously cast as a New Orleans cop and a few of the other accents came off badly as well. Paul Newman is somewhat charming but far off his best. Melanie Griffith is worth watching for her fetching youthfulness but not much else. The dialogue is forced and unconvincing in most character interactions. Well worth a pass.

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Lancaster Skies (2019)

4/10

An exercise in Minimalism- How to put the least possible story into a movie

6 June 2019

A period piece with no period. Small sparse sets whether in the planes, the quarters, even the cars were small. And the plot. . . I couldn't shake the notion that the the sets were rooms in houses arranged for Youtube videos. The flight sequences were very very few and appeared to be done via flight simulators, the type you buy for your laptop. The story was very little, as well. Lots of buried attitude which must be brought to the surface and relieved, all in service to extend a meagre plot. Really not much to call someone to watch this movie. Pretty much any other movie of the past captures more of that past and has more interesting characters, more story, and more sense of being there than this effort. Without going into research, I'll say that the clothing designer seemed to have done their job and the actors themselves were personable and delivered the necessary slow and portentous looks and sighs to display character in place of dialogue.

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Evolution (2001)

5/10

This Has Been Done Better (Ghostbusters, Men In Black)

5 June 2019

This movie strives for. . . Well, it rally doesn't strive. It tries to piggyback onto the lowbrow zeitgeist of "Dumb and Dumber" but what it really does is a sideways steal of the plot points of "Men In Black" the very clever and very funny First of the series. Only "Evolution" isn't very clever, and it isn't very funny. It sets us up for a situation where a trio of ne'er do wells who are thought of, with justice, by the rest of the world as dumbasses. And then they dumbass their way into and out of trouble. But hey, we've all been there. In this case the bulk of the characters go through their paces but without visible plotting. The poorly cast Julianne Moore is once again abused in the sense that her very good skills are not called for in a movie that makes her fall for the weird hero with zero chemistry just when she should. And the movie makes her fall all on her own. For no good reason she is depicted as clumsy, but in a not funny way. Orlando Jones is tortured by gross means as has only happened to black sidekicks many times before (and since). Only his character doesn't get to display compensating worthiness as did the characters in Ghostbusters and MIB.

Sum Total. This movie provides low quality diversion which dummies might confuse with entertainment. It is totally missable if you've got some chores that need doing.

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

6/10

Much eye candy throughout, great visual imagination, limited characterization and story

24 February 2019

Major caveat to my review; at this time I am not familiar with the graphic novels which created the characters and situations. Now to the movie: I loved the first ten minutes which were an intro. Fabulous video imagery! But the story needed to be better explicated throughout. The transfer of the story from page to screen was deficient and the deficiency was in the framing of the story and the writing in support of everything. As to casting. I loved seeing Rutger Hauer, The main characters however, were not very engaging. They went through the motions but carried little emotion. I was reminded of a similar failing from book to screen in the Dune story. Though visually stunning for its time, the main cast of characters did not carry the story and did not seem emotionally suited to their roles. The above being said, I found the movie watchable from the great visual variety presented, it was as though the cantina scene from the original Star Wars was magnified to the nth degree. Kudos. And the movie as a whole was far more imaginative and interesting than the banalities of the latest version of Mission Impossible.

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Engineering Catastrophes (2018– )

3/10

Still waiting for a real catastrophe, or even a definition thereof.

1 February 2019

This four part series was a major disappointment. For one thing, it does not meet the average person's criteria for either disaster or catastrophe. For another, it provides only scant hard information or visual documentation for the actual failures. For a third thing, the hand waving 'explainers' are labeled but are rarely of a profession related to the technical problems they are hand waving about. Probably half of the items discussed concern buildings and roads built over unreliable, sliding, or soft subsurface material. These are not really satisfying engineering disasters so much as poor decision making on the part of the funders. There was a case of a building put together with human leg sized bolts which apparently degrade in place, then break and fall many stories to ground level. How about an example of even one of these broken bolts. Save your time, save your money, watch something else.

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The Favourite (2018)

2/10

Repellant for Sure. . . Malevalent?... Maybe

23 January 2019

Best part was the textiles. . . The costume budget for this period piece must have run into the commissary bills, because not a lot of sharp focus was spent on the foods being gorged, but a ton was spent on sharply couture period wear. I wish more time was spent on the story and script,what there was of it. I'm pretty sure I heard the use of 'ok' and I know I heard a character describe being 'blindsided.' This does not good dialogue make. It seems to be a period piece set out of its period. And there are no likable people in it, nor very believable people in it. It is a movie which winks.....maybe at itself. But is it trying for a modern statement or merely surrealism?

But after two hours I couldn't say what the relevance of any of this was other than slow entertainment. It seemed to be scene after scene of unrealistic and somewhat petty cattiness drossed up to what is supposed to be modern sensibilities.

I predict it will do well at the Oscars, not well among real large scale viewership, and vanish as an also- ran into the future. I do not think it is a pleasant watch for the average human, historian, but if you're into fabrics, definitely worth a rent.

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Apple Tree Yard (2017)

5/10

Good Actors bring more horsepower than necessary to the inadequate story

17 January 2019

The 4 part series got off to a bracing start, then sagged and continued to sag by bringing in many story elements which indicated they may impact on the plot, then ultimately did not. Detailed but overdone legal niceties considering the amount of time they sucked out of the 4 episodes. The ultimate payoff at the very end was likewise inadequate. Felt sorry for pretty much all the characters, barring one, but ultimately most sorry for myself.

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