Jon Loder's Reviews
Far superior to the American version
If an interracial marriage is wokeness to you, it's woke. In the 5 seasons this ran, racial issues were never mentioned or even implied. The only tic on the woke-meter for me was the implied latent homosexual tendencies of one of the regular characters. It wasn't done with any level of advocacy or agenda. I was sad to see this series end. It was hard to find the last couple of seasons streaming.
Created: 10-01-2025
Well written, clever, and entertaining.
I didn't perceive any woke agenda outside of the typical situation of a teenager setting the older folks straight on critical issues is thinly veiled. Perhaps that should tic the woke-meter. It's not enough to detract from the enjoyability of the movie.
Created: 09-30-2025
This isn't woke, but it does have agenda.
This movie addresses the social angst of high-school students in their different cliques. There is a jock, a socialite, an emo, a nerd, and a stoner. They spend the day figuring out that they have more in common than they thought. The realization that they have been misunderstanding each other was enlightening. They also realized that they would go back to their normal, classified roles. This time, these five students would have a better understanding of differences. They didn't address any racial or gender issues. I really don't understand this movie having a Woke rating.
Created: 09-29-2025
Not woke, but...
This is a very good, entertaining movie. Robin Williams proved himself to be more than just a comedian once again. There was no woke agenda other than middle-aged, white academics being appalled at the idea of girls being admitted to the boys prep school. That's a slight tic on the woke-meter but it rounds down to zero. I would give it a 0.25.
The problem I have with the movie is the idea that 17-year-olds are ready to choose their own path. Independent thinking is a good thing, but adult responsibility isn't a threshold that goes from not ready on Monday but completely ready on Tuesday. It's a slow process that requires parental guidance and authority. That authority was somewhat ridiculed and undermined by ad-absurd um portrayal, resulting in tragedy.
Created: 09-29-2025
Objective reporting with an entertaining flair.
Right or left, this is a must-see. The agenda is ostensive. Matt set out to expose the fallacy of gender fluidity. He allowed the interviewees to make their points, uninterrupted. There were no deceptive edits.
The absurdity of gender-fluid ideology exposes itself with an open platform. Thanks, Matt.
Created: 09-29-2025
Hard to watch
The story of Aileen is a sad tragedy. Although she was rightfully accountable for her actions, she was a product of abuse, and neglect. She was executed by the State of Florida in 2002. This movie was released in 2003.
I watched this movie years ago. I remember the story being well-depicted and thought-provoking. Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci are amazing actors. Charlize took an Oscar for her performance. That was well-deserved. If you can tolerate the gritty, raw, portrayal of the subject matter, it's worth the watch.
The problem I have with the movie is, there really wasn't a need for the graphic lesbian scenes. I really don't remember it being so graphic. I tried to watch it again recently. I couldn't get past the scene where Theron and Ricci were making out in the ally behind the skating rink. Families were walking past with the parents trying to keep their kids from watching it.
There was no LGBT agenda. If anything, it portrayed it as disgusting filth. It was just too graphic.
Created: 09-26-2025
Like the books, only different.
The books are great. This series is good. The individual seasons follow the stories of the books they're based on. Full season stories are, in my opinion, the only way to depict a good story. Detective shows that resolve mysteries in a single episode are hard to watch.
Perhaps there are some "woke" elements. One of the detectives working for the agency in the later series is a lesbian. Season 5, based on Troubled Blood, has the Agency working for a lesbian couple. You may have noticed my zero wokeness rating. That's because they were portrayed without any apparent agenda. I believe Rowling (Galbraith) to be above that nonsense. It's just simply an incidental part of the story. There's no scenes of affection depicted.
Grainger embodies the literary character of Robin as accurately as you'll ever see in a cinematic depiction.
Burk depicts Cormoran with some differences. Not better or worse, just different. The literary version is larger, more surly, has curly hair, and is missing the other leg. I don't know why that is.
If you haven't seen it, you have 6 (soon 7) seasons to enjoy on a good binge.
Created: 09-22-2025
Detective film noir with a great actor... with a twist.
It's hard to review this one without spoilers. The major twist shows up around half way through the series. Farrell is a great actor. I think he's highly underrated. I consider Phone Booth the greatest showcase of acting talent I've ever seen. He nailed this part.
It begins with one of my favorite cinematic styles, narrated detective film noir. I was hooked 10 minutes in. Colin Farrell carried this series. His narration was perfection. The supporting cast wasn't impressive, but it worked. The story unfolded a little slowly, but there was a reason for that. Remember the twist I mentioned?
WOKENESS:
In one of the early episodes, there was a honey-trap that, instead of an attractive female getting intel from a middle-aged man, the female part was played by a homosexual. I almost dropped out at that point, but I waited to see if it was one-and-done. It was. My suspicion is that it needed to check that box to get produced. Cinematic entertainment is being held hostage by perverse agenda.
Season two shows up on IMDB and it's obvious that it was intended. The ending was just right. The story was tied up, but an issue that was alluded to throughout season one was put in the forefront at the end to launch season two. It's not the frustrating loose end that holds the story conclusion ransom. I'm looking forward to season two.
Created: 09-22-2025
Marvel Studios may be coming back
I don't think anyone will ever repeat the chemistry that was between Thor, Rogers, Stark, Strange and the rest. Thunderbolts is in the shadow of one of the greatest franchises ever created. That's a high bar. The bottom line is, this is worth watching. It's got the same action/comedy/drama ratios as the Marvel movies we all love. As far as Wokeness goes, it's there. I read about gender-swapped characters. I found one. According to Wikipedia, Ghost was male in the original story. That's a woke element. The other female member, White Widow, was female in the original. Also, Dreyfus' hated character was in the 1960's Marvel comics as a leading member of SHIELD. That may be a woke element, but it's true to the original story.
If I were to rate this in comparison with the Marvel Studios Avengers franchise movies, It would be somewhere above Black Panther and just short of Ant Man. It's definitely above the second and third Ant Man flicks. This appears to be the first Marvel project for Director, Jake Schreier. Like I said, the bar was set high for this project. He did well.
Created: 09-20-2025
No woke, but kind of bland.
The dad was depicted as an overly-authoritative, bible-thumper. The wife, mother-in-law, and even his children showed him the error of his ways. I suppose you could give it a slight nudge on the woke-meter for that.
The story of Rickey Hill is interesting. He really was that good. If it wasn't for the illness, his rookie baseball card would be a keeper, and he'd be HOF.
It's true that he went 11 for 11 in his tryout. That's a 1,000 batting average. They missed the part where he climbed a fence to sneak into the scouting tryouts. They got a few other things right. He did marry his high-school sweetheart at home plate before a game. He also retired at age 22 because of the illness. He also never played in the Majors. Four seasons playing for Montreal's minor league teams was an accomplishment for someone with a spinal disease. I think the movie would've been better if it was closer to the real history. He was an example of persistence and dedication to succeeding.
Created: 09-07-2025
