All User Reviews

Not woke. This is very much a product of its time and doesn't hold up as well today with the science and medical and CDC aspects of it. The acting is decent and overall story is good. There are some problems with writing and the way certain characters act that don't make sense. In 1996 people where much less likely to notice these things than now. This is not anti-military. It's one bad general (well 2 really but one does
the right thing in the end) and the rest are following orders. There is
several scenes where the internal conflict is shown with soldiers about wether they should follow orders or not. If you watched it and liked
it when it first came out you probably still will today, if watching it for the first time probably take a point off.

One of Ritchie's best.

The two "woke" elements would be the strong female wife of the protagonist and the homosexual character. I don't consider either of those to be woke in this movie. The wife is a strong character. She's married to the alpha male. He considers her opinion in important matters. He called the shots. When it came down to it, she was courageous. She defended herself against three men with a two-shot derringer. The husband came to the rescue in the nick of time. She showed no surprise. It's as if she knew that her strong man would protect her. I like this woman character. Self confidence and courage in a woman isn't woke. As for the homo... Hugh Grant played this part perfectly. Homosexuals, by nature, have no moral anchor outside of reinforcement of their lifestyles by like-minded. That's why Pride Events are so important to them. They're basically anchored on each other for a false-morality en-masse. This character was disgusting. He was blackmailing criminals and dropped innuendo at every opportunity. This movie portrayed him for what he was. That is, a filthy, disgusting, greedy pervert with no redeeming values. That's not woke at all. The story was as good as anything Guy Ritchie produced. I rank it just a notch below Snatch but a little above Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Judge it for yourself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ballard: A Hollow, Preachy Imitation of Bosch

Ballard tries to ride on the coattails of Bosch, but it falls flat almost immediately. The show is bogged down by excessive, empty dialogue that adds nothing to the plot or character development. The pacing is painfully slow, lacking the tension and rhythm that made Bosch compelling.

Instead of building an engaging crime drama, it leans heavily into predictable, surface-level “woke” stereotypes: the overly independent female lead, the “body positive” comic relief, a token character in a wheelchair, and a parade of incompetent or villainous white male characters. These tropes are inserted so blatantly that they overshadow any potential for authentic storytelling.

The writing feels more like a checklist of political talking points than an organic narrative, and the result is a shallow, preachy mess. Fans of Bosch expecting the same grit and nuance will be sorely disappointed. Ballard isn’t just a weak spin-off — it’s a poor imitation that never earns its place.

Nothing woke. This is a wonderfully done Korean zombie show. The acting, dialoge and story are well done with excellent FX. At only
6 episodes per season there isn't really any wasted filler. I think the only real complaint would be some inconsistencies and moments of questionable writing in season 2. Once the zombie infection cause is revealed there are things from season 1 and even in season 2 that don't
make much sense. Then there is a few frustrating instances of characters who should of died or been killed surviving for no real reason other than to further the plot. Still despite these things it is well worth a watch.

First 5 episodes... loads of raunch, but funny.

I've only made it through 5 episodes. I'm not sure where it goes after that. So far, there's not a lot of "woke" agenda. There is a lot of deep, white-trash, raunch. It's centered around a third-generation teen-pregnancy. It's a Chuck Lorre (Big Bang Theory) production. That shows. There's a lot of resonance. It's like someone got the idea to portray Penny as she would have been if she never found Leonard. That is, alcoholic, single mother who is indiscriminate about her romantic partners. She's sober (4-months) and breaking off an affair with her married boss. She's also almost in a relationship with a diminutive, intellectual (Civil Engineer) type with self esteem issues. Sound familiar? It's hard for me to find humor in 3 (soon to be 4) generations of openly slutty behavior. All of the acting is very good. The writing is on par with BBT. If you can tolerate the raunchy theme, the humor is good. Decide for yourself. I probably won't see episodes 6 and beyond. I wonder what else is on. Maybe a binge of the Andy Griffith show to cleanse the palette.

Movie for the kids, too young to know better

Directed by the bloke who gave us Mortal Kombat, AvP and a number of Resident Evil movies. But also Event Horizon, so, one step above Uwe Boll.

Starring his wife. Jovovich has this thing for marrying her director, as she did for the 5th element.
To be fair, she's beautiful, charismatic and a decent actress.

Tony Jaa tries to branch out of the elbow-to-the-face roles. I think he actually does quite good.

Perlman, well, each time I see him, I wonder how he got a career. It can't be the casting couch. I mean, even in Hollywood, bestiality can't be as rampant as buggery and noncery. Right? It's not talent either. It's a mystery.

The first 2/3 of the movie work rather well as a survival / odd couple script. Probably because I haven't played the game (me wee lad has), because it's clearly not that kind of game. And then it tries to be a Monster Hunter movie, and fails miserably. It crams in obvious nods to the game, but fails as a movie.

The whole mixing worlds hurts the suspension of disbelief. Even in a 10 y-o. If it can be cut with a (bone?) sword or (huge) arrows, it's not shrugging off 50 cal sustained.

Slight girlbossing, expected with Jovovich, but she does it well enough to have some credibility. Cross-world magic mumbo-jumbo, she's a captain, so she starts off with a leveled char, I don't know.

A Ranger recon mission has not 1 but 2 females, among the two dozens in existence at the time of shooting. Really? What are the odds? On the other hand, they show the other female (black) breaking down under pressure, so yeah, good picture of a diversity hire.

Representation is important.

Huge letdown!

I've read every Connelly novel. The Brass Verdict is my personal favorite. When I saw that story in the trailer, I couldn't wait to see the series. The original character, Mick Haller, is half Mexican. If you're comparing it to the movie, that would look like race-swapping. It is actually an accurate depiction. I have two major complaints about this series. The first being that Harry Bosch never made an entrance. The meeting of the half-brothers was a huge part of the Brass Verdict story. The other issue I have is that one of the best supporting characters in all of Connelly's stories is Trick (Patrick Hensen), a recovered addict that Mick met in rehab. He was a professional surfer before he was injured and became addicted to pain killers. Mick exposed fraud by the "victim" and got Trick off with time-served. Trick then became Mick's new driver and, occasionally contributed to the case. In this Netflix version, Trick is replaced by a chubby, black lesbian who saves the day. That's about as woke as you can get.

No woke. Good movie. Book was better.

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. His older books are the best. Harry Bosch was introduced in The Dark Echo. Mickey Haller was introduced in The Lincoln Lawyer. They are half-brothers who met up in The Brass Verdict, my personal favorite Connelly novel. His stories are exceptional because of his background. He was a reporter who worked the crime beat before he was a successful novelist. His work depicts realistic scenarios. It can be a little disillusioning at times. In the real world, criminal prosecution is more of a game than a search for truth and justice. The DA crew isn't interested in guilt or innocence. They're more like an attack dog. The command to attack isn't questioned. They have a mission. Mickey is a character who is the stereotypical defense attorney. He will provide his best defense, regardless of guilt, to those who pay for it, except that he also has a conscience. Matthew McConaughey plays the part well, except for one thing: the original character was half Mexican. From a wokeness standpoint, that's a step in the other direction. In this story, Mick is faced with an impossible situation. He fell into a trap that was set by pure evil. With no way out, the only thing to do was create a way out. It's a brilliant story, and it's told well in this movie. The acting is top-notch. The supporting actors are outstanding. The all-star cast includes Marisa Tomei, Will Macy, John Leguizamo, Bryan Cranston, Josh Lucas, etc. I was hoping for a sequel, but it looks like this is a one-and-done.

Same old, same old

Not any better or worse than the previous installment.

It's visually quite advanced, but frankly the overloaded undersea graphics can get tiresome. Plus, we've seen it all in the first movie. Except for the Star Wars Cantina / Jabba rip-off.

Momoa is Momoa, and works well with Morrison and Wilson. They get the father/son and brothers chemistry right.

The script is a chain: a series of holes linked together. Most blatant in the DC universe being, where is Superman. He could have this stopped in ten minutes, and he is in the business of saving billions.

My favorite: the plot techno-bauble releases humongous amounts of heat to warm the planet (in weeks, the maths don't math, but whatever) BUT the island is heat-shielded so it doesn't show up on satellites' nfra-red.
Meaning the heat is not released, and doesn't warm anything up. Even my 10 y-o caught this one.

It's not being as preachy with global warming as it could be (I mean, Atlantis, orichalcum, so why not anthropogenic warming), but still pushes the myth that it's readily reversible.

Also, girlbosses. The whole fish council is female. Well, Atlantis has been hiding and doing jack shit for millennia, so, not the flex they think it is. And the pirate crew. Pudgy women giving shrill orders as far as the ear can hear.
At least not all black people are thieves in this one. Oh, wait, the only black guy is basically a vindicative, violent car thief.
Is this not supposed to be fantasy?
Black Manta is still wet Temu Ironman anyway.

Meh movie, apparently boycotted because of Heard. Momoa really can't catch a break, can he?

M3gan 2.0 action!

We didn't notice much, if any, propaganda in M3gan 2.0, but the vibe sure changed from the first: less blood, more action. It's worth a watch. I enjoyed the first film but I don't think my wife liked it much and 2.0 is about what you'd expect from a sequel like this.

On killing the dog

I'd like to put it out there that directors who can't come up with better ideas than to murder dogs in their films should they themselves be taken out of society.

Did not invent hot water...

The younger kids liked it.
Script is very formulaic; Arthur, lost royalty, ascends by finding a legendary weapon, character's origin is lazy, movie is not better.
Black Manta is one of the most tepid villain I've seen. Black submariner Ironman? Really? King Night Owl? He tries being a misguided villain for a while, acting for the perceived good of his people, but he just drops it later on.

It's visually pleasant. Lots of money went into the VFX. Some talent too.

Momoa is excellent, but he's played this role quite a few time by now. Dafoe, Kidman, Wilson, Morrison, they all earn their pay. Age finally caught up with Kidman. She's not that perfect dime anymore. Just a dime now.

Then there's Heard. In her 30s and already mid. But still hasn't found the time to learn to act. And has managed to make herself hated by the audience. Or was it after this movie?

The movie doesn't push the "ecological" angle as I would have feared. But, by some strange twist of fate, all white males happen to be bad apples. One could argue Dafoe, but he doesn't look like himself in this one. Very ethnic.
It could honestly be due to chance / setting. But in current year, it still is suspicious.