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chopperDavo
Reviews
Can I Tell You A Secret? (2024)
British Docos Are Usually Better Than This
When it comes to true crime I nearly always prefer British programs to American ones. But this one is done in the same way as the US ones.
Lots of scary music and sounds. Everything dragged out with pointless visuals. And the same visuals over and over again. They must have shown data going down telephone lines 200 times throughout this program.
The 'scary' voice just became childish over time.
The pace was needlessly slow. This could have been done in about 45 minutes, comfortably.
Skip through it. You won't miss much. The end of both episodes is where the story is mainly told.
It's a shame because the women really were made to suffer. Their complaints were totally valid and should have been acted on much sooner by the police. The gave the standard corporate BS excuses in a statement at the end. I don't anything has changed there.
Lover Stalker Killer (2024)
Worth watching
I rate this documentary. It's well worth your time to watch.
Maybe I watch too much true crime, but I could see fairly early on who the culprit was. And so I was kind of waiting for them to reveal that.
And so it moved a little slowly in that regard. The film makers filled in the details one by one towards the end. Things like the missing car, untouched bank accounts etc.
There were a few unanswered questions such as how the offender kept their digital ID untraceable for so long. How did they gain entry to properties? What happened to the gun?
I came away feeling very sorry for the male victim. He was put through the ringer. He seems like a decent guy.
Inventing Anna (2022)
A Mixed Bag, but Worth it Overall
This is mainly a woman's program to watch, but I found it interesting anyway.
I have always enjoyed watching docos about fraudsters. I always want to know what makes them tick and how they manage to fool so many people around them.
There's a lot of woman's empowerment stuff going on, with a lot of mean portrayed as weak and useless or kind of horny an stupid. It was written by a woman: Shonda "Shondaland" Rhimes.
A lot of people have negatively reviewed Ana Chlumsky's performance, but I loved it. She seemed pretty real to me. Anna Delvey's accent was a bit hard to accept... but Julie Garner's acting otherwise was perfect - she showed a contemptible but vulnerable 20 something at the same time.
The series was much longer than it needed to be. With too much backstory. But apart from that, I'd recommend it.
Faithfully Yours (2022)
Plot Went a Bit South
I quite liked the first few opening scenes of this film. In fact the whole thing was quite beautifully shot.
But it was let down by the plot. Or at, least some aspects of it.
At a very climactic/important moment, we see that trope we're now seeing everywhere, where a slim 120 pound woman takes on a solid 200+ pound guy and wins handily.
There were also a few times where the police response was shown to be superficial e.g. "We looked at his laptop and can see what transpired here, so there'll be no further investigation into you" Or "Can you give this passport back to your sister next time you see her".
But the real kicker for me was 1) They were allowed to stay in a house where a murder was conducted, just not go downstairs - which raises the question as to how did they come and go? And 2) The main protagonist is soundly sleeping upstairs from where her friend was murdered a day ago - AND the perpetrators haven't been caught! Now I can't imagine me saying to my girlfriend "Yeah your friend was brutally murdered just downstairs, but nighty night, have a good sleep, the killers probably won't come back" and her saying "Oh I guess you're right, I'm whacked, nigh night" and proceeding to fall into a deep restful sleep.
Missing: Dead or Alive? (2023)
Pretty Decent
I quite liked this series. I thought the filming was done really well. Being from and overseas location, I was interested to see the countryside, towns etc.
The cases were quit interesting. It is all done quite slowly and could have been sped up a bit, but that's only a minor point.
Yes, some of the dialogue is a bit wooden - but these are cops, not actors. And so you can't expect them to have a conversation about a case and have it come off totally spontaneous.
I was surprised by the amount of effort the cops went to to find these people. I'm guessing they focused on a few cases where they did in fact, put a lot of resources into the search.
I imagine there must be many other cases where they can't devote so much time and energy towards finding a missing person.
Don't Pick Up the Phone (2022)
Interesting Story
This was a very good documentary series. Like many of Netflix's docos, it could have been much shorter and was quite repetitive.
It's a story well worth telling, and not something you could easily describe to someone else. If you did, they'd just assume the people involved were gullible morons, when they weren't.
Spoiler: I think the police did mess up when they found out the caller's identity. As one of them suggested at the end, they should have not immediately interviewed him. They should have surveiled him. Which was a shame, but I guess they were just so keen to get the guy behind it all.
It's a little hard to understand how this whole scam wasn't widely known. And that it could go on for such a long time.
The G Word with Adam Conover (2022)
Too Politically Slanted
The credits say this series is based on the book The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis.
I read that book and it was very good, like all of his books.
But this tv series is essentially leftist propaganda. Where you know farmers and business people (played by white male actors of course) are the baddies and the government (played by black female actors of course) are the goodies.
The credits also show that it is actually produced by the Obamas. I thought that was a joke when it was stated at the beginning of the first episode.
If the reverse was true, and this was produced by the Bush family, it would be slanted the other way and I wouldn't watch that either.
Save your time, there's nothing to be learned from this series.
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022)
Affecting
This is not happy viewing.
But it is very compelling viewing. And very, very real.
Once I started watching, I couldn't stop.
Very well put together. I really liked the lack of a narrator, or commentator. You're left to make your own conclusions about all of what transpired.
I couldn't believe the way ordinary people gathered around a couple of guys with guns. Loaded guns, with no safety on. What morons. And no one stepped in to save the beautiful young woman who was forced to go through so much. They just stood there and chatted with some monster as he held a gun to her throat.
People can be so good, but they can also act terribly, especially in mob-like situations. Everyone else is chatting with this guy who is saying he's going to kill people, so I can too!
I'm glad these sorts of situations are handled so much better now. They wouldn't have been let out of the bank. At the very worst the 2 hostages there could have been killed. But by providing them with a car and whatnot, it actually led to more deaths.
The Pentaverate (2022)
Good until the end
I actually really enjoyed this series.
Then it got to espisode 6 and of course went down the identity politics and climate change route. Fark me.
Up until then I thought it was pretty inventive and quite funny in places. But then the wokeism took over. Pity.
Clark (2022)
A Bit Long
I mostly enjoyed this series but I found 6 hours of essentially the same thing over and over again a bit much.
Clark robbing a bank, lying to his current partner, going on the run with the aid of a hapless friend, getting caught and going to jail - rinse and repeat.
And he was idolised a bit much in this series. Eventually he was labelled properly at the end of the last episode. But up until then many viewers would use this as an instruction manual.
Dig Deeper - Das Verschwinden von Birgit Meier (2021)
Very well done
I watch a lot of true crime documentaries and this is one of the best I've seen.
Others said it was too long, but I liked the way it was all laid out properly.
It was a great story about a tenacious brother and others who refused to give up and were thwarted at every turn by the incompetent local police. They eventually prevailed and solved the case.
One thing wasn't answered though, and that was what the car buried in the back yard was about. Who's car was it? They cadaver dogs signalled on the trunk but there was nothing stated about it.
Worst Roommate Ever (2022)
Pretty good, 6/10
I'm a fan of this genre. The things I liked about this series were that the stories were about fraudsters/conmen and women/dangerous individuals, and the stories were quite well told.
I didn't like the use of scary sound effects, ominous music and whatnot. They cheapen any documentary I reckon. In the last 2 episodes, the repeated screen flashes of what happens in the end seemed designed to keep you viewing. Again, they have a negative effect on the quality of the series.
I found it hard to sympathize with 2 of the 3 women in the last 2 episodes about the squatter. They made repeated bad choices, which was frustrating to watch. But that was what happened I guess, so that's not a comment on the Netflix series as such.
I'd still watch it again.
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman (2022)
Hell has a special place in it for this man
Netflix are a bit hit and miss with their crime docos but this is a very good one.
So this guy is very much like a cult leader. He takes in followers (who are almost all women) and convinces them to do whatever he tells them to do. For years.
They are cut off from their families and friends and controlled entirely.
He then extorts money from his victims families, friends and associates. And this is the 'why'. It's all about the money for him. The flashy, jet-setting lifestyle. And he's still doing it..
Why Did You Kill Me? (2021)
Could have been a lot better
I'm a true crime lover, and this was a story that could have made for a very good documentary. But it was presented in a confusing manner, especially at the start. I was difficult to work out what actually happened - it's not until about half way through that they reveal enough so that you know the basic facts about how the murder took place.
I guess this was all to keep the viewer hooked - they want you to keep watching so they hide basic facts. A typical Netflix way of doing things I have to say.
Part of the confusion though was that the family of the young woman who was killed looked like out and out criminals. And it turns out they were. Covered in tats and mumbling their way through the interviews. Led by a mother who's got to be one of the dumbest creatures to walk the earth.
It was also much longer than it needed to be. 45 minutes would have been plenty, but just when the story is progressing they go and do some background on one of the characters...
And as others have said, social media actually only played a fairly small part in this. It's really a story about disaffected young guys joining gangs and shooting at each other. And a young woman caught up in it all who gets shot unintentionally.
HHhH (2017)
I loved it!
I seldomly review a movie here on IMDB. But as I was watching this film I was aware of just how amazing I found it.
I mainly like the way the camera was used. There were super interesting angles cast over elaborate sets. This is obviously a big budget movie.
I also like the way the story wasn't told in that simplistic Hollywood way, where everything is spelled out so that even a child could follow it. There were quite a few scenes that weren't explained at all. Which I liked.
This film reminded me of another war film I really liked The Thin Red LIne. I found it quite emotional, quite moving.
Well done everyone.
Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (2021)
Could have been so much better
I watch quite a few crime documentaries.
This one had some good points and some bad ones.
Firstly the bad ones: 1) Lots of unnecessary 'scary' sound effects and footage. You know the big clunking sounds, the eerie music in the background. 2) More footage of the crimes and more prurient descriptions than necessary. Look, just tell us what happened, show a few quick shots. But no, got to zoom in and out, describe every detail, revel in how shocking each crime is. 3) The zooming in and out on portraits of the killer, all the usual Hollywood guff that just isn't needed. 4) It was quite drawn out. There's a lot that can be fast forwarded here. Could have been about 2 episodes.
The good points: 1) I really like the focus on the detectives. How they handled the case, what evidence they had, how politicians and reporters stuffed them up, the rivalry between difference jurisdictions and how they didn't work together and so on. Also, the detectives had fairly large family problems due to the time they had to put into the case. 2) It was a series of crimes I hadn't heard about.
This is a very "Hollywood-ised" documentary.
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)
Brilliant artist, flawed person
I found this documentary really interesting. This man was described as a megalomaniac, and that is certainly the case. He is a narcissist as well.
But he's also a brilliant and interesting artist. I find his sculptures and drawings really interesting to look at. I'd really like to go to an exhibition of his works.
So anyway, this is the story of a person with quite nutty views of the world but never the less, interesting things to say.
American Pets (2018)
Kept me Captivated
I really enjoyed watching this. It reminded me a bit of a movie called Under the Silver Lake - in terms of it's style and "What the friggin heck am I watching here?" kind of state of mind I had.
I read an interview where they said they shot the whole thing in 14 days. Wow. There would be many movies with far larger budgets that are way inferior to this.
I liked the camera angles and the lighting (lots of red light, and quite a lot of dark old fashioned rooms).
I was pretty glued to the screen actually, wondering where it was all going to end up. I hated the main character, I wanted to strangle him - which just shows what a great job he did.
Overspel (2011)
Very good - in some ways...
The first season of this was very good.
The second a little less so, and the third even less so.
In the first season, the characters seem to show a lot of emotion. But as the series goes on, they become wooden faced, especially Iris and Willem.
Also, the bad guy never gets caught. Huub goes from being a bit of a laraken in season 1 to a hard core murderer in seasons 2 and 3. But gets away in both series. Holland TV - where the bad guys get away. They're all so reasonable and accepting of everything.
The Age of Adaline (2015)
For blokes too!
Just watched this, it's a very good movie.
I think of it as The HIghlander but in reverse i.e. it's a woman with the 'gift', not a man...
Well worth a watch for anyone, but especially anyone with a romantic bent.
Glass (2019)
I also found this disappointing
Unbreakable was a really good movie. Split was sort of OK and Glass is rubbish.
2 hours long, with a plot conceived and written by a couple of 13 year olds.
The ending is ridiculous. And deeply unsatisfying.
Won't be watching anymore of Shyamalan's movies.
Earthquake Bird (2019)
Very high quality film
An unusual story, captivating cinematography, suspensful...
A real surprise find.
Don't listen to the lower ratings, they must want car chases and shootem ups.
Flowers (2016)
Unexpectedly Good
I had no idea what this show would be about when I started watching. But I'm glad I watched the first 2-3 episodes because after that I was hooked.
It's super creative and gives a good account of what it's like to be depressed and to live with someone who's depressed.
Very poignant, well worth the watch.
Top of the Lake (2013)
Don't Waste Your Time
I'm a New Zealander and so this was shot in my home country.
I can tell you New Zealand (NZ) is nothing like this. For one thing it rains 270/365 days in that part of NZ. For another, we have one of the least corrupt and most effective police forces in the world.
But anyway, what prompted me to write this review was the complete misandry shown throughout but especially at the end of this series. I had to look that word up, misandry is the counterpart to misogyny (where men hate, abuse women etc.) In this series, every single man, bar about one, is a rapist, child rapist or murderer. And all the women are victims of such, and recovering etc.
So Jane Campion must have a very jaundiced view of men is all I can say. If a man wrote a script which portrayed women in totally negative ways, they'd be hounded out of the business.
The ending was just over the top. Ridiculous.
Pity, because it could have been so much better.