flyingthor Reviews

Superhot: The Spicy World of Pepper People (2024)

I may be biased, but...

[10/10 · 6 February 2024]

...what a show! I'm an amateur grower of other people's seeds, I have little interest in 'finding' my own strain, but it was amazing to see the world of the people who are dedicated to finding that next killer-hot variety of chilli.

Production value was great, top notch watch. The characters they chose to follow were diverse and really interesting. The storylines were captivating. The narrator (or script writer) had a great sense of humour and kept the episodes flowing nicely.

I can't but give this a 10/10, best entertainment I've had in a long time. Really hoping there's a season two, I'll be there with my next harvest of chillies 🙂

The Beekeeper (2024)

Statham rocks again, but....

[4/10 · 2 February 2024]

The supporting cast is a huge let down. The main FBI agent is thoroughly unlikable, no charm, no credibility, no way she'd pass through any physical bootcamp to become any type of agent. Her partner is just as pointless. And because we're all conditioned to notice race these days, it's clear that no white people work at the FBI in this universe. The movie could have removed every single one of these characters and been the better for it.

Statham does what Statham does, and is enjoyable as always. Definitely not up there with his best, not even a middle of the road Statham movie like Parker or Safe, an entertaining(ish) watch but wholly forgettable and zero rewatchability.

Struggling to give it 4 out of 10, but Statham and some nifty set pieces just about get it there. Remove the pointless characters, tighten the script, and give Irons and Driver something more to do and it would be a solid 6.

The Creator (2023)

Some stunning scenes, not much else...

[5/10 · 15 November 2023]

Hat's off to the CGI folks, great work. All 5 of my stars go to you guys.

Supporting cast is fine. The kid did a good job. Allison Janney playing some bloodthirsty military person was comedic. Main actor did nothing for me, not engaging at all, lacks charisma.

The script was baaaad, not at all helped by a pretty ridiculous story. Riddled with plot holes and silly events that snap ya right out of the movie....

• scene where Alphie and co. Are at checkpoint, Aphie acts as an EMP and disables all electronics nearby...but main dudes arm and leg still function...how?

• simulant says to main guy that he has to get Alphie onto Nomad so she can destroy it...at this point all we know is she can control electronics and act as an EMP... what do they need her for, if they can get her on the ship why didn't they just try get EMPs on board, do the dirty work themselves?

• main character, a few times, takes on an entire squadron of AI, he should have been dead the first time he tried that. Compared to them, he should have had the reaction and aiming speed of a turtle....that is fast asleep....

I could go on, so much to mark this movie down on.

Frasier (2023– )

7/10, but....

[7/10 · 6 November 2023]

....there are problems. I started watching Frasier 2023 straight after rewatching seasons 1-11 of the original show. A bit unfair to do that perhaps, but I wanted to see how the contiruation truly fares when compared with the magic that was Frasier.

Two major problems jump right out - some of the supporting cast, and the laugh track. Some of the cast are fine, and hopefully given enough time to embrace the characters they'll prove to be a boon (yeah, I said it!) to the show. But some of the others, well...they feel out of place for Frasier. It's like they were plucked off the set of any generic US sitcom, passable as actors but lacking the quirkiness and playfulness of the original supporting cast. I don't see them improving unfortunately. And speaking of generic US sitcoms, that laugh track needs to go. It's hideous. I realise most, if not all, of the original shows also had laugh tracks, but it wasn't distracting there, seemed more natural. Whoever's in charge of Frasier 2023 needs to dial it down a notch.

That out of the way, I'm loving seeing Frasier back. He's matured, he's not the same character for sure, and hasn't got the same amazing supporting case to jive with (yet), but it's the same lovable, pompous ass. He just hasn't been unleashed propely yet, he has no-one to join in.

Hopefully CBS/Paramount+ allow this show to continue, and give them more episodes next season to bed characters in. And if Niles isn't coming back, then a suitable replacement needs to be found. Great seeing Nick Lyndhurst in a big show again, and the actor playing Niles and Daphne's son is a possibility, but they really have to improve on his Niles characteristics, better dialog and quirks etc. He's Niles son, he should be more like him.

Anyways, for Frasier fans this is a 7/10 with room for improvement.

The Continental (2023)

Had promise, but ended in the 'mediocre' category

[5/10 · 11 October 2023]

I loved the John Wick series, flaws and repetitive choreography and all. It had a great lead character, great supporting cast in all four movies (bar one or two misfires), they looked amazing and were great entertainment. So of course this show had already won me over before it even came out!

It lost me pretty quickly though. Episode one was interesting, had some characters I wanted to see develop, it tried to imitate the movies but on a smaller scale, but there were problems. Some of the characters were pointless, the chick who owns the Dojo for one, and the detective with the annoying accent. Poor characters, and given poor action scenes. Aren't we all a little tired of seeing a slender woman going toe to toe with a gang of male bodybuilders and beating them down? Dojo chick does that. It was hilarious. Contrast that with the Vietnamese woman who took on a group of guys and won in awesome fashion, using her speed and agility to avoid most of their blows, using their weight and power against them, it was so engaging. Weird that the same show had both types of style.

Anyways, episode two was a bit of a snooze fest; the good characters were expanded on slightly, which was good, but the pointless characters got too much screen time, I lost interest.

Decided to watch episode three as I'd already gotten 66% of the way through it. I'm so bored watching it I'm writing this review at the same time. Only one scene has brought my attention back to the TV, Vietnamese lady fighting the lady twin, that was a cool scene, and could go straight into a John Wick movie. Just coasting through the rest of the episode, mulling over what to watch next, and there's still ten minutes to go :/

Would I recommend? Not to a fan of the movies. Would I watch again? Certainly not.

Good to see Mel Gibson though, my rating bumps up a star because of his presence.

Flora and Son (2023)

The rest of Ireland apologises :/

[2/10 · 30 September 2023]

We don't all speak like that. The accents in the film are authentic (or incredibly good recreations) of a certain type of Dublin accent. There are two types; the posh, 'talk through your nose' type, and the type in this movie. The rest of Ireland finds both types very, very annoying. I can't imagine what an international audience thinks of it.

That aside, the movie isn't great. Not even good really. The runtime isn't very long, best thing I can say about it. If you're really curious, watch the trailer and use your imagination to fill in the blanks, you won't be far wrong.

Some of the cast was okay, but the main characters were pretty weak, lines were either delivered flatly or way overacted, no middle ground.

Wouldn't watch again, wouldn't recomment. Just some mediocre content for Apple to put on their streaming service.

The Batman (2022)

Would have been an 8, but....

[6/10 · 30 April 2023]

The movie could have been 30/40 minutes shorter, and the casting of Catwoman was terrible. In fact, had Catwoman been removed from this movie that would have made it 30 minutes shorter and so much better.

The rest of cast did a good to great job, story was interesting, action was engaging, and even though it was a departure from every Batman movie that came before, it was made with respect for the character and world. Great to see the World's Greatest Detective actually being the World's Greatest Detective 🙂

A worthy addition to the collection. If there's to be a sequel (and I hope there is), please either recast Catwoman or leave her out altogether, Zoe Kravitz broke the illusion in most every scene she appeared in.

Evil (2019–2024)

Was enjoying it, but....

[4/10 · 5 March 2023]

It turned out to be another show where the writers couldn't help but insert their own biases and politics into it. I'm looking for entertainment, not another show that can't help but lampoon Trump, Trump voters, young white men, take your pick. I forgave the first few times it happened, but they just keep inserting references here and there. The show isn't interesting enough to overlook them anymore, I'll take my viewing time elsewhere.

Pity though, I liked the majority of the actors, most of the one-off stories were enjoyable to the point I stopped watching. Kinda got Mysterious Ways vibes from it, just with a religious angle. Oh well.

Stranger Things: Chapter One: The Hellfire Club (2022) Season 4, Episode 1

Bored

[4/10 · 28 May 2022]

About 10 minutes of it was interesting, the rest was mind numbingly boring, ended up skipping through most of it.

The 10 minutes was good though, season could go places.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Not only what was wanted, but what was needed....

[10/10 · 4 January 2022]

Kudos to young Reitman, his father would undoubtedly be proud of what he made. A solid addition to the other two Ghostbuster movies, some flaws for sure, but made with love for the IP and respect for the fans.

And not a queef joke to be seen. My 18 year old daughter was holding back tears during this movie, she turned Feigs movie off after 20 minutes.

10/10 from this fan, it would have been a 9, but gets an extra star for making the 2016 parody movie fans salty. Top marks. Top, top marks.

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

Oh Lana....

[3/10 · 27 December 2021]

Congratulations, you had the chance to make a good movie but decided to cement what should have been an unwanted description....

...The Matrix is now just another series of movies whose chronological order matches the best to worst order.....

Rose Plays Julie (2019)

Torturous

[2/10 · 26 September 2021]

So dull and bleak, not just the story, the acting too. Dull acting, reciting bleak lines as if they were reading from the script while doing it, and a wholly depressing story that paints all men as *pick your insult*.

As an Irish citizen I sincerely hope Irish tax payers money did not subsidise this. Meh.

(Given an extra star for having authentic Irish accents, but rarely do you hear them sound so depressed...and depressing...unreal)

Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes (2019)

Loved it!

[10/10 · 7 September 2019]

Three highly enjoyable episodes that complete the series (again). Much credit to all the people who made this happen, as a long time fan and repeat viewer of the original episodes I enjoyed every second of these. The cast did their very best to recapture the characters played so well by their predecessors, and while they don't quite get there all of the time there are moments where you may think you're watching the originals :)

That's helped by the sets and colouring, absolutely perfect, and the camera angles and editing play their part. The only small gripe I found with it was a lack of face shots when certain characters are delivering quips, perhaps it would break the illusion to have them in these episodes.

Overall, top notch effort (infinitely better than the treatment 'Yes, Prime Minister' received), and looking forward to adding these to the DVD collection.

The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale (2018)

No, Joe

[1/10 · 16 July 2018]

Carbon copy of other shows doing the same thing, Joe McHale is not a big enough personality to make it any better/different than the others. And bringing on Paul Feig doesn't make things any better, just makes them far worse in fact, his Ghostbusters shenanigans live long in the minds of many; making a rubbish, ideologically driven movie and then calling fans of the franchise names when, unsurprisingly, they didn't seem to like it. No Joe, get away from Paul and go find something better to do.

Rampage (2018)

I fully agree with all the negative reviews, but have to add.....

[2/10 · 25 June 2018]

....that the portrayal of some, nay, many of the men and the dialog directed at them is ridiculous. Dwayne Johnson's character is fine, as is the OGA guy, but the way Naomi Harris's character talks about them and to them when they first meet is pathetic....but she has no problem being shielded by them from bullets, or being the first one out of a falling plane etc. And the heads of the corporation, what the absolute f........isn't this the age of gender equality? I think the movie makers decided that the only way they could make a testosterone fueled movie was to not add in female characters that matched them, but to add in female characters that take the mickey out of the typical type of male lead these movies feature. It may have gotten better, I left it after 50 minutes. Life's too short.

Future World (2018)

Disclaimer: I stopped watching after 40 minutes or so....

[2/10 · 27 May 2018]

It's an appalling movie given the actors that feature. I think I gave it a fair shake sitting through it for so long, but it didn't start well and went downhill fast....decided to check out what other people were saying here before continuing and seeing only 2 good reviews out of 22 (hi Mr. Franco and Mr. Franco's mum) I called it quits. Life is too short.

If bad movies are your thing this is definitely for you. If you're looking for entertainment go elsewhere.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: All Roads Lead... (2018) Season 5, Episode 18

Getting tiresome....

[3/10 · 21 April 2018]

Thank you Yoyo, the whole Ruby plot was getting really annoying, about time the show moved on....

The Hurricane Heist (2018)

Don't go in expecting much and you'll be surprised...

[7/10 · 7 April 2018]

Ok, so there's more than a few plot holes, ridiculous lines and 'what the hell?' moments, and the sub-plot between the brothers is unnecessary. All that aside, it's actually a pretty enjoyable movie. The acting from the main characters is for the most part solid, the story line was interesting enough to keep me interested for 90 odd minutes, and the effects were top notch. Seems like they really pumped a lot of money into CGI to make up for other shortcomings, and while they exaggerated the power of the storm way too much at times it was still impressive.

If you found movies like 'The Day After Tomorrow' and 'Geostorm' enjoyable you'll more than likely enjoy this too!

The Blacklist: The Kilgannon Corporation (No. 48) (2017) Season 5, Episode 7

Getting worse every week

[1/10 · 10 November 2017]

I used to love this show, Spader is pure gold in absolutely everything he does and he's the only thing keeping this show afloat at the moment. The writers have gotten far too preachy for my liking. The premise of this show used to be a master criminal manipulates the FBI to take out his competition and get closer to his daughter in the process. Now he's no longer a master criminal, the side-plot with his daughter has become boring, and the writers are trying to compensate for lack of substance by pushing their own moralising BS. Sorry guys, not everyone shares your view of the world, and you'll only lose viewers by inserting yer own biases into an established show.

Of the 7 episodes this season has given us so far more than two of them could be classed as filler episodes, completely forgettable. Of the rest we've had Black Lives Matter nonsense pushed on us (not to say all BLM issues are nonsense, but Blacklist picked up the more ludicrous ones), and this episode was little more than virtue signalling about African and Middle-Eastern migrants crossing borders illegally.

Let's get back to what made this show great eh? You've put yourselves in a position to create a great story about Reddington regaining his empire, leave your own BS at the door.

Inhumans (2017)

Has promise, but needs to find it fast...

[5/10 · 2 October 2017]

I'd be livid if I'd paid to see this in a cinema! I'm thinking that's where a lot of the grievance lies with other reviewers, but even watching it at home it was disappointing (for a Marvel series). Some very poorly written characters and acting, and the action scenes are hilariously bad....buuuuut this could get good. There are some redeeming characters, and if the writing, acting and action gets better as the season goes on it could be something. But nowhere near Agents of Shield.

What does have me baffled is why they canceled Agent Carter but threw so much into Inhumans. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I'll be sticking with it though.

Will & Grace: 11 Years Later (2017) Season 9, Episode 1

How aren't they getting it yet?

[1/10 · 30 September 2017]

I enjoyed watching W&G reruns back in the day, it was light hearted, semi-intelligent humour with a splash of Jack. A good way to start the day, nestled in between reruns of Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond.

I read an interview with one of the writers/producers months back where he/she was talking about the current political scene, and how they'd have to make some nod to it. Fine. The world is somewhat different since they were last on-screen. What greets viewers of this episode is simply more unfounded hysteria from hysterical people. It's been going on too long now. I'm not even a US citizen and I'm tired of it.

I can't understand how these people aren't understanding that the majority of their viewers aren't watching to get an insight into the show makers or actors political opinions. We're watching to be entertained. You SELL us your product, we BUY it with our own money, through premium channels, or by watching adverts. At its core it's a business transaction. I don't care about the politics of the person selling me my groceries, or the guy who cleans my house windows, or the company I get my broadband connection from. And they don't care about mine.

Why do you think you're special TV land? And Hollywood for that matter. Haven't you been paying attention? Your ratings are tanking, the Emmys, the VMAs, the Oscars, ratings are plummeting because people aren't willing to BUY a product that's little more than ye all patting yourselves on the backs. We don't care. The TV shows that are put out there simply to lecture its viewers, or the shows that break away from what they were to do so, they're all already suffering, or soon will be.

Will and Grace won't get the viewers if they keep this up. Why would people bother?

The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)

Good show, but caters for certain audience only.

[5/10 · 1 July 2017]

I started watching the first episode and turned off about 20 minutes in. A couple of nights later I stumbled onto the IMDb page for it and read some of the reviews, strange to see so many reviews giving a high rating receiving so many thumbs down. I took the advice given in many of those reviews though, went back and finished the episode. I can't fault the production value of the show; camera work is excellent, sets and locations are good, editing is good too. Add Moss in as the main character and you've got a show that will suck you in, she's brilliant as usual.

I turned it off originally, and won't move on to episode two, because of the reasons many people seem to be lauding it. People seem to be holding this show up as an example of something that could happen...it's playing to the narrative of a certain section of society, ie those that rail against 'systemic patriarchy', and looking at the high rated reviews many of them hit those buzzwords we've become familiar hearing from third wave feminists. In the first twenty minutes, and I promise you these aren't plot spoilers, the show establishes that men are pricks, women are victims, and it even gets the 'campus sexual assault' phrase in.

I'll be honest, I'm no fan of third wave feminism. It's nothing more than hysteria drowning out worthy causes, and this show is pandering to third-wavers, as the reviews demonstrate. You're welcome to your show, but it's not for me, it's a real pity too as had they toned back on the 'man bad, woman mistreated' approach it may appeal to more than just the third-wavers and their allies.

Iron Fist (2017–2018)

Cast Nicholas Cage as the Iron Fist.

[5/10 · 30 March 2017]

I had my suspicions from the first episode but it was close to the end before I nailed it. The problem with this show is Finn whatshisface. Not because he's white. Not because it's a poorly written character. Because he can't act, or at the very least he's a one trick pony, either way he dragged this show way down. I can only hope he's not going to feature much in the show where they all team up.

Don't get me wrong, this series is the worst of all the Marvel shows put out by Netflix for other reasons too, but this guy is so bad at acting you can actually see the other actors looking at him wondering if he's being serious....a real look of confusion and frustration comes through now and again.

I truly believe casting Nick Cage as the lead couldn't have made it worse, in fact it may have made it more entertaining. Yep, that's it, we've found the next generations Nick Cage in Finn whoshismother.

Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (2017 TV Special)

Ah Amy....

[1/10 · 15 March 2017]

Jaysus that was awful. I've sat through some pretty bad comedy before, on screen and in person, just to find the few nuggets of gold scattered throughout it, something to laugh along with. There was nothing here. Not a thing.

Time to rethink the direction you're going in Amy, unless you want to only cater for a tiny minority of people who both agree with you and enjoy seeing these things mocked. And that number is getting smaller every year.

Yes, Prime Minister (2013)

How did they get this so wrong?

[2/10 · 2 June 2013]

I always thought that I'd be moved to write my first review on IMDb because a movie/TV show was so amazing I'd have to share my feelings on it. Alas, twas not to be. I've just finished watching the 6 episodes of this reboot, I'm utterly disappointed and more than a little annoyed.

Other reviewers are right to mention that sometimes a person can like an original so much that any replication of it will never come close in their eyes. There may be a little of that coming into play with me, but I tried to keep an open mind when I started episode one having heard little else about this production other than it was being made, and who the PM would be. When I realised who was writing it I began to get excited, perhaps some of the magic of the original would find its way into this modern version, but then I noticed that this version was based on the play and not the original radio/TV show which I found curious. I've never seen any stage productions of Yes Minister/Prime Minister but assumed that if it was using something close to the original scripts and was going in a similar direction then it would surely come close to the high standard set in the 1980's. After seeing Gold's reboot of it I'm not as sure! The acting is laughable in all the wrong ways, the casting was all wrong; Zoe Telford does a poor job in her role, the modern Sir Appleby isn't convincing enough to play the role of Hackers nemesis, and the guy they cast for Bernard just looks terribly out of place. Haig does an OK job as Prime Minister I guess, but was still a source of annoyance for me. Overacting, poorly delivered lines, bad camera work, rehashed gags and the overall plot of the six episodes all came together to make for one hell of an insult to the original cast and fans.

I find it bizarre that the producers of the reboot didn't notice this, or even some of the programme directors at Gold. I can only assume that they may not have been as familiar with the original as they thought, that or they were trying to distance themselves from the original in an effort to modernise it for today's audience. If this was the case then I believe it was a huge error to take yesterdays characters and put them into today's world, it just didn't work, even giving the rehashed characters new identities may have made it more bearable for me. When the conditions are right a show can be timeless. Perfect casting, natural acting, quality writing and respect for its audience. The original Yes Minister show had all these things. The relationship between Jim Hacker and Humphry Abbleby was nothing less than genius, the two actors played so perfectly off each other it never gets old. In all of the episodes that were released I never once thought that any character that made an appearance, no matter how small, was out of place or unnecessary, they all brought something to the plot that made it that little bit funnier and more plausible. Each and every story in the original could be applied to today and still be relevant; the relationship between politicians and the civil service will never change, there's always some country somewhere in crisis, always under the table deals going on at national level, still the same old frictions within the EU.....The problem with the reboot is that they took the characters from the original but none of the quality, and seemed to spend more time trying to make Hackers character look like a buffoon than trying to be humorous overall. Hacker was never an idiot, he mightn't have been at Appleby's level intellectually, something which Appleby delighted in quite often, but an idiot he was not.

In short, if you are a fan of the original I wouldn't recommend this show, give the original another spin instead, something which I will be doing after posting this. If you've never seen the original then make sure you watch that first, watching this failed attempt first could ruin it for you.