ajray-1 Reviews

Night Sky (2022)

Slow-burn, kinda Lost-ish, but will NOT let you down

[10/10 · 29 May 2022]

I gotta say, the whole slow depressing start, centered on the sad aspect of our shared mortality, was not an immediate winner in my book. But when it hooked around, it pulled off a slingshot win for storytelling itself. Kudos to the actors, writers, and directors. Flawless. I agree with many previous reviewers, that this is proper sci-fi, but yes of a seriously dramatic stripe.... which *does* lessen as the episodes progress. My main takeaway is that for the entire season, everyone was portrayed as a normal human with neither cliche nor trope. Refreshing, entertaining, satisfying.

A couple of side notes... I never liked Sissy Spacek. DAMN she is a treasure in my book now. And the whole 80s/90s-ish soundtrack treats were pretty cool. I had to Shazam an Aimee Mann song around the shot where Jude got the granola.

And finally, I gotta explain why I deem this Lost-ish. Well, yes, Penelope is in it and there are flashbacks, but it is the whole roll-with-the-alien-tech character development that goes on. The way I see it, if you like sci fi, you like seeing people amazed and drawn to sci fi things. It may not be natural, but hell, it makes the story go on quite nicely and worthy of a 10 star rating.

American Auto (2021–2023)

Acceptable Clone with Potential

[8/10 · 1 January 2022]

When your product is a comedy about an office, a bar, or a retail store, you have a huge chunk of your audience in on the jokes by default. There is a bit of an uphill climb when you decide to base your yuks in a less mass-experienced scenario.. no matter how common the bonds. The writers did quite well to tailor the many humorous tragedies of the modern auto industry (and auto consumerism) in a way to include most of us. That said... I have no idea why I want to watch more of this. Previous commenters were mostly on the mark that very few actors shine. The lead assistant blonde chick has OBVIOUSLY watched hundreds of hours of America Ferrera and ran with it. The head blonde CEO did the same with Glenn Sturgis but thankfully shunned the Kermit voice. You all know who the Mateo is in this show..duh. Marcus *is* Marcus. The British guy seriously must be there to confuse commenters.... a virtual speed bump which I refuse to fall for. Tye White has charisma. I expect great things from Tye. He may not save the show but if the powers that be figure out some way to stop the damn camera dizzy-over-the-shoulder-pingpong-wackiness *and* find a few more interesting plot lines then we may have a satisfying 6 seasons here.

Retool the roles of the brit guy and Dori. They are fine with the acting but I seriously hope they are secret weapons for future episodes.

Debris (2021)

Worth following for now

[6/10 · 2 March 2021]

The real enemy here is the treatment of previous sci-fi series on network TV and this series offers me absolutely nothing to assuage my fears of it being cancelled in short time. How many years since Lost ended?... and I *still* want to see more Sawyer or Hurley or that Hobbit guy. Debris has zero characters with likeability but some really cool plot aspects. I can wait for character development... can the network heads? Shyah. Not. I don't get this whole morose character thing on the part of the writers and I do not blame the suits for pulling plugs.

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Okay Cinema

[10/10 · 10 July 2004]

Coscarelli usually gives you something to take home and crow about, but not this time. It was, however, a good film worth a watch.

On the bright side, there were *many* clever dialogue tidbits. Nothing prophetic, but genuinely endearing and solid. Every single actor/actress was flawless.

On the negative side, I expect to be moved by a film. I was not moved here. A consolation prize was that I was awakened to the plight of the elderly in our society. Gee, thanks Don. I never expected to grow up so fast because I saw your movie here. (sarcasm off) I remember when Coscarelli could take a bad guy and shape my life with the evil and the motions and all but not this time. Yes, the bad guy still lost to the righteous, but hope was absent.

My wife said "He can get this made, yet he can't get Phantasm V made?". My wife is NOT a true Phan. I am, fully. I could not argue with my wife on that point though. The best I had in response was to point out the cheesy beetle SFX and note that I would march over to Don's house and punch him in the back of the head if he ever pulled off such a cheesy effect in a Phantasm film. (forgiving the first film of course).

All in all, it is worth the watch for the fact that it is unlike any movie I have seen lately and if anyone but DAC directed then I would never have panned a bit of it.

********* possible spoiler ****************

My final thought is that I was expecting Campbell, or Davis or even Bannister to whip out an AK-47 or something. Or perhaps Elvis would muster up an inner power and kick some ass Kung-Fu style. It never happened. I will repeat again that I am a die-hard DAC fan with Kenny and Co. and Jim the World's Greatest under my viewing belt, so believe me that something is odd here..... I have faith that it is my perception though, not Don's touches on this story.