Change Your Image
modarkajo
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Review (2014)
Review (US): 5 stars!
This American remake of the brilliant and often very dark Australian series of the same name is riddled with bad choices which resulted in a bland and poorly executed comedy.
The original series was so good not just in the way that the reviews were executed, but also the way they were picked. The presenter Myles Barlow would read a letter from a viewer containing some personal issue or predicament then he would decide what to review based on what he thinks is the theme of the letter, sometimes reviewing things that have little to no relation to the letter itself, making it all the more funny. After experiencing what he was set to review and just before giving it a rating, Barlow would then present this wordy monologue full of pseudo-criticism jargon. It was one of the highlights of the series' superb writing.
Instead of letters, the American version has tweets, emails or video messages that simply say what's it like to do this, or how it feels to do that. Then we see the present Forrest MacNeil leaving the studio to review it. The part where he talks about the experience is never funny. It's just a couple of simple and tired sentences repeated throughout the show. It felt like so much of the comedic value was lost. MacNeil cartoonish personality and obnoxious delivery didn't help much either.
One of the most notable addition to the remake is of course a co-presenter which possibly happens to be one of the most unfunny and unnecessary characters to ever appear in a comedy series, and that's something that you'll be reminded of every time she says a word or makes a facial expression looking at the camera.
When it comes to the reviews themselves, too many were about sex, and they mostly felt like a lazy way to get some cheap laughs. You have the Making a Sex Tape review, Orgy review, Gloryhole review, Sleeping with Your Teacher review and even Mile High Club review where MacNeil has to have sex in an airplane bathroom. Some of these contain the kind of situations that no one over 14 or 15 would find funny. Some of the reviews that I found myself enjoying more were the likes of Being Irish, and Small People. It was always funny illustrating how dedicated Forrest is to what he was reviewing.
Poltergeist (1982)
Aged so poorly it's almost unwatchable.
Bringing myself to finish this film proved to be an almost impossible task. Not Because it's disturbing or scary, but because it's one of those films that go all the way to 'too bad' but don't quite reach the 'too bad it's good' mark. The end result is a boring, cheesy, and all around over the top flick.
Poltergeist has been called "one of the best horror films of the decade"; considering that a film like the Thing was also in June, 1982, I find it ridiculous to even call it the best horror film of the month.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: He Said, She Said (2019)
An insult to the fans.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is an important issue, and tackling it a sitcom is not inherently a bad thing. The way this episode does it however, is an outright assault on fans' intellect. To make an episode so ridiculously obvious; to spoon-feed the morals like this is more or less assuming that most Brooklyn 9-9 are simply ignorant when it comes to this issue, and therefore must go though a painful 20 minutes of pure cringe in order to "get it right."
It's also obvious that the way Amy handled the case is the opposite of what police work should be. If you have someone who was proven to be physically assaulted and another who admitted to the assault claiming it was an attempt to prevent a sexual harassment, the next logical step in any scenario would be to investigate the sexual harassment claim, and taking all the necessary measures if it was proven to be true. In "He Said, She Said" however, Amy didn't even bother; she just went ahead encouraging the employee to file a lawsuit, leaving the burden of proof for later.
This heavily flawed episode is -so far- the low point of an otherwise very fun an entertaining sitcom.
Arrested Development (2003)
It's all about the original run
The first three seasons which originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006 were truly a landmark for TV entrainment and for comedy in general. They set the bar high for everything that followed. The 4th and 5th seasons (which were the product of a 2013 Netflix reboot) however, aren't even in the same even same league. It's not that they're unfunny, but it just seems like by now, the creators of the show are just capitalizing on what made the first three seasons so great without putting an effort to develop the humor and take it further. An increasing portion of the newest episodes is taken up by flashbacks accompanied by Ron's voiceover to explain things, or to fill the gaps in narrative, and it's just too much. Moreover, because of the way the latest season is written (5th as of the time of writing), it always seems like everything that's happening in the show is supposed to lead towards something big that's going to unfold in the season finale, which weakens the viewing experience, making it impossible for any single episode to stand on each own.
I'm still giving the series a 10.. pretending the reboot never happened.
Putney Swope (1969)
"You can't eat an air conditioner"
What a fine piece of satirical work this film is! Smart, sharp, and constantly funny. Obviously, by today's Hollywood's standards a great deal of a film like this would be deemed "offensive" or "inappropriate" mainly do to the frequent use of racial stereotypes, but that's only because these standards tend to ignore context. Putney Swope is filled with brilliant commentary on various issues regarding American culture and society including race, corporations corruption, consumer culture, and US politics, never once losing it's unique humor in the process.
Love, Death & Robots (2019)
Called it quits three minutes into the second episode
What use are the show's gorgeous animations when it's so badly written that twenty minutes in (episode and a 1/4) I had traumatically experienced everything from cheesy edginess, failed attempts at humor, and overall, an overwhelming sense of "trying too hard".
If the rest of the series is anything like the first two episode and I'm almost certain it is, since these impressions indicate something fundamentally wrong with the series direction, then it's a solid 2/10 (for graphics and animations).
Sick of It (2018)
What a pleasant surprise this show was!
It's funny how many some people are giving this show low ratings saying "it didn't make them laugh", because the people behind the series have said repeatedly that it's not supposed to be in anyway a laugh-out-loud comedy, and if that's what you're after, then you're better off watching it. But don't get me wrong, the show is filled with genuinely funny moments, but they're as dry as they come, and brilliantly so. They give you time to contemplate the absurdity of the situations Karl usually finds himself in. So if anyone is looking for a punchy, more lively comedy, maybe they should rewatch An Idiot Abroad, or the Moaning of Life. I found Sick of It to be a funny, thoughtful, and an all around brilliant show, and yes, it has a killer soundtrack. can't wait for season two.
After Life (2019)
The thoughtfulness couldn't save it from being the disappointing series that it is.
Like many here, I'm a big a fan of Ricky's work in Radio, TV, and stand-up, so it's safe to say that I came to the show with some expectations, ones which I early on realized early won't be met. It has the warmth, a certain kind of thoughtfulness and a dose of Ricky's usual cynical humor, but ultimately it fails to strike the good balance to make the mix work.
First of all, the series is exhaustingly repetitive, and I'm not just talking about the overused ideas and recycled jokes thrown here and there, but also about the episodes themselves. It seems like there is this a rigid template on which all six episodes were built. I think every episode has a scene in which Tony (Gervais) is visiting his father in a nursing home, and another scene where he is talking to a widowed woman setting on a bench in the graveyard, another one where he is taking the dog for a walk, there are at least three or four scenes in the series where he is walking by the school where his nephew goes. It's always the same scenes and same settings, but with a slightly different dialogue. Yes, this might be the ordinary day in the life of a grief-stricken widow, but that doesn't necessarily make for an interesting or though provoking viewing. It certainly didn't here.
Another major flaw I found in After Life was the way the minor characters (basically, everyone except Tony) were handled. Since Tony is inside the frame 95% of the time, we only know about the other characters what he knows about them, and that's often very, very little because our central character cares only about himself, his dog, and his dead wife. As a result, most character, although well-acted, come across as space fillers, making it very difficult to develop any kind of interest toward them.
After Life might have worked better as a feature film, I just don't see it see it work is a TV series. It wasn't really a bad way to spend two and a half hours, but honestly there is not an episode I'd like to rewatch, or a single scene I'd like to revisit. I'd much rather rewatch Ricky Gervais' former college Karl Pilkington in 'Sick of It' which deals with a similar theme, but is , in my opinion, far superior in its conception and execution.
Titicut Follies (1967)
Frederick Wiseman's Haunting Directorial Debut
Can you imagine a correctional institution in which a criminally insane is more reasonable and logical than some of the staff, or even the doctors? After watching this documentary you probably will.
Without resorting to commentary, interviews, or titles, Wisman exposes the inhuman conditions and treatment the patients in Bridgewater institution in Massachusetts had to endure at the the time. From being forced to stay naked in empty rooms, to being bullied and force fed using a nose tube, you'll soon figure out that it's unlikely anyone will leave this institution a better man, on the contrary, it will only worsen their condition.
One can speak in length about the moral aspects of filming mentally ill people without their consent, considering they can't give any. But given the great cause this film serves, and the pressure it generated to improve the condition in Bridgewater institution and many other, I can't see how anyone could be mad about that.
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988)
Astonishing Piece of Concert Film
In 1987, a small group of people were lucky enough to witness Roy Orbison sharing the same stage with the likes of Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Waits among others. And luckily for the rest of us, this incredible film has been made to document this once-in-a-lifetime concert.
Filmed entirely in black and white (as the title clearly suggests) this film is a gorgeous piece of work. Some shots (the ones with the audience mostly) were distorted in various ways in order to give them a 'vintage feel' and it works like a charm. The restlessness quality of the camera work is also very noticeable, whether it's zooming or panning, the camera is almost always in motion, not many static shots here, and I think it's a great way to capture the true excitement that those performances offer.
Musically there isn't much that can be said really, because it's simply perfect, but the highlight for me was the song "Go! Go! Go!" where James Burton, Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, and Elvis Costello play their solos respectively, it was marvelous I'd watch it a thousand times.