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Reviews
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
Formulaic but faintly watchable
Have you ever noticed in films like this how, on the upward portion of the plot, good guys are completely incompetent and bad guys are badass professionals, while on the downslope the good guys suddenly have got their act together and the bad guys look like heavily armed teletubbies? Apart from our hero, of course who generally remains a superhero expert shot with a uncanny knack for the impossible. Well, this film is guilty as charged on every single count.
Performances are passable considering non of the principle cast members seemed remotely convinced by the script. The technicals were good, showing the piles of cash clearly spent on each scene. What ultimately lets the film down is that the necessary suspension of disbelief is more like the aching twang of an old pair of trouser braces. If you have an amount of time to kill equivalent to the running time of the movie, just two hours, and no other film to watch, this will just about do the job.
Jack Ryan: Falcon (2022)
Too dark
Although the subject matter seems quite prescient, my enjoyment of this first episode was lessened by the the whole episode being poorly lit. Principal actors were on it, straight from the off, script was good without being great - very much the thriller not quite tipping over into cliche, sound had a clarity that is refreshing in the genre which can sometimes be more about effects than levels. However, every single scene seemed dimly lit. Facial expressions were difficult to impossible to read, wasting well over half of the actors' performances.
I found myself checking other channels, just to make sure I wasn't having an issue with my TV: they were all fine. It's a shame, because the camera work was good and some of the compositions gorgeous. However, when even daylight scenes were too dark to properly read story flow, something has obviously gone very wrong in the lighting department.
The Handmaid's Tale: Testimony (2021)
Magnificent
The Marvel generation don't seem happy unless there are a dozen 100mph action scenes per episode. A strong, character driven episode like this will always pass them by. The Hannah Montana generation simply have a need for happiness and the sugary sweetness of idealism. That is not what The Handmaid's Tale is about. It is dark, emotional and, where required, visceral in it's examination of a patriarchal society taken to the extreme. That June is descending the spiral in a way the Hannah Montanas don't like is what makes the drama what it is. That the pace is unpalatable to the Marvel massive, is what makes this season so compelling. Just, magnificent.
The Blacklist: Nicholas T. Moore (No. 110) (2018)
Suspension of disbelief, suspended.
This was a good premise, after all it has been done before, but the ridiculous plot twist involving a highly trained Mossad agent, gun drawn, is taken down by a fat, old guy. Lazy, sloppy, and completely unbelievable.