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sethp2343
Reviews
Year One (2009)
Criminally Underrated
I mean it, this movie is criminally Underrated. Is it a mold-breaking comedy like Dumb and Dumber, Superbad, Dr. Strangelove? Of course not! But the low brow, star-packed film is an easy watch that's full of laughs and great Jack Black moments. It's full of some of my favorite actors such as Bill Hader, Juno Temple, Jack Black, David Cross.
I'm sure most of the criticism of this movie comes from the angry religious right or from humor elitists who thumb their nose at the things us lowly peasants find funny. If you're looking for a quick cheap laugh that harkens back to Mel Brooks-style comedy, this movie is for you.
Greenland (2020)
A few cliches, but some great human moments too.
I'm not gonna disagree with other reviews of this films use of cliches. The troubled marriage, sick kid, headstrong and irrational grandfather...it's all there 🙄. And they definitely don't fill the movie with overly CGI'd city destruction (Michael A-Bay-minations) like any Marvel movie, Day After Tomorrow, 2012, or other films of the genre.
Where Greenland fails to break the mold in some ways, it definitely makes up for it with believable human moments. Other disaster films and video games love to dive into terrifying moments of human barbarism and evil. Greenland has a little bit of that, but instead intersects some real, touching showcases of empathy and positive human spirit. Dont get me wrong, I like watching Europe get obliterated occasionally and human evil in the face of desperation on display, but I was actually touched by some of Greenland moments. I recommend it if you want a slight change of pace in genre!
Cults and Extreme Belief: Jehovah's Witnesses (2018)
Systemic Abuse Exposed
Truthfully, I thought the episode was more of an 8/10 but seeing as Jehovahs Witnesses are starting to review bomb this episode, I gave it a 10 to offset that. There no doubt in my mind that these radical fundamentalists are hiding abuse from authorities and shutting down the reports brought to their elders. It's absolutely disgusting and the episode shows actual JW literature that exposes exactly how they handle these things. It's a cult designed to keep abuse under the wraps so that it coninues to perpetuate itself. Pure evil.
The Witcher (2019)
A Decent Start, But Big Fixes Needed
I have to start my review with the last episode, namely the Battle of Sodden Hill (since it is freshest in my mind), which was a major world-changing moment in the world of The Witcher. In the books, this battle was on a massive scale and involved huge numbers of soldiers and ended with calamity as the mages all but used a scorched earth policy to defeat Nilfgaard. In the show, the battle to me seemed to end with a sigh and never seemed to reach the intensity that I expected from the book.
In general, I feel like Netflix's The Witcher could have done so much better as far as pacing and storytelling is concerned. I know what the showrunners were going for, but it seemed to make the story hard to follow and lackluster. Caville's presence is for the most part good, but all other characters on the show seem dont seem to leave very strong performances in my mind. The monsters dont really look much like I'd hoped and some special effects look cheap. I thought most of the elves' character models and actors were terribly bad and I was disappointed with the look of the Dryads...they were boring, forest women with bows, and no where near the level of mysticism and magic in the book.
The reason I gave this a 7 is because I imagine that the showrunners were operating with a tight pilot season budget and with that, they did an acceptable job. The script-writing is weak, the special effects are lower quality, and they stuck to the jumping storyline of the book without actually keeping much of the GOOD things the book had. I hope they get some expanded funding for season 2 and focus on better looking monsters, better character and world building dialogues, and stronger actors for new roles that should be coming with season 2.
Chernobyl (2019)
A Must Watch
I'll keep this short and simple....we cannot let the lies of the bureaucrats continue to silence the stories of their failures. I truly believe that this series should be shown to all undergraduate students of chemistry and physics in order to drive home the importance of integrity.