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mwelliott99
Reviews
Reacher (2022)
Season 1 excellent, season 2 poor
I loved season 1 but the second season is not good. It is poorly written. The rest of Reacher's group are unpleasant, crude and I couldn't care what happens to them. I don't know why the current fashion is for people to be so obnoxious to each other. In the first series we cared about all the key characters. Time for a new writer for season 3.
Also they've filmed it with some sort of blue filter which makes everything look bleak and depressing. It's also poorly lit and dark so you can't really see what's going on. This is pointless and silly. Time for a new Director, cameraman and lighting team for series 3.
The series is missing the charm of Reacher and risks becoming generic poor action stuff with a weak script.
Black Mirror: Demon 79 (2023)
White men are evil - of course!
Surprise surprise, a story about white men being dirty, evil people ripe for murdering. Especially if they vote Conservative. Ethnic minorities are good, of course. Really? We are so fed up with this stuff. Don't these left wing writers and media story makers see the nonsense they are peddling. Also, of course, their viewers don't buy it. It's seriously divisive stuff and is dangerous. We really expect better from our entertainers. The supposed evil Conservative is even playing Nazi loving Wagner in his car too - we get it. Hilarious. Not.
The story isn't as clever or interesting as other Black Mirror stories but well acted as usual. Just foolish, student identity politics - not a good look.
Hijack (2023)
Awful
This is crazily unrealistic and silly. My wife and I found ourselves laughing at times as it was all so silly. The characters are caricatures & completely unbelievable. The politician and police are portrayed in a particularly British and stupid way, arrogance, panicking & bickering which in reality is not accurate. Really really badly written.
There is a trend in British drama for characters to be written so that they are all unpleasant, bickering and unpleasant. It's a sort of working class thing to make everyone self serving and unlikeable. As usual with British drama we didn't care whether any of the characters lived or died. The big reveal is cheesy and we've all seen it before
Avoid unless desperate!
CODA (2021)
Wonderful, faultless film
My wife and I really enjoyed this. Characters you care about, a good story, interesting themes and not silly. Excellent and the best film/TV we've seen in ages. Wish there were more like this (and less stupid superheroes nonsense!)
The Italian Job (2003)
Dreadful - not a patch on the original
Utterly charmless and pretty dull. The producers missed everything that made the original great.
The 2nd (2020)
Truly awful
Why do I get tempted to watch these films. I know they'll be bad but somehow against all sense I think they might be good but they are always pale imitations of the films they're modelled on.
Save Yourselves! (2020)
Weird, but fun. Watch it
Not an Oscar winner but refreshing, people you care about, crazy but fun and a wonderful change from the miserable stuff being endlessly put out on Netflix, Prime etc. If you've got an open mind then we'll worth a watch.
Mosul (2019)
Amazing & powerful film - watch it
Fortunately this is the opposite of a cheesy war or action movie. Genuine heroes, represented in an absolutely realistic way. It is still exciting but terrifying given that it's try and happened only a year or so ago. We were all watching it on the news but the horrific reality of it passed most of us by while we went to get a cup of tea or catch up on Brexit news. Brilliantly written, directed and acted. And so refresh to have unknowns in all the roles. Brilliant film
Cargo (2017)
Yes, but...
An interesting premise but why are modern scripts so poorly written? Why are the parents so stupid. Why are the white men so evil. Why are the women so amazing. A mire maturely written script might have made this a pretty good film.
Inheritance (2020)
Lots of plot holes but an enjoyable film
A bit potty as a story with plenty of crazy plot holes but then so has Jurassic Park but that was fun too. Well made. Simon Pegg & Lily Collins are very good. No Oscar winner but worth a watch - my wife & I enjoyed it.
The Courier (2019)
Terrible!
Not the very worst action pic I've ever seen but not far from it!
So many stupid errors, like a trained woman choosing to fight a massive bloke hand to hand. Terrible directing, stupid dialogue, stupid decision by stupid people. Just rubbish. Unbelievable nonsense.
The Queen's Gambit (2020)
What's with the anti Christian message?
An interesting series with unusual characters but I'm puzzled by the anti-Christian message. I know it's seen to be cool to be anti Christian but it really isn't.
The main point is that this bit of the series is not relevant to anything, someone has just stuck it in because they think it's trendy or something. It's unfair and unpleasant.
Tehran (2020)
Great series
My wife and I really enjoyed this. Good characters and great twisty plot. Probably not quite as good as Fauda but runs it close second and definitely worth a watch. I'm guessing the 1 out of 10 reviews are from people who have a particular political axe to grind and so should probably be ignored.
De rouille et d'os (2012)
Incredible film
Found it on the BFI (British Film Institute) site. Possibly too slow and measured for some but stick with it and it's absolutely gripping. So accurate in their portrayal of people, amazing acting and fully believable people and story. Such a refreshing change from the usual stuff from Hollywood which we've all seen a million times before....though I like a good popcorn film too.
The French are strange people but their best films are masterpieces.
The Professor and the Madman (2019)
Engaging and enjoyable film
Don't know why I hadn't heard of this film - just appeared on Prime. Looked like a good cast & interesting story. We enjoyed it, characters with depth, well written and excellently acted. Sean Penn is particularly good.
Panic Room (2002)
Excellent film
Really good thriller - clever and with people you care about. Not perfect but not much is.
Showed it to our 21 yr old son who really enjoyed it.
Our Kind of Traitor (2016)
Very good film - all the family rated it highly
Not the best film ever made but a well made film with first class actors. Not gimmicky, no stupid cgi effects but people you care about/are interested in, motives you can understand and a believable story. Refreshing! And not an American in sight! Nothing against Americans but good to have a film about Brits & Europeans. Recommended.
Time Trap (2017)
Worth a watch - a fun little film
This isn't a great Oscar winner but a little film that makes you think. It's low budget but creative, interesting, quite exciting and fun. My family enjoyed it. Also this isn't a sci-fi idea I've seen before and to have a new idea like this is clever.
Salt (2010)
Not a patch on Bourne - a very pale imitation!
That's all I need to say. Pretty poor but has value as a popcorn movie and Jolie is quite watchable.
Les Misérables (2018)
Excellent
Really enjoyed this. Some difficult bits to watch as got so involved in it but gripping and brilliant. The acting is superb as is the direction and filming. I'm always suspicious of Andrew Davies who adapted it - he's well known for sexing things up and adding politically correct nonsense but, to be fair, this wasn't obvious in this production. I haven't read the book but it felt largely believable (a lot of coincidences but these are in Victor Hugo's book)
Strongly recommend.
Messiah (2020)
Gripping and original
I'm so bored with most of the box sets on Netflix and elsewhere. Same overused storylines, or silly superheroes. It's been months since my wife and I found something to watch and then we stumbled on this. We're only on episode 3 but it's completely gripping. A genuinely intriguing story on a completely new subject matter. What would happen if the messiah returned? The characters are properly drawn and can't wait to see what happens. Bravo Netflix for being bold enough to make this.
Haven't finished yet but so far, so very good.
See (2019)
Pretty silly but perhaps it's just me
I've only seen the first episode so can't judge the series. It's an interesting idea but immediately descends into a rather silly all out battles with people with huge muscles and even larger weapons.
These people can't see. Fighting would be bottom of their list, surviving and working together would be rather more important. They couldn't go into mass battle or they'd risk inadvertently killing their own side or just falling over. They wouldn't look like that etc etc - very silly, completely unrealistic and not the clever series it could have been. Think it's trying to be another GOT (which I didn't like/watch either)! Come on people, surely we can have some more intelligent and entertaining than this.
6 Underground (2019)
Cynical & messy
Some good action sequences but badly edited so you have to work hard to make out what's happening but the film's not good enough to justify the effort so you stay confused and then get bored. I fast forwarded through the last 40 mins.
Ryan Reynolds plays his usual role which we've now seen too many times. All the characters are pretty unpleasant and so don't really care what happens to any of them. The villains are over the top and the story's been told too many times.
Apart from all that....
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Great film.
Saw this with some of my family but not expecting too much as the reviews from the upmarket press weren't too good. But they were wrong, really enjoyed it. Good drama/story and people you cared about. Great driving scenes and witty lines too.
I guess the reason The Guardian didn't like it was that it was about western white men driving planet killing (!) cars. And not an LGBT person in sight!
So it seemed real. And because it was a true story there were no silly dramas/twists to try and make it more exciting. The truth, we'll presented, was exciting enough.
Jack Ryan (2018)
Season 2
Started to watch and still pretty good (season 1 was excellent). But his girlfriend & subsequent wife, Cathy Mueller, has been written out of the series which is a major mistake. It turns it into a bog standard spy/thriller thing for boys, still fine but generic and standard fare. In Breaking Bad, Walter White has Skyler White who is central to making Walter a more complex and interesting character. In Ozark Marty Byrde has Wendy Byrde - both exceptional series. Cathy does (did,) the same for Jack. On the strength of the first season I persuaded my wife to watch Season 2 but it's missing depth now.
I'll probably potter through the rest of it but a shame.