Tag Archives: hbo streaming

Series Reviews

Series Review: The Rehearsal (2022)

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The Rehearsal is a hard show to sell because Nathan Fielder’s humor isn’t for everyone. He is very dry and awkward in his deliveries, but somehow he makes it work. I believe it has to do with how his personality is contrasted against very serious situations that make the shows he makes work. If you can get past his awkward and dry sense of humor, you get an interesting show that explores how we make decisions. 

Nathan Fielder uses HBO’s money to help people overcome difficult tasks in their lives. In the first episode, Fielder helps a man who wants to come clean about a lie he told his friends long ago. The lie has been weighing heavily on his conscience. Fielder promises to help him overcome the fear of the situation by helping him prep for the confession. The Fielder makes a replica of the location, gets actors to interact with, and goes over every possible outcome. The idea is to prep the subject by making him encounter every possible outcome. By the end of the rehearsal, the subject should be ready to overcome the task at hand. The show gets stranger as he will often turn the camera on himself and evaluate the morality of what he is doing. 

Fielder uses this show to explore the social and situational factors that influence how we make decisions. Fielder will take a simple task or scenario and examine it from every possible perspective. He will also consider every possible outcome of a situation. Fielder uses the data he collects to manipulate situations to result favorably for him. You will sit there as he reevaluates a single moment in the show, dissecting it in order to understand why it resulted as such. If you like studying human behaviors and social dynamics, this is a fantastic show for you. 

I fear I might not be doing this show justice because it is a hard one to explain. It is a comedy that isn’t bound by its genre. Instead, it is an in-depth study of the psyche of decision making. If you can get past Fielder’s stale personality, you find yourself with an interesting show. You can stream it on HBO. 

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Series Reviews

Movie Review: The Night House(2021)

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I expected The Night House to be another badly made and generic demon possession movie. Instead, I got a creatively disorienting narrative about a woman trying to piece together and understand the sinister events that slowly unravel around her. Beth is left to pick up the pieces of her life after her husband’s sudden suicide. Unfortunately, these pieces begin to unravel the dark secrets that her husband left behind. Is Beth’s husband as innocent as she remembered, or has the grief left her chasing shadows that aren’t there?

This is a fun movie that is very much worth your time. The acting is great, the visuals are amazing, and the story is entertaining without being convoluted. I love the direction and risks this movie takes in creating a truly disorienting experience. The use of shadows, mirrors and CGI all help create an endless maze of confusion as you are left to piece together a mystery with fragments of clues. The clues given are often incomplete or misinterpreted, further adding to the confusion and mystery. The deeper Beth gets into her investigation, the more confusing narrative gets. The horror of this movie doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares, but rather on the disorienting experience the aftermath of the suicide brings. Not knowing what is going on helps emulate the same fear and confusion Beth goes through. It is an experience that is masterfully done through the blending of reality, dreams, and delusions. Watch this movie for the interesting visuals and the fantastic performance. 

Go watch this movie on HBO if you like disorienting psychological horror. It might not give you nightmares, but you will have a lot of fun with it. 

Series Reviews

TV Series Review: Julia (2022)

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Julia is a very wholesome show that you should be binging right now! If you are a fan of Ted Lasso, you will adore Julia. I am not a huge fan of biopics, but this definitely has changed my opinion. It is well cast, wonderfully written, and beautifully shot. You should not waste another minute with me, but instead, be watching this show.

Julia is the retelling of the rise of Julia Child’s career. It is quirky, fun, and inspiring. I never grew up with her cooking show, but this show made me feel guilty that I didn’t. The energy and wholesomeness that these actors put into their performances are intoxicating. If you are not smiling by the end of an episode, there is something wrong with you. My only warning for you is: do not watch this show while hungry. Every episode had me craving a bite of whatever Julia was making or eating.

I can’t speak on the show’s historical accuracy, but the story is truly inspiring. If you do not love Julia for her warm and bubbly personality, you will love her for her perseverance. Julia is constantly being overlooked because of her gender, and it is inspiring to see her push through and make her dreams come true. 

You need to watch this show. You can watch it on HBO. The last episode airs on May 5th,2022. If you don’t have a subscription, get one then. It is well worth the binge. 

Series Reviews

TV Series Review: The White Lotus (2021)

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You should watch White Lotus because it is a great show. The pacing is a bit slow and some of the arguments get repetitive, but the narrative is well put together. White Lotus has fantastic actors giving wonderful performances in a beautiful setting, what more can you ask for? A fair bit of warning, however, this show gets sad. The ending triggered me. I found myself depressed for a few days after I finished the show. Experiences may vary, but I felt an obligation to issue the warning.

White Lotus follows four groups of people who are either on vacation or working at the resort in Hawaii. It is a modern-day tragedy of the working class as told by the experiences of disconnected rich white people. The main goal of the narrative is to show the disparities between classes against the backdrop of a vacation. Both groups are stuck in a cycle, but the rich get to leave and move on. It is very well done, and I fear I am not doing it justice. 

I love the complexity of this show and how it weaves together all these different stories. I love that by the end, everyone is stuck, although some are worse off than others. I love that it comes in the form of a mystery that they keep well through the whole series. Although the mystery isn’t the most important aspect of the narrative, it is very much appreciated. This is a great show and you need to watch it. Check it out on HBO.

Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: The King’s Man (2021)

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I am not a huge fan of the series. Each movie in this series seems to miss its mark somehow, leaving us with a mediocre franchise. Kingsmen: The Secret Service has some decent action but the villain and story are bad. Kingsmen: The Golden Circle had a great villain, but the story and action were lacking. The Kings Man was bad all around and shouldn’t have been made. I can only assume that Kingsman: The Blue Blood will continue this trend of disappointing its audience.

While I do believe that the alternate history angle is creative, its execution is another generic action movie with a history lesson full of misinformation. This movie tries desperately to create lore for an IP that already doesn’t have a good story. Instead of an action-packed thriller, you get a boring back story and family drama.

What is sad is that this movie has some cool moments, but they only lead to further disappointment. Whenever this movie builds any momentum, it only devolves into any generic action movie you shouldn’t waste your time on. There is a cool scene in this movie where Conrad goes over the trenches to retrieve some intel from a fallen solder somewhere in the middle. They encounter a group of German soldiers who are doing the same thing. They can’t shoot for fear that they will be fired upon so they all draw bats and axes and ready for quiet close-quarter combat. It is a very cool shot, and I appreciated the costumes, weapons, and the desolate field. The build-up to this scene is perfectly tense, but the fight starts and it’s boring. The camera shakes around, and everyone dies before you even know what is going on. It was such a waste of a cool shot, but the perfect summary for this movie.

The best part about this movie is Rasputin. He is such a great character, it is a shame that he is wasted in this movie. His character is unique and quirky, and his fight scene is creative and so much fun to watch. I only wish that the rest of this movie carried the same energy and creativity as this fight scene. It isn’t worth you sitting through the whole movie, however, so I will leave a link to the scene below.

You shouldn’t waste your time with this movie. It doesn’t add anything to the franchise, but you can watch it on HBO if you have time to waste and a subscription to burn through.

Series Reviews

TV Show Review: Doom Patrol (2019)

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Say what you will about DC movies, but DC TV shows are another beast. Usually, they tend to have strong starts with compelling narratives and characters, but eventually, they fall into the pitfall of prioritizing fan service and product placement over story. However, this might be a symptom of being on the CW. Some, like Swamp Thing, show great promise but are canceled before they really take off. I recommend you check it out anyways.

I am not afraid to say that Doom Patrol is in a league of its own. This isn’t your typical superhero mashup show where they fight a new villain every week, where the victory is brought to you by the new Microsoft Surface. Doom Patrol is about people who don’t want to be superheroes, who instead want to live normal lives. You get unique and interesting characters, great actors, and a very engaging story. 

Doom Patrol brings a well-welcomed freshness to a genre that has been growing stale over the years. I love the use of backstory and how it’s woven into the larger narrative. I love learning about each character’s motivation, even the villains. More importantly, I love to see the characters grow as the story unfolds. I am very hopeful for this show, and I am very excited that there will be a season 4. You can watch this show on HBO.