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DrMarazanvose
Reviews
Ahsoka: Part Four: Fallen Jedi (2023)
Story not out of first gear yet
When you consider how much the storyline has progressed you begin to realise that there really is very little story at all.
It's all style over substance. The effects look really good but hardly anything is happening.
I have managed to work out that before dueling with lightsabers you must pose for the first minute whilst describing a circle with mandatory slow walking. After a few swipes of the saber you must hold a pose whilst looking menacing and take advantage of the glow for photogenic lighting effects.
Characters must make stupid decisions to keep the plot on course at all times.
Such as..
If you're stuck in the middle of a forest within enemy territory, make sure you send the droid outside to do repairs whilst you have a nice chat inside the ship and don't bother keeping a look out. They have scanners but make sure they're switched off too.
The kids will no doubt love it and I expect an avalanche of down votes by the hired help with their fake reviewers telling everyone how this is the best show ever!!!!
Last Sentinel (2023)
More climate crisis fearmongering
Slow and turgid it may be but the story is utterly ridiculous.
If the oceans rose that amount then I'd love to know where the water came from to do it because that is one heck of a lot of water - utterly daft climate crisis fearmongering rot.
When we learn that there is a traitor on board I simply cannot fathom the plot.
If the object of this whole exercise was to take control of Martha then simply shoot your 3 colleagues and send a signal back home to come and collect it - but no! We are going to wait for 2 years and then row out into the ocean with the beacon and shoot the relief crew and go back to the platform and act as though nothing had ever happened lol.
My first thought was perhaps she needed the boat but seeing as she just left it drift away then that's out of the window.
Casting that all aside, if you had just worked out that she had killed the relief crew and your two colleagues in cold blood you know you're next - yet he wants to trust her? What? How many does she have to kill before you grow a brain? Has he forgotten this is a war?
Let's not forget that the platform could barely function because it was so old and delapidated. Baines struggled to keep on top of repairs with barely enough parts - but these two idiots are going to turn it into a love nest and live happily ever after with Martha.
I wish it had gone off after 5 minutes of the film.
Star Trek: Picard: Võx (2023)
One last hurrah for the crew
Thoroughly enjoyed Picard season 3.
It demonstrates how much of the essence of Star Trek has been lost in recent times when it takes a group of actors to return this season (virtually out of retirement) and show how it is done.
The adversary was to be expected seeing as this appears to be one final outing for the Next Gen crew. There are a few others dotted around from the other series and I am beginning to wonder where Janeway has got to. Hopefully we saw the last of Q in season 2.
Completely ridiculous that seven crew can fly a galaxy class starship but hey ho let's go with it - still better than the other recent Trek that has been served up and a call back to the Search for Spock if I am not mistaken. I hope Geordi has made her fitter for battle than Scotty did :)
I hope the producers have taken note of how well this flavour of Star Trek has been received and capture its essence in future series and stop this nonsense of making it conform to social standards of today to gain approval and ratings and in the process wrecking it.
1923: War and the Turquoise Tide (2023)
Top class tv
Taylor Sheridan I salute you.
I have seen a lot of television over the years and metaphorically waded through a lot of dross that studios churn out without thought nor care to the content nor the quality. In recent times it has become much worse as a swell of activism has stained the industry further.
Your shows rise above the mediocrity and show the rest not only how it should be done but why - to entertain, to give us a break from our daily lives and let us escape reality if only briefly.
I have watched Yellowstone, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King and now 1923 and you just keep knocking it out of the park.
Extremely well crafted series with fanstastic actors and production values to match.
So little tv makes me lose track of time and leaves me wanting more.
This may read like a bot wrote it, like so many other reviews, but I can assure you this is just the words of a true fan.
Long may you reign supreme because you sir deserve it.
Thank you.
As for this episode - if I could give it 11 out of 10 I would :)
New Amsterdam: Falling (2023)
Embarrassing for the actors
This show really has fallen from grace and now it appears everyone is just going through the motions to finish up the series.
This has to be ranked one of the worst episodes of the entire run.
If I was an actor on this show I would be embarrassed to be a part of this tripe. The outdoor trip with the falling polystyrene rocks was so hammed up and predictable to the point of cringe.
The Max/Wilder relationship has been shoe horned in to create some romance to the detriment of all that preceded with Dr Sharpe. We are meant to believe that being ignorant towards someone he was madly in love with and wanted reasons for the split just ghosts her to prove his commitment to Doc Wilder. To me it just makes him look like a total a** hat. I hope Ryan Eggold gets a better series to work on in future because he is far better than this stuff.
Same goes for Jocko Sims - liked his performance throughout and feel sorry for him for being put through that dual relationship rubbish that was dropped like a hot brick. Don't put it past the writers in the last 2 episodes for him to drop Gabrielle and commit his undying love to Dr Bloom so his love journey comes full circle - it's the kind of thing these hacks would do and believe they are being smart.
Streaming TV has created too many broadcasters trying to fill too much air time and diluted the quality of shows because there aren't enough decent writers out there to cope with it.
Sad times :(
Shantaram (2022)
Can't believe it got cancelled
Thoroughly enjoyed this show from start to finish.
After the final scene it says "To be continued" - great news! I thought.
Then I read that it has been cancelled the day after the final episode aired.
Are you serious?!?!?!
It's not perfect but it's a very good story that keeps you engaged based on a best selling novel.
When you consider the brain dead, trash tv that is spewed out daily from these subscription channels I am simply amazed they have dropped it.
I mean come on Apple! You renewed that non-sensical drivel Invasion for a second season yet canned this?
I hope some other studio picks it up.
Star Trek: Picard: Hide and Seek (2022)
Picard is circling the drain
It is pretty clear that continuity and lore have gone out of the window in place of action, suspense (total fail btw) and flashback garbage. This formula is prevalent in most stuff churned out these days by the networks for the teenage audience - to line their pockets - that's all that matters - the bottom line. It obviously works, otherwise they would stop doing it and produce something worthwhile for Trek fans.
At least if they rectify the timeline we can forget this season.
I'd be interested to know how the Borg queen/Jurati beamed the humans she had taken over on board the ship armed with Borg weaponry. Where did they appear from - the local armourers?
"Good day Mr Vendor have you a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range in stock?"
"Just what you see pal - take a look at the most excellent range of Borg weaponry just in!"
From: Oh, the Places We'll Go (2022)
What's the point?
I really hope they pull the plug on this show.
It's a poor man's Lost. Not an interesting character in sight and people running around doing stupid stuff.
Why would you set up the radio equipment on the ground outside so you have to move it each day so the dead people don't play with it? You would also need a lot less wire if you set up the radio upstairs perhaps?
I still don't understand why the communal house couldn't just have a couple of windows repaired and they go back to living in it.
Still - overall - what a complete waste of time and effort.
Nice to see another bus load has arrived to bore the viewers to death with their bland personalities. Queue season 2.
No thanks - no more carrot and stick for me.
Star Trek: Picard: Fly Me to the Moon (2022)
Creativity has been usurped
Star Trek TNG took a few elements from the original series but there was plenty of new, creative storylines and characters to produce something extra and interesting.
All Picard seems to do is steal characters from the past and play the nostalgia card time and again.
The series started with pretty much a rip off of Star Trek the Voyage Home. Was the punk on the bus apologising for playing loud music meant to be clever by being a different outcome?
We have Guinan, Seven of Nine, Q, Borg Queen all saying Hi! - and now Brent Spiner enters stage left as Soong. Spare me - please!
I wanted something new and fresh - not a TNG encore.
It's stale, it's dated - it's getting boring.
Jonathan Frakes directing too - how could you expect anything innovative when you hire all the old hands?
1883: This Is Not Your Heaven (2022)
A truly wonderful show
Thoroughly enjoyed this tv series from start to finish.
Many have moaned about Elsa being a spoilt brat. I saw a character portrayed as a carefree soul living life to the full, complete with all the rough edges that go along with it. She was the spine of this season and thought Isabel May did a great job.
Typically I am the first to criticise historical inaccuracies and continuity but I was too caught up in the story to care.
More tv like this please.
Dexter: New Blood: Sins of the Father (2022)
A disappointing season
As Jeff Lindsay said himself; Dexter is a sociopath.
The original tv series strayed away from the book in this respect and decided to go on a journey to explore his emotions and vulnerabilities to the point where his character was derailed by the likes of Lumen, Hannah and his sister, Debra.
That I could tolerate to a point.
Fast forward to New Blood and we have a new Dexter - a different Dexter.
Why?
Cos it's pretty obvious that the writers either didn't understand the character or never watched the show in its entirety.
They should have just left it alone.
Yellowstone: No Kindness for the Coward (2021)
Somebody has lost focus
Taylor Sheridan is doing very well for himself at the moment with Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown and 1883 bubbling away on the stove.
After watching this episode and being left flat by the end, I just wonder whether he's got too many irons in the fire and his rich storytelling has become somewhat diluted.
Really not impressed wth this season at all.
Yellowstone: Keep the Wolves Close (2021)
Sadly disappointed
Too many plates are being juggled now with various plotlines that don't get the attention they deserve.
Maybe they will tie together at some point in the future but I doubt it.
Beth is just becoming a parody of herself. Her vehement abuse of everyone bar dad is getting tedious. I hope someone delivers her to John Dutton in her vehicle after it's been through the crusher.
No matter what Jamie Dutton does to prove his loyalty to John he simply defaults to can't be trusted. After the speech about him always calling him son you would expect a little faith - but no - can't have him being governor and the acceptance scene was about as unsurprising as Lloyd buying the guitar as the camera focused on the guns. Just keep kicking Jamie like a dog - getting REALLY boring. They have brought back the mother of his child and they haven't even had a conversation together - she talked at him and that was it.
What is going off with the bunkhouse? All women out was the order - so why is Laramie still there? Teeter had to beg for her job and Mia went of her own accord. Simpy don't understand. Laramie was the catalyst for the friction in the first place.
Then we just spring 2 love interests out of thin air - one for Kayce and one for Jimmy. Both feel forced - and what the whole Jimmy thing is about at the 4 6's is beyond me. Yellowstone not capable of teaching him to ride a horse properly and learn to rope? Doesn't say much for for Rip's crew and the mighty Yellowstone does it?
Too much going off and Gil Birmingham had been reduced to a bit part because of it.
P.s. Get rid of Rip MK II - is Finn really needed? Perhaps the world needs to know how to tie knots.
Invasion: First Day (2021)
Slow doesn't mean good
The real shock of this show is the announcement that there will be a second season. Wow - just WOW.
This was probably the slowest, most bizarre episode of the whole season with a prime directive of leaving unanswerable questions as set up for a second season.
To some, a scene of a supposed dead kid in a kind of dream state meeting someone he doesn't know to be given a gift of a compass that he gave to his daughter may seem like good tv. Personally, I'm asking myself is this Twin Peaks or a story about an alien invasion?
If the glimpse of a downed space craft and the reveal of a much bigger, fully operational battlestation (Emperor's voice) is all that some people need to be wowed then there's no hope.
So much contrivance and forced narrative it beggars belief. Someone burned 200 million budget to produce this?!?!?
Will I watch season 2?
As one of the investors on Dragon's Den would say - I'm out.
Invasion: Full of Stars (2021)
Full of something other than stars
Once again we are subjected to non-sensical events to move the plot forward. Painfully slow scenes that somehow make them more meaningful?
Anyone feel Mr Malik's self sacrifice redeemed him? - or just thankful that the useless, adulterous tool is finally gone? Although, the way this whole garbage has been going, it wouldn't surprise me if the opening scene of the next episode revealed him to have black belt martial art capabilities - turning the tables on the fake soldier cos the plot requires him to survive.
The only actor coming out of this trainwreck with any credibility plays Mitsuki.
Watching this show has become an absolute must for sheer comedic value. I am staggered that someone thought it was worth putting into production.
As for the reviews giving it 10/10 and saying how brilliant it is - how to spot a fake review 101. Invest in decent writers and you wouldn't need to skew the audience reaction.
Dexter: New Blood: H Is for Hero (2021)
Closing in on the Dexter formula
The Dexter of old was apathetic - what happened?
He is displaying emotions that I thought his character was devoid of?
Slowly but surely we are getting the old Dexter vibe back.
Looking forward to the next episode.
La Brea: The Hunt (2021)
Is this a comedy?
A reviewer suggested this show was poorly thought out - that is an insult to thought.
We've constructed a map on what the terrain would look like 10,000 years BC. Based on what? How? - only one plausible answer - plot requirement.
They have established a clearing where survivors are most likely to be. Okaaaaay - run with it.
There's a landing strip 1km away where the special plane can land.
So plane takes off and shows quite clearly how it is able to hover and manouvre on the vertical axis. So what do you need a landing strip for? Why not land in the clearing?
When thought is applied to this toss it falls apart like a tower of cards.
Lost done very badly.
Invasion: Contact (2021)
Wajo returns!!!
The amount of actual content in this show is minimal compared to the broadcast time.
Someone, somewhere, had the idea that if everything is slowed down to a crawl then it becomes serious and meaningful. It may work when done occasionally - just not every scene please.
The 6 minute phone box scene was frustrating to endure. As a side note anyone know of a device that allows you to leave a message that long?
The kid's scene with his dead mum was a complete emotional vacuum for me and rounded off with a crass throw away line by the girl to say she's all in with his whacky, non-sensical plan.
The only interesting character for me is Mitsuki - she has some energy and drive whereas everyone else is just doom and gloom at half speed.
I can foresee this series getting a second season and then quietly disappearing into the ether never to be thought of again.
La Brea: Day Two (2021)
This is so bad
Anyone marking this show more than 5/10 is either mentally challenged or a relative of the writers.
Carbon dating the metal macguffin is not possible - cos, spookily, it ain't got carbon 14 in it. Also if it had been in the ground for 12,000 years it wouldn't come out shiny neither.
Do these writers ever think to run their script by someone without brain damage?
La Brea (2021)
Where do they find these writers?
If I was a writer on this show I'd be embarrassed to have my name associated with this garbage.
Show not tell was way out of their league it seems. So much dialogue is exposition.
Once more we have people doing stupid things for the sake of the plot.
Where shall we start?
A few teasers - let's start with going after a wolf that killed your dad to bury him. Yes - let's go and find the wolf den and present ourselves as second course.
Carbon dating a ring? Seriously? It's metal - severe lack of Carbon 14. Seeing as it was nice and shiny when he plucked it out of the ground you could maybe estimate it to be - oh yes! - been in there 12,000 years! Cos the plot needs it to be. Stuff reality.
Guy falls off a cliff - the plot armour made him survive with just a bad back. Great idea - let's lift him up and see if he can stand lol. How are we going to get him back? Scratching their heads with tree branches galore around. Ever heard of making a stretcher?
I have an idea for these amateur hour writers. Write your script and then give it to anyone with an IQ over 90 to enlighten you on the gaping plot holes and stupid courses of action.
As for the guy with the weird visions - he gets pretty much held hostage by the Department of Homeland Security. Let's not even poke the bear of who's telling him what to do. How about we need you?- can you help us out?
Copycat Lost by the amateur dramatic society.
Rant over.
The Wheel of Time: Shadow's Waiting (2021)
Who wrote the dialogue lol?
"How much time?"
"Not enough"
"Then we need to move faster"
erm? What? - Rosamund Pike may respond with authority but it is still non-sensical.
This is followed by the bargekeeper leaping into the river to save his craft in a whirpool because his son is on the other side of the river. Perhaps his son could cross elsewhere? Or swim? No - of course not - we need a dramatic scene of Rosamund waving her arms around again wielding her mighty magics.
Then again perhaps there's a button on the craft that turns it into a submarine and he's busily chugging along the river bed now.
People saying and doing stupid things for the sake of plot advancement winds me up. It's lazy writing and all too commonplace.
Invasion: Hope (2021)
It doesn't get better
Everything feels forced and contrived.
Hands up who thinks you can walk around and act normal within a few hours of having stopped breathing and suffered a tension pneumothorax?
Making everyone look serious and delivering slow dialogue does not make it worthy of an Oscar. At times - like Lady Exposition in the 4 x 4 it is just painful to sit through.
The scene at Kabul airport defies belief - I'm pretty sure pointing your gun at armed soldiers would have the opposite effect.
The best thing about this series is the theme tune.
Invasion: Home Invasion (2021)
NIght vision goggles required for this episode
I can only watch this on the cross trainer because it is so dire - but my masochistic side compels me to watch this in the vain hope that a phoenix of a show will rise from the ashes. Erm.. nope - still not happening
Well at least I burned 250+ calories - unfortunately damaged about a billion brain cells in the process.
Pretty much the whole episode was a take on the Gene Barry and Ann Robinson scene from War of the Worlds 1953 - with less suspense I may add.
The local amateur dramatics society have gotten involved to add sound effects with their box of glass, plank of wood + hammer - and someone with a violin who had never played before. Turn down the lighting till you can't see anything always helps build that sense of threat...
Once more characters do stupid, unrealistic things that would decrease their chances of survival by about a million percent.
The mother (Aneesha Malik) makes choices based on plot advancement. Last week she played doctor - this week she remembers she has a family and doesn't want to play doctors anymore.
This week her amnesia kicks in again. Owner of the house has a shotgun - he tells them it is loaded and he has only one shot left cos he used the other one on the alien. Perfect time to pipe up that you have a pistol? Pfft - don't be ridiculous I hear you all shouting!
I found the episode dull, predictable filled with sterotypical jump scare moments that aren't even alarming - glad it's over.
It can't get any worse can it?
I gave it a 2 cos the pointless bunch of school kids weren't in it :)
Yellowstone: Half the Money (2021)
This is the product of decent writers
I have watched many many shows and time and again I roll my eyes up as characters (typically shallow characters) do stupid things for nothing other than the advancement of the plot.
In this show that just doesn't happen - cause and effect actually matter.
They have foreshadowing - Dutton's worst nightmare at the beginning of season 3 becoming a reality in the last episode as an example.
They have characters with depth, purpose and individuality.
A* writers, actors and production values - what do you get? - an A* show.
Just wish others would take note and stop pumping garbage out that isn't fit for consumption for anyone with an IQ over 50.
Invasion: Going Home (2021)
Who wrote this?
I am really intrigued as to how this series is going to save itself.
I watched it whilst on my cross trainer so at least there was some benefit to my time invested.
It is still painfully slow and let's be honest there is very little substance.
Characters making stupid decisions is still prevalent. Aneesha Malik seemed to forget her family as she just went off playing doctor. The head of JASA not re-instating Mitsuki Yamato - much more believable to just let her walk out past security with a pile of communication equipment that she's stolen.
I see they didn't pass up the opportunity to have a female president that for some reason is speaking for the world and declaring martial law.
The dialogue won't be winning anyawards neither.
Anyone enjoying the stereotypical British kids just throwing playground insults at each other? Still can't fathom their purpose in all of this.