Reviews

Maybe these goofy movies that we're already bored of in the U. S. have made their way to Europe? All the women are tough bad a$$es and all the males are soft and whiny. Erin Carter, played by Evin Ahmad, is a doting mother and wife who also happens to have a secret past of being a bad a$$ who can kill any dude....despite being 5'2" (Evin Ahmad's actual heighth) and probably 105lbs wet. Harper (the daughter) is ALSO a bad a$$ who beats up a boy and busts his teeth out. She's also edgy with an attitude and always has a witty quip. In other words, annoying. The dad is a nurse who always asks "Is everything ok?" The neighbor Emilio is a heartbroken man who is still grieving his wife leaving, to the point that he sleeps in his car to avoid sleeping in an empty bed. The character set up here is already blasé and played out.

I don't think I'm the intended audience here, but Netflix put this on my opening page so I tried to watch it. I don't think it's absolutely terrible. I just don't think it's good either. This seems more like a movie for women. No big deal. Movies and TV are there to entertain and everyone deserves something. This just doesn't fit what I'd find entertaining. Feel free to watch for yourself.

From the corny deliveries to the spoon-fed laugh track, this show is clearly not a winner. But hey, they cant all be winners. That's what pilot season is for. But this one most likely won't make it past its first season. Great actors for sure, but this comedy format doesn't play to their strengths very well.

Jon Cryer needs to leave silly sitcoms for a while so audiences don't immediately see Alan Harper of "Two and a Half Men". He played that role for so long, that the only way for audiences to disassociate from that character is if he came out 100% a different character. But another wimpy dad role? C'mon. They had to know that was a bad call.

I've always been an Abigail Spencer fan, and she has surprisingly good timing for sitcom-style comedy.

Donald Faison was perfect for Scrubs, so it's hard to accept him at anything less than that.

Lenny Clarke is too much. And not in a good way. Loud, frying-pan-over-the-head delivery on his jokes. It's sort of his style, but it doesn't fit here.

I can deal with a show that's a slow burn, but the step daughter is so over-the-top annoying and horrible that the story isn't enough to keep me interested. Turned it off during episode 3. The daughter was terrible and Jennifer Garner was so weak that I couldn't hang.

Am I missing out on a great show? Possibly. But the writers probably should have done a better job making her less "extra" so viewers weren't turned off.

Other than that, the acting is decent. There aren't a lot of scenes to stretch anyone's acting chops. Feel free to watch at your own risk. Maybe you'll have a better experience than I did.

So this is one of those episodes that can be a bit boring, but is needed in order to fill the plot gaps of the more interesting episodes. I get it. They can't all be 9's. However, the issue that I'm struggling with is the extreme time jumps. You spend a few episodes developing a story arc and developing characters that you begin to connect with and then all of a sudden, on the next episode, they jump ahead 10 years. They're married, have kids, have different roles in the kingdom. They're essentially completely different people and you no longer feel as connected. In my opinion, this was a really bad call on the writing staff and dedicating a full season to each period would have been better.

Adding the character of Stella Bak has done nothing for the show. If anything, it's brought it down a few stars. But she's not alone. Daniel is more whiny and the young guy who just walks around the studio updating people on what Twitter is saying?

Maybe that's the plot of this season. The devolution of an organization when you start indulging the culture mob. However, it is definitely making this season much less enjoyable.

MCU aside, Benedict Cumberbatch has a pretty illustrious career acting in some high caliber films. This isn't one of them. No one brought their A-game in this movie. Not even Cumberbatch. The girl (Xochitl Gomez) has terrible delivery and even Elizabeth Olson's acting is a bit wonky at times.

The pace of the movie is terrible as well. You feel like you're riding in a car with a new driver who keeps slamming the break and flooring the accelerator repeatedly. Fast pace action, fast pace action, wedding scene fast paced action, random slow-paced conversation along with a random memory machine that conveniently provides backstory for both characters, fast pace action...you get the point.

Maybe it's expecting too much for a movie about the multiverse to have less CGI, but this movie is just one giant CGI mess.

If you line movies with no plot or story ark, then I guess you'll enjoy this movie. First off, I was a little irritated that the name of the movie is "Licorice Pizza" and had no ties whatsoever to the popular music store from the 70's and 80's. It's like the creators heard the name mentioned through a word-of-mouth story and decided to hijack the name for their movie that had zero reference to the origin of the term.

Secondly, I know who the main characters are, but what is the point of this story? It's like a "day-in-the-life" type of movie, only this takes place over a long period of time and you don't know exactly when they're jumping forward. Before you know it, you're an hour into the movie and you're getting subtly irritated by the arising fact that this movie has no point. At the time of this review, it's getting a cumulative score of 7.3 which is way too generous. This one really missed the mark.

There's something about the recent Amazon shows thats a little off. The dialog and delivery is just a little cheesy and unnatural. Too scripted and overly dramatic. This show and The Lincoln Lawyer seem like they're created by the same production team. This show is entertaining, but I don't expect it will be nominated for any major awards.

As it is, I love this period of American history. The music, the decadence, and the boundaries of pop/fashion that were pushed during this time. A lot of movies and shows that honestly portray how life was during this time (The Deuce and Boogie Nights come to mind) always pique my interest, and Halston is no exception.

Ewan McGregor does an incredible job of bringing Halston to life. Such a huge range of emotions were needed to do so. Anger, deep-seeded sadness, envy, fear, loneliness, indifference, contempt, defeat, rebirth and eventually humility and humbleness. And all of the other actors did such a great job of making the other characters real and valuable. Liza, Elsa and Joe were very likable cohorts. Even Hugo had his moments.

I know Awards Season is a ways off, but expect to see some nominations for this series.

A critically acclaimed, slow-paced, 2 Hour+ melodrama that gets stuck wallowing on a single, bad event that never really has a payoff that takes place in Massachusetts. Great acting by all participants, but this movie was a total downer. But hey, sometimes you may be in the mood for a downer. There's something for everyone.

This movie should be an easy 9, but watching the first 30 minutes is subconsciously aggravating. It jumps around too much and thrusts you into scenes that you're not even sure why you're there. Is Denzel's character (Deke) someone I should care about? I don't know. They don't even develope him before we're already thrown into the dark crime arc of the movie.

Deke parks his car weird, blocks in cars from leaving and walks into the Sheriff's station as if he doesn't care. He goes into the evidence department to pick up what he wanted, then proceeds back to the parking lot because (I assume) he's leaving. This is where we meet Rami Malek's character, Detective Baxter. Baxter is having Deke's vehicle towed because Deke boxed him in from leaving. The very next scene, they're both inexplicably back in the building. Wait, weren't they both just leaving? You're having someone's vehicle towed because they boxed you in, but you weren't actually going anywhere?

Stuff like this just becomes annoying. Everything else seems to be done well, but not a 9/10 or even an 8/10. At the time of this review, the movie has a rating of 6.7. That's fair.

Most comedies hit you over the head with overly scripted/witty dialog. This show creates comedy by displaying every character's shortcomings and puts them on quests as they fail forward. It's fun. Entertaining. This show has a 7.6 rating with viewers yet gets cancelled after only two seasons. 2 Broke Girls gets a rating of 6.7 and kept getting renewed. Sometimes the world isn't fair, I suppose.

It's the same old, same old on this one. Basically, it's like listening to my drunk uncle tell stories. First you take something normal like getting milk out of the fridge, throw in an east-Los accent, use a couple of curse words and Spanish slang words and voila! You have the George Lopez recipe for filling an hour's worth of material. Got about 30 minutes and had to bail.

Getting the obvious out of the way; The original was much better done. Although "The Shining" referred to the power to see beyond and communicate telepathicly, Kubrick was skillful and mindful enough not to put this front and center of the movie. The spirit of the original was more psychological and suspenseful, focusing on Jack losing his mind due to isolation and succumbing to the negative energy of the hotel. Using the ghosts of the hotel more as an outside influence than the actual plot. "Doctor Sleep" is just a standalone horror flick borrowing aspects of the original to avoid having to fill in gaps, which could make an already long movie even longer. It's not a terrible movie. I'd probably put it close to the same pace of the movie "It". Not terrible, but has a tendency to get cheesy at times. The original never got cheesy. It stayed dark. Very dark. That's what made it great, and why "Doctor Sleep" shouldn't be associated with it.

If CBS could carry a terrible show like "2 Broke Girls" for 6 seasons, how is it that Fox can't keep a highly rated and funny show for more than 2 seasons. If this show is suffering from anything, it's that there's just too much stuff on TV to watch. I've been watching this show on HULU and it's frickin hilarious. Terrible call to cancel it.

Ugh, what a terrible show. Granted, I'm not the intended demographic, but is this really what young people are like now? The whole schtick of pretending to be socially awkward when you're really not, but you pretend to be in an attempt to mask your edgy/witty sense of humor is lame at best. And please, for the love of God, stop taking your clothes off, Lena Dunham. We get it....you're a doughy slob and you've grown to accept yourself. The lamest form of new courage. We don't want to see you naked. This show is why other generations pick on millenials. I know that millenials have their work cut out for them, and many have risen to the occasion and have done some incredible things....this show was not one of them.

This is such a typicql Showtime series. Not that I'm some kind of HBO fan boy, but there's a reason why HBO consistently walks away with their arms full of awards and Showtime doesn't. Let's look at Billions as an example. I'm three episodes in and I have no idea who the protagonist is. Who am I supposed to relate to? Because from what we're presented with so far, everyone is arrogant, everyone is a jerk and everyone always has the perfect quip or witty reply loaded in the chamber. It's lame. The plot is well presented (at least so far), but there is no one to cling to in order to take you through the plot because no one is likeable. It'sas if the show was pitched like this:

"So it's a show about a bunch of self-absorbed, arrogant, rich people who are all better than you, being fought by the law side, which also happens to be full of a bunch of self-absorbed, arrogant people who are only kind of rich." HBO: "Nah. We'll pass." Showtime: "That's right up our alley!"

And someone might say, "Well what about "Succession" on HBO? That's a show full of a bunch of arrogant rich people." And you would be correct. But where "Billions" falls short and "Succession" succeeds is in the characters. In "Succession", you are immediately introduced to Kendal; A guy who is arrogant, but not good at it. He tries to be a killer like his dad, but fails. You can tell right off the bat he's a guy trying to fill shoes that are too big for him as he desperately tries to get his dad's approval. And he's surrounded by people who doubt his capabilities, including his own siblings who he wants to love but also needs to compete with. He even doubts himself a lot and reverts back to old, bad habits. THESE are character flaws people can relate to. And all throughout the show you are witness to everyone's flaws, to the point that it almost becomes a like a sort of dark, comic relief. THIS is why HBO always wins and Showtime doesn't. I wouldn't go as far to say that "Billions" sucks, because it doesn't. It definitely isn't an 8.4 out of 10 though.

This show is not a 10. If this show is a 10, then what the heck would you give The Sopranos or Game of Thrones? It isn't a 1 either. What it is is a bunch of dramatic and ridiculous situations that are one in a million, but seem to happen to the same people 5 times a day. The writing is elementary at best. The acting is good, but the actors must be exhausted having to draw on tearful moments to make themselves cry so damn much in a single episode. Seriously, I was watching this show and asking myself, "Jesus Christ! Is someone crying again?!" I've always liked Frankie Faison. Great character actor and good to see him still working. That said, this show is sappier than a forest of maple trees. People giving this show a 10....how hard up are you for a good cry? Try being a little more objective. So if you like to cry without thinking much, this show is perfect.

I really like Stanley Tucci. Why he would lend his skills to such a subpar movie is beyond me. I got to the ominous introductory credits and thought, "Uh oh, this is gonna be bad". It was. The people who gave low reviews?....They ain't lying. Watch at your own risk.

So just like "This Is Us", it's basically an hour of sorta witty quips, 80's song remakes and spoon-fed emotional situations. Granted, as a 43 year-old guy, I'm probably not the intended audience, but I can't help but imagine a group of chicks in their early 20's watching this show together and saying "awwww" in concert every 3 minutes. It has fleeting moments that make me laugh, and then it's right back to the emotional ham sandwich. Imagine a soda can being the one hour for this show, and then taking an object the size of a turkey that represents emotion, and then watching someone try and fit that turkey inside the soda can.... that's this show.