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Hulu Series Review: The Bear: Season 3

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It is very hard to understand that with a television series this well received in its first 2 seasons, considering the money involved, the many Emmy Awards, and an ongoing need to protect a great franchise, that season 3 of “The Bear” could have missed the mark in so many areas.

What was so great about the first two seasons of “The Bear” is that it showed for the first time, how hard it is to work in a restaurant and maintain it as a profitable business. The constant arguments, the pressure of getting an impossible amount of work done, night after night, the heat, people crashing into each other, the mess and the extreme financial problems that plague all restaurants was fascinating to watch.

Unfortunately, this highly anticipated third season forgot just about everything that made this series so great. There are some intense arguments in the 2nd episode that are almost as good as some of the episodes of the first two seasons – but that is all there were remaining episodes of season 3. The use of the F word is also way overdone in this 3rd season in too many scenes. There is one episode that consists of a long talk between Natalie, played by Abby Elliott and her mother Donna played by Jamie Lee Curtis, while she is lying in a hospital bed in labor. It’s almost as if they either ran out of good ideas or thought they could skate by with below-average scripts because of the built-in audience and name recognition.

The other problem is that the most compelling character in this series Sydney Adamu, played by Ayo Edebiri does not have nearly enough screen time in these 10 episodes. This is a huge mistake because her character is just about the most interesting in the entire series. Several of the unresolved storylines from the second season are not resolved or even addressed in this 3rd season. Once again, what are they thinking here? Sometimes extreme success breeds overconfidence, and in this case, it appears that the producers believed that they could throw something against a wall, and it would still work because of the great first two seasons. Unfortunately, this just might have killed any possibility of the 4th season.

The entire cast is back for season 3, including Jeremy Allen White, Abby Elliott, Oliver Platt,
Liza Colón-Zayas, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who is still the angriest character I have ever seen in a television series.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are a ridiculously high 94%, with an audience rating of a correct 66%. Why the paid critics are rating this 3rd season-high makes very little sense. I agree with the audience rating of 66%.

My recommendation is to watch the first 2 great seasons of this series and skip this last one.

Movie Review: A Quiet Place: Day One

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The third installment of the A Quiet Place movie franchise, “A Quiet Place: Day One” has little or nothing to do with the first two movies that starred husband and wife John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. This film is about the time when the aliens first arrive on planet Earth, with this film taking place in New York City. Samira, a homeless woman, starring Lupita Nyong’o, is just about the only character in this entire movie, along with her cat, who somehow manages to survive so many incidents of sudden death by an attack by the aliens and even drowning. Samira does hook up with two other characters and throughout this story one she becomes friends with, and through all of the running and death, all Samira wants to do is get some pizza at some pizza shop in Harlem.

One of the problems with this movie – as with both of the first two, is getting a good long look at one of the vicious murdering aliens does not really happen. Perhaps this is because of the special effects budget. This third movie has almost no close-up views of any of the aliens.

This entire story is understandably depressing and unfortunately too boring in too many areas. There is not enough of a story, as Samira is either on her own or in massive crowds, running for her life and trying to be very quiet. Staying very quiet and running for your life can get old after a certain number of the same scenes.

This screenplay is so light with interesting and compelling scenes that this 3rd movie might have ended this entire franchise. What could be the next idea? When humanity strikes back and destroys all of these invading aliens?

There is no doubt that the original “A Quiet Place” is one of the best horror movie ideas involving aliens to come out in many years. The idea of aliens who are blind and are extremely sensitive to sound and can kill so quickly and effectively is both horrifying and original. Unfortunately, this new movie did not introduce any new ideas other than the fact that we find out that the aliens can drown and are afraid of water.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for A Quiet Place: Day One are way too high 85%, with my rating around 75%, and a very modest recommendation to see the first two movies if you have not already.

Movie Review: Thelma

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The new movie “Thelma” is the second in recent months about criminal scammers who prey on old people and steal their money. In the film “The Beekeeper” starring Jason Statham an older woman was scammed over the phone by a lowlife criminal who used a virus and computer glitch to steal money from her bank account.

For this film, Thelma, a 94-year-old woman played by June Squibb was called by a scammer, who sounded like her grandson and said he was in jail and needed 10 thousand dollars bail to be mailed to a PO box. For vulnerable old people, scams like this happen all the time and account for billions of dollars stolen every year. For this story, Thelma then decides to take the extremely improbable path of tracking down the criminals and getting her money back.

First, Thelma meets up with her friend at a nursing home Ben, played by the late Richard Roundtree, in one of his best and final acting roles. Thelma then steals his scooter and after Ben catches up with her, they both set out to find the criminals at the PO Box and try to get her 10K back. There are some funny scenes as Thelma struggles to use computers, like most old people who are not computer savvy. There are some well-acted scenes with Thelma’s daughter Gail, played by Parker Posey, and her husband Alan, played by Clark Greg.

The best relationship in this movie is with Thelma and her grandson Daniel, played by Fred Hechinger. There are some very well-done scenes in this movie showing the bond Thelma has with her grandson, especially at the conclusion of this good, but not great movie.

It is very impressive that June Squibb, at age 94, is still acting and doing a very good job in her roles, and this one just might give her another Academy Award nomination.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating of 99% for this movie is too high, with my rating a solid 85% rating and a recommendation to see this movie for its good acting and humor.