NoWo's Reviews
You don't get a second chance at Indiana Jones
Selleck (allegedly) turned down the leading role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, because he had a very good start with Magnum, P.I.
One has to make choices.
He was later given an opportunity to change his mind. The resulting movie could never be a threat to the Indy franchise, though.
I find it, well, charming would be the word. It is predictable for sure, but Armstrong is charming, Selleck is a charmer, and the make their merry way through a, well, charming if somewhat a little naive adventure tale.
But on thing it has not, is Raiders epic breath. Partly because the writers seem scared of the 'high fantasy' ambitions in Raiders, and partly because of the photography.
Comparing both movies makes one realize how good of a director Spielberg was. Both movies were shot for basically the same budget, but Raiders is so much more dynamic and vibrant, whereas High Road seems to lack enthusiasm.
As to woke, Armstrong character is a flapper proto-feminist heiress, which is in accordance to the time and place, and appears more loud and out-of-touch with practical reality than modern girlboss, cause the 80s still knew that a 100 pounds woman can't take on an Afghan guerilla war party on her own. Her character is more a victim of a rich and sheltered upbringing than of the Patriarchy (tm) (c).
Created: 09-26-2024
Based on 1st episode, good, but will possibly not watch further.
The good: Bates is (expectedly) brilliant, and her character is witty and well written. Nice bit of social engineering in the opening scene. All along really. Also, over-arching plot, apparently.
The bad: forced diversity. Nowhere is that diverse. Also, the episode does a very messy job of distancing itself from the original show (and thus accusations of gender-swapping), but a very good job of stealing its lunch, up until the court-room drama, and last-second surprise witness. So yeah, gender-swapped. Why not go for an original name instead of very obviously riding coat-tails.
The ugly: no man can be both (vaguely) competent and white. Women complaining about men every few minutes. I know, that’s what they do, but I want escapism, not a documentary. Also, SJW talking points raised, and not in irony.
It’s irksome. On the fence about the whole show. Somehow gives off same feeling as Inside Out 2: woke vehicle hastily dismantled in hopes not to go broke. Show creator quite possibly overt feminist. Del Rio self(?)-described as 'Latinx'.
Time will tell if show for everybody, or just the enlightened /s.
Edit: watched further, activism toned down somewhat, although 'privilege' and racism are still there. White males less stupid, Bates still excellent as a sly old she-fox.
Further edit: non-white lesbians! Non-white lesbians everywhere! Will they have the balls (not assuming gender) to make the not-white oppressed woman the ultimate villain? Not sure.
I stand by my initial opinion: it was planned to be far woker, was toned down, but clever editing has its limits, particularly when you have a run time target. Excising the omni-lesbian would have also meant serious reshoots.
Final edit: The writers never let go of the permanent nagging and complaigning about men. Usual talking points, stops just short of the word patriarchy. Or factual evidence, as always with that kind of discourse.
Well, art imitates life, but I like my escapism a little less realistic.
Also, white men can never be good guys. They're at best neutral, with barely a positive quality. Which begs the question, how in hell did all the strong independent women in the show get hitched with such pussies. On the other hand, I wonder how any men would want to marry a self-professed perennial victim, so maybe I just don't get it. Maybe it's that way over in North America. Quite possibly, judging by the marriage rates.
In which case, you lads have all my sympathy.
Still, it does evolve into pretty overt racism toward the end of the series. Or is it sexism? Hey, why not both. I'm all for free speech, and people don't have to like me. But it does make for contrived writing.
All in all, this series leaves me with a mixed appreciation.
It's a bit like the German mustache enthusiast: he did get the trains running on time, too bad he was a genocidal socialist (pleonasm intended).
Matlock is good in many ways, but also hateful. The somewhat disguised hatred of the almost clever. Those about which cannot be said to forgive, because they know not what they do.
This is written knowingly, and the hatred is assumed.
Created: 09-24-2024
Off-licence Street Fighter
This is more a Street Fighter movie than the official SF movie, also starring Van Damme.
Ensemble cast of fighters, all visually and stylistically very different, about as much plot as a porno (hello guys, I'm here to FIGHT), and of course, a tournament.
This movie also features a young Whitaker, fresh off Platoon and Good Morning, Vietnam. And then, yep, Bloodsport. Before moving on to Bird. Go figure.
Yeung is as fearsome as ever, and Van Damme sets a new world record for over-acting. Both in duration and intensity.
And yeah, the whole Frank Dux thing. As the closing credits remind us, he set the record for most KO in a single tournament: 56.
If one has to slog through (at least) 56 opponents, it's not a tournament, it's an RPG. Or DBZ. Or an RPG based on DBZ.
Seriously, with a standard direct elimination setup, that's >10^16 participants.
But hey, that's the 80s: unabashedly boasting, and flamboyantly moronic.
Created: 09-21-2024
A good first season marred by a mediocre second
Season 1 is pretty good, visually pleasing, and does seem to stick to the books, despite some forced diversity on Neagley, but the actress carries it well, so, whatever. Goodwin does a smashing job as Finlay.
Season 2, well, has many issues, first amongst which is that it is somewhat tedious and boring.
The show-runners have made a concerted and quite possibly ill-advised effort to make room for female empowerment. The Hollywood sort, not anything relevant. This, at the expense of the main protagonist.
This in turn somewhat breaks the character, as I, at least, wonder how one can be successful in one's chosen career while being an indecisive, submissive bitch.
Ah well, another one bites the dust.
Created: 09-21-2024
Quirky sci-fi from my teenage years
I'm totally partial here.
Still, good, unpretentious 80s movie, with MacLachlan hot off successes like Lynch's Dune and Blue Velvet, so basically still unknown.
Created: 09-06-2024
Masterpiece in its genre
Director Ang Lee does nothing to hide his love for wuxia movies.
The photography is just splendid, although the movie may be starting to show its age, from a purely technical point of view.
The lead actors are, well, Michelle Yeoh, who is graced with both talent and beauty, and Chow Yun-Fat, who's earned every bit of his reputation, despite staring in some incredible stinkers.
The guy still looks smooth as silk with a shaved head and potato-bag robes. Impressive.
They need no praise beyond their own names.
As far as politics go, this is stupendously conservative by current standards.
All the actors in this Chinese period piece are, well, amazingly Chinese.
Characters are preoccupied with duty, to the point of personal tragedy.
Damn, they probably did not have modern audiences back in 2000.
The script itself may feel contrived to some extent. It is. It's wuxia. A certain naivete is inherent to the genre. Might not be for everybody, though. Not really for me either, but the movie is good enough that I overlooked its shortcomings.
Created: 09-06-2024
Vintage woke is a thing now?
Full disclosure: did not watch past the 2nd episode, and pretty quickly was doing something else during the time.
Also disclosure: I grew up on the books, and take exception to a few alterations from Jackson, so there.
Very obviously lots of money in there, except it didn't go to the script. Or dialogues. Or casting really, although it was very charitable on their parts to give jobs to palsy victims.
Stallone made a career with half his face paralyzed. But it was only half. And he had talent.
Many shots look expensive. As in, how lack coherent cinematography can ruin a huge budget. And then you're left buying your Hobbits on Temu.
The woke is very retro: no lecturing, no pushing pronouns (yet, I guess), but man bad, white bad, girl good (scratch that, girl best, obviously), and severe case of the gay bug I would hazard.
Created: 09-01-2024
Accurate, relentless and mesmerizing
Historically accurate, at least enough to fool me.
Visually stunning, even in its gory moments.
I will note that the photography results from some rather extreme choices.
The showmakers seem somewhat fed up with the technical perfection of high-resolution digital cameras, so they paired them with some pretty retro anamorphic lenses.
I'm sure the gear was top-shelf and appropriately expensive, but I do mean retro as in 70s era Hollywood newcomers. Apocalypse Now comes to mind.
So, be ready to embrace blur, softness and chromatic aberration at the edges.
I does help build a visual identity, but I did find it distracting at times.
The cast is nothing short of stellar, both in its collective performance and dedication.
Apologies to the Japanese actors, who apparently re-trained in period-appropriate speech, their efforts push far beyond my capacity to appreciate them, but I can barely believe Bastow learned Japanese in a few months for this role, and with such results!
As for the story itself: I will not spoil it, but it is ruthless and heart-wrenching.
The title says it all: this is the story of a warlord.
Regarding wokeness: this show is accurate to a period when people did not have the luxury of utter stupidity.
So, no.
Created: 08-31-2024
It's amoral, repugnant and gripping
The rise and fall of an arms dealer during the end tail of the 20th century, with a large side dish of unflattering history from the ex-Soviet block and West Africa.
Cage's emotionless delivery does wonders for his barely human character.
One could argue the movie portrays small arms as the root of all evil in Africa, thus ignoring a more complex reality, but well, it's still good.
Created: 08-30-2024
Atrocious, lazy cash grab, even without the woke.
A committee of gen-Y liberal arts majors (so, a few millions worth in student debt) used a Chinese AI to extract visuals from the games, and fed print-outs to a troop of monkeys. And from the collective, collected, fermented poop emerged the script for this one.
That’s my version anyway.
They (whoever they are) lost any piece even remotely worthy of interest from the games’ writing. No back-story, no plot, no nothing.
The biggest offense probably being Roland. I mean, it’s not rocket science: name is Roland, class is Soldier. This character’s concept is obviously Paladin.
Roland from the games is this calm, collected man whose strong moral compass provides a counterpoint in a fun but nihilistic universe.
Here, we get Hart. So, hyper-active, try-hard, unfunny. At least they got the colour right. Then again, they never get that hue wrong, do they.
The rest of the cast is a trip down memory lane. I’m old enough to remember when Gershon was hot. And Blanchett was hot. And Curtis was a scorcher. Yeah, that old.
Here, they just look jaded and old. And boring. Welcome to Geriatric Park.
As opposed to the rest of the cast, who are downright aggravating.
As for woke: no direct preaching at least, just an all girl-boss cast, swapping all males out (Krieg and Roland are very secondary), dumbing everything down (I guess that’s to be inclusive).
All the good stuff that stands in the way of a good script.
Also, counter-woke element: for once, the red-head (Lilith) doesn't turn into a black woman at casting. Eat your heart out, MJ.
Trying to find some positive: I think I heard a few bars of Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole as background music at some point.
Nice.
And Motörhead later on.
Cool. Worth 1 point.
Created: 08-30-2024
