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Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
wow terrible cliched movie
Wow,
Apparently I have seen this movie before but didn't remember it until the scarlet letter scene in the school yard.
The only plus thing about this movie is how it demonstrates why Gen Z isn't having as much sex as Gen X or Boomers: the friend of the new lawyer Madison focusing only on some kind of desire-ability ranking and where she and her friend fit rather than actually experiencing life. Posing and sitting life out. IT reminds me of some kind of royal court where all they have to do is make an appearance and assert their place amongst the other duchesses and ladies in waiting. Well hate to tell ya but there is no objective scale of value and relationships actually take some practice. Or should I say relationship, social and emotional skills. And while Madison rolls her eyes at her friend and says the lawyer she dates is nice (suggesting he is good enough for her and she is above this ), she is offended when he says he needs some time before he wants to get married. And her response, rather than have an adult conversation and actually assess their relationship, is to get offended: how very dare he not propose! This is propped up of course by insinuating he is some kind of nerd so we know he is less than her somehow.
Join me in counting the other movie cliches: the crazy date Marisa Tomei, trying to normalize creepy male behaviour: the son not taking no for an answer and stalking the babysitter, ryan goslings's whole shtcik,etc
I realize this is a romcom for men and therefore I am not the target audience for the creepy deceitful pick-up tricks. I mean serious if you think manipulating women and trying to make them feel insecure so you can pounce, it makes you a creep and not very masculine. I mean a real man wouldn't need to do that.
What is really gross is the conversation between Steve and Ryan at the bar at the end where they make clear that they can only respect women through the lens of fatherhood. Carrell's character took glee in his one night stand and was thrilled to repeat it. But he then judges Gosling's character for doing the same but only because it is his daughter. The whole "as a father..." thing when men speak up only because they are fathers of daughters is gross and this movie was all about that.
But that's not all, the babysitter giving photos to the 13 year old. I don't think so. I mean who writes this complete nonsense?
The Mentalist (2008)
mixed but good
I am going to give this an 8 although it was very mixed. The first season was like a sort of "cosy" except with some gore. You knew the "name" would win. That is that Patrick Jane would prevail. There wasn't the tension there could have been. I couldn't believe how many episodes there were as I really wasn't going to watch past the first season and was going to leave a review. I could not believe that it had been renewed for 7 seasons. But by the end of season 1 things got cooking and seasons 2 and 3 were the best.
The thing with a show like this is that it has to balance the long story (red john) with the one-off episodes. Spend too much time on red john and they would have to come up with more and more complex features or plots. But too little and the show risks becoming bland.
Just a note, I saw someone else basically said this was just like Monk. But the thing with mysteries is that they are only as good as the detective. I mean sure the plots need to be okay, but it is the character that makes a detective show good. In this case there were similarities to Monk in that both characters paid attention to details including facial and body language. But they were SO different in most ways. I really liked Monk and think it was the better show possibly due to the consistency. But I just loved the glee Jane showed when chaos broke out- his giant grin was infectious.
The show understood that this was about Jane and kept Rigsby, van Pelt and Cho in the background. Just enough character and plot for them as needed but it wasn't really an ensemble the way Bosch was.
The show should have ended when Red John did. The second half of season 6 and season 7 were dull. The FBI setting was nothing special. I did like Jane's emotional growth and breakthrough to having and wanting a new partner. But I have to say him and Lisbon hooking up was not a good idea. They weren't really a good match. Why does everything have to be a romantic relationship? Why couldn't they have been best friends. To me it was just a way of extending the show and I am going to assume the producers and everyone was just milking the show. But they shouldn't have done it. There was a natural ending when Red John did and the fact they showed how he died (now that is original) was outstanding. But it got watered down with the FBI reboot. And speaking of romantic relationships - notice how much more chemistry was shown between Jane and the FBI agent who seduced him in the Caribbean or whereever he was hiding?
The writers didn't do the men any favours by making them jerks in places. Two come to mind: Cho making a snide comment about Rigsby taking time off and jumping in the fatherhood gig after Rigsby took ONE day off to look after his son.
The other one was Lisbon's fiance. He was a great guy until the end where the writers had him saying how he was offering Lisbon a home, a career and a family. EXCUSE ME? She already had a home, she was more accomplished in her career than he was (she was leading CBI, solving murders) and she was offering HIM a family as much as he was offering her one. Why would they make his character such as sexist jerk? He hadn't been one.
There were some other writing weaknesses as well. The first season was plagued with so many young women as victims of violence. TV shows used to be plagued with this lazy and unoriginal writing. It was jarring to see it again , of course this show started in 2009 and I am watching 15 years later but that was old fashioned and weak writing even then. My person theory is that us men have a fear/fantasy about our women being attacked and us coming to the rescue and having the victims in TV show be young women is a way to juice that fantasy. But it makes for weak television.
The last season and a half started to feel like a re-run with nothing special episodes, another serial killer and ho-hum fellow characters.
So overall an 8 although some excellence in the middle.
Barton Fink (1991)
rewatching
Re-watching this after I guess decades?
I enjoyed it but not overwhelmingly so. I think less than when i originally watched.
However I am reading, with amusement, the other reviews on here. They go on and on about how the movie skewers Hollywood and New York elites. No it doesn't. Instead this movie is dead simple: a playwright who says he is for the common man (and I mean man) is not really so. He is more interested in being seen as the great artist.
How do we see this?
He comes out to Hollywood and goes on and on in front of John Goodman about how he is for he common man while ignoring what Goodman had to say. Goodman repeated three times how he had stories to tell and Fink just ignored him.
Fink is more interested in himself as the great writer than actually focusing on the ask: write a wrestling movie, don't overthink it, write something similar to what others have done.
How do we see this? He insists on staying in a fleabag hotel as a sort of hairshirt to goose his artistic suffering and therefore creativity. But he doesn't need that creativity as he has been asked to write a straightforward wrestling movie in the style of past movies.
He could have stayed in a fancy hotel, enjoyed the lifestyle and written the wrestling movie.
Oh and those Hollywood elites? What the same ones who want to put out a wrestling movie that the public loves. Some elites huh!
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Disappointing on re-watch
Watching this decades later. I know i liked it when it first came out but it doesn't hold up in my opinion.
It doesn't have the atmosphere of real noir. I also think it is a weird mix of dragging on too long while the action itself is too fast. Almost like too much action was crammed in to this. Less would have been more in this case.
I wonder if the characters' roles were inflated due to their star power. There are too many of them and the underlying story is just ho-hum. I don't really get the pathos underlying a real noir story.
Some of the characters were better than others but too much of them.
Disappointing on re-watch.
Alex Rider (2020)
Errors and weaknesses that could have been avoided.
I wanted to like this but it was so full of holes and mistakes that could have been easily avoided. Alex had no reason to be suspicious. The find my phone gambit was good and that could have been enough to start his suspicious thoughts.
The threatening behaviour and trials was silly. They could have just made him 18 and then no child protective threats etc, he could have just been a young agent.
The house in the country. Why would they allow the daughter and her friends to stay? And wouldnt they decorate his room. I think asking for a tour of the house and seeing his room would have been part of the vetting if the school comes all this way to check him out.
Now I haven't seen the rest of it and am not sure I will. The start was so promising with the elevator murder etc.
I just watched all of the James Bond movies, I know how to suspend belief but this somehow seemed like it hadn't been vetted.
Doctor Finlay (1993)
Excellent
For some reason Prime doesn't have season 3 so I binge watched seasons 1,2 and 4. Seasons 1 and 2 are the best. They have just the right amount of tension. As others have said, the brilliance of this show is in showing the three doctors( and others but particularly the three) as people with flaws. Not a one of them is a stereotypical perfect character. And yet they each bring unique and individual strengths that help solve a different situation. I think this is as it and should be in "real life" where a group that respects each other and is open to each others views and strengths can lead to better outcomes. There is conflict on the way and maybe that is the tension I detected in the first two seasons. And yet that sounds so corny doesnt it? But this program shows what that looks like. It isn't easy!
I don't know why it is called Dr Finlay. The other doctors were more interesting. And in fact I feel like it is Dr Cameron's show. In fact the last episode brought us around to him facing his choices. Well he had spoken about them with some regret in previous episodes but the last episode was a bit bizarre when it comes out how close he was considering a romantic or marital relationship with Janet.
And this speaks to the underlying theme of the program about how it is difficult to make choices in life. We are torn in multiple directions. In this case we see the four doctors and the nurse who had professional callings or ambitions (call it what you like but healthcare meant a lot to them) and this had to be balanced with possible romances, marriage and children. It is one of the few programs that shows the reality of being having a career: it can be bittersweet for men and women(usually it is only women who are shown with this dilemma since men can pass on the parenting to their female partner and society doesn't blink.) But there are men who are torn in this direction.
It is too bad the young doctor left. The new one was fine but she wasn't given the same story arc and character development. Of course I missed season 3 so maybe it happened there.
Bosch: Legacy (2022)
Season 2 better; Season 1 shows that it was the ensemble that made Bosch work
I didn't write a review after season 1. I didn't care for it and it showed and reflected my feeling that it was the ensemble of characters that made original Bosch good. Those were mostly taken away in Season 1 and it wasn't great.
Season 2 of Bosch Legacy is better. Maddie is a good character and having her be a cop ties the show to the original police crew and back ground setting. And a new ensemble is growing. Some of the original crew were given small parts but I don't mind the new crew. It isn't as good that way as the original but I feel the plot lines of Season 2 are better than Season 1 and part of that is the use of other non Bosch characters.
I am not a fan of torture porn and so wasn't enjoying that aspect of the kidnapping storyline. There is just something icky about how men see rape and use it in tv shows and movies. Like their possession has been befouled and not focussed on the victim's experience. I am glad this storyline was mostly a kidnapping plot.
Un asunto privado (2022)
too sped up
I have watched the first two episodes and am trying to think why this isnt working for me. All the ingredients are there. I think the problem might be the pacing. Things go so fast that we don't get to enjoy the sets and costumes etc. And even worse they have made the main character become almost manic. It doesn't fit with the period this is supposed to be. Even if she being rich is protected from the effects of being hyper and eccentric in a way a regular person wouldn't be. But what is lost is any kind of atmosphere. The 40s are chosen on purpose to evoke a certain feeling a certain atmosphere. The main character cannot be as high energy as a modern character.
I'm not sure I will continue watching. I gave it only a 6 as a 7 means I am glad I watched it but wouldnt buy or keep a copy . (Just to give you some context.) But I am not sure I am getting anything out of this. Too bad!
Single-Handed (2007)
Not as good as I was hoping
I didnt like this as much as I expected to. Yes the scenery was beuatiful. The premise should have worked: a father and son copper duo but very different styles.
I think I just found the whole culture that shaped the story lines to be boring. The religion. (And lets be clear I expect other similar almost fundamentalist or orthodox religions to break a culture in a similar way. )
And how does religion break a culture? When it is applied in an unbalanced way to the populace: the men can get away with what their own religion considers grave sins while the women can't. The copper dad commits them and what is insult on injury is his smug wife condoning it. Feeling that her husband was representative and emblematic of tradition and worthy of respect. Did you see how she treated her own younger brother and the fact her own husband that she continued to revere was a big part of the damage to that young child.
Now I am not one of those people who rejects a show because characters are unlikable. And In fact it is good to highlight and show characters like this as they also exist in the "real world". So that part is good and in fact not common. Its just there is only so much of this cultural backdrop that I can take.
The plot, the main character's backstory and subplots just can't make up for it.
The Royle Family (1998)
excellent first season
I've seen the first season and a bit of the second. It is brilliant. No laugh track. It is as slow moving as a real family. No forced situation comedy pacing in a way.
In the second season you see some prime craptastic behaviour from the dad that reminded me exactly of my own father: despite not looking after his own babies nor any other babies, nor experience or expertise nor likely to have any he dismisses babycare as nothing. Dismisses and disparages his wife at the same time. I saw that scene play out with my own parents over a multitude of topics and things my mother was interested in.
The second season really highlighted that especially the Sunday dinner: the father was just non stop disparaging anyone and anything that was positive. I am guessing he had to feel superior and was threatened by anything. I am still watching season 2nd can barely stomach it anymore due to that character.
These shows are brilliant for actually showing what life was really like with real behaviour instead of made up versions of relationships and this gawd awful trend nowadays to think of the past as the good old days with proper gender roles and if only women knew their place. Excuse me? This is what it was like with one gender feeling free to look down on the other. And are things going the opposite way today? Nothing compared to this.
I felt the film of grease and cigarette smoke even just watching this show.
By the way I am not sure this is a comedy for me now after seeing the second season.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
boring and not Bond enough
I remember being disappointed with this when it first came out. Especially after Casino Royale.
The spycraft and interaction with M is good. As is the interplay between American and British secret service.
But the actual story and the suspense was tepid and boring. The villain could have been okay but did it bring our knowledge of the secret organization any further? It was almost like introducing us to new info at the pace of a tv show. But these are movies and more must be progressed and revealed with each one.
Craig is excellent as Bond and the fault lies with writing I imagine. I also like Casino Royale for he one on one combat more than chases and battles. This one started to approach the worst of the Brosnan era ones with a string of chases and gunfights and oil tankers blowing up. Boring! OR shall I say: generic action movie and not the charm of JB.
Never Say Never Again (1983)
second half better
Ok for most of the movie I was wincing and shuddering. There was an attempt to poke fun at the actors age and bring in some Roger Moore humour which didnt and doesn't fit Connery.
I did like some aspects of it though:
I liked the ending (after they escape to the end) better than Thunderball. I wasn't a fan of Thunderball's cast of 1000s battle royale on the sub. This one had an Indiana jones setting and I liked the scuba activity more than the regular bunch of frogmen battling in slow motion in the water.
I did like judicious use of back-up considering what the risk of failure was!
I liked Brandauer as villain. And I like Bassinger as the final Bond girl. Her emotional reactions to having a possessive and violent boyfriend were bang on.
All in all, the latter half was better and pulled it up to a seven. Still better than most of the Brosnan ones.
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Now THIS is JB
I am watching the movies again in order. And somehow I missed this one and watched it after the four Pierce Brosnan action movies. So I may have been influenced by how much I disliked those Brosnan movies which I found to be generic action flicks. And I think my impression was correct as as soon as I started watching this one I said yes now THIS is James Bond!!
I liked the extended Japanese setting and inclusion of JApanense aspectss. I usually hate the giant cast of thousands battles but this one with the Japanese Samurai coming in at the end felt fitting. It alwsys seemed a bit odd when JB was by himself. This was a nice balance.
Die Another Day (2002)
some spycraft
It started out well enough. I liked to see some actual spycraft and what happens when you are captured. Not just the office-jokey ha ha-moneypenny culture but something beyond stiff upper lip eh?
Then there was some actual suspense and spy work to get on the island.
But then it turns into same old same old. The chase in the ice palace things where they drive up the different levels was just a parking garage chase!
The villain wasn't believable. How did a playboy develop this space weapon?
.I liked HAlle Berry in this one.
But i had a hard time finishing it. The first half might have been a 7.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
dull with a few bright spots
Bright spots: the ski chase
suspense of final scene
This is one where the writing and acting really sunk it. I like a lot if not all of the actors and yet they were ham fisted in more ways than one.
Robbie Coltrane should have had a bigger villain role.
Denise Richards should be just comedy maybe?
The new Q was okay. I mean he will be great but this wasn't written to make him shine.
Elektra was a pretty good idea. And I think part of my brain remembered her from before and spoiled the surprise.
But this one had too many push-a-button and have a gadget save the day.
Overall, besides the weak writing and acting, it was too messy. Maybe this is a sign of an issue with the directing. Also I can't help but feel that all of these would have been so much better with Dalton.
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Excellent Media Villain
Way better than Goldeneye.
Its funny as much as I think the gadgets can be overused in Bond, this one was the first one where I could see the development of technology had to be matched by Bond. In other words it would have been funny if there werent exgtensive gadgets.
I loved the media villain looking like Steve Jobs. Rupert Murdoch?
Michelle Yeoh was a fantastic partner to JB. I didn't think they gave them the opportunity for much of a romance but half the times JB just starts kissing any woman so it isnt really out of place. But some of the movies you get the feeling that they have developed chemistry and shared experience leads to romance.
Judi Dench still the superlative M.
I'm not big on car chases, martial arts choreographies or the cast of thousands battles (hello Spy Who Loved Me). In this case there was some fantastic suspense but it did feel like the a bit of a porno where the first part of the movie was just leading to the three big acts in rapid succession: the car chase, the martial arts and then the battle on the ship. And this battle on the ship is another one where Bond and Yeoh take on a task that should have been handled by a whole strikeforce! I prefer my Bond battles to be smaller and not ridiculous.
Overall, I am giving it an 8. It may not deserve it on re-watch and I think I am partly just relieved that this is better than Goldeneye.
GoldenEye (1995)
not a great start to Brosnan Era
I know this wont make sense to some but this felt like just an action movie and not the charm of James Bond. Don't compete on the action movie or science fiction front. That means keep the super hero unbelievable skills, giant battles and gimmicks to a minimum or at least balanced with wit and ingenuity of the JB character. And yes he should lose and make mistakes some time.
As soon as the big explosions started, the quality and James Bondness went down. It started okay with the build up of suspense and just plain mystery as to what was going on. I didn't feel this was sustained.
If you are going to have two 00s against each other then it should be much more cat and mouse with the role of each reversing than fist fights. And where did the other 00 have time to build up this big evil empire?
Judi Dench was marvellous as M. A big improvement.
But besides her, the women were terrible except for the computer programmer. The woman assessing JB in the car? And the psychotic sadist villain? Cartoonish. Its funny as soon as they introduce women as more than hooker/sweetheart or mother (e.g Judi Dench as M) then they have to balance it with portrayals of women off the chart weird or weak.
I hope the rest of Brosnan's JBs are better. Not that the fault is all his but he doesn't seem to bring anything to the table.
Licence to Kill (1989)
A mixed bag
I have conflicted feelings over this. Usually my rating is an immediate gut feel overall assessment. It goes up and down as I watch the movie but ends at a certain overall point. Of course that means that if a latter half isnt as good, likely my score is lower than it "should " be. In this one, I love Timothy Dalton as 007. I think his place in the "Who is the best Bond" would be different if he had had more movies or earlier in the Franchise. He is dead sexy. He isnt the gentleman (while being an asshole) agent Connery nor the debonaire and hilarious Moore. He is professional. And in this one, maybe that is where things get messy. The whole independent set-up was a bit confusing. It didn't seem likely. I think also the 1980s war on drugs and choosing a drug kingpin as villain just wasn't as interesting to me.
I liked Cary as the "Bond girl" and they are slowly morphing to be more than eye candy. But it is funny watching the 80s limits on what that means.
I am not a big fan of the big choreographed fights which means my ratings are lower than others I think. In this case, the end scenes actually bring down my view of the movie. But there were issues before that and I think watching it 40 years afterwards, it wasn't an interesting villain. So Dalton brings it back to an 8 but the movie itself was closer to a 7 on its own merits of less interesting settings and plot.
The Living Daylights (1987)
Dalton was great
Who knew Dalton was such a great JB? I thought he personified an actualy professional agent more than Moore or Connery. Connery was more of a gentleman agent and Moore has the tongue in cheek lack of seriousness . Both are enjoyable but less of a professional take.
This was a solid spy story independent of the 007 franchise. I am not a fan of the big choreographed fight scenes and this one has that. Also when Bond starts to get almost super human skills I turn out. I got a sense of that with this one with the airplane scene.
All in all, this should not be discounted at all and I look forward to the next Dalton one!
Octopussy (1983)
better than i was expecting
I think i was confused by the Austin Powers depiction or something as this was better than epxected.
There were some terrific scenes such as the train battle.
Yes the jungle hunt seemed off and I don't mean just the tarzan yell. It seemed to go into Indiana Jones or perhaps those terrific African movies where some dipshit white hunter disrespects the local people and kills them and then gets hunted. \
Octopussy was James' match and the best Bond girl. Way better than weird and neurotic Diana Rigg. She recognized JB as her match as well.
And I liked the layers in this one with multiple parties on the opposing side so to speak.
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
too far with the gadgets
I was enjoying this right up until the car chase. Then it was merely Bond pushing one button and then another. Too many gadgets. And then later on the ship, there was no challenge or suspense really. They just overpowered the others too easily. It was wham bam thank you maam.
On the plus side, I did like the opening ski scene. I always do. And the Egyptian scenes were iconic in particular the light show backdrop and of course Jaws.
But it is too bad as I was enjoying the humour and tongue in cheek of Roger Moore. And then it just turned cartoonish.
The Roger Moore ones introduced women as fellow agents and made sure they were clutzy or some other flaw.
As I rewatch these movies from the beginning in order, I really should have commented on them under themes such as theme song, ski setting, gadgets, bond girl etc.
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
A change to Roger Moore
I liked this one. It had the exotic setting, a smoother story all the way through. Yes it had the Dules of Hazard irritating man but he was gone soon enough..
Roger Moore brings a bit of tongue in cheek , a twinkle in his eye that matches the movies change to gadgets and more and more over the top stories perhaps. While I think I would have said Sean Connery was my favourite (before Daniel Craig) Bond, Roger Moore was a close second and I am not sure I DID pick Connery. Roger Moore was closer to my era so it is possible I saw his movies before Connerys.
Having Brit Eklund be a clutz or a screw up also changes the tone of this version of Bond. I wouldnt have normally thought this was a good thing but the whole worked with the change to Roger Moore.
One thing I noticed: both Connery and Moore JBs slap women readily. It is always the evil woman or an assistant. But having seen Moore do it in this movie, I noticed that Connery seemed to get pleasure from it. He seemed to have a sadistic bent. Moore was more business like.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Moore JBs!
Live and Let Die (1973)
Iconic voodoo scenes
Roger Moore seems to fit where the Bond movies are going: more gadgets, more over the top abilities (Bond is so much better than adversaries there is less suspense), less human level 007. The earlier Connery ones had him more evenly matched in terms of fist fights and cat and mouse, he made mistakes and there was even a team approach for some of them. I liked that scale.
But this model of 007 is also entertaining.
I did remember the New Orleans jazz scene and voodoo people to some extent. I seem to remember them being scarier before! Ha Ha.
In all I found the American setting to be more boring (maybe not as much as the Diamonds movie). I did like the underground lair and the bayou chase to some extent but there was no exotic locale like in the tropical settings, European or the Lazenby one (my favourite being the mountain top lair and bobsled chase.)
Loved the theme song.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
The worst one so far
Nope this one really didn't do it for me. I got confused at the beginning with who was who in the whole racket. I thought maybe there were two groups. And then I realized I was supposed to be confused as they had Bond deduce what was happening.
I like the "exotic " settings of the previous Bond so maybe Las Vegas and the desert weren't exotic enough for me. There was nothing iconic with this one that I noticed. Too bland.
It felt like Bond had gone straight Kitsch after only about 6 movies... too soon!
I did like the oddball killer pair. They were in some ways the best part of it. I did like the return of Blofeld. But the whole evil plot seemed both way too powerful and way too loose and not proven. Also in the way that everyone found him in the end. Too loose!
So too bland, too soon, too loose!
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Better than ratings score and gross revenue would suggest
I liked this one and I was prepared not to based on the lower rating and gross sales.
I really liked the alpine setting. There was a more interesting set up and interaction at the mountain top lair. Not just Bond locked in a jail and trying to break out but a broader explanation of the whole evil plot. It is funny that Bond's sex addiction/ character flaw (pick one: addiction or weak character) was his downfall in revealing himself to Blofeld.
The first part of the movie with Diana Rigg and her gross father auctioning her off was not as enjoyable but the rest was top notch. And the bobsled chase was better than any car chase or scuba fistfight or helicopter battle could be.
I also liked how JB slapped women. This fits the reality of the 1950s and 1960s rather than the rose coloured glass view of so many on so called traditional values of that time.
This one was certainly better than Dr No and Thunderball (in the ones seen so far in order) and possibly on par with Goldfinger which I think was the best of the ones to date.
Yes Lazenby didn't have the magnetism of Connery. But it worked and I think was more believable in the romance with Rigg than Connery would have been.