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Ryan-474
Reviews
Jury Duty (2023)
The Joe Schmo Show in a court room
Jury Duty reminded me of the old Spike TV show "The Joe Schmo Show". It was the same premise everyone except for 1 person was a plant on a reality TV survivor type show.
The biggest difference aside from the is show taking place in a court room is that the plants don't break character behind the scenes. They have conversations in character even if the person that is not aware of the show being fake isn't paying attention to them.
The only thing not explained is why there is a camera crew and why they are talking to them during the non court room scenes. I think that would be pretty hard to convince someone that they should be talking to any crew about anything when they were already told not to discuss things outside of the room.
Tales from the Loop (2020)
Good but very slow paced
If you are looking for sci-fi with action and thrills this isn't the show for you. It took me a while to really get into the first episode because its pacing is really slow. However once you adjust to the fact that it isn't about to take off running and it maintains the pace throughout the 8 episodes then its easy to really get into.
El laberinto del fauno (2006)
Not thrilled...
OK, let me start by saying there were a few things about the movie that I did like. I thought that some of the visual effects were very nicely done. The character of Pan was very well designed. The creature with eyes in its hands was adequately creepy. The frog was an interesting concept.
Here is what I really couldn't stand about the movie... Please be warned this does contain spoilers!!!! If you have not seen it and you don't want the movie ruined for you, stop reading now.
First of all the preview of the movie makes it look phenomenal! That is what drew me in to see the movie in the first place. Then the first killing with the man getting his face bashed in repeatedly with the butt of the gun. Yeah... that was stupid. I realize that they were trying to point out the cruelty of war, but that was just pointless. The trailer leads you to believe that that is the Spanish reply to Narnia... then you get the first make-shift horror gore. I understand that the movie was R rated for a reason.. but when you make a movie that is projected as being an adult science fiction, the gore just ruined it. If I wanted to see that I would have gone to see whatever slasher film is currently being released.
My other big problem is that the title really has very little to do with the movie. The word Labyrinth in its simplest form is a maze. I realize that they are trying to say that the tasks that Ofelia was sent on are complex series things that she must do, and that is where they are referencing the idea of a "Labyrinth". But that is not the direction that we are lead to believe the movie will be going in. When I saw the first preview of the movie I was under the impression that Ofelia was going to enter an actual labyrinth. The previews lead you to believe this by showing you things that are not the outside world. They should have shown more of Ofelia in the real world.
Ending spoiler beyond this point! Ofelia is crazy... yes she is out of her skull insane, hallucinating right until the very end. There is nothing to show that she truly enters this new world... they show her dead body at the end. So with her last ounce of life she hallucinates that she is still living in this new glorious world.
As someone that has a passion for movies, this one was bitter end. Usually I can find something of worth within most of the films that I see, even if I don't think it was incredible. With this one, I saw it once, and I will most likely not watch it again. It really wasn't all that good... and I hate saying that because I do like most of Guillermo del Toro's movies.
Golf Punks (1998)
Could have been a Nickelodeon Movie
As far as being a classic, this movie doesn't even come close. Being that in the last 10 years there have only been a handful of decent National Lampoon movies you can't expect that this one was going to be one of the better ones. If you are looking for the rudeness of Animal House, or the Raunchyness of Van Wilder, then this isn't the movie you want.
On an up-note, if you are looking for a movie that kids can watch and would most likely enjoy this one isn't bad. As I mentioned it could have very well been made by Nickelodeon. The movie is pretty campy and there isn't any bad language or violence to speak of.. even the mobsters that appear in the movie aren't menacing. So if you are looking for something that a kid around the age of 6 - 12 could watch then this one wouldn't be a bad choice.