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fallowdeer
Reviews
Burn Notice (2007)
Good fun, exciting
Really watchable. Good fun, humour, action, better written dialogue than most. Clever plots. Main character is skilled and clever and good at lots of things, which usually comes across as unrealistic and a bit obnoxious, but here it's done with humour and not pretentious, so it works for me.
Fiona's Irish accent is awful. Really, really bad. The pouting is really off putting too, the director has a lot to answer for there.
It's dated badly. For every one female speaking part there's a dozen male speaking parts and a dozen young, skinny white girls in bikinis. Because they're the only people who go to the beach in Miami. They could at least have employed some fit young male actors in swimsuits, but this obviously didn't occur to them.
Bones (2005)
Boobs flash in the first 5 mins
Completely unnecessary boob flashing scene to start the show off. Hollywood creepers were running the show obviously. To be fair, that's the only sexual exploitative scene I've watched so far. Started off by pissing me off and creeping me out, not good. But I gave it a chance. It's lighthearted, not at all realistic. There's humour, but it mostly didn't really land, and I'm struggling to understand the accents. Characters are interesting if not exactly likeable. Cheesy music is very annoying. Found it a bit slow at times. It's OK, but wasn't enough to hold my interest through the whole first series.
Supernatural (2005)
It's OK
I like the genre, I like the humour, but the humour isn't quite right for the first few seasons, it gets better. It's formulaic and sometimes samey, maybe they did a few seasons too many. Relationships between characters are what makes it watchable. Some likeable characters, but it's patchy, Dean is very annoying a lot. Relationship between Sam and Dean is messed up, not nice to watch, do the writers realise how nasty it is, verging on abusive at times. It gets better in later seasons. It's Hollywood creepy. Starts off creepy and doesn't get better until about season 5. Writers and costume dept got a lot to answer for. How many episodes pass the Bechdel test, not many I'm guessing. I thought it was fantasy when I started watching, but it's more horror, lots of torture and violence and more torture, not what I find entertaining so I just skip those bits. English accents in season 12 are awful. Only one of the British men of letters has a British accent.
Top Gun (1986)
I'm sad it's bad, should never have rewatched it.
Gets half a star for the soundtrack. More stars for the buff, bare chested young blokes with dewy skin, a weird make up thing to make them look constantly sweaty or freshly showered, but in a pretty way. That's all this film has going for it. Only good for a background film, enjoy the 80s power ballads, and ogle at the shower scenes and volley ball games.
I had a vague memory Top Gun was a decent film. But it's not. I was bored and irritated by the storyline. Curly blonde #1 goes googly eyed and throws herself at Tom. Curly blonde #2 the sexy tragic Mom. Clichéd, cartoon women. Then there's the testosterone fueled toxic male posturing followed by the inevitable male bonding. Ugh. Maybe it's vaguely realistic for navy pilots at the time, but I didn't find it entertaining.
The Capture (2019)
Fast paced, tense, watchable
Binge watched the first series and really enjoyed it, all very exciting. Ending was unsatisfying, some loose threads not tied up, noone comes out of it looking great. Set up for the next series I suppose. Liked the Shaun Emery character and the police team characters. Main woman was pretty good, despite the strange facial expression, you get used to it. There's a lot of dramatic walking, I don't get it, filling up screen time by filming your main character marching about, noone walks like that unless they're in front of a camera or on a catwalk, it's cringeworthy. But it's a minor bugbear and that's the biggest flaw, not too bad really.
The Good Doctor: Burnt Food (2017)
Watchable
Would be nice to have a TV show occasionally where people act like real people. A job interview for a surgical residency that consists of one question, followed by a boardroom clapping, erm really?? The autistic doctor is realistic in some ways, with flashes of Hollywood that jar. Surely failure to employ based on disability would be a lawsuit waiting to happen, there are processes. The series of unlikely medical catastrophes. The family drama. Too many incidents predictable for TV and unlikely for real life. Disappointing Hollywood can't do better. But of the amazon prime shows I've recently watched, this is the one I can most stomach watching.
The Blacklist: Pilot (2013)
Clichéd, not enjoyable
I don't find torture and violence entertaining. Creepy doesn't do it for me either, this episode has both. So this was unpleasant for me. Cheesy, 'high octane' music. Premise ripped off from silence of the lambs. I'm guessing it's going to turn out not creepy, but an older man requesting a younger, pretty, inexperienced woman to work with, who he has been keeping tabs on, that all screams creepy initially, especially when her first scene is in her knickers. And it's all very familiar, so fed up of the Hollywood creepiness. Plus stupid coincidence that lets the girl save the day. Yet another show that's not for me.
Scorpion (2014)
Annoying characters, stupidly macho, irritating music
Ridiculous show. If US homeland security and law enforcement act like they do in this programme, I worry for them, everyone but the 'genius' team is an arsehole and incompetent. The writers really think the audience is dumb. Or the writers are dumb. And have a weird almost cultish view of people with expert skills and ASD, putting them on a pedestal. It's full of clichés and so cheesy. The main bloke is pretty much a Gary Stu, with a few flaws that I'm guessing are supposed to make him vulnerable and twinge the heartstrings, but it's all just a bit cringey. The premise appealed to me, but it was just too irritating, gave up after 3 episodes and that was a struggle.
Around the World in 80 Days (2021)
So far, not so good
Never read the book, so maybe that is as bad as well. It was OK until they got to Paris, but then it tanked. For me at least. It was dull until it got to the point where there was a line 'not much to show for a life, no children, no wife' as if that is the measure of a person, really great for a person in that same position to hear, then I was annoyed aswell as not enjoying it.
Fogg is not a particularly likeable character, a bit too hammy. Get the feeling it's rewritten for modern times. Think I'd rather read the original than watch this.
Brassic (2019)
Good fun, but making same old mistakes
After we've met a dozen or so male characters, we get the first woman on screen and she's naked having sex. Are TV writers actively trying to annoy half the population? On the plus side, it's about northern working class people without resorting old tired clichés, so far, I'm only one episode in.
Leonardo (2021)
Boys club with dodgy acting
Only one woman on screen so far, halfway through ep.2. And why would you expect me to watch this? Do you think I find it entertaining to have my whole gender ignored and invisible? Or are you only aiming this at men? Such a shame, could be fascinating and interesting, with lots of spine tingling moments as Leonardo makes discoveries and achievements, but the ignorance and idiocy of people who made this show keeps shining through and spoiling it for me.
It's making no attempt to be historically accurate. Its pure fiction. I was hoping I might learn a bit, but I've no way of telling what's fact and what's fiction without googling everything and that should the fun a bit.
Main actor is making me cringe, he's not good. Not just him, the wooden posh detective is bad too, his speech has that weird timing you get from posh southern English actors at the National theatre.
The Pursuit of Love (2021)
More fodder for southern posh drama school kids
Written and made by the same people who've been making this kind of thing since TV began. Posh southerners. Jobs for the boys and girls. Old posh chaps writing fodder for their kids to act and work in.
I don't know anyone like the people in this. I mean the actors and the characters. But I've watched this kind of thing my whole life, with the odd break for a patronising heart warming show about the poor ole working classes. I'm exaggerating slightly, but not by much.
I'm just fed up of watching things set in stately homes.
Naked Attraction (2016)
Used by men for casual sex
A show were 2 men told the 2 women they really liked them and were interested in a relationship. Slept with them and then ghosted them. At the follow up 5 weeks later, both men said they had texted the woman and claimed the women hadn't texted them. Blatantly lying as obviously all the texts are there for the camera to see. There were 2 very upset women and 2 men who didn't apologise or explain or even bother to come up with a lie that made any sense. Felt slightly abusive.
Also really disappointing that these 2 men, who were 30 years apart in age, both abused the trust and mistreated women. Society is not improving.
I think it's a great show in one sense, it normalises bodies. I've lived my whole life seeing media images of women that look nothing like me or most other women. I'm fed up of media telling me all the things that are wrong with my body. It's great to see a variety of normal women's bodies. It makes me feel more confident about mine. But it could do that without facilitating men to treat women badly.