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Code Black: First Date (2016)
The medicine in this is so so bad. The writing isn't much better.
This whole series has been written by someone who appears to be starting a screenplay writing course at college. This same person forgot to seek advice from any medical professionals as to the realism of the writing.
"Silent heart attack" - utter boll&cks.
They also seem to not understand the dynamic between attendings and residents - attendings are ultimately responsible; residents dont have their own.
Why the hell is a resident prescribing TPA.
They also love etomidate and sux - the guys writing this are working with an old textbook. Maybe medical advisors are just too expensive.
Why is there an ICU in the ER - doesn't make sense.
I could go on as the faults are endless but I'm bored of writing this review.
I would not want anyone I know to be treated at this place if it were real.
Moonfall (2022)
I don't normally give 1 star but this deserves it
The start with, I think the producers should be criminally charged for such a horrific hotpotch of crappery. Quite simply, one of the worst expensive movies ever made. Whoever managed to convince the financiers to hand over 140 million dollars for this deserves I suppose some credit.
In terms of faults, it's hard to know where to begin. But I will say the special effects aren't terrible (i suppose they shouldn't be with this budget).
If we focus briefly on the science; it is clear that noone advising on the screenplay, direction, overall production had any more than a 12 year olds level of education in the mathematical sciences (that may be being unfair t2 year olds).
The cast generally are good quality hires - I can only suspect they were made offers to good to refuse to be part of this.
With regards Roland Emmerich, if he is allowed to make more movies (I'll be surprised if he gets the budget again), maybe it is better if he is not given creative control.
Thirteen Lives (2022)
The only saving grace is Joel Edgerton
The National Geographic documentary, "The Rescue", is absolutely fantastic and we'll worth a watch. It captures the emotion and real life drama of the rescue as seen from many points of view. It captures the emotions of the tragic death of Saman. The true stress felt by Dr Harris.
This movie is quite simply the worst movie I have ever seen from Ron Howard. I am so thoroughly disappointed.
What he has failed to capture is the real life drama that unfolded. He has over dramatised some scenes and missed the boat with others.
With due respect to the actors, I think they make the best of a bad lot. Joel Edgerton for one doesn't overplay his part.
But, as we know, the Thai Captain in charge of the operation did not jump in the water to help the last diver out. Not was it as simple to get the Minister to give the go ahead.
If this had been portrayed truly and faithfully, the stress of the divers concocting a plan while the authorities were aiming for a zero risk rescue, contemplating leaving the boys in the cave, would have been more than enough drama for the big screen.
Maybe Ron has lost his touch.
Nothing but respect for the divers, but it's not their job to make this into a movie - that falls to the director, writers and producers.
Like I said, stick with the National Geographic documentary - a far better production in all measures.
Space Force: The Doctor's Appointment (2022)
This season has really gone down hill
It is extremely sad that the writers decided to listen to some of the idiotic television reviewers.
The programme has truly dumbed down.
I hope that some of the modifications were made due to restrictions imposed by COVID.
The previous season had a healthy amount of satire.... I'm guessing this annoyed some of those it was mocking.
Way Down (2021)
A poorly executed movie with an even worse script
It's not that I hate the movie, the cinematography was fine, some of the cast were ok.
It's just such a poor script.
A special mention should go to Freddie Highmore - a truly bland performance who never truly engages the viewer; you don't really care about him or what happens to him.
Liam Cunningham is a tremendous actor but he cannot save this mess.
What's with Famke Jannsen's accent; her American one is fine (from what I remember of the X-Men franchise) but her English accent really doesn't cut it.
All in all a totally forgettable movie that I wish I had not bothered watching, with no particular intrigue, no clever turns, a clichéd ending.
The so called engineering mastermind (I'm not sure we ever discover what type of engineer he is by the way) strikes as a bit of an idiot to be honest and would probably struggle to get employed by even the most cowboy of engineering firms - more the fault of script writers I feel who probably don't really know or understand the breadth of the engineering sciences.
Recommendation: miss it.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Poorly written and poorly executed
What a shame.
Perfectly serviceable cast. Some pretty decent special effects. Cinematography was actually fine.
The storyline is just so poor. Character development is superficial.
I'm the guy that's gonna love anything involving time travel, aliens, big explosions; the ingredients are there, the recipe is not.
One of the most disappointing and lazy script writing elements in the whole film is the 'realisation' bit when Emmy (Betty Gilpin) suggests that the aliens maybe didn't get to Earth when they emerged in 2048, but might have been here for some time - glad someone thought of that.....
So let's go and speak to an actual kid (who knows some stuff about volcanoes) as they found some volcanic ash under the nails of an alien......
But they need to fly to Russia and the Defence Secretary of the United States has personally refused a biology teacher's request to take a team there to investigate.......
But fortunately Dan's (Pratt) dad fly's planes and likes to defy the government......
This was written by someone in Kindergarten and somehow got funded.
Final Score (2018)
Great cast. Shame couldn't match it with a decent screenplay
Great cast who have proven themselves in other productions. Therefore I don't think they were the weak part of this production.
I would also argue cinematography and sound editing was solid (if you ignore the awful dubbing of Julian Cheung.
The underlying idea and the narrative is sound (if not a little too close to the Die Hard franchise to be guilty of plagiarism).
Sadly the direction was clunky and just didn't flow. Maybe it can be blamed on a poor script or inadequate editing; but I don't think anyone was expecting a Shakespeare level script when signing up for this.
I would say the clichéd roles were delivered in an almost satirical way and would not have been out of place on a comedy sketch show.
I think all in all, Sky could have done a lot better.
Jack Ryan (2018)
Sadly, this is not Tom Clancy
I had such high hope for this series. I was actually excited about it. Being a huge Clancy fan and a fan of the way that Jack Ryan grew up.
The writing is far from the standard I would expect from such a high profile series. Sadly the direction is pretty poor as well. A few poor cast choices as well. I think Krasinski could have been a good Ryan, sadly he was working w
If this had been made without calling it Jack Ryan, I probably would have given it more stars; this generic trash
Jack Ryan: Sources and Methods (2018)
Mediocre production value
The British accent of the guy who plays the British Doctor (Vince Nappo) is appalling. Needs some more lessons.
Jack Ryan (2018)
Sadly, this is not Tom Clancy
I had such high hope for this series. I was actually excited about it. Being a huge Clancy fan and a fan of the way that Jack Ryan grew up.
The writing is far from the standard I would expect from such a high profile series. Sadly the direction is pretty poor as well. A few poor cast choices as well. I think Krasinski could have been a good Ryan, sadly he was working w
If this had been made without calling it Jack Ryan, I probably would have given it more stars; this generic trash
Code Black (2015)
Not awful but certainly not as good as ER. Needs work.
I was excited to watch this programme after sitting down with the misses and hoped that I wouldn't be let down by another over dramitised medical show. Sadly I was wholly disappointed.
After watching the first 4 episodes to see if got better, each episode got increasingly bizarre in its medical depiction. What is realistic is how it depicts the essential support provided by nursing staff in a busy ER.
I'm not sure if age has just bittered me or the fact I just now know more after working in busy trauma centres, but I remember ER deftly combining multiple story lines while getting the medical aspects mostly right; it just seems like Code Black is forcing it, and then sacrificing medical realism in the process.
For those that care to know or are doing their finals: doing a Lactate, then a whole body CT, then taking a history and finally doing an U/S scan to diagnose an Ovarian torsion will fail you. Subsequently, if the same ER doctor then offered to do de-tort said Ovary laprascopically, I would ask to see another Doctor.
I may be criticised for being too exacting, but I believe that accurate portrayal of medical aspects should in no way detract from good dramatic storytelling. ER managed it.
As an aside, the characters have been cast well with a special mention to Luis Guzman who portrays a senior ER nurse skillfully.
Jurassic World (2015)
What a terrible, terrible movie.
Chris Pratt is the only redeeming feature of the poorly written flick. The script and screenplay give way to ever more impressive special effects; but as much as the effects are important, all they should be are the roof to an otherwise sturdy house. If you want a formulaic movie that is fit for the 7-10 year old bracket this is probably the ticket. The characters couldn't be more stereotyped if they tried.
I got the feeling that Mr Pratt twigged to the fact that this was based on a poor screenplay and therefore did an amazing job at underplaying his role (as much as the director did try and set him up with such clichéd scenes); my hat goes off to him (genuinely).
I am trying to find something positive to say however all I can say are: *the cinematography was good *the effects were very good *scenery was impressive
other than that - utter pants
House of Cards: Chapter 39 (2015)
An inconsistent message
Sadly I have to echo some of the points made by other reviewers. With all the hard work that has gone into plot and character development, I felt this season started going downhill half way through.
The stories were inconsistent and a little unbelievable. It appears the writers were just going for dramatic affect which meant it lost some of its realism. The storyline of a dead US serviceman was wholly unrealistic. Actually the entire Russian involvement in the series seemed to not be in keeping with the rest of the over-arching script - a totally unnecessary diversion.
I would also think that democratic nominees would not be so vocally opposed in pubic (especially when one was a sitting president) - it would surely be setting the Republicans up for a ridiculously easy win come the general (and even real life US politicians are not that short sighted).
It almost seems like one of the main writers left the show half way through; the staff writers who were left were not quite up to the task. This may be symptomatic of the typical US format of stretching a television series out beyond its natural length.
Sadly I feel that dramatic writing got in the way of realistic story telling. This very much seems more like a soap opera than a serious drama/thriller.
"I'm leaving you..." - Come on chaps. You can do better than that.
He Who Dares: Downing Street Siege (2014)
If I could rate this 1 star I would
Not sure if this movie was just simply made to launder drug money. Or maybe someone quit their job as an accountant at Tesco's because they thought they had the making of a great screen writer.
The script - appalling
The acting - my god; surely none of the people in this call themselves actors. The person playing the lead (I cant even be bothered to look him up on a separate tab) didn't even bother to research his own part or any background to it - obviously hoped the director would tell him everything he needed to do. The rank is wrong (he wears a Corporals rank rather than Major - Not easily confused). The salute is worse than Basil Fawlty/Gordon Brittas. Did he grow crap facial hair for the role.
Do not waste the click of looking at the synopsis on Netflix.
The cast and crew should be 'put down'.
--- By the way this parody has better acting and a more solid script https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K72-9oXsG30