Reviews

This movie starts out cute. A bubbly high school girl and her best friend share quirky fun times and hijinks ensue. It's formulaic, but sweet. Even the "mean girls" at school aren't so bad. Then it gets mildly stupid. Our bubbly high school girl does things completely out of character for her, and we're still supposed to see them as quirky fun times and hijinks. Then it gets really stupid. And a bit creepy. In other teen movies, this is the part where our girl makes a bad decision or gets her heart broken or faces a dilemma. In this movie, our girl gets all three - and the resolution is beyond cliched. Waaaaay beyond. I won't be watching The Kissing Booth 2. But you know what? It's still a better love story than Twilight.

Kristen VanWhatsHisName is just plain annoying, and the show spends waaay too much time featuring him and his innane chatter. He's the worst judge in the history of this genre. The hosts are good enough, and I thought Natasia was quite entertaining. The guest judges are superfluous. They're introduced with much fanfare, then forgotten until the end, when they're asked to play at critiquing the creations. That is, if they're allowed to get a word in edgewise, with Kristen yammering away. The contestants seem to have been chosen solely on their diversity, though they all have some degree of talent. Most are likeable, and I found myself rooting for a different team in each episode. There is a huge problem with pacing and editing in this show. Two teams aren't even introduced in the first episode! Great chunks of time are spent showing close-ups of contestants building contraptions and structures, but little time is devoted to their creative processes. I dislike the erosion of civility as the series progresses. It's as if the show's producers create drama and encourage pettiness. If this show is renewed for a second season, I hope there are significant changes made in the judge, editing, and tone. It could be a good show!

The cast is excellent, but they can't save the bad writing and worse pacing. I read the Richard Preston book back in 1994, and again last month when I heard about this miniseries. The book is an accurate accounting of the real events of 1989, and it's an edge-of-your-seat exciting read. This miniseries takes the same event and manages to drag it out with unnecessary backstories, wooden dialogue, and a dozen cliches. Then there are the blatantly incorrect representations of protocol in a lab environment. (I was in the medical field in 1989, and we did have strict ppe protocols.) My advice is to treat this as pure fiction, loosely based on the facts of the actual events. Get the true story from the book.

I do believe that Jane is the victim of abuse which resulted in her having D.I.D. The show, however, is disjointed and poorly done. A&E is doing Jane, and their viewers, a disservice by treating this like a melodrama rather than fact.

Top notch acting and beautiful atmosphere partially save the series. The plots are somewhat formulaic, though, and there are just too many clichés. Watch enough episodes and you'll see them repeated.

This show is a right-wing wet dream. I stopped watching after three episodes because they had already ticked off the entire list of cop show clichés.