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wilkpat
Reviews
The White Lotus: Ciao (2022)
The music is excellent - pity the action does not match it!
Glossy item with a range of half bored characters looking for sex on holiday. It was difficult to work out why some of them went on this holiday - especially the American citizens...surely they could get it nearer home?
For me it did not work - first time I have watched it, as the first series failed to include sub-titles. Have not checked if it did take place on Sicily as the setup looked to be more American in style. The music was outstanding: as the action was so predicable I spent my viewing time listening to the clever changes of music which matched the film action precisely.
I doubt if I am entertained enough to bother with episode 2 .
Sherwood (2022)
Early days - episode one
What a great cast list doing justice to fine writing!
Only gets an 8 rating as a few niggles irritate me.
A pity that Alun Armstrong gets killed off so early, but I have a suspicion that he returns in later episodes in flashbacks....
The other irritation is the guy in an empty taxi who keeps returning to look down the street where AA perished with an arrow in his chest.
Final nigggle: why show a man in the forest using his bow and arrow to hit a tree only 9 inches wide?
There are a few characters with a past hiding info., and this will certainly come out into the open in the later episodes. Gripping entertainment and will b up for awards if the suspense/story are maintained to the end.
Borgen: The Future Is Female (2022)
Who are the voice over actors?
My question concerns the robot voices doing the dubbing for this show.
I say robots, as the voices surely can not come from a human?
Before anyone jumps in saying that the dubbing has to match the lipsyncs of the Danish actors I must state here that the English speakers do not distinguish themselves by reading out the dialogue with no emphasis or feeling. For me, this spoiled the intro episode, and it is most unlikely that i will be watching any more of ths Netflix series.
A pity, as the Greenland oil aspect, plus the potential fight between lady politicians has all the makings of a good series - but the dubbing is not for me...probably the worst dubbing on film today.
Two Doors Down: Christmas Special (2020)
Too much swearing for a Xmas show
The usual crowd from Govan out of their element in a modern "lodge" in the highlands. Suspect that the location was nowhere near the highlands though...
For me the amount of crude swearwords spoiled it, watching it at Xmas time. Not much need for it, and it did not add anything to the dialogue, did it?
Cathy dominated the scenes - and the actress playing her swept all before her.
Black Narcissus (2020)
Powell & Pressburger it is NOT
I've never read the book - and most reviewers say don't bother!
The '47 film was superb and one can not compare a TV version of 180 minutes with a far shorter film. David Farrar was memorable, and his performance is matched by the current guy, who I suspect is of Italian origin, although married to Emily Mortimer. Professional TV critics in the UK have a very mixed range of stars and that indicates a very mixed range of talent. I suspect the older critics that saw the film will rate the TV series a lot lower than younger critics. For my part the writing and directing are both sub-standard, with ridiculous brief 3 seconds? flashbacks that have no dialogue or clues as to what is being shown. The last two episodes will not be watched by me.
Upstart Crow: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: A Lockdown Christmas 1603 (2020)
almost looked like a one take show!
The two actors did very well with an up to date script which mirrored the events we have suffered to date in 2020. More to come one predicts...
Full of praise for both of them, as they kept it taut and entertaining - never a dull moment - even the bashing of a tin in the window was accurate too!
Kill Ben Lyk (2018)
Second worst movie this week
No way could I give this a one star rating but this is the minimum you can make.
What a waste of almost 2 hours of my life!
A ten year old could write a far better script, and nearly all the actors were very bad - especially the woman detective - and the vlogger BL. Only reason I watched to the end was the lovely lady who did quite well with some bad dialogue. The other film I rated 1 this week was a US production based on the same plot. A house with a lot of people who all are killed off one by one. It was reviewed by me, but my memory banks have removed its title for all time. A girl from Oz called Samara Weaving was in it - niece of Hugo, so talent does not run 100% in that family!
A Suitable Boy (2020)
All great until the penultimate episode
I should explain the heading first. Was quite ready to award a rare 10 until that episode when "Indian over-acting" hurt it badly. Yes, there were some scenes of emotion - and a knifing - but the superb actors - all Indian - decided to show a typical frenzied style of acting known in "Bollywood" and it was out of sync with the rest of the series. Full praise to my favourite adapter - Andrew Davies - for pruning down a 1400 page book to produce this effort.
I have not read the book, but now I have seen the TV series I don't wish to do so.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Amateur night
The writing and the acting were really bad. How could so many award shows give B.Pitt their best actor award when Di Caprio was in this film?
Margot Robey did herself no favours by acting a dim/dumb blonde but, luckily, she hardly had any dialogue from QT.
As others have said already if anyone but QT had submitted this script it would have been in the bin inside 5 minutes. No use saying the last 20 minutes were OK, as one had to sit through more than 2 hours of stilted acting and fake docs of old hollywood or fake TV shows - not my idea of entertainment.
The War of the Worlds (2019)
What a mess!
I begrudgingly gave it 2 out of 10 because I liked Carlisle and two animals in the first episode. I will not be watching any of the last two episodes either....
So many things wrong with it. One reviewer thought one good point was it was set in the Victorian period - WRONG - it was the Edwardian period.
The writing and directing were dire. So much so, the two lead actors gave up acting and spent time grinning and running away. The special effects were done in some backstreet studio and cost all of £1,00 to make.
The flashbacks were hopeless - maybe they were flash forards - who knows?
Trying to compress this great novel into 3 episodes was wrong - but at least it will finish soon for those that continue to watch it!
The Accident (2019)
Average, so 5 stars
Quite surprised by the first few reviews as I watched and thought it was OK. Will see it again next week to see any major developments.
I can forecast at least two. but don't wish to spoil it for others.
The writing has been criticised, but it's not really that bad.
Ratings of 1 or 2 are so far below average of 5 too.
The Capture (2019)
A good start - but can he keep it up?
This stuff is almost Jed Mercurio standard, with one exception.
What's that?
The man who is unknown, has his first TV series by being the producer, the writer and the director - a tour de force.
He has broken one golden rule of screen writing and we have to see if he can continue to the end by making up for that discrepancy.
What is this discrepancy?
He is conning the audience with a trick scene shown on CCTV which we have not yet seen. You should not do it - as it rarely works ever.
He may be a fan of Rashomon with different characters witnessing totally different actions, but how can you do that, using verified CCTV film?
Deep Water (2019)
Women rule - men zero
Sleepy Windermere rivals Las Vegas or LA for the action in episode one. The women rule the roost - and all the men are either wasters or sex mad - nothing in between.
How can a family go out on board a boat in very deep water and not ensure the children are dressed in a life jacket? How can a woman leave her underwear on the bathroom floor of another families house?
Weak script that has some of the worst lines seen this year.
Completely unbelievable in everything it showed.