s_b_n_s2 Reviews (6)

Sabotage (2014)

Was so awful we got up and left

[1/10 · 4 April 2014]

This movie was bad - real bad. We don't often get up and leave a movie but that's exactly what we did about half-way through this steaming pile of junk. We kept thinking that we should give it a little more time to straighten out into something watchable but it became clear that wasn't going to happen.

And what made it so execrable? Well for one thing, the violence was needlessly excessive, although that is not really what bothered me. What was bad was the fact that there was no one good in the movie - no one to root for. Everyone was a varying degree of lowlife - not a shred of presence of a decent or family person.

And then the language. My goodness, the language in this movie was atrocious - and I don't just mean the neverending use of the F-word which was both boring and stupid. But also the extremely coarse and vulgar sexual dialogue and references. I saw End of Watch and thought the F-word was needlessly excessive but I don't remember the intense sexual dialogue that Sabotage has.

I've seen plenty of R-rated movies in my time that are tame compared to this one. This film should have gotten an NC-17 in my opinion based on the extreme language and violence. I go beyond saying that this movie wasn't for children to say that it wasn't for adults, either. And judging by the box office bomb Sabotage has been, I don't think I'm the only one to come to that conclusion (there was virtually no one in the theater when we were there on the opening Friday night at prime time).

And don't expect to enjoy any of the light-hearted humor of Arnold's earlier movies. I've enjoyed many Arnold movies over the years due to this humor but Sabotage is bereft of it. Arnold goes around depressed and brooding and is really boring to watch. It was also disappointing to see good actors like Mireille Enos and Terrence Howard participate in such drivel.

All in all, I hope I save a few people from watching this terrible movie. It's just not worth your time.

The Kennedys (2011)

For the careful observer, it shows what the Kennedy's were really like

[5/10 · 26 March 2012]

I have watched this series through nearly to the end and have found it quite entertaining - especially the character of Bobby Kennedy played very well by Barry Pepper. However, I come away feeling that the show tries to 'whitewash' the rampant sexual immorality that has become synonymous with the Kennedy name and this affects things in a number of ways in this series, in some ways realistically and in others very unrealistically.

Joe Kennedy, Sr. brazenly and ghoulishly commits adultery in front of his wife and has no concern for her feelings and I think the series at least somewhat realistic in the way it captures this mean-spirited oppression. However, JFK is just as sleazy as his dad, yet the series portrays him almost sympathetically. He was a HORRIBLE husband who apparently missed no opportunities to cheat on Jackie with any bimbo that came along. While a man can make mistakes, it is simply not right to portray such vile behavior in a sympathetic light. If you don't believe me, think of how a normal family would deal with this. I don't think most wives would stand by and be humiliated repeatedly by such behavior. I suppose they decided that the fame and fortune was better than fidelity.

And that's where some of the show's realism comes in. I was struck by the intense weakness of character of both Rose and Jackie Kennedy. I don't know if it was intentional but Katie Holmes' portrayal of Jackie came off as a pretty simple-minded First Lady who was never willing or strong enough to elicit any promises of change from her wayward husband. He just sort of had a 'this is the way I am so you have to accept it'. It's really gross and I don't see why we have to have leaders like that.

Surely a good president can be a good family man, too? All in all, it's an interesting watch but read between the lines!

Private Practice (2007–2013)

Morally repugnant & unrealistic

[1/10 · 15 March 2009]

I've watched a few episodes of this show and have found certain elements of it to be rather interesting, considering medical facts that can be learned. But this is totally upstaged and wrecked by the neverending immoral relationships of the show's characters. Everybody seems to have slept with just about everyone, even during office hours, which is ridiculously unrealistic. There doesn't seem to be one solid, lasting marriage or relationship in the entire show - everyone is broken up and on the prowl - hardly a true reflection of all Americans. Indeed, there is a total lack of respect for marriage or monogamy and it's truly fulsome.

Then we are presented with endless little moral 'dilemmas' and they're generally solved in such a way that belittles anyone who doesn't agree with the all-knowing degenerate management and staff of the private practice. For instance, in one of the latest episodes we're presented with an exceedingly rare situation of a baby who is born with an uncertain gender and Addison absolutely refuses to perform the surgery because we're supposed to let the baby decide his gender later on. Anyone who disagrees with this is portrayed as immature and stupid.

And I think that anyone opposed to abortion would be offended by the way the show treats pro-lifers. Addison made the comment that no man was allowed to have an opinion on the issue and only one black character was given dignity for opposing abortion on moral grounds. The general feeling was that if you opposed abortion, you're a freak - hardly the popular sentiment in the US. Two of the main characters in the show nonchalantly mention that they had abortions when they were younger and had no apologies or regrets, in spite of the fact that research has shown women can undergo intense depression. What's more a young girl comes to the clinic for an abortion and then thanks the staff on the way out and someone talks about it as how they were helping this young person and it was like something to exult in. The script could have been written by Planned Parenthood.

All in all, this is a cheap show that lacks much of a future unless it decides to present more real relationships rather than just totally unbelievable soap opera relationships and far-fetched medical situations throughout the whole show.

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

Good reminder movie for Election Year

[1/10 · 22 August 2008]

I was simultaneously stunned and relieved while watching this movie. While, it's an ugly reminder of America's (and in particular, New York's) decline in morality. It's an open testament and reminder to the loose morals of the modern-day Democratic Party and its most ardent followers - which is a very good and timely reminder to Americans as we're going to have to choose our next President very soon.

Much of the movie gravitates around Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign and how young supporters adulated and followed him in New York that year, particularly the character played by Ryan Reynolds. What is a bit amazing is how blunt and biased this movie is in its liberal political proclivities. It's so pro-Democrat that they even had old Bill Clinton himself run by towards the end of the film. And one of the movie's 'heroines' worked for the laughably liberal 'Amnesty International'. Republicans are made to look stupid, albeit subtly.

But most importantly, especially in light of John Edwards' recent adultery scandal, this movie is an ironic reminder of how the Democrats will lead us nowhere nationally. Even the Ryan Reynolds character in this film got disillusioned by Clinton. George W. Bush is briefly lampooned at one point in this film but whatever his shortcomings, we didn't have to put up with a bunch of blatant moral failings like Clinton. If you're conservative, take note of how the liberals don't even care filling a poor little girl's head (played by Abigail Breslin) with a bunch of rubbish about messed up relationships. That struck me as bad taste.

Go to this movie and come away prepared to vote for John McCain!

The Great Debaters (2007)

Movie has anti-white undertones

[5/10 · 17 May 2008]

I found this movie very interesting, but as a white person I found this movie insulting at times. Virtually all of the white characters in the movie are 'bad guys' and are generally characterized as ignorant, mean-spirited and boorish while the blacks are shown as highly intelligent, polished and long-suffering. There is little or no attempt to balance this bias with some major 'good guy' white figures. That's unfair and presumptuous, especially considering that white judges were clearly often the ones giving the victories to the black debaters.

Also, sometimes when Miss Booke would speak, she would make outrageous proclamations like saying that blacks were the thread that put our nation together. Sure, they made their contribution like all the other races but to say their the thread is simply hyperbole and just not true. It does nothing to 'bring us together'.

But all of this is part of Oprah Winfrey's style now of 'blacks-are-smarter-than-whites' which includes her bully pulpit endorsement of Barack Obama and her constant drumming up of these sorts of issues. How do people like this expect our nation to ever heal from our past racial wounds if it's constantly being dished back into our faces all the time? Mistakes were made in the past, for sure, but let's face on making things better from where they are now.

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

Unrealistic garbage soft porn

[1/10 · 28 March 2008]

I didn't know quite what I was getting myself into when I rented this movie. I hoped it might be a bit of an epic but I was sorely disappointed. Even the title is laughable and hard to visualize when you try to think about it. A warning to viewers: this movie has no regard for the laws of God or man when it comes to issues of morality, especially sexually.

The story goes that the main character Florentino Ariza has a 'love at first sight' experience and then the old clichéd 'daddy-doesn't-like-the-romance' of his rich daughter marrying a poor man scenario unfolds and Ariza's 'true love' is thwarted as the women he likes ends up marrying someone else who is rich and famous (Benjamin Bratt). And then this is where the film totally derails itself in its own folly. To deal with the situation of his broken heart, Ariza becomes a serial philanderer/adulterer who has sex with anything that moves (that's female) as a 'medicine' for his lovelorn heart, including destroying marriages and lives in his wake. He also doesn't care that the woman he's so 'in love' with is married and he openly hopes her husband dies so he can prey on her. How the directors of the film expect us to feel sorry for Ariza is beyond me and also how they expect us to fathom that the old goat Ariza magically attracts so many young women is simply fatuous.

The end is not worth waiting for and enters a new level of unrealism. I won't 'spoil' it any further, but I'm afraid the whole movie spoiled itself. Sorry but this movie is a colossal disappointment and I hope I will spare at least some viewers from this sexually explicit waste of time.