Don't be fooled by all of the rave reviews...they're simply not real ones. After 4 episode, I can tell you this series is not very entertaining and barely feels like a Star Wars story. The acting is fine, it looks good but there is little substance and narrative direction in the story. The best scene of the first episode is the fight outside the bar and this happens near the start of the episode. The rest of episode one is simply a meandering Blade Runner esque confusing mess. Clearly, the director is hoping you hold on due to the immense mystery of "What's going on?" But this isn't mystery..it's just total confusion and poor storytelling. The second episode is there for the most bland and boring backstory ...really skip episode two...you won't miss a thing. Episode three is mostly empty of drama and several characters are given screen time but you have no real emotional connection to them. You keep asking yourself, why do I care about these characters? You don't. That's poor characterization. Episode three is bland and boring until the fight scene at its conclusion. This is a fun scene that still could have been better. Episode 4 suddenly reminds us of the Empire but the story still seems unsure of where it wants to take the viewer. It's as if the episodes were written by committee as they lack drama. The writing feels like a paint by numbers option which just barely fleshes out the story outline. The series isn't bad but you will be bored and confused at least 80 percent of the time. I hope it improves after episode 4 but this series is certainly not as good as Rogue One or Mandalorian or even Obi-One.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Dolemite Is My Name
(2019)
One of heck of a good time!
8 September 2019
Eddie Murphy is back on top with this biopic of Rudy Ray Moore, the hustler, shameless self-promoter of wildly cornball action-comedies of the 1970s. Murphy has finally found a character to really sink his teeth into...and Murphy relishes every moment of inhabiting the joyful and strangely charming yet naive character desperately searching to simply express himself a an entertainer of the people and for the people. His character is an outsider who elevates other outliers all searching for validation and some simple joys in the midst of working class America.
Murphy is funny, charming, and touching as this flawed heroic character. He deserves all the acclaim for bringing this story back to life and surrounding himself with talented ensemble cast and strong direction and wonderfully zany costumes of the 70s era.
This film is at times foul and other times touching and it deserves your attention throughout as it revels in the joys of telling a story deserving to be told and to be relished and enjoyed by anyone searching for an escape from the mundane or cynical stories prevalent in movies of today.
Murphy is funny, charming, and touching as this flawed heroic character. He deserves all the acclaim for bringing this story back to life and surrounding himself with talented ensemble cast and strong direction and wonderfully zany costumes of the 70s era.
This film is at times foul and other times touching and it deserves your attention throughout as it revels in the joys of telling a story deserving to be told and to be relished and enjoyed by anyone searching for an escape from the mundane or cynical stories prevalent in movies of today.
Star Trek: Discovery
(2017–2024)
Bizarre version of Star Trek
4 January 2019
I was excited to see a new Star Trek series and was doubly excited because it was shot in my hometown of Toronto. But watching the final product was a deflating and confusing experience.
This "future" is dark and depressing and this is supposed to be gritty reality baring its soul to an audience. The truth of the matter is "reality" is more re often beautiful, joyous and happy. Making a story dark and depressing is easy. Making a story that actually mirrors "reality" WILL have light and dark elements mixed together...just reflect upon the great stroyteller Shakespeare. Even in the darkst of his tales (Macbeth) there are "knock, knock" jokes. However, moments of believable levity, especially clever word play requires intelligent writing.
The Characters lack what made the original series clever, engaging, riveting and amusing. Besides the whole idealism of a positive future, the RELATIONSHIPS between characters (especially the captain and their immediate subordinates) MADE the original series GREAT entertainment. This series lacks a strong lead and lacks ANY interesting, morally redeemable, let alone engaging, even charming characters. The bromance of the original series made it genuinely touching and gave it an emotional core that this series COMPLETELY lacks.
The Klingons and their 10 minute unintelligible scenes in every episode are both hilariously bad and bizarre. The writers must have thought, "let's make the enemy completely foreign and confusing and force the audience to be utterly mystified and tune out for washroom break."
The only good aspect of the series is that all the money thown at it produced some cool looking cgi effects but I don't watch sci-fi to look at shiny objects. I watch sci-fi for great characters who exude charm, intelligence and make the future something to look forward to. I watch sci-fi for genuinely engaging storylines that make me think this could be Shakespeare in space. Even Shakespeare knew that you need stories with both high and low brow scenes. And even Shakespeare knew that sometimes you can write something completely fluffy and humourous and then later write something really dark. Surely we, 400 plus years after Shakespeare can say that we've learned something, "in the future" about good storytelling.
This "future" is dark and depressing and this is supposed to be gritty reality baring its soul to an audience. The truth of the matter is "reality" is more re often beautiful, joyous and happy. Making a story dark and depressing is easy. Making a story that actually mirrors "reality" WILL have light and dark elements mixed together...just reflect upon the great stroyteller Shakespeare. Even in the darkst of his tales (Macbeth) there are "knock, knock" jokes. However, moments of believable levity, especially clever word play requires intelligent writing.
The Characters lack what made the original series clever, engaging, riveting and amusing. Besides the whole idealism of a positive future, the RELATIONSHIPS between characters (especially the captain and their immediate subordinates) MADE the original series GREAT entertainment. This series lacks a strong lead and lacks ANY interesting, morally redeemable, let alone engaging, even charming characters. The bromance of the original series made it genuinely touching and gave it an emotional core that this series COMPLETELY lacks.
The Klingons and their 10 minute unintelligible scenes in every episode are both hilariously bad and bizarre. The writers must have thought, "let's make the enemy completely foreign and confusing and force the audience to be utterly mystified and tune out for washroom break."
The only good aspect of the series is that all the money thown at it produced some cool looking cgi effects but I don't watch sci-fi to look at shiny objects. I watch sci-fi for great characters who exude charm, intelligence and make the future something to look forward to. I watch sci-fi for genuinely engaging storylines that make me think this could be Shakespeare in space. Even Shakespeare knew that you need stories with both high and low brow scenes. And even Shakespeare knew that sometimes you can write something completely fluffy and humourous and then later write something really dark. Surely we, 400 plus years after Shakespeare can say that we've learned something, "in the future" about good storytelling.
First Man
(2018)
Visually Spectacular Epic!
13 September 2018
Just saw the IMAX world premiere at TIFF. The film is a character study of eil Armstrong against the backdrop of the spectacular epic journey to put man on the moon. It offers genuinely interesting insight into Armstrong's mind and family life and how this affected him throughout the whole process of going to space. The film will clearly dazzle with realistic depictions of the astronauts in training and travelling in space.
Gosling has an impressive and solid performance. Foy's role was a more muted performance...her role was perhaps less demanding.
The film is an excellent one, well worth the watching!
Gosling has an impressive and solid performance. Foy's role was a more muted performance...her role was perhaps less demanding.
The film is an excellent one, well worth the watching!
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