Cliff Note Reviews #4

Cliff Note Reviews is an ongoing series where I briefly state my thoughts on recent films I've watched but don't have the desire to create a full review surrounding.  Short and to the point opinions on films that might make decent weekend watchers when you have nothing else to do, films to completely stay away from, and occasionally a few highly recommended films that I simply don't feel need to be given a full review due to already overexposure.

Gossip Girl - Season 2 (2008)

The worst thing I feared that could happen to the Gossip Girl series begins to corrode the addictive nature of the show in Season 2, repetition.  How many times do Dan and Serena (Blake Lively) have to break up and get back together again before the writers believe the audience will say "enough"!?!  For me kicking off Season 2 with their brief relationship re-kindling was a loud warning that this is probably going to be an on going occurrence, and it is.  While the season starts out on a high it quickly begins to falter, whether due to repetition, or character story-lines that seem to be a filler, Season 2 becomes extremely predictable.  With seven more episodes than Season 1, Season 2 took me a little longer to get through, some of the story-lines were hard to get excited about or were severely beaten to death, and the continuing saga between Lily and Rufus is not interesting at all.  Amazingly enough when I averaged out my individual ratings the total score matched what I had given to Season 1, so the extra seven episodes didn't manage to taint the average but they did manage to make the season a little harder to consume.  7/10

Idiocracy (2006)

Is this satire or a shocking glimpse into what possibly might become the future of mankind if IQ's continue to drop and social media, combined with the number of TV channels begins to rise?  Idiocracy is an interesting and at times scary look at what our society could eventually morph into.  Sure it's a little overblown for the sake of comedy, but so many aspects of this film are clearly drawn from what the writers have seen in society today.  In terms of entertainment value Idiocracy is hilarious for the first 45 minutes then slowly becomes a little played out as the jokes and the stupidity of the world becomes a little less amusing and simply a little annoying.  But with a C-list cast it manages to be a fairly surprising comedy.  6/10

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

My filmography viewing of Vincent Price films is sorely lacking, but if The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a staple for the typical Price film I don't plan on expanding my horizons.  While the sets and the costumes are beautifully created, the film itself is quite a bore.  A conglomeration of Phantom of the Opera and The Mummy, The Abominable Dr. Phibes lacks any real horror and becomes another systematic revenge film with a little oddity about it.  I can see why some people like this film, but I cannot understand why some of those people would actually say this is Price at his best. 4/10