Reviews

I enjoyed the first season and was looking forward to season 2. But I just can't keep watching as the writing and plot lines are stale. The cast seems like a diversity project with...let's get a handsome Latino man (unlike the book series) and surround him with strong black women, a quirky Asian dog sitter, a cute rescue dog. That should make everyone happy. The first issue I had was early on with boss Amanda mumbling through all her dialogue. Very hard to understand her downtalking style. I have always thought Erika Christiansen was an underrated actress and found she and RR's backstory was interesting. But now it seems like they are artificially delaying the couple's reunification with ridiculous roadblocks. Just not interesting or fun anymore.

I was enjoying the movie for it's original idea-----but had the nagging feeling that the writer was not going to be able to pull it off. The ending was a flop as expected. Did not stick the landing. But Nicolas Cage is an excellent actor and the premise was interesting until ??....It even would have been better if he had turned into a real serial killer than to just be a failed, divorced man. I think this was a fast food take on the movie Inception--less complex and a nod to social media and coincidentally, the new Apple Vision Pro type device used in the 4th quarter of the movie. It seemed like there was some material hijacked from the Lucky Hank television show starring Bob Odenkirk, but maybe it was my imagination.

This movie is quite the opposite style of Baz Luhrmann's hit "Elvis". But the somber tone and beautiful photography capture another truth in the Presley family drama. It is especially poignant following the recent death of Lisa Marie Presley and the "Me Too Movement" . The story of how Priscilla and Elvis met has long been in the public record ---the beautiful teen student in Germany who caught the eye of the lonely U. S . GI Elvis Presley. It seemed to be a fairytale and that she was the luckiest girl in the world to have captured the heart of the most famous musician in the world. On the surface, I had always accepted the rendition of Priscilla leading a charmed life---as if she was plucked from the soda fountain counter and thrust into stardom like a Lana Turner ---to live a life of wealth and privilege. But revisiting the fairytale, the cobwebs and darkness descend and the misery is palpable. Although Jacob Elordi is a fine actor, I believe he is miscast as Elvis which is a distraction in this film. His lanky, thin and too tall frame just doesn't evoke Elvis. Secondly, many of his words are lost in "mumbles" as he speaks the dialogue in the deep-voiced, southern accent. Although I was always familiar with the couple's age gap and circumstance of meeting, this time it really hit home as to the inappropriateness of the entire event. Now you see Priscilla almost being targeted at the rec club to be taken to Elvis by club talent manager Terry West. And it only gets worse at every subsequent meeting. It would be illegal today and a police matter as is happening in so many schools today with teacher/student illicit relationships. The Beaulieu parents are to blame and Priscilla has paid an enormous generational price for it. She never recovered from the interrupted childhood ---a Lolita-esque cautionary tale.

I was very disappointed in JW-4 and stopped watching it half way through as it was tedious, repetitive and boring. Just hours of mumbled dialogue, dark interior sets and non-stop Ninja fighting. The fights went on for hours and they did not make sense as humans didn't seem to be killed by bullets or knives and there was no reasonable explanation for it---the bad guys were not all robots. The plot was murky and we already know that Keanu Reeves is a robotic, deadpan actor. I have no clue as to how this film got rated 7.9. Unless kids and teens, under 35 people love to watch gratuitous, meaningless, poorly acted violence.

Any viewer who is a huge Outlander fan will find this series underwhelming but....it is still worth watching if you like the genre of romance/time travel. Think movies like Somewhere in Time, Winter's Tale. And at this time of year (late spring), TV choices tend to thin out. As someone who is so tired of song shows, talent shows, reality shows---it is a refreshing diversion. Having read the book, seen the movie---I am always up for a new interpretation and new actors. The only minor complaint so far was that there was way too much of naked Henry and buttocks shots. And he looks so hairless/covered in cooking oil. Of course, Theo James is total eye candy and HBO has the leeway to show nudity but it is so constant....it would be more artistically interesting if the camera angle or photo set up on his "naked returns" were less full on graphic every single time---the white, perfect body , greased up and rolling around and regular buttock focus was.....more distracting than sexy or according to the story---a primal dilemma that he must overcome (get out of danger, find clothes). I would cut the glaring nude male by 40% and aim for artistic nuance of the naked return scenes.

Script is not based on a book or true life story. As opposed to the movie" Into the Wild", which I also found frustrating to watch the main character's stupidity as they go into rugged terrain totally unprepared.

And what are the chances that Robin Wright is rescued by a handsome, age appropriate hunter who wants to take care of her ? This is an adult fairytale. With good scenery. A higher quality Hallmark Movie/Lifetime Movie. Too predictable. TV show script with movie quality cinematography. Nice soundtrack but I would definitely wait till it is FREE ---not worth the money.

The movie seemed like a hybrid of "What Dreams May Come"/"Limitless"/with a touch of Wachowski's ("Cloud Atlas" or "Inception"). Except it didn't deliver. Some scenes were interesting and the concept had potential, but it never fully fleshed out and unfortunately stayed at the level of an hour long TV program. The dialogue was frequently muddled, low volumes ; weird accents so that it was not relaxing to have to concentrate so hard on "hearing" what the actors were saying. I expect dialogue problems when I am watching some British shows----but not in an all English language movie. I do not have hearing or cognitive issues and found this to be a problem throughout the movie. The opening concept of the snakebite was interesting but went nowhere ; the scientist who created Synchronic was interesting but went nowhere. The examination of the Dannelly marriage is boring. Brianna needed to be more complex and sympathetic so that the rescue was intense. I knew more about/cared more about the dog than Brianna because she only had a few lines before she disappeared. The movie does give food for thought to sci fi fans and was okay to pay for a rental while stuck inside during a pandemic. BUT----it was disappointing .

A few clever moments/ideas but did not live up to the hype. Once again, heavily promoting LGBQT agenda---which is 4% of population but treated like 70% of population in TV and movies due to current activism, media manipulation and social trending. Fake news.

I watched the documentary twice. It is very telling that the Hance's refused to participate. The main interviews are from the husband and sister-in-law. It seems they were handled with kid gloves in order to get their cooperation to do the show. They are both in severe denial about Diane and it takes an hour for them to admit she drank a little and smoked weed, a little. Too vague. Let's have some real questions to the husband. Marijuana was illegal back then so who did they buy it from and how often and how much did they spend on it ? Did hubby partake? He can't admit it or lose custody of his only child. So no decent interviews or lab tests on her hair for marijuana use. No collateral interviews from other relatives about partying, social events and drinking. Diane seemed to be controlling, Type A, wound tighter than a top, no sleep and on a path of self-destruction. No one noticed this? Ambien use ? It is also very strange for a woman to never discuss personal issues with other women. And for the husband to accept that his wife "didn't want to talk about why her mother left the family when Diane was a child." Something serious is off with the husband and their marriage and if he can't smell marijuana on his wife ---I do not see when she ingested the pot on the van trip home. An abscess tooth defense is pathetic. Very sad that 7 innocent lives are lost over someone that needed a psychiatrist/marriage counselor but appeared to be a control freak and know it all and boss that no one would go up against. Not enough impartial witnesses from both sides of the family !!!!!!!

Interesting and watchable but huge propaganda piece !!!! Likeable characters but pushing the agendas of anti-Trump (Rook), LGBTQ, immigration, interracial relationships, anti-banks, multi-cultural relationships, handicap, single parenthood, anti-China imports, anti-nuke, pandemics....on and on liberal, globalist, informercial. No thanks.