A Hazard of Hearts

tags: Amazon streaming, gothic romance, rewinding the 80s

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

From IMDB

When compulsive gambler Sir Giles Staverley (Christopher Plummer) has lost his estate and all of his money playing dice, he realizes that he only has one thing left of value: his daughter Serena (Helena Bonham Carter). In a final game, he stakes his daughter's hand in marriage, convinced that this time he will not lose. Unfortunately, however, he does lose; to the evil Lord Harry Wrotham (Edward Fox). Unable to return home and tell his daughter that he has lost her in a game of dice, Sir Giles kills himself there and then.

Lord Justin Vulcan (Marcus Gilbert), who has witnessed the events, takes pity on Serena Staverley, although they have never met. He challenges Lord Harry Wrotham to a game of dice in which the winner takes Staverley Court and Miss Serena. Lord Justin Vulcan wins and is simply pleased that he has saved someone from the nasty Wrotham, he thinks no more about the event. One evening, however, Vulcan's friend Lord Peter Gillingham (Robert Addie) insists upon them going to Staverley Court to take a look at Vulcan's "prize". When arriving there, Vulcan finds Serena Staverley more beautiful than he ever imagined.

The gothic romance movie is based on a Barbara Cartland book. I've read a few of her books eons ago. They are all the same. You read one and you don't need to bother with the rest of her novels. They have the same stories with new names and titles of the lead characters. LOL.

I was not expecting much but I did enjoy it. It has the 80s campy vibes but with a British Lord and his household.  I couldn't believe how bad the movie is, yet I couldn't look away. I just had to finish it and liked it. Diana Rigg's acting as the evil mother is over the top, but I also liked it. hahaha. This movie with all its flaws is much better than the garbage Hollyweird is making these days. 

Recommended for fans of British period romance movies. 

Fast X

⭐

Ugh! Enough of this series already. Just stop it! The actors are getting older, fatter, and uglier [the always grumpy Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel in particular]. Even Ludacris has noticeably aged, starting to have eyebags.

I had to watch the whole movie, over 2 hours of crappy dialog and acting, explosions galore, and ridiculous car chases, so I can rate it. The 1 star is for John Cena and the boy who both did a good job delivering their lines. Almost every actor [except Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Sung Kang] sounds like he/she is reading. Jason Momoa's Dante is cartoonish and over the top but I somehow wanted him to win just to end this series once and for all. Alas, the movie ends in a cliffhanger and there is going to be a Fast XI. Oh dear. Why???!!!

Do not watch.

L'Arc-en-Ciel 30th Anniversary Concert

 

tags: Japanese, L'Arc-en-Ciel 30th anniversary concert, streaming on Amazon

Hyde is over 50 years old and he still looks young. I saw him in one movie together with Gackt, another Japanese musician. The movie is called Moon Child about vampires, if I remember correctly. Now I want to watch the movie again if I can find it.

Way Of The Cross

tags: Amazon streaming, Filipino movie, murder mystery

goose egg 0

A faithless Filipino-American FBI agent comes to the Philippines to bury his estranged father but gets tangled in a case where a serial killer murders people according to the Stations of the Cross.

The movie is terrible. The acting, the script, the story are not convincing. The NBI and the American FBI agents all look stupid and almost like waiting for their cue from the director.

Everybody speaks English. Huh! Where in the Philippines does everyone speak pure English including very small children? Taglish maybe but not English. Everyone got on my nerves calling the parish priest "padre". I was scratching my head because nowhere is padre used in the Philippines, regardless of their preferred language - Tagalog, English, Chavacano, Spanish, Cebuano, Ilonggo, Hokkien, Bicolano, Waray, etc. One guy slipped and called the priest Father. heheh. Force of habit, I guess, that he forgot to follow the stupid script. 

The actress playing the vengeful character is over the top and the reason for her revenge is unbelievably stupid. Avoid this terrible movie made specifically for anti-Catholic Church haters.

Top Gun: Maverick

tags: awesome sequel, free streaming for Amazon Prime members

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Private Affair (Un Asunto Privado)

tags: Amazon streaming, comedy, crime, murder-mystery, Spanish series

8 episodes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Amazon

1940s, Galicia. Marina Quiroga, a bold upper class girl with the soul of a detective, decides with the help of Héctor, her loyal butler, to trap the killer who has been terrorising her city.

My favorites Aura Garrido and Jean Reno are the leads, how can I not watch. I like the first two episode so far and will rate when I am done watching the complete series. Amazon is showing interesting series [at least to me], at last.

Update September 24, 2022: 5 stars.

Highly recommended. Watch in original European Spanish with English subtitles. Dubbing in English is always atrocious.

The Terminal List

tags: Amazon streaming, corruption, military drama, revenge

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Finally, an Amazon series that I watched and enjoyed regardless of a few flaws

*cough*honest journalist and righteous FBI agents*cough*

filmed in the dark, it's hard to see the scenes clearly

too many flash backs

last man on his list is predictable

Chris Pratt's acting is not bad and Taylor Kitsch stands out as his best buddy. This series is not for viewers with low tolerance for brutality which is necessary to convey extreme anger and thirst for revenge. One scene in particular is literally gut wrenching.😁 If you watch the series, you'll know which one I'm referring to. The death scene of the smug businessman, played convincingly by Jai Courtney, is short but still satisfying. I like that there are several witty one-liners here and there.

I have not read the book the series is based on and I plan to read it. According to reviewers on Amazon, 2 female characters, Liz and the journalist are not portrayed accurately. The journalist is supposed to be a blonde female European but here in the series is played by a short slightly overweight American of Chinese descent, the only woke hire for a main character, thank goodness. Her acting is sub par though, yelling for emphasis when it is not necessary, or sounding like a child psychiatrist. For example, on Episode 8, she was trying to convince Reece to not eliminate the next one on the list. She talks to Reece as though he is a 2 year old retard with her super clichéd lines and delivery. Ugh! Fault of director and actor herself. At least, I'm thankful the production left out the alphabet soup.

Recommended for revenge genre fans.

The Tomorrow War

Tags: aliens, Amazon original, streaming, horror, sci-fi, time travel

⭐

from Amazon

Time travelers arrive from 2051 to deliver an urgent message: 30 years in the future mankind is losing war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians to be transported to the future and join the fight.

Just say NO to this rubbish disguised as a movie which is blah and has nothing new to offer in this genre. Dreadful in everything - acting, script, CGI. I tried to watch the whole thing but couldn't continue torturing myself. 

Amazon streaming has been coming out with original programming but I never found a single movie or series that is appealing to me. This is the first movie that made me click on it because it's Sci-Fi and Chris Pratt is on it. Chris Pratt is a lousy lousy lousy actor. He can only do Star Lord and nothing else.

IMHO foreign language Sci-Fi movies and TV series are superior to this Hollywood produced wokest movie yet and I was scratching my head thinking why Chris Pratt signed up for this. Maybe he has career suicidal tendencies or was given tons of cash. Wrong move Chris. I hope he chooses a better project next time.

Do yourself a favor - skip this nonsense and keep your IQ points as a bonus. Re-watch Edge Of Tomorrow instead. You'll thank me.

The Beast Must Die

tags: British movie, horror, mystery, werewolf

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A millionaire big game hunter gathers six people at his remote English mansion, announcing that he suspects one of them is a werewolf.

I have the DVD of this 1974 British movie but I can't find it. It is streaming on Amazon. IMHO it is cheesy because of its 70s soundtrack, leatherette outfit of the main lead, his stiff acting, and the goofy looking werewolf, but is good enough to grant a 4 star since I enjoyed it very much. Two familiar faces among the guests are Peter Cushing and Michael Gambon.

The story is a mystery but instead of whodunnit, the question is, who is the werewolf among the 5 guests and the hosts, 7 people in all. Tom is a big game hunter and millionaire who wants the biggest of them all - bagging a werewolf. He invites 4 people whom he suspects of being a werewolf, to his mansion in England where he and his wife live. The 5th guest is the wife of one of the guests, a concert pianist played by Michael Gambon. The wives are friends and so she is included in the party. The set up feels like an Agatha Christie mystery mixed with cabin in the woods slasher horror movie where you are waiting who gets killed first. Only 2 people survived.

At the start of the movie viewers are invited to guess who the werewolf is and there is a 30-second break just a few minutes before the end of the movie for the viewers to do exactly that. It is not easy to pinpoint the werewolf although I guessed correctly after the silver bullet test.

Watch it on Amazon streaming.