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Reviews
The Gilded Age (2022)
Not my normal cup of tea but drink it I did
I lean into thrillers, sci-fi, crime/legal dramas etc., but if you told me I'd get pulled into a period drama full New York City "society" pomp, catty undercutting, social climbing, and an endlessly deep preponderance of pretentiousness, I would have immediately said: "You got the wrong guy! That is not not my Hermès bag!"
This series is all of those aforementioned things made whole and enjoyable with excellent story and fantastically lovable and despicable personalities sometimes all rolled into a single character.
I will pick one of my favorites in the show that blindside me: Cynthia Nixon!!!
Her turn as Ada floored me. She played a hard mannered Federal Official in "Hannibal" and she was fantastic. Now she plays a lovable aunt and I can't get enough of it... her range is magnificent - she's always been one of my favorites. Of course Christine Baranski is fantastic. Honestly, I have a hard time finding anyone out of place in the cast.
I find this show wholly enjoyable, and that's coming from someone that slept through "The Crown" and, out of boredom, set small fires in the house when my wife turned on "Downton Abby".
One episode and out is shortsighted. So, take a chance, and let soak in.
Lioness (2023)
Gut punch - Superbly acted, twisty and thrilling
Say what you like about all other Sheridan TV properties - I'm not a Yellowstone fan though "1923" sure was worth watching - this one hits hard and delivers in ways that really makes you take notice of just how silly "Jack Ryan" is as a blatant, soulless exercise in patriotic narcissism.
What I mean is simply this... the characters are complicated. At times they are likable if not lovable, and simultaneously they are downright monstrous as the true and unwavering belief in what they're doing drives them, and sometimes breaks them.
The writing pulled me into the fiction and the characters made me believe it was all too real. This show on the surface is with-out-a-doubt entertaining, but there is also depth that only shows like "Fauda" have, and that makes it well worth the watch.
Ahsoka (2023)
Picks up velocity like a boulder rolling downhill
From episode 1 forward, I wasn't sure how this series was going to work, but 4 episodes in and I'm long-term invested.
I am, though, a little tired of the silly negative articles and fan-person fits over this show, and how it's boring, or is just ticking boxes from the Rebels show, or Disney has messed up yet another Star Wars series somehow - stupidity involving canon that's been evolving since the seventies and eighties with such books as "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" by Alan Dean Foster. Give me a break!!!
I watched Rebels and loved it and I love this show. It checks my boxes:
1) Entertaining - check
2) Protagonists worth cheering for - check
3) Villains worth jeering at - check
4) Fantastic special effects - check
5) A witch (fan-freaking-tastic!!!) - check
I could really give two hairless, wrinkled cats over what some "so-called" Star Wars "experts" think about this TV show and how it fits in the canon, and I advise those reading this to do the same. Like it, don't like it, judge for yourself, and Frak the haters - I know... a BSG moment there which I'm sure will PO Star Wars purists! And good! You all take this stuff way too seriously. 😬
Thanks to the creatives for the entertainment. You are all priceless.
The Thing (2011)
Enjoyed it and still enjoy it
I enjoyed this film when it came out and every time I feel like getting a mushy, gross, squirm-in-your-seat alien fix.
It's a rare film that captures the paranoia and disconnect of reality broken off from normality, and everyday mundanity. Good horror films do exactly that!
I found the tension jaw tightening and the power dynamics pretty fun - one dude thinks he's the stuff because of his cold intellect, while the protagonist has the intellect and the genuine common sense, and audacity to challenge his arrogance.
The acting is first rate and the monster scenes... unnerving, and bloody disgusting. Yay!
The ending was priceless as the lead-up to Carpenter's film.
Primate (2022)
Funnnnnmmyyyyyyyu
The first few episodes were entertaining, and then the rib-cracking, laugh-out-loud moments came, making the show a joyful pain to watch. This is fun TV.
Cowboy Bebop (2021)
Stands on its own through to a memorable finale
With winks and nods toward the source anime, I believe this venture stands on its own.
I was not convinced John Cho was a fit as Spike, but I was wrong - charming. The casting altogether seemed off, and now I can't see any other actor/actress occupying those roles. I'm a believer. Julia and Vicious as true mains... loved it!
If the writers would please step away from the moronic Joss Whedon-like lame one-liners - The Whedon flavor of puffed-up zingers are the clumsiest, and intellectually lazy kind of unnatural speech anyone could conceive of - then the show would be the better for it.
Overall, fun to watch with unexpected depth and density. And the last two episode... nuclear momentum into another season. Fingers crossed.