PEACOCKS "COCAINE BEAR" IS A HUGE MISHAP WAITING TO BE EXPLORED

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - COCAINE BEAR [2023] - [R] - Peacock - Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Written by Jimmy Warden. Starring Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. This is another Peacock original movie and is Elizabeth Banks first attempt at directing a dark comedy.

Inspired by actual events that occurred in December 1985 where a man named Andrew Thornton [real drug smuggler], a large brown bear consumes a large amount of cocaine that was dropped from a drug plain over the distance of two states. The bear embarked on a killing spree, in an area where several innocent bystanders have stumbled onto the fallen payload, and attacks anyone who goes near the drugs or who is in direct contact with it. This movie has a lot gore and an some brutal kill scenes.

THE GOOD - The special effects and bear CGI are tremendously produced and delivered with stunning visuals. A lot of the gore looks realistic and presents some real painful visuals. There are several stories wrapped up in this movie that makes you wonder exactly where the writers were going with the entire plot. The entire film takes place in the middle of the 80's and there are some interesting tidbits of "you had to live back then" to catch the inside jokes that are spread out throughout the films run. As mentioned before, there is a lot of gore that befalls each death made by the large killer bear. Each story intertwines with the idea that even though there is a drug runner side to the entire story, the bear is the only constant. There are parts in the film where the killer bear takes on the leading role, sometimes crossing into a realm of human characteristics which makes some of killings look silly and too far fetched to believe.

THE BAD - This is a typical 80's slasher film filled with so much schlock, that it gets a little boring at times. There is a ton of bad acting and over acting that makes the comical side of the film seem a little too stupid to follow. Where some actors take the film serious and present some brilliant acting chops to deliver some intensely dramatic scenes, others seems to present no talent at all, and deliver performances that are easily forgotten.

POST MORTEM - This movie would have been better if the writer and director stuck to presenting a more real presentation of the actual events of the Cocaine Bear and how the drugs ended up in the woods in December of 1985. Using that baseline Urban Legend to create this film was just completely absurd.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ [3 of 5 Stars]

NEW "QUANTUM LEAP" SERIES DERAILS BEFORE LEAVING STATION

🎥🎞Series Review🎞🎥- QUANTUM LEAP - Peacock/NBC - PG - Premise: 30 years since Dr. Samuel Becket stepped into the Quantum Leap [QL] accelerator and vanished, now a new scientist, Dr. Ben Song [played by Raymond Lee], assembles a new team and restarts the old time traveling government program in hopes to better understand the mysteries behind the old technology and the man who created it. Yeah, it sounds like a good idea for a series re-boot, but without honestly understanding the original series and the details the old fanbase have regarding canon, this new series is anything BUT faithful to the technical know-how of the show and the new writers [Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt] have no skill in leaping ahead of the original shows dynamic presentation, especially with delivering only a five episode first season.

I could tear this new series apart with it's intended and lazy failure to explain the obvious in the technical department, but I gave this show a chance. I understand that being specific will only make this review seem more "personally charged" to attempt a hostile "shut is down before you destroy the best part of the original series" mentality to the show. You should take my word for it, no special effects team or heavy handed cast lineup is going to save this pile of vomit that's been tossed to the large fanbase. Everything woke in today's society is tossed at you from the start; including a cross-cultural alternative lifestyle cast, to presenting interracial relationships, to altering actual history patterns to better suit today's presentism that does hold a huge factor in at least three episodes.

*Presentism - Judging everyone in the past by the standards of the present. 

What's good in the series. Well, just like the new Star Trek extensions on the rival Paramount network, the special effects were upgraded. The woke community gets to see some cool flashy effects and holographic displays which have been overly used over the course of recent time. The camera work and lighting are up to speed and there are some action sequences that were never used in the original series that sets this show apart from the old. So yes, there is more action and with the holographic section of the show presenting the back end of what's happening while Dr. Song is in another time and place, it's good to see what the team is doing behind the scenes.

What's bad about the series. It's a long list, but the acting stands out above the rest. There's the feel of the actors not being given a good opportunity to settle in to their roles. Of course, in today's wokism mentality, there has to be a romantic link somewhere which is rushed and IMO damages the flow of the fifth episode. The writers brought in characters from the original series to help people understand that Becket's time in the Quantum Leap wasn't a wasted effort. You hear a lot of "If it wasn't for Dr. Becket, I would never be here" or some variation of it. But worst of all, and for all of the research team trying to figure out how the technology works, Dr. Song launches himself into the machine without warning anyone on a secret mission??...Time traveling isn't a sea cruise adventure, it's a dangerous place to visit and should be widely respected at all costs. 

This new re-boot also fails to mention some elements of the QL techology, like where is the essence of the person that Dr. Song replaces when he leaps? In the old series, the essence of the person replaced remains in the holo-chamber; where he/she can be interrogated for information for Ziggy to use in her calculations to figure out what Sam had to do to leap out.

Is the show fun? No. Is the show capable of leaping beyond the fantastic adventure of the original show? No. Has this new show hinted on saving Sam and getting him home? Of course; but not in the way that one might suspect. With the loss of Dean Stockwell earlier this year, any chance for a cool reunion of the old cast died with him. The new holo-assistant, played by Caitlin Bassett, is just another action packet female character with controlled vigor and emotion, who was also added as the love interest. She's got a long way to go to be anywhere near as clever as Stockwell was in delivering her part in the show. Her character does divulge some information that she was supposed to be the actual leaper within the new team; something that would have been a little more acceptable for the new show in my opinion. 

In closing, the show is okay. It's not a spectacular group performance that I would have expected from a reboot of such a splendid series. It was approved for a second season...well, after the harrowing historical nonsense presented in the last episode of the season, I'm surprised that this show was given another nod with the same writing team. 

⭐️⭐️[2 of 5 Stars]