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clarkmr1
Reviews
Fool Me Once (2024)
Some nice twists but left me empty and unfulfilled
Two facts make you realise why this series ultimately doesn't gel.
One it's an American book, written by a US author and set in the US. Now the obsession with guns makes sense, now she could legally own a small armoury at home and no-one would bat an eyelid. Whilst you can legally own a firearm in the U. K. you need a valid reason, protection, target shooting is not a valid reason. Maya would have needed to justify to the police why she needed each and every weapon she owns and she owns a lot of guns. Section 21 of the Firearms Act 1968 prohibits a person from possession of any type of firearm if you have been given a custodial sentence when convicted of a criminal offence. Maya served a custodial sentence for murdering civilians. Here is no way on gods earth she would own a handgun, let alone a small munitions factory,
Two Michelle Keegan is a soap actress, this explains why her acting range consists of talking and shouting, with no in between. Honestly the amount of running around and shouting she does have me a headache. She is badly miscast in this series, we are expected to believe a 5' 3" skinny woman can take down any 6' 2" man she likes. She was in the airforce where apparently she was trained in a Brice Lee level of combat, she's not special forces. She assaults a man, sexually assaults another, clearly has anger issues and I am supposed to like her, to cheer her on? I couldn't emotionally connect at all.
Now the good and where my three stars come from. Adeel Akhtar is brilliant, I mean I really felt drawn in and compelled to watch his performance and his characters story. Best actor in this. The twists are clever and the final reveal is good but a little predictable. A eight episodes that could have easily been 4.
My Little Eye (2002)
Worst horror film I have ever seen.
Horrible film, so many ripe opportunities for twists, spent the whole time waiting for the twist to come, nothing. It's just a first rate gore fest on the back of the whole big brother hype. Writers were lazy in the extreme. What annoys me is it could have been really good, could have been full of twists and turns but it feels like the writers just couldn't be bothered, This was the first film where I actually asked for my money back, I felt cheated. If you read the synopsis, that's it, that's all it is, that's all you get. No effort to make it interesting, no cleverness. I would suggest avoiding this film, there is 0lenty out there that is far, far better.
The Pale Horse (2020)
For the love of god BBC stope dicking around with classic literature!
The BBC has already destroyed 2 of my favourite novels; Dracula and War of the Worlds. They're now destroying Christie novels. Christie did quite well by herself, she needs no help. Classic novels do NOT need re-imagining, re-writing or changing. They work as they are, that's why they are good, that's why they have stood the test of time. They are a product of a different time and place, written by people with ideas and views which may be frowned upon today by the BBC. Then either educate you viewers on why people thought this way or don't make new versions of these stories at all. The original Novel is worth reading, I urge people to read it, and it makes sense. This version is a mess of unanswered questions and makes no sense at all. The BBC have successfully made Christy look like an ass, instead of the genius she was. BBC please, please, please just stop...
The Burning Girls (2023)
Well acted, well filmed but ultimately unfulfilling conclusion -SPOILERS
First he good, this was well cast, the acting exquisit in places, superb in others. Samantha Morton is mesmerising I. He lead role, a master class in action. Paul Bradly delivers a subtle but delicious performance. Most of the actors were wonderful and it was he performance that drew you in. Sadly the story itself lets the series down.
The bad, six episodes felt far too long, this could have been made over three or maximum four episodes, the story drags at times and feels as if it's stretched to fill all six. I almost fell asleep during the middle episodes. Three and four being the most boring. The burning girls themselves are a 'MacGuffin' they are there to move the plot along, serve no purpose, have no resolution and are ultimately pointless. The promise then of some kind of supernatural plot or conclusion is hollow and false, which is a shame as this drew me in and I felt a little cheated. This suffers a similar problem to a lot of recent female led drama in that whilst the female characters are all three dimensional and victims, all the male characters are two dimensional and monsters or mentally unstable. Whilst all the male perpetrator's get their just deserts, getting killed, dying in shame etc the female perpetrator's are obviously victims manipulated by men and either get away scott free or it is hinted at that they have connections and will only suffer a light punishment. The conclusion felt ultimately unsatisfying. It felt to me like the author had a great idea but struggled with concluding it. 5 stars awarded for the actors and film crew, 5 taken away for a poor storyline.
Keeping Rosy (2014)
Like a bad episode of Eastenders
I can not fault the actors who all give excellent performances but are let down largely due to the poor writing. The two characters are all two dimensional which makes it difficult to empathise with any of them. All the women in this film are portrayed as victims or heroines (even the one who commits murder) and all the men are perpetrators or villains. So to summarise women good, men bad, this kind of tedious stereotyping makes it difficult to take the film seriously at all unfortunately the plot very quickly spirals out of all believability. Apart from a lot of crying and screaming not much happens and the ending stretches credulity to the max.
I was left feeling cold and a little cheated. It is possible that I am just not the target audience and that had I have been a middle class women I would have enjoyed this film more. I can definitely see why the BBC commissioned this though, with 90% of it set in one apartment the lack of locations must have made it very cheap to make.
I have given three stars for the actors who where brilliant.
See You Yesterday (2019)
Black to the future - a confused mess of a movie
I love time travel movies, I could tell from the trailer this one was probably going to disappoint but some times you go with a wild card because you might be proved completely wrong.
In this case my gut feeling was proved completely right. It's starts of reasonably well, brilliant cameo by Michael J Fox and the book he is reading 'kindred' is a great little Easter egg which those of us into time travel stories will understand. I can not fault any of the actors who in some cases put in wonderfully powerful and emotional performances with great skill and subtlety. The 3 stars are for the actors.
This film really doesn't know what it is, it's clearly aimed at a teen audience. The premise is unoriginal and ridiculous in equal measures, 2 teenage prodigies invent time travel in a poor area of the Bronx, in a garage using lots of equipment like VR headsets that are clearly outside their financial ability to afford (they live in a poor area of the bronx), they are able to power them using a circuit board created by a third teenage prodigy at their school. Three teenage geniuses who all happen to go to the same school.
Then there's the time travel equipment itself, steampunk Goggles, backpacks with giant clocks on them, iPhones strapped to there wrists with the date they arrived and time remaining on the displays. All this seems say this seems to be saying we are not taking ourself seriously, it feels tongue in cheek. But then the film try's to be very serious indeed with its social message and harrowing scenes of violence and police violence. So which is it? Tongue in cheek Disney time travel movie or dark and brooding social commentary, it try's to be both which fails abysmally.
I can't suspend my disbelief enough to commit to the characters plight whilst at the same time roll on the floor laughing at the unnecessary and ridiculous footage of them walking through a worm hole with huge fat grins on their faces.
The classic premise of all time travel stories "don't mess with the past as you don't know how it will affect the future", is played out to devastating affect, the questions are asked and ultimately never answered. Just when it feels like the movie is heading towards some kind of resolution to tie up the loose ends and deliver it's moral message it ends abruptly giving no answers to the questions it asks. It feels lazy, unfulfilling and ultimately leaves the viewer cheated.
Confused, unresolved, never sure of its identity, this film is a mess that leaves the viewer empty and frustrated. I can't help thinking if only they had traveled to 1791 and stopped the second amendment from being ratified there would have been no robbery and no-one getting shot. The overriding message here seems to be guns are bad...
Robin Hood (2006)
It's the writing that really lets this down...
Although there are many areas of weakness with this series; modern costume, hair and make up. Ugly Sci-Fi X-files style scene changes. What lets this series down more than anything else is the script writing or lack of it. For instance the use of modern language (e.g. the use of pounds a unit of currency in episode 1 because as an audience we might not understand currency as groat, farthing, crown all much more authentic to the time ... yes the tower pound was legal tender but not very unused at the time.
Episode 1 - Robin Hood is found with much hunting deer in the forest, much shoots the deer. Guy of Gisborne rides up and tells him he will lose a hand. Watch Robin of Sherwood pilot episode this was lifted almost word for word... Then later on in the episode Robin saves several people from the gallows by shooting the ropes they are being hanged with; Robin Hood Prince of Thieves anyone? Is there any original writing or is this just a mishmash of ideas stolen from other versions of Robin Hood.
No Friar Tuck... Marian rather than Maid Marian because to be a maid implies she is still a virgin. If the BBC wishes to tell the story of Robin Hood they should tell it not just the bits which it decides are PC enough for us to palate... A black man in medieval Nottingham! Yes I am sure there where Africans in Britain at this time but they certainly would not have been treated as an equal. The BBC needs it's token black actor and pops him uncomfortably into episode 3.
On the plus side I think the actors are pretty good. As has been said Keith Allen has been brilliantly cast and seems to outshine the others. It's hard for even the most brilliant actors to work with scripts of this kind of quality and I think they are coping well in the circumstances. The series is ultimately diluted to the extreme and bland... It's a shame lets hope they can perform some magic and turn this around...