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Reviews
Gray (2023)
Excellent
I see that some are not impressed by the show. It seems that the main basis for that is that it's claimed to be dull, etc. The only way that's true is if one is looking for a James Bond style action show. It's not that. It's much more in the style of classic slow burner spy movies. Not that I thought it was slow burner-the tension was broadly kept bubbling along and not as predictable as one would expect. There was only one part of one episode where I wondered where the plot went, but it climbed out of that hole fairly quickly. I was originally watching this while working out, but the last few episodes I binged on the couch, bc I wanted to see what happened. It's a good spy show, it doesn't imagine a female spy is physically stronger than a man larger than her, it does image, though, that she's very silver and sneaky, so using her ostensible weaknesses as strengths, which I think came off well. The only issue I have is that I can't tell if the season ended or if my platform is missing a show, etc. I got to episode 8, and it did not feel like a season ending.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023)
Where's Godzilla when you need it?
If only the monsters would break through the narrative and tear up the editing room and eat the roughly 90% of this series that's utterly boring. If we cut just all the scenes involving people either waiting to travel, or sitting in a car or a plane, the show would be about 30% shorter. Then if we removed the lounge room discussions involving horribly tired clichés concerning interpersonal drama, that'd be another 20%. And then just took out the periods of time when nothing in particular is happening, another 20%. We're left with about <10mins worth of tension per episode. And don't get me wrong, it's not like we need to see more monster action, actually, the monster action here, although sparse, is nevertheless painful to watch. Episode 4's ice monster was so so bad, it ran around icing up a couple of important things, but otherwise being useless. And while potentially overwhelmingly powerful and definitely seemed to want to ice up or eat the heat of the band of adventurers, gosh darn it, it was thwarted by those pesky kids. Speaking of pesky kids, once more an Internationally invested, long standing, well funded, secret organisation of the highest order realises that a few kids-with no knowledge of the issue, or experience of any meaningful kind, other than being heavily involved in clichéd relationships-can solve the problem . . . Sigh. I had high hopes for this show. I invest in Apple, have subscribed to Apple TV since back when it was free with a computer, so I want these shows to work. And there are so few Apple TV shows that are interesting, I feel an obligation to stick with it. But goodness, I'm at the point where, as a SciFi fan whose Apple-forward, I found that I was literally forcing myself to sit through the show. But just can't take it anymore, so switched off half way through the 5th episode, and switched to Netflix to find something interesting with my lunch.
Deadloch (2023)
Potentially good comedy ruined by ridiculously annoying characters
The producers of this show must think Aussies are absolute morons who revel in the stupidest clichéd characters played by actors whose whole vision of comedy is being absurdly one dimensionally base. There's a lot of potential here, and even a good story line that struggles to hold it together while these idiotic characters do their best to tear it to shreds. I suspect the director has a lot to do with this, since the scenes chosen to present the comedy are mostly as idiotic as the characters playing them. Again, it's a shame, because as noted there's a lot that could go right with this show. I tried suffering through it, but once I noticed how utterly awful the characters and scene direction was, I couldn't stop seeing it.
Inside Man (2022)
It's annoying because it's consistently spoiled
The idea of this story is basically to propose that a group of people who all try to do the right thing, are slightly out of sync with each other's attempts to do the right thing, and it results in chaos and horror. However, it's hard to look past the fact that the story gives generous platform to consistent, overly contrived stupidity. Apart from the actual "inside man" (Stanley Tucci) and his interesting prison buddy (Atkinson Estimond) there is no point in the story that anyone makes any kind of remotely reasonable decision. It's like watching a series of people throw themselves in front of trains just to hysterically spite people on the platform. I kept watching only to see the Stanley Tucci character interact with the Atkins Estimond character. I'd watch a whole story dedicated to that interaction.
The Flight Attendant (2020)
Just boring
There's of lot of noise and talking but nothing is happening. I turned it off mid episode 2 so I gave it two stars. Maybe it gets better, but don't care.
Schitt$ Creek (2015)
Get's worse
Show starts out great, first few seasons an easy 7-8. Season three gets a bit saccharine, and then season four basically takes teenage romance clichés and uses them to compose the dominant theme of the season: David and Patrick's relationship. That story line is just awful, and feels shoehorned into the broader story, and the acting that supports this unfortunate theme is bordering on ridiculous. I winced my way through the season, scrubbing past those sections, and still enjoyed the rest of it, albeit by getting episodes down to the time it takes me to drink my tea.
Modus (2015)
Wanted to enjoy it, the longer I watched the more annoying it became
Most of the Scandinavian Noir Shows I watch are complex and nuanced. This is basically your dumb two dimensional cop hunt, where the heroine profiler guesses exactly correctly every single time, and then in the end she laughably defeats and kills the murderous ex-marine in a physical fight. And to add texture, all of this is framed by a clumsy depiction of hysterical homophobia and US religious fervor. Basically, Sweden is a place of lightness and freedom but the Americans are heavy and repressed and hate Sweden's freedom, so they send someone over to kill a bunch of people using the most ridiculous presentation of an American militant religion.
Hanna (2019)
Second season pretty boring
I don't know if it's possible to rate seasons, but first season was great, like an 8 star season. But as I tried to watch the second season, I realized I was just letting it play in the background, and simply couldn't get interested. It's packed with teen angst and slow drama, which weigh too heavily on main idea of the series.
Altered Carbon (2018)
9 stars for Season One, -4 for Season Two = 5
Really enjoyed Season One, but gosh I won't be able even to finish Season Two, it's horrible.
Red Sparrow (2018)
Unfortunately forgettable mangling of a good story
I just finished reading through the red sparrow trilogy and thought to watch this movie when I finished. I know I should not compare book/movie, however in this case as I started to watch the movie I realised that I'd already seen it. It was that forgettable. I nevertheless pressed on and watch the movie again, and Increasingly realise why I never remembered it.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Well, I guess it does have a Terminator in the movie.
Pretty disappointing, really. Mainly, it was just too heavy-handed in its effort to make a classic action series into something Hallmark movie lovers might also watch. The theory here seems to be to elevate the motif of empowering women, but it ended up being a pathetic display of improbable leaps. (And yes, that's saying something for a Terminator movie.). The augmented Grace character (Mackenzie Davis) was excellent, and I so wish that the movie had revolved around what she brought, and pushed the Terminator narrative arc forward. The Dani character though was just silly, they tried to make her angry and then propose that bc she's angry she can now do everything. Please, let's never see her here again. Sarah Conner, goodness, what a mess. Again, anger = ability seems to be the principle, although she pulled off anger the way Arnie pulled off dexterity. As with most of these movies, the budget carries it a little bit, but thin, over-wrought plot lines, and weird pacing make it something to laugh at more than be thrilled by.
Okkupert (2015)
First 2 Seasons let down by 3rd Season
I really enjoyed the first two seasons, good solid Scandinavian story telling. The third season was an overly simplistic, patronizing, frequently painful lecture on social issues unrelated to the climate change crisis at the heart of the show. I kept trying to ignore that element, trying to stick to the basic story development. I made it through hating it most of the time.
Dracula (2020)
Fabulous Retelling
I was caught off guard, in a good way, by how this story is told. Ep 1, was a real surprise, well-paced, and much funnier than I imagined. Ep 2 changes the game a bit, and ends up losing traction (possibly bc it's a sudden shift from the pace and cadence of Ep 1). Still, it gets through the story well enough, and takes us to Ep 3 where another complete surprise awaits. I was delighted with these new frameworks around the Dracula story.
Norsemen (2016)
So funny
I loved this show. Couldn't believe I'd not heard of it. Kind of like an up-to-date Monty Python meets Vikings.
See (2019)
After 8 episodes ...
Well, I feel like I've put in a fair bit of work for this show. It holds your interest inasmuch as it makes you think something interesting is about to happen, but that's it. The show just sits in this liminal space. Each episode is basically a quest that the characters have to accomplish, and because they're blind it's technically complex, and you wonder how it might be that they can do this, so the tension is set, but then the quests are resolved in painfully simplistic ways.
The whole sighted/non-sighted thing is more of a moral component of the story than anything else. Sighted people tend to lose their way, whereas the blind really know what life is about.
Maybe this changes, who knows. As I write, I'm one episode from the end, and just noticed Apple hasn't uploaded the last episode yet, even though it's due, and I was practically relieved. And then excited because I just switched to the next episode of Servant, which is a show to which I definitely look forward.
Truth Be Told (2019)
A bit of a yawn
I maaay come back and give this another go when I'm all out of stuff to watch, but as it stands, it's not worth the time investment. The story seems to foreground the life and problems of the journalist/Podcaster, who is simply not a character I could care about. Maybe it gets better and broadens its focus to include interesting characters, but currently not interested in doing the work to finding out.