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Dalgliesh (2021)
Brilliant...Much improved over the Roy Marsden 90's series
This is like Bertie Carvel was born to this character. He brings the depth and tormented soul of a poet while being amazingly observant of human behavior and detail around the crime.
The writing and dialogs are also much more crisp. The pace is better as they have not included too many irrelevant scenes. Just enough to move the plot forward and keep the viewer engaged.
The supporting actors are also superb and perfect for the roles.
It is a great service to PD James novels to bring such amazing work to the small screen.
Looking forward to many seasons of this brilliant series by Acorn
i must say in the last year Acorn has finally surpassed Britbox in content quality.
Death on the Nile (2022)
Worse than Murder on the Orient Express - inaccurate, pretentious and desperate
The opening scene tells all you need to know. Twerking dance in 1936!!! That is a sure sign of desperation which is obvious in the rest of the movie. No authenticity, horrible acting, atrocious directing. Full of horrible CGI scenery that a 10 year old can tell its fake.
Save yourself money and time and watch the 1978 version with Peter Ustinov as Poirot. Or better yet see TV series played by David Suchet. Both are 100 times better and sensible that this absolute garbage of movie.
Nine Perfect Strangers (2021)
boring as hell and very hard to get passed Kidman
I'm not if the Masha character calls for a creepy woman that makes your skin crawl or it is Nicole Kidman making that role so creepy.
I watched two Ep. And couldn't get into it. Also very hard to get passed the Botoxalized look of Kidman and the terrible Russian accent.
Enjoy if its your cup of tea.
Endeavour: Striker (2021)
Disappointing season opener
After a climax and operatic end of season seven, one comes to expect something special in the opening of a new season. But what we get is an ordinary run of the mill regurgitated plot. I would have expected much more from Russell Lewis to carry on the torch for Colin with exiting ground breaking plots and characters.
Maybe it is a hiccup in the series after so many great episodes. We see how the season will progress.
The Stranger (1946)
no depth with cartoonish characters
Not sure what is the big deal is about this movie. It feels like a WWII propaganda movie than anything else. Hollywood loves its one dimensional villains like the Nazi's in the 40's, Russian communists in the 60's to 80's and most recently the middle eastern terrorists. Very few movies delve deeper than surface; And The Stranger is no different. The plot is ridiculous. No subtlety in acting and no depth in any of the characters. You can pretty much guess everything that unfolded in the first 15 minutes into the movie. Such a waist of talents like Ed Robinson and Orson Wells in this horribly written film. Although it is beautifully shot.
Whitstable Pearl (2021)
Very forgettable. Nothing stands out
Run of the mill plot. No real angle to make it different or even interesting. The scenery is nice but not much beyond that.
Not funny, not dramatic, not tense. Very very forgettable.
Midsomer Murders: The Stitcher Society (2021)
Finally a solid episode with a great plot
I was about to give up on MM after so many poorly written episodes. This one reminds me of the early seasons. Great writing and perfectly executed in a true Midsomer Murders tradition. I hope this is beginning of a whole new approach or maybe new writers.
The Irregulars (2021)
i wish there was No Star rating... What a load of trash
This is by far the worst take on the the Victorian era drama. Nothing in it works. Pretty much everyone is miscast. The dialog is way off. The characters are horrible and cartoonish. There was another attempt at Baker St Irregulars with Jonathan Pryce which was much better done than this piece of junk. But even tat didn't work too well.
Why is it that now we are forced to rewrite classics, history and heritage to fit modern day views.
Murdoch Mysteries: The Dominion of New South Mimico (2021)
Murdoch is about to jump the shark!!
The quality of this season has been noticeably down perhaps due to COVID19 issues. But the last two episodes (7 and 8) have gone beyond ridiculous into a new sphere to compete for worst TV episodes of any Crime Mystery series on planet Earth. The set, costumes and cheesy dialogue are just unwatchable. Very painful watching the actors going thru the scenes. Its like watching a helpless animal getting tortured. I just hope these are anomalies and they will go back to their high quality writing and excellent plots. Let's hope they are NOT gonna jump the shark this season!!!
The Undoing (2020)
i would have rated much higher except for Kidman's distracting frozen face!
I must say the plot, though not very original, works. I find it engaging. The under current of phycological struggle also is a nice ingredient. The issue I have is Nicole Kidman's frozen plastic like face. Her upper lip never actually moved in the entire series. The whole face is freakish looking and she can no longer deliver the emotional depth needed because the face is motionless. It 's very sad to witness a talented beautiful woman resort to such lengths and actually end up looking much older. Being aged now has a new puffed up, embalmed like, emotionless visage. And it is even more contrasting to her counterpart Hugh Grant who is very naturally wrinkled for a 60 YO man.
Anyhow watching her was disturbing despite her talent.
Enola Holmes (2020)
Sherlock fans are not the audience. Light drama for teenage girl
Plot is very rudimentary based on Nancy Springer first adaption of her Enola Holmes novels. To be honest, I don't like the set up of talking to the audience or breaking the fourth wall as they say. So I was already annoyed watching this. Secondly screenplay is horribly written. To be fair, I have not read the books so I can not judge the original content this is based on. But I can say the execution and direction is a huge mess. So the viewer can not get drawn into the story.
But a younger female audience between 12 to 15 YO may find this interesting enough to watch.
Alta mar (2019)
Horrible acting, defective plot, great cinematography
Maybe I'm not used to Spanish series, but I would hope this is not a representative of Spaniard production. The acting is reminiscent of 1930's with over dramatized, unnatural style. I watched it dubbed in English so I can't judge the dialog but the script is very poor.
The coloring and cinematography is beautiful but not enough to engage the audience for the whole series. Most characters are caricature like.
I would say Netflix quality of shows is gone down the toilette
Alta mar (2019)
Horrible acting, defective plot, great cinematography
Maybe I'm not used to Spanish series, but I would hope this is not a representative of Spaniard production. The acting is reminiscent of 1930's with over dramatized, unnatural style. I watched it dubbed in English so I can't judge the dialog but the script is very poor.
The coloring and cinematography is beautiful but not enough to engage the audience for the whole series. Most characters are caricature like.
I would say Netflix quality of shows is gone down the toilette
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Shameful portrayal of classic.....
So disappointed in KB for butchering this wonderful novel. Adding characters, taking some out, changing story lines and most of all fundamentally changing Poirot into a heroic agile and well fit person. Nothing works in this plot. Too many holes. The only thing going for it is the wardrobe department that's done a good job. The VFX look horrible because they shot in 65 mm making the visual effects very fake.
I can go on and on about the problems with this production. I hear KB is redoing Death on the Nile. I just hope he can stop himself and keep the dignity of the classic work. But I don't hole my breath
Queens of Mystery (2019)
Very cheesy in 1950's Phillip Markow style
Just unbearable to watch. The annoying narrator, the background music, the camera angles. Stylistically vet played out and annoying. Substance is light and uninteresting. Comedy not much to speak of. I'm not sure what to call this thing. It's just mix of stuff none of which works and nothing notable about it.
The Punisher: Fight or Flight (2019)
what a huge disappointment from 1st to 2nd Season
I must say i took me a while to get used Jon Bernthal casting as the Punisher but i eventually warmed up to it in the first season. Now the second season is a complete mess. Ben Barnes (Billy Russo) acting is worse than Keanu Reeve!! It is just horrible with his constant head and eyes movement and the terrible scars that don't match the amount of damage The Punisher made on his face at the end of 1st season. Anyhow no to go off on Billy but that piece just ruined the story. The new villain is Jon Pilgrim working for another dude. Josh Stewart does a good job acting and bringing this odd combo of religion and psychosis into this subtle but highly interesting character. The rest is just bunch meaningless conversation and over-the-top acting. I experimented watching ep 2 thru 5 by zipping thru every few minutes to only catch fight scenes and tit bit of conversations between main characters. I was able to watch three episodes in 11 minutes and did not miss an iota of the story or action after I went back and watching full episodes. That should tell you that the plot and story line and character building is just meaningless in this season. It is a braindead plot, uninteresting villains (except for Jon Pilgrim) and way way over-the-top acting. Even the action scenes are not as good as the first season. In one episode he is running around the trees in the dark shooting bad guys. Seriously shooting sitting ducks in the dark.... But that the essence of this second season
Fracture (2007)
what a waste of A Hopkins talent.....
Such unimaginative plot and horrible writing and directing! You can see the the courtroom twist in the first 5 minutes of the movie. If you believe the entire LAPD detective force and District attorneys suffer from some brain degenerative disease that renders their IQ at below 60, then maybe the plot is believable..
Where do they find these writers.....For god's sake, at least study some classics like Hitchcock, A Christie, AC Doyle etc before writing such drivel and waste people's time
Limitless (2015)
an absolute waste of time....
It is no wonder why US production in this genre is so inferior than any other productions I have seen. Unimaginative, more plot holes than swiss cheese, horrible cartoonish characters. I suffered thru the first episode. Try to give it a chance after they establish the main characters in second Ep. But it is just too painful to watch. Lazy writings made for idiotic plots. No matter how much of a super brain you have, one cannot deduce there is a computer chip and remote car bomb based on a bumper sticker you see in a picture that shows the corner of the sticker is coming off half an inch and a similar color sticker is under it. That is the pinnacle of idiocy in writing crime drama. Then they call this series: Sherlock Holmes on steroid. Its more like Sherlock on LSD to suspend intelligence and common sense. No wonder it was cancelled so fast.....
Bodyguard (2018)
Nothing special
I am baffled by all the high rated reviews. The first ep which is supposed to be gripping was barely ok. Your middle of fairway anti terrorist sequence. Seen a thounsand times on 24, Homeland, Jack Ryan etc
The characters are shallow. David character internal conflict doesn't come thru and the annoying background music to add urgency doesn't fit the sequences.
Very disappointing work from BBC 1. I was expecting something riveting instead got recycled drama poorly executed
Jack Ryan (2018)
i wish IMDB has Zero star!!
This is the quintessential reason of what is wrong with Hollywood like productions in TV or Film. Its like a 24 series but on Xnax. Simple good and evil stories. Simple stereotype characters. Just a formulaic played out tired garbage you have seen many times before. What a waste of all that marketing and hype. Very disappointing cuz I was expecting better from Amazon Studios but here it is: junk thru and thru......
Sharp Objects (2018)
too slow to engage the audience.
I gave it 5 episodes and tried hard to get vested in this series. But I gave up. It is too slow, the story is not that gripping and the whole Southern subtext doesn't work for me (That is SOOOOOOO played out).
Camille tormented character is well played by Amy Adams but the constant flashbacks and antagonistic relationship with her mother is not fitting with the fabric of the story. Maybe they can get it together in the end but I am not wasting anymore time to find out.
I watched Big Little Lies and liked it. This is far cry from that and one that clearly shows the creators are trying hard to sell the story and weave in some emotional depth while doing it. But they can't get it together. It is too excruciating slow without moving anything forward in story or characters development for 10 15 minutes at the time.
Poirot: Appointment with Death (2008)
Sloppy plot. Too many added elements making this too distracting and messy
Although i am a huge fan of Poirot series, I found this episode very sloppy. They have added too many characters that dont exist in the Christie's novel. They have added stupid and confusing subplots of white slavers, fake archeological artifacts, child abuse and to top it all Lord Boynton character who is laughable and waste of scenes. THe lethal injection is done in open daylight in front of many bystanders which is totally unreal and unnecessary unlike the real event in the novel.
Other than that, the production quality is great, and sceneries are epical. NOt a thing for a true Christie's fan.
Babylon Berlin (2017)
l like the set and acting but the plot is too distracting and not very coherent
I saw the entire first season and was fairly disappointed in the end. The story line doesn't develop in a pace and unified direction. Too many distractions and no thread to pull the plot thru the end. There are a couple of main underlying lines but the they don't develop coherently and lacks focus.
Other than that I love the meticulous decor, wardrobe and sets. The acting is also very good.
Its just not my taste in the end. No enough intrigue and mystery. lot of porn and edgy life styles in the 20's. One more thing, i don't know much about the 20's music, but I would bet the portrayal of music and dance in the night clubs are too strange and out of place for the period. it more felt like a David Lynch movie than historically accurate.
Ordeal by Innocence (2018)
Not based on Agatha Christie's novel.....Kind of a mess pulled togther in the end
It is sad to see writers take classic works and completely ruin the premise and foundation of it. This is NOT a reinterpretation, It IS reinvented with completely different plot twists and ending that ruined the the foundation of this classic work.
Other than that, it might have been ok if they just did something different with different characters unrelated to Christie's novel.
The Disappearance (2017)
unwatchable! No emotional depth and horrible acting makes this painful to watch
I am not sure what it is about this series that cannot connect on an emotional level even with a very heavy subject like child abduction. I watched two episodes and I can say the director tries hard with irrelevant flash backs and long drawn out scenes to bring depth and connect to the audience but fails miserably. I stopped watching before the end of 2nd episode as I could not bear more bad acting and fake outbursts of the leading actors. I am amazed it has gotten so many decent reviews!!!
If you want a solid series and like the subject matter, you should see The Missing with Tchéky Karyo (French actor) as a fantastic leading actor who delivers and brings tremendous depth to the character and the plot