chewywater-707-400701

PRO Good actors, lots of suspense, interesting characters. Fun way to kill time.

CON Too much unnecessary footage of people driving, getting from one place to another. Too much unnecessary footage of sex. I've nothing against sex but it wasn't moving the story along.

I spun through a lot of that so it's fine.

This show is good solid entertainment. I hope they bring it back. A few glaring logical errors but the acting is good and the characters are easy to like.

March 10, 2021

Made it halfway through the third episode and I just can't take any more.

CONS

Every conversation is an unnecessary argument. All the drama feels forced and totally unbelievable. I can't respect characters that seem like they're looking for drama at every turn.

The boys, especially the younger one, is so pouty, whiny and annoying that he can't get through one conversation with dad without sulking and looking like he's going to cry.

PROS

The actors are doing their best. The actor playing superman projects a likability I haven't seen in many supermen. If the writing gets better the show could work.

THE BAD Lots of philosophizing by writers who know nothing about anything. The writing is so childish that it's very hard to suspend your disbelief.

THE GOOD It's a good superhero story. Never boring. Definitely entertaining.

ADVICE: If you have an ounce of intelligence just lower your expectations a little and enjoy yourself.

I liked season one. I liked season two more. This review is for season two.

Pro: Nice little puzzle of a story and it was great to see all the pieces drop into place at the end.

Cons: *The music in the first few episodes hits the right mood but is fatiguing and too constant. They seem to have fixed this in later episodes.

*The characters are overly simple. It would have been nice to get to know Audrey Temple, to grow to like her, and then to see her struggle with her sense of morality. But I never really got to know the two women well enough to understand why they seemed compassionate one minute and psychopathic the next. Many of the supporting characters seem cartoonish as well. The personalities of characters are too ill defined for me to form strong feelings about them.

*There are too few likable characters.

Regarding the many bad reviews. I too get disgusted when writers sacrifice good storytelling to be 'woke'. But I didn't get a feeling that there was any agenda in Season 2.

The pros: The actors are mostly good. The female lead is yum. The kid is lovable although he's too young to act realistically in many situations. The rap songs in the first few episodes were well chosen. Not sure why they lost the rap in later episodes.

The cons: I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with lessons on bullying, misogyny, racism, sexuality, respecting boundaries, no means no, how I should treat the handicapped . . . etc.

While I agree with the points being made, it feels like the writers have absolutely nothing else to say and view the world through a lens colored by these issues alone. The strong agenda leaves the characters devoid of nuance, and unbelievable as real people.

The dance numbers feel a little long.

CONS characters suddenly have conversations about religion, feminism, immigration, racism, cultural appropriation etc in situations where no one would ever bring it up in real life. Totally kills suspension of disbelief regardless of your politics. Not sure if writers wanted to promote their agenda, appeal to the left, or maybe they're college kids that think real people talk like this. Either way it totally pulls you out of the fantasy.

Our characters also go from fighting for their lives, to discussing their relationships, to having hot sex, consoling and hugging . . round and round in very bipolar fashion. This I can forgive I guess. It is supposed to be a roller-coaster so . . .

In every episode a storm is coming and the bar is closed.

PROS The characters are likable enough. Decent handling of suspense and cliffhangers. If you can ignore the cons you can definitely enjoy the ride.

Note that I had never seen the original series.

Some of the acting feels a little shaky in initial episodes, but once it gets rolling the show is engaging. There are likeable characters, people to root for. The racial dynamics are pretty much what was going on in San Francisco in the 1800s, so there was no need to exaggerate. The writers do a good job of showing the full spectrum of human behavior; not all of the white guys are evil, not all of the Asians are good.

Hoon Lee, the guy who plays Wang Chao, stands out as a great actor. Something magnetic about that dude.

The good: The acting is good.

The bad: I can't suspend my disbelief. Here are some examples why:

The characters do nothing but whine about how the world's going to pieces in every conversation. The characters spend all their time talking about the future and where it's going and how scared they are. Yes, these issues are what the show's about but actual people don't talk like that all the time. "The worlds gone mad!" "God the world's got complicated". Just the writers trying to get you worried by showing the characters worrying. Makes the characters look like a bunch of whiners, and makes the dialogue feel unrealistic.

The British politician gives a speech in which she promises to send the owners of American software companies to jail in Britain, because of porn getting on kids' phones (Whaaat?). The audience then goes from being against her to total worship. (What?? Come-on . . . ).

Then one woman with spina bifida finds out it's cured in children, and this apparently is a bad thing "once they start fixing people, where do they stop? Too tall? Too short? Do they want to fix me? I'm Brilliant!" Whaat? There are a million terrifying things that could happen with genetic engineering, curing spina-bifida isn't one of them.

And the music is just relentlessly doomy in case you're not getting it.

When a family loses all their money and has no place to live, the husband calls his sisters and tells them the bad news, and the guy's sister immediately launches into a lecture about the evils of banking (banking is BAD!) and blames him for working in finance. Just a totally unbelievable thing for the sister to do in that moment, given that she loves her brother. .

When an air-raid siren goes off, the family loses their minds and run around like morons instead of trying to help each other.

In real life some change is good and some is bad. In this show the writers desperately try to convince me that all change is bad, no matter what it is: AI, economics, politics, curing spina-bifida, cell phones, toy robots, synthetic alcohol, . . .

I just can't buy in.

FIRST SEASON I think this is the best series about superheroes I've ever watched.

There's almost nothing wrong with it. The casting is perfect. The dialogue is perfect. It never gets boring. By the end of the season the drama is just epic.

It's good enough that people like it even if they aren't fans of the genre.

There are some explicit scenes.

SECOND SEASON Had to lower my review to an 8. The racism theme seems kind of underwhelming.

Pro: Funny dialogue. Often laughed out loud. Very unusual in movies. Characters remained likable through whole thing.

It's a rare film that can do both of the above.

Con: Movie is In no way believable, but that's OK with comedy.

The only thing stupider than this show is me cuz I can't stop watching it.

GOOD things about Siren: The two lead women are unique, beautiful, and likable. The plot stays busy; it's not boring. Addictive. Good light entertainment. Scenery is beautiful. Some good actors in the show doing their best with second-rate dialogue.

BAD things about Siren. You may encounter a bad actor in here. Like really bad. The dialogue often feels unrealistic and awkward. Things happen that don't make any sense.

OVERALL You are going to roll your eyes at this show, then load the next episode.

Pro: Hits all the right emotional notes while respecting the people. Inspired me to go read up on the disaster.

con: Very little nuance. American hero, damsel in distress. Evil corporation etc. A little confusing regarding how the rig was coming apart.

I've seen Andrew being WAY funnier than this, improvising endless jokes on podcasts like tigerbelly, jokes that make me laugh from the gut. I don't understand how someone with such an excellent sense of humor can create a special that's not funny.

The ideas here are light and silly, but the delivery is serious and drawn-out, like he's dropping really heavy stuff. Weird.

It felt a little creepy at first, watching a show about kids and sex. But after three episodes I was hooked. It's a very funny combination of Monsters INC., Inside Out, and perhaps The Simpsons.

Pros: Very funny jokes. I laugh out loud frequently. And I find myself saying "I can't believe they did that". The show is a chance for adults to go back and forgive their former selves. It's actually a therapeutic show to watch, especially for those of us who grew up before the internet and went through puberty in a state of profound ignorance. There are a lot of likable characters that I really care about, root for. It's like the writers really love their characters. There's something kind and caring in the writing. The show is totally unique.

Cons: The musical numbers in earlier episodes are great (singing, arranging etc), but in later episodes the quality isn't quite as high (season 2?), although the songs are still hilarious. I got a little confused about the hormone-monsters at the end of season two. I thought the hormone-monsters were supposed to be metaphors for the biological forces that are changing the characters, but I'm not sure that metaphor holds anymore.

POSITIVES I care about the characters. The show takes it's time like a documentary so feels real. On the one hand it feels like there's too much drama and not enough science-fiction. But the return on that investment is that by the time of the launch you are so connected to the characters that it's a much deeper experience than a typical science-fiction-show. I love the soundtrack. It's got a vibe like chariots of fire but with really expansive and interesting timbres. The music is always appropriate (with the exception of first episode where it never stops ) and is a huge part of what makes the show feel massive and important. They allowed the vacuum of space to be silent! They take a huge risk in assuming that the audience is intelligent enough to appreciate that realism. Very cool.

NEGATIVES Boss lady's turnaround in character is inconsistent: won't let Sean Penn's daughter eat with the family, then in the next episode she's like "I'll take care of her" and being all motherly. Regarding the Moody-hot-female-astronaut, it's kind of a mystery why her marriage is so bad and why she's so sad. Seems like if you know you're going to Mars you're going to be very clear with your spouse about whether kids are part of the plan or not, right from the beginning. I guess a lot of the drama in the relationships does feel a little forced. Not bad enough to keep me from suspending disbelief, but that could be better. The show is sometimes unnecessarily slow: watch someone buy sheets, watch someone read a whole letter. Watch daughter wander through a party for ten minutes Etc.

Overall: Unique, slightly campy, likeable characters, but a bit confusing.

spoilers below Pros: I really care about the two main characters. At heart, both are likeable and unselfish. The visuals are really creative. I do like the retro-futuristic designs.

Cons: It is very confusing that their are three levels of 'un-reality' in this story: the delusions of a schizophrenic, the dreams that the subjects have inside the mind of the AI, and then what's supposed to be 'reality' is clearly different from the world I live in, like it's an alternate timeline or something.

The real world's odd mix of retro and futuristic needs to be explained at some point. If that's not explained I'm just confused. If it does get explained in a new season then I'll return and update my rating.

Perhaps 'reality' is still a simulation and they're still inside the AI. Which could be true considering that the car with the flames showed up in Owens dream and then in the 'real world' it's the female scientist's car. Otherwise though, all of the dot matrix printers and 70's style computers just really confuse me.

Every character has severe psychiatric problems, including the computer. Just feels kind of odd. Everyone needs therapy.

The tone, and music, goes from dead serious to campy, and it's kind of confusing. It feels like genre hopping sometimes.

In general I'm not fond of stories where everything's a dream. If I know it's a dream it's harder for me to care about what's going on.

First of all, I think Sarah's standup is great. Always have. This show however is disappointing and weird.

There's an agenda to a lot of it. It feels like the material is meant to teach me lessons and correct my behavior. The last thing I would want or expect from Sarah is to tell me how to be politically correct. Ugh.

Also when she interacts with her guests she's got this exaggerated way of responding to them that feels like sarcasm at first and then you realize she's not kidding. Ugh. Weird.

Having said that, there is definitely some good material in these shows that makes me laugh.

OVERALL: Show has flaws, but I just let it go and enjoy the roller-coaster.

FLAWS: The writers do force the drama here and there. There ARE scenes where you roll your eyes, Examples (spoilers) eg1. Every villain is a prolific storyteller. Whenever you see a villain, get your mug of hot chocolate and get comfortable, because you're going to be there a while. The villain's story always has a moral, which is that the villain is a very bad person.

The villains, after telling their story, usually shoot their audience in the head, which is confusing as a lecture-format. My professors used to use stories to help us remember things. But my professors didn't shoot us in the head after teaching us stuff, because that makes the material harder to remember. So I think these villains have a lot to learn about education.

eg2. There's a scene where the real-estate agent's mother gets hit by a truck. It's one of these scenes where a vehicle doesn't make any noise, and no one sees it coming until it's 2 feet from the victim. I see a lot of this lately, vehicles that are outside the frame of the shot so the characters just don't notice that said vehicle has been bearing down on them for the last mile.

Another problem with the show is that it tries a little too hard to be gloomy, especially the soundtrack. There was more humor in early episodes and I think that worked better than the pure gloom we get in the end.

POSITIVES The characters change in satisfying ways. Just when you think the characters might be getting too unlikeable, they grow or show kindness (although you have to wait for it).

The writers do a good job of managing the forgivability of the main characters, so we know where they stand morally, and we can feel comfortable rooting for them.

THE BAD It's not really funny enough to be full parody. Yet it's a little too campy to be a serious installment of trek. It falls right in the middle and that can be confusing. Sometimes it feels like I'm watching a lost star-trek from the 90's, with some crass jokes thrown in here and there.

It's star trek as a sitcom. And it never feels quite right.

THE GOOD I do look forward to watching it. Characters I like in a universe that's enjoyable to escape into. The music great. While the jokes don't always feel appropriate, there is a lot of funny stuff in here. If I had to choose between this and Discovery, I'd choose this. The uniforms have big solid colors (take note Discovery!)

The following key things are missing from this star trek: 1) A community of likable characters living in harmony. 2) A community that the audience wishes they were a part of. 3) A universe that the audience wishes they could live in.

It turns out that without those things, I don't really want to go back and watch every week. Why would I want to hang out for an hour with people I don't like, who aren't getting along, in a universe that's ugly?

I won't review the plot because everyone else already has. I would highly recommend this film if you like murder-mysteries and dramas. Don't go into it thinking it's sci-fi, or you'll be disappointed.

The Good * it was a good drama/murder-mystery, not really a science fiction movie. * An emotionally heavy film. Probes same issues as Manchester by the sea. * The acting is excellent.

The Bad * Not science-fiction, and the trailer made it seem like it was, leading to a lot of disappointment I think. * The memory machine is a rather formulaic as a way to slowly reveal what really happened, but hey a lot of mysteries are formulaic in their slow exposure of the truth. * very gloomy all the way through, but I guess that was appropriate for the issues involved. * (SPOILER) it's not clear who ran the stop-sign and you have to re- watch the movie to find out, or go look in reddit. And that really matters because you need to know how forgivable Dinklage's character is.