Tag: Amazon Prime

TV Shows

Jack Ryan Season 3

Not A Walking Tree

Wow, it’s been quite a while since my last post! I apologize dear readers of my site as for the lack of new content. To be honest, mostly everything I’ve seen lately hasn’t been worth the words on a page. It’s useless filler going in one ear, and out the other. Especially with Netflix content. Nothing to dissect there, just your usual money laundering. But with this third season of Jack Ryan, and the ongoing current political climate, there is so much to be examined.

First off the bat, is yes, this new season is woke garbage despite some sites saying otherwise. Well, the story is anyways. The action delivers in spades with our titular hero going into active combat situations. Seems like they’ve forgotten the core of Jack Ryan, and that he is a nerd. Full stop. He sends operatives in, he does not go in himself. Clearly, John Krasinski is trying to shed the nerd role from his Office days — like his movie 13 Hours tried.

Spoilers Here-on

I think my favorite game I played while watching this was guessing how long it would take to mention Ukraine. It took 24 minutes into the first episode. Let the psy-ops begin! This entire season is American projection at its finest. The plot revolves around a rogue faction within the Russian Government trying to initiate a war between the US and Russia but wait, that’s actually just a twist so that a coup can occur. The reason the bad guy wants to do this is because, apparently, Russia was once feared by the entire world and they want that to be the case again by resurrecting the Soviet Union. BRO! Could US writers project any harder? If you look up the definition of projection, you’ll find the writers of Jack Ryan under it. Secondary, the plan of the bad guys is to disguise a nuke as an American missile so the media would think the US started it… I mean the US does that shit daily to other countries. Oh no, you bombed a children’s hospital, look how horrible X country are!

Other hilarious mistakes in the show include episode three, where a scope is presented on screen yet the rifle in question has no scope. Honestly, laughable. Any time a Russian character speaks, it’s in English. Even in their motherland. Is it too hard to have actors say their lines in Russian with some subtitles? Oh wait, right, you guys hate the Russians. How could I forget? It’s not like the show is trying to beat me over the head with it.

As for the acting itself, Krasinski has already established he can do action roles and he continues to excel in his role here. It was strange seeing James Cosmo playing an older Russian spymaster, he immediately stands out as definitely not Russian. Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job in this psy-ops show. Wendell Pierce continues to be good in his role as James Greer. And the rest of the cast were alright.

That final episode though was pure fluffing on behalf of the US Navy. Oh man, they love showing off in movies and TV. Those last few episodes felt like they were jerking off the military. Both Czech and US. Just deepthroating it down viewer’s throats. Did the showrunners enjoy getting that sweet paycheck each time they mentioned the Ukraine? Gotta love when you support corruption, centralized banking, and hating on the Russians.

To conclude, everyone involved in the production of this show, except for the actors and those that needed the money… Ok not everyone, just the writers and showrunners: politely, go fuck yourselves. Bringing in more hate into a world that needs less of it is not a good thing. If you really wanted to be polarizing, you’d have told a story about Jack Ryan finding out a certain corrupt country killed over 14k of their own citizens because they dared ask for independence, but with the twist being that those events have origins from much farther back in history. You’d have Jack finding that the cover-up leads back to the US and her allies revealing a horrible truth about the country that Jack serves. That Nazis never died, and are trying to get back to the old ways where they were feared by the entire world… Oh, shit.

TV Shows

Outer Range

Not A Walking Tree

What is this growing fascination with telling incomplete stories? Is it greed? A cowardly nature? I think it’s both. A show creator is too cowardly to tell the story he/she wants lest they get lambasted for it and they want more money out of the studios so they can keep telling their half-story. Outer Range started off with so much potential, and by the end, we are blue-balled once again wanting answers. It doesn’t matter to me how well the visuals are, how well acted it is, or if the writing/dialogue is solid. If you don’t tell me a full story, and you leave more questions than answers, then I will not like your work. Plain and simple. Same reasoning why I severely disliked Dune despite it being excellent in all other fronts. Tell me a complete story. This is why Korean TV shows have such a high standard of excellence, because they know to tell a full story. To not linger with half-truths, and cliffhangers.

Outer Range stars Josh Brolin as Royal Abbot, a rancher with a mysterious past. His two sons, Rhett (Lewis Pullman) and Perry (Tom Pelphrey) get into a brawl with the neighbor’s kid, Trevor Tillerman, that results in his death. The Abbot family covers it up and deals with the consequences that follow. In the meantime, newcomer Autumn shows up and asks to stay on their land. Royal finds a mysterious hole in the ground and deals with that mystery.

The show is a very slow burn with next to little pay off. It is not worth watching the first season as you’ll be left with more questions than answers. If the show creator, Brian Watkins, wants to make multiple seasons for the show then it should have been announced at the front of the Amazon page. Had I known that, I would have altered my expectations. Everything revealed so far was foreshadowed and obvious from the get-go. All of the revelations were nothing new.

There was some philosophical pandering nonsense about God throughout the series, and lemme say, why do people associate God with all the bad things? Did they forget the devil exists? Satan is the one that brings the bad; God is good. Then there was the obligatory LGBQT+ plotline that was necessary, and to add double to the pandering to the ‘woke’ crowd, it was a lesbian Native American. Strike two issues down with one stone. It added nothing to the plot. It was a colossal waste of time learning about Sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski), it was simply political pandering. If I wanted that, I would have watched a Netflix show.

Given my feelings aside, if you like Yellowstone mixed with science fiction then I’m sure you’d like this science fiction neo-western. If you liked Dune, then you’d enjoy this as well. Josh Brolin did a phenomenal job acting, as did Lili Taylor playing his wife, Cecilia Abbot. In fact, everyone did a great job in their roles. You really grew to dislike several characters, and love others. But given the nature of the ending, I, myself, cannot recommend this show. Though, that shouldn’t stop you from watching it and making your own opinion.

Movies

Otherlife

Not A Walking Tree

This movie is truly about the helplessness, and hopelessness that comes with fighting against a corporation that’s stolen your life’s work. How you’re driven mad, and gaslit in every corner. It’s about the pitfalls of technology, specifically about virtual reality. Black Mirror had an episode that was similar to this. This is the story of a young woman trying to save her brother’s mind – he’s trapped in a coma caused by drowning during an excursion with the two of them together. Expanding upon her father’s technology, she tries to devise a way that’ll work but she needs funding. So she partners up, but fails to consider that power corrupts absolutely. She ends up imprisoned by the very system she created to help save lives.

For an indie budget film, this movie has a better sense of scale and production value than most high budget Hollywood films. It has crafted a terrifying world where you can’t even trust your own reality. Not much different than today’s world, I suppose. The twists and turns keep you on your feet, and even my own above description of events betrays the reality of the movie. The only constant that is true is the danger of virtual reality that modifies time. The ending was satisfying, and provided emotional release from the suffocating feeling that the movie encapsulated.

Jessica De Gouw was excellent in the lead role, and very easily carried the movie. T.J. Power was equally as good as the partner seduced by the wealth and power that comes from owning a company on the forefront of new technology. His smarmy portrayal provided just the right touch between someone that seems trusting and simultaneously an asshole. The music added to the overall feeling of constant uneasiness and worry.

Overall, it was quite a good science fiction thriller. I’m loving these Australian films, and I look forward to more. I recommend this movie.