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william-carmichael
Reviews
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
Some good, some bad to be honest
Love that they went back to The Cage and captain Pike - it was a mesmerizing episode and storyline. They did great with the supporting cast in some circumstances, and totally bombed out in others. Anson Mount is fantastic choice as Pike. He carries the authoratative demeanor needed for the role, yet adds some lightness and whimsy to the role. A pleasant change. Ethan Peck as Spock as is a fantastic find as well - a very hard role to follow Nimoy's significant history. Nurse Chapel played by Jess Bush is a new refreshing take on the roll and changes the past storyline slightly but in a very believeable and fresh way. Babs Olusanmokun is a newcomer to me, and i am still on the fence about his character. Maybe they haven't had time to round out all of the characters yet. Celia Rose Gooding is fantastic as Uhura, and look forward to seeing her character develop significantly in the coming season. Rebecca Romijn is of course always a breath of fresh air and I love to see her in this series. She is always a treat to watch and look forward to them expanding on "Number One's" role in the coming season.
Now to the bad - Christina Chong is a very flat, unbelieveable portrayal of Noonien Singh and his bloodline. She seems to only portray anger as her only emotion, and for someone whose relations were supposedly incredible intelligent and fit I see none of that translating into this new character. Worse still is Melissa Navia as Ortega. THe worst two dimensional character ever portrayed on a star trek series, and it would seem her "15 minutes of stardom" is going to her head, taking on the likes of some of the past giants in the series franchise, where she really has no place commenting at all for her little and poorly portrayed role. I think these two characters need to be replaced, and very soon.
I would like to see them write some original storylines for the coming year that may or may not tie in with the previous series. Love to see earlier versions of Data, Klingon's haven't been touch upon yet (I think). Commador Decker would be another great character to bring into the mix. But for the most part it's moving in a great direction. Just do some changes in the actors and you will have a great series here!
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Honeymoon, Honeymurder (2021)
Getting worse and worse
I really can't explain why people would find watching this pushy woman push her way into situations that are none of her business?? This latest finds her on a "pre-honeymoon" with her married hubby, who by the end of this movie, is relegated to arm candy for Aurora. I have never heard of a Pre-honeymoon, and not sure why one would exist? But the story line was weak at best, even Aurora's mother is now getting in on spying on people and pumping them for information that is none of her business either. Aurora is even chewed out by the Police Chief and even though she agrees with her comeuppance she continues to be rude, ignorant and insensitive. If she feels so strongly about being a detective why doesn't she go back to school for Criminology and join the police force, instead of thumbing her nose at them and continually getting into their business. Even being shot at doesnt' slow her down, and part of me was wishign this was the end of Aurora teagarden. Sadly the shooter was a bad shot apparently, although she was still close enough to feign actual trouble for Aurora. Not worth the 1 and half hours. Sad because there is some good acting talent being wasted on these shows. At least Garage Sale Mysteries had good well thought out stories and the lead character respected the police and worked with them, instead of disrespecting them.
Loki (2021)
Love tom love Loki - boring series
First I have to say I love tom hiddleston as an actor. All of his work is superb. And the character of Loki is so delicious it is hard to even comprehend him as being boring. But that's what this story is..boring. It goes no where. Very little action. It could almost be a stage production all set in one stage. We gave up watching after 1.5 episodes as it was going nowhere. Then we thought maybe go back and watch the next two episodes. Sadly it was just more of the former. Still not sure why Owen Wilson is in the series. He seems yo be going through his own midlife crisis and totally inconsequential. Nothing exciting comes out of this. Nothing seems to be resolving or bringing us into anything new sadly.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Sadly disappointed in acting and lack of story
I love Viola Davis..think she is great, and I enjoyed Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther. But this story has very 2-dimenionsal. I kept waiting for Viola Davis to "wake up" and become three dimensional. I can't think of anything she had done i haven't loved except this. And Chadwick sadly seem to be doing a political dialogue versus sharing a story with us. Very disappointed. I kept hoping this would go somewhere..but it was sadly a waste of two hours.
Island of Bryan (2019)
I used to love watching Bryan baumler
I used to love watching Bryan baumler with his show where he would help others with their home projects. Then they morphed that into a tv series where the home owners gave him a budget and three options and he chose...not as good as Bryans interior design ability wasn't the best. Then suddenly he wife started showing up....a personalityfar from Bryans. Totally self absorbed and snotty... We then saw them argue over building their own house. A huge ugly house shadowed only in their constant fighting. Now the channel expects is to watch even more of the same. Can't stomachs it anymore. Miss the days where there was value to watching bryan, teaching others how to do these things.
Chesapeake Shores (2016)
Great cast sadly weak writing
Wonderful ensemble cast wasted on a weak writing. The authors write men who are w dimensional at best, while the women run around wondering about their own lives and navel gazing. Nice setting, great actors sadly wasted on the writing. The male characters are the oldest cliches out there.
Gold Digger (2019)
Good series. Lots of twists & turns
Enjoying the series. Love love Julia Ormond. So good to see her doing projects. Great chemistry between the two. Love to see more..
A Merry Christmas Match (2019)
Dog did the best acting...
Not sure where the director was in this painful movie. Some of the worst acting. Some talent there but writing and directing fell really short. Hallmark is stretching things way too thin just to have stuff out there. They should focus on good original writing.
Island of Bryan (2019)
I used to love watching Bryan baumler
I used to love watching Bryan baumler with his show where he would help others with their home projects. Then they morphed that into a tv series where the home owners gave him a budget and three options and he chose...not as good as Bryans interior design ability wasn't the best. Then suddenly he wife started showing up....a personalityfar from Bryans. Totally self absorbed and snotty... We then saw them argue over building their own house. A huge ugly house shadowed only in their constant fighting. Now the channel expects is to watch even more of the same. Can't stomachs it anymore. Miss the days where there was value to watching bryan, teaching others how to do these things.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Daughters (2019)
Could have better writing but great ending!!
Yay ziva!!! Not sure about the writing for this season. Found it week and the cast talent a bit lost for dirextion. Still not sure why they cast Torres on this series. But seeing ziva is great. She was and still is the core of the show. Complete with dinozzo of course (whose bull series is just that....) So bring back the two..bello is okay. Wickersam too.
Sailing Into Love (2019)
Simplistic...lite storyline
I was hoping this movie would be more than it turned out to be...but sadlyiwas let down. The setting of the small coastal town was lovely but the storyline revolved around the sale of the local undeveloped island and the plot was pretty flat and simplistic. There was never a doubt of what was going to happen nor how it would resolve itself in the enx. As well we had to contend with three "wooden" weddings. Hastily put together and were used only to witness the proverbial bouquet toss experiences of the three weddings. However. The new male lead Chris McNally was a breath of fresh air and carried himself and look forward to him in future movies. The female lead Leah Renee was very weak..almost juvenile in her behaviour and acting expertise. Her voice at times was also grating. She would have been better off in a support I g role until she had more experience under her belt. Overall a sad miss..
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Now capt America has become a trump too
For the most part it is a great movie with great action and content, sadly with several key flaws in writing of storyline. Although Hulk has overcome his "I'm not coming out" phobia after the trashing from thanos, we never get to see him back in full swing with all of his rage and power - he has been essentially emasculated and is left that way...now becoming a big green nerd . we then progress to the changing of the timeline flawed logic. They are all very quick to theorize you can't change too much in the timeline..no matter how much you are tempted when retrieving the infinity stones to change back history (as well as returning the stones after the correction to timeline)...and we see that both hulk and stark stick to this agreement. But then at the end when Captain America goes back into the past to return the stones to their original owners (with Thor's original hammer) he turns into Donald trump and selfishly and greedily goes back and lives out his life in the past with Peggy Carter, only to return to the present an old used up but apparently happy man (although somewhere in the past he lost thor's original hammer). Hulk, in spite of obviously being in love with Natasha, changes the past and yet still does not bring her back from the dead. And then Stark has his chance to change history and again avoids the temptation of bringing Natasha back to life. Totally out of character to be so selfish and change history for himself. As well if he does choose to change the past for himself why not bring the two dead avengers back to life??? He would be the last avenger to act so selfishly!! Also there is the unanswered issue of the mind stone being returned to the past - assuming the vision is the rightful owner...why isn't he alive then in the present?? Thor's character acting like an imbecile for the entire movie was also disappointing. But the movie did like a whack of action into it. Well worth watching still
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Disappointing ending to great series
I have loved the entire series of tv and movies in this dragon world and looked forward to this third movie. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. The animation doesn't live up to the tv series animation. The characters weren't as three dimensional as on the tcmv series. The storyline was the greatest disappointment though. The entire series worked on the premise of integrating dragons and humans in a friendly loved coexistence but this movie trashed all of that. Apparent the human existence is too brutal to see that happy ever after big family. And the interplay between Astrid and Hiccup wasn't shown to its best. Sad disappointment to the series. Hope they continue the tv series though in spite of this misstep.
The ABC Murders (2018)
So much wrong with this...sadly
I was excited to see new Agatha Christie works when this was announced, although John Malkovich as Poirot seemed odd casting. The first problem came on the opening credits where it seems two other writers apparently wrote the ABC Murders..not Agatha. It didn't say "adapted by"..but "written by". Then the next problem was the series, in three parts, has different writers for the first and subsequent parts - causing totally different feels for each part. In the first part, attention seems to focus on cinematic perspectives and settings rather that storyline or acting. Malkovich - normally a larger than life character - is quiet almost mouselike...nothing like Poirot. It is only in the second part we start seeing him get into the character. The adaptation storyline was absurd and I am sure Agatha is rolling in her grave over this and other recent adaptations (And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express). A very pale comparison to anything David Suchet did...stick with those and ignore the newer versions.
Bancroft (2017)
had possibilities but ending ruined any chance of that
I was engaged in the series..but it needed more than it gave. the actors were great, and really probably was the one good thing about it. the ending twist was totally unnecessary, and a cheap attempt at "being something out of left field no one saw coming". sadly it made no sense, and the very end again was a twist that didn't jibe with the previous four episodes. with better writing it could have been a really good series. too many things happened that just didn't make sense.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Some potential
I was as most are waiting for the new series...and have mixed reactions thus far. Although i applaud the attempt to use so much Klingon language in this series, it is very tiring to listen to and also difficult to have to read the subtitles constantly when your eyes want to wander and take in the special effects. The intro was somewhat weak - and seemed a very distinct rip-off the Bond movies intros. I love Jason Isaacs as an actor, but WHY are they having him speak with a southern US accent? he has a wonderful accent of his own - let him speak with his normal voice. Also not sure i like his personality as a captain thus far, unless of course you are going to kill him off end of the season and replace him with Sonequa. Sonequa Martin-Green and Doug Jones are wonderful, and the secondary cast as okay thus far. Mary Wiseman is a bit weak - not sure what they are trying to do with her character yet, and Anthony Rapp is okay - but if he is supposed to be gay, show his husband on the series. No one on board as of yet has shown any connection to family or relationships..very two dimensional characters thus far with the exception of Michael Burnham. Hopefully the stories will get more interesting and characters fleshed out. Please bring Michelle Yeoh back in some form - a clone or klingon clone experiment. she is too good to lose from the series. Cheers. Live long and prosper (hopefully)!!
40 Days and Nights (2012)
I was stupified how bad the movie was..
I watched this movie because of my science background and also there is so little good TV to watch these nights...and kept hoping it would get better. it did not, it only got worse, which i was saddened by because i had always enjoyed Alex Carter in CSI and other things he had done. Monica Keene was the standout worst actress in the show...and when looking her up i was surprised to see a considerable body of work behind this movie?! I am not sure what happened to her training and skill sets in this movie - she looked hung over most of the movie. The science was bad - supposedly she had enough DNA samples of moths, molds, bees, etc, for the replenishment of the entire earth contained in several tubes she slung over her shoulder. the writing was bad, the special effects were bad - it was just a BAD movie. Sudden tidal waves in the desert, women on a helicopter not strapped in while navigating through a major storm front, then jumping onto a train and then off of it, all the while not stumbling around People aboard the arc while navigating storm fronts had a perfectly calm and stable interior while doing those scenes. Woke me up instead of putting me to sleep it was so bad...not sure why they made it!!
Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man Movie Overall Well Done
This much anticipated Iron Man didn't disappoint. The logistics of how to make Armour that appeared authentic and potentially functional was accomplished extremely well, and computer graphics were exceptional. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect person cast for this role, and he brings his quick wit and intelligence to the role to reflect the complex personality of Torny Stark. The storyline was modified significantly form the original story and covers a bit too much content, needing some background information in future filled in more thoroughly. Staging was great, costumes wonderful. Supporting cast of Jeff Bridges as Stane was an excellent choice - very ominous personae and we are left to the end to figure out his true colours. Gweneth Paltrow was totally miscast as Pepper Potts, and has the chemistry of wet bread (she should be replaced in next movie with someone with some acting talent and chemistry with Downey). Rhodey could have been cast better as well - he was too "pretty" and was not tough enough, didn't reflect what i thought of the armed forces character (add James Earl Jones voice and we would have been there). Tony' struggle with alcoholism wasn't' touched in this movie, nor was his friendship what Hap, his chauffeur. All in all a good movie. Work on supporting cast though..much improvement needed there.