Reviews

I didn't know much about this show, other than the fact that it was getting heavy word of mouth but I decided to give it a shot and boy, I'm glad I did!

The show tells the story of Hannah, a teen that committed suicide. She lives on through her 11th hour recordings of what she feels went so wrong that she decided she can't go on. The recordings are passed on from person to person, each of those people having played a role in Hannah's downfall. Each episode is a different recording, having to do with a different person on her list.

Each episode sees a different person that was close to Hannah finding out more about how her suicide came to be, by way of the recordings. The second season is where we finally start to see consequences happening for some of those involved. I am looking forward to seeing more of that develop in season 3.

Overall, I think the show really strikes a chord in today's social climate. Too many times, I've seen articles about teens in high school being bullied and they ultimately commit suicide. This show may not be a realistic portrayal of any of those stories but it certainly represents what someone like that could potentially be put through. Bullying isn't getting beaten up by the biggest, strongest kid in school anymore. It's done by anyone with a pic, a cellphone and social media. This show represents how that can easily spiral out of control. Of course, there were other, more disturbing things that happened to Hannah, like being raped, lied to and ignored by people closest to her. The suicide itself is shown with graphic depiction and is difficult to watch.

If I were a high school administrator, I would make this show required viewing for the entire school. Kids today need to understand the potential repercussions of what they do to someone and how it can affect them. Not everyone would commit suicide but the reality is, what happened to Hannah happens to someone everyday.

So, we all know how divisive this movie was when it was released. After finally seeing it, my thoughts are a bit like the film was, all over the place.

It starts out simply enough. Jennifer Lawrence's character is working hard to repair her house from, well they don't really tell you but you find out later, while her husband (Javier Bardiem), a famous poet, is struggling with writer's block. Some unwelcome guests drop by, because they think it's a hotel, rather than a house. It turns out, that's just barely scratching the surface. More and more guests come by as more drama unfolds. Then, after a tense standoff between husband and wife occurs, as if on cue, they conceive a baby. During her pregnancy, she has to endure the constant flow of strangers at the house. Then, a deadly family battle royale among the guests, a rave, a war battle and a SWAT raid all occur within the confines of their house. That's when you realize that there is more going on than your eyes are telling you.

The moment happens when the baby is born but Mother's happiness is short lived, as the baby is plucked from her, offered up to the guests and devoured. This is the moment when I said ok, what is the point of all this? Really? Understandably, Lawrence is enraged and starts killing the guests, leading to the penultimate moment where she causes the house to explode, killing everyone inside, except for her and her husband. Then we see him carrying her, lying her down and taking her heart out, which is supposed to represent the last thing she has to give, her love. Then the house resets and we see her wake up again, the same way the very beginning of the movie happens.

So of course, I had to look up what the heck this all meant. I am not a very religious person and I haven't been to a parochial school since I was a pre-teen. It turns out, this is a retelling of the story of the bible. Bardiem's character is God, Lawrence's character Mother Nature (now I get the "Mother!" title), the first batch of houseguests Adam and Eve, the baby was Jesus and so forth. Now that I understand the movie, I have to ask, why did Aronofsky want to do this movie? I also understand now the animosity from Lawrence that led to their breakup, "can we not talk about Mother? I would like to talk about something else for once!" Yeah, it wasn't a good decision to do this. I can understand that the more religious demographic will think this is brilliant but I find it disturbing for the sake of it. Don't get me wrong, I am a horror movie fan and I don't scare or disturb easily but I think he just wanted to put together horror elements, while excusing them by saying, "oh, it's just the bible." If it was just a slasher flick, it probably wouldn't get all that much attention but because it represents the bible, all of a sudden it's brilliant, is nominated for Oscars and what not. I don't buy into it.

I think at the end of the day, I would have enjoyed it more if they just stuck with the drama between the husband and wife and the houseguests and not went off the rails with all the horror elements. I understand that would have defeated the purpose but again, why would anyone want to do this? It's not interesting and it just makes all the disturbing content seem cheap and pointless. Either be a drama or be a horror movie but don't use religion as a base, because it's rather, as the British say, daft.

So, I had never heard of this movie before I just recently happened upon it on Netflix. I figured I'd give it a shot, because of the cast. Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried? Sold!

The plot was very typical of a thriller of this type. Woman suspects her husband is cheating, enlists a call girl to see if he gets tempted. Said call girl turns out to have a few screws loose, seduces the woman, lies about having been with the husband and when the wife says get lost, she doesn't take the not-so hint. I saw the ending coming within the first act.

The plus side is, the cast was at the top of their game. It was nice for a change to see Neeson in a more human role, as opposed to having to save someone using an inexplicable set of skills yet again. Moore is, as always, very believable and captivating as a neglected wife, seeking an outlet and a scapegoat. What can I say about Seyfried? First of all, gorgeous, in just about every way! Then, to see her take on the role of someone unhinged and unstable but still so erotic? As they said on Firefly, I had to go into my bunk after watching this. Couple that with the fact that Moore is still hot in her, what now, 50's doing an erotic love scene with Seyfried? Yeah that was worth the price of admission, or my monthly subscription rather.

So, even though the movie is far too reminiscent of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Unfaithful or Gone Girl, it's still worth checking out for the performances and the skin as well.

I have been following the Marvel Netflix series since the first season of Daredevil. Much like the first Avengers movie, The Defenders was built up as the culmination of all four series so far. While the end result was satisfying up to a point in that respect, it didn't come close to having near as much of an impact.

One of many things that I liked about the individual shows was that they were never afraid to let you know you're not watching a show for kids. The exception to the rule so far was Iron Fist. Although IF was still enjoyable, they definitely lightened the tone. This trend continues with The Defenders. There is some adult content here and there but still quite tame compared to Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage's first seasons.

The action and fight scenes, while not boring, were at times quite short and didn't quite have the wow factor that we saw in the characters' individual tales. The hallway fight scene in Daredevil season 1 still reigns supreme as the most memorable out of the whole franchise so far.

Also, I know this has more to do with rights, conflicting story lines and what not but are we really supposed to believe that such a huge threat to the entire city of New York goes unnoticed by anyone in the MCU? Not even by Tony Stark, Steve Rogers or Peter Parker, who are all natives? They have all but stopped referring to the "incident" in the Avengers. The only reference I caught was a newspaper article that was framed on the wall in the background. Look, we get it, OK? The movies and shows will never cross over, it's too difficult and blah blah blah but don't insult our intelligence by using a villain organization that threatens on such a large scale, if you can't have a cameo or even a mention of anyone else.

This is not a surprise, as anyone who's seen the trailers or the casting list or read any articles leading up to the series knows, Elektra is back. While I did enjoy her turn in Daredevil, her arc in this series was largely disappointing and it ended on and even more disappointing note. Also, the weak link in the Defenders lineup is the same as the weak link in the solo shows, Iron Fist. However, it's still worth it, due to the other 3, particularly Jones and Cage.

I don't want to spend the entire review criticizing the show, because as I said, it was still enjoyable. Seeing the group unite and fight together is cool in and of itself. They should have spent more time with them all together. There is too much discord going on once they all meet and it distracts from the real strong points of the show.

In the end, I would recommend to anyone who watched the individual shows to watch this one. I just wouldn't expect to be blown away.

OK, so I know that kill Bill is meant to be one film all together but it ended up that they did two volumes, which are very different, so it makes sense to review Volume 2 on its own.

Without saying too much about volume one, it is one of my favorite Tarantino flicks - the action, the dialogue, the music, the acting, etc. I remember being very excited about volume 2 coming out, then it did…

It's not that I mind Tarantino going in another direction per se but everything that was awesome about volume one, he completely changed for volume two. The first thing that I noticed right away was the music. The score and the soundtrack for volume one fit every frame perfectly. For volume two, I felt the music was very off-putting.

The action is volume two was very much toned down. It's not that there wasn't any action but the few action scenes that occurred were nothing compared to the spectacle in volume one. Even the final fight between the bride and Bill, was very quick and very unsatisfying. These were the two best fighters in the story and yet, most of the back-and-forth was simply a conversation. Tarantino is known for his dialogue and the final moments didn't disappoint in that department but if you're telling a revenge story, it's kind of like going through a video game. Each opponent gets tougher and when you get to the final "boss fight," it typically is and should be the hardest, longest and requiring the utmost of your skills. It seems like, for this arc, he went in the opposite direction.

One of the biggest problems I had though, was the fact that I couldn't help feeling that Bill in the end was right. Let's face it, what the bride did to him was pretty messed up and she did it to the very person that she knew wouldn't just let it go. She left pregnant with his baby, changed her identity and married someone else. Did she really think he wouldn't track her down? Did she really think that if he did find out, he would be OK with ending it like it was? She was either really stupid, or very arrogant. Either way, Bill being a "murdering bastard" or not, he was completely justified in his actions. It was hard to sympathize with Beatrix in the end.

I know that there are a lot of people that hold this movie in high regard but I don't get it. This movie left me very disappointed in how he ended what he so masterfully set up in volume 1.

I remember the original movie. It was innovative, fresh and a very decent action flick. I was not too impressed with the sequel, or the 2 that followed. They re-ignited the spark with Fast Five and stayed solid for another 2 subsequent movies. This time around, I'm feeling that familiar "meh" once again.

The first problem is, you already know the entire plot and every action scene before the movie starts. This is due to the relentless marketing in the form of the trailers. It's not like you could have escaped it either. If you've been to the movies at all or have watched TV n the past 6 months, you have seen the trailers multiple times. There were no real surprises. The only thing that the trailers didn't tell you is the reason why Dom is now working for the enemy, Cypher (Theron). The reason why I marked this one with spoilers - turns out, his girlfriend from when Letty was presumed dead and then she was alive but without her memory (can't remember her name ATM) was pregnant with Dom's child. Cypher was holding her and his son captive.

As far as the action scenes themselves, it's more of the same. Ridiculous, over the top and pushing the boundaries of believability, even more so this time around than before and predictable. Even if much of the plot hadn't been given away from the trailers, the parts that fill in the blanks were predictable as well. There was a part in the finale as well that I saw coming from miles away. Another spoiler - Dom's son is rescued from Cypher. His ex told him that she wanted the father to name him. As soon as she said that, I said let me guess, Brian. Sure enough, just before the credits roll, he said "Everyone, let me introduce you to...Brian. It was an obvious Easter egg tribute to the late Paul Walker but instead of making it a subtle nod, it was a cheesy, eye rolling moment, due to it being so cheesy, on the nose and predictable.

I know that this movie is supposed to be all action and lacking much in the way of sense but they seem to have pushed the envelope too far this time around. In the last 3 movies, they manage to find a good balance of car chases, fight scenes and maybe the plot was over the top but not to the point where it exists in an alternate dimension. Not the case this time around.

The movie is already doing really well and that's no surprise. The truth is though, the filmmakers have this notion that the franchise is bulletproof and no matter what they churn out, it will be a success. That is probably true but the realist in me is saying that they should revisit the formula again, because there's only so much turning off of the brain that the audience can take.