JSG25

This series is fairly accurate in its portrayal of Wall Street history. However, there is a clear bias in the narrative crafted; Wall Street and banks are evil and the federal government is the good savior. They rightfully highlight unethical business practices by bankers but fail to show any of the corruption of the political elite who were just the other side of the power-struggle coin. The series promotes the Roosevelt/SEC as the white knights who save the day, yet ignore the decisions by both that prolonged the Great Depression by seizing control and retarding markets.

There is then a convenient time-jump that ignores decades of political ineptitude (40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s) in an attempt to jump straight to Ronald Reagan's presidential term, and then vaguely allude that Regan was responsible for some relatively unknown criminal Wall Street players in the 80s. This series starts off really well, before delving into tired apocryphal narratives.

To be clear, there is no direct fabrication in the series. What they show is factual. There is just a very clear bend in the story-telling that feeds a popular post-modern theme.

Jim Gaffigan has always been a reliable and hysterical laugh and this was just not it. He took a couple mediocre bits and absolutely rode them into oblivion. It really seemed like he either fell into the "they'll laugh at anything I say" trap, or he thought he could completely change his style. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he witnessed the meteoric rise of Joe Rogan and his band of edgy comics and decided to try and tiptoe that way too. We chuckled a few times and watched the whole show but it didn't have the same punch any of his other shows. I'm rooting for his next set to get back to funny Jim.

This film is essentially a 2023 remake of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando movie with a women protagonist, and instead of tropical island scenes it takes place in Alaska. It has the same cheesy and over the top cliches, but without the self-awareness that it's such. Jennifer Lopez is good enough in the role of an action hero type, but the story, script, and filmography are disjointed and convoluted. The major problem is it has the absurdly unrealistic aspects of a shoot-em-up movie (laughably impossible feats, innumerable henchmen taken out with ease, and a scar-faced antagonist) while trying to be a serious action/drama film. It would have been better if they had chosen one or the other.