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Reviews
Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War (2024)
Just 15 minutes in and I AM HERE FOR IT
Although there are plenty of documentaries that do the acting along the way as they're explaining the history, the pacing and overall storytelling is just really fun. It's different than other acting documentaries I've seen for that reason. I especially love how the historical context gives more support to the acting. And they really did a great job casting Wyatt Earp. He's borderline perfect. Even if he is Australian ;)
It's different than other acting documentaries I've seen for that reason. I especially love how the historical context gives more support to the acting. And they really did a great job casting Wyatt Earp.
The Witcher: Shaerrawedd (2023)
I Suggest Watching the 2nd Season Again
I started the 3rd season, and thought...bahhhh. This first episode is...meh.
Towards the end of it I realized I needed to rewatch the 2nd season again; I'd forgotten a lot. It'd been almost 2 years since it came out, after all. I'm SO glad I did. Also, it's such a bad ass season to see again.
Rewatched S3 ep1 when finished (I may have skipped through the slow bits) and it made for much better viewing since the history of the 2nd season was fresh. Especially it's last scene; made more sense since I had completely forgotten who that dude was. (Hint: Ciri's recovering hedgehog of an average looking guy father)
Are there melodramatic dialoguing moments? Yesh. (I mean, is it possible to portray elves as anything other than moping, thwarted, and too serious for their own good? I'm just saying, it's old hat.)
Fantasy screen writers continue to lean their illogical, overly heroic, exposition dialog (eye roll...cue Jaskier) but that aside, it's worth tolerating for those smoldering Witcher stares.
Cavill, your replacement will never match your particular brand of Geralt broodiness. Wish things could've worked out.
Let's hope the rest of S3 does.
The Sandman: The Doll's House (2022)
Chewing Lines, Anyone?
I admit, I don't really care how wonky the storyline is. The acting certainly doesn't help it though. Did Casting go down to a local theater troupe and just rope a bunch of randos in, hoping heavy eye make up and hair extensions would save the show?
There was no great emotional connection happening here w/ the main character, so halfway through I just skipped it. No Vortex to hold my interest.
None of the characters were compelling enough to watch; it felt like the actors just were saying their lines, hitting their marks. Snooze.
A real drag on the first half of the season.
Murder in Provence (2022)
Oh, you gotta love the Brits' cahonés...
Is a pleasant, light mystery series.
Of Brits pretending to be French.
And keeping their British accents.
While solving mysteries...in France.
If you can't continue to colonize the globe, well, I guess you can still try to Anglo-ify mysteries around Europe. After all, between Midsomer Murders and Vera, there's probably not very many left to kill in the UK.
Go forth and assume we won't care!!! HUZZAH.
Father Brown: The Missing Man (2016)
Too Many Plots
Missing husband...disappeared but returns 8 years later. Has secrets. What might they be? Why did he come back? Oh, he likes women's clothing? Oh? His daughter kills him thinking he was a she? Then daughter is flying in a plane, putting two and two together? DID I MENTION SHE KILLED HIM? Then the family all miraculously manage to get away with it so her mom can then marry her uncle...and everything is fine? ALSO, WHY DID HE COME BACK? It's never explained. ALSO...SHE SHOT AND KILLED SOMEONE.
Just off, all over the map writing.
Persuasion (2007)
I'm Writing As I'm Watching
Folks...it cannot be stressed enough. The 1995 adaptation still reigns supreme; from its solid casting to its natural settings and staging...you can't beat it. I would recommend you start and end w/ that version.
So far from what I've seen of this 2007 adaptation, all is more polished, the ladies (and men) have more curls, and it feels like everyone is really chewing on their lines in a very over-the-top, you-can-never-have-enough-exposition-of-the-plot way, w/ exception of our poor, long suffering Anne; she quietly broods over the piano while playing (wait for it) Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (cue audience eye roll), w/ her hair pulled back so tightly she has no choice but to be severe and sad for our still sulkily wounded Cpt. Wentworth. (How heavy doth the writer's hand lay?)
No doubt, it's a fine cast; all are wonderful actors. But there was a rushed feeling in this adaptation, and it was reflected in the script. Actors can only do so much.
Also...a big thumbs down to the hand held camera stuff. I get you're going for a broody mood, but this is Jane Austen. Don't try to force a naturalism from the camera, as if it was also a character of the film that just ends up making the audience dizzy.
Far and away, the 1995 version and the actors that were selected for the characters, along with its superb adaptation is top-notch. Those actors ARE those characters. I can't necessarily say the same thing for this adaptation.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries: Episode #1.6 (2021)
Great Main Characters, lazy writing though
Overall enjoyed the majority of the series episodes. This final episode though, was a bit of a letdown.
No real plot resolution, while trying to continue the storyline into the potential next season w/ last minute additions, which is unfair to the characters that they've been creating.
Elementary: The One That Got Away (2015)
JLM's Finest
This ep. Brought some tears to the old eyes; Sherlock and Kitty's parting moments were pitch perfect to the nature of the episode, and sealed the depth of the characters the actors/writers have created.
Best one so far, as I plow through these seasons....4 more to go, woohoo!
The Blacklist: Hannah Hayes (No. 125) (2019)
Yeah, ok...ummm what?
First, you can skip this episode. You won't miss much. 2nd, someone in the writers' room was drinking some SRSLY lousy tequila while crafting this hilariously absurd reimagined take of the island of Dr. Moreau: Baby on Board. Never mind whatever overtly political statement all the other reviewers felt was going on here. We're talking conservative men, being surgically impregnated with a grafted-in uterus (could the eyes roll any further back in the head) to full term of delivery?! WTF.
Okokokok...let's take something that is LEGIT not possible for SO many reasons, add extreme views/actions on a right/left ideology in order to sell? trap? this idea to an audience who, really, is only watching this campy roadshow of a series for Spader (as is clear by the writers who I'm pretty sure could care less about all the other characters...I mean, supposedly brilliant FBI agents that for real, are written to be anything but so Red shines) all to peddle some liberal (ludicrous?) agenda in the most absurd ways of ways. Men. Being pregnant. Come on. Lazy extreme writing at its finest.
Most farcical episode TO DATE. Oh, and also, no more Keen. She's soooo boring. Write her out.
Grantchester (2014)
Obvious whodunit trades off for deeper back stories
I enjoy this show for what it is offering overall, but unpacking the mystery of each episode during the 5th season is pretty easy to do within the first five minutes. It seems that the episode writers are trading off clever whodunits in exchange for deeper character development.
I'm not kidding when I say that each episode of the fifth season introduces the murderer right away, with a bent towards the femme fatale only. This makes things rather disappointing overall, but the investigation into the variety of supporting characters and their story development seems to compensate for lazy detective writing. I just don't seem to recall the first three seasons having this issue.