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cleishmains
Reviews
Jusqu'au déclin (2020)
Great entertainment!
If the whole point of a movie is to entertain, then this did the trick. I must admit that I wasn't expecting much but it had a great, believable, storyline (given that we're talking about slightly out of the norm survivalists here), good effects, nice scenery and great acting! What's not to like?!
The New Pope (2020)
Wonderful and Jude Law just makes it better!
I loved The Young Pope and this series just carries on the great job done by everyone who was involved in that. The visuals, the lighting, the scripting are all just superb and every now and then they manage to outdo themselves with a particular scene.....such as the one involving Jude Law and Yulia Snigir for which she, alone, should be given an award.
Overall, a delight to watch and, for me at least, completely unmissable.
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Engage! Boringly Going where......
I watched the original Star Trek series when it first came out and, yes, I am that old! I've watched every series in between now and then, including all the films, some excellent, some just ok. But never, in any of them, have I wanted to stop watching half way through an episode....until now.
I was so looking forward to Jean Luc getting back into it but this tripe is just awful with abysmal acting and some weird situations and characters. I suppose a Romulan could pick up an Irish accent but, really? Or if Picard, at 80, gets blown off a roof, he could end up lying on his couch instead of in hospital but, yet again, really?
This needs to get very good, very quickly or it's going to go down in history as the worst "Based upon Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek series" ever!
A Christmas Carol (2019)
Another awful BBC "adaptation"
If it wasn't bad enough that the BBC go and ruin "War of the Worlds", they went and did it again with "A Christmas Carol". Do they not get that the original authors took great care in how and why they wrote them in a particular way? In "A Christmas Carol" Scrooge is worthy of saving and redemption but in this version, ten minutes in, I found myself hating the character and wishing all the worst that could befall him. I decided that I really didn't want to remember a joyous Christmas 2019 for this horror show and switched over....
The War of the Worlds (2019)
BBC, you should be ashamed!
Just watched the first 40 minutes of this rubbish and could not have been more disappointed. Given the run up to the series, I expected a proper rendition of the book in a fashion the BBC could and usually are good at doing but the backstory of Amy and George was a complete waste of time, totally pointless and I hated the characters, especially George. The depiction of the sphere landing, cracking and then spinning up above the trees and then transforming into a million separate pieces was ridiculously inept. Overall, just terrible.....
Ghosts (2019)
Dead but just not out unfortunately!
We watched the first episode of Ghosts and switched over in ten minutes because, quite frankly, it just wasn't funny. However, listening to BBC Radio 2 yesterday with the writers being interviewed we heard that the characters had just been introduced in the first episode and that the second episode was much better and that it had been written so that there was a "gag every line".
So, we watched the second episode for another ten minutes and it was as bad as the first. The characters are just dreadful and......it's just not funny!! If ever a program needed to be gagged every line, it's this one!
Mirage (2018)
Impressive butterfly effect offering.
I thought that over the last umpteen years that I'd seen every possible permutation of the "What if you went back and....?" However, Netflix came up with this ittle gem which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. It takes a slightly different approach to others of its ilk and has a number of sub-plots to maintain your interest. Well worth watching!
Das Boot (2018)
Excellent Sequel to the original mini-series.
The original Das Boot is one of my all-time favourites and I was concerned that perhaps the new series would be a real let down. However, far from being a disappointment, I am really enjoying every minute and the acting and direction, particularly on board the boat, should be applauded. Everyone involved in the production must also have been worried about living up to the original but they have no need as, all-in-all, the new one is excellent.
9-1-1 (2018)
Terrible Show, Terrible Acting...what more could go wrong?
I have no idea how anyone could think this piece of rubbish could make it past one episode far less a second series. The acting is bad, the stories are ridiculous and portraying first responders in this light is out and out criminal! They're needing to call the real 9-1-1, declare the show a national disaster and get the fire hoses out!
Lost in Space (2018)
I'm not sure how long this show has got after this series....
.....because none of the characters are likeable, the acting is dire and the script doesn't help the actors one bit! A show needs to have at least one relatable character in it and, especially, one which you'd hate to have killed off by the writers. Lost in Space, unfortunately, just doesn't and, for me, they could get rid of any one of them!
You're also supposed to, at least, hate Dr Smith and the original LIS series, which I'm old enough to have watched, had a Dr Smith whom you loved to hate! The character way back then, though, was funnily despicable but this version is just despicable. She can't even act her way out of it because I just don't think she has the ability.
I really, really wanted to like this series but it's got very little going for it if the first few episodes are anything to go by. Netflix can take some existing shows, viz Star Trek, and turn them into a darker version with huge success so I'm hoping against hope that they can turn around Lost in Space.....
Lost in Space (2018)
I'm not sure how long this show has got after this series....
.....because none of the characters are likeable, the acting is dire and the script doesn't help the actors one bit! A show needs to have at least one relatable character in it and, especially, one which you'd hate to have killed off by the writers. Lost in Space, unfortunately, just doesn't and, for me, they could get rid of any one of them!
You're also supposed to, at least, hate Dr Smith and the original LIS series, which I'm old enough to have watched, had a Dr Smith whom you loved to hate! The character way back then, though, was funnily despicable but this version is just despicable. She can't even act her way out of it because I just don't think she has the ability.
I really, really wanted to like this series but it's got very little going for it if the first few episodes are anything to go by. Netflix can take some existing shows, viz Star Trek, and turn them into a darker version with huge success so I'm hoping against hope that they can turn around Lost in Space.....
Next of Kin (2018)
"Unless we frightened him off......."
Episode 3 and after shooting at Danish and hitting Doctor Mona instead, the woman from MI5 wonders whether they might have frightened Danish off! Nah, not at all, don't worry - he'll trust you!
It also seems that Pakistani hospitals have much better treatment capabilities than the NHS as Dr Mona is miraculously cured and back on her feet within days and.....completely forgives and forgets MI5 for shooting her!
If the BBC keep producing stuff like McMafia against rubbish like Next of Kin then they have nothing to worry about - the licence fee's worth it!
The Long Road Home (2017)
Would you want to do it?
I really can't understand all the negative reviews this series has garnered as I really enjoyed it. It's not the best acted but it depicts a true series of events and does an excellent job of showing how badly the American forces had prepared for urban warfare at that time.
Sending an open truck, without a radio and full of troops into streets of multi-storey buildings packed with well armed insurgents is obviously, in hindsight, just madness but that was what the American military did. In a similar fashion the UK sent out unarmoured Land Rover Defenders before finding out that they tended to get blown up by unscrupulous terrorists. Lessons were learned the hard way back then and the series does a good job of showing that.
Yes the "homeland" stuff is occasionally a bit cheesy but people "Get over yourselves!" and see the entire series for, overall, a relatively inexpensive good bit of TV entertainment.
Tiger Raid (2016)
Smoldering? Yes, like a damp squib!
I just cannot understand why this film is generating 10* reviews. If constant yelling, bickering and swearing makes a good film then, yes, it's excellent but a poor plot, manufactured situations, some bizarre cut scenes and a set of most unlikely relationships makes this film depressing viewing along with 88 minutes I'll not get back.
I found myself hoping that it might just turn the corner and go instantly from mediocre to brilliant in an instant but it never happened and I just ended up not bothering whether, in the end, A killed B, B killed A or C killed them both. Just not bothered.......
Dying of the Light (2014)
Dying of the Light? More like on it's feet!
I stopped watching when the terrorist at the meet looks across at Cage and Yeltchin, playing two highly experienced CIA agents, sees them staring at him and, strangely enough, takes off!
Yeltchin, at this point, shouts "Damn he's seen us!" Of course, he saw you. You're two highly experienced CIA agents who know how to blend into any situation but, instead, choose to sit on a bench and stare directly at the mark. Hmmmm....
Now Cage has got an excuse for this as he's got a dread disease which kind of excuses him for being in this film at all. Oh no, wait, the characters got the disease....so what's your excuse Nic???
Absolutely terrible film....
Knock Knock (2015)
How many people wasted their lives on this?
Spoiler! - Keanu Reeves digs himself into a hole and can't get out. No, not the character who also ended up in a hole but the so-called "actor" and if I was him I'd have paid them not to release this and buried the film instead. This could be the worst film I've ever watched - bad storyline, bad directing, bad acting but....on the upside, from a production point of view, it must have been cheap to make so wouldn't have cost Keanu much at all.....
I've watched a couple of not very impressive KR's films recently - John Wick, 47 Ronin and I think, after this one, I'm wondering more and more whether he's grasping at straws and, instead, perhaps needs to step back and examine a) what he decides to do a bit more closely and b) when he does decide to take part in a movie, tries a bit harder....
The X Files: My Struggle II (2016)
Mulder nearly killed off....
Since 1993 I've never missed an episode of the X Files but, sadly, I rather wished I'd never watched any of this new series at all. It was always going to be difficult to revive a legend and the "you can never go back" saying could not have been better placed than with this iconic series. However, Gillian Anderson has developed into an extremely fine actress in her own right, witness the new BBC's "War and Peace" series and David Duchovny has not done too badly either - although I don't think I've seen him in anything where, at some point, he hasn't taken a cynical swipe at the dialogue! Therefore, given the two key actors, a well written, well thought out revival should have just about been possible.
Unfortunately, well written nor well thought out were in evidence anywhere from Episode 1 onwards. And, what was worse, although they may very well have tried to do something with the script, neither of the two key actors seemed to be able to take it seriously and it just got worse with the introduction of Miller and Einstein. The first question which I had was simply "Why?" What was the point in introducing two characters which further reduced the whole thing from comic book status to just farce! Unfortunately, it looked like GA and DD had the same questions because the acting and the storyline from there on in just went further down hill.
However, I'm ever optimistic and maybe the next series (given the ending to this one) will be conceived using the lessons learned from this one - I actually believe it must do because, basically, it can't get any worse......