Jon Loder's Reviews
Not bad.
Wokeness: I didn't notice any agenda.
I love a good whodunit story. This one isn't too bad. The lead character, Benoit Blanc, seems to be a mashup of literary detectives, Poirot, Dupin, and maybe Holmes. The mystery is a play on a Dickson Carr story, The Hollow Man. That is, a locked room murder. They even reference the book in this movie. There are a few weaknesses in the basic plot, but, overall, it's worth the watch.
I will opine that this isn't Craig's best work.
Created: 12-29-2025
Rewatch after 40 years...(almost)
I saw this when it first came out. I remember liking it. It's definitely a '80's comedy. That is, cheesy, predictable, and kind of gimmicky: "That's not a knife. This... is a knife." I love fish-out-of-water stories. This was a pretty good one. There was a transsexual character that was the subject of ridicule, so, no woke there. Paul Hogan wrote and starred in it. He played heavily on the culture shock between the Outback and the big city. It's a fun movie as long as you don't take it too seriously.
Created: 12-29-2025
Sort of a R-Rated Home Alone meets die Hard
I didn't think I would like this. I was wrong. The interesting back-story on St. Nick was good. The powerful matriarch was portrayed as greedy, self-centered and thieving. The mixed race marriage was probably some form of DEI casting, but it was incidental in the story. There was a female commando kicking butt. The wise hero was a mixed-race little girl. there was no noticeable agenda in the woke elements. I gave it a half tick, rounded up for the wokeness meter.
Created: 12-20-2025
Funny. Fans of Melissa will enjoy it the most.
It's hard for me to find enjoyment in movies that feature marriages broken up by trivial issues. I could never get through Mrs. Doubtfire for that reason. A man gets caught up with a crisis at work, misses his daughter's 8th birthday party, and his wife leaves him over it. The bad guy is a middle-aged white guy who fires a black employee with much humiliation.
The best part of the movie is Melissa McCarthy doing what she does well. The situations are forced, but humorous. Don't expect too much, but it's not bad.
Created: 12-20-2025
Funny, clean, not the deepest plot, good rendered animation
It's predictable, but fun. There's no agenda other than the prejudice between cats and dogs. The voice acting is great. In particular, Samuel and Ricky were outstanding. There were a lot of clever gags. It's clean fun for kids with enough humor that adults will enjoy it too.
Created: 12-19-2025
Another "root for the bad-guy" movie
The reality is, if a guy points a gun at people to take what doesn't belong to him, he's a bad guy and shouldn't be celebrated. That is, except in movies like this one.
No woke, unless you count a mixed-race marriage. I don't count that as woke unless it comes with an agenda. It's just incidental in this one.
Truth is stranger than fiction. You would have to be pedantic to find the differences between this movie and the actual events. I'm amazed at how closely they followed the true story. Leigh didn't work at the Toys'R'Us store and his makeshift room was actually in the vacant Circuit City space next door. That's not a lot of differences.
Created: 12-18-2025
Two versions. Neither match the book.
This movie was completed, revised, then released. The revision added Kris Kristofferson in a completely different ending. This is the revised version. The original was released a few years later "Payback: Straight Up." If I remember right, Gibson clashed with the director and forced this version for original release.
Gibson recreates Porter from The Hunter (novel). He wasn't such a likeable character in the book. There's zero woke in this movie. This version has the narration by Gibson that makes it more enjoyable. It's more like the old time Noir detective films. If you like dark humor in violent situations, and six-shooters that don't need reloaded, This is great.
Created: 12-18-2025
Not as good as the first one. (Spoilers)
The woke parts:
The big boss bad guy whom everyone feared was played by Sharon Stone. She played a mentally unstable psychopath who went on tantrums, stabbing and killing at will.
When Hutch was about to meet his doom at the hands of Sharon Stone's badassery, he was saved by his marksman wife with a tranquilizer dart gun.
This movie was heavy on sequel-overdose. That is, overdoing what made the original good. Hutch is a great character and he had his moments. Odinkirk is pure genius in this role. The same can be said about Chris Lloyd. The writing was lazy. The story came up short. The big showdown was an overdone version of the machine shop scene from the original. This one took place in a rundown water park.
My recommendation is go ahead and watch it if it's free and you have nothing better to do. It had its moments.
Created: 11-30-2025
All woke, no funny
There's not much to be said about this. It's just a woke-fest, unfunny, liberal agenda in movie format. Hemsworth destroyed masculinity in this one.
Created: 11-24-2025
After the full season...
I'm through Season 1. The lead role, Carol, was established to be lesbian in episode one. Her partner gets killed off within the first few minutes so Carol is by herself. There was a flashback in Episode 3 showing the two checking into a theme-hotel. There was no depiction of affection beyond the same kind of hug that sisters would share. Fast forward to the end of Season 1... Carol and Zosia, the representative hive-minder, engage in a lesbian relationship. By then, you could tell that was eminent. Add this to the growing list of great stories ruined by LGBT agenda along with Matlock and Lisbeth. They really let the story unfold before setting the hook.
The theme of this series is genuine sci-fi. The hive-mind concept is well presented. In short, everyone knows everything that humanity has ever experienced. Anyone can perform brain surgery, fly an airliner, or replace a broken axle on a truck. When you talk to anyone, you're talking to everyone. It sounds simple, but there's a lot to it. Rhea does a great job as the cynical Carol. She's kind of a one-dimensional character, but it fits. According to Vince Gilligan, the part was written with her in mind.
I won't be there for Season 2.
Created: 11-24-2025
