Tag Archives: reviews

Pizza Movie

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Easter Stream Binge #4

One of the types of movies that I typically do not hate are the stoner movies. Especially those that include a lot of bullying and stupid humor.

As I started to watch Disney +’s movie, Pizza Movie, after the first ten minutes, everything that I hate about those movies were dropped. I was hating this movie with all of my heart. I considered just stopping the movie. I did not know why I should continue this movie when it was making me feel this way. It’s not as if I paid money at the theater to see it.

Then something really weird happened.

The movie won me over.

I am not sure what happened, but the complete ridiculousness of the movie grabbed ahold of me and suddenly I found myself enjoying the stupidity, laughing at the antics of the three main leads.

Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone played Jack and Montgomery, roommates at college who were anything but the alphas. Matarazzo and Giambrone had a lot of chemistry with each other and their comedic timing was perfectly executed. Bullied and beat up, Jack and Montgomery wound up taking some experimental drugs they found in their dorm room that led them to going through multiple stages.

It was when they started in on these stages that the movie changed for me. Everything became so surreal and so weird that it was difficult to continue to see it as just another bad behavior/stoner movie. It took these two and made them way more interesting than they ever had a right to be.

I am not sure that I have had such a monumental shift in my opinions of a movie, especially from hating it as much as I did in the first ten-fifteen minutes to being entertained by the silliness of it.

3.75 stars

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #63

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Spoilers

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“The Hedge Knight”

The new show on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk is the Game of Thrones prequel. I have only watched one episode of Game of Thrones (season 8, episode one… I was hopelessly confused), but I had heard that the show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, did not require a knowledge of Game of Thrones to enjoy, so I added it to the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. There are six episodes, averaging around thirty minutes or so.

The show is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg.

I’m not sure what I expected from this show, but this first episode was nowhere near it. That was not a bad thing. I thought the show was extremely charming. I felt a real connection to Ser Dunk as he attempted to enter a tournament. He was awkward and gawky, and anything like one would expect a knight to be. Meeting with the bald-headed boy named Egg, Egg would eventually convince Dunk to allow him to be his squire.

No bravado or arrogance as most knights show, Dunk was an uncommon character to lead this type of series. Again, I am not sure what I expected from a Game of Thrones prequel, but I really did enjoy this slice of imagination.

Peter Claffey played Ser Dunk. Dunk is an extremely tall person, especially in comparison to the others around him. Dexter Sol Ansell played Egg. I liked the dynamic between these two characters and I expect that they will be an important part of whether or not I continue ot enjoy this show.

It had a much more comedic feel to it than I expected. While not an out and out comedy, the tone of the show had that light-hearted humor feel which is, perhaps, why I did not expect this to be in the Game of Thrones world.

This was an interesting start to the next show in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. We will see how it progresses in the upcoming weeks.

Jury Duty: Company Retreat E6, E7, E8

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When I started watching this season of Jury Duty: Company Retreat, I was unsure how I felt about it. By the end, I found myself absolutely lovoing it.

The last two episodes continued the storyline of the purchase of Rockin’ Grandma’s by the Triukas group and the reveal that they had a sinister motive behind the deal, giving Anthony a chance to come in at the end as a hero to stop the deal.

The Talent Show section of the show was absolutely amazing, and bringing in Sia as a guest star in the talent show was such a ridiculous, over-the-top moment, but worked so well.

Anthony Norman was such a wonderful man, and the perfect piece for the heart of the show. He was willing to take on all sorts of craziness from the collection of characters around him and he did it with such leadership and empathy. I did not think this show could top Ronald Gladden from season one of Jury Duty, but I think maybe Anthony was able to do it.

The final episode of Jury Duty has been when they go behind the scenes after the final reveal to the non-actor and it has always been one of my favorite episodes of the season because you get to see how intricate things have to be and to what lengths they take things to make this show work. Being able to see Anthony with his eyes finally open to what was going on around him is so much fun.

It also truly showed how much of a bond he had made with the actors, how connected he was with these fictional characters in real life and how much of an effect he had on them is so sweet and heart-warming. It gives you the message that if you are respectful and kind to people, good things will happen. I would be curious to see what would happen if they guy they bring in to the series would just freak out or not go to the extremes that they required him to do.

I am sure they spent all kinds of time researching their non-actor, making sure they would find the strongest possible candidate. They truly succeeded in that aspect this year.

I was iffy on the show at first, but it quickly turned into one of my favorite shows. It was easy to watch, always funny and entertaining and had a fabulous message. Jury Duty ahs had two stellar seasons of TV on Amazon Prime so far. Here’s hoping for a season three down the line.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

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I went to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie today in a packed Phoenix Theater in Dubuque. As I was leaving, I was very disappointed and not entertained, but the kids around me leaving were bouncing with energy, bantering about their favorite parts and were just filled with an excitement that you could feel.

I wish I shared that same kind of feeling.

I was bored through most of this movie. I did not find anything to the story and I am not a big fan of Nintendo or Super Mario to be interested in the characters that were appearing on the screen.

According to IMDB, “Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the familiar Mushroom Kingdom.”

The animation was sensational. The colors popped off the screen and every moment looked fantastic. The color and the imagery was another reason why kids are going to love this movie.

The voice acting was fine. Jack Black as Bowzer is great as always. Chris Pratt as Mario is fine, but not that memorable. Other voice actors included Glenn Powell, Brie Larson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Benny Safdie, Keegan-Michael Key, Charlie Day, Donald Glover, Kevin Michael Richardson, Issa Rae, and Luis Guzman.

The problem was, for me, the story was lacking. I did not find anything happening that was engaging. It felt more like a bunch of random adventures with music playing over top. It was not a competent, overarching story that worked. It had some definite strengths to the movie, but the over loaded characters did not feel as if they were given any time to develop.

BUt as I said, the kids of my theater loved what they got. So, my thoughts on this movie are coming from an adult purpose, and I am not a fan. I prefer that the animated film worked for both kids and adults, but I struggled to get through the 90 + minutes of the film.

It is going to make all the money though. I liked the first one much more than this one.

2.4 stars

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E6

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“Requiem”

I guess Skull Island is taking place at Jurassic Park now.

What was that opening scene meant to convey? It was a huge nothing. I guess there had not been many scenes between Kentaro and Hiroshi so the writers felt they needed something to show the audience. Or maybe they needed to throw a Kong cameo in to justify the name.

I don’t know how much more of this show I can take.

I did like how Kentaro ripped into Cate with her ridiculousness. The Cate character does the same thing every episode and it feels like they could just take her dialogue and copy it every scene.

What has been true about this show since day one is that the flashbacks are heads and shoulders above the present day material. That remains to be true. We follow Shaw in his reassignment and we come to meet his father. It didn’t make me feel much better when his father asked him why he was here, and he said was it a fight or fornication. Fornication? Who uses that word in their daily dialogue?

It was interesting to see how Lee’s flashback to his father was similar to the way Lee was thinking in the present. It is meant to show that Lee is not thinking clearly, but if he is on the opposite side of Cate then I am all down with it.

The Godzilla cameo in Kentaro’s dream was ridiculous. It was not as superficial as the Kong cameo, but it wasn’t much above it.

Then, as Lee was attempting to see if it was possible to open a rift to summon Godzilla to fight Titan X, something wonky happened and present day Lee started talking to young Lee on the walkie talkie.

Has the show added a time travel element to it? That ending was an interesting tidbit that maybe becomes something to help the show out. I have found this to be quite the sludge to get through each week, and I hope that the second half of the season would bring more to intrigue me than what it has done before.

Shrinking S3 E10

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“The Bodyguard of Sadness”

Woof. This one packed a punch.

It was graduation day for Alice and the emotions are all over the place for poor Jimmy, with his father departing for a deep sea fishing trip instead of attending graduation, Paul getting ready to move to Connecticut and the fact that Alice is graduating is really crushing Jimmy’s spirit.

Jason Segal gave one of his best performances of the series in this episode as he confronted Paul about a myriad of issues, some of which were directed toward Paul and others that were directed toward his own father. It was devastating to see Jimmy rip into Paul like he did, especially since a lot of the anger was actually directed to his father and his childhood trauma, the fact that everyone was leaving him, and that he was feeling alone.

Harrison Ford has been brilliant in this series, and this episode was no exception. He was so subtle throughout, but you could tell how much Jimmy’s attack affected him. He sat in his home, waiting for the car to take him to Connecticut, and you can see how much he was suffering from the rejection of Jimmy, who Paul had invited for a goodbye breakfast.

The line: “I get it now. I’m not as important to you as you are to me. I just feel stupid it took me that long to realize it. I’m just not that sensitive, Paul. I’ll survive” dropped by Jimmy was like a dagger and put in words they way that Jimmy was feeling.

This was the penultimate episode of season three, but man did it feel like a finale. Everyone was finding their path over the next several months, and Jimmy was there all on his own.

It makes me worried for Jimmy as his mental health seems to have taken a huge back step from the positive areas that it had reached since the loss of Tia.

One more episode of the season next week. The finale should be fire.

Paradise S2 E8

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“Exodus”

What a finale.

Paradise season 2 wrapped up with episode 8 in the most explosive way…literally.

The amazing action, reunions, and new twists and redemptions.

Sinatra making the sacrifice play, did not see that coming.

Xavier reuniting with his kids was amazing. Xavier and Sinatra working together to save their daughters who were trapped in the elevator. Link and his men coming across them and jumping in to help was a wonderfully heroic moment.

Jeremy coming back with help to save Nicole Robinson, who was badly injured and who demanded that Jeremy leave her behind. He showed himself as another hero on this show and seeing him and Presley kissing at the end was sweet.

I confirmed that Sinatra’s husband, Tim Redmond, was played by Tuc Watkins, who appeared on some soap operas I watched years ago (OLTL, GH) as well as on Desperate Housewives. I thought it was him, and I Googled him to conform the role.

Discovering the identity of Alex looks to set up the next season of the show as the underground bunker in the mountain is no more. Exodus, or the evacuation of the colony was unbelievable. What will those who were in the bunker for so many years, thinking that the outside world was gone, react to the fact that the outside world is still there and livable?

Oh and, surprise, there is another bunker under the Denver airport. This seems to be where Alex is, and Alex apparently is an AI that can see the future and determine what to do from it. An AI that is thinking on its own and answering questions that haven’t been asked yet. The show always had a sci-fi element to it, but it feels as if the show has taken a bigger step into the genre.

I think I may have liked season two of this show more than I liked season one, and I thought season one was exceptional. Season two had so much going for it and it captured so much suspense and drama with the characters and the difficult situations the show placed them in. Who would have thought that Sinatra would be the redemption arc of this show?

Bring on season three!

Sha Na Na S4 E14, E15, E16, E17, E18

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The series of Sha Na Na is coming close to an end as I am in the middle of season 4. Season 4 has not been my most favorite season of this show. I think a big part of that is that they have been doing a bunch of songs that I have never heard before. Part of the fun of Sha Na Na is that they were singing songs that I recognized form the 1950s and 1960s. While I appreciate that they do not repeat songs very often, a lot of these songs did not appeal to that nostalgia. They did them fine, but I just was not engaged as I should have been.

Some of these guests were scrapping the bottom of the barrel too. See if you can figure out which one of these is not like the others: Lacy J. Dalton, Joey Travolta, The Currie Sisters, Jackie DeShannon and James Brown. Yep, I said James Brown. It was a strange performance though. He did not seem to get much reaction from the Sha Na Na crowd and it seemed to bother him. I think he probably fed off the energy of the crowd a lot, and there was not much energy in the crowd.

One of the comedy bits was with the song Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and I remember learning about that country name change from this song.

They played the song “Rock ‘N Roll Music” but it was sung by Chico. While I enjoy Chico’s songs usually, it just felt like the wrong Sha Na Na singer for this song. It was originally recorded by Chuck Barry and I think it would have been better with Donny singing it. Or maybe Screamin’ Scott. Chico’s version was fine, but it just did not feel right.

There were actually several songs that felt a little off during these episodes. I wonder if they were realizing that the end was near and that the overall energy was starting to lack a bit.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #62

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His & Hers

“Episode Six”

Well, what do you know.

I was right.

Well, kind of…

I had speculated after the third episode that Anna’s mother, Alice, was the killer and that she had killed Rachel in a state of confusion. When the second body showed up, I figured that my twist suspect was innocent.

Nope. I was right. Alice was the killer. However, I was wrong in that she did it in a state of confusion. No, she planned it out and executed all three of the killings as retribution for an attack that Anna suffered at her 16th birthday party when she was raped by a bunch of men and these girls just sat back and watched. The whole dementia thing was faked as part of her plan to get away with the murders.

She confesses in a letter she wrote to Anna, who was pregnant and had reunited with Jack.

For awhile, the show hinted that maybe the killer was actually Kathryn, and I was guessing that she had faked her own death, but that was also a theory that was quickly dropped in this finale. Turned out that Lexy Jones was actually Kathryn. Lexy and her husband was the patsies here because Alice was planning on framing Lexy for the murders, but Priya shot her before that could happen. Poor Richard the camera guy got totally f-ed up during this whole thing, and he did not do anything,

It always felt as if there was something missing. I stated it last week that it felt as if there were some pieces that did not fit together and that I was hoping that the show would fill those gaps in in the finale. It sure did that.

The video tape that Alice found that showed the assault on Anna at her 16th birthday, and it inspired her to go after the others. That twist made a lot of the missing gaps go away. At first, I was not sure about the twist, but as it continued on, I found it to be a neat way to wrap up the limited series.

I enjoyed the six episodes and it does feel like it was a satisfying conclusion to an intense series. I am not sure how I feel about the ending as things are left fairly up in the air. And poor Richard…

So with that, another series during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to a close. Next week, we start the new series, the Game of Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max. I never watched Game of Thrones, but I heard that you do not need to have seen the original to enjoy this show. I hope they are right.

Invincible S4 E1

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“Making the World A Better Place”

I have had a interesting relationship with the show Invincible. Where as a lot of people love the show and swear that it is one of the best shows on television, I am not as enamored with it. While I have enjoyed most of the seasons, I have found that the blood becomes excessive and is unnecessary in many cases. There are too many scenes where the blood feels like it is just there to say that it is there. It feels like professional wrestling in a lot of cases. When blood is used sparingly, it can create a compelling piece of the story, but when it is overused, it loses a lot of its impact.

After watching the first episode of season four of Invincible, I did not think they over did the blood and that it was fairly well used as a whole.

I was unaware that Invincible had already debuted on Amazon Prime last week with a three episode drop. Episode four was also released before I knew it so I am officially a bit behind. However, I do have a long list of shows currently on the watchlist, so I will be spreading out the next three episodes over the next several days to a week.

I did find the character work in this episode to be very solid. I enjoyed Mark’s progression from the end of last season to now where he is fighting himself over his use of deadly force. Of course, the end of the episode placed Mark in a situation where he had to kill a person. It was very much a Man of Steel- Superman snapping the neck of Zod moment.

I like how the show with as much violence as it has is not afraid to make that internal struggle with its main character.

With Eve’s powers glitching badly, we get another, albeit well used, superhero trope to deal with. I do think Eve’s father needs a punch in the face.

The Guardians… their timing can’t be any worse. They showed up right at the end of the fight with the dinosaur guy and seemed to be standing behind Mark as he is struggling to decide if he needed to kill the guy to save the world from the Sequids. Get there sooner guys.

I hope the woman who attacked the power plant’s story is not just over. It sounded as if there was a reason behind her trying to steal the energy and I expect that story to get picked up somewhere down the line.

Then, Cecil’s stupidest decision at the end of the third season, keeping Conquest alive and buried in an underground vault. There was no way that wasn’t coming back to haunt him. I wonder if he will tell Mark now that Conquest has escaped and left butt-naked into space. Or will this be just another secret that Cecil will hide?

Good start to the season. I hope it continues to value story over spectacle, especially when it comes to blood.

Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat E1, E2

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“Onboarding”

“Team Building”

I started a new program on Amazon Prime today, watching the first two episodes of Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat.

This is the second season of Jury Duty, which was one of the best surprise series from 2023. It was a hilarious series that was one of the most intriguing concepts on television. The idea for the first Jury Duty, a real person is called for Jury Duty and every other person involved in the show is an actor.

In this season, instead of being called for jury duty, our real person who is unaware that this is really a TV show is named Anthony Norman and he is a temp worker applying for a job at a company called “Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce” and he goes with the workers on a company retreat.

He was set up as the assistant to Kevin, who winds up leaving the retreat in embarrassment, leaving Anthony in his stead.

I have to say, the first episode was feeling too over the top and I was not sure if I wanted to watch the rest of the series. The second issue was better for me and started to pick up the story better.

It just felt as if there was just too much ridiculousness to accept that Anthony would still be going along with it.

The excuse for why there is a documentary crew in tow and everyone speaks to a camera at times is that the owner Doug was retiring and passing the CEO seat to his son, Dougie. That made sense, but there is a limit to what one could expect someone to react to.

Of course, last season, the “winner” received a huge cash prize for succeeding and being a good person, and Anthony certainly feels like a solid person too. Seeing how he will react to the craziness coming might be worth sticking out. There are only a total of 8 episodes, so I plan on finishing this up.

Shrinking S3 E9

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“Daddy Issues”

There was a feeling of finality in this episode of Shrinking.

Paul convinces Gabby to come back to work and then offers her the practice once again. However, he did not call her out on ditching her dream of setting up a trauma center. Something that Liz came to yell at him about.

Paul kept talking about having one more week before his retirement and spoke about moving. That was not something I remember as a chance and I don’t know how I would feel about Shrinking without Harrison Ford. I am assuming that it is just storyline, but I am not sure.

Jeff Daniels returned as Jimmy’s father, bringing up plenty of conflict from Jimmy’s childhood. When Jimmy found out that his dad was not going to go to the actual graduation ceremony in order to go on a fishing trip, Jimmy was even more down than he was before.

Worse yet, when his father told Jimmy that he really liked Sofi, way more than Tia (who apparently always saw him in the same light as Jimmy did), Jimmy broke up with Sofi, and he did it in a very cold manner. I would not blame Sofi if, when he invariably comes begging back, she dismisses it and kicks him to the curb. Jimmy letting his daddy issues interfere with something that was potentially great is more immature than I thought Jimmy could be. You could see that his father’s presence was not bringing out the best side of him.

Sean got the job as a a sous chef. He hesitated to accept it because of his friendship with Jorge, who worked with him in the food truck, and would cost him that job. Jorge did not take the news well, but Sean did not react with animosity or anger as he would have before, showing his own growth with his mental health.

It was nice to see the softer side of Paul in this episode. I hope he is not leaving at the end of this season, which has only two more to go.

One Piece S2 E6, E7

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“Nami Deerest”

“Reindeer Shames”

The next two episodes of season two gives us the debut and the origin of a character that I had heard about, but knew very little about him.

Chopper is a character that I heard some people wonder how they were going to adapt him. Apparently, Chopper is a reindeer who had eaten a Devil’s Fruit and turned into a being that walked on two legs and could talk. Moreso, we discover that Chopper is able to change between forms.

Katey Segal joined the list of guest stars this season as Doctor Kureha, who they took Nami to see after she fainted last episode.

The path to Dr. Kureha was one of the most tense moments of the series as Luffy and Sanji literally climbed a mountain side to reach a castle. They were told that the castle held a witch, but it is just Dr. Kureha and Chopper.

On the way up the mountain, Sanji slipped and fell. Luffy caught him by stretching his neck and catching him with his teeth. While that was all kind of bad ass, it had a weird CGI about it. Stretching can be a tough thing because it does not look natural. Still, Luffy using his teeth to save Sanji… great.

The story of Chopper’s origin is heartbreaking and is told to Luffy, Sanji and Nami by Dr. Kureha. It was after Luffy found a pirate flag in a crate and Chopper yelled at Luffy to not touch it.

The seventh episode was almost the entire story of Chopper and it goes to show you how important of a character he is.

We are introduced to the King of Drum Island, Wapol, who is just a horrendous character. Wapol also got a Devil’s Fruit at the beginning of episode 6 and he is one who really needs his comeuppance in the finale.

It really looks like there are a bunch of storylines that are not going to be wrapped up this season. The whole bit with Smokey and the Marines are not going to catch up yet. I am not even sure that Vivi is ever going to get back to Alabasta this season. Maybe as the cliffhanger. That is fine with me.

Cold Storage

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With a no school day because of a March blizzard, I got a chance to watch a couple of streaming movies that I have been wanting to see. The first one was recommended by my friend Chris. I had never heard of it before, but it looked interesting.

Cold Storage had a late eighties, early nineties action flick feel to it, as had some fun characters dealing with a bizarre fungus that was turning people and animals into infected, spreading around.

According to IMDB, “When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.”

Joe Keery starred as Teacake, a guard at a storage facility, and Georgina Campbell starred as Naomi, a new worker at the facility. They discovered this fungus and how it has multiplied, calling in help from the army.

That help was Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) who had interacted with the fungus in the past and was one of the few people remaining who had any expertise on this topic at all.

Keery and Campbell worked together extremely well. You immediately buy the chemistry between them and want them to survive the experience. You can feel for these characters. They are just deep enough to keep you interested in their well-being.

Liam Neeson brings the perfect energy for the grizzled, injured former military man with his first hand knowledge. Neeson handled the slightly comedic tone to the movie as well. Neeson has always had a strong sense of comedic timing and he gets a chance to show it here.

The overall story is fairly limited, but it works well as a monster movie. We get a bunch of secondary characters who we don’t mind seeing blow up from the fungus (though the vomiting green goo is unnecessary). While this story is simple, it is just about the right amount of combination of action/horror/comedy to pull off the film.

This was a fun film to watch and I had a great time rooting for these characters to survive the fungus.

4 stars

Shrinking S3 E7

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“I Will Be Grape”

It is the birthday of Tia so Jimmy and Alice are celebrating in their own way. The whole group of characters are circling around, lending their help and support. Alice is very worried that her father will be alone and be completely lonely when she went to college.

Jimmy definitely showed how much he still missed his wife, as we see a sweet scene with them singing “A Thousand Years” and Tia messing up the lyrics to sing “I Will Be Grape.”

Alice called Louis to come to Tia’s grave so Jimmy can see how good his life has become. Alice tells Jimmy that he was the reason why Louis was able to move on, and she worried that Jimmy would never be able to move on.

New epic guest star this week. Shrinking has amazing actors in secondary and supporting roles, and Candace Bergen is here as Constance, Derek’s mother, who has had a very contemptuous relationship with Liz over the years.

I love Candace Bergen and having her on Shrinking is fabulous. What was even better was the all-too-short scene between Candace Bergen and Harrison Ford. What a wonderfully written moment and I loved every second of it.

Michael J. Fox also returned this week in a session with Paul.

Then, we get Cobie Smulders back as Sofie, who gets invited to the final sing-a-long with Jimmy and his whole family/friends at the celebration of Tia’s birthday. A little awkward, but fitting right in with the way Shrinking goes.

Then, it ends with a brutal thud as Gaby gets a phone call telling her that “We lost Maya.” I assumed that she died, as she did seem like she had made a decision at the end of last episode.

Strong episode again as this show is just so awesome. So many amazing actors with such excellent writing.