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The Witcher (2019)
World Building at its Best
The Witcher does it all; delivers great character arcs, drama, and fantasy world building. Its my favorite fantasy property ever - televised or theater. All the acting is superior. The sword play is epic. The spacial and practical effects create a unique fantasy world that leaves me wanting more. Henry Caville delivered a physical and brooding hero. Better than Game of Thrones.
Doctor Who (2005)
Not Deserving Three Star
I only gave theee stars because there are a few characters I love and it was a fun change to a female doctor. Unfortunately, the show is hammering the audience with in-your-face social commentary. The Doctor is just odd and I tried to grow with the new Doctor, but she isn't interesting or fun. The stories are perhaps the worst I remember, and I can remember some very poor stories. It's unwatchable, but three stars for Doctor Who as a "Participation Award". Thanks for trying, but no thanks. Time to retire the franchise for awhile until some core issues can be addressed.
The Orville (2017)
The Orville is Funny and Fun
This is good serialized sci-fi and, while it is an homage to Stat Trek, The Orville has its own unique tone and lore. It's light hearted, character driven, with thought provoking social commentary - done by presenting stories to the audience and not preaching. A great range of laughs, mixed with just the right amount of drama and sci-fi adventure.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Expensive Disappointment
I was so confident and hyped for Star Trek, that I signed up for a year of CBS All Access, even though nothing else of interest was in offering. Season 1 lacked the bright sets, hopeful Star Trek narrative, interesting stories, decades of consistent lore, and crew camaraderie. It did attempt a seasonal story arc, but it failed to be interesting and was so divergent from canon that it became distracting. Perhaps if CBS had simply called this a re-imagining, the inconsistencies in canon could be dismissed. Buy the story arc was still not interesting. Save your time, watch The Expanse instead.
Not Since You (2009)
Movie Fails Soundtrack
An entertaining soundtrack running pleasantly under a melodramatic knockoff of The Big Chill. Not Since You is an over wrought script that is excruciatingly over-acted. The movie is populated by many pretty people, at a wedding that has even more pretty people attending, with stately houses, a Norman Rockwell town, and vacation scenery. Your cup will over flow with pretty people. Your cup will also over flow with melodrama, as an ensemble of actors are forced to make hopeful, painful, and glum faces over decades old interactions that supposedly remained unsettled. No worries, the script makes sure that every loose end is tied up, every emotional problem is resolved, and everyone either remains, or becomes, happily coupled.
Whatever hope you might have when the soundtrack begins to play upon your emotions will be stifled, prepare to be smothered in a bath of emotional spaghetti. i've yearned for another generations The Big Chill. I didn't get my own generations and perhaps its too much to ask. Do not ask it of this dreadful movie.
No Men Beyond This Point (2015)
Viewer Decides: Clever Satire or Socialist Propaganda?
Spoiler's are included in this review.
No Men Beyond this Point is a light science fiction mockumentary that uses documentary style techniques to show an alternate history world in which females solely reproduce only females by spontaneous self-impregnation, making males both obsolete for reproduction and doomed for extinction. The premise is expertly revealed in documentary style, with short expositions, while weaving in a personal conflict that brings a satirical conclusion to the movie.
The movie can be viewed as a multi-layered satire that humorously exposes socialist views about government, economics, history, and gender and/or a multi-layered satire that humorously exposes government classicism, societal sexism, and perhaps even lampooning the male hubris of movements such as MGTOW. The movie is either perfectly executed or accidentally crafted, so as to create a situation where the viewer has many interpretation options.
For those that believe it's a dark humor version of the feminist screed "The Hunting Ground", I'd ask if the movie positively propagandizes third wave feminism in some way or did it in fact mock third wave feminism?
For those that believe the movie ruthlessly mocked males, did it really stereotype men or did it reveal the stereotyping of men?
Unless the creators provide their opinion, the brilliance of the movie is it satires all these beliefs and forces the viewer to consider the movie's caricatured versions of men and women, as well as asking simple questions about economics, government, and society. I'll provide a for instance for all of these:
Males: The movie caricatures men as mostly sexist, violent, unable to organize, solely responsible for every war, and motivated by the simplest of needs, making them all incapable of doing anything productive.
Females: The movie caricatures women as having almost no sexuality (except as it may have been a forced societal male construct), women cannot rise through competition with males - but only in the vacuum created by male extinction, females are ruthless manipulators of government with no recognition of individual rights, their massively superior intellects and demeanor effortlessly ends corruption, cures cancer and solves the age old issue of scarcity by hugs and sharing, while absolutely freezing all technological advancement (apparently that math'stuff is too hard and not wanted by all of female society). In a world without men, every woman is a ballerina. I recall that half-truth adage about women hating each other, because they know how each other thinks.
Economics: All scarcity disappears when: Women. Lots of fresh food, unlimited land for every possible use, and the world heals with tender loving care and runs on the energy created by girl- smiles and yoga classes. In a post scarcity world, everyone's daughter gets the best of everything all the time.
Government: As noted above, a one world government appears without pesky males in the way, women have no biases or bigotry (we all know women are not competitive with each other...at all), suddenly this one world government ends all religious conflicts, all territorial disputes, and ruthlessly violates individual rights with only harmony of the...ummm citizens. After all, government becomes based on hugs (and not the last arbitrator with the guns) when women are in control. Women are so much wiser and kinder than their predecessors and no women would use government for their own advancement and cronyism. They're all with Her!
Society: Apparently society was 100% male driven and with males out of the way women are free to be their asexual, non-competitive, and always loving selves. Women all like each other without men around. Just likes happens now, remove men from an office and all the women just can't get enough of each other. In women world, society and government are the exact same thing. There are no cultural influences, no historical norms, no biological imperatives, no self actualization, and everyone wants the greater good. The greater good is what the government says and the government is...benevolent and based on what society wants.
What's great about the movie is everyone can read as deeply or as shallowly as one desires. Personally, I see everything satirized. Beyond the mockumentary, the acting is superb. There is so much that passes without need for dialogue. Mostly, the movie is well organized and appropriately paced: editing is good. The movie is right sized, not too long and not too short. The dialogue mostly works, although I deduct a star for repetition with some of the male dialogue: they oversell and could have further textured the movie with some of the screen time allocated for repeating the same joke/same caricature. Overall, I had a hard time deciding between 7 or8 stars. Less fails to give the movie the credit it deserves, but 8 almost puts the movie out of its league.