Reviews

Warrior is such a great show that most episodes are an 8+ for me, but this one was a bit down due to the lack of a realistic or cohesive narrative for Young Jun's turn against Ah Sahm. Of course it's inevitable that this will happen because this is Ah Sahm's story and eventually he has to be head of the tong so the final showdown with Mai Ling can commence. But right now YJ's turn just isn't feeling earned to me.

First he was upset because Ah Sahm pulled off a miracle and got him out of being shipped back to China, when he obviously should have been grateful. Then he comes around but now he's upset because Ah Sahm is sleeping with the printer?? I don't see how that's even anything to get upset about. If anything it's ensuring her loyalty to the tong.

It feels like the writers are grasping for some kind of reason to enable YJ's turn against AS but they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. They had years to plot out this critical juncture but there was no build of reasons over the seasons, it's all recent events that hardly seem worth getting upset about. Father Jun's sudden case of Alzheimer's or whatever (because he got shot in the gut??) is another late arrival reason to add to the drama but doesn't really make much sense.

Anyway it's still a good show and the politics are fun, the speech and trip into Chinatown by Leary was compelling and hopefully the Jun-Sahm storyline will finish stronger than it is in E7.

What happened to the days of Littlefinger and Varys plotting and scheming with skill? The players in HOTD are frustrating in their ineptitude.

Team Green: Aegon is basically a 12 year old that can't think even a half step ahead, Otto is the only reasonably smart one but he can't keep his own ego or temper in check so he gets removed from the board, Criston Cole plays a great heel but man is he dumb which plays right into Alicent who apparently like em young, dumb and full of....whatever they call it in Westeros.

Team Black: Rhaenyra's heart is in the right place but she's realizing how her childhood infatuation for her uncle was just a case of teenage bad-boy-itis and now he's like the guy who can't hold down a job and is in and out of jail while she's trying to raise kids. Corlys and Rhaenys are still having hot times in the senior home but they don't seem to be affecting much.

Good show but I think I preferred the GOT version where there were some savvy operators involved that might be able to steer the ship a bit better than your average Joe Smallfolk.

Love this show, it's really good with well written characters and plot. One thing I didn't understand about this episode is how Young Jun gets to just decide that Ah Sahm can come back to the Hop Wei? After Ah Sahm lost, Father Jun kicked him out of the Hop Wei over Young Jun's protests. Now it's Young Jun just making this decision without the blessing of Father Jun?? It's not his decision to make as they showed in prior episodes. At least it wasn't and they didn't show any reason for why that has changed. That just seemed like a rare mistake in the writing. Like they wrote themselves into a corner and couldn't figure a way out of it so they just said, "ah F it, let's just act like Young Jun can decide this."

Maybe they will clear this up in Season 2 but it was disappointing to me after a mostly perfect first season.

I wanted to really like this show. It addresses an era and topic in a way that I haven't really seen before, and does it with detail and nuance. There are interesting characters and good actors playing them. There are some good moments of comedy and drama.

So why couldn't I rate this higher than a 6? Reasons:

1. The protagonist, if you can call him that, is difficult to like. He's duplicitous and a murderer for selfish reasons. He doesn't reward the loyalty and goodwill of others. He'll say or do anything to get himself out of a jam. He appears to be intelligent but ultimately his actions prove otherwise. With that type of 'protagonist' there's nobody to really cheer for in this show.

2. The last couple of episodes got way too metaphorical, dream-sequency, and too many crazy coincidences came into play that had me feeling like any sense of reality had left the building.

3. I love Robert Downy Jr but having him play four different characters was just a bad idea. RDJ is beloved because he plays one type of irreverent character and that character is basically himself. They did a good job with hair and makeup to change it up for him, but in the end he's not an actor with a lot of range. He's RDJ not Meryl Streep and I never saw the four characters as different people, just saw them as RDJ in different makeup.

4. The final episode that's just torture, torture, torture. Not a fun watch and the ending didn't really reward me for sitting through it.

It's a valiant attempt and I'm not disappointed in having spent the time watching it just for something different and because I liked that slice of post-Vietnam perspective. But then a friend asked me if I would recommend it and I basically said no so that's a 6/10 for me.

This is a very well done movie with exceptional actors who clearly went all in for the roles, especially Zach Efron who turned into some other person that doesn't even look like Zach Efron but man is he ripped, and he does a great job conveying the emotions of his character as well. It's a shame he didn't get at least an Oscar nomination for his role as Kevin Von Erich.

I gave serious thought to rating this movie higher than a 7 (not that anyone cares about my rating) but in the end I couldn't for two reasons:

1. Just so sad and depressing. I understand it's the real life story more or less and I have a ton of empathy for that family and Kevin in particular. It just seemed like there was an opportunity for a slightly happier ending. Kevin did after all have a great wrestling career and was inducted into the wrestling HOF. But the filmmakers decided to basically end in the suicide of Kerry aside from one minute of Kevin's sons saying some nice things to him and an epilogue family photo. Felt like there could have been 10 minutes more with a redeeming wrestling scene or HOF induction or time with his wife and the big family they created to not bring this to quite such a sad ending.

2. The fallacy ingrained into the movie that the wrestling match outcomes were somehow in doubt. Kerry and Kevin both got title shots and they play it like they can win on wrestling skill and ability. That's not how the NWA worked - every match was largely scripted and the winner was never in doubt. I'm not selling wrestlers short - it's still an incredibly skilled and tough thing to do with intense training and resulting pain and injuries from what happens in the ring. But it's not a competition other than in terms of who can goad the crowd into more of a frenzy, it's a scripted show.

I was a big fan growing up of the Midwestern wrestling promotion, the AWA. The Von Erichs of Minnesota were the Gagnes, Vern and his son Greg and his 'High Flyers' partner Jumpin' Jim Brunzell. The AWA version of Fritz Von Erich was Baron Von Raschke who also employed "The Claw" as a finishing move but claimed to be from East Germany and would goose-step around the ring and say that he was "ordered to win" by his commie superiors. He was actually from Nebraska but it was a great heel act!

I always like a time travel episode where a protagonist gets to use future know-how and tech in the past on some deserving bad guys. That's what we got here as Joy pulled out here 2020s sheriff issued gun on some1880s baddies and let them have it.

Her pain has been real in losing her loved ones to time and seeing her four years on in the 1880s with the Shoshone tribe and wondering if she could ever get back to her time was compelling. Coming to some important realizations about life and what is important was also powerful.

The trope of every white man from this era as a snidely whiplash type that is busy oppressing and killing native Americans, abusing women and spitting tobacco is getting a bit old which is why I didn't rate this episode a 9 or 10. Other than that it was a great episode and now we know how Royal's journey through time really began, even if it was a bit of a retcon.

This also perhaps gave Royal some hope that Perry can get back. Joy was assuming the same amount of time had passed in the future as had passed for her in the past, but it seems that's not the case as she landed not long after she left.

I watched the first season and on the whole it was entertaining so no regrets, but I don't think I'll watch anything past season one. Why not? The ending was really poor for a few reasons:

1. Donald Cooperman (William Hurt), the most evil man in the world, brilliant lawyer, and he takes the stand and gets completely shook up by a single line of questioning to the point where he can't speak and has a stroke?? I don't like plot points that rely on out-of-character happenstance.

2. During the trial each side got their shots in but the final 'twist' of Brittany flipping to the defense made no real sense. She said she betrayed her own team because Cooperman was going to help her with some "legal issues". What legal issues? Yes she was a prostitute but we hadn't heard she was in any real trouble to that point. And isn't her best friend Billy A LAWYER?! On top of that her acting was so over the top in the courtroom scene. She comes in wearing flats, no bag and looking like a lost puppy, it's ridiculous.

2. So we have a case that could go either way and it's time for the final speeches to the jury. Callie delivers a masterpiece for Cooperman and Billy gets up, doesn't address any facts or evidence or any reasons to actually convict, just some lame BS about how the little guy can make a difference. It was like a coach's locker room speech to a bunch of kids in a bad sports movie. It was not convincing nor inspirational at all. But this is TV so guess what, Billy wins anyway! The jury convicts on his poor man's David vs Goliath speech.

I gave this a 7 for the sake of Billy Bob Thornton who really is an entertaining actor, and Molly Parker does a fine job as well for the antagonists. Just too deflating at the end and that combined with reading the reviews that seem to agree it's downhill from S1 anyway, I won't spend any more time on it.

Up until this episode the 3 Body Problem had a consistent level of suspension of disbelief, which is crucial to the immersion of the viewer in any show. Then suddenly in this episode, a scene went way beyond that level by presenting a scenario that seemed ridiculous and well, nigh impossible even for this show.

Mike Evans is talking to his 'Lord' (presumably the alien) via the microphone, telling a fairy tale story when the alien voice starts questioning why things are happening, revealing that up until this point in 2024 this alien with supposedly vastly superior intelligence that has been talking to human beings for (checks notes) 58 years(!) has just now come to realize that humans sometimes lie. And that upon this realization, the alien no longer wants to be involved with this person and organization that has been helping them for decades. Say what??

Sorry but this particular plot point makes no sense. I hope this gets clarified or modified somehow from here because it was like this was the first time any human had ever spoken to the alien. Like they were having a get-to-know meet and greet after supposedly decades of communication! And it was a fairy tale story that did it?? Come on.

My Benioff and Weiss GOT season 8 radar is pinging loudly at this point. I hope I'm wrong because the rest of the show has been very good.

I love Monk as a show but did they not even think about this plot for one minute? It makes no sense at all. The killer admits from the start that he knew the victim. He tells Captain Stottlemeyer that, "we had a fight and she left" meaning she was in his home. Later, the case seems to hinge on them finding DNA in the garage. Why wouldn't the killer just say, "yeah so? I've already said she was here. She's been in the garage getting out of my car. If you find DNA it means nothing other than she was here which I've already admitted to." Maybe if they found blood they could say violence had occurred but Monk actually says even a strand of hair would do it, which makes no sense.

Later they link the commissioner's toupe to the victim. Again, so what? It proves she sold her hair to a wig maker, that's it. They still haven't found her DNA in the garage and even if they did, that still proves nothing!

I get that this show is largely a comedy but typically they at least get the plot basics right. It seems odd that nobody thought about this one long enough to realize how little sense it makes.

Also that the Captain's wife is filming an all-access documentary without the Commissioner's knowledge, and then even once he finds out he doesn't stop it but rather is openly berating everyone in front of the camera? Again I understand it's a vehicle for the jokes but they really kind of jumped the shark on this one.

I'm sure it's hard to make something new out of time travel with all the stories that have already been done around it. Even Bodies has its roots in Dark with the family tree of time travel to different periods in relatively recent history, but it's also quite different in many ways and the setup with 4 different detectives trying to figure it out across time periods and ultimately teaming up to do so was a very satisfying end to the story. Also really excellent acting by all the participants in this show but especially Amaka Okafor and Jacob Lloyd-Fortune who brought such emotional depth to their characters.

If it's possible to write a time travel story without plot holes, I haven't seen it yet. Paradox is nigh impossible to avoid and maybe that's why time travel doesn't yet exist in real life. The toughest three to swallow in this show were:

1. If Elias Mannix was a loop created by himself as his own great grandfather when he time travels back to 1890, then how did it (and he) start? The show never explains this in the way that Dark did with the 'origin point'. This is the biggest plot hole by far and I can't think of a solution like I can for the two below. Maybe they are saving that for season 2?

2. How did Julian Harper (aka Elias Mannix) remember all of the stock market moves when technology or material goods can't be transported across time? That must have been a heck of a lot of memorization.

3. How did they seemingly build an atomic bomb in 1890 to place in the vault, and with a cell phone trigger? I suppose they could have done the bomb later once that technology had been invented, but the cell phone wasn't invented until basically the 1990s (prototypes aside). When they enter the bank the banker seems shocked they are there like nobody has shown up for this vault in his time there. The vault is assigned to Shahara and clearly she hasn't shown up before. Even a sentence from 1941 Harker on this topic like, "now we have to start preparing the device in the vault" would have indicated it was still a work in progress as the technology of the day advanced.

Great show overall and I'm glad they can still find unique and compelling ways to explore time travel because it's such a fun plot device when done well. Good job by all involved!

A very interesting premise of Augustus Pinochet as a 250 year old vampire that wants to die (until he doesn't) is a compelling start and the beautifully shot black and white cinematography and fun side characters held my interest in this movie despite a low budget and 2 hour run time.

Carmencita's unexpected and rather easy flip to the dark side was a bit disappointing to me as she was so self assured for the first 3/4 of the movie as she picked apart the Pinochet family with a verbal rapier. She finally confronts Pinochet and it lasts all of 10 seconds before she wants to be a vampire?? Then I thought maybe that was part of her or the church's plan but she spends the rest of the movie flying a bit and then is beheaded. It really seemed like a wasted effort for her character which was compelling up to that point.

Anyway this movie had 9 potential but it kind of fell apart late on plot, so I couldn't do better than a 7.