Tag Archives: reviews

Dog Man

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With a day off school for weather, I had a chance to watch Dog Man on Fandango at Home (Vudu). Dog Man was a movie that I was avoiding at the theaters because it just did not look like something that would intrigue me. The trailers did nothing for the film in my opinion and, even after some positive reviews, I did not care to watch it.

So when I rented Dog Man, I was not especially anxious to see it.

I have to say, this was a movie that I found much more enjoyable than I ever expected it to be.

The film kicked off with the origin of Dog Man, and set up his rivalry with the evil cat, Petey (Pete Davidson). With pressure from Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri), Dog Man was chasing Petey, and every time Dog Man would catch him, Petey would escape from the Cat Prison. Everything changed when Petey decided to clone himself.

The script of this movie was pretty good, as it told the story of what was going on, but also reveled in a ton of meta filmmaking. There were tons of jokes about the movie, the style, the animation, and about the tropes that were actually quite funny. They were jokes that worked much better in context than they did during the trailers, which always seemed to be painfully unfunny.

The look of the animation was original and creative. I thought this looked really good and kept my focus on the screen.

I am sure that the target audience for this movie, of which I am not one, would find this incredibly entertaining. I would go as far as to say that I was entertained as well. This had some jokes for me as an adult mixed in with the jokes for the youth. They worked well together.

It is very sweet, maybe even too sweet at times.

I am happy that I was able to watch Dog Man. It was much better than I thought it would be. I would highly recommend it to any families out there looking for some funny family fare that everyone will enjoy.

3.6 stars

Paradise S1 E8

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“The Man Who Kept the Secrets”

Paradise’s first season of episodes came to a close with an answer to the central mystery of the whole first chunk of episodes: who killed President Cal Bradford?

We see, not only, who the killer was, but also how it happened and where he had been since. It turned out that the librarian Trent was the killer of the President. However, it a plot twist worthy of this show, the librarian was not actually Trent. It turned out that the librarian was the man who attempted to assassinate the President in episode one. He had replaced the real Trent, who was a librarian on the list heading to the underground city. The assassin took his place and hid in plain sight the whole time.

He had wanted to finish the job, but he got comfortable and decided he wanted to live. When Cal had come to the library to make a mix tape for his son, it triggered Not-Trent and convinced him to finish the job.

We see the actual flashback to the murder and it is a dramatic end. Xavier chased Not-Trent as he tried to escape the city. Xavier had found directions to escape and Not-Trent smashed him over the head to take it away.

The end to Sinatra was not quite as satisfying, though Jane shooting her through the throat was not as good as Xavier blowing her head off. Jane did this to keep Sinatra alive and keep Xavier from killing her. Jane had been ordered to take care of Presley, but she did not do it. Xavier was happily reunited with his kids without knowing that Jane was behind the murder of his friend.

This is an awesome show and the show set up a great arc with Xavier on his way out of the city in an attempt to find his wife. Paradise has been renewed for season two so that is exceptional.

Paradise S1 E7

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“The Day”

Holy $%^$

Flashback episode and WHAT A FLASHBACK episode. Man this was tense. The show finally showed us the day when everything changed. We learned what happened to the earth that sent the Americans into the plan to go inside the Colorado mountain.

And man, was it powerful.

I mean, this was something else.

Not only the flashback, but the bookend scenes with Xavier and Sinatra was absolutely jaw-dropping. I found myself hating Sinatra almost as much as I used to hate the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files. I was yelling for Xavier to put a bullet in her head, just like I used to want Mulder to do to CSM.

Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden are absolutely tremendous in this episode. Both of them gave amazing, Emmy-worthy performances in this episode as they dealt with the crisis of the earth’s downfall and the President’s drastic decisions prior to entering the mountain.

The tying of the events of The Day with the Cuban Missile Crisis is a stroke of genius and amazing writing. The determination of President Bradford in his decision to set off the huge EMP instead of launching the nuclear armory from the nuclear football is stunning. Could he have save the world with his choice?

Hearing Teri’s voice at the end was shocking and made me just hate Sinatra (aka Samantha all the more).

Plus, Sinatra told Xavier that the DNA found at the President’s murder site did not match anyone from inside the mountain, meaning that the murderer came from outside. I am not sure I believe her, but it is a massive twist if true.

This was the best episode of the season so far in a show that is chocked full of amazing episodes. Such a great hour of television on Hulu (or Disney +).

The White Lotus S3 E1

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“Same Spirits, New Forms”

I wanted to have season one and two pf The White Lotus completed before season three kicked off, but I found out that the first episode had debuted last week and I was still in season two. So this week, I made it a goal to get through season two so I could follow along with season three as a weekly show.

I did complete the second season earlier this week so today I watched the first episode of season three.

The White Lotus for this season is set in Thailand and the exteriors and the surroundings are absolutely stunning. They have always looked great, but there is something both beautiful and mysterious about the set up for this season.

The opening of the season is as dramatic as always, with gunfire breaking up a young African-American’s one-on-one meditation session. We learn that he was at The White Lotus with his mother, but we do not have any ideas whom that is. However, I did have an idea whom that MIGHT be. I knew coming in that Natasha Rothwell would be resuming her role as Belinda Lindsay from season one, and so I could assume that this was her son. Maybe I am wrong, but I am fairly certain that is the case.

I do have more of a connection to this new group of characters in the first episode than I did in the season two introduction. That’s not to say that these characters aren’t rotten jerks, because clearly they are, but I have more of a connection to these. Why? I am not sure.

Actors in this season, along with Natasha Rothwell, include Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Lalisa Manobal, Tayme Thapthimthong, Lek Patravadi, Christian Friedel, Shalini Peiris, and Jon Gries.

New episodes are on MAX every Sunday night at 8 PM CST.

Yellowjackets S3 E3

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“Them’s the Brakes”

The Showtime series continues to ramp up the strangeness and the tension in both time frames with some weird events (a talking llama?) in the cave that the Coach had been living as well as the troubles between the survivors back in the present day.

The wild and psychedelic events in the cave caused by some poisonous gas (maybe?) was one of the weirdest segments this show has sprung on us in any of the three seasons, and that is saying something. In the end, the girls were able to capture Coach despite going through some bizarre situations (again.. a talking llama?)

In present day, Shauna had a blow up with Misty when her brakes go out on her mini van. Shauna blamed Misty, but it seems clear that someone else is stalking Shauna. Shauna also blew up at Lottie. While Van’s cancer seems to be in remission, Taissa thinks it is because the restaurant worker died chasing them… you know, as a sacrifice to “It.”

I have to say that there are still a ton of moments where this feels like LOST. This episode had a big one as we heard Mama Cass’s song  “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” which played in one of the most iconic scenes in LOST’s second season with the Desmond reveal. Add to that the potential connection of The Wilderness in Yellowjackets to The Island on LOST, well, it is clear that the creators of this show were inspired by LOST.

The Man with no Eyes made a couple of appearances this episode too, including a potential explanation of where he came from. The show continues to give two potential explanations, one supernatural and one normal for the main mysteries of the show. I’m not sure which one I prefer.

The Monkey

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Horror/comedy movies can be difficult to do. At some times, the tones between the two genres do not mix well and may feel all over the place. However, when they work, you get some highly entertaining moments, and that is what I feel the latest film from writer/director Osgood Perkins (director of Longlegs) accomplished.

The story tells of a winder-up, toy grinder monkey that wound up in the closet of the father of twins Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery). It does not take long for the twins to realize that when the monkey’s key in its back is wound, someone near them dies in a shocking and quite gruesome way.

After a close tragedy, the twins decided to drop the monkey down a well to get rid of it forever. Little did they know that this would not be the end of the monkey.

Many years later, the monkey returned to the lives of the now estranged brothers and continued to amass chaos in it wake.

I enjoyed this movie a great deal. I heard some critics claim that the tone was too scattered, but I found the tone to work extremely well. It felt somewhat campy, but I thought that worked for the film.

The design of the monkey was creepy, in particular with the smile that would cross its face just before it started drumming. I thought the creepiness factor was just the right amount to keep this unsettling. I would not call the film scary, necessarily, but the kills of the film absolutely turned in some gory moments. Gore is usually not my favorite type of horror, but it felt like it worked so well with the humorous tone that the gore did not bother me.

Theo James, who played the adult versions of the twins, and Christian Convery did amazing jobs playing the two different characters. They played them with their own original styles that I was not sure they were actually the same actor or if it were just an actor that resembled each other really well.

It was also awesome to see Tatiana Maslany appear as the twins’ mother, Lois. She did not have a long role, but her scenes were very impactful and helped create a feel for this character. Elijah Wood had a brief cameo in the film in a role that really could have been expanded more.

The more ridiculous it became, the more I embraced the silliness and repelled at the kills. I really found this to work well together. Sure the story itself may not have been as deep as one might expect, but that worked within the context of the film too. Maybe I would have wanted a little more depth to the characters, specifically, why Hal and Billy were never close as children. I understand the anger directed as adults, but why did the twins never have the type of relationship one would expect?

Either way, I was entertained by The Monkey and I thought the performances were all really strong, the film was a hoot, and the kills would be appreciated by any horror aficionado. The Monkey was originally based on a short story by horror master Stephen King.

4.2 stars

The White Lotus S2 E6, E7

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Spoilers

“Abductions”

“Arrivederci”

Season two of The White Lotus wrapped up with these final two episodes, and I feel kind of empty.

Madame Butterfly died at the end.

The reveal of who the body was in the water was heartbreaking and several of these stories turned out tragic.

I never would have guessed that Tanya would have been the one who drown. Even more so… the plot surrounding her death was crazy, but, seemingly, not just paranoia. The worst part of everything was Greg gets away with all of Tanya’s money, and we never see him again. The whole Tanya and the Gays story was a heavy part of these last two episodes and had such a tragic twist at the end that it hit me like a punch in the gut.

Tanya’s death was not the only story that I thought ended sadly. The whole storyline with our two prostitutes was terrible. Lucia turned out to be scamming poor, naive Albie to get money… in the end 50,000 Euros. Albie thought it was to get her out from under a crazy Italian man, but that guy was just part of the scam, as we see in the final moments of the show. I feel disappointed in myself because I had started to come around on Lucia and Mia after spending the first part of this season disliking them quite a bit. I should have stuck to my opinions, but the show played me good.

There was so much toxicity in the relationships of Ethan and Harper and Daphne and Cameron that I had soured on that story already. Watching these four being so horrid was my least favorite storyline. Did Ethan and Daphne have a sexual encounter on the island? Did Cameron and Harper do more than what Harper confessed to? My one favorite part was Ethan going to nearly murder Cameron in the water. I would never see that guy again if I were Ethan, but that was not the implication that I got. However, Ethan and Harper seem to have gotten past their troubles and are, apparently, happy once again.

These last two episodes were extremely well done, but they did not go out of their way to give us a happy ending. Maybe in the end it will turn out okay for Albie and Portia, who reconnected at the airport (even though Portia had no idea about Tanya’s fate… or at least, only suspected).

There was a lot of things left ambiguous, which does not bother me. I have a good idea what happened. I just would have liked something more positive than the scamming hookers being the big winners.

The first episode of season three of The White Lotus is out and I will get that one done before the next episode Sunday night.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E9, E10

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“Hero or Menace”

“If This Be My Destiny…”

The finale two episodes of the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are absolutely amazing!

In episode nine, we get a big showdown between Spidey and Scorpion, with Lonny smack dab in the middle. Lonny gets exposed to a gas that gives him super strength (and will eventually turn him into the Tombstone we know in the comics). Spidey and Lonny defeat Scorpion.

In episode ten, we have a big battle with Dr. Strange and the symbiote and we are shown that this battle is what would lead to the battle from the first episode at Peter’s school, and the spider that bit Peter was the spider that Norman had created with Spider-Man’s blood that they had collected. I loved that adjustment in the story. It made everything work for me.

The writing on this series has been excellent. It has developed more than just Peter Parker. I feel like they built the supporting characters around Peter so well, especially Lonny who could arguably be considered a co-lead character. They show us the beginning of several villains in the Spider-Man world, like Otto Octavius, Scorpion, Norman Osborn, Venom etc.

With Spider-Man’s actual suit debuting in episode nine, Spider-Man looked sensational. The animation of these episodes were so great with some amazing shots. I have not necessarily loved the animation prior, but this seemed to really be something special.

The voice acting did great all season long. Everything was excellent, especially Coleman Domingo, who was so epic. I would love to see Domingo play Norman Osborn in the MCU. The show has done a great job of slowly building Norman into who we expect he will become. And yet, it feels very justified.

I did not expect this series to be great because recent Spider-Man animation has been more directed toward very young children. This series was right up there with the best Spider-Man series and right there with X-Men ’97. I am happy that this series has a three season order so there are at least two more to go.

I love Spider-Man.

The White Lotus S2 E4, E5

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“In the Sandbox”

“That’s Amore”

It was two interesting episodes that seemingly flipped my opinions on some of the characters from the first three shows of season two.

This was the first time that I was interested in the two prostitutes who had been hanging around the White Lotus, Mia and Lucia, had been a distraction for much of the first three episodes, but, for some reason, I started to enjoy their presence in these two. Mia’s relationship with Albie felt sweet. I was a little uncertain because it felt like she might be taking advantage of him. Then Lucia’s accidental poisoning of the piano player led to her to gt a chance to play the piano.

Tanya, whom I already like, was able to get out of her depression over Greg’s leaving when she came across a group of gay men who invited her into their circle. I’m still not sure about the overall positiveness of this though. The end of episode five made me wonder. Still, it was nice to see Tanya apparently happy for a bit at least.

I was rooting for Portia, but her hooking up with Jack felt beneath her, and I was not sure I liked that storyline piece.

This was also the first time that I got into the story with Dominic and his father Bert. There was a scene between the two of them at dinner that brought this troubled relationship to light, making me understand these two way more than discussions of The Godfather ever did.

Aubrey Plaza’s Harper, who had been my favorite character up until these episodes, found a condom wrapper in the apartment and became extremely unhappy with Ethan. This entire arc has done nothing but make me dislike Harper and make me feel sorry for Ethan. It feels at this point that Ethan is way better than any of the people he is with, whether it be Harper or his best friend, Cameron, who is just a creep.

I do think that the show has begun to hint at who the bodies are going to be and we had a couple of characters go out to the water in moments of melancholy and close their eyes. It was both Dominic and Harper at different points during these episodes. I do not know if this is meant to be red herrings, but these two are easily the most depressed characters on the canvas right now, even lower than Tanya.

Two more episodes to go before I start season three.

Invincible S3 E1, E2, E3

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I did not finish season two of Invincible. I was not loving the show at that time. It felt to me that the show was just falling back on the blood splatter as the story. It was going too far for my taste. To be fair, I did not see the second half of the season so I do not know what it was like.

I had considered not watching season three either. It kicked off with three episodes dropping and they were longer episodes, so I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to get back into it. I decided that i would give it a chance.

I found these first three episodes of season three pretty good. There was still blood, but it did not feel as over-the-top as the last episodes that I watched.

I am not much of a fan of Mark’s new costume. I preferred the first one, but perhaps the new one will grow on me. The whole Invinci-Boy stuff was funny. Oliver is an interesting hero and kind of plays with Mark’s hypocrisy. His conflict with Cecil was based on basically the same idea, especially with Oliver killing the Mauler Twins.

The conflict between Mark and Cecil was rough and we saw how Cecil came to be with a backstory. I am not sure if any of them are in the right with this. Mark does seem to be overly erratic at times, but Cecil is totally condescending. We’ll see where this goes from here.

I did enjoy the arc of the Guardians over these first three episodes, with the conflict between Mark and Cecil splitting the team in half. I found this Guardians storyline to be a worthy addition to the stories going on.

I also liked the Mark-Eve relationship and how they have started to date. Admittedly, date might be a bit of a relative term, but I do like them together.

After watching the first three episodes, I feel as if I will keep giving the show another episode until I find myself feeling as I did during season two. So far, I would say, so good.

Dark Matter S1 E5

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“Worldless”

Dark Matter’s fifth episode was another banger.

Between this, Silo and Hulu’s Paradise, sci-fi television is hot again.

Jason and Amanda moved through different universes, learning along the way about what they need to do to try and find their way to Jason’s original world. Meanwhile, they are encountering a variety of worlds where that world’s Jason had something tragic happen.

One world was filled with a deadly disease, and Jason found Daniela sick and dying, after they took away her Jason. Another world, Daniela and Charlie reacted to Jason in a terrible way because their Jason was supposed to be in prison.

As they met Blair, from Amanda’s reality, they learned more about the Box. Blair had gone through so much inside the Box that she simply could not go back into it at that moment. She could not face the differing universes and the stress that built on her inside the Box. She warned Amanda that she needed to know what she wanted for herself, instead of just following Jason.

meanwhile, Jason 2 has been moving in and out of the Box easily, including returning to his home universe to grab some more of the drug. He told Leighton that, after he leaves the reality, Jason planned on sealing the Box’s entrance, essentially preventing anyone from coming into the universe. He knew that Jason and Amanda had made it into the Box a few days before and he is looking to keep Jason from finding his way home.

Four more episodes to go for season one.

Dark Matter S1 E4

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“The Corridor”

The Apple TV + series Dark Matter episode four was on the docket tonight and we get a very cool display on the multiversal travel. It felt as if the corridor where Jason and Amanda found themselves after their harrowing escape from Leighton. They found their way into the Box and were transported to the corridor, with an infinite number of doors, and an infinite number of possibilities.

I was really wondering how they were intending on finding their way anywhere without it feeling random and coincidental. It seemed as if this was never going to have a reasonable answer to how to navigate the multiverse.

And then Jason figured it out.

So far, this has been great. I am still working hard to keep in focus on which Jason is which, and when they brought Leighton into the situation, I was even more confused (though I think I worked my way through it). The concepts here really work well and feel very tightly scripted. It had to be otherwise it would feel like a major issue.

The story of Charlie’s twin brother was very emotional and how his family honors him (Max) is quite lovely. It is also something that I am not sure if Jason 2 knows about and could be something to trip him up eventually.

Jason 2 is taking some big life changing steps as he occupies Jason’s life. Quitting a job and going full in on the Box, with Leighton’s help, of all people. It was interesting how Charlie had been picking up some vibes from Jason 2. Charlie knows something is not right, but he would never in a million years be able to come up with a theory of why.

Dark Matter is some outstanding sci-fi so far, even if it is a slow burn. I am loving it so far.

One of Them Days

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I was never a fan of the trailers for the movie One of Them Days, and I swear it was shown before every movie I watched for months. Because of that, I have ignored this movie for several weeks. However, I have heard positive word of mouth about the film so I figured I would fit it into the schedule. A lot of times when I set up a film like this, I come back loving the movie. Sadly, that is not the case for this one.

Of course, I did not hate this. I would say that it was passable.

According to IMDB, “When best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.“

While I did not love much of anything in the film, my favorite part was easily the performance of Keke Palmer. Her performance as Dreux was full of charm and humor. She pulled off the main protagonist of this film wonderfully well. She was absolutely a star on the screen. I was not as much of a fan of the performance of SZA, but she definitely had chemistry with Palmer. I was not a huge fan of the character that SZA was playing. I feel as if I have seen this type of character before.

The story was too compressed into this time frame and I think it is tough to buy everything happening in this single day. Still, several of the individual scenes were funny and well set up. And i guess the idea that this is “one of them days” is part of the concept.

Keke Palmer and, to a lesser extent, SZA is the reason to watch this movie. Their chemistry and charm carries the film through for me.

3 stars

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E9

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“Blood Drive”

I was more impressed with this episode of Dexter: Original Blood than I had been for a few episodes. Then Dexter did something so stupid that it defies explanation.

In the last few minutes, he captured Captain Spencer and wrapped him up on his table. He taunted him for awhile and then decided to let him escape. I understand he was doing it so he could follow Spencer to where he had the missing Nicky hidden away, but there are so many things that could go wrong with that idea that it is shocking. I mean, just off the top of my head, the police captain could decide to turn Dexter in and frame him for the death of the kids. I can’t believe that would be hard to do… especially since Dexter had already cut off Spencer’s little finger, something that everyone knows the killer had done.

Spencer’s motive for kidnapping Nicky (and the kid before whom he killed) was fairly week too. I mean, just to get back at his ex-wife, he was going to torture and kill his own son? That felt so bizarre. I assume the other kid was taken and killed as a way to throw off the investigation, but that was so out there that I just do not accept that any of this made sense.

The flashbacks this episode were more engaging, which was not typical for this show. They featured the two traumatized brothers, Brian and Dexter, being adopted by Harry and Doris and having Brian be psychotic. It feels like it was a bit of a stretch from Brian and Dexter seeing everyone killed to Brian trying to suffocate baby Deb with a pillow to make her stop crying. The time frame seemed rushed.

I do think making the serial killer involved in this season Dexter’s separated brother is a good twist. I’m just not sure that this is done well either. Brian did not show much emotion about being separated from Dexter as a child, so having the separation be the driving force behind Brian’s murder spree did not feel right. Maybe it was just his excuse to unleash his own Dark Passenger, which makes more sense to me.

I believe there is only one more episode remaining for this season so we’ll see how things get wrapped up. The Brian storyline does not feel like it can be finished up in one episode, especially an episode where the Dexter-Spencer story is still a high priority. Still, we’ll see what happens.

Paradise S1 E1. E2, E3

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“Wildcat is Down”

“Sinatra”

“The Architect of Social Well-Being”

I gave the new Hulu series Paradise a chance. It starred Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson. The first three episodes dropped on Hulu and Disney + earlier this week.

This political thriller/sci-fi show was very entertaining and was a very intriguing mystery.

It kicked off with an unexpected twist. One of the main actors is murdered within the first part of the movie. The narrative is told in both present day and flashbacks, which really helps to establish background of characters and helped to build characters.

Brown and Marsden had great onscreen chemistry. Their scenes together were some of the best of the show. The writing was solid, providing little details of what was going on as the episodes progressed. The reveal at the end of the first episode, that the world had come to an end but the President and the surviving people live in an underground cavern, dug into a mountain.

I liked the whodunnit style of this with the flashbacks giving us a chance to see important moments instead of just hearing about them. I enjoyed Sterling K. Brown’s scenes with his character’s father. Looking forward to the rest of this series being released on Hulu for the next five episodes.