Reviews

I only tripped across this series by accident a year ago and by golly its great.

The casting is superb, the dialogue strong, the plot twists hard to second guess and almost every episode can be watched again and again.

Essentially, this is the story of two brothers caught up in a life of hunting down all the things your parents told you didn't exist. Monsters.

And that Heaven and Hell - and even Purgatory are real - but angels aren't what you learned about in Sunday school, Death the Horseman is pretty cool, and demons can surprise you.

This is like X-Files - without the UFOs, but with more intriguing conspiracy theories. There's lashings of witty dialogue, friction between the very good looking brothers, epic trials to save Earth from the squabbles of celestial beings and demon spawn - plus great fight scenes. Oh and an angel who's captain of God's garrison of warriors.

I can't recall the last time I saw a show run for 8 yrs and still going strong. By the end of it, you'll know more about mythology than you ever thought possible and quite believe they're out there.

Season one is the darkest - and sets the scene for the rest. I give it 10/10 and I think that's a first for me. If you enjoyed Grimm - this is right up your street.

I didn't expect to actually LOL at a series that was intended to be a zombie drama - but the first few episodes had me spontaneously giggling, groaning and rolling my eyes every few minutes.

The cast do all the stupid things I'd expect in a budget slasher movie such as running round making lots of noise when zombies are meant to be attracted by it, doing stupid things that you'd never do in their shoes, acting like sulky randy teenagers, wandering off on their own into the woods...

We all know the formula, but I never thought the writers of such lazy rubbish would get their hands on millions of dollars to make this TV show. It even manages to crowbar in the inevitable small child cliché - they missed a trick not having a cute dog though.

I can rarely recall so many plot holes in a TV show - they just left me thinking 'Why did you do this?!' We're not talking nerdy genre stuff either like how do zombies survive after they've eaten every human - but basic story-telling.

Simple little things like how can you be in a coma after being shot, wake up and discover the hospital looks like its been bombed, everyone has died but somehow you survived and are well enough to ride a bicycle home? A bicycle? And the zombies attacked a month ago, but you lived without medical help/water all that time - yet you've still got a wound that's barely mentioned again?

This is just typical of the unforced stupidity of the story that continues from the first few minutes of Episode 1.

It's also rammed with sentimental tosh, 2-D characters, some dreadful ham-dialogue and scenes that clang 'oh you can see what's coming next'.

I'm going to stick with it for now as its so bad, its funny - but golly, what a huge waste of a good idea. True Blood hit the nail on the head re having vampires/humans in the same context - Walking Dead is just another version of Survivors that keeps slapping me in the face with the enormous and totally unnecessary plot holes/soap opera melodrama.

Why anyone is scoring anything above 5/10 mystifies me. The other reviews giving this the thumbs down are more entertaining than the show itself. Perhaps AMC should employ these IMDb reviewers next time instead!

As someone who has only seen Pulp Fiction and loved it - I was put off Reservoir Dogs/Kill Bill by the supposed tales of extreme violence.

What violence? It's almost all off camera and left to the imagination - its not even much of the plot. Compared to Django Unchained - it's barely worth mentioning.

I wish I'd watched it years ago - its a very solid *story* about the fall-out from a heist that went horribly wrong, not the usual action movie about the robbery itself.

The cast are super - and golly do they look young - whilst the tension between the characters as they argue amongst themselves about professionalism is visceral.

I found RDogs a bit short on the humour front as its almost played entirely straight and I didn't feel I got to know the characters well enough before the film was over.It isn't often that I'd like a film that's already 2hrs to be longer, but this was one that could've easily been 2.5hrs without me noticing. That said - would I watch it again - probably yes.

Mr Tarantino pulled off a remarkable debut with RDogs - and if you've enjoyed his later works - don't miss this one. I'm off to watch Kill Bill.

***tiny spoilers only***

I can't help feeling I've just watched Lost, but in space. I've given it an 7/10 for originality in sci-fi land and for acting quality.

Robert Carlyle is superb as are many other actors. I could quite happily believe they were really there - but for anyone familiar with Lost, the characters are rather too close for comfort at times. This is inevitable given ensemble casts play to stereotypes - but I've never felt it as strongly bar disaster movies.

It poked me in the eye again and again - I kept seeing comparisons and even on occasion wondered what a Lost character would do instead in the same scene. That sounds weird and it was. I wasn't even that keen on Lost - it just went on for ever.

I thought the concept was great, the restricted space/prison feel perfect when it came to creating tension and drama between the characters - but it dragged its feet/repeated the same issues and lacked light notes of humour.

On the whole, I just didn't like the characters enough to be bothered if they died or not. That for me is always the killer. And without humour, it just became rather grim and depressing. I never felt they were going to get home - think Lost here again...

The idea of the communication stones has been criticised - but I rather liked the idea of being billions of miles away but able to swap bodies on Earth/still be manipulated by the US Dept of Defence. I've not seen that used before as a device, and on the whole it helped to keep the whole series grounded.

So - would I watch it again or buy the box-set - no. It had great potential, but IMO suffered from being a bit too grim/dark and not on long enough to find its own feet before getting cancelled.

Was it worth watching - definitely. What there was is good TV, well shot and with real drama.

I've been told endlessly how totally incredible this series is and I launched into a marathon run of all 4 series with high hopes.

After a slow, but intriguing start - I thought the praise was accurate - and then it all went downhill.

The Cylons had 'A Plan' - we're told this in the opening titles of every show... Really? After 20 episodes I still had no idea bar them trying to mindlessly wipeout humans. When the final credits closed - I'm not sure I had any more clue.

And the whole religion/God thing was a novel idea when it appeared that the Cylons were very keen on going to their version of Toaster Heaven - and then it seemed to forget it was a sci-fi series and became all about some alternative theology - I gather it was written by a chap who's pretty keen on Mormonism so that may explain it - but it doesn't make it any more interesting for the rest of us. Frankly, if it was written by a guy keen on Scientology - it'd have been more entertaining.

At times, it also reminded me a LOT of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy too and I don't mean that as a compliment in this setting.

So all in all, I couldn't be considered a fan - I thought it was okay as a series, didn't warm to any of the characters though some performances were very good.

I was left wondering why it got rave reviews at all. If I'd never watched it - I'd say I missed nothing of note. I preferred Stargate Universe, that was like a cross between BSG and Lost.

For a film about a gay relationship - I had my doubts when I discovered the two male leads were to be played by straight men, but I couldn't be more convinced by their on-screen personas.

The kitch was eye-wateringly OTT, Douglas superbly needy yet controlling and Damon sucked into the whole charade. Rob Lowe's performance had me recoiling with his creepiness/plastic surgery face and it couldn't be farther from his more mainstream performances. For a role that appeared for only a few minutes - it stuck with me long after the film was over.

All in all, a very solid biopic film that unfortunately won't be Oscared as its been shown as TV movie in the USA. A great shame - Douglas and Damon deserve nominations - their *chemistry* is totally believable.

Final point - either Douglas is a superb pianist or the CGI of his hands on the keyboard is first rate!

It took two attempts to get to the end of the first episode - the over-acting and sweary dialogue left me exhausted and not in a good way. When most of the scenes involve shoulder rolling swagger and shouting, it's rarely a good sign in my book.

It had real potential re the concept, but like Red Widow hasn't got it right. I preferred RW but its been cancelled. I'm not sure how Rogue can survive as its going up a blind alley very quickly re the characters/plot. It may be burning itself out deliberately as the writers know something we don't.

Great opening credits and music though.

I've seen the whole run so far and whilst a lover of political dramas - this is manically acted - it makes the West Wing look tranquillised.

Characters talk super-fast, their volume usually turned right up to show how important everything is...cutting each other off mid-sentence/striding about purposefully/getting all emotional... I find it all rather wearing/distracting rather than exciting.

Shonda of Grey's Anatomy fame is behind it and the use of an ensemble cast is very familiar territory - but, I can't help feeling that she's trying to shoe-horn a political drama into an ER room and do it on fast-forward.

So, if you like something entertaining, not too taxing on the brain and with strong female characters - it's worth tuning into. I wouldn't buy the box-set, but will carry on watching if its renewed for a third series.

I've watched the entire run so far and after a good beginning, what has happened to it? By S4 mid-point, its turned into the most dreadful, ham-acted, soap opera where the artifact mysteries are largely overwhelmed by the childish acting - especially Pete who appears to have gone from being slightly immature macho man to an emotional 7yrs old. He reminds me a lot of Seeley Booth in Bones on a bad acting day.

Even Myky is suffering from the same affliction - she was the sensible one and now is hyper/silly girl which doesn't sit well. These two are meant to be top notch Secret Service agents in their late 20s for heaven's sake, not Buffy extras.

I can only assume the writing team has changed, or the producers are aiming at a younger/less demanding demographic. Whatever is going on - I certainly won't be tuning in to see the rest of S4 if it carries on like this.

What a pity.