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Reviews
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
What a pleasant surprise!
Ok, I was one of those that rolled their eyes when the trailer for this one dropped. It looked overly silly, unnecessary, and dull.
I gave it a try because it was free with Amazon Prime. So glad I did. It was a well-written, solidly acted adventure with good pacing and action. The comedy was mostly hit for me, with some notable misses.
PROS: acting pretty good all around, the story was clear and simple enough to be engaging for someone without much interest in the source material (hard to do with a D&D based movie), the sets and scenery were great, and there were lots of creative set-ups for the adventure.
CONS: it was a little too heavy on the jokes, I think it was about 20-30 minutes too long, and there were a few too many plot lines going on.
Give it a try, you may just be surprised!
Tonari no Totoro (1988)
A beautiful movie that will make you smile and cry.
Love that my family introduced me to this movie. It's an old one, but it just never crossed my path until recently. I'm so glad it did - love this story.
PROS: absolutely beautiful to experience, from the artwork to the music to the simple, powerful story. Acting was great, and the sense of childhood magic balances out so well with the very adult themes of what it means to be vulnerable vs safe.
CONS: honestly hard to think of any. I would say the set up could have been a bit more fleshed out, and I could have used a bit (not a lot, just a little) more context around the character of the mother. Knowing more about her situation would have made the ending pop more, I think.
Minari (2020)
A slow watch, but worth it if you know that going in
As others have pointed out, the pacing is intentionally slow, and the movie does feel longer than it actually is.
Still, if you know that going in and are prepared to just listen to the story, it's a very rewarding watch. A breath of fresh air to have a small, powerful story when so many films are trying to go bigger but without any real power behind them.
The acting was incredible, shots of the farm and the mobile home are done with a lot of care, and the quasi-catharsis is something to savor. I say 'quasi' because I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending -- I suspect I'll be thinking about it for a long time, and that's the sign of a well made movie.
Give it a chance - make sure you're not sleepy going in, be prepared for it to drag at times, and stick with it. I think you'll be glad you did.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
May Eru judge the showrunners
Ok, I was the built-in audience for this show. Love the Lord of the Rings stories and have watched all content, even the bloated Hobbit movies.
I tried so hard to like this show. For the first several episodes, I focused on the (small) positives and downplayed the negatives. Yes, it looked like a big-budget theme park show, but at least I got to see a 10 second glimpse of an amazing second-age battle.
Then came the ridiculous episode with the Rube Goldberg volcano eruption...and...they revealed the Southlands as Mordor with a powerpoint text dissolve. Are you kidding me?!?! Amateur work on the part of the showrunners.
Just bad story, bad writing, bad execution, mostly bad acting. Save your time and stay away.
The Wheel of Time: A Taste of Solitude (2023)
Dull, uninteresting start with ZERO stakes
I slogged through season 1, was not impressed with how it ended. Even so, I thought I would give season 2 a fair try. Well, episode 1 of season 2 is just more of the same - I will not be finishing season 2. My advice: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.
The show spends a lot of time on boring plot points and does not do anything to hook you on the characters and what they are trying to achieve. When the action does get going it's nonsensical and void of any tension because I do NOT care about these characters.
PROS: acting is solid, with a cast that is clearly talented. The acting alone almost got me hooked. The landscapes and settings show some improvement from season 1.
CONS: the story does not make much sense, character motivations are unclear, writing is erratic, pacing jumps from incredibly slow to rapid fire without warning and with absolutely no build up, and sets/costuming still comes across as a high-budget theme park show.