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Harry & Meghan: Episode #1.1 (2022)
Probably can't keep it up past 1 ep
But this was pretty funny. It's so horribly put together and they are two of the least self-aware people alive. And they do this lack of awareness so well that they can say one thing and immediately contradict themselves and both things are equally empty.
It's such a mess, but it starts out with probably the funniest line by tagging a caveat "Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series"
lol yeah, who did you ask, one of the Queen's ancient cousins? And how could they comment on the series-were you going screen it for them.
Ok, that's good, but then it's just a bit of a mess with Harry talking about how he and they (Royal Family?) and they (media?) all know the full truth about something, but that, and pretty much anything concrete about what they're actually whining about is.
Next comes one of Meghan's comedic highlights-taping like a diary entry for this, crying about H being in London and she just doesn't know...and we don't either because she never says what she's talking about. BUT she saves the bit by doing it in a costume so she looks like she's straight out of the shower-boyfriend shirt, hair up in a towel-and she just couldn't make it to get fully dressed and had to collapse on the stairs and cry about something vague. I can totally see this in a mock doc-in fact this scene reminds me very much of the idiot yuppie couple in Best in Show.
Then it's just nonsense that, if you didn't know who they were beforehand wouldn't clear that up at all until they start hitting the Princess Diana stuff hard like 20 minutes in. Even if you did know who they were the story bounces around so much it's hard to care about it other than to laugh about it.
Harry's funniest bit: his absolute amazement at the brilliance of a friend's suggestion that they "document" their lives, failing to realize, of course, that 1) that's what he's supposed to be getting away from is all the people documenting his life and 2) everyone in the world on Instagram and Twitter, etc are documenting their lives too.
Meghan's funniest: claiming she didn't want to Google Harry, because she wanted to see like the real him-so she looked on his Instagram feed-his official, Royal Instagram feed it must've been, because it was all beautifully shot photos of him doing his Africa animal charity stuff. Meghan was so impressed at just how real he was. Honorable mention: she says they were going to do the last season of Suits and like two minutes later she says something about how her career was just getting started. They're both good at these jokes where they say words that mean the opposite of what is meant.
Don't know if this marvelous unintended satire can be sustained for more than one episode, it's just a bunch of words and will pry jump the shark 20 minutes into the second episode.
Hangman (2015)
Ok, but never ramped up intensity
Started out well-guy breaks in, lives in a house, records the family, and screws around with stuff occasionally.
The part that sucks is that there's no escalation. He makes it look like a robbery (but nothing taken, just gone through) & once the family feels comfortable in the house he starts messing with them. Messing with food, moving a vase, getting a report card the daughter hid...and that's about it until the last 2 minutes when he kills the couple in about 2 seconds. He does kill a couple of people, but the family never learns about these deaths so they're not bothered by it at all.
The description of the movie says something like "the family comes home to a robbery but doesn't realize that's only the beginning of their terrorization" but there was never any "terror" inflicted on them. He just kind of messed around with them. He did drug the wife and make it look like she got drunk and went to bed, but the next morning she was just "wow I guess I was drunker than I thought" no "thanks for carrying me up" or anything-maybe the family is too stupid to be terrorized, because they never really notice or care about stuff they manage to notice, and certainly never discuss anything at all. The only one who's actually suffering is the young boy because the intruder is apparently waking him up, telling the kid he's a dream friend named "Jimmy" and telling him stuff-what we hear is made up stuff designed to set up suspicions in the mom about the dad's fidelity-so he's only really good at being scary face to face. He's got room for improvement in the "stalker" portion of his game, is what I'm saying.
I really thought it was going to get going at a fairly early point-the mom is in the house alone doing stuff, still a little spooked from the robbery, and while she's doing chores she leaves the bathroom, walks down the hall a bit and then hears the toilet flush! It's not some motion detection toilet but a normal physically flush thing and she...does not run straight out of the house.
If I hadn't left my house for a month, all doors and windows double locked with a guard dog in each room, and I heard a toilet flush behind me from a bathroom I was just in I would book it out of my house in a hot second.
Then, you think maybe the toilet will pay off because the handyman stumbles in the bathroom and discovers the camera behind a picture and is immediately suffocated. Then you're thinking "ooh ok he's going to hide the body and they're going to stumble across it as he really starts terrorizing them" but he doesn't, they don't, and everything just fizzles.
And it's just more of half assed pranks and then he makes some noise in the attic. In the space of 2 minutes they check the attic-dad goes up, comes immediately down on a noose (Hangman), mom runs, gets tackled and forced to say "I love you" and immediately is shot. So, she was in terror for perhaps 60 seconds.
Could have been really good if anything scary happened-it doesn't count as scary if the characters are never scared.
Idk why this is called "found footage"- yeah it's shot like those but it's not "found"-like usually "found footage" implies the people who shot it are gone. This guy just made a video, edited and everything. And he's on his way to making his next one.
Ted Lasso: No Weddings and a Funeral (2021)
A suggestion...
For any reviewer here who says this was a bad episode, or suggests this is proof the series has gone downhill and/or lost its way, I have some advice for you:
1) Abide by the adage "if you don't like my story, write your own" and follow that up by...
2) stop threatening to quit watching the damn thing and just quit watching. There's really no point, because it's clear that you're not really paying attention and/or just don't get it. So...
3) don't let the boot room door hit your ass on the way out.
Into the Dark: Pooka Lives! (2020)
Fun to watch
Not the best movie, but overall it was a fun 80 minute episode. Actors were believable old friends, especially when compared to other movies falling in the popular "old friends get together and spooky stuff happens" trend. The ending was fine.
Into the Dark: Flesh & Blood (2018)
Had to give it a 10 for such a prolific killer
I was impressed. This fairly sloppy serial killer had an amazing body of work. Choosing victims by a profile, not randomly, all while living quite a full life at the same time. Color me impressed cuz that all makes perfect sense.
The Twilight Zone: You Might Also Like (2020)
Where's my Egg?
Could someone please go back in time and deliver it to me 5 minutes before I hit play on this waste of time?
The Twilight Zone: Replay (2019)
Neat story until it wasn't a story anymore
Simple premise that I could totally see as an original TZ episode-magic object, trying to escape the same fate type of thing, and pulls it off for the most part but then the ending totally wrecked it. I didn't mind the idea of the ending, but a deft hand could have made the same point within the confines of the story. It was just SO BAD. So, so, bad. There were so many ways to end that episode, and all of them would have been more effective at getting the message across because the ending is so jarring it borders on ridiculous.
Also, JORDAN PEELE SUCKS AS THE NARRATOR! His flat dead eyed stare is ridiculous. Serling was never cold and robotic, he showed his personality. Peele should have just been himself. Without trying comedy though, cuz he sucks at that too.
The Great North (2021)
Like Bob's, yes, and will hopefully grow like Bob's
It's obvious it's like Bob's-some of the same people behind it, animation style, and the whole "oddball family that likes each other"-but is that bad? Considering Fox usually only schedules crap copies of the crap Family Guy, I'm definitely on board with something like Bob's.
Also, think of the first season of Bob's-it was 9 episodes and they weren't all home runs. It took the first 2 seasons to really find its groove. Not that there aren't gems in the early seasons, but "Ear-sy Rider" is really what set the show's course.
So, I'm glad we're getting 2 more seasons of Great North and I hope people give it another chance or 2 and see if it develops like Bob's did. It's already got the strong family connections, which really is the core of Bob's. Give the Tobins some space to develop more complex personalities and it should be great.
The Great North: Avocado Barter Adventure (2021)
10 stars for the Final Destination gag alone
Loved this episode-everyone's storylines were hilarious, so I am giving 10 stars for everything, but the Final Destination bus gag had me laughing uncontrollably-and not just the first time I watched it.
The Great North: Sexi Moose Adventure (2021)
I'd say watch the pilot again
I absolutely love this show, but when it first came on I did like it a lot and found it hilarious, but there were so much going on with all the names and keeping track of who is who.
It was only after I saw a few episodes and got comfortable with the characters that I could really appreciate it-like Bob's Burgers. It's funny on its own, but once you understand the family dynamics it is really special. So glad it got picked up for 2 more seasons already.
The Muppet Show: Don Knotts (1977)
10 stars for Rowlf
Rowlf's bit in this episode is just him singing "What a Wonderful World" while stroking a puppy. I don't know if there's a clearer example of Henson et al knowing exactly what kids want to see. Oh, shoot, spoilers!
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: How to Get Rid of Your Wife (1963)
Newhart is excellent
I don't want to recap the episode.
It's about a guy that has a great plan, and sticks to it.
Have I written enough so any SPOILERS can't be seen? Because all I really want to do is vent...
WHY CAN'T HITCHCOCK LET US HAVE ANYTHING NICE AND LET SOMEONE GET A WIN ONCE IN AWHILE?
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Good-Bye, George (1963)
Decent episode, bad decisions
A decent story about a young actress who wins an Oscar and, at her party afterwards, is confronted by her old husband-a crook from across the country that has been "dead" for 5 years, but turns out he planted his ID on someone else to throw the cops off his tail. So, he shows up, acts like a jerks babbling about spending "their" community property and threatening to expose her past and ruin her career instead of taking a payoff. So, she gets a little upset and cracks his head with an award (not the Oscar).
Mostly, though, this story is about IDIOTS! It's very common for the killers in a Hitchcock story to be beyond incompetent at covering their tracks, but this is mind blowing. 1) this is during a party, and they have a great place to keep the body, but instead of waiting until it quiets down, they announce they're getting married and going to Mexico that night. 2) not only does this make leaving with their "luggage" more risky, it also is the last of a string of incidents that have pissed off her agent, because they've also been pissing off an important reporter.
Now, the plan. Drive to Mexico with the dead guy in her luggage. Drive to Mexico and get married. Drive through the middle of nowhere for hours to make sure nobody's following them to their "secret" honeymoon location, then double back and cross back to the US from a different city, and continue to his cabin near that city, and bury the body there.
OMG THE STUPIDITY! They drive for HOURS in Mexico without seeing a single car but instead of realizing "hey, why don't we dump this body that wouldn't be linked to us because he's 'dead' already right here" they chance another border crossing and still plan to bury him at the cabin-the one sure way to connect them to the body if found. But they get theirs cuz they're pissed off agent figures out where they're going and sets up a surprise party there to make the pissed off reporter happy.
El Hijo (2019)
Ending theories questions
I see everyone talking about decoys and twins and clones, but I was under the impression that it was a completely new kid-it was 2 years later and the kid was walking and talking, but when the friend followed that crazy old lady to the house and looked in, it sounded to me like an infant, not a toddler, and the equipment they had outside looked incomplete. I was more leaning towards showing that she'd done this to another guy, but this time got away with the baby. But with the stupid ambiguous scene where the dad is in the lab and we don't see what he does, who knows. Maybe she was turning him into a snail and the one kid was a baby that came from nowhere.