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traceytak
Reviews
The Nevermets (2024)
Ridiculous
Cant believe that channel 4 have encouraged a 17 year old to be pushed into marrying a 26 year old woman who is incredibly desperate to marry any man. The poor lad shouldn't be feeling this pressure at his age and the program makers and her are essentially doing that. It's painful to watch as a parent. She also has been trying previously to get a visa to the U. K. and has been refused so is that where the desperation lies with her? It would seem so, she is nearly 10 years older than him and there is no awareness on her part of how young he is and far too young to get married but she wants a marriage next year at the latest. Frightening, and should not be encouraged channel 4, he is still a child.
You Can't Run Forever (2024)
What a let down
Like others I was lured by the fact J K Simmons is one of the main characters and then I started watching and the nice Irish chap from downton Abbey was also in it, great, good start. Then the good turned into bad pretty quickly. Cue the obnoxious moody teenager that can't act. Empathy for the teenager doesn't even begin. She wanders through the woods acting like she is on acid. She listens to music on her phone and doesn't even think about the battery, surprise ! It gets low. She is not bothered about making any noise even though she knows there is a man with a gun wanting to kill her not far behind. At night she not only talks loudly but also turns on her flashlight. To top it off her sisters friends go out in the dark with 4 flashlights looking for her, knowing there's a man with a gun shooting people and not one of them is carrying a gun. The story is basic and the acting is bad. Simmons says 'why do I waste my time' in one scene and I had to agree with him, it's pretty dire.
Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance (2023)
Tries to be too serious
I ve watched all the franchise and this one was definitely the most disappointing. The humour is missing and it's just a bunch of men trying to look hard but it fails to entertain. I think it is the worst of all the films. By the end I was hoping Pat would be struck off and killed, he is just getting boring and too serious. Maybe a wig would make him more popular and add some humour but as it is it just becomes mundane. It's probably the one film in the franchise that doesn't really belong there. I finished watching the film thinking so what? Without the humour there simply isn't enough to push it above the radar. Pat doesn't make the series a success, Stone & Mano do and always will.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2024)
Harrowing story, beautifully told
I read reviews before watching. One uneducated review complains that it is not factually correct and cites that Mengele did not do experiments on homosexuals. It seems that person did not pay attention to the story as Mengele does not feature in the series. Dr Schumann does, however, feature and he certainly did do them there.
This is a story that is hard to watch because it is so sad and brutal yet laced with a heartwarming fight for survival because of the strong power of love between two people. It made me question what would I do in their place (and not just the main two characters, but all of them, if it were me. I couldn't answer, no one can. The series shows both the beautiful side of human nature and the extremely ugly side also. It was very thought provoking. The actors play their parts very well and are to be commended in portraying the helplessness, the aggression, and the vulnerability in what is one of the worst places ever to exist in history.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Phoebe is just bad casting
Ok so I understand she is flavour of the month but this film became unwatchable as soon as she appeared in it. I loved the Indiana films up till this one and it started out good. Mars is great casting, he plays his part well. But the character played by Phoebe is just so unlikeable and horribly british (which I am too but she is an embarrassment in this) and I think there must be plenty of other actresses that could have played it far better. Maybe she just belongs in downtown abbey but she is very one sided. Harrison has the capability of doing a really good job but I'm sorry to say in this he was completely let down by his supporting actress.
A Hologram for the King (2016)
Charming comedy
I didn't know what to expect as the storyline sounded rather dull before even watching. Omar Elba is excellent in this, his performance as Hanks driver was very amusing. Hanks played his part very well and drew me into wanting to know what would happen. The only part that seemed entirely out of place was the romance. Would an older Saudi woman really be so free and easy with exposing her body after knowing a man for a very short time, I'm not even sure most woman from the west would, let alone throw herself at another man at that age. It seemed very forced just to give a narrative to the ending. If it had ended before any of the romance had been shown it would have been much better. Overall very entertaining but failed towards the implausible ending.
Welcome to Wrexham (2022)
Im not a football fan but...
I am really enjoying watching this series, I have completed season one and watched the 1st episode of season two and each episode has drawn me into wanting to watch the next because it's so good. Now I am at the stage of being drip fed the following episodes weekly. I love every scene with Ryan and Rob, they bounce off each other so very well. The everyday people of Wrexham are so passionate about their club and I found myself getting caught up in the excitement and frustration with every match. Football is still not a sport I would choose to watch, I find most of it like watching paint dry, but this series just has me hooked. I will admit I have googled Wrexham to see where they have got to in the leagues currently since finishing the last episode I watched.
T.1.M. (2023)
Wooden acting
It is difficult to tell who is the A. I. characters in this film as the acting is so very wooden. TIM the A. I. character has more tone to his voice than the real people. Then there is the aesthetic of the AI character, wouldn't humans mould him into one of the best looking males in society? Then there is an assumption that AI forged in a male shape would have male feelings and find the opposite sex attractive. The storyline is the same as many others in this vein and the use of loud music and noises is clung to try and help the viewer realise that something is happening. All in all it's not a good watch.
The Harbinger (2022)
Just another dull film created during covid
Covid wasn't a horror for the majority and this film tries to make lockdown seem like one. The actors do their best with what has become a boring subject and the two points are for their performances alone. But as an entertaining horror, it fails abysmally with all the cliches of a horror that relies solely upon atmosphere with a boring subject. There aren't many actors due to when it was made and rules. 2020-2022 will go down as filmmakers worst efforts for making films and this film is testament to that fact. I honestly cannot think of any film made during the covid period that is excellent. It's as if they continued making drivel throughout that period thinking lockdown would never end and the public would be grateful for anything. Yawn fest.
The Last Thing He Told Me (2023)
Irritating
I accept that I only have three episodes to base my review on but I found that I'm becoming increasingly irritated with the teenager and her brat persona. The two main stars in this series are actors I enjoy watching usually but Jennifer Garners character seems clueless in how to have a relationship with a teenager and even if they learn to come together I can't see why I would think it's an enjoyable journey to watch. The plot seems disjointed and I'm asking myself 'who would keep a bag of money under a bed?'. One minute Garner is hiding her phone calls from the daughter and not telling her anything, the next she is spilling the beans, the next she's being secretive again and so on. There is just no flow. This is the sort of series that does not benefit from being released one episode at a time as I can imagine many viewers will switch off from it. If I never got to see episode 4 it wouldn't be a problem. I've given it a 4/10 rating after 3 episodes and if I do watch the rest and find it was worthwhile I will come back and raise it.
Rise and Fall (2023)
The presenter has more leadership skills than this lousy bunch
I've watched each episode to see where it goes.
Pros
Greg James is a good presenter.
It began as a good idea
Cons
The contestants were not likeable at all, by the end I couldn't care less who won, none had leadership skills. Wondered by the bloke from Four Rooms was even on it (has the antiques business collapsed?) and why only one from his age group, hardly diverse channel 4.
The contestants should have all left the show once voted off, not bought back or moved downstairs.
Being a leader is not someone who has a higher moral ground, life is not like that but this show implies it is.
The contestants are so gullible it's laughable. It really didn't take any intelligence to win this show, just a bit of bread making and claiming that even though his parents had an estate he was hard done by. (Maybe next time they should put a few homeless people on to win).
Selection for going up in the first place was badly thought out, even a raffle would be better.
A guy gets kicked off because he threw a glass of water over a woman who was arguing with him, yet she was being very aggressive too and squaring up to him physically too close but nothing was said or done about her bad behaviour towards him.
This was purely a show about who could be mates with the most people and not leadership. The person that won demonstrated no leadership skills, he was only in the rise position for a small amount of time.
I See You (2019)
Yet again, the curse of cosmetic surgery
I watched this having seen the score and thinking it must be good. Then I spent the first third of the movie trying to figure out what Helen Hunt had done to her face. The same as last week when I watched Murder Mystery 2 with Jennifer Anniston. This completely distracts the viewer from the plot. The script is said without a frown, any facial movement, which is imperative in acting. Helen Hunts only illusion to being a mother is that a) she is prepared to make pancakes for him b) she calls him sweetie. Please don't think my gripe is only aimed at women, Dennis Quaid had the same reaction in On a Wing & a Prayer. How do these actors get these roles with such rigid faces, is there a shortage of talent that can really express themselves instead of being consumed with their vanity? Anyway this film lost me in the first third because of it, then the second third was about two irritating kids that were committing a petty crime because mum drove away from the garage before it had closed a quarter (who would do that?) and then the last third saw the young girl suffocated with a plastic bag over her face, both hands free, but she insisted on holding her neck. Just pop the mouth through! It's a plastic bag, your hands are free. Tip: if you have been taken to a woodland area by a killer and a) you're on a mobile phone, keep your voice down and hide when you call the police b) if you find a caravan with said killers kidnapped boys in, then hide until you hear the killers car has left the area or you will be of no use to the boys if you get caught by him.
Transatlantic (2023)
Poor script and no atmosphere
I just about got through the first episode and felt as though there was no atmosphere of WW2 in this series besides the costume and scenery. The brother and sister characters did not portray how a Jewish person truly felt at that time, in fear for their lives. She walks to a cafe in the dirtiest dress and switches it with a high society American woman. Would she have dared go there in daylight? The American woman then goes back to her table and instead of getting into her room quick smart and changing she gives dialogue. She spends a fair bit of screen time in that dirty dress. Women who take so much trouble on their hair would want to get out of that dress asap. Then the French at the Spanish border buy into the out of uniform brother telling them he is gestapo just because he is speaking in German? Even though he has no uniform and they don't ask him for id? The gay scene is also just a tick box exercise. I can't be bothered to watch the rest of the series, it's just a weak version of a time that filled people with fear and horror and does not reflect this at all with lame acting thrown in.
On a Wing and a Prayer (2023)
Terrible movie
I don't know where to start. Why on earth did Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham make this 'pass me the sick bucket' film. Every minute besides 15 (in which the story is easily told) is just drawn out, religious garbage. It's not a feel good story, two characters are killed off to give rise to the situation. An aviation expert is chased on the car park to bring in on guidance and all he does is listen to another on via a mobile phone. That someone being such an expert that he needed his partner to build him a cockpit complete with kitchen scissors as part of the controls? Didn't say a lot about the experts. Then there is Quaid, I kept asking myself if his facial enhancement cosmetic procedures were preventing him from appearing bewildered and were just making him look like he was going to have a stroke instead. He's on the mobile phone at one point and being advised to pull a lever and although his bible bashing wife can't hear what he's being told to do, she has to put her hand on his to help him pull it? One minute it's dark thundery weather, then in the next shot it's gloruis clear blue skys? The daughter has a peanut allergy triggered but no swelling? Especially of the larynx? The annoying kids get so involved in what's going on that they smash one of her aircraft on the floor? This film is just so unintentionally comical in so many ways.
Marlowe (2022)
Style over substance
A good 1930s film will transport the viewer to the 1930s, this one I'm sorry to say, did not. Just placing old reproduction artefacts doesn't cut it. The director here, thought it would. It needed more. It needed the actors to feel that they belonged, not just to spout their lines as they might in any modern day film. This film lacks and requires the actors, especially Liam Neeson to transport themselves back in time and they didn't. Just putting on a southern drool does not cut. Liam Neeson could have been playing his part in Taken. The storyline itself is easy to switch off from. It meanders into many characters being discussed in a monotone light so much so that the viewer just ends up looking at the old cars and artefacts and not really getting involved with the storyline.
Elizabeth (1998)
Historical fantasy but not what really took place
I watched the scene where a completely made up character wears a dress that is given to Elizabeth and starts to scream. The dress is poisoned. She falls onto the floor and eventually dies. I thought 'I don't remember being told this in history lessons' so I looked it up. Sure enough it is a completely fabricated story and never happened. Turns out there's too much of this in the film so it isn't a historical drama but a piece of fantasy. I wish that was what it was described as and made clear about. The 6 points are for the tremendous acting by all the cast. But to think people will watch this and form an untrue knowledge about real historical events is frightening. Especially those people doing history studies whose exams may include these untruths.
Faking Hitler (2021)
Very well portrayed drama
A well told depiction of the diaries and how they were a major discussion in the 80s. Eidinger plays his role superbly as usual and makes the series very watchable.. The series made the alleged discovery come to light more as I had never really looked into it and didn't realise how they could have been used to humanise one of the worlds worst dictators. It also raised awareness of the France Ascq massacre for me. Stylishly filmed with a feeling of how the 80s were, how women were considered a joke in the workplace by men who thought themselves better and all characters portrayed well, even though I knew what the outcome was, I watched and felt quite sad when it ended as I could have watched more. The main character is still alive today and was sent into a life of hardship after this incident.
Dog Gone (2023)
Without the dog it would be zero stars
The dog was lovely, it did a brilliant job. Rob Lowe was okay but his father character was inexcusable. The son was just irritating and a poor excuse for a dog owner. Why would any dog owner spend their time Training a dog to do tricks with a donut and yet not train them on recall. How can anyone believe a shock collar for a loving or responsible dog owner should be used in any instance? What dog owner thinks it's okay for their dog to think it's okay to go after other animals and even encourage it unless they need to eat the animal it goes after, even then most people live near shops as this family obviously do. This film endorses not only bad pet ownership but also bad parenting. It endorses that, if your parents have enough money then it's okay not to do a days work even at the age of 35. If this film is really based on true events then all it suggests to me is that dog owners in the states can be pretty dim, even too dim to think of trying drones to help search. By the end I had no empathy with the son and his medical problem . So all in a an irritating film with a great canine star.
Invasion (2021)
A bad drama
I put this series on thinking it would be about an alien invasion not a bunch of dramas that were all poorly acted. The worse was the English kids, just reading a script with an English accent does not make for good viewing, their acting is atrocious, really atrocious. The family in America is also acted badly. The girl in Japan, whilst attractive, just goes over the same slow storyline, it gets pretty boring quickly. If you're thinking of watching this for the sci-fi content then don't bother. The only actor I recognised in it was Sam Neill and his storyline was over pretty quick. I will admit I didn't get past episode 3, I gave it a good try but it really is a non entity.
Five Days at Memorial (2022)
Frustrating yet compelling
This series shows how those in Memorial hospital faced such terrible conditions and decisions and how bad choices were made during hurricane Katrina. It frustrated me to see the coastguard going in to pick up people and yet when the next one came no one thought to bring provisions like food and water and medications needed for those still there. The lack of human compassion is evident as is the procrastination. Even the woman in charge of the hospital is clueless and makes very bad decisions. It is an insight into how bad aid is given when it happens on the US doorstep and how truly inhumane they can be. Sad to watch.
On the Line (2022)
I kept asking myself why am I watching this
I started watching it and must admit I kept asking myself why was I still watching. It seemed very run of the mill and I suppose I had a few culprits in mind and I think I just wanted to see if I was right and then exclaim how predictable it was and give it a low score. I was so very wrong. I thought the English actor was quite wooden and had him pegged as part of the kidnapping but even that became clear. Mel Gibson seemed hyped up and I wondered if he was overacting too much but even that became clear. I finished the film having enjoyed how different it was and how I couldn't have foreseen who was the culprit. Very different in a good way.
Shotgun Wedding (2022)
A 50 year old woman trying to act 20
2 points for the scenery. I haven't seen Jennifer Lopez in anything for ages and I would now actively avoid watching something if I saw she was in it. She is irritating in this film trying too hard to be dizzy and cute and not achieving anything but annoying. She looks the same age as her mother in law to be. The storyline gets just stupid, not funny, stupid. The main two characters have no chemistry but that's down to Lopez and how she is overacting constantly. Having her breasts pushing out into the viewers face does not constitute a good film unless you're really that into her as a sex object. Time she just stuck to being married to Ben and gave up these useless waste of time films.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Terrible storyline, very disappointing
The storyline about Maisie is a complete waste of film. I enjoyed the first three Jurassic park films, the characters showed fear and the situations were fearful and had the viewer glued to the screen to see what happened next, feeling that fear. This one was filmed as though everyone had got used to the fact that these oversized predators could eat a man. There was no suspense, every act happened just as expected. Nothing frightened. I watched the female lead scramble on her hands and knees into water and the dinosaur didn't want to get his mouth wet? The bad guy died the same death that the bad guy in the first film died from. Not very original. In the second film we saw a man die purely because a T rex stood on him, in this one they are all standing in a group while two dinosaurs pussy foot around them. Not one casualty. There should have been, it would have livened it up a bit. Who decided big locusts are scary? Why? They eat greenery. I think this film hasn't realised that those massive Jurassic Park fans are those that followed the films from the start and that was a good formula. This one is a tamed version and not a good one. It was never about the characters being likeable but the fear of the unknown and how it wouldn't discriminate. They have ruined a good synopsis with this film and it could have been a good chance to make something as good.
Severance (2022)
Boringly slow
Episode one of any season should grab the viewer, make the viewer ask questions, get excited, at least want to watch the next episode. Severance just moves at a slow pace, isn't stimulating, and left me thinking why would anyone sign up to this ideal. The acting is ok but the script is mundane. It moves at a snails pace and if you're tired it will send you to sleep. From what I've read the series doesn't have any conclusions, another series that thinks that vying for a second series is to have questions and no closure. When will series producers realise that this is not the way to go forward? People want closure to some extent and fresh storylines in a second series.
Echo 3 (2022)
Last episode is annoying
I enjoyed the series except for the last episode which I found really annoying. I didn't mind the lead female character until that episode and then I just saw an ungrateful, selfish woman and wondered why she kept having flashbacks about him when she really didn't want to be with him. When she married him didn't she realise he killed people for a living? It just didn't make any sense. I'm a fan of Luke Evans and thought he did a great job as the brother, likewise the husband did. But her character was just unbelievably pathetic after they had built her up as being strong up to the last episode. Also noticed too many pouty lips in that episode, like she was trying to hard to get her lips noticed, especially on the beach scene.