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Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
I tried to re-watch it to see if I was wrong
The work done on the technical side should not be condemned. However, the writing, pacing and preaching are stunningly appalling. This is not Star Trek. It is a show about a woman who is some sort of god, that's going to save us all, surrounded by right on people who talk nonsense. Star Trek: Voyager had the perfect lead and great characters. Star Trek: Discovery has the worst possible lead character in a show that seems to think cutting from one idiot to the next makes great TV. I'm not surprised Jason Isaacs, a very talented actor, was completely lost in the incompetence of it all. I can only imagine how happy he felt not to be in the second season which was mind bendingly awful. This is nonsensical garbage with great FX.
Dark (2017)
Season 2 was good but it lost its way a little
Dark is a good show and the first season was very impressive. In season 2 we get a high quality show with a few wonderfully malevolent performances but the storytelling structure becomes a little too predictable. It's more than a moody song being there will soon give you a break to get something to eat but also knowing how much space there will be to a plot point continuation. It's good but it's done by some well crafted numbers. Having said that, it's still better than most of the garbage stealing our time.
Doctor Who: Heaven Sent (2015)
Utterly Stunning
Doctor Who at its core is a show aimed at firing the imagination of children. Today kids we're doing a one man show analysing coping with grief, loss and total bleakness. This is an amazing piece of television. The cinematography is fantastic. The music is absolutely perfect. The writing is extraordinary. Then, there is one of the greatest performances from an actor playing The Doctor ever seen. It's nothing but Capaldi and it is brilliant.
The Graham Norton Show: Madonna/Sir Ian McKellen/Danny Boyle/Lily James/Himesh Patel/Sheryl Crow (2019)
Madonna was the main event and the audience paid the price
Now she's a senior citizen Madonna might want to give behaving like an adult a try. The other guests were fine but Madonna's presence hung over proceedings like a bored cloud. Arrogant and stupid looking she threatened to do the impossible and make the Graham Norton show something to switch off. Towards the end a true star, Ian McKellen, turned up to save the show in a genuinely funny and heartwarming segment. She did her best to ruin that with her disrespect, arrogance and rudeness but ultimately failed. The Graham Norton show doesn't exactly have difficulty attracting global megastars so I don't think she should be invited again.
Counterpart (2017)
A very underrated show
This was such a well written show with an interesting take on the parallel worlds trope. JK Simmons, Olivia Williams and Harry Lloyd play their parts wonderfully alongside a great supporting cast.
Chernobyl (2019)
A stunning, no nonsense telling of a terrible event
This US/UK production is very dark indeed and it is also one of the best TV shows ever made.
Everything seems so real and I quickly got over the fact that everyone in Ukraine and Russia was secretly British. It is a fascinating look at bureaucracy, incompetence and heroism. Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard (apparently the only person in Ukraine who wasn't secretly British) deliver superb performances as do the rest of the cast. Everything about this show oozes quality.
Line of Duty (2012)
Un-apologetically crazy but brilliant
This is the most addictive cop show ever made. Even the by the book, should be boring as hell, interviews are amazing in this anti-corruption police drama that soars ever so close to being outrageous but knocks it out the park.
It's difficult to explain what makes this special because plenty of shows have excellent performances and writing but there is something about how it surprises you that makes it very worthwhile. In the UK viewers are tortured by episodes being separated by a week.
The cast is excellent. The plots are realistically portrayed and suitably outrageous and it's all written by an evil genius. I'm afraid of dying without finding out who "H" is.
Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth (2018)
It gets an 8 but ...
Introducing a new Doctor is always difficult and elements of this opener have issues.
The lead is fine. Jodie Whittaker is a fine actress and she always makes the most of the material and for the most part the material is fine. There is something a little bit wrong with Chibnall's work but it isn't what the "it's all too PC" crowd complain about. He has the job of writer and showrunner and he's horribly ordinary when it comes to picking someone to be in charge of the music and emotional flow. Yes, he wrote Broadchurch which was excellent but that was something which couldn't help but be emotive. Now he has the canvas of Who and there is hope for the show in spite of him but not because of him. Modern Who for good or bad has a sweep and emotional heft which Chibnall just can't do and his pick for composer who, if he were not so tragically derivative and who gives a damn, might have papered over the cracks is severely lacking. So, what's the upside? The cast is, across the board, excellent and the production values beyond reproach. The on-screen ensemble really can shine if someone can rip the show from the grip of Chibnall's dreary mediocrity or if Chibnall takes a risk.
Everybody clearly worked very hard on this to great effect and it shows. Other than the music and uninspired inability to be special everyone performed magnificently. The man in charge is the one who needs to up his game.
I have hope because not much needs fixing. His name is Chris.
The Predator (2018)
A chopped up random mess
The characters move from scene to scene without any visual or narrative explanation. It's as if all the connective scenes have been cut out. There isn't any attempt at creating a logical story and humans and predators just know stuff for no reason. Predators understand postal addresses now?
It is a random mess with scenes starting in one place and ending in another. The director doesn't care about continuity, character or story. Whoever edited this needs to go back to school.
12 Monkeys: One Minute More (2018)
Very well done despite being all over the place
The episode was a bit busy with quite a chunk that wasn't really needed. However, the core of the episode was very well handled with a very satisfying and far from obvious twist.
It certainly sets the scene for the finale but I can't help but wonder whether this episode could have been pruned to allow for the ending to happen here. Two more episodes to wrap up from this point looks set to be an over-indulgence. Hopefully, I'm wrong but either way this was a very good episode.
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Oh Dear
Hollywood is no longer capable of creating big budget fluff. This deeply stupid film starts out cartoonish and rapidly turns into a cartoon with none of the charm good cartoons display. This is not good and it appears to have been written by someone with a checklist of modern film making. The tragedy of it is the whole cliched mess is not an accident but entirely deliberate because the people behind it thought they knew what the public expected even though they seem to live in another reality. This is awful on every level. Its predecessor was a very decent piece of fluff but this giant turd of a film fails at everything.
Shaun the Sheep (2007)
Seriously silly
Without a single word said Shaun The Sheep manages to communicate universal silliness in a totally innocent and delightful way. It has to be seen to be believed how a totally well meaning sheep and his friends get consumed by life's minor and very silly hardships. A stone cold classic that will be enjoyed for ages.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Long, stupid and awful.
The good guys have an advantage in this movie in that they seem to be able to see the future and bullets rarely hit them. Need a hole in the ground at a random place? No problem; we saw this coming.
When editing the movie you would think the editor would have noticed the bus was right hand drive and flipped the image but no, they couldn't be bothered.
The plot makes no sense at all with characters behaving insanely, desperate struggles for unearned emotion are combined with pointless mayhem. There is no concept of time and that is very noticeable at the end and very jarring. It really is amazing that anyone would even consider making a film this long with such a threadbare script and story. It goes on and on and from the halfway mark you just want it to end quickly because you know what's going to happen.
The End of the F***ing World (2017)
Weird, profane, tragic, beautiful with a real heart
Forget the tired old formula of dragging out never ending stories with 22 42 minute episodes where nothing happens until the mid-season and season finales. This daring show throws you eight 20 minute episodes filled with wit, laughs, terribleness and character development rarely seen on TV. It's beautifully odd with amazing writing, cinematography and outright superb performances by the two leads who play characters you shouldn't care for but absolutely love. This certainly isn't network fare with Jessica Barden's foul mouthed Alyssa and Alex Lawthor's scrawny not really psycho James. The chemistry between them is so good yet surreal, natural and sweet. I don't know whether it will or should continue because it did what it set out to do and did it so very well. It completely defies convention of modern TV. Bravo.
Once Upon a Time: Homecoming (2018)
Extraordinarily rushed
For what it is Once Upon A Time is very likeable but this opener to the series finale is extraordinarily rushed. It has a randomness and perfunctory approach which is jarring to say the least. Scenes seem to last five seconds and the cast, with the exception of Robert Carlyle, appear to have been contracted by the minute. It has always relied far too much on rather badly done green screen but this episode, at times, goes out of its way to look like it was shot in a garage to the extent it seems deliberately to be mocking itself. Either the money ran out or there is a cunning twist next week to explain this low rent episode. The final season never worked because the new actors just didn't appeal with the older Henry being a prime example. The show deserves a happy ending and I hope it gets it but if this episode is a harbinger of things to come I'm not hopeful.
Fear the Walking Dead: Buried (2018)
This could get irritating very quickly but it's nowhere near as bad as TWD... yet.
Merging the old Fear with the new Fear by keeping the audience confused about time could get very irritating but so far it is nothing like as bad as the storytelling structure of The Walking Dead for the last few years. Having said that, starting this episode with a flashback to a time before the events of the end of the previous episode is a worrying misstep. Firstly, it takes away the finality of what happened and secondly, it makes the viewer terrified they are going to be subjected to the endless boredom inflicted by the parent show of retelling things over and over again from a different point of view. I know it saves money because you don't need complex setups or a proper director because voice-overs and soliloquies require no scene direction but these treading on water devices which have so ruined The Walking Dead make for very boring TV. It is difficult to see how the parent show can be redeemed now that it has been made so comprehensively awful but this show still has potential provided it doesn't take on board the worst devices of that show. This show needs to fear The Walking Dead and not recycle its mistakes.
Peaky Blinders (2013)
Everyone involved in this show really cares and is on top of their game.
Compare what a once loved, but now totally uncared for show The Walking Dead has become to this beautifully flawed masterpiece. Peaky Blinders got a bit carried away with itself in season 3 and misused Adrian Brody in Season 4 but just look at it. The astonishingly well portrayed characters, the writing, direction and the best cinematography on fictional TV is always there. Every single frame has been thought about and the dedication of everyone involved is obvious. There are no amateurs here. Tommy Shelby, Aunt Polly and Alfie Solomons are the strongest characters you could ever see on the big or small screen. You see a show like Peaky Blinders and immediately notice how so much TV is trash. The BBC took a chance on this high budget show with strange accents and it paid off. This is a work of art and Netflix spotted it and took it to a wider audience. This is not normal TV.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
I'll give it 2 stars because it hurts to give it the 1 it deserves
The UK should deny Kathleen Kennedy a visa to stop her inflicting this SJW trash on us. It's obvious that every time she lands in the UK her political madness creates mayhem, re shoots, directors being fired and incompetent morons like Rian Johnson being kept on.
The utter disrespect displayed in how two iconic characters in Star Wars are portrayed is jarring. The story is nonsense and nullifies any sense of continuity in a trilogy and Mary Poppins stuff belongs in a Mary Poppins movie, Disney. The Last Jedi was a deliberate act of cultural vandalism.
The Walking Dead (2010)
A once great show that became absolutely awful.
It started very well and it was always something to look forward to. Fast forward five years and not a single person behind the camera cares about the show at all. The talented cast are humiliated by poor writing, abysmal directing and iPhone worthy cinematography. It has become not just a boring and badly made show but it has excelled at being boring and badly made. You would have to try really hard to make something worse. AMC should be ashamed of themselves for producing this vile and terrible garbage.
Person of Interest (2011)
Beautifully done
The supposed central character of Reese set up the show as the usual formulaic TV show but Reese was never the heart of the show. Its heart was always 'Harold Finch', beautifully portrayed by Michael Emerson and he towered above all of the other excellent cast. POI was a rare show that started well and always got better. Rights issues and money from sales distribution in international markets caused its network cancellation; make no mistake, POI did not end because it overstayed its welcome. When it started it was good and when it ended it was greater.
The Walking Dead: Wrath (2018)
Almost competent episode that can't erase the last 40 garbage episodes
The finale wasn't terrible like the crap offered for the last couple of years. It was still barely acceptable but it did manage to approach mediocrity. Was this rushed nonsense enough to redeem a show that has been terrible for so long? No but it looked like some of the people involved gave a damn which is something I suppose.
The Walking Dead: Do Not Send Us Astray (2018)
Utter nonsense made from randomly cut together crap
The Walking Dead is beyond a joke. The episode began with a battle that could not have happened. Simon and his band were fighting from within Hilltop but couldn't have got there. The scenes with Maggie in the 'aftermath' could not be at the same point in the timeline as Rick and Michone. By 23 minutes of the episode we see the cutting together of scenes which were written and shot as something else. This is desperation on the part of the producers with glued together stuff that was assembled in the hope the audience are idiots. It then gets worse as post-battle emotion takes place but the battle couldn't have happened. The tragedy of this is the producers are probably right that the viewers who have stuck with the show are incapable of noticing how bad this all is. The episode goes from night to day and aftermath of something that could not have happened to sometime past 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM. By the 30 minute mark there is no way the timeline can make any sense. The main characters are all in a different story to each other until the 32 minute mark. It then gets worse. By the 34 minute mark characters become afraid of a boy with an automatic weapon because he moves from one side of a fence to another. Arms are lifted because the threat he poses has become greater because he has moved a foot. The whole sorry mess was a great deal more than awful. Someone rightly spotted the show is really bad and randomly cut together garbage that had been shot to create an episode that makes no sense in the hope people wouldn't notice.
The X Files: My Struggle III (2018)
Shameful.
This episode is shamefully bad. It pulls a "but it was all a dream" very badly; it is possible to do that quite well - Doctor Who Extremis- but this was just embarrassingly incompetent. The directing was at times laughable with the Skinner, Mulder little boys' fight being a particular low. The production standards, particularly the sound mixing were amateurish. The X-Files never felt the need for high production values but TV has changed in the last few years and this episode was just too low quality. Just like The Walking Dead producers think they can churn out badly written, amateurish trash under a banner and get away with it. They can't.
Peaky Blinders: The Noose (2017)
Peaky Blinders is back and crazily good
The opening episode of series 4 is an excellent return to form for this excellent series. All of the elements that make this show great are here front and centre from excellent performances, tight script with comical asides that make it so great, superb cinematography and insanely good plotting. Nothing is wasted and each character is very well written; this is not the kind of show where you could redistribute lines from one character among the others. The wonderful way a discussion about what time the guests will arrive for lunch can turn into a gruesome bloodbath is a highlight of the episode which is immediately topped by the next scene. Peaky Blinders is a very special show and this is a very special episode. The 6 episode format is totally right for this because the amount of care put in and the calibre of the cast would make a longer run an impossibility. Even if it ends after the 5th series we will be left with 30 hours of some of the highest quality TV in years.
Blue Planet II (2017)
Unbelievably good
The first two episodes seemed to me to be among the best episodes of a TV documentary I had ever seen. Then, yesterday, episodes 3 came along and took things to a whole new level.It was beautiful and informative beyond words. The producers have created something very special which will be viewed with awe and admiration for many years to come. Blue Planet II is easily one of the classiest productions ever made and everyone involved deserves a round of applause. The small glimpses into how this incredible show was created are very welcome but, in all honesty, you could probably have a 7 part series devoted to just that. Brilliant TV.