"Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match" Review (Spoilers)

Also reviews for the season premieres of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Organized Crime, the novel Sleeping Beauties, the comic book limited series Sleeping Beauties, and the novels The Outsider, and Elevation.

Note: Because Terrible Showrunner Rick Eid has destroyed the original Law & Order, I will no longer be watching or reviewing it. I have better things to do with my time than to be offended by that scumbag. I rarely drop shows I've started, so you should get it into your head that's how bad the Mothershow got. I can't stand it and I refuse to have anything to do with it while Eid is where he is.

( Read more... )

Pay It Forward

I love to write reviews. But the best one I ever read was by Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum for "Pay It Forward". It makes Roger Ebert's review of "North" seem measured and reasonable. Bask in the glow of a angry critic clearly out of fucks to give:

https://ew.com/article/2000/10/27/pay-it-forward-3/

She doesn't even give it enough respect to give it an F grade. It doesn't even deserve THAT much consideration.

The thing I love best about it is she not only objects to it for the right reasons, but these are reasons nobody else would have before her. This was the era where Forrest Gump winning an Oscar was acceptable, rather than appalling. People calling out Hollywood for its crap didn't happen at this point.

I like to think she started a trend. A dangerous trend of getting viewers to think for themselves. Which by the way goes against the grain of almost every professional critic. The review is slightly dangerous for that reason.

If you see something sucky, say so. Even if other people are slobbering over it. Honesty is the best policy. Pay It Forward.

Another act of critical bravery. She actually spoils the horrible ending. People were PISSED at the time. She actually did us all a favor.

Why I am lenient and fair about genre television, particularly the MCU.

I'm old.

That's it. That's the reason.

Back in the late 1980's, where a frustrated budding nerd was unable to bud because everything even SLIGHTLY cool was always immediately canceled, the best current sci-fi on television was the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Quantum Leap. Ouch. So yeah. That's how bad we had it.

If you had brought me forward in time and showed me the WORST episode of Echo, I would think it was the single greatest TV show I had ever seen. Yeah, Echo is underwhelming compared to a lot of current stuff. Compared to the stuff I was raised on, it's top-shelf. And that's probably why I don't go into conniptions about most things unless it really deserves it. If Echo is a terrible TV show, I feel very fortunate to now live in an age where that is true. I won't take it granted.

For the record, Twin Peaks in 1990 was the thing that meant all bets were off. Until then I was purely desperate. Also should note Twin Peaks was canceled after two seasons so it's not like great television was even ALLOWED to exist.

Can't forget The Simpsons. Same year. Also the same year as "The Best Of Both Worlds". Until then I would have taken Echo and loved it.