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Reviews
Lolo (2015)
Mean Spirited
Watched this for free on one of the streaming services - now I see why it was free. I wish I hadn't, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Only 8 reviews on the IMDB!
This really is a mean-spirited film along the lines of some American films wherein the well-meaning naive hero endures all sorts of iniquities (Adam Sandler type films come to mind) inflicted upon him by his enemies and it is billed as a comedy.
I laughed about a handful of times during the entire movie.
The story rotates around the female protagonist's psychopathic son performing a series of escalating bad acts on the protagonist while pretending to be his friend and simultaneously mocking him behind hid back.
The highlight - the late Karl Lagerfeld makes an appearance. He seems to have a sense of humour as I saw him in a Francis Weber farce as well.
You would be advised to avoid this film.
Top End Wedding (2019)
Gave Up
An Australian movie - great! Set in the north - spectacular scenery - even better.
Opening scenes in Adelaide, where I spent my formative years - an added bonus.
I gave up after around 30 minutes when the couple meet the bride's dad.
Typical characters:
Chief female protagonist - strong, empowered, a woman of colour etc.
Chief male protagonist - nerd, wimpy
Chief female protagonist's dad - loser
Gave up at this point.
La trêve (2016)
Can Easily Give This a Miss
I have a theory - you can judge the quality of a TV series from the opening credit sequence. Witness "Hawaii 5 0" - ace credits, memorable theme music.
Now for this series - weird credits and some awful whiney singer and song - does not augur well.
Spot the cliches/tropes:
Chief protagonist - back story with problems - botched case, spouse recently passed away
Dour chief protagonist - hardly a smile, scarcely a joke in six episodes
Returns to the village of his younger days
Teenage daughter with an standard cliched attitude problem
Local cops are all useless
Local police chief has an attitude problem
Local police chief fits up village idiot.
Long scenes of roads, shots of the village and assorted filler.
There is an obsession with sex - masturbation references, one young man giving another a blow job in a car, a barn used for SMBD parties.
Two teenage girls are shown having a shower together (soft porn?), however, when the main cop is having sex, we see nothing - double standards.
This could easily have been trimmed back by two parts by eliminating the unnecessary filler.
All the characters are dour, there is minimal dialogue, no humour, no camaraderie, no brainstorming as you might expect in a police investigation.
Ramy (2019)
Vulgar, Crude, Crass, But Not Funny
As is common, this had potential, but it was not developed. Decidedly not funny.
I found the first episode to be vulgar, crude and crass - you would not want to watch this with your parents, children or even your partner.
There are no standards or taboos left on television anymore - here we have the protagonist talking about masturbating to a photo to a semi-stranger. He has a get-to-know meeting with a potential marriage partner (the characters are muslims) and his mates show up swearing and carrying on in a gross manner. At the end of the encounter, they jump in her car and she wants the protagonist to choke her while she fingers herself! This is all from the first episode.
One episode is enough, I am done with this crudity.
Huge in France (2019)
Vulgar, Crude, Crass, But Not Funny
I found this series to be vulgar, crude and crass - you would not want to watch this with your parents, children or even your partner. There are no standards or taboos left on television anymore - here we have masturbation, sperm banks and dick jokes - the latter trope was used four times. This starts from the second episode in.
We have the usual double standard - the couple is in bed and we have a view of the man naked from the rear, meanwhile his partner still has her top on! Whereas, a similar act in Paris shows the woman naked from the rear, but shot in blue light and an arm in the way. Do they have to show all this bonking; it detracts from the story.
This show is just not funny and all the characters are unlikeable. I may have chuckled several times, but have not found anything really funny. Fortunately, there was no laugh track. Maybe people in LA are really like that.
The programme had potential - a fish out of water story - top French comedian is in LA, but is completely unknown. However, the consistency is poor. One minute Gad is going on about how big he is in France, the next minute he wants to be an ordinary guy.
The similarities to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" are obvious (Jerry Seinfeld makes a cameo appearance).
As mentioned, all the characters are unlikeable. The chief female protagonist is super pushy (is this typical of the US?) and dominates the male characters. The son is an obnoxious brat. Gad is continuously humiliated, yet he says nothing. What happened to Gallic machismo? He would not put up with this back home.
I was ready to bail after three (mercifully short) episodes, after four, I am definitely gone.
No Man's Land (2020)
Started Strong, Turned into a Soap
Started strong. The first episode was gripping and made you want to come back and see more.
Then, as we have seen in many TV series, the pace slows down and you can see it gradually morphing into a soap opera, albeit set against a horrible background.
The gung ho female soldier, who in the first episode treated the hero like scum (rifle butt in the head etc), jumps into bed with him around episode 5 and cries on his shoulder.
I am giving up here.
The Bay (2019)
Soap Masqueredaing as a Policier
This review is for series 2. I do not remember finishing the first series - I think that I ran out of steam.
The premise of the second series is interesting, but what about the execution? Episode one commences with the victim being offed on the doorstep of his house by a contract killer during a family gathering - I was gripped and wanted to watch further.
As the episodes continued, the usual family problems manifested themselves, plus irregularities at the family's law firm. The pace slowed and the tone slowly morphed from a policier to a family drama/soap opera, including the main protagonist's own family.
The denouement was rushed and anti-climactical. Is it over -no; it now continues in full-blown soap mode.
What is the show supposed to be - a serious policier or a week-day mid-afternoon soap? The police work is interesting, but as the series progresses, the soap opera aspect becomes dominant.
The main protagonist is a former (demoted) DCI, yet the acting is not that of a tough experienced cop. Her acting is as if she had just walked off the set of "The A Word". Often she stands there with a hang dog look after a chastisement, and is forever apologising. We are treated to a strident shrill harridan; in many scenes she is just plain irritating - non-stop nagging, and is definitely not-likeable.
The cliché test:
Main protagonist has problems - check - divorced, hates husband, nags, family issues
Two teenage children - spoilt, entitled brats - check
Suggestions: for dogged police work - "The Pembrokeshire Murders"
For a solid policier - "Bosch" - Bosch has family problems, he doesn't carry on like a simp and they do not dominate the story.
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Gave Up After 30 minutes
After about 30 - 40 minutes I could not take any more: infantile dialogue, all in the dark, confusing storyline, frenetic action with no purpose, could not tell who was who.
When the story returned to 1984 it was the same old plot and I gave up.
Friday Night Dinner (2011)
Should Have Known When to Quit
The perennial question with a (successful) TV series - when to quit?
Series one was original, fresh, had interesting characters and story lines, and had some genuinely funny moments.
Series 5 - the rot started to set in, sameness creeping in. I detected a note of meanness.
Series 6 - what was once novel has now become cliched and hackneyed. The two brothers constantly sniping at each other in now unfunny and irritating.
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020)
Could Have Been Good - a Cringefest
I knew nothing about Gunjan Saxena and went into this film with an open mind, although I did have some niggles that it would be cliche ridden - I was right.
This film could have been ace, but the producers/director completely dropped the ball with this one and the result in the standard Bollywood fare - cliches, tropes, cringeworthy dialogue and poor acting - viz. a cringefest.
No understanding of the military: in the scene where the soldiers are on patrol up the valley, they are bunched up (talking?) and easily get shot up by the enemy hiding in the hillsides. Is the standard tactic not to spread out? So back to the scene - no point man, no rear guard. No-one sent out a helicopter in advance to reconnoiter the area?
A Suitable Boy (2020)
Same Old, Same Old
Same old themes and tropes that we have seen hundreds of times:
India after the partition
Family obsessed with marrying off their daughters
Hindu-Muslim conflicts
Hindu girl falls for Muslim boy
Wastrel son falls for Muslim elder woman of ill repute
Fat dissipated former raja
Impressive historical constructions in the background,
The Sinner (2017)
Turgid Rubbish
I sat through the entire first series as my partner insisted in watching this; mentally I had given up after two episodes - it was a relief to fetch a snack. I will not be watching the further series.
As is the norm these days, the first episode is strong and entices you to continue watching, the second episode is less gripping and then subsequent episodes move at a snail's pace - four episodes dragged out to eight. What is it which all theses scenes in the dark these days?
Hollywood is totally morally bankrupt:
Frequent boring sex scenes that serve no purpose
Sister on sister acts
The lead detective has emotional problems and is into dominance and
submission
Frequent drug usage
According to Hollywood, people have sex with their clothes on. For them it is acceptable to show beatings, torture, rape, killing, but show breasts - how awful.
The acting is so-so; Bill Pullman is wooden; the dialogue is poor and any police procedure is non-existent. There are short scenes, many left unresolved, rapid jumps all over the place plus flashbacks to various time periods.
The main protagonist's mother is a religious fanatic and fundamentalist. The takeaway lesson is avoid all religious fanatics, whatever their creed, and feel pity for their poor children.
A Suitable Boy (2020)
Same Old, Same Old
Same old themes and tropes that we have seen hundreds of times:
India after the partition
Family obsessed with marrying off their daughters
Hindu-Muslim conflicts
Hindu girl falls for Muslim boy
Wastrel son falls for Muslim elder woman of ill repute
Fat dissipated former raja
Impressive historical constructions in the background,
Bosch (2014)
Excellent Series
I enjoyed all the series so far: 1 - 6.
Strong stories, 3-D characters that you can identify with, characters that talk like real people, avoidance of cliches and the usual tropes, no cringeworthy moments. I do not yell at the TV as with other programmes. You need to concentrate to follow the plot development.
The only annoying character is Bosch's daughter - lacks empathy, it's all about me, me, me.
Death in Paradise (2011)
Was excellent - Series 9 ruined it for me
I used to enjoy this programme. OK, it is an Agatha Christie who done it, but it was good entertainment. However, something switched in the latest series (series 9) and now it is irking me; have the writers lost the plot. Let me expand:
The chief constable was always irritating; he treats the detective inspector with disdain, like he is useless or like a boy, even though he is an experienced cop from the UK. Then he expects the same DI to solve the case, but there is scant appreciation.
The chief constable has always had a rod up his backside (is this satire - big fish, small pond). In the latest series, the rod is even bigger.
For a small island, money is no problem
Who does the autopsies?
The guest DI is lodged in a dilapidated bungalow on the beach. This never troubled me before - I took it for a plot device. Now it transpires that the chief constable owns it. So - can't he be bothered to give it a coat of paint? So arrogant and lacking respect to presume that this is fitting accommodation for a visiting DI from the UK (racism/ arrogance)?
In series 9, the newest DI has a number of allergies and afflictions. Why send him to the tropics? He gets sunburn and is attacked by mosquitoes. Is this supposed to be funny?
He is forced to stay over on the island and he is unceremoniously dumped at the said bungalow with no food or change of clothes. Where is the hospitality - can the local cops not give him at least a dinner and fresh clothes and put him up in a reasonable hotel for the night? During the night, after a mosquito attack, he moves into a hotel and chooses one of the more expensive ones (granted he is a stranger). Then he comes down with deep vein thrombosis. No compassion from the chief constable and he is unceremoniously dumped, in a wheel chair, back at the bungalow.
Funny - mosquitoes were never a problem before.
Who wrote this? You have succeeded in a couple of episodes in completely ruining the entire series for me.
Noces rouges (2018)
Soap opera masquerading as a serious who done it
At the beginning this looked like a serious police procedural/who done it. Quickly, it became apparent that this was a weekday, mid-afternoon soap opera.
Redeeming features: better camera work than your usual soap, spectacular scenery (the calanques SE of Marseille).
The ending was a disappointment - loose ends, no justice, no arrests, no resolution; it just faded away.
You can watch much better shows than this.
Cuckoo (2012)
Better Things to Do With My Time
The chief protagonist is a lazy indolent (American) opinionated slacker and sponger.
I was deciding when to bail out during the first episode. The tipping point came when the mother, son and daughter were talking about the son wanking.
Are there no standards of taste or decency left on television? Is this the best that "writers" can do in order to generate a "laugh"?
I do not watch TV for this sort of tastelessness. I have bailed out, will not return.
The A Word (2016)
Series 3 - Soap Opera
What was a semi-watchable programme has now become a soap opera with the usual cringeworthy dialogue and cliches. There are interesting moments interspersed with mind-numbingly boring scenes.
Most of the characters are unlikable. The male characters are mostly spineless simps, while the female characters are harridans. Christopher Eccleston's character is the main point of interest. In the open he is a macho man, but in the presence of his nagging girlfriend, even he becomes jelly.
Heimebane (2018)
Bland Harmless Timepass
What to say - bland - a bit like the scenery, not awful so that you yell at the television screen, not super good - all in all a time pass.
Annoying aspect - a scene is developing with some tension, then before it is resolved the story cuts to a totally unrelated scene and the previous one is left hanging.
If you want to see a good film about football and the workings of a club, watch "The Club" (Australia, 1980).
Home (2019)
Not Funny, Irritating and Annoying
This series is billed as a comedy/drama. I found scant comedy, maybe the occasional wry chuckle, instead I found it to be irritating, annoying and a sad comment on the current state of the UK.
The occasional laugh does not a comedy make, even dramas have the odd moment of hilarity.
The characters:
Katy - a divorcee - irritating with her arrogant, entitled, my way or the highway attitude. No wonder she is divorced. Is this what passes for a strong independent woman?
John (her son) - irritating little so and so
John (the live-in partner) - basically a simp and the butt of everything, constantly nagged by Katy and John; constantly reminded that it is not his house (did it come from the ex-husband). One feels for this bloke. Is this how men are portrayed on TV these days?
Sami - the only "normal" non-irritating character.
If you looked upon the series as satire or social commentary, you would probably do OK.
Home (2019)
Not Funny, Irritating and Annoying
This series is billed as a comedy/drama. I found scant comedy, maybe the occasional wry chuckle, instead I found it to be irritating, annoying and a sad comment on the current state of the UK.
The occasional laugh does not a comedy make, even dramas have the odd moment of hilarity.
The characters:
Katy - a divorcee - irritating with her arrogant, entitled, my way or the highway attitude. No wonder she is divorced. Is this what passes for a strong independent woman?
John (her son) - irritating little so and so
John (the live-in partner) - basically a simp and the butt of everything, constantly nagged by Katy and John; constantly reminded that it is not his house (did it come from the ex-husband). One feels for this bloke. Is this how men are portrayed on TV these days?
Sami - the only "normal" non-irritating character.
If you looked upon the series as satire or social commentary, you would probably do OK.
Green Book (2018)
Excellent
I was initially reluctant to see this as I had assumed that it would be full of the usual Hollywood clichés and tear-jerking tropes and it is not my type of preferred film.
However, I was wrong. This film is excellent. The story is strong with no fill, the acting and dialogue are natural and the chief protagonist is likeable.
I was surprised that Peter Farrelly was behind this. It goes to show that Hollywood can produce a fine film if they want to.
Full Steam Ahead (2016)
Ran Out of Steam
I was looking forward to this - steam trains and history - what's not to like? This should have been a winner, but I feel that they missed the opportunity.
Lots of emotive shots of super clean mainly passenger trains on what are clearly present day preserved railways on pleasant sunny days. These offer no context.
The narrators may be historians, but they appear to know little about railways.
The narration is thin - no historical facts/analysis, maps etc. A present-day TV disease is talking on location, in this case the footplate, rather than a voice over. Not only can you not hear due to the noise, you have a
cameraperson in an already crowded confined space, along with the driver and fireman.
I watched three episodes and ran out of steam.
Craith (2018)
Snorefest - Dull, Slow and Boring
I watched one episode and swore never to watch the rest. Then inertia set in and I watched the second one and finally gave up.
What a bleak series - dark, dreary, filmed mostly in the dark or against the outside light, no likeable characters.
Standard cliche - gruesome murder.
Pace - incredibly slow, many filler scenes.
The classic police series of the 1970s were usually single episode stories - you had 50 minutes, so you had to get on with it.
McDonald & Dodds (2020)
Good and Bad Simultaneously
The good - interesting story.
The bad - more PC nonsense.
The hero (Dodds) is an introverted aging bald white guy, while his boss is the ambitious "woman of colour" from London. Her boss looks like a fashion model and acts petulantly like a teenager. Minimal police procedure.
Dodds is treated like a servant or a dog, but is expected to do all the heavy thinking - no credit given though. In episode 2, he is left to catch the bus back to town, while his boss drives off. Talk about being in the doghouse again.
There is no chemistry between McDonald and Dodds, no sense of comradeship or colleagues.
I was threatened with expulsion from the TV room after numerous vociferous criticisms and cries of "what is this?".