Reviews

I never thought much about Ted Danson after Cheers... at least until my son told me about The Good Place. It was surprising to see a laid back and confident actor in the role when I was expecting someone a bit less competent.

I learned about A Man on the Inside but the overall plotline kept me from checking it out, until recently. I was glad I did. Danson plays a fantastic mix of guileless and eccentric. The kind of guy who promises to do as he's told and a minute later, doing the exact opposite.

I recognized Sally Stuthers right away... her voice, with the exception of cracks from old age, was totally recognizable. I look forward to seeing more of her character.

This has definitely gotten me ready to watch episode two...

To start with, I'm not going to complain about the cinematography. It looks as if it were videotaped and then left to age.

This was not a theater movie. Jimmy Smits would disappear on film; but, as a television movie, he did just great. He played the role of dashing caballero as well as Tyrone Power in Mark of Zorro. Cheech Marin is a fine actor when given the chance to actually act. It was kind of funny to see Ron Pearlman with a twisty French mustache. The cast was definitely competent.

As a kid, I used to watch the Cisco Kid series and I enjoyed it. I think that, if this were a series or a limited steaming series, it would be above average. Also, I kind of dig how they made the theme song the great "Cisco Kid" (was a friend of mine).

I was playing on the floor while my parents watched this one, so I was interested in seeing if I'd enjoy it as an adult as much as they seemed to. I don't give a movie more than ten minutes before stopping and deleting. With my thumb over the stop button, I watched the movie. Half an hour into it, I noticed I hadn't turned it off.

Belmondo has played the same character in every one of the movies I've seen. That's bad if you can't pull it off. He did just fine. A soldier who is a little overbearing but also humorous. He reminded me of Warren William from the Perry Mason series... Poking and patting his friends, smarting off to authority... Just fun.

Not a lot of killing in this movie. Mostly bloodless fisticuffs, barnburner bar fights and an assassin who is insanely strong. The object of his affections is also a bit quirky and unstable...

One thing I really enjoyed is where the action is set. Brazil was on a building binge and the film took advantage of that with some action sequences built around empty construction sites, skyscrapers in the middle of nowhere. Gave the movie some "flaver"...

It's been awhile since I seen a comedy I could laugh at. This was it. Great cast, nice concept and good dialog. It's the sixties re-imagined. And, an entire creed, the cereal culture, emerges.

There are allusions to history and to the modern day. I think I even detected a January sixth reference and maybe one to the Garbage Pail Kids. Jerry Seinfeld and Melissa McCarthy are great as the leads. With Jerry being the grounded incredulous observer much of the time and McCarthy being kooky. The rest of the star-studded cast is pretty flawless.

Not sure why it hasn't earned more stars from the average voter here, but as a cereal historian and a follower of Pop-tart lore, I had a great time.

I've seen a lot of "empowered women" movies on Netflix (thank you very much Sigourney Weaver); but, this one is better than average. J-Lo does a fine job, acting-wise. There aren't huge lulls in the action but it isn't wall-to-wall mindless violence, either. Sometimes you just wanna see an action movie and this one fills the bill, nicely.

The Alaska portion of the film is beautifully filmed. As for plot-holes or scenes that "look fake", you'll find those in nearly every action movie. Just watch and enjoy and maybe you'll get your fill of blood-lust out of your system for a few days.

Oh, and J-Lo in a cocktail dress is a wonder to behold...

Most of the people on this show were also on other cooking shows. Alton Brown had a Blue's Clues type cooking show that was kind of fun; Andrew Zimmern had Bizarre Foods; Kristen Kish has her "Fast Foodies"... All of them are personable and fun to watch.

The cooking is shown at a higher level, not recipes but concepts. And, the competition never gets any more heated than "friendly". Yeah, it has its flaws but overall it is a fun watch.

But, I may be a bit prejudiced after seeing the great Danny Trejo as one of the guest judges...

Well, four episodes in and the series is sorting itself out. The humor is more honed in this one, be it the Hall of Mirrors sequence or the obscure allusion to the Six Million Dollar Man (yes, he fought Big Foot). The plot is starting to fall by the wayside. I'm no longer watching it for the plot, which might've been made up as they went along. It's a fun watch just seeing the forms Mike Meyer's humor might take.

I'd have to say that Donald Pleasence's character is what made this episode great. He was a nice mix of tics, nervous giggles and snobbery. He mixed well with Peter Falk. Being a sentimental old fluff who really like sixties television, seeing Vito Scotti is always enjoyable. He's my favorite bit-player on Columbo, playing parts from a homeless man to a wine steward.

I noticed this was a top-rated Columbo. I think it really deserves it.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a lot like Tampopo, the Noodle Western in taking a mundane career and turning it into a Zen-like success. The widow Hanako helps her childhood friend Goro turn his unpleasant store into a bastion of freshness and cleanliness. Hanako's acumen turns the store into real competition for the chain grocery nearby.

Hanako's enthusiasm is never-ending and contagious. Definitely a fun watch.

The Marx Brothers are like a Hanzo sword in Kill Bill: You cannot compare them with other comedy teams... only with every other movie, present or future that the Marx Brothers had made.

I watched the film again last night with my son. It was basically a comedy revue. There was crime, romance, puns, wisecracks and some of the most confusing dance numbers you'll ever see. The plot is of little consequence and most of the movie is linking one routine to the next; and, THAT is what makes it so enjoyable.

Plus, Zeppo is part of the team. He made a great straight man and barbershop quartet fourth. The romance and crime parts gave us some forgettable performances.

I laughed out loud when I saw Barton McLane (of Torchy Blaine fame) as a lifeguard. This is a fun movie. See it with a glass of ice water. If you don't have any, peel some onions... that'll make your eyes water...

I wanted to like this more; but, I expected to hate this more...

Having read about half of the Jack Reacher books, I really wanted a dramatic depiction of the character that was close to the book. Cruise did a great job of portraying an ex-investigator/loner whose name HAPPENED to be Jack Reacher. But, he wasn't Jack Reacher.

Alan Ritchson isn't Jack Reacher either. He might be closer physically to the character but he looks more like a frat boy and less like a career soldier. I think they need to keep looking but I'm sure they won't.

The story moved at a brisk pace, like one of Lee Child's novels. The director produced a final battle scene that so fit the book, I thought I'd seen the series before... which was impossible, of course. Some of it is formulaic... none of it is surprising. But, it makes for a tight action series and very watchable. I watched all the episodes in one day.

And, I'll probably do the same if they come out with a second series...

She's a great comic actor; but, I definitely wasn't sure how she'd fare outside a sitcom. She did great. It is kind of intense watching her fall apart continuously, but I guess you've gotta have some plot. There's a lot of Penny in her character... which is to say, there's probably a lot of Cuoco in her character. But, she has a maturity to her performance that was absent in her television series.

As for the direction and the other actors, all solid. The direction as a Guy Richie flair of sudden cuts to past events and an equally sudden snap back to the present. Rosie Perez is, as always, wonderful.

This series reminds me of the "Carry on" movies made in England in the sixties and seventies. Same cast but they play different types of characters. Considering the talent, you'd think it would be a slam-dunk; but, the second season bogged down about halfway through.

This season, with the trip along the Oregon Trail, feels like they finally got it perfect. Radcliffe as the eternally optimistic preacher and Buscemi as kind of a matter-of-fact outlaw anchor the show. The rest of the cast, including the townspeople, manage to keep the laughs coming. And, I LOVE the nameless bounty hunter...

I like funny videos programs; and, having stand up comics comment on them is the icing on the cake. There is usually some kind of NSA subplot involved and that gets pretty funny also. The humor is a little more intelligent than most shows, so I'd imagine a lot of people just don't "get it". I hope it manages a second season...

The television listing did not have Doris Day's name among the stars of this film, which is odd because she IS the star of this film. Yes, the movie showcases her already popular singing; but, this was the public's first chance to see her personality unleashed. She does not disappoint.

Jack Carson is his usual annoying self in this movie. He's definitely up to the role he's cast in. The rest of the cast does a wonderful job. Day sings "It's Magic" multiple times, once bringing tears to my eyes. Oddly enough, an hour later, at my computer, I found myself playing her song yet again before I went to bed.

I prefer the mature Doris Day of the sixties, but this debut movie is definitely one to watch...

I like samurai movies, especially those that delve into areas that the run-of-the mill samurai movie does not (Rashomon, Hari-Kiri for example); but, this movie was confusing and really just not that good. I think the director was trying to prove something but, for the life of me, I don't know what. The freeze-frames throughout were annoying after awhile and didn't have the impact he thought they would.

The ending was anti-climactic... a sad thing all around...

If you want to watch science, go elsewhere. If you want to watch a bunch of nuts ignore scientific evidence while offering none of their own, this is the show for you. I'm not exactly sure why this was even created. The conspiricists can't answer simple questions like "why"... why would Russia lie? Why would we lie? Why are you offering other conspiracies as proof of this conspiracy?

This should be avoided. It is moronic.

I'd never heard of this show until a few months ago. Since it was in Netflix, I started watching it, expecting to stop when it got trite or stupid. Well, it never got there. The quality was always good and the characters were compelling. I wasn't expecting the ending to live up to the rest of the series and I was wrong.

I'm not saying that the ending wasn't predictable... it was. But, the conversation with Harold Finch and the computer made the last episode something special. His life had gone full circle... from teaching the "machine" at the beginning to his back and forth with the machine at the end.

I'm not saying that the people who cancelled this show will burn in Hell for all eternity, but I am saying that they'd better do a lot of charity work to keep that from happening...

I've been waiting decades to see this movie, having seen the first three Hulot films and his Max Sennett-like mailman short. But, the Hulot character was different... less and explorer and more a background character.

But, the movie stayed with me for a while after I watched it. It occurred to me that the characters became less and less anxious about their destination as the movie progressed; and, as they did, they enjoyed where they were at a lot more.

There were some Tati visuals. Hulot walking with a gas can in one direction espying someone across the highway with a gas can walking in the other direction. The dance of the trunks and hoods of the cars in the show. The advance men stepping gingerly over lengths of string in a giant empty auditorium. And, the scene with the practical joke about the dog was hilarious.

It is definitely a movie worth seeing. Like pizza, when Jacques Tati movie isn't the best, it is still pretty good.

The writing in this show is so far above average that I would've expected the series to get cancelled in three weeks. The actors are great and Ted Danson hasn't lost a step. His critique of a man's three thousand page life's work cracked me up, utterly.

If you haven't seen this, think an even funnier version of "Defending Your Life"...

This was a surprisingly good documentary. I think that the main premise was to try to make philosophical sense out of Bill Murray, the man. It doesn't start out that way. The beginning makes you feel as if the shows premise is the phenomena of Bill Murry stories. There are some heartwarming footage of Murray at various venues having just popped up randomly. Interspersed are some movie clips; and, the theme switches there to philosophy.

If you love Bill Murray, you'll love this movie. If you don't, after watching this movie, you'll love Bill Murry... then, after you've watched the movie a second time, you'll love this movie.

Whose idea was it to remake Angie Tribeca with only cameos by the title character? As far as comedic talent went, Jones and Deon Cole were the pillars of the show and one is completely gone and the other might just as well be. There were some good gags, but I'd really like an explanation of why they are trying to destroy the series...

Way more action in this one. It's hard to believe they got all of the action subplots in. In between all the action, you've got Washington, acting up a storm. It's kind of a fantasy for all of us: A man who rights wrongs kind of randomly. He may have to travel overseas for it or he may have to accept a quarter for a cab fare. But, he's trying to make up for a past that he only hints at.

If you liked the first movie, you'll like this one.