foxtwc's Reviews

The Whale (2022)

5/10

1 September 2023

This movie is a warning to those who pursue selfish indulgence and ignore the common goal of love and family.

With each character you can see their complexity in terms of their ties to others as well as their own acts for selfish pleasure.

With each revelation in the movie you can see how damaging selfish acts are to those who each are supposed to love.

Each character is flawed. Every performance is great for what the story is.

Personally none of them were likeable ... they were each so good at playing their part you are both depressed and distressed at the lack of love as well as the acts of caring.

Overall the movie doesn't leave you feeling good about things. It's a slow motion tragedy of watching people destroying themselves out of anger or selfishness.

As far as Christian messages go ... you will either find the film anti-Christian or will see it as I did ... a warning of what happens when you turn from Christ or even the morales of the stories in the bible to pursue earthly desires over the unity of family and love to others.

The journey is exhausting... and the content depressing. It was okay as a plot. The acting was amazing. It's just not a story I will ever watch again.

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Zeitgeist (2007 Video)

1/10

Laughable

24 July 2023

This guy clearly has no degree in ancient history or culture. His diatribe is so shallow with knowledge it makes you wonder why anyone would bother with this movie at all.

Egyptologists do not agree with any of his portrayal of Horus "similarities" to Christ that he says. In fact it seems he based this line of argument on an amateur Egyptologist who was discredited by real Egyptologists. None of the Egyptian literature on Horus matches what this movie portrays. That alone sets the pace for the absolute ignorance of this movie and all the rest of his.

Save yourself the massacre of ancient culture and history and actually watch scholars who specialized in them. I am pretty sure this guy didn't even finish his degree at art school.

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Victim/Suspect (2023)

2/10

Bad editing

11 July 2023

This is not a well laid out story. The narrative follows a few cases and doesn't really make a case for showing what they seem to be trying to show.

I think the interviews as shown jump around to much and before any closure is made around the conviction they are on to the next case to show a similar thing happening.

Unlike journalism, the criminal court system relies on evidence and testimony. When interviews outline a series of events, and then subsequent questions change those events ... it becomes difficult to find out what really happened. This is made even more difficult when videos are around that do not show a forced situation or corroborate with what the victim says happened.

This makes it difficult for the court to find a person guilty of rape. As the court has its own rules to follow when it comes to taking away someone's freedom.

Why the victims would change their testimony to willing admit they made things up ... the viewer will never know. There is no real evidence her aside from self confession of false claims. These people should have talked to an attorney when being questioned by the police.

The show itself is a mess in how it was edited together. The rookie journalist really needs to learn how to weave a story together that approaches this subject from a third person point of view. To outline what took a case from situation victim to situation suspect. In this she failed to do this in a compelling manner.

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Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. (2022)

3/10

Way too long

7 July 2023

I have no idea why they made this series so many episodes. I am not even sure if they are trying to make people sympathetic to Sarma or if they are trying to show how gullible she is.

It's hard to feel sorry for her. The conversations they reveal between her and her husband are honestly stupid with the amount of nonsense he was telling her.

There are many scamming women who trick rich men out of their money. So much so that no one really cares when it happens.

Why Netflix thinks it's worthwhile putting up stories of women who are tricked out of large amounts of money ... I have no idea.

Sarna you had it made and you were fooled. You clearly were in it in the hopes he would give you millions. But you got duped. Stop trying to find a man who will give you millions and just work for what you can earn yourself.

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Into the Night (II) (2020–2021)

4/10

Annoying

26 June 2023

The unfortunate thing about the series: too many characters are annoying and the plot has so many unrealistic components.

There is so many conflicts with the people that half the time you don't even care if one of them were to die.

The jet flying ahead of the sunrise ... having to land, refuel and gather supplies .... Seriously they do more in an hr than most people can accomplish in half a day.

Each episode just introduces more drama and conflict. All while more challenges keep popping up.

You would hope characters would develop over time ... that relationships would form and camaraderie when facing such a perilous experience... but no the writers never explore that. All these people remain as toxic as the first day.

The end result ... you don't care about them. You lose reality with their crisis because the plot keeps getting more and more unrealistic as the series goes on.

There are better series that handle survival in way more entertaining ways.

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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

5/10

Average

15 June 2023

This follows the same formula as the original ... but film making was different back then. You waited too long James Cameron, people would probably have liked this movie 10 years ago but Marvel has set the bar a lot higher for action movies and this comes nowhere close to Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy or Dead Pool.

The film was way too long for what the plot line is. Sadly they end the film as though they intend to make more. I just do not see how they can keep the audience interested with the basic plot being shoved down their eyeballs for 2+ hrs per film.

I am glad I didn't get sucked into seeing it in theatres, this would not have been worth the price of tickets and treats that it costs a family these days.

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In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)

10/10

Worth it - engaging with a twist

14 April 2023

Warning: Spoilers

Someone took the idea of what happens if you kill baby hitler would it stop ww2? Question and applied it to a movement.

There are two timelines at play here but I'll only discuss the logic of the assassins which seems to confuse people. To stop the movement they leap back in time through the window they have to kill & see if it worked. Each failure more is learned. The success of that mission is confirmed by the cop because he actually identified the source which took him several cycles. The cop produced the assassin and their skills. Killer provided evidence cop needed to find source of the movement and like all investigations it started at the crime in the future and worked backwards in increments to a new set of people who were connected to the previous link.

So for the assassin you know her last jump when she died ... she knew her mission was a success because she killed the originator and the influential people who already had his letters. She said I'll see you soon to the cop because her completion of the mission meant the civil war wouldn't happen. That this would mean she wouldn't have to leap back in time on this mission or die from that mission. The older cop who trained her knowing that if she succeeded that she wouldn't be dead in his timeline either.

Overall it was a refreshing and engaging idea. I'm not endorsing the morality of the concept as it's a philosophical idea ... are the deaths of a few to prevent the deaths of millions worth the exchange. The only thing about such ideas though is someone else always comes up with their own version of it ... we have many monsters of the same cut (if baby hitler was killed it would have been someone else who harnessed national anger and resentment). And frankly some of the best lessons people learn are from pain and blood spilt.

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Top Gun (1986)

9/10

Fighter plane enthusiasts will love it

19 February 2023

This movie is made for those who go to air shows and watch documentary films on fighter planes and dogfights of old.

It captures the bravado of what it is to be a fighter pilot and throws in some amazing aerial photography that turned into one the best recruiting tools the US Navy ever could have hoped for.

If you don't have a clue what a F-14 is, can't relate to a fighter pilots confidence or can't understand what BFM means then this film is a waste for you. But if you are into all of that then this movie will be pure candy for your brain and will keep you going back to watch what is easily a film that will never get old.

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Spaceship Earth (2020)

3/10

As fake as their project

18 September 2022

I remember thinking how fake it was when I heard about this in school. Now I have a better understanding of how weird the people who came up with the project were.

I wasn't surprised when I heard that they were sneaking food into the dome and that the whole thing essentially collapsed as a massive fraud.

The show takes the people behind the project too seriously. I didn't care to learn so much about their self inflated importance. I was hoping it would have been more about the conspiracy of people who were inside and having Big Brother kind of melt downs to the people on the outside who ushered in burgers and other food.

I am not sure if they realized while making this show, that they became a laughing stock.

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The Summit (II) (2012)

4/10

What a waste

17 September 2022

I can understand adventure and wanting to do some things, but this is a stupid thing.

I don't know if the photo work is documentary or Re-enacted dramatization. Some of it real ... some of it cannot be real.

What I will say is this is a selfish sport. The resources and garbage left behind just to climb a rock.

I wish I could say I sympathize but they all lost their minds to climb to the top at all costs. Many wasting precious minutes taking photos. Climbing so late in the daylight.

People die of stupidity. And it's frustrating watching able bodied people throwing life and limb away when so many people who are fighting against disease are loosing theirs ... while reckless climbers throw it away.

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American Tragedy (2019)

5/10

More research

9 September 2022

Anyone who reaches a point in life where they decide to kill, we need to figure out how they got there. Not many monsters are born, many are created. If we refuse to figure out how society creates monsters we will never be able to stop the cycle.

So many bad things happen to kids in schools. Too many are bullied and ignored. There needs to be a time when we are able to have adults interject to deescalate the situation. People who bully others need to be held accountable for their actions and punished. If an adult wouldn't accept that treatment from another ... our kids need to be given that same protection. Time to stop acting like it's just kids being kids.

Teachers are not capable in this area for stopping bullying. The last decade has proven that. They are either too out of touch with the kids or they are ignoring the bad behavior because they are uncomfortable with the conflict.

It's too easy to call a person who kills a monster, but many are pushed to that mental state when they feel like no one is listening or doing anything. These are people who feel powerless and like no one cares and that this is the only way they can make a statement. And it isn't only kids who do this ... it's repeated with many mass killers who decide to do violence.

Will gun control stop it from happening? Probably not as that is only the removal of a tool. People would resort to poison or other devices to kill at the level they want like using a building boiler or natural gas supply to detonate the entire building.

The key thing is to let those who are this troubled know that they matter and provide a method for them to get action for where injustice is being imposed on them.

Schools need an HR system for bullies. It's not funny anymore the way some kids are tormented beyond their capacity to cope as a child. Adults need to impose rules of behaviour that are expected from society, so let's make sure these juveniles know what society will and will not accept. Maybe then many adult sociopaths will be prevented who are created by the trauma caused during childhood.

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Untold (2021– )

8/10

Damage mentally ill people do

17 August 2022

I never heard of any of this before, so had no opinion going in.

Netflix did a good job showing Manti and how much he was a victim of someone who was not in a good space. He was a good person that got damaged by the actions of a toxic person.

It also outlines how mentally unfit the media is in its need to tear people apart without knowing the story. Journalism has died if it even existed. There is a clear agenda and drama sells and they bathe in it like psychos bathe in blood.

It's a real example of how judgemental people are in society when it comes to others. That need to hate someone for something that isn't relevant to who they are but will define how they are treated. The moment people felt Manti had lied they wanted to destroy him ... there was no escape no matter what the truth was. Either he was part of the hoax and was a terrible person; or he was catfished and a sucker; or that he was trying to hide he was gay and couldn't be a leader.

The only thing that should have mattered is if he could play football to the NFL. People will try to talk about being and outstanding person with impeccable morals and background but let's face it they are just football players and that league is full of scandalous people not saints.

In the end people persevere through adversity and it's clear that Manti has become stronger because of it and likely a lot more humble and empathetic than he would have been had he been a top pick NFL player worth hundreds of millions. That is probably his only saving grace ... he got destroyed by public opinion over falling for someone who lied to him instead of being destroyed by a life where the fame and wealth could have destroyed who he was as a person by making him think he was better than others and descended into that pit of destruction so many fall into when the commercial juggernaut takes over your life and exploits and chews you up until your worthless to them.

As for Lennay, they explained how it all went down. I don't know if they will ever truly understand the hurt they inflicted. They seem more interested in acknowledging their gender orientation than to discuss how wrong what they did was. I take this as Netflix wanting to humanize the story of them so that they are not vilified as a monster for what they did. I accept that given the aptitude of the average weirdo with social media who would probably make death threats to them. These are the same people who tore Manti apart for having feelings for someone that was a lie to begin with.

The end lesson is to be yourself when exploring relationships with someone else, lying about who you are or pretending to be something you are not is going to hurt someone when the real you becomes apparent. Be true to yourself and to others like Manti was.

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Keep Breathing (2022)

8/10

Clearly not for all audiences

1 August 2022

Warning: Spoilers

I don't think the average reviewer was ready for this film, possibly they never will be. But for some it will resonate.

What you will find with this series:

Liv is so busy with her material life and running from her childhood trauma that she has become cold and distant to all of those around her. This gives her control over her life but only over the shallow parts of life ... career focus.

Liv has some trauma from her childhood related to her moms mental illness. She yearned for her moms acceptance but her mom was too narcissistic with her illness that she couldn't reflect back the love her daughter needed. Her mom refused to address her illness and caused a lot of pain to Liv and her dad. And Liv not understanding it in her youth took out her moms abandonment on her dad.

Liv is barely able to take care of herself in the wild. Her time in Girl Scouts as a child instilled some skills that she is able to use. I found the survival scenes to be gritty and mostly real for what the series needed to be. The NWT are no joke and survival would be tough but not impossible. As far as being dumped unprepared into the wilderness I found her situation to be pretty hopeless but found her actions to be realistic given her predicament. Many people commenting find her walking in circles to be unrealistic .... Obviously they have not been in the wild where there are no landmarks to follow for miles, there is a reason people use compasses in the woods. Your natural gate has a dominant leg and that leg covers a bit more distant than your other leg. So yes given enough room you would easily walk in a circle if you had zero experience walking through a forest.

Amongst all of the above Liv goes through a transformation into adulthood. Anyone who knows about serious trauma ... you need to face your pain and process it to move on otherwise you are stuck at the same maturity level you were at when the trauma was indicted.

In this sense Liv is so afraid of being abandoned that she never lets anyone get close. She didn't realize just how much her dad did to be there for her even if he was not always at his best.

In both flashbacks and her thoughts about what she wish she could say and do now you see how Liv was in her past towards people, arrogant ... cold ... distant. A person driven to perfection at work ... yet clumsy with her personal relationships. And with her reflections you see her open up to those people who were in her life to say what she really means ... to express her thoughts.

Through those flashbacks and reflections you see Liv begin to work through her trauma to define who she is rather than her trying to live under the yearning approval from a mother who long left her behind. And what emerges is a new Liv who is more confident with herself and how she sees herself in the world. For anyone who has been in a life threatening situation you will recognize this type of growth and the epiphanies that come with it ... the learning of what is really important in life.

I have to say this series is way above average. I can understand that most people will take a shallow approach to it and not see the work as it's meant. Partly because they can't connect with how people process trauma, partly because they don't know the mental growth that comes from life and death situations.

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Bliss (I) (2021)

8/10

A unexpected treat

22 July 2022

Watching this movie with no idea what it was about to begin with was a real adventure.

It follows in the steps of "Beautiful Boy" but with a different path to get there.

I am not sure why they felt the need to have kids who look nothing like Owen, the diversity cast thing is really getting out of hand.

Otherwise following Owens experience's through the movie will take you on a journey where you will question which of his worlds is real. And watching his reaction to it makes you divided between which you want to be real.

In the style of "Life of Pi" I think it's up to the viewer to believe whichever reality they want ... either way it's tragic in different degrees.

I really did not expect this to be as engaging as it was. I can understand how some people are caught off guard by it and find it hard to enjoy or understand, but I do think this is severely underrated.

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The Black Phone (2021)

8/10

Solid movie

4 July 2022

More a thriller than it is horror

The kids acting in this movie is really great. They deliver adult level performances without any of that dreadful kid like delivery

As a viewer I was pulled into the world with lots of questions. Not all of them get answered but that is ok because life doesn't always provide answers. I didn't get bored that is for sure and there were good comedic moments to break tension.

Really solid performances by all the actors.

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Another Life (2019–2021)

4/10

Meh

10 June 2022

I was hoping for more intelligent writing. Every episode is a freaking life and death crisis and some of the plot points to get to the crisis are lame.

Not many characters are likeable.

Another diversity cast orientated show Writing uses weak plot points A lot of misandry.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

5/10

It's ok

4 June 2022

A society capable of interstellar travel, with advanced technology .... Yet they cut meat in an assembly line with regular knives, sleep on a cave floor and lack basic amenities.

Star Wars never really made sense and character development has always depending on the original movies.

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Bridgerton (2020– )

1/10

Should be labeled as fantasy

11 May 2022

I can't wait for Netflix to make roots with a white and Asian family that experience the horrors of racism.

Aristocrats all over the world mix races all the time.

Not every series that is made needs to contain a group of friends that has every race, every gender as that doesn't match reality.

This is the type of show guys get forced to watch to appease their other half, but have to cringe through all the crap that is clearly not the way the world was in that region during that time period.

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Jersey Girl (2004)

7/10

Little Gertie stole the show

16 April 2022

Yes it's cheesy. But the little girl had an amazing performance that lets you know why dads love their little girls so much.

J Lo ... bad actor Ben ... some good moments and many wooden moments Liz ... decent Gramps ... great performance Gramps friends ... great performance Little girl ... absolutely the anchor for the show she really delivered.

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Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

4/10

John Wick Aspiration With Harry Potter Vibe

5 April 2022

Less than 30 minutes in.

They are trying hard to build a John Wick style underworld of assassins. But the dialogue is wooden and the world does not seem like the cool lethal world of John Wick ... but instead a Harry Potter like light hearted vibe.

The action is not gritty but more child like. None of it is realistic, intimidating or enticing.

I won't completely nuke the attempt but I will say I am not entirely certain I will watch it to the end as it really is not that engaging because the acting is that bad ... it's like those B action movies you would never rent because you can tell after a few minutes of dialogue that none of the characters is selling their part ... almost like they are just reading the lines from screen rather than living the character.

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The Tinder Swindler (2022)

7/10

Shallow

23 March 2022

It's hard to really feel sorry for these women.

Each of them were seduced by a guy who paid for everything for the first week or so ... none of them really caring about trying to pay for themselves.

Then when they are asked to lend money they do so willingly because they are concerned for this guys life ... who they fell for because he paid for so much partying that they feel he is their dream man?

Come on girls you didn't seem concerned about how much money was being spent on you ... thinking it's ok because you think he is rich. You were free loaders.

And you loaned money thinking you would profit in the end because he would compensate you for multiples of what you loaned.

What he did isn't right but neither is being a freeloader. So if a freeloader has someone freeload them ... is there really a serious crime? The world didn't think so because he isn't in jail anymore.

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Black Crab (2022)

4/10

Should have known

23 March 2022

I should have realized after the mission to skate across the ice behind enemy lines to a city with a package that this movie plot was not going to be good.

For what it is the plot made no sense. The method of delivery made no sense for what it was ... literally didn't need to skate at all.

Ignore that for now.

The team they put together made so many tactical blunders it was annoying to think they were specialized soldiers.

The few battles they get in ... baffling. I guess thermal optics do not exist in a winter battle. Let alone having helicopters without them.

There is no deeper explanation of the conflict ... only that it does not involve the rest of the world. But the motivations between the two sides that are at war ... never explained. Actually much is not explained ... too much left unsaid so that you actually don't care about edh or her daughter or why she is so important.

Anyway I fell for some stupid clinger of a trailer wondering what the overall plot would be and it's just not worth the squeeze.

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Monsters of Man (2020)

7/10

$1.6 million budget gem

17 March 2022

Are some of the characters annoying? Yes but no more so than any other B flick. Honestly based on stupid things average people do in real life it's not that far fetched that people in the situation would not do stupid things in a stressful situation.

I found the idea engaging. For the low budget I found the robots to be well done.

I also found the scenario plausible... AI kill bots being field tested against drug dealers in third world Asia. Put a bunch of innocent civilians in a combat situation and of course they have no field craft in a jungle or even survival skills.

For the budget this movie was made with it seriously exceeds expectations. For $1.6 million they made a robot combat movie that is better than the transformers sequels. And none of these actors are the big budget stars. I have seen blockbuster budget movies that flopped for 100x this budget.

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The Hurt Locker (2008)

2/10

Wildly unrealistic

17 March 2022

My mistake was seeing this movie expecting it to be a realistic depiction of war similar to Blackhawk Down.

It is not. The movie is an action flick based on Iraq but is no better than any average action movie.

Super soldier is an EOD tech that is also an expect at call of duty feats of running and gunning and movement assault that not even a delta force operator would emulate.

I was severely disappointed by the marketing that portrays the movie as a realistic combat movie. It's just a far fetched action thriller that sits in line with movies like Armageddon is a portrayal of NASA astronauts.

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Without Remorse (II) (2021)

2/10

Not without remorse

12 March 2022

I have great remorse after watching this. I don't understand how Amazon can make Reacher series that is vastly entertaining... yet make something like this movie that is so far from capturing the character of the master piece that is Tom Clancys without remorse.

Both Greers weak compared to the charisma of James Earl Jones version in previous movies.

That black guy who played John Kelly ... honestly should stick to fast and furious level of titles he doesn't have the depth for this character.

The entire plot is so shallow and far from the source material ... it's like going to see a movie called Apollo 11 ... only it's a movie about space camp. That's how disappointing this movie was. It would be like going to see John Wick 4 and having them show you a movie Speed 2 instead.

I hope someone more competent is able to actually make a Without Remorse movie sometime in the future when hopefully Netflix gets the licensing rights to the source material.

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