Kaleidoscope | Series Review

Netflix is trying some new things with their original series. Kaleidoscope, released on January 1, 2023, can supposedly be watched in any order. Instead of the episodes being numbered, they are designated by color. It’s an interesting concept but does it work?

Leo (Giancarlo Esposito) is gathering his crew to pull off the biggest heist in the world. Together, the group of six plan on breaking into a vault owned by security expert Roger Salas (Rufus Sewell) in order to steal seven billion dollars worth of bonds. Meanwhile, FBI agent Nazan Abassi (Niousha Noor) is hot on their trail. Will the heist be a success or will they all end up in prison for life?

My husband and I had been looking forward to watching Kaleidoscope. We thought that the concept of a show that can be watched in any order was really cool. But it was only recently that we got the chance to sit down and actually watch it. Before I go further, let me tell you the order we were given by Netflix’s randomizer: Black, Yellow, Green, Orange, Violet, Blue, Red, Pink, and White. No matter who watches the show, Black will always be first and White will always be last. (Black isn’t really an episode. It just explains how the series works.)

While the randomization was really cool, it didn’t always work very well. For example, the last three episodes we had - Red, Pink, and White - took place The Day After The Heist, Six Months After The Heist, and The Heist, in that order. It made the ending a little confusing. We spent way too much time saying “But what about this guy?” or “Who is this person?” or “What is going on?”

The concept worked a little bit better when we saw Leo putting the team together then the next episode would be a flashback of how Leo met that person or you would see how Leo met that person then he would be putting together the team. It made a little more sense compared to seeing the aftermath of the heist before actually seeing the heist.

Despite the weirdness with the randomness of the episodes, we enjoyed a lot of it. Paz Vega, as lawyer Ava Mercer, was amazing; Jai Courtney made me hate Bob the safecracker (which I’m pretty sure was the goal. If you like Bob, you have issues.); and I am ecstatic to see Tati Gabrielle in more roles. I’m honestly not sure I enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed the characters. I wish we got to see more of Hannah’s (Tati Gabrielle) story but she wasn’t meant to be a main character. Some of the episodes wanted Hannah to be relevant to the story but she was nothing more than a reason for Leo to do the things he did.

With all of that in mind, I do think the show is worth a try. I’m debating trying to watch the show in a different order to see if it changes my opinion any. My husband and I tried to envision what the show would have been like if we saw it in a different order but I’m not sure our imaginations were successful.

The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker | Movie Review

If you were alive in the United States in 2013, you probably remember this story. It is the epitome of the phrase “going viral.” And now Netflix has released a documentary about it called The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker.

In February 2013, Kai Lawrence was hitchhiking around California. He caught a ride with Jett Simmons McBride, who crashed his car into a construction worker, pinning him against a truck. When a woman who witnessed the accident got out to help, McBride attacked her. Heroically, Kai attacked McBride with a hatchet he was carrying, saving the woman from harm. After an interview with a reporter from the local news station, Kai’s story went viral. But what happened to Kai after his rocket to stardom stalled?

I remember this story vividly. Like most of the country, I also got a kick out of Kai. And like most viral news stories, I forgot about him almost immediately. I seem to recall reading some article about him being arrested for murder but I wasn’t interested enough to really read it. In short, this documentary seemed targeted to someone like me.

The documentary doesn’t actually talk to Kai himself. Instead, it revolves around all of the people that surrounded Kai at the time, as well as some of his family members. We hear from the reporter that originally broke the Kai story, who seems to be the only person that Kai still talks to. We also hear from the variety of people in the entertainment business that wanted to make Kai a superstar. People that wanted to give him a reality show or booked him for talk shows or just wanted a piece of the viral Kai cake.

While all of this is interesting in a way, it does feel like we don’t get to know Kai as a person. We only get to see him through the lenses of these people that wanted something from him. Jessob Reisbeck, the original reporter that broke the story, is the only one that doesn’t seem to want something from Kai. The only reason he is involved in the story is he is the only person Kai will talk with so Reisbeck ends up as a sort of go-between for Kai and the rest of the world.

We do hear from Kai’s mother and a friend who knew him in school but both of those stories feel fake. Shirley McGillvary, Kai’s mother, sounds like she is only telling stories that don’t make her look like a terrible mom. But her stories don’t make her look all that good either. I can’t tell if she really abused Kai when he was a child or if she was just overwhelmed by motherhood. As for Kai’s school friend, he barely gives us any backstory about Kai’s childhood. He was only there to throw his two cents into a Netflix documentary.

Overall, I thought The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker did a decent job of telling the story of Kai. However, without talking to Kai himself, it’s difficult to tell how much of the documentary is true. If it isn’t on film, it very well may be a lie. A lot of people seemed to want a piece of Kai and that makes me feel bad for him. Not bad enough to believe that he didn’t murder Joseph Galfy in May 2013. But it is possible that Kai was attacked like he claims. Everyone seemed to want a piece of him at the time and that just sucks.

Shin Ultraman | Movie Review

Whenever we can, my husband and I try to go see any Japanese movies aired by Fathom Events. We saw Shin Godzilla back in 2016. This week we saw Shin Ultraman. Both movies were made by Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno. A third movie is scheduled to be released in Japan later this year but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, Shin Ultraman.

Giant monsters called kaiju are attacking Japan. The government has formed a taskforce called S-Class Species Suppression Protocol or SSSP to handle them. During a particularly difficult kaiju attack, an extraterrestrial in the shape of a giant human appears and dispatches the beast. But now the SSSP has a new problem - is Ultraman a friend or foe?

In an attempt to reboot the original series into one 2-hour movie, the kaiju fights are very short. The movie starts with a list of kaiju and how they were killed. Ultraman fights two kaiju then the first “big bad” is introduced. Yes, there is more than one Big Bad. There are actually three Big Bad enemies. Ultraman fights five enemies in total. Unfortunately, the kaiju fights are usually the focus of tokusatsu movies. By minimizing the fights, the movie seems to drag a lot.

Since the fights are so short, the time is filled with a lot of talking. We aren’t given the time to see the kaiju or Ultraman or the baddies do much so it has to be explained to us. This also makes the movie drag. Seriously, this was the longest 2-hour movie I have ever watched.

But there are some good parts. Masami Nagasawa was wonderful as Hiroko Asami. She brought the perfect amount of humor to a movie that sorely needed it. Everyone else was fine but it really was Nagasawa that made Shin Ultraman worth watching. OK, really she is the only good part.

Shin Ultraman really is a Japanese movie for a Japanese audience. While that isn’t a bad thing, we were shown an interview with the director, Shinji Higuchi, before the movie. Higuchi noted the differences between Japanese audiences and American audiences and he hoped that American audiences would enjoy his movie. I didn’t hate the movie. As a matter of fact, I did find a lot of it quite enjoyable. But I’m not sure a lot of people would feel the same.

Death In The Dorms | Series Review

After watching so many movies in the last quarter of the year, I often don’t feel like watching very many movies in January. So I end up turning to true crime series and documentaries. Death In The Dorms showed up just in time.

Death In The Dorms is a 6-episode mini-series. Each episode tells the story of a college student murdered on or near their college campus.

While this series does hit a little close to home (my daughter is currently a college junior), I thought it did a good job of telling each student’s story. Unlike most true crime documentaries that focus on the killer, this series features the family and friends of the victims. Yes, we do still hear about the crime and how the murderer was caught but we hear more about how each student lived and how much they are missed.

I know that hearing the sordid details of the crime and the terrible history of the killer tends to get shows higher ratings. However, I think that the format Death In The Dorms uses should be the blueprint for future true crime documentaries. Let’s focus on the victims and their lives instead of glorifying the evil monsters that took those lives from them. Maybe people will be less willing to do terrible things if we stop plastering the bad guy’s name all over the place.

M3gan | Movie Review

What better way to unwind from the holiday season than a movie about a murderous robotic doll? I have been looking forward to this movie but was it worth it?

Gemma (Allison Williams) develops robotic toys for children. When her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident, her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), comes to live with her. Seeing that Cady is having difficulty transitioning to life without her parents, Gemma gives her the robotic friend prototype she is working on, codenamed M3gan. M3gan is perfect - she listens, she teaches, she protects. But maybe she is a little too perfect.

While M3gan isn’t the perfect movie, it is a lot of fun. On the positive side, M3gan isn’t the scary Chucky-style doll killer we are used to. Instead of a serial killer doll, we are faced with an AI who is fulfilling their duties to the extreme. This isn’t anything new. We see it in movies like Wall-E or Alien. In M3gan’s case, her duty was to protect Cady’s emotional and physical well-being. When those things are threatened, M3gan removes them. As a result, we actually cheer on M3gan’s murderous tendencies for the most part.

Thankfully, I don’t think there are too many negatives to the movie. Lydia (Amy Usherwood), the therapist that comes in to evaluate Cady, is awful. There is a scene where Lydia wants to watch Gemma play with Cady but then she contradicts everything she says. Lydia says to let Cady lead the play session (basically telling Gemma to not tell Cady how to play with a toy) then she, herself, tells Cady how to play. I understand why Lydia has to exist in the movie. I think it would have been better if she wasn’t so intolerable the first time we meet her. It makes all of the other interactions with her cringey.

I also wish that Gemma’s co-workers, Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez), were used a bit better. We only ever see them in the robotic lab. Considering that M3gan is now out in the world, they could have made the trip to Gemma’s house to give feedback on how they think M3gan is progressing. As it is, they have to make calls on M3gan’s behavior solely based on what Gemma tells them. They get biased information instead of getting the information for themselves.

With all of that in mind, I still highly enjoyed M3gan. It was a great story about attachments children make and the role parents play in their lives. I will probably watch it again when it comes to a streaming service.

Christmas 2022 Wrap-Up | 2022 Christmas Movies

It is finally time to officially wrap up the 2022 Christmas Movie season. I watched 127 movies this year. A giant change from the 78 I watched in 2021. Even adding in the 13 movies I watched this past August to finish the 2021 season, that is still 36 more movies for 2022. While I didn’t have a difficult time fitting all of those movies into my schedule (Don’t ask me how I did it. I don’t know.), I am going to need to make some changes for the 2023 Christmas season.

In 2022, I added two new channels to my lineup. Great American Family and UPtv. I am going to drop UPtv from the 2023 lineup completely. I don’t think there was a single good movie on the channel this year. All of their movies were so boring that it was difficult for me to finish watching a lot of them. Also, I’m tired of seeing commercials for Gilmore Girls.

As for Great American Family, my current plans are to drop the channel with the possibility of watching the Candace Cameron Bure movie and the Danica McKellar movie. I firmly disagree with the politics of the channel and I can’t, in good conscience, keep watching it. There were a few good movies but I was also bombarded by commercials from Mike Lindell, aka the My Pillow guy. This tells me that GAF supports the stolen election lie. In addition, Bure has straight up said that they will not be airing any LGBTQ+ movies. She can spin it all she wants but I will not support a channel that is so intolerant.

Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime, Netflix, Hulu, and Roku Channel will all be staying. If HBO Max survives the merger with Discovery, I will also keep them on my list. I would love to add Discovery+ and Oprah Winfrey Network (which is streamed on Discovery+) to the lineup but, again, we will need to see what 2023 brings for the app before I can make that call.

My goal for 2023 is to get back to the 90ish movies that I watched in 2021. I want to make sure that I have a good selection of movies to talk about but not so many that it makes my mental health spiral out of control. If you have any suggestions or ideas, you can leave a comment below or shoot me an email. Thank you for sticking with me through this crazy Christmas season. I have so many plans for the rest of this year and I hope that you will come along with me.

Top 10 Best Christmas Movies of 2022 | 2022 Christmas Movies

While my Worst Movie list is always difficult to write (it is just boring or is it BAD?), the Best Movie list is usually much easier. We don’t get nearly as many amazing movies as we should. Here is the list of my favorites.

10. Well Suited For Christmas
9. Santa Bootcamp
8. Hanukkah On Rye
7. Holiday Heritage
6. The Holiday Sitter
5. Ghosts of Christmas Always
4. Three Wise Men and a Baby
3. The Royal Nanny
2. Spirited
1. Violent Night

Honorable Mentions: A Christmas Mystery, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, Santa’s Got Style, Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas, The Holiday Stocking, Haul Out The Holly

I’m surprised at the number of movies I enjoyed this year. It probably had something to do with the sheer number of movies I watched but I’m glad I was able to find 17 movies that kept me going. I hope you enjoyed these movies as much as I did. Let me know what your favorite movies were this season in the comments.

Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies of 2022 | 2022 Christmas Movies

I watched a LOT of movies this season. Between November and December, I watched 127 Christmas movies. A majority of them fell into the “Wow, that’s boring” category. But there were some terribly awful movies as well. Here is my list of the Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies of 2022.

10. Long Lost Christmas
9. A Show-Stopping Christmas
8. A Maple Valley Christmas
7. The Holiday Dating Guide
6. My Favorite Christmas Tree
5. Another Christmas
4. Christmas Lucky Charm
3. A Tale Of Two Christmases
2. The Noel Diary
1. Christmas In Pine Valley

Dishonorable Mentions: The Holiday Swap, Sweet Navidad, A Christmas Masquerade, Aisle Be Home For Christmas, Scentsational Christmas, Christmas On The Rocks, Christmas In The Wilds

There we go. My 10 Worst Christmas Movie list. And Candace Cameron Bure’s piece of crap didn’t even make the list! Join me again tomorrow for my 10 Best Christmas Movies list.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!

I will be starting this year with my usual lists of the best and worst Christmas movies of the 2022 season. After that, reviews will be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There will probably be some other themed months later in the year. Maybe romance or romantic comedies in February and a shark month in July. If you have any ideas for some themed months, leave a comment below.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday so we can all be ready for 2023. Bring it on!

A Merry Single Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

For my final Christmas movie review of 2022, I headed over to the Roku Channel to check out A Merry Single Christmas. I can’t tell you how happy I am that this season is over.

Morgan (Chelsea Gilson) and Liam (Andrew Rogers) have been dating for five years. When he doesn’t propose on their anniversary, as she was expecting, Morgan breaks off the relationship. Sad and depressed, Morgan signs up to attend a Christmas Lonely Hearts Club retreat. Also sad and depressed, Liam signs up for the same retreat. They try to pretend that they don’t know each other but their feelings get the better of them.

It’s movies like this that make me dread the Christmas romcom movie season. The premise sounds like it could be a ton of fun. Morgan saying things like “I’m sorry but what is your name again?” or Liam ‘accidentally’ getting facts about her wrong. They could have had this sort of passive-aggressive flirtation going on. But no. The movie did not do that. Instead of something fun, the movie gave us the usual boring fare, complete with Juliet (Sarah Armstrong), the retreat’s organizer, kicking out any couples that dared to begin a relationship. This retreat is for singles and those singles are forbidden from falling in love with each other.

I wanted to end the 2022 season on a positive note but that isn’t happening. Don’t bother with A Merry Single Christmas. All it will do is make you wish it was a better movie.