grandcirque Reviews

Fargo (2014–2024)

Say good-bye to Fargo.

[1/10 · 30 September 2020]

The season one of Fargo was excellent, the second a masterpiece of humor and drama, the third passable and the present fourth absolutely unforgivable because soaked in woke ideology. Ideology and show business are a bad mix and don't give the best results. Unfortunately we can't see the end of this new cultural form of ideological absolutism. Say good-bye to the great great show that was Fargo of season one and two.

The Young Montalbano (2012– )

So good

[10/10 · 31 August 2020]

The spin-off of the Montalbano series is even better than the original! Absolutely recommended.

Tenet (2020)

Faux pas

[5/10 · 30 August 2020]

I really wanted it to be good like the others by Nolan. It's not. Five stars are enough. Nolan already gave us superb films like The Prestige, Interstellar, Dunkirk and the masterpiece Inception; but now he really needs a pause and a better inspiration for the next film. Meanwhile we'll try to forget this faux pas.

Hidden Away (2020)

A really good film

[10/10 · 22 August 2020]

This biopic tells the dramatic life of the painter Antonio Ligabue with delicacy and participation, a story of suffering and loneliness well written and interpreted. The superb, unforgettable interpretation by Elio Germano is the best of his career. A Great film, absolutely to watch

Ted Lasso (2020–2023)

Brilliant and funny

[10/10 · 22 August 2020]

Ted Lasso is an excellent show where sport is only a pretext for the comedy...well written, well interpreted, well directed; it's a rare gem nowadays. A refreshingly brilliant series.

The Best Is Yet to Come (2019)

very very good

[10/10 · 24 July 2020]

Luchini and Bruel give a great interpretation, served by both excellent script and direction.A history of friendship, a comedy with a little bit of sadness, a remarkable film For an optimal appreciation it must be watched with subtitles, not dubbed. Beautiful.

Rocco Schiavone (2016– )

From a series of books

[10/10 · 5 July 2020]

Taken from Manzini's series of novels, the TV show depicts fairly well the humor and the dark moods of inspector Schiavone. The actor Giallini is absolutely perfect for the part, the filming is good and the plots well transposed from the book series. The similarity with Montalbano is only superficial: Schiavone character is sad and disillusioned while Montalbano deeply believes in his duty and loves life (and to eat well) but of course they are both excellent detectives... So far the three seasons are very good.

The Painted Bird (2019)

Disturbing violence in an overrated film

[1/10 · 5 July 2020]

Since the first scene and its obscene violence it became clear to me that this film had nothing to say, only to show. A boy in WWII in East Europe, a black and white photography...immediately "Ivan's childhood" comes to mind. But that movie was by Andrei Tarkovsky and was a masterpiece, but here we are not even close to that league... This film is incredibly overrated: it surely has a beautiful b&W photography and a good visual composition, but in my opinion that is not enough to make a good film. Naive and pretentious viewers can easily mistake the useless display of violence as a narrative element: it's not, is only a cheap way to shock the public: certainly easier than write a good script. I checked the end titles, and there is the clause "no animals were harmed bla bla" with the usual formulation. But is it true? If you watched the film you know what I mean. Bad experience.

A Confession (2019)

Wobbly camera

[4/10 · 3 September 2019]

With good actors and an intriguing plot, what could possibly go wrong? The answer is quite simple: a wobbly camera and insane close-ups..Why directors insist to use this kind of utterly annoying filming technique it's a mystery: when they'll learn that a shaking camera doesn't add realism? Another good series ruined by bad filming, what a waste

Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017)

Disappointing propaganda

[1/10 · 22 August 2019]

In this "documentary" a girl talks about her friends killed by the Syrian army. Problem is, the brother of a victim (Amin Nakrour) wrote on his facebook page that this girl is a complete unknown in their circle of friends, who anyway were killed by terrorists and not by the army, and he also affirms that in any case the family never gave their permission to use name and photo of the deceased, which were used without their knowledge. Enough to disregard this video production as a bona fide documentary..

Year of the Rabbit (2019)

Image is the main problem

[1/10 · 20 June 2019]

Many believe that the use of a shoulder camera gives a more realistic effect with the shaking images, the zoom-ins and so on imitating a certain kind of street documentaries. Well, No. It's not realistic, it's only utterly annoying ! This is another of those otherwise good shows ruined by bad -and not realistic at all- "shaking" photography.

Take Two (II) (2018)

more humor please

[7/10 · 12 September 2018]

Since this series was advertised as coming "from the executive producers of Castle", I think that the comparison between the two shows is unavoidable... well, in my opinion this series is not like "Castle", mainly because"Take Two" lacks all the humor of that series. Rachel Bilson is a very, very good actress, especially at comedy (Hart Of Dixie) but I find that the scripts of "Take Two" really don't provide enough comedy moments to let her to express at her best. In the Castle series Nathan Fillion interpreted a funny childish writer, his character interacting very well with those interpreted by Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas to give humorous moments. This is missing in "Take Two", unfortunately. I would suggest to the creators of "Take Two" to watch "White Collar", but not entirely, only the parts with the "Mozzie" (Willie Garson ) character, because it's the perfect example of an intriguing, mysterious, funny and well interpreted secondary character (deserved a spin-off) In conclusion I don't mean that "Take Two" is bad, on the contrary, is good - I'm giving a 7 - but only that it could be better with more humor, especially taking into consideration the (somewhat obliged) comparison to "Castle".

Dunkirk (2017)

Good aerial combat scenes

[10/10 · 4 August 2017]

If you are passionate of historical aviation, you'll love this excellent war movie. Forget the ridiculous and unrealistic stunts of "Red Tails" or "Flyboys". Here the flight scenes are absolutely well done and credible and fit perfectly in the plot. Just a couple of remarks, though: in the close up scenes of the pilot in the cockpit the light and the shadows should turn when the plane is manoeuvring in a dogfight; He-111 planes attacking targets at low altitude are quite unlikely, Do-17 or Ju-88 were a better choice...and in the scenes filmed with the POV from the wing of the Spit the engine doesn't look like a RR-Merlin, which gave a distinct shape to the nose. However, these are minor details and the film is very good. Great show.

Cable Girls (2017–2020)

A bad choice in episode 1

[3/10 · 2 May 2017]

VERY MINIMAL SPOILER for episode 1- I previously enjoyed very much a fantastic Spanish series: El Ministerio Del Tiempo, a very good show, so I decided to give a look to another Spanish series and I chose Las Chicas Del Cable, who had good reviews online. The beginning of episode 1 was gripping, revealing an interesting story, and to be sincere I was enjoying it until I arrived at the moment when... in some scenes turned in a night-club the characters dance at the sound of modern pop music of the XXI century!

The show started with a prologue strongly focused on how women were underestimated in the 20's but a few minutes later they dance pop music of the years 2000...what a bad choice. This fatal mistake completely spoiled the 1920's atmosphere and it was impossible for me to keep watching. It ruined everything, preventing any suspension of disbelief to work any more.

There Be Dragons (2011)

Beware! - Heavy propaganda movie

[1/10 · 30 December 2011]

The whole film is centered on the figure of the founder of Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá. Escrivá, who was made ​​a saint by Pope John Paul II, in the film is a stereotyped figure, depicted without defects or excesses, always merciful, sympathetic, forgiving, charitable, in a word, unbelievable: in reality Escrivá supported Franco and Pinochet, and Bishop Vladimir Felzmann affirmed that he heard Escrivá to say indulgent sentences about Hitler. This is only a total propaganda movie for Opus Dei, disguised as a drama. Certainly, the director is a great professional, and the film in itself, I mean as a product, is well done. But the uncritical script is so absolutely, heavily, blindly hagiographic that at the end I was completely disgusted.