Jon Loder's Reviews
One of a kind series
I remember when the full season was available in the early days of HBO streaming. It was probably my first TV binge. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. The character development and chemistry was outstanding.
Dark humor made surprise appearances often. There's a full array of characters you love to hate, or hate to love. I'm not sure how they did it, but they made this entertaining without glorifying organized crime.
One of the best things to say about this series is that the knew when to end it. It stayed interesting up until the final episode.
Created: 11-16-2025
Unrealistic funniness.
This movie breaks new ground. At PG-13, the f-bomb was dropped a few times. The physical humor is clever. I did mention unrealistic, didn't I? This is kind of like a live action genre of things like The Simpsons, Family Guy or South Park. If you like that kind of comedy, you'll enjoy this movie.
Created: 11-16-2025
Halfway through episode 2... some Woke boxes checked.
This started out with a couple of major woke flags:
- The protagonist is black with a white wife.
- Episode 2 had a monologue rant in a 1692 slave ship that had some post-slavery agenda. I'm not defending slavery in America's first century. That is an atrocity that was ended with the blood of many Americans. I agreed with slave traders being burned alive on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. This rant mentioned 300 years (to 1992) including being shot by police and deprived of human rights, etc.
Episode 3: A deal killer for me. A homosexual sex scene was pending. One of the participants walked into the room with full-frontal-nudity. His partner was sitting on the edge of the bed in obvious desirous anticipation. Click... no more. On to reruns of The Sopranos for the night.
CAUTION: If this was MPAA rated, it would have a hard time keeping R. It really pushes the edge. Perhaps crosses over. In the first 3 episodes, there were three full-frontal nudity shots and a dick-pic. The sex scenes were beyond MPAA - R.
There was also a lesbian sex scene in episode 3. It was brief, but there nonetheless.
If the wokeness presented as an agenda, I would've maxed the scale. It's just incidental and edgy from the minds of the woke.
The acting is great. The story is interesting. I really wanted to see where it was going. I may read the book.
Created: 11-15-2025
Very entertaining because of Robin Williams
The worst kind of woke. This movie specifically targets children with indoctrinating entertainment. The harvesting of timber (a renewable resource) is done by heartless, evil, greedy white men. The hero is a petite female fairy being mentored by a nature-worshiping, grandmother type, mentor. Evil is a black blob who is freed from a long captivity in an enchanted tree. He finds the timber cutting machine and the petroleum that powers it delightful. The worst part about this movie is, because of Robin Williams, it's so entertaining. I remember being told, when the movie was first produced, Al Gore had a hand in the production. I never followed up on that. Maybe he just praised it. That would make sense.
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Created: 11-03-2025
Great start, steady decline, then fell off
The acting was great. The concept was great. After the first couple of seasons, the writers seemed to lose direction. There were some things that just didn't make sense, such as the fat guy, who was in charge of the food, was persuaded to stop his secret bingeing. He then proceeded to destroy his food stash. They're marooned on an island. Destroy the food supply? That's just one example. The management of firearms got kind of weird.
The back-story style was great for character development. Tension was built with slowly unfolding mysteries. The chemistry between characters was very good.
This show is notoriously known for the dumpster fire of an ending. That rep is well earned. You can find social media threads dedicated to arguing about the entire series being nothing but a purgatory being lived out. I still don't get the ending. If you follow through, and think you've got it figured out, leave a comment. This site allows that now.
Created: 10-28-2025
Must see, especially for Trekies
No woke. It's a parody. The allusions to the nonsensical aspects of Star Trek and other early SciFi TV are nonstop. Tim Allen and the rest of the cast are at their absolute best. Some of this movie may be lost on younger generations who didn't experience the early days of SciFi TV.
Created: 10-23-2025
Woke free, very little action and a great story.
This is based on Robert B. Parker's character, Jesse Stone, an alcoholic, disgraced Los Angeles police detective that gets a second chance as a small town Chief of Police in the east coast town of Paradise. That's pretty much where the story from the novel ends. The book was good. The movie is good. They just don't tell the same story. In my opinion, Selleck plays his best role with the possible exception of Matthew Quigley.
The whole series is heavy on story and light on action. It's slow, but not in a bad way. Jesse solves crimes with impressive, yet realistic, detective skills.
I could write the same review for every movie in the Stone series. According to IMDB, Selleck is working on the next one. I hope so. These movies are binge-worthy.
On another note, this was the second movie of the series, but, being a prequel, I recommend starting with it, and then moving on to Stone Cold, etc.
Created: 10-11-2025
Had to see for myself.
I was almost dissuaded by this site from watching this movie. Being rated as super-woke is a strong statement.
There is definite wokeness in this one...
- Ethnic representation: Yes, Astrid and some others are darker skinned. This doesn't fit the history of the Vikings. It's obvious pandering to wokeness. It's annoying, but there was no agenda beyond that. No ethnic issues were addressed in the story.
- Women in authority: There were several women in authority. That is not authentic. Women were recognized in Viking culture as persons with rights, but not in authority. Again, historical accuracy was compromised in favor of wokeness. There was, however, some implied agenda on this point. Astrid was put in charge of the attack. She took charge and led the battle plan.
- LGBT: It could be said that Ruffnut and other female characters were somewhat masculine. There was no implied orientation otherwise.
I hope this is helpful for sorting out the conflicting reviews on this one.
Created: 10-11-2025
If you liked the series, and the last final movie, you'll probably like this.
It could be said that there is a bit of wokeness on this movie. The main theme is a divorced woman of nobility who, by tradition, is shunned by society. The story is set in 1930 when divorce was still a shameful thing. Divorcees were pariahs to be avoided. The homosexual character, Thomas has a boyfriend. There was no apparent agenda involved. It was just incidental.
The story of Downton Abbey isn't exactly my cup of tea. This was well done, with great acting. It would've been better if it was done when Maggie was still around.
Created: 10-09-2025
Typical bait-and-switch agenda
A season or two of politically neutral, quick-witted comedy before the mask comes off. Seasons 1 & 2 would be near zero wokeness with a high rating. The transition to low rating with high wokeness happened around season 3. The bet over the dart match in the pub will always be one of my favorite sit-com scenes. Just watch the first two seasons and then bail.
Created: 10-03-2025
