Jon Loder's Reviews
Hugh Jackman is more than just Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are amazing performers. Imitating Neil Diamond is quite an accomplishment. Hugh nailed it. Kate also did an impressive Patsy Cline.
The only wokeness I saw would be what looked like a drag queen in the background during a scene backstage. I expected more, but there was no agenda I could see.
This is a hard-hitting family drama with some great musical performances.
Created: 08-10-2026
Enjoyable story with great acting.
Sally Field is in the number one spot of my personal list of underrated actors. I consider Sybil to be her best role. That's what compelled me to watch what looked like an uninteresting movie. I was wrong about that. It captured my attention within minutes.
The wokeness is limited to an encounter with a homosexual man. It was a necessary part of the story, but there was no agenda. To explain that would be a spoiler.
The movie itself was well acted and directed. The story line got a little predictable, and possibly a bit forced. It is still an enjoyable movie.
Created: 08-10-2026
Predictable, but fun.
P.F. Kluge hated this movie. He's the author of the novel, Eddie and the Cruisers. He called it a talent-free embarrassment. I respectfully disagree. The acting by Michael Pare' was great. The rest, not so much. Like the first Eddie, the music of John Cafferty has a huge presence. The story is somewhat cheesy and predictable, but somehow, that still leaves a fun-to-watch movie about a troubled, thought to be dead, rock star who still desperately wants to accomplish something great. He meets up with an overly ambitious, talented guitar player who needs to learn that music is more than impressive playing. Now I'm feeling cheesy for describing it. Give it a watch and decide for yourself.
Created: 08-08-2026
I would call this a cult classic
I'm a big fan of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Their music has a huge presence in this movie. Michael Pare' hit it out of the park with the character acting. I think he's very underrated.
The main theme of the movie is "words and music." When it comes to rock and roll music, Eddie is the best. He meets up with a poet who can play piano, but can't sing. Together, they create something great. The story is told in flashback style. It's 18 years after Eddie's questionable death in 1964. They never found the body. Does Eddie still live? Who's trying to get ahold of the lost recordings? It's a fun story with great music. I have the movie (with the sequel) on BluRay and watch it every couple of years.
Created: 08-08-2026
It's hard to rate this one.
I avoided this one because it looked like it was going to be typical Hollywood bias about the 1960's racial issues. That's not far off, but there's more to it. Michael Franzese, is a YouTuber, ex-mob-boss who reviews movies and television for accuracy to the Mafia culture. He rated this series as accurate, so I gave it a chance.
A woke approach would be "black good/ white bad." In this series, they're all bad. I don't think there's a good guy in the show. There are corrupt cops, rapist blacks, junkies of every ethnicity. At one point, George Wallace was on the TV giving his "segregation now" speech. He was a Democrat governor and presidential candidate. Malcolm X is portrayed as a violent idealist who is hostile to Christianity. Congressman Powell is portrayed as a self serving, philandering, corrupt politician. A woke agenda would've portrayed him as a civil rights hero. There's no "black hero" attitude in this series. If anything, they portray black culture in a very negative way.
I'm only 4 episodes in, so things may change. TV series tend to do that.
Judge this one for yourself. I don't find it particularly entertaining or woke. I do find it to be realistic.
Created: 08-03-2026
Minimal woke. B-movie feel. Worth watching
Girl kicks ass. Yeah, that's there, but it's not outlandish.
Homos, yes. They are portrayed as mentally deranged, homicidal psychopaths. That part is more anti-woke. There's no way this would be released as a mainstream movie.
Story, pretty good. A little over-the-top and forced. The ending was drawn out too much.
Acting, mostly excellent. Better direction would've helped.
I think you can still watch this on Daily Wire.
Created: 07-30-2026
Racial agenda - Not Sopranos at all
I didn't get very far into the series. It's all about racial agenda.
Created: 07-28-2026
It's an anti-woke theme in a B-movie
The story is based on someone trying to do something about rampant immigration issues. It's in a European city that's never specifically named. I think it's a composite of the Euro-countries that have let immigration get out of hand. The solution: kill the ones who rape and kill. Simple enough. The lead character is not as likeable as you may expect. There's wasn't enough tactical consultation to portray SWAT tactics. Try counting the mistakes they made. It's definitely a B-movie. The story never really resolved. It's more of a commentary showing the reality of how devastating cultural import can be on a peaceful society and the extreme measures required to counter it.
Created: 07-25-2026
I love this movie... and guitars
I had to give this one a tick of woke. It's actually a half-tick rounded up. Willie argues that Eugene would be "just one more white boy ripping off our music." Willie also gets called "mud-duck" by a white pimp in a small southern town. That's about it for the woke report.
The movie itself is based on the legend of Robert Johnson's deal with the devil at the crossroads. Willie is a harmonica player that spent his life in prison over a self-defense killing of a band member. Eugene is a privileged classical guitar prodigy who is obsessed with Robert Johnson. He believes Johnson had a song that never got recorded and Willie may be the last chance to find it. Eugene breaks Willie out of the hospital, and they go on the road. Eugene is looking for a lost song. Willie is looking for a way to back out of his deal with the devil.
The strength of this movie is the music. There's kind of a Devil Went Down to Georgia story at the end. It's a guitar contest between Eugene and the Devil's guitarist (Steve Vai). If you don't watch the movie, at least find the ending on YouTube. The contest is called "Cutting Heads."
Ralph Macchio learned to play guitar for this part. He didn't do the actual playing, but he developed enough skill that you wouldn't know it. Ry Cooder played most of the actual soundtrack. Vai, of course, played for real. It was awesome!
Created: 07-24-2026
A different take, apparently
I agree with the points that most reviews on here make. I just consider it to be more incidental than agenda.
I've read all of Mick Herron's Slow Horse series. I really like the books. This show follows them rather closely.
The main character, Jackson Lamb, played by Oldman, is actually pure genius. He's rude, offensive, and not hygienic at all, but he always figures things out before anyone else and manipulates the outcome.
The mixed-race couple is just that. I don't see an agenda in it. If you consider that woke, so be it. If the story portrayed them as having to endure intolerance over it, I would call it woke.
I don't remember any LGBT...+++ being represented, much less any agenda.
The girl boss is present. The main one is the "Second Desk" of MI5. She's a politically conniving backstabber who gets put in her place by Lamb on a regular basis. He always gets the upper hand, in both the novels and the show.
Casting: I looked up the first season on IMDB. The top 12 cast consists of 9 men and 3 women. There is one Asian, one Black an 10 white. I don't see any DEI in that.
The main characters consist of 3 white males portrayed as competent. The most incompetent, bumbling idiot in the show is the Asian. The black lady is portrayed as competent. I don't see any agenda in that.
The fist season is about some punks wanting to behead a Muslim on camera. I can see that as being woke agenda. Some of the following storylines have Islamic terrorists attacking. It's kind of across the board on that issue.
The wokeness may be there, but I don't think it comes with an agenda.
Created: 07-22-2026
