Isolation Media 101: Peacock Edition
I had originally decided to end my Isolation Media series with my last one, but then more streaming services came out of the woodwork and I couldn’t resist checking a few out. So first on the list is Peacock, NBC/Universal’s streaming service. All my picks for this are free offerings from the service. There is a paid version with more options, but there is plenty to choose from on the ad-supported, free side of things. So I went through the movies - featuring quite a few classics, whether new or more recent - that I hadn’t managed to watch yet.
I do want to preface my reviews by saying Peacock as a platform is a bit frustrating. They don’t seem to seek out more natural ad breaks, so they often come literally in the middle of conversations. And making a watchlist is almost unnecessary because half the time, you can’t find it anyways on the app. And, most Peacock originals only have one or two episodes available with the rest behind the paywall, which is a bit frustrating.
Okay, onto the movies!
The Bourne Identity
This movie, to me, was the epitome of the word ‘fine.’ I wasn’t super invested, but it was interesting enough. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I had watched it closer to when it was released. I just felt like I wasn’t given any reason to care about anyone in this movie, so it was just getting to the end of a story.
The Verdict: 3/5
The Bourne Supremacy
Ah, but the story didn’t end with the first, and I felt like I managed to somehow care even less this time around. There were car chases so long that I thought I must have accidentally found a moderately boring Fast & Furious movie. Honestly, this movie wasn’t terrible but I was just so ambivalent to it all.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
The Bourne Ultimatum
Somehow in a shocking twist, the third one in this series was the best, in my opinion, and Rotten Tomatoes scores seem to agree. I thought it was the most interesting of the Bourne films, and the plot itself was way more intriguing. And honestly, I was thrilled to get more Julia Stiles in this one.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
American Psycho
I had no idea this movie came out in 2000. It seems so magnificently 80s that I did not realize it was so recently done. I thought it was actually really, really great. The gore was a bit much for me at times, but I expected that. I probably would have rated it higher, but I was infuriated by the ending.
The Verdict: 3/5
The Giant Mechanical Man
This was a perfectly okay romantic comedy. I’m super picky about movie writing, so sometimes the dialogue was a bit much for me and sounded unrealistic, but it was a really cute story and was a fun way to spend a bit of time. If you check it out, keep watching through the credits.
The Verdict: 2.75/5
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
I’m concerned I may be heartless. I expected to get a lot of feelings from this, because I could have sworn so many people I know watched it and said incredible things about it, but I was actually a bit disappointed in it because i felt it didn’t focus as much as I wanted on Mr. Rogers himself, but his surroundings.
The Verdict: 3/5
W.
This movie was probably one of my bigger disappointments in this deep dive. First of all, Vice was better. Second of all, I didn’t think Thanos (James Brolin) was a convincing George W. Bush. Third of all, there were so many random time jumps that I felt I couldn’t keep a single thing straight. Save your time and skip this one.
The Verdict: 2/5
Vanity Fair
On the flip side, this was one of my biggest surprises. I have mentioned I’m a sucker for a good period piece, but this was a really enjoyable one even by my standards. I don’t know how I hadn’t seen it before now, and it was a teensy bit long, but it was a creative story and Reese Witherspoon is a great lead in it.
The Verdict: 4/5
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
I decided to continue with the period piece theme and got another disappointment. Movies like this actually make me wonder whether or not I think ScarJo is a good actress. Based off of this one, I’d probably say no, and I’d also say that they really should have used more of the budget to get better wigs for the men in it.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
Phantom Thread
I think I had higher expectations of this movie than I should have. It wasn’t bad, by any means, but I wasn’t overly impressed. The acting and writing were solid, but this was the second film in this deep dive that the ending made me drop its rating a bit. It just seemed nonsensical to me.
The Verdict: 3/5
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
And here is one of those embarrassing “it took me this long to watch a classic” moments. And other than the last twenty minutes or so, I think it held up, but once we have medical things featuring into the tale, they lost me a bit. It was a great time capsule of a movie, though, and how about that amazing score? Worth it.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
Show Em What You Got
Yes, I’m giving 4 out of 5 stars to a Backstreet Boys documentary. But I loved it. I thought it was incredibly well done - a solid combination of old footage and current reflections. The band members also don’t shy away from showing the bad along with the good, which is something I really appreciated.
The Verdict: 4/5
The Graduate
Holy Simon & Garfunkel, batman. This movie was both fascinating and ridiculous to me. I did not at all buy the plot with the daughter - it was sped up and insane even by a romcom standard, but overall, I enjoyed it well enough. It did make me wonder what about this film made it iconic, because in 2020, I couldn’t quite see it.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
Lost In Translation
Full disclosure: this rating is almost exclusively to the ScarJo/Bill Murray relationship making me irrationally uncomfortable by the end. It just felt like a waste of time to me, because I had zero investment in both of the main characters, so I just didn’t care what happened to any of them.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
The Paperboy
My friend and I seem to stumble upon these kinds of films a lot: random movies you’ve never heard of but that have an insanely impressive cast. Sometimes the movies hold up to the standard of the cast members, other times they don’t. For this one, I’d have to say it does. It’s bizarre, but I was all in for the entire thing.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
Gods of Egypt
Let’s go ahead and get this over with. This is not a good movie. It is ridiculous. But it’s irrationally ridiculous. And could have been so much better considering how fascinating Egyptian mythology is. However, I weirdly enjoyed it a lot. It’s stupid, the writing isn’t great and so I have to give it a lower score…but it was kind of fun.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
Hardball
For someone who loves baseball, I watched this and was immediately embarrassed with how little I knew about women’s baseball. This short and sweet documentary was incredibly well done and highlighted the ways baseball has included women, and how far it still needs to go.
The Verdict: 4/5
Have you given anything on Peacock a shot? Do you think the service is worth looking into? Next month, I’m digging into Apple+ TV or whatever it is officially called (before I lose that free year I got for getting a new phone). So if you have any suggestions of what I need to watch on it, let me know in the comments below.