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mtdoonmeister
Reviews
Reform School Girl (1994)
Not all movies can be Oscar winners I guess
Hit all the 'woman in prison' clichés right on the nose; from the warden on down through the various inmates. The inmates seemed to have been allocated one cliché/stereotype per role. (The black girl, the Hispanic girl, the blonde, etc.) The administration got their clichés, too; however they were poorly played. Come to think of it, all the clichés were poorly played. It came out as bland. They started to develop the characters and then just let them drop. In other words, boring, boring, boring.
Nick Chinlund, as the perverted psychiatrist, didn't live up to the role that ultimately defines his career–Donny Pfaster, the death fetishist in the X Files–"Irresistible' in 1995 and 'Orison' in 2000. The movie would have been better if Chinlund has changed into a demon like he did in 'Orison.'
I would have given it '0' stars, but the system won't let me.
The Americans (2013)
Slipping in the second season.
In the first season, I would have given this show a '10,' but the second season is becoming trite, repetitive and banal. The series does have a odd, compelling 'something' that keeps me coming back for more, although I don't know why. I thought the 1st season was really well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first couple of episodes in the 2nd season were alright, but after that, it went downhill. It's like they forgot how to write, each episode is less and less believable. There isn't any story, it's just kill, kill, kill. They even stopped sleeping with people for info. The FBI guy (Stan) and Nina are all over the place, yet everything is completely predictable. (It is hard to tell why they even include anything about Stan's wife & their relationship–like who cares?) Nina has taken over for Elizabeth and Phillip and is sleeping with everything that wears pants–except for the one guy who could help her, the rezidentura, Nikolaievich. She's in bed so much, it's hard to believe she has time to work.
The 'Jared Connor' subplot is unbelievable. Somehow he's a Russian agent? Was their mission multi-generational? This SEAL Larrick spends 15 minutes with a forged search warrant and a little phone company equipment and penetrates their entire communications network and kills off their handler, all in one night? While stealing their codes and one off cipher pads? (One off cipher pads use a different key to decode every message, makes ciphers difficult to break.) Because Phillip killed some guy at their camp? Phillip seems to have a knack for just walking up to people and getting them to tell him secrets in about five minutes. Somehow, Martha is stupid/naive/gullible enough to believe 'Clark's' BS? Is she brain dead?
The worst part of season II is that Elizabeth has shown, quite clearly, that she is a sociopath. She revels in killing people. Whenever there's someone who needs killing, she does it. Her path of death and destruction makes hit men everywhere jealous. I think she would kill someone on the capitol mall, in front of people (the guy in the hotel pool, that nobody, conveniently, saw her kill, even though it was right out in the open). She does so without remorse. She has absolutely no conscience, no empathy–even for Phillip or her kids. She is beginning to come loose around the edges and seems to be totally unable to grasp the concept that Paige isn't growing up as a "Young pioneer" and isn't going to be a perfect little socialist. She's completely off the ranch, expecting Paige to, somehow, conform to her beliefs, when Paige has no idea what they are. It's funny to listen to her complain the church is 'going after them young,' while blithely failing to realize that's what the communists did to her. The changes in her character are making the show difficult to watch.
Jumped the shark. And to think I, actually, bought season II.