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Reviews
Hijack: Less Than an Hour (2023)
Just when you think 'meh'...
...things get a lot more interesting. And while there's some gaping great holes in the way certain characters are treated (or would more likely have been), overall, this episode is as taut as a snare drum.
It's difficult to write this review without giving too much away and I guess most people would've been watching the series so, unlike a full length movie, these bite sized pieces (episodes) mean we're all aware of the premise. Well hey, it's in the title.
There's just enough cliché regarding non negotiation with terrorists to think it's all going to even more shit than it already has but the flip on its head suggests, but we're yet to know for certain if the 'jackers are actually victims of their past poor choices.
Then there's that annoying woman with the bad wig and the glasses, who I think is going to end up having a significant part to play but so far, this is the first episode she's ever actually spoken in.
Poker Face (2023)
I couldn't remember who she reminded me of...
Ms Lyonne's character, Charlie Cale has one of those voices that sound like they've swallowed too much gravel dust when they've been working as a landscape gardener. I don't know if she's got to doing that as a job but regardless, it's somewhere between a whisper and a croak. But what finally sealed it for me, was her mannerisms with her droll reparteé. She's a slightly better dressed (sans raincoat), 21st century Columbo and make no mistake. The ease of chit-chatty queries that keep leading her to the obvious will seem new to anyone under the age of fifty-five but I loathed Columbo. Though, like many awful 'detective' shows of the 1960s and 70s (and also the 80s for that matter), they didn't really do it for me. Mainly because every character was a cliché. Which is much as this series characters are as well. Sometimes to the point of "enough already", but I don't want the reader to let my opinion put you off because there's some good laughs in this and as much as Lyonne's voice feels like having my ears waxed with sand, there's no getting past her delivery. She's good at her schtick and there's some fabulous actors that turn up such as Chloë Sevigny, Judith Light and Adrian Brophy among several others. So, if you're looking for some light hearted murder stories, you can't go wrong with this. It's a great night in and better than a rom-com.
Succession (2018)
A loathesome family makes compelling viewing
I'm halfway through season 2 and I dislike almost all of the main players, and quite a few of the minors as well. Which is why I'm compelled to keep watching. They're filthy rich and self obsessed. Some act as though they care (they don't) about their nearest and dearest. The motivating force is money and the reason why is because money = power. They're living a real life game of monopoly and it matters so much to each player that they don't care about what has any real values. One aspires to president of the USA, one is a dope fiend (can you blame him?) another is a sexual deviant in the "I'm actually very angry" mould and then there's the other that plays Princess Pinky but in a bit of a gutless way. And that's just the Roy family. There's other's on the inner and not inner periphery that bring their own issues. This is zombie t.v. Without the actual zombies though metaphorically, they're everywhere.
It's compelling viewing. Do watch it.
Poker Face (2022)
A gentle brutality
I have a soft spot for Russell Crow. He knows when to play up to the camera and when to be gentle, and that includes when he is at his most brutal.
It's a tale of a dying man who needs to acknowledge who matters and how he got to where he is. And it does this admirabley but others have their own plans where RC's character - Jake - are concerned. Jake has done very well for himself but he's 57 and he's got people to take care of. Metaphorically and literally and it's a shame that we don't have time to more deeply explore what and who they are but hey, it's about gambling and all that implies.
It's actually a really good movie but it's not meant to be a blockbuster.
BTW, if you're a Crowe fan, then check out one of his earliest pieces, 'Romper Stomper'. I remember him as 'Russ Le Roq' which is definitely showing my age. But who cares? Russell Crowe is a special talent of the type that can take joy in their craft, and that means he is adaptable. Same with Chris Hemsworth and Jack Thompson who are also valuable elements.
From (2022)
Terrible title, Terror filled tale.
The name 'From' does nothing to draw you in. It's awkward and unnecessary. So, ignore it or play a game of renaming it because it really is worth the effort. From the outset, it has a worrying heaviness in the manner of. 'A Quiet Place'. There's nothing funny about the funny business in this village but there are idiots. I won't tell you anything specific except to say that this is like a modern day Stephen King story but told so much better than many of the movies sometimes failed to do and I think that if you like King's writing, you'll love this. There's an overcast dreariness that rarely raises up, even when there's reasons to be hopeful. It would be heavy going if it wasn't for the well edited shorted injections of horror. These are often preceeded by a slow burn build up of perfectly reasonable paranoia and anxiety though if some people just played by the very obvious rules, the death count may well not be quite so high. I hope they do a season 2. This has a lot of the positives that made the first season of 'The Walking Dead' so compelling but it feels a lot tighter. Good stuff.
Another Life: D-Day (2021)
Just when it starts to make sense...
There was some great moments in this episode, if a little predictable they were well scripted and for the most part, well acted. Still full of the good ol' white nuclear family cliché but hey, why would Hollywood fix that which ain't making them broke? Though they'd make a lot more if they got a bit real. (sigh) All the same, there's potential in this. Like Battlestar Galactica (props to those 3 fabulous women bringing their acting chops to Another Life), there's the human, emotional side and there's a technical side that's dumbed down enough for the average moron to get their head around. Though you'd think producers and writers would know that viewers can get on board with that side to not be scared off. I mean, have they never watched Star Trek?
Enough of my rambling. Yeah, the "good" guys beat the "baddies". This time. And they all lived happily ever after, and got a mighty big thank you from exactly who you'd expect to say "thanks" even if on examination, doesn't really hold up.
Another Life: What's Bourne / What's Left Behind (2021)
I feel a building climax...
The story is really building towards something fuelled by every hormone humanly possible except oddly, anything to do with sex or food but hey, that's okay. Adrenaline fills the gap. In other words, another episode that makes me want to keep watching. Low on cliché and high on anticipatory expectation. I can't deny some silliness and also some weird sound issues but they're minor quibbles. I wouldn't hold it in the high regard I place Battlestar Galactica (reimagined) but I would say this is again, a solid episode. I'm a little scared to watch the conclusion and hope that this means it will get a third season. I'd give this a solid 7.4.
Another Life: Just a Rat in a Cage (2021)
Why did it take this long for quality?
This episode is the best episode by far and whaddyaknow? It's almost at the end of the season and possibly the series. This had all those good elements of scifi including the human emotion, self doubt parts. But also the unknown species and communications and all that implies. If this series hadn't have wasted so much time getting to this point, or created a point like it, I wouldn't constantly be whining about its potential. Because the acting talent is, for the most part at least, pretty much under appreciated. Favorite reality, instead of suspension there-of; accepting that where the protagonist was in a very cold location and couldn't just wander around without needing at least a better top on. Though.., never mind. This episode deserves a respectable 8.3.
Fear the Walking Dead: Follow Me (2022)
Give me strength!
Why do the makers of this show keep trying to make the Alicia character as an important figure. The actor cannot act and her story arc is lame. She has two facial expressions. Both involve bowel issues and possibly irritable bowel syndrome or similar. One is worse than the other because she sweats. She sweats a lot and of course, finding a bottle of paracetemol/acetominphen instantly draws suspicion by the baddies. You know. The painkiller most of us have in our homes.
I lost interest in 'The Walking Dead' and they nearly lost me right from the get go on this series but this story is so damned stupid as to be insulting. Tedious is the word that springs to mind. I mean, how many times in one episode can you direct actors to not actually watch a persons mouth when they're meant to be lip reading? How come the bad guys knocked at the door the first time but the second time, they call out about knowing she's there? What a fiasco.
Vikings: Ghosts, Gods and Running Dogs (2019)
Problems, issues and soap operas
This has almost become parody. We have a pseudo-buddha, Lagertha, oh-so-wise crone, a poor portrayal of alcoholism in a young man with PTSD and, all the silliness of Game of Thrones (the TV version). As if Bjorn and crew would not know a trap after all their decades of experience and I don't just mean their ability to smell suspicious chemicals. Honestly. Why do those in charge of what start off being such promising viewing, once finding their financial footed egos, end up destroying their creations?
In other words, all pretty young women have designs on being queen. All men are ponderous and stupid, whilst at the same time cunning enough to have plans that their minions gladly carry out. It's damned silly to the point of one of the later main characters bearing a disturbing resemblance to televisions GOT's Jamie, another his diminutive brother and, this has gone on long enough.