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Reviews
The Outlaws (2021)
The is some of the worst writing I've even seen
If you like adolescent humor, cliché racial stereotypes, and 90s sitcom musical montages, you'll still have a hard time enjoying this pile of hot garbage. Each incredibly predictable step of this story follows a group of delusional morons whose immaturity is catching up with them.... again. Every character is a shallow one note stereotype. You have a cliché angry black woman, cliché privileged Instagram socialite, cliché condescending businessman, cliché incompetent lawyer, I actually can't list every cliché character because it would be all of them. If that were simply their starting point it would be one thing but there is absolutely no depth to any of them. It's the sort of writing you'd expect from a college freshman's first draft for their first film class. These characters believe they're miss understood when in fact they're perfectly understood by the few reasonable voices in their lives. Every episode of full of ridiculous, unexplained plot holes that will absolutely drive you crazy if you have half a brain.
If you're interest in seeing character growth and development, skip to the last 30 minutes of the last episode because they do finally squeeze a half assed attempt into the very end (half is being generous).
I Care a Lot (2020)
Hilarious is viewed as a parody
If you ignore the fact the this is clearly an anti-LGBTQ+ and simply view this as a parody it's pretty funny. Not "The Room" or "Teeth" level funny but not bad. It tries to be a feminist power movie (or something). I don't really know, I heard heard a lot of cliché lines and I'm not sure if they were meant as jokes to trying to be serious. However, that does make it funny.
Part of what makes it funny is the complete lack of understanding in how the legal system works, tons of plot holes, the whole thing is so ridiculous. I do feel bad for the cast who I believed tried to do a good job but you can't make up for writing this bad.
The Twilight Zone (2019)
Eyerollingly predictable, profoundly boring
I'm a longtime Twilight Zone fan and I was hoping the success of Black Mirror would show there is a good market for sci-fi shows in general and I was specifically hoping TZ would be remade and find the same success. Sadly, this show is painful to watch. The writing is lazy. It attempts to be a social commentary at times (points I actually agree with like racism and the state of our political system) but are so poorly written with no nuance it is insulting to watch. They've accidentally created a commentary on the dismal state of television right now. The show is boring, predictable, contrived, and all around awful.
The Queen's Gambit (2020)
Wonderfully written and executed.
This is Netflix at it's best. I watched the whole series in one day. The chess playing was on point. The story was enticing. The performances were flawless (Honestly, I don't think there was a single weak character). This show was absolutely beautiful. Well done.
The Assistant (2019)
An exercise in turning an important topic into an awful movie.
Unless you've been living under a rock for years you are well aware there are some real garbage people in the entertainment industry. Despite this being widely known and reported on, "The Assistant" sets out to educate us. We learn many things. How to get coffee. How to make copies. How to pass out said copies. How to use a microwave. How to not directly confront abuse. And how running to HR ultimately does nothing. The main character a not hero. There are no heroes. The plot is not intriguing. There is no plot. The conclusion is not satisfying. There is no conclusion. There is no point other than to draw attention to a subject we're all very aware of. Even, it's not done well.