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Reviews
From: Oh, the Places We'll Go (2022)
eh, that's not how electricity works....
So they're hooking up every light socket to one device, a radio because,.... the more juice it gets the better the signal?
Some random hugs the most unbelievably unpleasant character they have (jade), they just keep slapping the rubbish on like we'll eat some of it if it's all they feed us.
There's no shortage of stupid characters in this show.
Donna is just cliches holding hands spewing stupid commands that other stupid characters jump to.
The whole show is based on the "watching people doing stupid things is good entertainment", and it really isn't. It wears so thin so quickly and it becomes apparent there is nothing of substance on offer.
From: Into the Woods (2022)
Bluffing at cards
I wish I could see into the future and see if this series is bluffing big time that they've actually got a good story to tell us.
There's so much padding, so much talking about nothing, so much LOST style diversion and bait and switch,... if only there was a way to look into the future and see what they actually managed to deliver.......
Kidding, I can see the reviews for season three and it's totally a bluff, They've got nothing, they're using the same tricks that destroyed LOST. They don't have a master plan, they have a list of cheesy distractions (attack in a tent anyone?, let's make a radio tower but rather than just get it going let's waste screen time by arguing that the batteries won't last for months, without running it for just minutes to start with, all the talk about maybe we don't realise how good we've got it here in this place where we're picked off by psychopath killers at night, who do talk but no one bothers to have a reasoned conversation with them to see what their aim is, it's lover or silence etc etc )
This is a long con by people who obviously don't understand how to make a satisfying strong story, and we know this because they worked on LOST.
The reviews for season 3 look terrible. Chocker full of bot entries.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: 2024 Election Results (2024)
Disingenuous
In which Oliver tries to pretend he's not eating humble pie at getting his predictions so wrong and STILL not understanding why it happened. He says as much throughout the show. He doesn't have a clue yet speaks as if he is an all knowing authority. Why do we listen to this guy? It's not for the thin on the ground jokes any more. This guy used to be funny but he's moved to his back line of jokes based mostly on beastiality, and, unless that's your thing you're left with a bemused "huh?" look on your face.
He then goes on to state that Musk can't reduce the national budget by 'x' amount because wages are only Y amount, inferring that wages is the only thing they're aiming to cut. How about cutting out billions of war spending? Did Oliver and Co not see them Musk, RKJ, and Tulsi talking extensively about pulling out of the perpetual war machine? It was one of the big campaign points. Stop dragging the country into endless wars they can't afford at the expense of looking after US citizens !!!. It was a pretty big point (unreported and unbacked by this program, unsurprisingly). How did Oliver and his writers miss it?
I guess that's pretty obvious by now. They either are just really bad at their job or, they're disingenuously doing it on purpose, to forward a narrative, tell only the story they want to tell, regardless of reality, becoming part of the problem rather than the solution.
Of course it remains to be seen if the trump administration will follow what its voters and key players campaigned on, the war hawks are circling to make sure they stay in business, but to pretend that it was never something the American voting public didn't know about, think about, care about, and was not being offered by the blue team, well you're getting into lying by omission territory there.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Trump's Businesses (2024)
Paid Political Promotion?
Wow, 1 day before an election.
There are laws in many countries to make it illegal to broadcast propaganda this close to an election but here it is. A full program dedicated to a hugely partisan attack piece on someone who ends up winning the election by a huge margin. So according to this show the major majority is just less smart than the writers and makers of this show, they've just got it wrong and there was no reason at all for it. Just people being silly and voting against their own self interest and not seeing what was so plainly obvious to the writers and production.
Or,......these guys are wrong, compromised, lost it, have no sense of perspective and are totally unwilling to attempt to see passed their biasses. Hmmmm,
What is most disturbing is that our genius team of writers and producers can't develop any sort of insight into WHY this is happening beyond 70% of the population are stupid, and they is smart, so there.
Or just as disturbingly maybe they can see REAL reasons why but they don't fit their narrative so they quietly ignore them in order to achieve whatever it is they're aiming for, which just reduces the content of their efforts down to propaganda, the slanting of information to make you think a certain way.
Nobody likes being lied to and if we're the ones falling for the lie then we're not the smart ones in this equation.
The Wild Robot (2024)
The Artificial Heart
Big budget, star-studded mishmash, rhetoric filed kitchen sink cinema filler.
You could smell the boardroom executives charting out the statistically most likely course to a statistical win.
Future tech evil, nature wild good, etc etc, it started out not horrible but it descended into generic goodies baddies battles in the last 3rd and lost any meaning it had. A syrupy something about parenthood was the first half and it was pleasant enough. None of the comedy in it had any lasting effect, mild smiles was the most it could raise. The meaningless battles made no logical sense. Why would the futurists be evil? There was never any reason or insight given. They were just bad so the plot could have somewhere to go.
This film will be forgotten as soon as you finish watching it.
Only Murders in the Building: Blow-Up (2024)
Jam Packed Full of Creativity and Ideas
In a show that never rests on its laurels they still manage to surprise you at least once a season with an insightful and breathtaking take on film making.
Season one had Ep 7 "The boy from 6b" which played the whole episode from the perspective of sound and hearing loss. Series 2 had Ep 9 "Thirty" with its detailed theatre production knowledge, etc etc.
Just because you're making an successful entertaining show doesn't mean you should rest.
And this episode picked a theme and investigated it deeply. There was so much detail in it and it was so well done. The 8 mm film camera angles had 8mm degraded sound, the VHS stuff could hardly work and was glitchy. The details were so informed and if you have any knowledge of the mediums you pick up more on the knowledge of the film makers who crafted it.
And the cast played along with it well, adding layer upon layer. I think it deserves a second and third viewing because it was so breathtakingly chocker full of clever bits. It was almost hard to keep up with it all.
Not only does the show expect keep a high standard for itself it now requires a high standard from its viewers. Challenge accepted!.
Fly Me to the Moon (2024)
cheese, american cheese
This reminds me of the time I looked up some highly rated Russian comedies. They seemed absolutely terrible but there was the culture and language gap between us so maybe I just didn't get it.
That's what this film feels like. Cheesy slapstick, jingoistic, exceptionalism. It feels shallow and fake, just like the story it was apparently portraying. One dimensional characters (woody harlson's one was terrible). Does anyone in america buy this stuff any more? It just feels unimaginative self unaware and dull dull dull.
The same soundtrack over and over, what is it even about anymore? It's just visual noise.
Only Murders in the Building: Adaptation (2024)
The Brothers Sisters
Still chock full of clever details the show keeps delivering. I'm still chuckling at the Brother Sisters gag. And now they communicate with eye movements.
There are twists and turns like there have been for the 3 previous series, and side characters take turns to become center characters. This episode was the writer and we get a dive into writer based details, with nods to legendary writers in the not well hidden Charlie Kaufman as indicated from the title.
There's still a lot going on and I have faith that all the threads will weave together to reveal a satisfying solution. There is strong talent behind the screen as well as on it and I don't take that miracle for granted. We are blessed with this fine series.
Trap (2024)
Not what people were expecting or wanting it seems
I quite enjoyed this film. It was a different take on a well tried cat and mouse hunt for a serial Killer and M Night went out of his way to not give us the obvious, and that hasn't sat well with people.
For a start our bad guy is the protagonist, M Night flips the script and makes him a doting dad, and gets us on his side before he lets us know who he is. There is no gore in the film and we don't see him do anything nasty, although we are told he does these things.
Much of the film plays off stereotypes and there's a twist to many of them.
You could pick holes in the film but then you've missed the point of it. It's playing with tropes for entertainment. You need to be open to enjoying it for that.
Someone had a dig at M Night for making a comedy, but there is humour in this. It does have elements of black comedy in it, it's entertaining, not a straight up slasher horror. It's not as dumb as low expectation standard horror fans think it is.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: Le Paradis Pour Toi (2024)
The Foreigner lady Cull
That was weird
They killed off the main french female characters in one foul swoop.
Suddenly St Michel is populated not by villagers but enemy soldiers all suitable for slaughter by Daryl and crew. No love lost there apparently. The good guys become baddies.
Genet goes from being a mastermind in control of an empire to a front line soldier in a jeep searching cottages personally for Daryl, cos she doesn't have better things to be getting on with. And suddenly her handful of guards dwindles to nothing and she's gone?
Creating vicious rabid running Walkers that they have no control over and releasing them into the world, that seems like a well thought out plan.
Still the best thing about this series is the scenery and Daryl mumbling his way through meaningless plot points.
Hopeful France got paid handsomely and cashes the cheque quickly.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: Moulin Rouge (2024)
france must be proud
That they gave their treasure monuments to support this hot garbage. Mont-Saint-Michel, The Louvre, Mona lisa, all their landscape. I hope the price was right for them.
Don't get me wrong. Darryl's a great character but this is just more cartoon scripts. Silliness against a beautiful backdrop.
Plot holes and logic leaps, dragging it on way beyond its used by date.
It's just so badly written that it makes it feel like an insult to the locations, sets and cinematography. All the effort for silly plot points that make you roll your eyes. It has no sense of itself and it makes a mockery of it all.
Beyond Paradise: Christmas Special (2023)
Insightful heartfelt punch
My family likes this show for it's warm natured entertainment value and of course the lovely location shots. We watched Death in Paradise and love the modifications this show has done to the formula. Especially the story reveal where the team walk around the scene as observers.
The writing in this episode was particularly good with a number of stories developing and all coming together to deliver a impactful punch in the sum up. James Fleet's performance as the mystery grandfather was so well delivered it took my breath away. What an insightful and heartfelt portrayal of redemption and regret.
I wasn't expecting it to be so good and the team also delivered their best work yet with sensitive insight and contemplation.
Above and beyond. Well done.
Only Murders in the Building: Once Upon a Time in the West (2024)
Hitting very high from the start
Once again this show delivers layers and depth way beyond what it needs too. There is so much detail and cleverness going on but it's not delivered in a hey look how clever I am way. It's delivered as if the writers expect this standard of everyone including themselves.
They only had a year since the last series but they had another good idea in the chamber and are not resting on their laurels in any way.
To be fair Selena Gomez is still an awkward fit and the weak link in the chain but the strength of the other factors keeps it together strongly.
There is a love and respect of the craft of cinema and storytelling going on here and the team are not taking the success of the show lightly. It's great to see a show go above and beyond and actually raise the benchmark for everyone.
Time Bandits: Fortress of Darkness (2024)
Flawed but getting better
Although the show was critically flawed (Kudrow phoning in her one character to the wrong movie, Charlyne Yi equally failing to deliver and the initial reworking of the story to cut out the dwarves, it did manage to salvage quite a bit of ground with some funny script ideas. They were mostly not in the original film, such as the chav cavemen and the rethinking of history, and the writers really shone in these witting and intelligent ideas.
The show corrected itself by dumping Charlyne Yi's nothing character, keeping Phoebe from friends to a minimum, although not the minimum it should have been, ie none, and the other characters delivered strong rounded enjoyable characters.
A second series could have seen Phoebe gone and it would have been solid on on its way. The weird inclusion of dwarf actors in side characters was perhaps the production reacting to its failure to cast these characters in main roles to start with but it was going ok by the time they appeared and the damage was done and accepted.
Sorry to see the show canned, but they probably earned it for the initial missteps an apparently hollyweird gives no second chances.
Time Bandits: Ice Age (2024)
another funny set up
Sister Safron turns all the neanderthals into chavs, picking fights over nothing like it's normal.
It was a really good set up and subtly played.
Minimal Phoebe moments which was good as we didn't want to be dragged into the 90s sitcom reminder.
Bittelig again gets quality material that doesn't go where you think it's going and actor Rune Temte delivers it with nice depth. Kevin again good.
This episode felt short at 32 mins and it was as the episodes are all different lengths it seems.
No judy this episode which also helped. Maybe they're honing it as the series goes. Anyway it's going in the right direction.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again (2017)
bit average with dark undercurrents which don't bear thinking about.
I've quite enjoyed the stories presented so far and the good natured way in which they present them.
It's nice to have a tv series which doesn't rely on violence and body counts to fill the time, and they've come up with some great twists to keep us entertained.
Yes there's cheese and the romance department is 'ok' but the cheese does taste like cheese on occasion.
Last episodes secret squirrel carry on with Shane whipped away to do secret hacking work for the military completely overlooked the fact that Shan was doing "secret hacking work for the military". Like that was some sort of normal sacred behaviour for any country to be doing.
This episode had some royalty vase being returned to a 90 year old rich elite like it was some sort of happy ending. Got to make sure that unearned wealth stays with the elite, even if the wealth is needed elsewhere.
Luckily Oliver's unearned inheritance from his father who didn't care about him saves the day and a trite eco farm deal is made.
This is the least appealing episode they've made and one which seems out of step with the otherwise decent writing which side steps most divisive details.
Keep it light, keep it fun, and keep it funny.
Time Bandits: Mansa Musa (2024)
Quite funny
Still not really much to do with the original Movie other than name and broad premise and still Lisa Kudrow playing Phoebe from friends or maybe she's just playing herself and always does, regardless it still pulls you out of the world a bit every time she's on screen.
That said this was a fun episode. We had a couple of great guest star roles in Mansa Musa who was great and his offsider Balla Kouyate repeating all his words in different ways. They really delivered fun interesting and appealing characters and bucked the stereotypical portrayals of arabic characters.
While this show still nowhere near comes close to the mad genius of the original it still has watchable charm although I'm fairly certain I won't be quoting lines from this show or fondly remembering it.
Kevin was his usual good, as were Bettlig, Alto and Widgit and we were spared Judy this episode. It's hard not to read something into that.
Time Bandits: Medieval (2024)
still Phoebe from friends in a time travel 'comedy'
The series is not all bad. But certain aspects of it drag it way way down.
I like Lisa Kudrow but her acting range is paper thin as it is displayed here. She might just as well have walked off the set of central perk onto this one. It's the same character, the same mannerisms, nuances, accent, delivery. Why is she here? She doesn't add anything to the world building, she just breaks the story.
The writing is not bad. I quite like some of the twist and turns we've seen so far. It's not laugh out loud funny but it is amusing, stonehenge construction, mayas, and now Medieval. This is the closest they've come so far to some real montypython set ups, and to be honest there were lots of missed opportunities to take it somewhere hilarious. The witch was good, the discussion on who the boss really is was good, kings accent was good
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva as widgit, gets a lot of the darker funny lines and he's pretty good in his role.
Charlyne Yi's Judy while not as much of a let down as Kudrow is still pretty disappointing. I've seen her do way better stuff than this, Her Paperheart film was great.
Rachel Stamp is also completely wasted as the makeup clad Fianna. I can hardly understand her lines, see her face or register much of what she is doing.
Jemaine Clement pure evil is funny and well acted as we'd expect, but he's done the same joke for 3 episodes (Damon/Demon). It is still funny but is it going to get to the one too many times. I think it's almost there.
That said I'm not 'not' entertained by the show, I just feel let down by perhaps the directing, and definitely the casting.
Car Share (2015)
A lot happens in a small space
On the surface not much happens in this series but if you peel back the layers there's a lot going on.
Firstly a nostalgic tribute to shared personal transport with sound system. In the modern age of climate concern and public transport or bicycles the simple joy of sitting next to someone idling chatting with background music is mostly forgotten. But Ride Share triggers that warm remembrance of the luxury of personal travel in a quickly overpopulating world.
And there's a lot of nostalgia going on in this series.
Before playlists we'd happily listen to FM radio and all their inanity dumb down our taste to allow for the mediocrity they played in the hopes of the odd good track or 2.
And then there's the long arch of the story. 2 people getting to know each other and become friends in a world that increasingly removes the opportunities to do so.
Some reviewers have commented that nothing happens, and if you're looking for car chases and shoot outs this will disappoint, but there's warmth and depth to this show and something definitely does happen. There's a lot of detail in it, and a lot of things talked about and casually dropped into the conversation. It is very UK culture loaded and all the better for it. The action is in the conversation.
There are a couple of extra outtakes episodes out there and they do demonstrate that the series is the perfect length, and that it did need the 'structure' of the destination to make it work. It could have gone on as 2 people chatting in a car for longer and there probably are some added episodes that could easily work, but it's pretty perfect with the 11 core episodes that exist. I would like to have seen the christmas team do their thing though.
The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps (2019)
More triumph than tragedy
I guess in the modern dark world of content you've got to have the negative so you can pull out your positive. Unfortunately this documentary falls for the trap of dwelling too much on the misfortunes however much they may appeal to modern audiences tastes for the darkness of the world, and not nearly enough time exploring the wonderful things Martin Phillipps achieved in his life time.
We get the boring alcoholism and drugs thing which we've seen in a million shows on musicians and actors. We hardly need to see it again, and importantly they waste time on it when we could be looking into Phillipps as a charming and interesting thinker. How, coming from the tyranny of distance he managed to achieve so much and kept at it again and again when around him fellow travelers fell off?
Martin and the Chills is a story of success and overcoming difficulty to keep doing the thing he seemed destined to, and doing it well in a local climate that predominately thinks of success in arts as irrelevant, even to the level of government. If it's not sport or farming it doesn't matter. That's the location where The Chills had to hone their craft in.
For me Phillipps life won't be defined by this film or all the cliche multi band member fluff. It will be defined by the body of work he left and by the unique person he was and the way he carried himself. I hope we get to see something that shows us that.
Death in Paradise: The Last Case (2024)
Unnecessarily convoluted with massive logic defying plot holes
What seemed to be an interesting conundrum sadly unraveled itself into "hey wait a minute, this makes no sense".
Affordable staff writer James Hall has shown he didn't have a lot of good ideas to start with but the cupboard was well and truly bare for this episode as far as the murder mystery was concerned. This is the 3rd time we've had an "I pulled the trigger, I meant to kill them, I killed them" admission only to find out that it wasn't them after all.
S13E01 written by James Hall had it with someone else coming up behind a drunk guy and encouraging them to shoot then helping them squeeze although there's no way our team could have known that.
Then again in this season S13E05 there's a the "first shot didn't kill him but a second one did" plot line.
S11E02 also had the same first "shot" didn't kill second did with the golf driver (also a James Hall script)
S11E07 where someone is paid to shoot a fake bullet at someone while another person fires a real one at exactly the same time, (James Hall again) and also S10E08 thankfully not written by Hall which has a "I shot her but I can't remember", and then Neville going on to reject the obvious and deduce some other 'truth' that has no evidence to back it up. So it's a reoccurring theme for Neville's run and a trope for Writer James Hall who reused the same idea multiple times in series 13 alone.
Nice to see Catherine's real life son get a slot on the show so he could spend time with his mum in paradise, and he was pretty decent although his character made very little sense. As some one else mentioned, why pay him $50,000, the only one that would have needed to be paid was the pilot to get the plane to stop. There was no need to deny he was on the plane then not, and they weren't paid to do so anyway.
Hiding the gun on the plane cos it had already been searched instead of hiding it absolutely anywhere else on the island at all??
The murdered guy after not getting shot by the wife 'doesn't' pick up the gun and Scarper as fast and as far as he can and instead waits for the hubby to walk on up pick up the gun, attach the silencer so his wife who thinks she just murdered him anyway and execute him in silence so his wife doesn't know, cos,..... who knows.
Our head hurts from the illogical stupidity of it.
The final scene with the whole police force coming to tell Neville to go hook up with Florence was just weird. They shot it like they were all in different locations. No 3 shot, no wide shot establishing them. Just a bunch of medium close ups. Then like a limp squid Florence and Neville halfheartedly sail off into the sunset an awkward hug, but they couldn't manage to act a kiss with any credibility so they left that out. Good decision.
Leaving a pretty much clean slate for season 14. Hope they get some good new cast and a decent writer.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: RFK Jr. (2024)
part of the problem hit pieces - False dichotomies
In where comedy front man John Oliver and his single focus predictable writing team, come out swinging at a guy who has a life time history of combating corporate level crime, taking them to court and winning, but let's listen to John and his young opinionated team who have spent the last 5 years erasing any level of trust from us in them having a clue what their talking about. I mean, they might hit a truth occasionally but how are we supposed to know which ones are made up by their mood swing politics and which ones actually have substance. They've made themselves part of the problem. False dichotomies and black or white presentations.
That said Kennedy is not without (at least 1) fault, as his conflicting and confounding position on just one world politics idea will demonstrate, and it's sad that is the case, as he presents many of his other ideas well, with details and facts that make sense. There's just that one position which I won't name which defies logic.
Olivier and his writing team drop the line that RFK jnr's points "take a lot of effort to debunk", while pretty much failing to conclusively do that for a single one of his actual points. Just saying it louder and with sarcasm doesn't make a counter point land, and that's the fatal flaw of the program.
They get too involved with topics they can't deliver on, think that a good debunking of someone or a group of people is to dismissively call them 'stupid' and leave it at that.
The show also seems to have forgotten they're supposed to actually be entertaining us. They fail to do that even though Oliver is quite capable of delivering good laughs when given actual funny material.
It's all black and white in Team-John-Oliver's world, at least it is to them. The rest of us live in a world of nuance shade and colour. Unfortunately that's too complicated for the team to get their head around.
The fact they didn't mention a single one of the many good points RFK jnr is presenting, and he does in fact have many, shows exactly where this writing team is coming from. It's Blinkered carthorse style all the way for them, and it's embarrassing to watch.
Death in Paradise: Episode #13.6 (2024)
Change of pace
Nice to have a different writer for an episode. The story was still convoluted but at least it was different.
Things really are getting the shake up staff wise around Saint Marie.
Nice to have some skilled comedy injection in the show with the return of Dwayne. Not sure if he can make up for the loss of Marlon, but there's some drama to be had with Dwayne's dad's limited time and Danny John-Jules is a talented actor if he's given the material to work with.
The mystery was ok, The set up was good. A moving lift with 15 seconds time window.
Officer Darlene still doesn't bring much to the show but at least she offered some tension for Dwayne so that was more than usual.
The next two episodes look primed for some big action so lets hope Writer James Hall doesn't fumble it.
Death in Paradise: Episode #13.5 (2024)
Big loss for the series
Marlon has most of the best lines, best delivery and best character development for this show. It's also an interesting and innovative plot to have and it was interesting to see a guy from the edges of society make the effort to be a better person, and enjoy his change.
He was self confident and charming and they let the character lean into that aspect without having to take it away from him with cheap shots. He was a unique and fun character with something to say and the skill to deliver it.
Should have given him a pay rise.
The murder mystery was convoluted as we've come to expect and solving it was just multiple leaps in logic and faith. I wish they were more intuitive but the show has chosen the writer they can afford and I guess we'll have to live with that.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Migrant Crime (2024)
Pick a side why don't you
Comedy news at its worst. When it just comes right out and does a ten minute political propaganda endorsement disingenuously misrepresenting their way through a long winded and complex political landscape. I'm not saying their chosen target isn't bad, but then there are no winners in the game there. Just terrible partisan rants with a childish overtone. Why is this on TV? Who thinks this is entertainment? The show is unwatchable when it goes off on this tangent. Oliver is quite capable of doing good comedy but this material isn't that. Stop letting the bad writers take over the show. Do they really think this is what we need to get the world back on track?