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Crocodile Dundee (1986)
Ridiculously enjoyable!
A real classic of the 1980s, at least from the perspective of a Yank! There are some utterly ridiculous scenes, sure, like the crocodile attack ('it' just shakes its head back and forth mechanically and rather hilariously), but there are far more classic scenes and lines like, "That's not a knife...THIS is a knife." And all the way throughout the film is honest, good-natured, funny, and warm-hearted.
The transvestite scenes are now, in 2024, even more relevant and humorous in an honest way than forty years ago. You can tell how spot on they are by the faux outrage of those who deny biology and basic science.
Basquiat (1996)
Heart is in the (mostly) right place, but it falls flat
Director and fellow painter Julian Schnabel of course knew Jean-Michel Basquiat (although to what extent they were actually friends is much debated), and I believe he really wanted to pay tribute to the legendary Neo-Expressionist with this movie. However, the film really falls flat more than it succeeds.
I myself am an artist who teaches art and art history (including classes on Basquiat), and while I'm no expert, I have researched the artist a lot and have watched all the Basquiat interviews, and Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of Basquiat hinges more on impersonation than accuracy or depth. Wright is a great actor, and he is not bad in this film, but he definitely fails to capture Basquiat's unique personality; he even comes across like a bit of a prick on more than one occasion, which Basquiat himself rarely did, despite his flaws. This may be more Schnabel's fault that Wright's, however, as David Bowie's performance of Andy Warhol similarly stumbles and feels more like a Saturday Night Live impersonation than anything meaningful. Schnabel's fictional character called Albert Milo that is clearly supposed to represent the director himself simply does not work. His character comes across as pointless and distracting, confusing those familiar with the real-life characters while giving off rather narcissistic vibes to those more familiar.
Aside from the actors and character portrayals, the writing of the film is extremely basic and formulaic. We are given quite a few famous scenes that Basquiat historians will be interested to see acted out, but will be ultimately disappointed in the scenes shallow sense of re-enactment. Moments of the film that are meant to feel poetic and elicit an emotional response from the viewers simply do not work; for instance, the opening scene with Basquiat's mother and the glowing crown simply comes across as odd, and lacks any emotion or drama at all. Likewise, the climatic scene of Basquiat stumbling through the streets of New York in pajamas in a drug-induced haze feels more like we're watching an acting class than the climax of a feature film about one of the greatest artists of the 21st century. Also, the choice of the Pogues' song "Fairytale of New York" to open the movie fails terribly; it does not fit the style or mood of the film or the story, and it somehow enhances the absurdly sappy nature of the song itself.
All in all, the film "Basquiat" is watchable and somewhat interesting to fans of the artist, but is more often disappointing, confusing, and will provoke eye-rolls from well-informed viewers.
Belgravia: The Next Chapter (2024)
A Big Step Down
After thoroughly enjoying the original series of 'Belgravia' (a solid 8/10 miniseries, arguably 9/10), I was hopeful that most of the negative reviews of "Belgravia: The Next Chapter" would be wrong, or at least a bit exaggerated. Alas, the negative reviews are more right than wrong, and this second season is yet another example of a great show taking a massive step down from a successful first season.
It was always going to be a tough task to match the clever, rewarding, and intelligent writing of the first season, but "The Next Chapter" falls short of even the above average level of writing of well-produced shows of the modern era of entertainment. The main plot line and the character arcs of the two leads is just not very interesting, especially from about the 3rd or 4th episode on. While season one seemed too short and had you begging for more at six episodes, this second season tests your patience at eight episodes in which little seems to happen half the time. You know a writer is completely clueless when they start portraying the 1871 Paris Commune in a positive light (the best era in Paris's history, the Belle Epoque, only happened thanks to the failing of said evil Commune, not to mention that the same ideology that the Commune spouted would go on to kill 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 more people than fascism in the 20th century). The side plots are eye-rollingly predictable at best. So how does it even earn a review this high? Mainly because of the great production, excellent cinematography, and wonderful acting, especially by Harriet Slater. While other positive reviews here credit the 'victim' plot line, the reality is that the focus on victims has created a culture in which every struggling person pretends to be a victim in every way possible, causing their mental state to deteriorate. Similarly, our main male lead sulks, acts petulant, and behaves like a prick and uses his so-called 'victim' status as an excuse. Overall, this is a very skippable season of television, although not a total disaster.
Escaping Twin Flames (2023)
Interesting Story of a Cult/Pyramid Scheme
"Escaping Twin Flames" is a mostly engrossing mini docuseries consisting of multiple first-person accounts of people who were exploited and manipulated by Jeff and Shaleia Divine.
As to the positives, the story is told in a manner that will want to make you continue watching, and it unfolds at a good pace that increases in tension as the amount of manipulation and control increases on the people who were fooled and taken advantage of. Those people interviewed who were involved in the cult and left are extremely compelling, honest, and emotional in a shocking and fascinating way.
The downsides are that the final episode of the three lacks much finalization, lacks as much tension and interest as the first two episodes, and also relies on interviews with a screwball 'Dr.' Cassius Adair. This person is some sort of so-called advocate to the trans-community, and while he rightfully criticizes the Divines' manipulation of people to undergo trans surgeries, he then completely exposes his own agenda. Dr. Adair has profited and benefited entirely in his career by pushing and forcing his own beliefs on other people, in a manner not as far from the Divines as you might think: like most on the far left and the so-called trans advocate side (I say so-called because exactly zero of their policies have ever been proven to improve the trans community, and several have measurably been negative on the trans community and society at large) he has encouraged aggressive propaganda on confused teenagers to pressure them into life-altering surgeries, participated in bullying the American Psychological Association into accepting laughably unscientific views on gender, denied basic biology (every single cell in a human body has either an XX or XY chromosome), denied sexual dimorphism and attempted to destroy women's sports, and has ignored all of human evolution and history in regards to gender/sex (yes, they are the same thing). It has become an unfortunate trend to give these kind of junk scientists platforms on the incorrect claim of compassionate understanding, but it has gone past the point of being a joke into the realm of legitimate danger.
Twister (1996)
Enjoyably ridiculous
Is 'Twister' absurd in terms of the realism of the tornadoes? 100%, absolutely. If fact, I'd say it deserves a 1/10 in tornado realism, maybe 2/10 if we're judging by layman's terms: the cow flying past (twice) when the pickup is perfectly fine, forecasters predicting an F5 as a storm forms, and of course the laughably outrageous strapping to the pipe ending in the F5 tornado (arguably the most unrealistic scene in any tornado movie).
That all said, the plot is a solid 7 out of ten, featuring a classic overcoming-your-trauma story line mixed with a good love triangle setup. The acting, especially by Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is great, and I'd give an 8/10 judging by summer blockbuster standards. The characters are archetypes, but they are set up in an excellent manner (the postmodern critique that archetypes are too simple is in itself superficial, as the postmodernists fail badly to understand that complex characters are made up of archetypes), and their character arcs plays out enjoyably and satisfyingly. The special effects, while dated now, were very good for the time and still deserve a 7/10 for being at the front line of CGI.
'Twister' is thus, while entirely ridiculous for anyone with even basic tornado knowledge, still very enjoyable and a classic mid-90s summer blockbuster.
Ted Lasso: Biscuits (2020)
Solid episode
A really solid episode that will get the viewer even more invested in the season.
The episode is marred, however, by one incredibly ignorant exchange, in which a rather touching moment between Ted and Sam in which Ted gives him an army figure is completely ruined when Sam quips, "I don't share your enthusiasm for the American military though," to which Ted replies, "Ah, imperialism." I'm not sure who wrote such a shockingly childish and historically naive bit of garbage (Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, or Phoebe Walsh), but whichever writer it was should be fired for being an imbecile. What so-called imperialism are we pretending is a fact here? North Korea invading South Korea and the US and the UN defending against another Communist attack that supported/created two horrific governments that killed 50 to 80 million people and oppressed billions more? North Vietnam, with support from the Soviets and China, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people under the false premise of exploitation? Or maybe we should all support these horrific regimes and pretend we're freedom fighters, like the Khmer Rouge, the Maoists, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and ISIS...
Alpha (2018)
Reasonably Accurate Portrayal of the Paleolithic Era
There are very few films made about the Prehistoric Era that are decent, let alone realistic. "Alpha," while a flawed movie, manages to mostly succeed in showing life in the Paleolithic; the film deserves in honestly about a 6.5/10, but its strengths just about exceed its flaws, raising it to a 7/10.
What "Alpha" does well is to show the harshness and brutality of life in the Paleolithic Era. It was incredibly difficult to survive for nearly all of human history let alone 20,000 years ago, and the movie shows this and the roles of people in those societies to believable levels. The importance of rituals and the reliance on hunting are demonstrated clearly and quite accurately. Thankfully for a film of the 21st century, "Alpha" also manages to avoid the inaccuracies and ideological drivel many shows and movies spout today, for example forcing women into masculine roles, showing how hierarchies didn't exist before capitalism, or pretending life was a harmonious perfection with nature before the modern era. All of those things are absolute nonsense to anyone with an inkling of historical knowledge; gender roles were well-defined and incredibly similar in nearly all societies across the entire planet in Prehistoric times (and well after), disproving the lie of the 'western patriarchy'. Hierarchies and inequalities in human societies existed as far back as archaeologists can investigate, and certainly are not a result of capitalism (indeed, capitalism has reduced them more than can even be fathomed). So, it's refreshing to see none of that nonsense thrust into a historical portrayal today.
What "Alpha" does not do as well is the action, which is quite over-the-top and overly dramatic, making it very tough to believe at times. It is a movie and it is fairly exciting, so that can be forgiven to an extent, but along with the already-outdated CGI it does take away from the film. The story is also a bit ridiculous, but it is heartfelt and engaging enough to mostly succeed.
The Batman (2022)
Ultimately Disappointing
'The Batman' has its strengths, but sadly more weaknesses by the end.
The acting is mostly a strength. Robert Pattinson isn't bad; his version of the Batman is brooding and morose, but there is a more realistic and personal element to him that works. No, of course he isn't as good as Bale or Keaton, but he is at least above Affleck. Paul Dano, as always, shines in his role as the Riddler (once unmasked, at least). The pacing of the film actually mostly works as well; yes, it's a bit slow for most people, but it does ground the film in a more believable way, and is a nice contrast from the hyper-edited, jumpier style of Christopher Nolan. The action scenes start out pretty good, although they do become more tiring and less believable towards the end of the movie.
Now, on to the weaknesses. The writing is, unfortunately, spotty at best. Most people are already aware of the painfully awful line that Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) quips about 'white privilege'. It is truly the worst line in Batman film history (Joel Schumacher must have sighed in relief upon hearing it), and goes to show just how shockingly deep the ignorance of people like Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi has permeated into the culture of 2022. The film also attempts to portray most of the police as being on the same level of evil as the Riddler, and Selina Kyle later goes on to glorify ripping off 'CEO and hedge fund types', which speaks volumes about not only the level of bitterness, prejudice, and small-mindedness of the character, but of the writers themselves. The dialogue between Alfred and Bruce Wayne also completely lacks compatibility and energy, especially when compared to that of Michael Caine and Christian Bale from the Nolan series.
All in all, it's worth a watch, but even with low expectations keen film buffs, Batman fans, and most movie goers will be disappointed in the shallowness both of the story and in some of the main characters.
Dawson's Creek: Downtown Crossing (2002)
One of the worst episodes in the series
I really like Dawson's Creek, although I don't flaunt that in public. Overall, the show ranged from really good teen coming-of-age drama, to entertaining fluff, to the occasional bad episode (mostly the Halloween episodes were terrible). But, this episode is without a doubt the worst. The mugging that happens in the episode is one of the most unrealistic, silly, unbelievable portrayals of crime I've ever seen in a TV show or movie. The writing is absolutely shocking.
If you're binge-watching or rewatching the entire series, skipping this second part (no relation really to the first part/episode) would only enhance your experience.
Dawson's Creek: Beauty Contest (1998)
Classic with some puzzlingly bad lines
Good idea for an episode in terms of increasing the platonic/non-platonic relationship between Dawson and Joey, and excellent performances by the cast--particularly Katie Holmes--carry the episode.
There are few terrible lines early in the episode that suddenly try to make Joey into a radical feminist that flop badly and will make you cringe; for example, there is promotion of the debunked 'gender gap' in the dialogue, and of the thoroughly debunked 'men are conditioned to be attracted to a certain kind of woman' (Dr. Randy Thornhill and other top evolutionary biologists have absolutely crushed this weak perspective).
Thankfully those superficial and ill-informed lines mostly die out, and the episode is another solid one in a classic opening season.
The Kings (2021)
Great boxing, solid biographies, skewed politics
This very good series deserves about 7.5 stars. The boxing coverage and the biographical intertwining of the four men's lives is mostly excellent, and the show is a must watch for boxing fans.
That said, the politics are heavily skewed towards the far left, (and I've never voted Republican in the five elections I've voted in; I'm moderately left in general), and the series' perspective on American politics in the 80s and specifically Reagan are biased to the point of eye-rolling. Unfortunately, Bonnie Greer is given far too much voice over time; she contradicts herself about morality and gives superficial, mostly incorrect commentary on Reagan-era politics throughout. Still, the series is worth watching, especially for boxing fans.