Reviews

I think the producers made a mistake in going monochrome with this series. I often like black and white films and shows from the early years of TV and cinema. Those were lit with that in mind. It does not work for this show.

Italy of the era was meant to be beautiful and had a reputation for magical light. The characters talk about the beauty compared to New York. So why miss it out. This is not a radio show.

The pace is very slow at first. Almost travelogue speed. The dialogue would have done a lot of cutting. Too many silences in the conversations as if they are meant to mean something. I kept wanting to shout "get on with it"

That said.... Silence... Once it gets going this a thrilling ride. Scott is great as Ripley. For such an unlikable character, I was rooting for him. Dakota Fanning was OK.

Moritzo Lombardi as the Inspector in Rome was stunning to watch. Elliot Sumner brought a whole new character to Freddie Miled.

Emily the Criminal is a tightly written and performed story of one woman's accidental entanglement with a group of Lebanese credit card fraudsters. Overall it is enjoyable because Aubrey Plaza is very watchable and her character is identifiable for the audience. The card fraud processes are reasonably credible as is the use of "smurfs". The lower tiers who actually do the act and take the risks.

There were a few minor technical discrepancies, but I guessed this was for the same reason Breaking Bad didn't actually show you how to make meth.

The Rossi was believable as Youcef the front man for the gang. All the way through is wondered whether he was playing a deeper con. Jonathan Avigdori played a more sinister cousin Khalil.

The action was believable with a distinct lack of of gun fights. Very refreshing. Emily faced the same issues many qualified people have trying to get a job and being desperate. Friends let them down. Leads are fake or non existent. There was a feeling of realness about the roke.

Overall I liked this one.

This re-use of an old plot misses the goal. The premises of America Fiction is a familiar one. A talented but unpopular author dumbs down their work using a fake identity to become a low-brow success. Zelda's Cut by Philippa Gregory is one of the best versions.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this film is a mixed (and mixed up) bag. There is the supposed meat, which had great potential to be cutting and comedic. They should have stuck with that. But there is also a family drama with a sick mother. That provided the motivation for Monk to follow through on what started as a joke. But it did not need to take up so much time. Putting the brakes on the movie every time it got going.

Portraying the publishers as eager to please and a bit dim was mildly comedic, if a little unfair.

Overall, great acting, old plot, misses the goal.

Silly but entertaining is how I would summarise the second series of Jack Reacher. This time Reacher has a gang of his old comrades with him. As always there is a trail of bodies that puts Midsomer Murders to shame. Again, Reacher and his gang out fight every other opponent and gang in their path. And the stakes start of small but become international in scope by episode four.

But it is still entertaining.

The cast play it straight and well done to them for turning, what could have been a pile of poo, into a very watchable show. Guest appearance by a menacing Robert Patrick was convincing. Dominick Lombardozzi as a likeable Detective Russo. A straight hitting NYPD cop deserves its own spin off show. Maria Sten, shows her martial arts moves in a very dancer style. Which was a previous profession apparently.

The story would be a pantomime but for the continual work of the cast. So I ll keep watching.

The reviews about the lack of pace and poor plot are right. This is such a shame. Although Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were over the top pastiche spies, couldn't Disney have made the TV characters some sort of spies. This was really like episodes of The Apprentice where they are given tasks each week. Frankly a selling coffee in Boston task would have been more interesting than the "This week your task is to..."

Unfortunately the show has chosen to concentrate on the interpersonal relationships between two strangers thrown together. And it just doesn't work. The dialogue is very slow and wooden. I cannot blame the actors for that. Poor John Turturro. What dreadful lines he was given.

I appreciate that sometimes the audience has expectations that don't meet the designs of the showrunners. But that does not excuse a boring and uninteresting story.

Wow. This episode is boring! I cannot work out how a series with this potential has it's first episode being so tedious. For a start the opening credits are over long. They just keep going. Then there are the characters. Not hugely charismatic. I just can't be bothered to care about any of them. This despite a voice over introducing each, immediately forgotten, spear carrier.

Then the 'action scene' in a shot up bomber. Just not that great either. What's wrong with this show? The CGI looked fine, if a little clean. Yet it did not carry it off. For realism, why was no one smoking? Those barracks and bars would have been fugs of blue smoke. So if we are giving up on realism, how can anything else be convincing.

It seems to be poorly lit as well. And, for a show set in the boundless sky, it feels claustrophobic.

For all the hype this first episode does not bode well.

I enjoyed it Class of 09, which I came across by accident on Disney plus. There is no secret that the story, told through flashbacks and flash forwards, deals with the implementation of artificial intelligence in directing FBI enquiries. Although some have mentioned a similarity to Minority Report, I think it is more like Gordon R Dickson's story Computers Don't Argue about how an overdue library book leads to the arrest of a man on the charge of Kidnap where the victim is Robert Louis Stephenson.

The acting, especially Kate Mara and Brian Tyree Henry is pretty good. There was no one who let the show fown. The plot and story arcs were tight enough to keep me interested. Although the ending felt a bit rushed and slapdash, the loose ends were tied up nicely.

Overall this was an interesting show which kept me watching. The future scenes were nicely done. With technology just a little better than we have but noticed magical. Ditto the aging of the acyors. Very convincing.

Having never read the Percy Jackson books or watched the movie, I have no preconceptions about the story or the protagonist. As a result, any disappointments are entirely about this incarnation.

As many other reviewers have pointed out, there is no sense of tension. The episodes have problems, pretty trivial problems, and they get solved. Yes. They just get solved. No real effort or guile or strategy required. Just done.

In fact this show could be a good definition of Deus-ex-Machina.

Then there are the characters. I expect the actors are professionals so it must be either the direction or the dialigie. It's just bland. As if the cast are reciting it. Any character could take another character's lines and it would make no difference.

Also there is the setting. Now I appreciate that there have been many many hero-goes-to-magic-school shows. Frankly there are only a few scenarios that can fit. There's the Jennings style. Kid is always in bother. Sometimes humorous. Then the Billy Bunter, the kid is an idiot but accidently wins through. Finally there is the Chalet School where groups of ever so close friends have adventures and midnight feasts in the dorm.

But hero school does none of these and doesn't seem to have lessons either. Just a capture the flag game. Only one teacher (Chiron) and a drunken (Dionysus) Principal. So not much atmosphere here.

What a missed opportunity for background.

Then, off on a quest. None of the usual briefing and equipment. And the ineffectual baddies on the way. Like I said, problems solved. More lack of emotion from Percy over his mom's death.

Just so blah!

Not the best. Not the worst. This show has all the alien invasion tropes that have been in TV and movies since time began. Actually, some of them are done well. Much better than the dire, badly reviewed, Invasion. Although the premise is pretty identical. From the mysterious depopulating weapons to protagonists trying to make their way home.

There are the stereotype teenagers who insist on arguing in the face of danger, for example. And characters who can see or hear danger coming and stand there talking.

But lay that to the side and there is quite a gripping and on occasions dark story. The acting is decent where the script perkits. A couple of reviews have said it is boring. I suspect this is because of some of the pointless talking which is could have been edited a little.

There are the usual back stories, which were a little reminiscent of the spoof 'Airplane'. But overall I quite enjoyed it. The unlimited access to hotel minibars must be worth wiping out the human race.

I'm sorry to say this show was, as other reviewers comment, really boring and badly written. (Or maybe it was the editing). There were some good scenes but not many. The story was alleged over the place. The actors had really rubbish dialogue. But, for me it was the missed opportunities.

The audience could have been given more immersion in how the world seems to this deaf hero. She cannot hear assailants so how does she cope with the traditional kung-fu multi attacker fight. We only have got a couple of "quiet " scenes demonstrating her deafness.

Maya is deaf and relies on sign language. Sign language users have tons of shortcuts and body mimes when communicating. It is not like subtitles with hand movements. More like moving emojis.

As regards her crime fighting artificial leg. More could be made of this. Para athletes will tell about the difficulty of fitting and wearing specialist limbs. We have a hero who wears one. Yet we never see the limb care and difficulty riding a motorcycle which has foot controls.

These were wasted opportunities to get show triumph against outnumbering foes.

As for the terrible script. Don't get me started.

What a pointless film. Believe the poor reviews. This movie went nowhere and had no plot. The production values were excellent. The actors were pretty decent. But the story was really just a premise for a proper movie, stretched out to make the two and a half hours.

A family in a rented holiday home on Long Island, along with the home owners lose contact and news of the outside world. There are plot holes a plenty. The internet and TV stations, basically anything digital, are down but presumably fm/am radios will work. But nobody tries to find one.

The cast speak to each other in clipped sentences whilst they don't share what they know or saw. Nobody starts or shares a plan with each other.

Nothing happens until the end when the credits roll. WTF!

Honestly don't waste your time.

There seem to be a number of extremely similar and interchangeable True Lies style shows on streaming at the moment. Including a series called True Lies. This Mark Wahlberg vehicle is portrayed as a comedy/action movie. But although there is plenty of action, I found few laughs.

The plot is what you would exect. Ex agent with special skills is pursued across America after being accidently outed. Cue car chases during which he tries to keep his family ignorant of his past. Cue fight scenes in the background of wife and children looking at a college for their daughter.

But it's all very two dimensional with villains and endless henchmen for Wahlberg to deal with. Production values save this from being a total losd whilst the cast play the roles seriously. So watch on a boring day.

I am not a fan of "Curb your exuberance" . In fact I despise it. But this Argentinian show is very engrossing.

The scenery makes Buenos Aires feel like Paris of the seventies. Brandini, as a food critic who cannot get the motivation to finish a book he has received an advance on, is brilliant. DeNiro has cameo roles explaining, in English, some cultural terms. He does it in a simple, face to camera style. Lovely.

The acting is convincing and has a scent of Aldomavar about it. Like Bon-Bon El Perro. Gentle pace. Realistic feel.

The idea that over forty years, the house keeper had created a manual of cooking, cleaning and recipes was so sweet. The deceased voice reads the contents as Brandini tries to follow.

I have enjoyed "Lessons in Chemistry" although I was occasionally irritated by the obviousness of the messaging.

The acting and characters are quite good with Brie Larsen playing against her Marvel type. A good performance. Derek Cecil is always watchable. The story is clear and has some elements of suspense.

Unlike Mad Men or Mrs Maisel, the historical accuracy is lacking. Few people are shown smoking at a time when that works canteen would have been a fog. For 1951 the idea of running for fitness was not unknown as suggested in the show. The idea that DNA was "a passing fad" was stupid since its existence (but not its structure) had been known since late 19th century.

The hearing scenes where a prosperous black neighbourhood was fighting a road project was laboured. The other side showing smart lawyers might have brought that part to life. As was the sexism in the workplace HR scenes. This could have been a bit less pantomime. The "baddies" really needed capes and twirling moustaches.

Some mention has been made of the dog. Yes it was very cringey. But there wasn't much.

Although entertaining there were some strong elements of boosterism. That is making a success through your own efforts. Whereas much of Zot's success was written as pure luck in the script.

Some reviews have compared this series to the film, whilst others have criticised the differences with the books. Comparisons, I think are unfair. The film compressed the book for the purpose of the story and did a good job of keeping the narrative going. As regards the series, I believe Anne Rice had a hand in some episodes. So if you like canon. There it is.

For me I found this a little slow and claustrophobic. A bit like episodes of Star Trek Enterprise, where the scenery was mostly on stage. Even outdoors. It would have been nicer if the outdoor scenes were more open.

As regards the acting. Yeah. It's fine. Not bad and not great. The story is again fine for me because I'm not a fan. But it is enjoyable enough. Needs to move a bit faster.

There have been comments about the change from 19th century plantation owner to 20th century black gay brothel manager. It did not bother me but did not add anything useful. In fact it probably limited the character's course of action.

There were so many things wrong with this episode it is hard to know where to start. From a personal POV it was so boring I wanted to skip forward a few minutes repeatedly. So here is the review in question form.

Did this flashback give viewers a big reveal about any characters motivation or relationship? Nope. Nothing we did not know already.

Did this flashback episode provide new information a out any current plot point? Not really. Although the potential tech-bro deal origin is explained. That could have been done with the sentence "We had a beach house nearby during lock down"

Did this move any story forward? Nope again. As other reviewers have mentioned, this killed momentum.

Did it show the effects of the Covid lock down effectively? Hell no! A bit about Bradley's family but no mention of all the worries we all had at the time. Job, income, care homes. It was a really 2D Wikipedia entry episode.

Was there a missed opportunity? Hell yes! The anti-vax movement that seemed supported by some right wing media. That would have made a great story about a newsroom taking the science based view.

What a waste.

As several other reviewers have mentioned, Gen V is not a patch on The Boys. And although it claims to be the same world as The Boys, it is really just a vague mention by way of the odd poster appearance, or a statue, or someone having a conversation about the other shows characters.

However to this show. The acting is OK. Just that. The characters could be any interchangeable actors in a number of other teen shows. No one stands out and occasionally there seems to be a little over acting.

The characters they are playing. Ditto. Apart from the superpowers which are played as pretty boring, the roles could be any teen soap. Most are pretty unsympathetic and written very shallow

The story, by episode four, is just boring as well. Is this AI written? It has a by-the-numbers feel. Hint at mysterious "trees". Tick. Underprivileged teen fights for place. Tick. Dorm buddy. Tick.

There was some minor blue humour. But frankly I won't stay with this.

Season One played the discovery cards very well. Showing the viewer the TVA, various tinelines, the End of Time and The Void. Each instilled the sense of wonder. There was also a fair bit of one line humour and many visual gags. It ended on the cliffhanger of the time lines swinging free and Mobius not recognising Loki back at HQ.

Now Season Two picks up the jigsaw pieces and runs with them all guns blazing. Whilst the actors carried it off well there was a lot of confusion. Eventually some exposition was forthcoming, but it could have been tightened up a little. Glad "OB" was around to play science nerd.

As always the sets ruled the day with the void suit looking so sixties NASA. There was less humour and it felt forced.

Overall this was still a good episode.

The Changeling is just so boring. As another reviewer pointed out, viewers are likely to be fast forwarding to find something interesting. The chances are if you were frustrated by the awful Invasion, then you won't like this mess of slow, confusing porridge. There's slow burn and there's padding. And boy is there padding. Not just the slow "atmospheric" camera shots. But the nothing happening. Or the over emphasised "mystery". Does it really need a whole episode to have sinister photos appear and disappear from phones? If you want to tell a story. Do that. But don't waste the viewers time with confusing flashbacks that don't move the plot forward.

Joe Picket is simultaneously engrossing, exciting and silly. Set in the Wyoming wilds, new game warden Joe manages to embarrass himself in his first week in town before accidentally interfering in a corrupt plot where every villain possible comes out the woodwork. Poor old Joe hasn't a clue what is happening as the bodies pile higher than Midsomer Murders. Meanwhile the sheriff doesn't want to know. The story, based on CJ Box's books doesn't stop moving. The acting is pantomime on occasion. But overall I enjoyed this. Several times there were convincing arguments for having hands free kits in the characters cars.

Lioness starts very well but loses momentum by episode five. The pros and cons of the series. Pro- The acting is pretty good. Although the subject matter makes the bar quite low, the characters are well directed and the cast are all watchable. The story lines are quite clear. Team has missions - tick. Team leader has personal life - tick. One of the team is embedded with the bad guys - tick. Politicians lean on the team - tick. Lots of sexy terrorism exposition and hot special forces tactics - big tick.

All very watchable. The cons - The personal stuff goes on too long and feels a little forced. Daughter of team leader gets in trouble - tick. But the service won't allow emotionally compromised team leader time off - another tick. Team are pretty humdrum interchangeable special forces grunts - tick.

By episode five the personal stuff is getting a bit slow. The plot is getting a bit stretched. Still watchable but not a must see.

Not brilliant but not bad. Looking at some of the other new shows that seem to divide opinion, it was refreshing to be able to give this a nice middle-off-road review. First, the story. Exactly the same start as the Schwartzenegger movie except the wife comes once board earlier. No spoiler and no surprise. Husband Harry Tasker is part of an MI style team.

His wife, Helen is well played and watchable by Ginger Gonzaga, who was new to me. Harry was Steve Howie who I thought needed to loosen up a bit. But he was worth giving time to. Omar Benson Miller looked like Forest Whitaker's younger brother. He was the strongest male actor.

The premise is silly but there were some throw away laughs. So I would not criticise the show for lack of reality when it is more Maxwell Smart than James Bond.

I would watch another episode or two.