moggie-2 Reviews

Queen of the South (2016–2021)

Acting really not that great, annoying music and strange storytelling

[7/10 · 22 May 2022]

Made it to S1 E3 and on the fence with this; so far much of the acting is hammy, and feels like it's from untrained extras who've been given speaking parts. The music is annoying and frequently excessively punchy, perhaps attempting to create tension and compensate for the mediocre writing and storyline, but it doesn't work and just compounds the problem.

As a further irritation and several times each episode so far, the main character appears as a version of her future self with dialog that doesn't enhance the story or move things along.

It's a shame as the concept was enticing, but it's only a 5/10 for me at the moment.

The Hunt (II) (2020)

Fun, gore but not gross, great fight scene,

[10/10 · 3 March 2022]

The first minute or so gives an idea what to expect on the gore and humour front, and it didn't disappoint after that. Based around a simple plot that doesn't reveal itself all at once, this is creatively produced, well acted with good dialog and practical effects that keeps up the momentum throughout. The final fight scene was particularly well done. Highly recommended.

The Fear Index (2022)

Flawed and spoilt by poor acting and technical errors

[3/10 · 24 February 2022]

I didn't expect much having read some reviews, but at only 4 episodes and on an interesting topic I gave it a chance. The first couple of episodes were somewhat entertaining and the story had some promise, although marred by poor acting and overacting from the lead characters. By the final episode though the story had become farcical and cliched, and spoilt by sloppy technical design, such as the lead running a command line script that prompted for a y/n response but the script not waiting for a response and just exiting back to the shell. The AI related dialog is also inaccurate and under developed. Certain aspects of the story line don't hang together and appear to added in for padding, with some of the more interesting possibilities never really explored, and the final few minutes of ending is entirely predicable, silly and once again, technical nonsense.

My fear was when in the final few seconds I found myself saying "please no" at the possibility of the ultimate cliche ending. I'll give it a 3, but there are really no redeeming features of this, and would recommend giving it a pass.

Point of no Return (II) (2018)

No redeeming qualities

[1/10 · 17 October 2021]

From the first few seconds, this movie has all the hallmarks of a low 5 IMDB rated Sunday afternoon direct to TV movie, with inconsistent audio, frequent use of ADR and bad editing to name just a few issues. I gave it a few more minutes, but the rating of over 7 was clearly anomalous and had me looking at the reviews, only to find many reached the same conclusion. Doing anything else other than watching this will be time better spent.

Borgen (2010–2022)

Good drama but poor English dubbing for the Nyborg character

[8/10 · 27 September 2020]

A little into Season 2 and a believable and compelling political drama from Denmark, a welcome antidote to output from the US.

I'll often choose subtitles for foreign dramas, however in this case the subtitles did not do the dialog justice so settled on the English dubbing. UK Netflix has curiously marketed Borgen as having new dubbing, but I would have liked to have given the original dubbing a chance as the audio for the Birgitte Nyborg character is poor, soulless and somewhat spoils the experience. The lines are frequently delivered with the stress one would give to a final sentence and not as they should be for dialog that is part of to and fro banter. The ambience to the dialog also doesn't always match that of other characters in a scene. The result is jarring, lacking the natural flow and homogeneity of characters performing together, and as if the voice actor was isolated in a sound booth and was rattling the dialog off over a few days. Despite this, the drama is strong enough to make it worth a watch.

The Method (2015– )

Great series and phenomenal final episode

[10/10 · 28 July 2020]

Really well put together series with a captivating and unique, no holds barred story telling style. A bit heavy on the teal colour grade and music with clear influences showing, but still great visuals and good sound design that's overall very well produced. Highly binge watchable with a satisfying number of episodes (16) that I managed to spread out over several days. I also thought the subtitles were well done with subtle nuances and humorous dialog moments that could easily have been lost at the hands of a less adept translator.

The series develops over time, and while the theme of most episodes is broadly the same, unlike products such as the Blacklist that degenerate into interminable sameness with only a vague arc running through them that, along with the characters themselves, one easily ceases to care about over time, "The Method" sustains itself and builds up to a powerful and terrific final episode. Some 5 years later. a series 2 appears to be in development, though perhaps put on hold at the moment. The bar is set high, but I've high hopes.

With a fair bit of gore and tough story lines, this isn't one for the faint of heart, but it's a satisfying antidote to the usual style of investigative series. Stick through the first episode, which by the end gives a clue to the fact that it's going to be an exciting and somewhat quirky ride but isn't really representative of the series as a whole, and enjoy a great story.

Inhuman Resources (I) (2020– )

Terrific mini series

[10/10 · 20 June 2020]

Binge watched this in one sitting and it was a highly enjoyable and at times emotional ride. Had no idea that Cantona had a notched up a film career, and he along with some others gave excellent performances. Tried English dubbing and quickly decided French plus CC was best for this. Some parts are certainly implausible as portrayed, but not so much as to spoil it. If it's not your cup of tea, don't go through all 6 episodes as one reviewer did, just give it a pass, but otherwise I'd recommend a single sitting, and don't miss the ending.