Reviews

Hoped this might be decent given the actors involved, but it's just another mindless generic sitcom where most of the jokes fail to land because they have zero basis in reality. The show is about a couple of parents who have succeeded in raising a group of genius children. As their oldest children are hitting their high school years, the parents suddenly out of the blue realize their children are uptight nerds who have no life experiences. The concept is taken to an extreme. for example, the first episode is about the parents just wanting to take their kids to the boardwalk for a day. The kids can't handle the idea of having fun outside the house and prevent the trip from happening. One of the worst jokes of the episode was when the mother says she finally got her son to wear swim trunks but he called them "water khakis." So we're supposed to believe these parents have never taken their kids swimming before? For a show that's supposed to be about smart kids, it's amazingly dumb. Speaking of which, Jason Biggs' father character is made outrageously dumb, like when he claims he doesn't know what the word "bodes" means, acts like he's never heard opera before (then how did he raise a musical prodigy?) and mistakes Michaelangelo the painter for Michaelangelo the Ninja Turtle. The writers should be embarrassed for producing this.

Oh no, another TV show with political underpinnings! How ever will the conservatives survive this horror? Of course. They'll do it by coming to IMDB in droves to leave 1 star reviews.

Deputy isn't a great show. It's your basic lone wolf cop show with a hero who talks in a gruff voice and always somehow has a 5 o'clock shadow. He wears cowboy hats and sunglasses and drives an old pickup.

But unlike other similar shows, Deputy doesn't cater to its demographic's politics. The show does introduce more left-leaning political topics here and there, most notably in the first episode. Unfortunately, the writers do it with all the subtlety of a semi trailer full of explosives running into a brick wall. I'm not sure why writing has gotten so simplistic lately, but it will sometimes hit you over the head. For example, in the last episode the hero made a reference to God and was sure to say "Him... or Her." It just didn't fit with the character at all and felt very blatant. It's as if the writing room is full of people who don't understand that characters don't have to share their same convictions.

I'll start with the good. The FX work on this show is solid coming from the Rocket Jump team. This is what they excel at, and I commend them on rising from viral videos to now having 2 series on Hulu.

The acting is mostly decent, but the actors aren't really given deep roles so it's not like you're going you see any outstanding performances. There are a handful of recognizable faces like Patton Oswalt, Lea Michele, some sitcom actors and narration by Mark Hamill.

None of the episodes were so bad that I had to turn it off, but they weren't really that good either. This show begs for good writers. Each episode follows a very, very basic plot that feels like it never really got past the concept and storyboard stage. Girl is obsessed with a 90s cartoon, the cartoon comes to life, and she has to fight evil. Guy is obsessed with arcade games, an arcade game comes to life, and he has to fight evil. None of these stories are very original or complex.

On top of the airy writing is the curiously bright production. I don't know if they did this deliberately or just didn't know what they were doing, but the look and feel of this thing is similar to a light afternoon kids show. I'm pretty sure there are grittier episodes of Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark than anything you'll find in Dimension 404.

Watch it if you have nothing better to do or if you need an introduction to sci-fi anthologies. It's certainly not the worst thing on Hulu.

Hellevator is nothing new. Seven years ago a similar game show called "Estate of Panic" ran for six episodes before it was canceled. It was essentially a horror-themed version of Fear Factor which pitted a small group of strangers against each other in various challenges, such as finding hidden objects in a room that was full of water or searching for cash in a spider-filled room as the ceiling slowly came down. As an added twist, the contestants had to find a way out of the room before time expired or they would be trapped in the room and eliminated from the competition. Estate of Panic worked in a weird sort of way thanks in part to a great performance by Steve Valentine as the creepy host and caretaker of the estate and the fact that the show never took itself too seriously.

So along comes Hellevator, which promises us big things with some of the names attached to it. The series has been billed as being from "the producer of Paranormal Activity" Jason Blum. Unfortunately,it appears that Blum's involvement is limited, as the producers listed on the show are all veterans of the game show realm instead of horror movies.

The show is hosted by the Soska Sisters. Most casual viewers may not know that the Soskas are actually horror movie directors known for See No Evil 2 and American Mary. Sadly, it seems that all the twins have been given to do here is provide some occasional off the cuff commentary (which is mostly flat) and push a few buttons to move the scenes along.

Interviews leading up to the premier had the Soskas saying that Hellevator would allow viewers to see what real people would do when placed in scenarios from horror movies. Again, unfortunately it doesn't live up to this billing. For example, one challenge had a contestant pull fake organs out of mutilated corpses and place them on a scale to try to find the correct weight. Another challenge forced a contestant to try to guess which containers to place color- coded lights into while walking on balance beams. If she stepped off the beams and touched the ground, she received a very light electric shock. The challenges are all timed, and the contestants have to make it back to the elevator before time runs out or they'll be left behind. On their way back, they might have an actor jump out at them from around a corner, similar to what you would find in any run of the mill haunted house at Halloween time.

The major issue here is that most viewers are not going to be the least bit scared while watching this. Some of it is gross, but not scary. We know this is a game show, which means we know nothing bad can really happen to them outside of not winning the money. We can laugh at their reactions to the jump scares like we might have when watching the hidden camera show Scare Tactics, but the appeal there is limited.

I would love to see a game show that really pits contestants against classic horror scenarios. Throw some teens out in the woods in the middle of the night and give them six hours to survive without being caught by a masked killer. Put some people in the middle of a fake town and have them try to survive a horde of zombies. Have some contestants try to avoid being killed by a demon as they look for clues about what it is and how to stop it.

But something like that would require a decent budget, some creativity, and most importantly a lot of effort, so that's why we have the fake guts and funhouse scares of Hellevator instead.

My wife wanted to watch this because she liked the Hunger Games and was hoping this would be at least half as good. I had already heard plenty about the book series and even read a few chapters, so my expectations were much lower. What you get here is a series of action sequences strung together with ridiculous exposition and a back story that is so contrived it makes the Hunger Games sound like historical fiction. Not that it really matters - ultimately the film is just these kids in a maze for 105 minutes with some unexpected and convenient stuff happening in the last 10. Any form of metaphor, theme or meaning within this is basic and shallow at best. Don't go in looking for any kind of relevant social commentary.

And a lot of this could be overlooked if there were at least some interesting characters, but instead we're treated to the usual tropes, who go about their duties with little development or charm. They're convincing at least, but bland as a Dodge Avenger.

Anyway, I know a lot of the 14-25 crowd will disagree with my review, but that's okay. They are who this movie was made for. It's a competently made film with enough action to entertain you for a while, but it's not remarkable or exceptional in any facet.

A horrible, poorly-done, incredibly stupid movie. To go into everything wrong with this film would take more space than I have here. Don't waste your time.

Oh, and as for all those reviews that gush about this movie, they're pretty blatant. One of the reviewers has only reviewed two movies in 11 years. They're both movies directed by Jim Towns. Another one has only reviewed two movies as well. They're both movies starring Sadie Katz. If you guys want to review your own movies, at least have the guts to post your own name so we can see who you really are. Or how about you put out a film that actually deserves praise instead.

I grew up with a lot of great supernatural shows like Goosebumps, Eerie Indiana, Bone Chillers, Round the Twist, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and So Weird.

Unfortunately, it seems like there aren't many good shows for kids today that deal with the supernatural. Most of them are really cheesy shows like My Babysitter's a Vampire, Wizards of Waverly, or this new Nickelodeon show Every Witch Way that are more about high school drama than scares and have really bad writing and acting. Then there were the really campy, groan-inducing shows like "The Troop" that played mostly for laughs.

So imagine my surprise when I ran across an episode of Spooksville and actually enjoyed it. The actors in this show are downright believable. They don't ham it up and overact the way all the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon stars do. The characters for the most part are normal kids dealing with supernatural forces, and they dress and look like real kids. They don't dress like rockers or pop stars. You won't see any neon skinny jeans or designer shoes on this show.

And better yet, the writing is above average. This show doesn't insult your intelligence with thin plots and cheap laughs. There is real character development, a good continuous storyline, and some solid standalone episodes.

I can only hope that we see more shows like Spooksville in the future instead of the schlock that is passing for teen entertainment on Disney and Nickelodeon these days.

I was at home one day and the cable was out, so I happened across this show. All I can say is that it saddens me to see how many ignorant women are buying into Bethenny Frankel's ideas of how they should live. Seriously people! THIS is the woman you want to turn to for advice? A spoiled, elitist rich housewife who's addicted to plastic surgery? No wonder our society continues to become more and more shallow and empty.

This woman is as vapid as they get. She's a failed actress. She's admitted that she has more than one eating disorder, even though she has also tried to market herself as a fitness guru and nutrition expert. She's giving out relationship advice, even though she hasn't spoken to her own mother in more than 10 years and was already estranged from her father. She markets herself as a lifestyle expert, yet she has admitted that before the Real Housewives show took off she had run herself into the ground and could barely afford to pay her rent.

Frankel once told people on the Real Housewives that they should never exploit their children by bringing them into the show. Then she left the show and got a reality show that was all about her AND HER KIDS! She criticized co-stars for their naked pictures, but then it was revealed she did a nude scene in a movie a few years earlier!

And THIS is the woman that stay-at-home moms and housewives across the country are supposed to be looking up to? I think it's bad enough how many people look to Oprah to make all their life decisions for them, but Frankel is even worse. Learn to think for yourselves, folks. You don't need some fake reality trash who could have easily become the next Paris Hilton to tell you how to live.

...seen them all.

This is another show where a couple of guys in tank tops and fedoras run a tattoo shop. The "twist" is that these guys specialize in covering up embarrassing tattoos. They go visit potential customers or just walk around asking random people if they have tattoos, and then the people tell them their embarrassing tattoo story before going to the tattoo shop to get it covered up. Then you see the finished product and everyone is happy. The end.

The supposedly unique premise of this show really doesn't do much to separate it from the other 500 tattoo-related shows out there. You're probably better off watching Dave Navarro's show, if tattoos are really that interesting to you.

I'll admit to being way behind on this series. I thought the previews looked good before season one aired, but I never got the chance to watch it. Now, having finally got around to watching it, I'm glad I didn't have high hopes going in.

The series begins after an alien attack has wiped out the world's militaries and sent all of humanity underground. How they did this is really hard to say, because the aliens seem pretty darn incompetent.

The freedom fighters in this series travel in a large caravan up an open street in broad daylight. The aliens don't see them, apparently. The freedom fighters set up camps in groups of hundreds in the middle of towns that have already been destroyed by the aliens. The aliens don't find them, even though their ships are constantly flying over.

At the beginning of episode two, our small group of heroes sends a dog out onto the lawn of an armory as a decoy. Immediately an alien mech comes out and targets it. The stupid humans rush in and rescue the dog. The mech somehow fails to shoot anyone. The next day the humans decide to return to the armory anyway, so of course they only send 5 or 6 people. They get inside and manage to fire guns and yell at each other, yet it now takes several minutes before the mech shows up. It still fails to kill anyone.

The aliens in this series are convenient. They show up only when they need to, and they rarely ever manage to kill or hurt anyone. Our plucky young band of heroes get themselves into mess after mess and almost always get out of them. It's kind of like Hogan's Heroes with aliens, except Falling Skies is unintentionally funny.

When you add in the fact that every episode has to meet the Spielberg- mandated heartwarming moment quota, it gets pretty old. Dad hugs son, son wishes his mom was still alive, son gets a Rip-It for his birthday and everyone gathers around and watches and smiles as he rides it. The bad acting and sappy sentimentality further damage the already shaky suspension of disbelief problems.

And yet, I'm still giving it a 4 out of 10 for at least being entertaining, in a bad B-movie sort of way.