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Reviews
Sasquatch (2021)
Should have been a two-minute local crime report.
It advertises itself as being about a story that Sasquatch killed three people on a cannabis farm. It deviates quickly into an inaccurate history of the area, then describes the area's agricultural properties, shows multiple irrelevant and unenlightening conversations with random people, then a debunked video of a fake Sasquatch with no disclaimer, made lots of commentary on the war on drugs, misrepresents the area (for dramatic effect?), etc. It is boring, slow, and redundant interrupted throughout to describe a journalist's techniques and irrelevant experiences. Includes an irrelevant, inconsistent insistence on nurture over nature. When the event is revealed, it's not exceptional.
Doubling Down with the Derricos (2020)
Irresponsible at best
With the crisis of unwanted children in the system and the effects of overpopulation on natural resources, this unreality show that promotes overpopulation and narcissism is reprehensible. For those who enjoy watching it, get a life--foster, adopt, volunteer.
South Park: South ParQ Vaccination Special (2021)
Unusually bad
It didn't feel like SP. It felt like a propagandist imitating SP. Parker/Stone appear to be afraid to mock everything that is mockable about current events. It mocked Q's belief that the vaccine implants a chip but didn't mock people's eagerness to get a vaccine that was rushed through the approval process faster than any vaccine in history that causes short-term health problems and unknown long-term effects and extent of immunity. It mocked Trump and not Biden, the most ridiculous president in history. It mocked homeschooling using stereotypes and not public schools, the CDC, and teachers' unions. All sides deserve equal mockery. It had more drama than humor.
A Girl from Mogadishu (2019)
If I'm one-starring it, it must be bad.
I think the high ratings are to applaud and encourage public awareness of FGM rather than for the film itself. The real life story is interesting and important. The film is poorly written. Save your time, watch a documentary, read "Infidel."
What Happened on September 11 (2019)
Uninformative, boring
The filmmakers tell people's feelings and opinions about what happened rather than showing or telling what happened. If you watched this without knowing what happened, you would be misinformed and under informed. It's also slow and boring. Really just a waste of time and money.
Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer (2019)
An odd historical revision of the National Enquirer's and media's history
The first issue of National Enquirer I saw was in 1971 in Grandma's living room. As I picked it up, Grandma urgently told me: "That's not a real newspaper. Nothing in it is true. The stories are made up."
I asked, "Why do you read it then?"
"It's funny. The stories make me laugh. I don't know how they make up such wild stories," she replied, laughing.
The history of the National Enquirer and media are significantly different from the story in "Scandalous". No mention is made of the stories about aliens and humans marrying and having babies, sightings of the Loch Ness monster, Big Foot, and other oddities, speculations and stories about the Bermuda Triangle, all of which were presented as factual.
Rather, "Scandalous" portrays the National Enquirer as having been a largely reliable, respectable news source, which I can't write without laughing.
"Scandalous" alleges that the Enquirer started "catch and kill" during the Schwarzennegger campaign. "Catch and kill" is as old as journalism.
The primary agenda of "Scandalous" is revenge against David Pecker and the Enquirer for attacking Jeff Bezos. The story omits that Bezos bought The Washington Post, which Bezos now uses to attack the Enquirer and Trump.
Overall, the film misrepresents most of what it reports. I'm an independent observer, thinker, and voter. "Scandalous" is political propaganda and a jab at David Pecker, who deserves jabbing. The problem with "Scandalous" is that it is agenda-driven, historically inaccurate, and misleading.
Sidney Hall (2017)
This Film Should Not Have Been Made
If you're a survivor of child sexual abuse, this film will re-traumatize you. It's written by and about a malignant narcissist who is a silent observer to child sexual abuse, one of those neighbors and "friends" who knew and did nothing to stop it for God-only-knows-what-reason. This lead character writes a book to profit from the sex abuse and the filmmakers tell the story through the malignant narcissist's view, rationalizing and justifying his failures like malignant narcissists do. You will recognize his character and the way he emotionally manipulates other people, especially the audience.
The story is full of holes and unexplained events--lazy writing that throws out an incident scene and leaves it to the audience to explain it.
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23: Daddy's Girl... (2012)
This episode is perverse.
In this episode June has an affair with Chloe's father. Having sex with your daughter's roommate is disgusting. A well-raised twenty-two year old woman is not interested in having sex with a man in his forties. This episode is perverse.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Horrible movie with the worst ending
Other one-star ratings give the plot. The one thing I didn't see addressed in reviews is that when Kutcher's character is an adult and has the experience of having lived and relived life multiple times, he decides the best course of action is to tell the girl he hates her and to stay away from him. However, the pedophile still would have exercised his visitation rights and abused her. Also, this enabled the pedophile to abuse as many children as any pedophile abuses--400 to 500 in his lifetime. It unnecessarily hurt the girl. It was untrue, unkind, and unnecessary. Kutcher never thought to go back and report the pedophile and show the pedophile's cache of child porn. This shows a real unconsciousness of how an actual survivor of sexual abuse thinks. Kutcher's acting is so bad that I don't remember his character's name.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Remember Me (2018)
Based on True Stories
A community gives its nannies a "Mommy's Night"--night off to go out and have fun. The nannies go to a nightclub. While there, she sees the coyote who sat in her mother's kitchen, promised her a better life as a nanny in America, and subsequently tortured and raped her throughout the journey. He doesn't remember her. She goes to a condo with him and once there, points a gun at him and demands a full confession. The audience then learns the condominium is rigged to live feed to the dark web. Lieutenant Benson volunteers (again) to go in unarmed and negotiate with the woman to release the coyote, but that's not the end.
The woman's story is representative of what women experience. It's realistic that she would carry after having been victimized. The concept of meeting one's rapist in a random Manhattan night club is the stuff of fantasy, but film is the stuff of fantasy. If you suspend your disbelief on that incident, it's a good revenge story. It plays out realistically.
The plot is perfect. The script is well written and well acted. My favorite part was that the lawyer for the human traffickers was named Efrain Hernandez, which is one letter off from the name of a sociopath I know. Don't you love it when that happens?
Missing 411 (2016)
Protect Children
The film takes separate tragic incidents and presents them as though they were related in order to manipulate the people affected to talk to him and to make money. The fact of this documentary is unfortunate. The filmmakers are exploiting for money and narcissism, children's suffering and society's concern for children. The making of this documentary shows how low our society has sunk. Instead of analyzing the facts of each case of a missing child, the filmmakers absolve everyone of responsibility for children and even indicate children who go missing are abducted by aliens. Don't watch this documentary. Don't talk to the filmmakers. Protect children.
History 101 (2020)
Shockingly Misinformative
The first scene ignores that Don has untreated obsessive-compulsive disorder. The first episode describes a bit of the history of fast food without mentioning the post-WWII agricultural revolution, Earl Butz, the Farm Bill, the patenting of nature, the resulting growth of corn products and byproducts, the impact of sugar quotas and grain subsidies, and any data, science, and history behind the trends upon which it touches. Instead of wasting your time on this, read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and history books, watch old movies, old television shows, and old newscasts and interviews to better understand the culture. If you are aggressively, adamantly ignorant, you will like this show.
Waco (2018)
Normalizes child rape
Normalizes child rape. Praises a child rapist and paints him in a positive light. Lies about actual events. Blames the government for Koresh's and his cults' actions.
Pamela Smart: An American Murder Mystery (2018)
I suffered through this so you don't have to.
Slow, drawn-out rehash of previously reported information. Watch the HBO documentary instead.
Unabomber: In His Own Words (2020)
Disappointing
All four episodes regurgitate information provided more briefly in every other documentary on the subject. Very few words are the Unabomber's. The end opines that the Unabomber was right, but he of course shouldn't have killed people.
Who Killed Malcolm X? (2019)
A New Netflix Low
Is there no low to which Netflix will not sink to profit at society's expense? I was there. We know who killed Malcolm X. We know the context. We know why. This flick, stretched into a mini-series with no-value-added filler footage, is nothing but a for-profit exploitation and exacerbation of societal divisions. If you're interested in Malcolm X, read a history book.
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
"Rehab doesn't work if you're lying."
"Rehab doesn't work if you're lying." I fast forwarded through the boring parts. The movie has truth in it. It's sad but is an important story in showing the effect lying has on the family members about whom you're lying, as well as the effect of lying on the person who is lying instead of taking accountability for your actions.
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
Skip it
With the exception of Saoirse Ronan, the casting was terrible. Margot Robbie was horrible in the role of Elizabeth and certainly no Bette Davis. The writing, direction, casting, and storytelling are so bizarrely bad that the film should not have been made. Not only was it not remotely historically accurate, the story they wrote was bad. I wish I hadn't seen it.
The Civil War (1990)
Decent as very partial supplement
Worth watching as a visual supplement to written history but far from complete and contains inaccuracies. He states that Robert E. Lee opposed slavery. This position is belied by Lee's ownership of 92 slaves and his treatment thereof. The documentary omits and vastly understates the actions of women who played major roles in the Civil War, including even Clara Barton, which is quite a feat of historical revisionism, while including plentiful trivia that slows the pacing of the documentary. It reiterates as fact accusations of Grant's drinking during the war, which were character assassinations by his detractors and not factual accounts of his wartime drinking. Grant's heavy drinking occurred earlier in his life, not during the war. Grant's weakness during that time of his life was the cigar. The tactical and strategic coverage is good.
The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler (2012)
This "documentary" is highly inaccurate and lacks focus
It's unfortunate anyone would make a historically inaccurate film about such important world events. Also, most of the film regurgitates known history. Then, it misinforms regarding Adolf Hitler. Seems to be an exploitative film for profit.
Bobby Kennedy for President (2018)
An important piece of history that changed America and the world
I'm grateful that the documentary was done in that it recounts important, forgotten history that profoundly affected our lives to this day. The documentary failed in providing relatively little information about Bobby and wasting too much time on Jack and on tangents. I recommend reading more than one biography of Bobby for a fuller story of his life and times, including his presidential campaign and the alternative history that would have been, had he not been assassinated. The film says there was a conspiracy to kill Bobby and by law enforcement to cover up the involvement of other conspirators (which is true) but does no investigative journalism to prove the conspiracy. It essentially says people have evidence and are trying to get a new investigation. Nothing new. It also absurdly defends Sirhan, who was caught in the act, and tries to generate sympathy for that evil man. It's like an extended episode of Biography. I miss investigative journalists, an endangered species. I hope the film sparks more interest in Bobby for viewers than the filmmakers have.
Criminal Minds: Seek and Destroy (2017)
Finally
This was the only episode in 12 seasons in which the writers didn't blame the parents for the evil adult killers' behavior.
Holocaust Escape Tunnel (2017)
Historically inaccurate
The information in the documentary regarding the Holocaust/Shoah, the war in Europe, WWII, and Jewish history are largely inaccurate. The historical events around the Holocaust and the Holocaust itself are important enough to get the facts correct. This contains a mixture of facts, inaccuracies, and completely falsehoods. People who watch this will be misinformed. I recommend reading various history books and skipping this documentary.
Quiz Show (1994)
an unethical film about ethics
A dishonest film about honesty. It's a slick production. If you're writing/telling history, then get the facts right. Like the gameshow makers, the filmmakers convey some reality but are equally deceptive and manipulative with the same profit motive. I detest historical inaccuracy. It's particularly egregious in this film given this film's message. Changing and omitting relevant facts are unnecessary. The true story is more interesting than this revised version. It should have been a better film. It should be remade more truthfully. And Charles Van Doren was not handsome. He was tall, a little awkward, and had a large misshapen nose. Ralph Fiennes didn't look or act like him.
Chernobyl (2019)
Slow, badly written
I give the series credit for doing a series about Chernobyl at all, in hope it will spur people to learn about the incident. It is just badly done. About 25 years ago, I read a U.S. Government report detailing the Chernobyl incident. If you've read government reports, you know the writing is dry, technical, and stiff. That report was far more interesting than this series. The show is badly directed and cut, showing slow action in slow motion; showing people pacing while the action occurs offscreen; etc. The show actually plays down the heroism of many of the plant workers and first responders, which came through clearly in the emotionless report detailing their actions. The report's raw content was enough to deliver a strong emotional impact that has stayed with me these decades. The series does the victims and the world a disservice.