Reviews

Imagine how many folks are incarcerated as a result of these tactics by Law Enforcement? Not only the Vallejo Police Department but also the Federal Bureau of Investigation resorting to confirmation bias again and again? Imagine if beautiful Denise Haskins was a person of color or some other potentially disenfranchised person whose case would never even had made it into the "Press"? The older, blonde woman who has a cable "true crime news" show is an abomination in my opinion but at least the San Francisco Chronicler Crime Beat Journalist was willing so say on camera he was wrong and I give him much respect for doing so. This country (obviously not all) is spoon fed the "news" by the traditional and cable news networks are all so one sided that people no longer bother with searching for other sources of information to guide their beliefs. This doc made me angry and is just another example of the way the Judicial System has become so broken. The female police officer who broke the case is what we need more of and less Semsa and Mustard.

It's almost not worth the frustration regarding the stupidity of many of the character's choices. The children from the UK are decent actors, their storyline believable and a somewhat derivative relationship forms with the US Navy Seal (an operator not a soldier), who is the sole survivor of an alien attack in Afghanistan, yet manages to arrive in a dystopian London, (despite there being no flights due to the destruction of many/most aircraft). The Seal connects with a newly created orphan in a fatherly role for a boy who lost his mother in the alien attack, who was a paraplegic, by way of being the victim of domestic abuse. On another storyline a lesbian, Japanese astronaut, along with 2 other astronauts, fall victim to the initial invasion and yet somehow, even though their space capsule failed, she communicates with her secret lesbian love that she is indeed still alive, even only in spirit. The Japanese actors are all pretty good and the storyline is believable.

The absolute worst storyline is the middle eastern family living in upstate New York (or Long Island) who are suspect in the eyes of many of their neighbors, strictly because they are Muslim. The mother gave up being a practicing doctor, despite finishing Harvard medical school, to be a mother and dutiful wife, to a husband who impregnates his mistress a younger, blonde white woman with perfect breasts and is caught by his wife on the day of the invasion. Their children are the most horrible actors and the dialogue they are given is absurd. Their 10 year old daughter, behaves as though she is 3 and the older sibling, while her 12 year old brother is an incredibly selfish brat, who requires severe discipline but because he is the 'man of the family' he is coddled into the most annoying character on the whole show. His parents don't seem to understand even the most basic parameters of raising children who are independent and accountable. I found these children to be why I keep switching over to my other streaming services. Here I blame the writers and casting agents and though this season came out well before the strike, maybe these guys will benefit from the break.

I know this is a television series, with good writing and very fine acting, particularly Michael Shannon, Giovanni Ribisi, and all of the actors playing the Waco defendants and I'm certain it's somewhat one sided, given the source material seemed to based mainly on David Thibodeaux's book. I also enjoyed the original Taylor Kitsch series which preceded this one and that it was based on Gary Noesner's book as well. The convictions were a farce in terms of holding these few responsible for the actions of church leadership and Koresh's other devout followers. I don't agree with the philosophy of Branch Dravidians or even organized religion in general but in this country they are free to believe and practice what they want. His marriages to multiple women and children and their arms collection were criminal and Koresh and his followers should have been held accountable under applicable US laws. The Waco defendant's judge should have been impeached, outvoted, disbarred or his appointment revoked and his rulings and sentences should have been turned over on appeal. The division within the FBI, and against the ATF, and their choices of what to share when presenting plans for a resolution of this case to the Attorney General's Office are perfect examples of how in a few years the bureaucratic jealousy/mistrust between our other 'intelligence' agencies will lead to the almost assuredly preventable attacks on Tuesday 9/11. The government is seldom held to account and current partisan politics and a pathological inability to compromise combined with apathetic voters seem to endorse the continued travesty our our justice system.

I am not in the military but I read and have common sense. With English being spoken all over the world, coupled with the fact no Seal has been captured/taken alive, would Thirty and Sonny be speaking so openly about their missing "brother"? Wouldn't this be a tip off to the men being held in the tobacco shop, all of whom have cell phones and likely have many computers. Wouldn't the first thing you would do was contact the leaders to notify them that they have landed a whale? Also, if we (US Military) are not supposed to be operating in Tunisia, then why does Jason Hayes continue to wear his US flag patch out in the open, during daylight?

The lead is a great actress in my opinion and she carries the film well. The storyline is an interesting one in that it's a woman lead for once. I found the movie exciting if a little derivative. Of course, I love the Bourne films and spy thrillers In general and this did not disappoint. Given the action takes place in the mid 80s, not sure many audiences will understand or recognize the fraught history we have with Iran. Women operatives in Iran who are capable of getting close to any kind of leader in their country is somewhat curious given the culture or misogyny in many countries in the Middle East and in the Muslim faith, even though Iran was somewhat cosmopolitan before things turned much more fundamental in their religion. I gave it a 6 because the scenery is beautiful, the lead actress is strong and I just like espionage films in general.

This is kind of a cheesy biopic. The storyline is fascinating and is important, particularly given the success rate of 1 in 3 British covert spies in Nazi occupied France were exposed and perished, including being sent to Dachau, among other premature deaths. The acting of the lead is okay but not great. Stana Katic is amazing and I could watch anything with her in it and her portrayal of Vera Atkins was solid. Didn't know Linus Roache was an English actor since he played a role in one of my favorite spy shows, Homeland.

After reading the reviews I decided to watch this because I like shows that take place overseas. It allows me to "travel" and excites my curiosity about different locations, scenery, architecture, culture and actors. I've stopped and started this now a few times but the idea that an investigator would apprehend a suspect without a warrant is ludicrous. Also, why didn't she shoot out the tires of the Lear? Where did the snipers come from? It had potential to be a moving film but ended up simply derivative. The desperately engaged female detective, who has so much empathy so as to have her commanding officer suggest leave or counseling as "she is too close" is something we've all seen before.

It is tedious at times and maybe could have been done in 3 episodes but I found the acting of the main characters to be pretty darn good. The story was interesting and I ended up looking at how many gun arrests there are annually in London and I believe it was something like 288 and only 126 murders, which is astonishing to me as I've lived in New Orleans, NYC and am now in LA and none of those cities could ever claim such low numbers. I don't love cliffhangers but I choose to go with what I would have done on the jury and that is to let love live.