lzvictor Reviews

Risen (2016)

A nice change for a religious film. Lighter on the religion but still attempts lots of drama. Attempts....

[5/10 · 23 April 2016]

So, this film is a very pretty washing of the resurrection story. It is shot in pretty landscapes with a lot of blue filters that soften the light and make it slightly more mystical / heavenly. It comes at it from a political point of view from a Roman who sees and participates outside then inside. Nobody is really sinister and that is often true in life so that is interesting in this day of everybody wanting black and white, good verses evil, etc.

I like how religion now needs special effects to emphasize the moments when in reality, moments come and go and the clock doesn't stop. Unlike the preposterous and wildly imagined Noah, they take poetic / dramatic license with an earthquake to poignantly (well, poignant failure) emphasize Jesus's death and then of course he has to steal the thunder. Wait. I meant fire from Elijah so he can also ascend in a fireball. Scene stealer? Copycat?

This is another film for the religious crowd and I think they'll be pleased and start telling everyone around them it is mandatory viewing when it really tries to deliver the message without much Jesus involved. This is about the least pushy of this type of film I've seen but it does go for the tears and drama and tries hard to wrestle with your emotions, but it is a bit simplistic in that regard so it doesn't quite get there. Think of 13 year old girls running into the room in a tizzy then with extra drama telling you a story that really wasn't dramatic - kind of feels like that and you say to yourself - really?

Watch it, enjoy it, do something while watching it with all the extra dialogue, etc and make sure you don't shove it on others since they won't be better friends after seeing it because you made them but only if they wanted to see it in the first place.

Hellstorm (2015)

Massive Propaganda film filled with Misdirection and False Rationale

[1/10 · 11 February 2016]

This movie is to try and present a view from the other side but conveniently omits a lot of relevant information. It opens with a shot of a dead soldier looking to have been gassed - a German war invention.

They actually say "alleged" regarding the acts of Germany and the full complicity of the German people. The movie then concentrates on the bombing of German cities and talk about the firestorms and the horror but neglect to point out that it was the Germans who were responsible for the carpet bombing of London well before any of the German bombing raids they describe. Germany set the tone and established this practice then suffered from having it returned on them.

Do they talk about the menu for the German officers who took over Paris that included most of the animals in the Paris Zoo? Ooops, forgot that one. This film says upfront it is not about the view from the Allies, but regardless of that, this film tries to portray the German people as victims when they were behind the hell on earth unleashed by Germany on the world in it's ambition to conquer Europe and commit genocide. This film tries to portray the Germans as victims but neglect to point out the torture, vicious rape, torture, enslavement, and medical experiment that preceded the genocide. Meanwhile German farms were using human ashes for their fields.

The poles were also treated so horribly and encamped in ghettos but allowed to leave for slave labor but return nightly to the concentration camps after hard work, rape, torture, and constant abuse and "inferior".

There is nothing redeeming about this film. It is an obvious attempt to appeal to racists. There is overwhelming evidence about which clearly documents how false this film portrays history.

The Night Shift (2014–2017)

Good but totally LA and not San Antonio - Misses all the cultural marks

[7/10 · 17 March 2015]

I like this series and this hits many good marks on the point of the show plus contentious points in real life.

They miss a lot of cultural points unique to San Antonio and the actor lineup of the guests are all standard LA actors you see in many shows around the networks.

Where this show really misses the marks are to focus on the reality of the culture. First, San Antonio is a MAJORITY Mexican (yes, Mexican, not Hispanic and not a pejorative) city. It was part of Mexico BEFORE it was part of Texas or the USA. The city still embraces that heritage regardless of your particular race. There are few Mexicans on the staff whereas the hospitals in SA are representative of the local populace. There are more black people in this hospital than Mexican people which is insultingly wrong. I may be lily white, but where I shop, eat, and do anything, I am surrounded by not just 85%/15% white / black people.

After their shift they talk about going out for pancakes and grits. That is totally the EXCEPTION for San Antonio. Elsewhere, this would not make sense, but in SA, its the Breakfast Taco. This is a normal tortilla filled with eggs / potatoes / chorizo / cheese / bacon or sausage. The countryside was settled by Germans and Poles in the early 1800's so you find incredible Polish Sausage and Kielbasa so even if they don't speak English, the restaurant has good sausage in the breakfast tacos. Only place in the country with this unique combination. You can't swing a dead cat in San Antonio without hitting a church or a restaurant that has breakfast tacos.

Things they hit right are the military that come here and when they get out they stay here. Many of those military also have brown skin. It is good to see how the former military still maintain contact with current military but they always ask the white guys when they need military help and they seriously downplay the Asian doctor's service when it comes to phoning a friend for help. Only the white guys can reach out to other white guys in the military when they need military help?

The show also calls it wrong in hiring someone as a Physician's Assistant and treating them like a Physician's aide. A Physician's Assistant is an ACTUAL Title and has the same power as a Nurse Practitioner which have specific boards they have to pass, get their own patients, and write prescriptions. They're treated like doctors and given the same responsibilities except that a doctor simply has to review/sign off on their charts so they're NOT treated like assistants like in the show While actual specific privileges vary between states, they're treated like doctors almost universally.

I feel slightly insulted they rely on a Mexican to translate to local immigrant families when in reality many of the staff who have skin of a different color (white or black, etc) would also be fluent. It's just part of the culture in SA while in California there's more of a stigma to it. If you're not Mexican and you speak some of the language, it's normal but in California it's often shunned. San Antonio embraces this which creates a more congenial atmosphere.

Reminding you that I have no Mexican heritage, hopefully you can see my point about the fact that the writers simply don't get the SA culture. They rely on cliché actors which unfortunately becomes rather bland quite quickly. Maybe they could reach out to Robert Rodriguez in Austin to grab some talent that would make an impact (no pun intended).

It would be great of the writers to interface the hospital staff with the Burn unit at Fort Sam which is widely considered the best burn center in the world.

In the show there are lots of pranks which are often funny and good spirited. In the real world, most of those would get someone in real trouble with the hospital policies since there is always that ONE person who complains and creates an actual incident out of a harmless prank as an HR issue. How I wish life could imitate art in this.

EDITS: I am 13 episodes.

After seeing it is filmed in Albuquerque, I must ask why they never thought to film in SA which would be MUCH less expensive and give them local shots. Shooting in Alb is completely out of touch. Might as well film it in Portland for how different it's from SA.

If there are 5 unique cities in the country including New Orleans & SA, why not use the actual city because there's no substitute for unique.

After reading the other reviews on blatant medical blunders, I would stress to the writers including a little more showing of washing hands, changing gloves, and medical sanitary procedures they would naturally follow while chatting which happens a lot more than chats up at the counters or store rooms. Doesn't waste film, just changes the set locations. Other than that, get over it since there is a review by a surgeon and everyone knows surgeons aren't mere humans. Yes, there is cinematic license, but use a medical adviser since half of the decisions shown where doctors ignore protocols would get them immediately suspended due to liability reasons and the malpractice insurance concerns. Sorry folks, doctors aren't rebellious when they pay 50K+ malpractice insurance but this is ignored for drama.

Mozart in the Jungle (2014–2018)

Great Pilot

[9/10 · 12 February 2014]

Take the excitement and hope of youthful aspirant in Smash and bring it into a complex world of drama that has the history and histrionics of classical music and you have this great show.

Where else but the stage can define drama but here is the drama behind the scenes of the stage. The music is another category and one that often fights for money harder than the main stage because there is less of it. Musicians get paid less and have to fight harder to get into great positions.

The intermix of old verses new and young / old and resistance to change is here and there's plenty of it to keep this show going. I like the attention to detail in the music and the great examples of playing which might actually expose such an incredible resource to a wider audience.

Now - only one spoiler - If you are a cute girl and a male ballet dancer hits on you who is cute - don't hesitate since they are fewer and farther between than you might think. Go For It!.

Hope they pick this up because it sure has potential and it definitely has the legs to be a great series.

Babylon (2014)

Interesting

[6/10 · 12 February 2014]

Looking at this in the whole, we liked it. There are times when you are not sure if it is a drama, a mocumentary, a spoof of reality television, or what they are going for. Many of the characters in this show typify the characters we see in life. The person who shares WAY too much, the one who is not there because it would mean being responsible, and the ones who do the exact opposite of what they should be doing because they think it benefits them.

We all know the ones who leak info to the wrong people and undermine their bosses on purpose. We also all know the bosses who do anything to avoid responsibility if there could be any impact other than taking credit where credit is not due. We all know the people who speak and act completely without any kind of filters except their partners.

This is a perfect example of how corporate and government organizations run today with people more concerned about their personal agendas than the good of the company, or the good of society or simply what the right thing to do. A Padalekian philosophy of avoid anything that has repercussions and throw anyone under the bus instead of actually doing anything for yourself. If this one philosophy could be avoided, the entire world would be so much a better place and this movie is a wonderful example of how so many people simply try to avoid doing what they should do and instead focus on doing what they think will advance them or undermine others around them the most in the same pursuit.

A true and excellent example of Padalekianism at it's finest only lacking the ruthless mental abuse of the ones under the subject's control. Highly recommend it because it will keep you entertained between funny and mild suspense but don't go look to this for any extreme emotion, just good simple film making that makes you walk away thinking how ludicrous a world we live in because we see all of these people in our daily lives and hope we are separated by distance from them.

RoboCop (2014)

Great Flick

[8/10 · 12 February 2014]

Saw this in IMAX at a Palladium Preview here in San Antonio.

Overall - Great film with lots of action, good storyline, nice expansion on original premise only missing a few points as a film.

Comparing it to the original the storyline was similar in scope but different enough to not feel as if it were a simple copy. We like that it remains in Detroit. We like that the old Taurus cars are gone but it would have been cool to see a little more of that cool Detroit car vibe in this movie since they are "motor city".

The action was fast paced and executed perfectly by the actors. The only thing we agreed on was that during the height of the action sequences the film seemed to omit a lot of the detail or slow down for a split second for people to see enough of it. Perfect example is when a motorcycle crashes through a barrier - the crashing though was slowed perfectly but the immediate action that it leads into - the reaction / impact - was a VERY fast cut of scenes with very little scenery and a lot of black. I'm ADD so I caught the entire thing but there simply was a void of content in the scenes for those vital seconds of when the action begins. You hear lots of crashes and noise and shooting but there's a lot of black on the screen. Some people said they closed their eyes because it was just too jerky.

We give this movie an extra star for the actors. Who plays Robocop? That guy who is always smoking and high on The Killing? Wait, he's a model too? Yep, that's him and his slow, and slight drawl with the sardonic twist is a perfect compliment to the character who needs to have a personality to differentiate him from the robot . Wonderful casting and if you listen to his voice, you hear his character from "The Killing" but you see him in a totally different light. Great job Joel Kinnaman!

Michael K. Williams - Omar! Not to typecast but we just love seeing you in film and another great job. Gary Oldman - such a wonderful but tragic lamentation losing this role to a Brit playing an American - again. A truly incredible actor. Michael Keaton - great job as always. The other character actors did a fine job but I would have enjoyed Jay Baruchel's character being a little more underhanded like they are in real life capitalizing on tragedy without any conscience. Jackie Earle Haley - great to see you doing an awesome sociopath.

Only thing is we felt there were references to a plot line that had been cut but sounded really interesting. Oh well. See this, you'll like it and money well spent.You won't wish you were somewhere else and its a good time.