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Reviews
What Still Remains (2018)
Awful mishmash
Gratified to see the low IMDB rating. This movie is truly awful. Yet another "post apocalyptic" tale with a few survivors of some sort of plague wandering about and bumping into each other. We have the religious villagers, the berserkers, and the "changed". They all seem to be bad, but that's not certain. We never see the changed (zombies?). Apparently they're the worst, not sure. After some murder and mayhem, the pretty heroine lectures the older, non-pretty sole survivor of the religious cult. Then heads for a long, long journey through perilous woods with no provisions to pursue her dream of seeing the ocean. Cut immediately to last scene of movie: her at the ocean. Something about hope and dreams. What tripe!
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Check your brain at the door and you might enjoy this
As many have said, this is basically a two hour car chase. A very violent, yet silly car chase. The violence is well done and realistic if you're into that, but the world created in this film doesn't stand up to even the slightest scrutiny. All of the vehicles run perpetually, they never need refueling. The villains seem to have a lot of advanced technology yet live like beasts. The land is said to be poisoned and barren, so how have the old ladies we encounter been surviving all these years? I guess they don't need to eat, kind of like the vehicles never need a fill up. The war rig's tires are shredded and then later they are fine. Max seems to have an unlimited supply of blood. Max says that if they bring as much extra gas as they can carry on a motorcycle, they should be able to run for 160 days! Really? I know motorcycles get good mileage, but come on! Again, is this a primitive post war apocalyptic world, or do they have advanced, high mileage technology? It's all over the map. There are many more examples of such silliness. But most annoying of all is the relentless feminist subplot that is continually rammed down the viewers throat. The high rating of this film baffles some reviewers, but that where we are in this country. This is what sells.
Mercy Street (2016)
Gets worse each week
Just about to pull the plug on this show. They just keep churning more characters and plots into an already muddled mess. So many of the characters are cartoonish: the lusty English nurse, the noble black medical phenom, the parson struggling with doubt, the evil cook, the bizarre new peach slice counting hospital chief who is so over the top that I feel bad for the actor, and tonight, the British lord pining to see casualties and amputations. Last week we were introduced to a Union soldier who was obviously female (posing as male). It was obvious to me as soon as she spoke that it was a girl, but everyone in the hospital was convinced she was a he. But it was a nice opportunity to lecture us on intolerance. The writing is dreadful, the acting poor. There is a fixation with close ups of wounds and gore, not very convincing though they may be. The hospital staff seems more occupied with hi jinks and flirting than patient care. Then when the script tries to get serious, it falls flat because it's hard to see any of these characters as real people. The pace of the place seems quite leisurely. On the other hand, you often see one patient with a horde of staff hovering over him, not very realistic. I could go on, but why bother. This is far far below usual PBS fare.
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
Good in parts, but too many subplots
Interesting concept which would have benefited from more backstory about how the Germans defeated the U.S. in this alternative history. All we are told is that Wahington was nuked. As in most movies, the Nazi plots are the most interesting, with numerous murders, power grabs and various plotting, all carried out ruthlessly. The dilemma of Smith's sick son is particularly gripping. Alas, I found the scenes involving the resistance to be full of annoying characters and histrionic dialogue. The resistance members are so annoying I found myself rooting for the Nazis and the Japanese. Juliana doesn't say her lines, she breathes them. Thank God for closed captioning or I wouldn't know half of what she says. As others have mentioned, there are two many subplots, with Tagomi's alternate reality being the one that really tries my patience.