Oh God

My new top 5 FAVORITE FILM entry. It is a mix of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Fargo, The Matrix, every Marvel film, The Joy Luck Club, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Cloud Atlas, with a few others thrown in. It is ingenuously, honestly, chaotically, beautifully, frantically, quietly, open-heartedly, simply magnificent. The ONLY reason to dislike it, is that at times it is a BIT difficult to follow for some. If you find this is you, TRY to lend a bit of extra attention (even though it moves fast). The payoff is more than well worth it.

I never listen to so-called movie critics. In my opinion, they are people who have lost touch with an actual love of films and now try to be contrary as possible in the search for the elusive visibility they crave across media platforms. Oh, and Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB? What jokes! IMDB is overrun with fake accounts, while Rotten Tomatoes seems to assign 'critic' reviews (and tomato-scores) based on the films the platform itself feels like hyping. THAT SAID, the one thing the critics did get right about Red Notice, is that Dwayne Johnson seems to appear 'checked out' during filming, which translates to DULL onscreen. Now, I want to give Dwayne Johnson the benefit of the doubt and say that is the way he was directed to act due to the FBI Agent character he is playing (leaving the slapstick and better one-liners to Reynolds), rather than being burned out. Even so - with DJ being a bit serious and toned-down - it's a great ride, highly entertaining, and worth watching. P.S. There's a special place you-know-where for those who enjoy spoiling movies.

Is El Camino perfect? No. Is it riviting? Absofrickinlutely! First of all, it would have gone a long way to being a WHOLE lot closer to perfect if the first 29 minutes could have been condensed into 15. Those first 29 minutes kind of dragged, and while parts were moving and sweet - again, it dragged. Thank god that it then began to gain momentum, and while still slow in parts, the tension and the build-up was fantastic. Seeing most of your favorite (and hated) characters, and not only SEEING them, but FEELING your way into their minds, was amazing. The climax is kind of difficult to explain. I guess again, it wasn't perfect, but it was SO DAMN GOOD. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but you just have to watch it. Oh, and here, I must tell you to do yourself/yourselves a favor and avoid all kinds of spoilers about it. The time leading up to the end was the best part of the entire thing. It was tasteful, poignant, touching, moving, funny ... and almost a love letter of sorts to all us fans. The actual end was good-to-great, but in my opinion (and I think many would agree), it would have been better had another character been brought in to complete the circle, even if they had to skip to the "future". While they did touch on this story arc at the ending, it was much too vague to appreciate. All in all, a solid 9, but considering it was preceded and born out of the most subtly monumental series in history, I HAD to up it to a 10. Am I a fan girl? Perhaps. But the movie and above that, the series above any series ever, deserves to have fans. Holy heck. I love you Breaking bad. One last thing I need to add. DO NOT go in with expectations of what or how YOU think things are going to be or take place.

A special kind of genius when you really think about it ... While some episodes, as expected, do not rise to the level of greatness of others, most all are thought-provoking and entertaining. In this age of so many rehashed, canned and stale TV offerings, what more can one ask for? Something witty, new and out-of-the-ordinary is what I look for, and you get all three here. The stories are pretty different than what you've seen before - at least as much as anything can be different nowadays - and you never know what you are going to get from week to week in terms of expecting drama, thriller, comedy, etc. ... The series embraces all genres. I like this. I also like that the creators of the series seem to be keenly unapologetic, in every way, in their approach to filming the series, and in its delivery. The other thing that stands out to me, and mostly the reason why I call it genius, is the level of acting the actors and actresses bring to the table. You have to understand that every episode takes place IN Room 104, and sometimes, while the list of characters may include a number of people, for the most part, there are no more than one, two or maybe even three people being filmed, and the scenes rely heavily on them, and almost every one of them sells these odd and 'off the beaten track' stories to the hilt. There is hardly any time you don't believe (at least during the running time) that all this "weirdness" is actually happening. Again, not every episode rises to the level of others, but I suggest that anyone who has discounted this series based on an episode they did not like, watch another. While the series, as a whole, may not be everyone's cup of tea (what really is?), you might just be one of the ones who finds a new favorite while visiting Room 104.