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Monster: The Bogeyman (2022)
Sandra never got arrested
And the police offers involved never received "officers of the year". Total fiction. Imagine taking a show dedicated to emphatically distributing the disturbing truth about a horrific person's actions and his effects on the victim's families and then turning it into a personal narrative vehicle trying to plaster anti police views all over the place. Were the two particular cops involved awful individuals? Of course. Is the entire police force a cult made out specifically to ignore and hate certain "types" of people? Of course not. Wouldn't know that from watching a this episode though as they sure make it seem that way......hmmmmm......Making up fake events that did not occur very obviously shows that there is an agenda here trying to be pushed.
Mad Men: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (2010)
Since when is forgiveness more important than loyalty?
Another gem. The competition between CGC and Don's scheme play out to get them Honda was to fun watch.
I found irony in the fact that while yes Sally was acting out, it was the all the adults in this episode who were acting like children. Betty can't have a single conversation without becoming unhinged, Don can't own up to or face the fact that he might not be the best father, Roger can't hold it together long enough to say face to potential Japanese clients. It's a carousel of acting out.
That being said I absolutely love how they bring to light the conflict that Roger is going through. I can imagine post war contact with the Japanese was very tough on a lot of veterans. Just another reason this show is so fascinating. While it's fictional in a lot of ways, they do such a good job drawing you into the actual issues of the times, making you feel like you lived among them yourself. Every character is so real and multidimensional. There is no clear cut right or wrong person.
Almost gets a 10 for me but there are quite a few episodes that are just slightly better. 9/10.
Monk: Mr. Monk and the Actor (2006)
This show can be frustrating
This episode is an exact representation of the problems I have with this mostly great show. It has flashes of great scenes, writing, and ideas but sometimes it just goes wayyy to far. The premise in this episode is great and it's enjoyable up until about 70% the way through. Then all of the sudden the writing goes off the deep end to where it's just completely unbelievable. You mean to tell me a "well established actor" who is presented as a down to earth nice guy suddenly goes completely nuts over an acting roll in like 2 days? Why would people keep hiring him? He would be blacklisted. Why do the police send in monk alone to talk to him and when they see him fighting in a struggle they just stand outside and do absolutely nothing? Why is monk not more freaked out by this man and is instead hugging him in the final scene? (I get that it was most likely intended for dramatic effect for the audience to showcase monk's pain over losing Trudy but it was just done in such an unrealistic and ridiculous fashion that it broke my immersion with the scene)
It's frustrating because scenes in the show like earlier
in the episode where they use the character actor to flush out monk's deeper issues by getting him to reflect, engaging the audience and informing them to as to why monk is so passionate about his job and why he does what he does are beautiful. And then they ruin it by making "fake monk" go absolutely insane for no reason. You can showcase a character actor getting "too invested" into a role in a more realistic fashion. This show is such a double edged sword when it comes to things like that.
How can you have a show about a man who is neurotic genius and points out the seemingly impossible, then yet let the show contain such glaring and obvious issues that monk himself would tear apart in an instant. It so ironic. 90% of the time this show is brilliant but sometimes it's like the writers hand off a writing baton to a 12 year old English class to finish up some of the episodes. The is one of those times unfortunately. It's a 10/10 for the first 70% of the episode and then just drops to a 4/10 out of no where. I gave it an 8 because Tony Schalhoub is an amazing actor and along with Ted Livine single handedly carries this show.
The Office: Baby Shower (2008)
Another episode greatly improved by Superfans edition
I initially gave this episode a 7 because it was just ok. However after rewatching the super fan version, like others episodes, I feel it improved the quality a good bit. The deleted scenes involving Meredith's boozing and Jan breast feeding had me rolling. Also additional scenes involving Dwight with the stroller were awesome as that was initially the best part of the original cut. Like other extended episodes as well, more dramatic scenes being viewed adds to the depth and emotion of the episode. We get to see more of Michael struggle with the fact that Astrid isn't his baby. The additional scenes help strengthen the overall narrative of the episode and it feels more "complete". While this episode isn't one of the funniest in the series it still has great character plot development.
If you haven't watched the super fans version of this series do yourself a favor and watch the show back again this way, because there are a lot of "meh"
episodes that I find to be quite better. I could never go back to the original 22 minute cuts.
Predators (2010)
Flawed but entertaining
As far as an entertaining action movie goes, this is decent. I was never bored and the dialogue and character decisions while off the wall at times, still stayed grounded enough for me to take the plot seriously. However there are a lot of tactical things that don't make sense and a LOT not explained. Things like somehow not losing a giant shotgun with a drum barrel after rolling down a hill off a cliff and into a lake. Or how someone could survive for months on an alien planet with no legitimate food sources. I found myself having to use my imagination at times just to work around these "bugs" in the script to give the characters the benefit of the doubt.
The second half also suffers from your typical action/thriller movie issue where rushing to the conclusion as fast as possible while wrapping everything up is the main goal. Overshadowing any sensical storytelling in the process. The first half of the movie paces well and then all the sudden it feels like we just darted towards the end because they couldn't have the movie go too long. Too many ways to "conveniently" take care of character arcs fast. Done so in a way that audiences most likely respond by shrugging it off and saying "eh, I guess I can justify that happening. Sort of a weird decision but whatever"
Overall this movie doesn't really offer anything memorable. The aliens, the characters, and the plot are all pretty forgettable. But it was a fun enough watch to earn a 6 from me.
Sicario (2015)
If only this movie had a good writer
The cinematographer of this movie is top notch. The casting and acting on point. However the characters are so.....uninteresting. Emily blunt's character
Is the only one that holds attention. And that's when she's asking for a cigarette or looking helpless...Everyone else
Is "I'm a tough guy, I have killed people, please respect my ability to be cold and distant". Most of the characters in this film could be shot and killed on the fly and I would not care at all. That's a problem with the writing. How does everybody in this film have zero character development? It's almost like this film makes people that have to kill others so robotic that they have lost all sense of humanity and have become robots themselves. This film uses dark acts as an excuse to have actors contain zero empathy. Like oh "my kill count is 69 so I no longer have conversations in the car that entertain the lay person. The audience needs to know how cruel and cold I am by not talking at all while I stare through my sunglasses". It's kind of a lazy way out of developing characters that have any complexity or depth. This movie uses "shocking the audience with violent realism" as an excuse to not humanize or relate the characters with the viewer themselves. It relies so heavily on its own tension and action that it forgets the people watching are human freaking beings. EVEN when the main character becomes vindicated I didn't feel much sympathy for him. The act itself was so gruesome I had a hard time condoning it. However I respect that this movie is trying to tell us the hard truth of death is that it sucks. It's not pretty. It's gory and cold. But the problem is I think the viewer gets that message 20 minutes into the film, yet the film still finds a need to drill that message into your head over and over and over again.
Regardless the action scenes are insane and provide awesome tension. And the cinematography is just so gorgeous that I can't give this movie anything less than a 6. This movie offers it's own set of brilliance but I cannot deny that I feel so much is missing.