[A summary of my movie and TV reviews from last month, posted to Attrition.org, mixed in with other reviews.]
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Medium: Movie (Amazon)
Rating: 0.5/5 don’t wait until tomorrow to ignore this trash
Reference(s): IMDB Listing || Trailer
This movie was going swimmingly when everything was just regular life in today’s time. The second the “tomorrow” part started it went to shit. From that point on it was a series of overdone clichés from hundreds of Sci-Fi movies before it mixed in with clichés from hundreds of war movies. I think the blame is on the writers who wrote a series of scenes that relied on us forgetting about logic, continuity, and time travel. The comic relief? Not funny. The heart-warming moments? Not warming. This movie is trash.
The Watch (2020)
Medium: TV (BBC)
Rating: 4.4/5 worth the .. irreverent policing
Reference(s): IMDB Listing || Trailer
This is not a show about superheroes. In fact, barely heroes at all but they find their way. The series is based on a world and characters created by Terry Pratchett, who I haven’t read. The series was a little rough to get into not knowing anything about it and the characters were odd at first, then I appreciated them as over-the-top quirky weirdos that find their way together as they “police” the city. The casting is superior and each actor really embraces their role, bringing something special to their character. Season one offers a fun story that is wrapped up neatly at the end, of course with a teaser that it will return.
Debris S1 (2021)
Medium: TV (Peacock)
Rating: 2.5/5 potentially good show lost in all the pieces
Reference(s): IMDB Listing || Trailer
Two episodes in and the show was interesting. I immediately formed ideas of what I thought would come later in the season but in one case they did it in the first episode. It set a great pace and suggested a promising show with some creativity. I could suspend disbelief on the whole alien technology thing but couldn’t when it came to the “protocols” used to investigate alien debris. Then, about half way through the series, it began to spiral out of control with sub-plots and ideas that simply weren’t compelling. Add to that an attempt to bring some kind of sexual tension between the two main characters that just wasn’t there, and it’s easy to understand why the show was canceled after one season.
Black Widow (2021)
Medium: Movie (Disney+)
Rating: 1 / 5 i’d rather watch the peacock spider
Reference(s): IMDB Listing || Trailer
Marvel whipped out its script; the script they use to write movie scripts for MCU films. Formulaic, predictable, and have gotten boring. Black Widow has potential for a more interesting back story and tie-in to the current timeline and Marvel fell way short on that I think. Comedic character? Check. Over-engineered fight scenes that aren’t clever? Check. Basically, instead of making the character more interesting and getting us more invested, we’re left with a movie that didn’t really matter if it came out. Personally, I find the Black Widow character entirely more interesting after the first she appeared in and a lot less so after this one. Finally, I hope the camera crew didn’t injure their backs bending over to get all the shots highlighting the women’s asses.
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)
Medium: Movie
Rating: 2.5 / 5 The word ‘fuck’ is 1/3rd of the plot
Reference(s): IMDB Listing || Trailer
If you saw the first movie, you know exactly what to expect with this one. Over-the top gun fights, Ryan Reynolds being himself as you try to divorce your mind from thinking “Deadpool”, and apparently an attempt to break the record for the use of the word “fuck”. As with many sequels, they try to make it more compelling by adding some big name actors. In this case, Morgan Freeman, who didn’t really add much to the movie. So this is good mindless entertainment while you work on your puzzle or cross-stitch or sort your Legos.