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dirkbennett
Reviews
Criminal Record (2024)
Good acting - lazy writing
In the end it all boils down to the same old story told a hundred times: corrupt police force run by a network of senior police officers trying to cover up their dirty dealings. So far so stereotypical, just add to it the very 2020s theme of racism and you have a nice and lazy but very now narrative: good & black v white & bad. For a supposed reflection and a dramatic take on life, crime and policing in modern Britain it is remarkable blind to the realities though, intellectually lazy and takes the easy, and - let's be honest - already well-trodden path, ticklisting its way through all the wellknown cliches. Not offensive per se, just so ...predictable. Lead actors are great though.
Daisy Jones & The Six (2023)
Limp
Episode follows after episode where we're asked to share the enthusiasm of the characters about just another limp song without any distinguishing character, flair, melody or lyrics. Created by cardboard characters, who, through all their (supposed) excesses, manage to look fresh and clear. I mean, Daisy's supposedly lives on a diet of whiskey and pills! About as square and unexciting and un-Rock'n'Roll as the music of the band it's supposedly based on. Looking at this you can only thank God for Punk and the revolution that shook the music world shortly after. But that chapter has apparently also received the streaming treatment now ...
The Fabelmans: A Family in Film (2023)
Hmmm
Can't help wondering if it would have been better if someone with a bit of emotional distance had made this film. Certainly not Spielberg's strongest. Just simply not much of a story to tell and if there wasn't the big name attached, frankly, quite boring. Also, full of that American sentimentalism, and far too smooth. Where is the grit, the edge, the challenge. Some of the elements so predictsble, so sign-posted you can see them coming a mile away. And some of the episodes almost unbearably cliched, the dialogues stilted, the message of optimism and 'follow your dream' so stereotypical. Finally, the ending: abrupt, almost mid-sentence, so either a sequel to come, or just ran out of ...
RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) (2022)
Incoherent and overhyped
Not sure I watched the same film as the majority of reviewers here?! This felt like cobbled-together and made-up as they went along, suitable possibly for an audience of 5-year old over-excitable children. Apart from a laughable storyline the characters so cardboard they hardly would stand up on their own. And even though I'm not British myself, I found the handling of the conflict and its parties, especially in view of today's discussions, utterly imbalanced, following the simple scheme: British=white=evil, and Indian=brown=good. Ridiculously overplayed, yes, but not made in good taste and left a bad flavour. Just imagine the uproar, if a modern Western film were to steep to such stereotypes.
Long Way Up (2020)
Disappointing
A series that leaves you baffled about its purpose. Two guys apparently without any interest for or anything to say about the beautiful countries they drive through, with their rich histories and cultures, music and cuisine. Is this supposed to be a travel programme, or about a test drive of new tech motorbikes, a trip to find themselves, to reaffirm their friendship - the why is completely unclear. Nothing but repetitive platitudes, about how stunning, and beautiful, and gorgeous things are; sometimes maybe how difficult and hard and tiring... I've learned nothing, seen nothing new from this show. Apart from the lack of planning and preparation, you wonder what they got out of it. I mean, after months on the road they didn't even manage to pick up basic Spanish. And don't get me started on the choice of music. Have they never heard of South- and Central American bands, and I don't mean folk and mariachi ...? A missed opportunity.