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AnonymousBarber
Reviews
Doctor Who (2023)
Doctor Who. The reality check!
I have no intention of babbling on here so I will keep it brief.
Firstly despite some opinions the acting in this new series is good, I would go so far to say there has never been any 'terrible' or 'bad' acting ever, and I mean since William Hartnell as Dr 1.
Second the CGI is just fine as it is, again not 'bad' as some claim.
Thirdly the first stories aren't the greatest but no series of Dr Who has ever had great stories through out, one or two classics in a series but the rest are usually just ok. I
Fourth it is a series aimed at older children, young adults and family audiences so don't expect adult drama and suspense
Finally and most importantly, these are the first stories of a new Doctor, we have barely had time to get to know the characterisation, it can take time to warm to a new person. Especially this new guy who appears to have a sense of humour and a love of living unlike the angst ridden last few incarnations.
Oh I love the fact we have the Doctor and one companion rather than the parade of people we had taking the limelight away from Jodie Whitaker.
The Twilight Zone: The Incredible World of Horace Ford (1963)
Why a low rating for such a gem?
I simply don't understand why people rate this episode so low, ok I am will to admit that Horace's character is annoying but that is the whole point. He obviously wasn't like this previously as we are told he has been working for the company for fifteen years and also he has a strong marriage with quite a company of friends who want to celebrate his birthday with him. Why is he so irritating now? The guy is in the final throes of a mental breakdown due to his repressed memories. Obviously unaware of his degenerating mental state he shows flashes of the kind , considerate, nice he is and it is these flashes which give the clues as to how he got a great job, wife and friends. The performances by the five main actors are great, the compassionate friend and their boss, Horace's devoted wife and his mother, who shows her mental fragility. All that said it would be nothing without a tour-de-force performance by Pat Hingle as Horace.
Some people say the scenes where he returns to the street are too many and that nothing happens differently but it does go subtly further each time, slowly marking his descent into the blackest depths of his illness. There really isn't a lot of actual action it is all very subtle, but beautifully paced.
This should be listed along with To Serve Man or Eye Of The Beholder, hopefully people will eventually see it for what it is and upgrade their ratings. I gave it 9/10 so why not 10/10 ? Well, nothing is perfect but this is close.
Hibhage (2023)
It's a game of two halves
If the last episode had been the first episode I would not have watched this series at all, in fact I would have turned it off after about 15 to 20 minutes. Sickening bullying violence is not my idea of entertainment and I watch tv and films to be entertained and/or amused, consequently this episode ruined the series completely for me. Although if the last episode was the first the story would have been about a person who healed people by pulling knives out of them and seeing them miraculously resurrected in the next episode, so maybe I would have watched it, hmmm?!?!
Watching the series in it's proper order what you have is a well made, well acted quality production . The script and storyline are engaging and the whodunit style of who is the killer and who is the next victim is very well paced. However, the series starts out with great humour and pathos but by the halfway point it turns into just another 'cops and robbers' drama, getting more and more dark towards the end culminating in a final episode of unnecessary violence. Even tacking on a short, lighter storyline at the end does not make amends.
Honestly I would recommend this series but with provisos , don't expect a series full of the oddball humour of the first few episodes, don't watch it if you dislike unnecessary violence and finally just treat it as a serious and well made whodunit with a bit of humour at the start. They say "Don't judge a book by its cover" , well don't judge this series by its first episodes or its title piece.
Oh and the series is worth watching just to hear 'We Disappear' by JEMMA....
The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)
What do we really have here?
The Fall Of The House Of Usher, what is this really, I mean really? Is it Edgar Allen Poe? No. What we do have is a collection of interlinked stories that take all the cool imagery created by Poe and removes all the atmosphere, emotion and menace to create a dreary talkathon. It is well made and well acted but there is very little reason for it's existence, I know the Carla Guigno Fan Club who appear to be boosting the ratings of this series will disagree but there is nothing that creates any emotion or sense of drama.
The writers seem to be trying to show a family that has risen to greatness only to be brought down by a rapid descent into debauchery, the problem being the debauchery is lame and generally centres around sex that is neither perverse nor stimulating, no wonder Prospero needed to score Viagra. A whole episode devoted to the set up of the kind of dull 'orgy' that script writers assume is what happens in every goth club or every 80's rave? Give us a break!
There are plus points though, the characters are so dull and unpleasant that it's nice to see if or when they get their comeuppance and spotting the less obvious Poe references can be amusing. Other than that it's just over-hyped time wasting. Watch it or don't, the outcome is the same , by the end of the series we will be older but probably not wiser.