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CavalorCumano
Reviews
Blue Bloods: Pilot (2010)
Riddled with Clichés; Gratuitous Violence; Bad Research.
This appears to be yet another police drama with cops heroized for being violent. The scene in which Donnie Wahlberg's character beats up Richard Waugh (the baddie) was a sad reflection of what a lot of police officers are actually like. Too many of them are nothing, but gung-ho thugs with a badge and a uniform. There was a recent incident involving a British police force and two horses. In order to solve the problem of a couple of horses who had escaped from their field, they shot them. To kill one of the horses, it took them multiple attempts over a period of twenty-five minutes. Shooting all over the body, including the legs until one of them was hanging off!! The suffering that poor creature must of went through is unfathomable. The officers in question got off scot-free. Sadly, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. Too many police forces all over the world resort to unnecessary violence toward both animals and humans. It is a shame that cop shows (including this one) glorify such brutality.
The wobbly camera work and rapid editing were at times a nauseating, headache inducing mess. How makers of TV shows think this is trendy or visually appealing, is beyond me. The fact that as many series' have adopted these quick cut, camera shake techniques does not make them original either.
Additionally, the writers were so short of plot devices that they had to use a doll, so rare, that only three were made, and all were sold in New York. Of course, one of them was very conveniently bought by the kidnapper, and that made him extremely easy to find. So, no hard detective work done there. Linking the kidnapper to a murder from years ago was also easy work. A picture of the murdered girl showed her wearing a pendant, the same pendant the baddie's wife was wearing. How incredibly original. To add further insult to injury, they also made a really bad mistake regarding Type 1 Diabetes. They said a sufferer will go into insulin shock if they do not have enough insulin. The reverse is actually true. They will go into shock if they get too much of it. Do your research for flip sake!!
Poor fact checking, glorification of violence, lacklustre writing and sloppy camera work/editing.
I will not be watching again.
Wildfire (2005)
Disappointing
I had eagerly been awaiting Wildfire's arrival in the UK for quite a while. It came as a pleasant surprise recently when I saw it was to be aired on British channel Trouble. As a horse lover, I thought the premise was rather exciting (a girl befriending a failed racehorse), and Nana Visitor being a regular was another incentive to watch. How could it go wrong? Very much so apparently. The title would suggest its main character was going to be a horse called Wildfire, but he was hardly seen at all (you could watch one episode of Snowy River and see more horses than you would during a whole season of Wildfire). Instead it focused almost exclusively on the teenage characters. If I wanted to watch a show about a group of youngsters, I'd tune into Dawson's Creek or The Wonder Years, but this series was supposed to be about a horse! The shows official website even fails to acknowledge the title character - and doesn't have a single piece of info on any of the older cast members. The site only has ONE picture of a horse (taken from a distance in silhouette) and they only bothered to spotlight four actors out of an ensemble of over seven. Not exactly giving everyone an equal share of the pie, is it?
Continuity (or lack thereof) was also a major issue on the show. Things that happened in one episode were forgotten in the next, horses kept on changing appearance (Wildfire and Flame being the worst offenders) and the silks seen in the races hardly ever matched those worn by the actors. Having been around horses most of my life, I could tell that not much attention was paid to researching horse care. The riding scenes were not that realistic either. It was obvious that mechanical horses were used in many of them.
The casting was okay as far as television goes. The two stand out cast members were definitely Nana Visitor and the (sadly) late Dennis Weaver. Greg Serano has thus far shown he is only capable of doing one thing and that is walking about looking surly (but that was probably down to bad character development and direction). Nicole Tubiola should have had a lot more acting lessons before being let loose as a series regular. I cringed every time she tried to do an emotional scene, and does she ever stop pouting? Ryan Sypek and Micah Alberti are promising stars of the future, and I was impressed by young Andrew Hoeft's performances. Genevieve Cortese would not have been my first choice as a lead, but she did a reasonably good job as Kris.
I also think the show could have done a lot more to educate its audience about the seedier side of racing. Thousands of thoroughbreds are slaughtered every year simply because they aren't fast enough or if they sustain a career (not life) threatening injury. And a little known, but sickening fact is that more than 90% of North American tracks have contracts with the meat industry. Many also support the manufacturing of Premarin (a drug used by menopausal women). It is made with the urine of pregnant mares who are constantly kept in-foal and when their babies are born, they are taken away and slaughtered. Often to satisfy the demand for foal meat in Japan or to be used in dog food. The mares are also killed when they have out lived their usefulness. The industry also funds animal experimentation programs. A variety of tests are carried out on horses and ponies to see what will affect the performance of racehorses. They include electrocution, vivisection and keeping mares permanently in foal. I will not go into further detail, but I can tell you the "sport" has a lot more dark and nasty secrets.
Wildfire could have been a lot better under a different title (that wouldn't trick its viewers into thinking it was an equine drama) and a more competent writing/production team. The Piller company should have stuck to what they were best at (science fiction and fantasy) and it does not say much when there was only one memorable episode out of an entire season. I refer to the one where Jean says goodbye to her favourite horse Houdini. It was one of the very few in which the horses were major players and Nana Visitor's tears at the end were enough to break your heart too.
My overall opinion is that you should avoid Wildfire if you are looking for a series all about horses.
Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story (1991)
Correction.
I have not seen this movie, but I would like to correct previous poster chas77. David McCallum is Scottish not English. He was born in Glasgow which is in Scotland and Scotland is one quarter of Britain not England. I do wish that people from around the world would remember this and not automatically think that everything pertaining to the British and the United Kingdom is English. If it weren't for a Scot by the name of John Logie Baird, television would not exist and neither would the IMDb.
Please take note of my comment.
Thank you.
Remarkable Vets (2005)
I am appalled!
I have just watched an episode in which Geoff attended a horse race. A horse had sadly broken a bone just below one of his fetlocks and Geoff didn't even attempt to give the horse a second chance - he dispatched of the unfortunate animal as quickly as he possibly could. He walked off saying something like "oh, that's just racing." As a vet, he should be totally against the sport and not supporting it as he so readily does! Another incident involving a horse also sickened me. Spirit a rescue had quite a few problems and was off his food one day. Well, Geoff didn't give putting the creature down a second thought.
I have seen him treat many a cat and dog (and other smaller more pet like animals) with far worse injuries and illnesses with success. Just look at Achilles the cat - paralysed, yet allowed to go on living and has now made an almost complete recovery.
What is it that Geoff has against horses? There have been so many advances in the way they can be treated - they are given prosthetic limbs, hip replacements and artificial knees. Yet, a horse with a small broken bone in his back leg is put down. Why?? I will not be watching again.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003)
Not a review as such.
I really love this show and would like to point out to shellemk that it is shown all over the United Kingdom (on the FX channel), NOT just in England! Shellemk, I would also like to remind you that television wouldn't even exist if it weren't for a Scot by the name of John Logie Baird. This is something that really irritates me. I am sick and tired of people thinking that everything pertaining to Britain is English. I know this isn't exactly the place to be talking about this, but I will submit a proper review for NCIS later on. And a reminder to everybody reading this, the United Kingdom is made up of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. It isn't solely comprised of just one of those nations. Thank you for your time.
Early Edition (1996)
No wonder it was cancelled!
Like my header says, I really am not surprised that CBS pulled the plug on EE. The show had potential to be so much more, but it was more or less the same every episode. It would start with Gary waking up at 06:30 to the sound of the cat meowing and the thud of the paper hitting the floor. He would then read the headlines and you just knew that everything would be put right by the end of the episode. They would occasionally make it so that Gary wouldn't save the day, but those episodes were so rare, you could count them on one hand. Fisher Stevens even said himself that it got boring playing the same note over and over. In fact, the shows predictability was one the reasons why he left at the end of the second season. Then there were the many implausibility's and appalling continuity.
Here are some examples:
1. Gary broke his leg in the episode 'Where or When,' yet in the following episode 'The Fourth Carpathian,' he was perfectly fine and there was no mention of his injury nor was it ever brought up in the rest of the series.
2. Marissa's blindness is also a mystery. First of all (in the pilot), she had been blind since birth, but in other episodes, she had lost her sight in early childhood and had some memory of being able to see.
3. The steps that were present outside McGinty's throughout the first season disappeared at the start of season two and never reappeared. They were even missing in 'Everybody Goes to Rick's,' an episode from the fourth season that took place in 1929, long before Gary bought the place.
4. It had been established that the headlines in the newspaper changed when Gary altered the timeline, but in 'Time,' when Gary found Luscious Snow's old papers, the headlines telling of Gary's death were still present, despite the fact that Luscious had saved Gary. The newspaper should have read 'Stranger prevents boy from being knocked down' or words to that affect.
There are so many more blunders like this that it would be impossible for me to enumerate them.
If you want a quality drama with a character that puts right what once went wrong, then watch 'Quantum Leap.' And Oh.... Boy, speaking of QL, Sam Beckett should sue Gary Hobson for stealing his catchphrase. Don't waste your time with this!
Beneath Loch Ness (2001)
Should NEVER have been made!
I saw this miserable excuse of a movie yesterday, and I'd like to point a few things out to the director, Comisky:
1. Scottish accents are supposed to sound Scottish, not Irish! Real Scots should have been cast or American actors who were up to the job.
2. Scottish people are nothing like the ones portrayed in the film.
3. The fact that the UK version is eight minutes shorter, does not make up for the rest of the movie which is nothing, but an insult to we Scots.
To anybody considering watching this drivel, don't waste your time! Go watch Loch Ness (1995) which is superior in every way.