The Entitled

 

tags: comedy, Filipino movie, Netflix streaming

humongous goose egg 0

After learning her estranged father is a hotel mogul, Belinda bumbles her way through a new, sophisticated lifestyle with the help of a charming lawyer.

Why oh why was this horrible movie made? I'm not fond of Filipino movies and this one made me more than cringe. This movie is garbage and I hate it. The acting is over the top and dialog is atrocious. The girl Belinda is so vulgar using all the crude stuff [vomit, poop, fart, stomach growling, Brazilian wax, the attorney's d*ck] for what she thinks is "comedy". She is a loudmouth, obsessed with sex ugly lead character and almost everything that comes out of her dirty mouth has sexual reference. When she gets startled or stumbles, she utters male or female sexual anatomy. Each. And. Every. Time. I wanted to drag her into the bathtub and wash her including her mouth with disinfectant soap.

The writer and director think this is funny. Even the poorest people in the Philippines are not as crass as this Belinda creature. I am so ashamed for the Filipino people for creating this dreadful abomination they call a comedy movie and streaming on Netflix.

Not recommended.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

tags: comedy, farce

The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

The movie was recommended by one of my favorite authors. I watched and liked at least 3 of director Wes Anderson's movies and had such high hopes for this one. It was a total letdown.

For a movie categorized as comedy, it never even produced a chuckle from me. Professional and armchair critics rave about its deadpan humor, great acting, and vivid colors but I beg to disagree. IMHO, the only good but not that good is the actor who played the younger Zero (half a star for him and half a star for some of the cinematography). Everybody else is horrible, and that include the numerous cameos of well-known actors. Adrien Brody, one of my favorite actors, wasted his enormous talent in this pretentious movie. Recommended only to masochists.

What I didn't like:
>plot is weak and pointless
>totally boring
>vulgar language and sexual images
>dead humor
>director tried his darnedest to be different and edgy but utterly failed
>colors came straight out of a Crayola box and executed by Kindergartners
>too many of the same scene shown over and over and portrayed by different actors in cameo [note to Wes: I'm a smart viewer; don't try to beat me over the head with Thor's hammer so you can employ as many actors as you possibly can. 

P.I. Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)

The second book in J.K. Rowling's (writing as Robert Galbraith) P.I. Cormoran Strike series, THE SILKWORM, is already out. I read the sample pages; the writing style and Rowling's potty mouth have not improved, IMHO. I think it's even worse than the first book. Rowling's followers are eating up the 2 books and I am genuinely bewildered by it. A year ago, I wrote on my food blog my thoughts on the series debut, THE CUCKOO'S CALLING, a copy is below.

When THE CUCKOO'S CALLING first came out, it didn't sell well, only 1500 copies the first 3 months, maybe because it is simply crappy...pardon my language. Although Rowling denied she had knowledge of "outing" her as the author, I have my doubts. I believe the publishers thought they had to do something about the slow movement of the book and "accidentally" divulged to the media who the real author of the book was. Naturally, the sales and 5 star ratings [from Rowling's die-hard sheeple] went through the roof. I read it before it became a best seller and I understand why NO ONE with a sound mind wanted to recommend the book to their friends; maybe to their worst enemies perhaps to torture them.



Goose Egg

frommy food blog

THE CUCKOO'S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)  

After a long long pause I decided to write a review of a novel again. I occasionally wrote short reviews and recommendations in the past but had gotten tired and stopped. This book however compelled me to write one, not because it was amazingly great, but because I did something that I never have done before with any other books no matter how boring, i.e. I stopped reading at page 105 and NEVER finished the book. I didn't want to torture myself and so this is the very FIRST TIME I abandoned a book.

The quite lengthy book at 455 pages is a mystery/crime which is one of my favorite genres. The main characters are Cormoran Strike, an Afghan war veteran turned Private Eye and his supposed to be just a temporary female assistant, Robin. The P.I was hired by the brother of a young model who committed suicide to find out if she was actually murdered.

I will not elaborate on the story but will list down the reasons why I didn't like the book one bit.

• The story is very simple which is not a bad thing but there is nothing new, extraordinary, or exciting to this novel. It's just same old same old "is it suicide or murder?", lacking layers and intrigue to reel you in to the story. I was able to guess with certainty the killer very early on. 

• There are too many side stories and descriptions of places and people that serve no purpose. It's as though the author was paid per word.

• The characters are not well defined. I saw them all as cardboard figures cut out from a template. I waited for distinct personalities to emerge but they never did. They, including the 2 main characters are all dull and have one voice, no distinction between men and women. It's very frustrating for me not to be able to picture in my mind the different people, most specially the P.I.

• Dropping F and C bombs page after page after page; it's a major pet peeve of mine. Uttering swear words constantly doesn't make a character edgy and cool, nor does it add anything to the story line.

I don't know whom Rowling is targeting to read this book. I'm guessing she is encouraging her Harry Potter fans to try reading mystery in addition to fantasy. If she wants people like me to read her mystery books, she has to do better. Hiring a really good editor for her next installment of Strike series is a must. I, for one will not be reading the sequel.

I may be too spoiled for having read hundreds of books by my favorite and, in my honest opinion, best British mystery writers ever:

Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers