simondclinch-1 Reviews

Burn Notice: Loose Ends, Part 1 (2007) Season 1, Episode 11

Pity about the nonsense

[3/10 · 25 January 2023]

So I enjoyed all the tradecraft stuff until this episode where nonsense sets in. 'Simply bug another sim and swap them out and he'll be talking to your bug all day'

Actually he won't! Incoming calls will no longer be received and outgoing calls will show a different number to the contact, causing questions to be raised immediately.

I suppose trying out all the tradecraft could be tricky without getting arrested.

I was particularly intrigued with an earlier episode where a compound fuses locks, although in practice they blew the lock instead, which was confusing.

I know it's fiction but these kind of mistakes are distracting.

Into the Forest (2015)

Civilisation ends then the film and thats all folks

[3/10 · 29 March 2017]

With the economy still struggling, the notion that civilisation could collapse leading to power outages as the first impact people experience is at least a realistic one.

This story focuses on two sisters and how they experience it. I suppose this at least could bring home to people what it might be like if or when the economy collapses, but the topic deserves much more than this.

To summarise what the film lacks: There is no backstory about why the economy is collapsing; the two girls are just victims with no heroics supplied. There is no effort to indicate how they might make their lives work going forward. It's like starting to set the scene for Mad Max and then bailing out before the plot even starts.

Night Train to Lisbon (2013)

A masterpiece in romantic mystery

[9/10 · 6 May 2016]

I am angry with at least six thousand of you who voted less than 7 (the minimum I normally have time to watch) and caused me delay in finding this wonderful film. Maybe I should submine the IMDb database so that I can cross-reference your votes on other films and generate my own ratings in a numberscape void of your numbscape. That said, I can now begin my review.

It is often said that a film is usually inferior to the book on which it is based. And whereas this tendency is almost a de facto weakness, such films must be made at all costs, because films that are not based on any book tend on average to be worse.

In this case, the skill of the original novelist explodes early on screen as the words of a fictitious novel that is central to the plot. There is an old joke, 'what is the difference between heaven and hell?' that compares the weaknesses and strengths of different European nationals. For example, in heaven the Italians are the lovers and the Swiss are the bankers and in hell the roles are reversed. Having lived in Switzerland, I have to disagree with such stereotypes. And indeed, this story does a good job in exploding such myths, for the central character is Swiss and while demonstrating a quiet, deferential manner, reveals increasingly the intense passion he feels as the story unfolds, as indeed it does for the viewer, who should I would hope empathise to some degree.

It is almost a rule of novel-writing that a story be told in the words of its characters. Films rarely manage to include the unspoken words, but this masterpiece uses many clever tricks to work around that problem seamlessly, that is to say, without exposing the inner workings of the writer's kitchen.

The story begins in Bern where a teacher on his way to school encounters a Portuguese woman about to kill herself and who has also dropped a book on the ground. And from there all the way to the end and actually beyond, the film jumps headfirst into the depths of mystery. The teacher (Irons) follows a trail of clues laid out in the book from Bern to Lisbon, unfolding a story from the past of romance and revolution underpinned by eloquent passages of philosophical thought. I say that instead of philosophy, because they are very different things. A philosopher is a person who seeks answers to questions about fundamental laws and the human condition, whereas philosophy is the bureaucracy of categorizing such answers without understanding them beyond a level too superficial to be called philosophical.

Needless to say, it was the words of Amadeu, the fictional writer at the centre of this story that lifted me to such a philosophical level. I cannot recall watching a film quite like it!

Of course it helps to have a superstar cast which also was not apparent from the IMDb header! One either has to read the whole cast list or watch the film to realise how many heavy hitters are hiding in there!

The Night Manager (2016–2025)

An excellent undercover yarn

[8/10 · 7 April 2016]

Definitely an improvement on the classic Le Carré series which I still treasure. This series has it all - romantic interests which endanger the already precarious position of the have-a-go undercover agent who enters the fray as the simple night manager of he hotel where the bad guys are staying.

My only objection, if it can be called an objection, is that the corrupt British Government officials use an excessively complex and dangerous method to steal public money as compared with how they do it in reality.

The fictitious scam in the story would never be used where simpler and safer methods of corruption already exist. This is because, in the real world, and the reason taxes are so high, is that senior government officials simply agree with a supplier to pay well above the market rate (out of an already inflated budget) for a contract (or a service that isn't good use of public money). Sometimes the overpricing is colossal, hundreds or thousands of times the fair price. The doubling of price in this story is at the low end of that scale. Defence contracts form a huge percentage of government spending, so are a similarly huge percentage of the corrupt drain of public funds. Of course the fact that the practice is so widespread raises the market rate artificially and so allays suspicion. Honest suppliers risk being considered suspiciously cheap creating the impression that they cannot really deliver for the price, further supporting the prices with the built-in costs of corruption and forcing corruption to dominate the public contract market completely. The payoff comes when the supplier pays a small cut of the inflated margin into an offshore bank account, accessible by the government official(s) who signed off on the deal. Occasionally, but not often, someone deviates from the model at mid-management level e.g. claiming excessive or unreasonable expenses and the system moves into action to make a big public example of them, while leaving the big players (public and private) continually intact. Lower level government managers cannot understand why their bosses overpay contractors while being mean on government salaries. Well now you know! This is how it works the world over.

To be fair, the story hits the right level in terms of who benefits and it does refer to swiss bank accounts, but it so overcomplicates the simple real technique of embezzlement used in practice, that I feel the real version is left unclear to the public. And of course, the story depends on complexity to spin the plot. For example, in reality unless the offshore payoff is discovered, there is otherwise no evidence even to be found.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Good acting, plot, direction, but awful score

[6/10 · 30 March 2016]

The plot is deliciously twisty. The decision to reinvent the characters almost from scratch was a good one. The sex is a bit too concealed as if directed by a an ex-nun. So it kind of feels overly censored.

The most distracting is the amateur-level score that fails to generate the right atmosphere and just functions as an annoying loud and irrelevant noise. It's almost as if someone just cut and pasted it from some flop film from another genre. Frankly they did a far better job in the 1960s although even that would not exactly earn awards.

If someone can let me have a version without the score I'll do it for free! My inclination would be to give it a jazz feel like they used to in the 60s and early 70s. For me a lot can be learned when doing retro remakes from the brilliant Tinker Tailor score of 2011.

Better Call Saul (2015–2022)

Delivers what Breaking Bad failed to

[8/10 · 6 March 2016]

It is a strange coincidence that I should start watching this series after bailing out of Breaking Bad at the end of the first episode already.

'Better Call Saul' is down-to-earth realism with plenty of irony and the odd piece of farce. The story is adequately unpredictable in spite of being realistic. The characters are well-developed - much more so than the average TV show, with the main character well balanced between altruism and selfishness.

The incidental characters are all very real and the writer manages to present different sides of the same situation as seen through the eyes of the different characters in a way that maintains tension throughout the dialogues.

All in all my favourite show in its genre.

I have just one minor gripe: the background music is cut and paste rather than original. The choices are good, with a wide range of music, but it is never as good as a purpose-written score.

Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

So why didn't I laugh?

[2/10 · 4 March 2016]

When I read the synopsis a few years ago, already I felt that the storyline lacked interest for me and did not watch any of the series. Then recently some friends were so enthusiastic about the series that I finally got started on it.

So I watched all of episode 1 series 1 and then reflected. Now, it is not as if I am the kind of person who has trouble finding things funny that other people do. But I would say that let's say only half of the material out there that people will find funny will affect me that way. However, this material failed continuously to amuse or excite me in any way except for the suspense of the opening scene not being resolved until late in the episode.

I think of the first episode of a series as the pilot - therefore it sets the level of interest for an entire series. Which meant that after that I simply gave up on the whole series.

So what went wrong? Although jokes are never funny when explained, there exists an anatomy of humour that one can correlate to any given snippet. The general profile of something funny is that it has some element of surprise - it builds up a picture and the moment of laughter is when the viewer or reader is forced suddenly to see things another way. And generally that other way has to have a level of originality for the effect to work.

So I think the problem actually lies in the construction of the screenplay. As much as the ideas appear to be original, they do not unfold in a way that produces the comic effect. Nor therefore is there much occasion of suspense.

So for me the real question is why do so many people find it funny? I think that for me will remain a mystery.

The Girl in the Book (2015)

It takes decades, if ever, to move on from childhood abuse.

[4/10 · 19 January 2016]

A woman aged around 30 finds that her childhood abuser is entering her professional life in the world of book publishing.

The screenplay attempts to run two stories concurrently. The story of when Alice was put upon by an older man and the story of her re- confronting this fifteen years later.

The problem is that these basics leave the plot with inadequate opportunity for further development later on. The acting and scene- by- scene directing are very good however.

Young Alice reacts credibly to the unwelcome advances, but fifteen is a little too old to come to much harm. It would provide more opportunity to the overall plot if a younger girl were being abused at this part of the story as well as more justification to what does happen.

In the present-day part of the plot, it is therefore reasonable that the confrontation leads to Alice quickly getting over it after fifteen years of psychological relapse. Unfortunately it means the plot is left short of material and is a bit unbalanced - either she should be deeply scarred or not as opposed to getting over deep disturbance quickly. As a result the film spins out just a few plot elements and just checks out at the end with everything all fine now.

Lost Girl: Like Hell: Part 2 (2014) Season 5, Episode 2

Lost plot

[2/10 · 7 September 2015]

The suspense was sky high after the first episode of the season, with Bo rescuing Kenzi from Valhalla but at the cost of her own soul. Only then does she completely discover the identity of her father. At this poignant point the plot seems to get confused, just where it needed to fulfill prior promises.

Instead very little happens in hell and Bo gets out before we know it, which causes problems with what follows:

The screenplay skips around so fast that at one point it gives the (false) impression that Vex has been made to look like Bo to fool a Valkyrie into taking his soul instead of hers back to hell. But the Valkyrie manages to contradict this plan twice, creating a nonsense.

I won't bother to review any other episodes, so I'll say here that the puns are stifling throughout the series. A famous writer advised 'murder your darlings' and, in summary, this writer would do well to review the screenplay more critically before calling it done.

Sense8 (2015–2018)

Unique, intense, well-acted, you never know what happens next!

[10/10 · 14 August 2015]

By far the best TV series I have ever seen. The complex multi-plot takes an episode or two to get into, but it is well worth the effort. This series simply has it all. Beautiful locations. World-view multiculturalism. Great acting. Sex in every category (so not for the narrow-minded, but sorry if that's the case, it's your own fault). The Wachowski brothers have taken their surrealistic psycho-sci-fi to the next level and are proving that two directors can be better than one. Casting is well chosen: Tuppence Middleton is 100% convincing as an Icelander, for example. The background music is well above average and adds to the overall quality.

Dark Matter (2015–2017)

Shaping up to be an excellent series

[9/10 · 11 August 2015]

Plenty of suspense on all levels. Good ideas, for example in episode 7 there is a novel twist on matter transfer that makes it more interesting than the usual beam-me-up-Scottie. Melissa is just great. Having been long up and coming in theatre, it is no surprise she moves in on TV like she owns it. I don't know if she altered her appearance just for this show, but in all ways she oozes maturity and sexy dominance.

In addition most of the episodes have very engaging and well- produced background music.

Just one insignificant gripe in ep. 7, although slightly distracting:- Surely there's no way the colour white for male underwear could make it beyond the 21st century - although who knows, I can't prove there isn't a high-tech super-whitening laundry service on board the Raza.

Dark Matter (2015–2017)

Shaping up to be an excellent series

[9/10 · 11 August 2015]

Plenty of suspense on all levels. Good ideas, for example in episode 7 there is a novel twist on matter transfer that makes it more interesting than the usual beam-me-up-Scottie. Melissa is just great. Having been long up and coming in theatre, it is no surprise she moves in on TV like she owns it. I don't know if she altered her appearance just for this show, but in all ways she oozes maturity and sexy dominance. Just one insignificant gripe in ep. 7, although slightly distracting:- Surely there's no way the colour white for male underwear could make it beyond the 21st century - although who knows, I can't prove there isn't a high-tech super-whitening laundry service on board the Raza.

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Good plot, good action

[7/10 · 26 September 2014]

The plot is certainly twisty and is one of the best of the military spy genre. Certainly Alistair McLean deserves all the credit for that. It was great to watch as a kid.

For adults, however, there are uncomfortably many mistakes for my liking.

According to the briefing, Schloss Adler is in Bavaria. Later at the foot of Schloss Adler, we hear Major Smith tell the blonde agent, played by Mary Ure, that Carnaby's plane crashed near Oberhausen airfield, "a few miles from here". But Oberhausen, which does exist, is located at the other end of the country, near the Dutch border, so cannot possibly be the nearest airfield to any castle in Bavaria.

Whereas the Germans did have helicopters early in the war, the one that lands in the castle grounds is too modern by far and bears no resemblance to the early German models. Although this helicopter miraculously reverts to a credible model after landing. I suppose they couldn't get a working version of a WWII copter that flew and didn't opt for a model one in the air - but the difference is striking.

The handguns don't have a big enough silencer (need to be about 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide) and the machine guns have no shoulder stock of any kind - WWII hand-held machine guns always used a shoulder stock, otherwise the gun would fly back at its user with all the momentum of the stream of bullets and be of no practical use. Also those used by Clint and Mary have no magazine - given the amount of ammunition fired it would take several reloads of a magazine and enough ammo needs to be taken along of course.

But the mistake that dominates for me, is Richard Burton's haircut - it is just way too long for a WWII German Officer - in reality he would have blown his cover instantly, waltzing into the German barracks with that haircut. The main thing that needed to be avoided is the sideburns - the German officers tended to have a crew cut or at least an absence of sideburns or hair reaching the neck! It might seem a trivial point but it just glares at me throughout the film.

Nevertheless it is well worth watching for the action and suspense and it also has a very memorable score, the title music being reminiscent of Gustav Mahler.

Hannibal (2013–2015)

Story completely reworked into chilling realism

[10/10 · 24 September 2014]

This series has solved all the problems present in the films and redevelops the plot so that fans will still be surprised at every turn. For example, cannibals are usually of low intelligence, which was always a sticking point for me to believe in the character of Hannibal. Untilnow that is.

The series takes the time to correct all the mistakes I observed in the films. For example, some of the psychiatrists, including Hannibal and his own female psychiatrist, are seen practicing indirect therapy, drawing their patients out with very believable expertise.

In the second series, we even hear a plausible explanation for the cannibalism. The films tried to blame it on one single experience, whereas this series manages to expand the character to explain it more plausibly.

It's not a series for the squeamish, with horrific scenes appearing frequently. But as a psychiatric thriller, it stands out as the best work of the genre ever to reach the screen.

Django Unchained (2012)

At last Tarantino makes a real movie

[9/10 · 18 September 2014]

With such a good story keeping my attention for the first two hours or so, I didn't even suspect it was a Tarantino until the violent climax towards the end, which was a dead giveaway, as if he'd signed his name across the screen already.

This film tells an important slavery story realistically and kept my attention all the way. At no point did I feel I could see what was coming, therefore plenty of suspense throughout and with plenty of dramatic surprises, even if they did sometimes follow the well- trodden Tarantino pattern of violence.

If Mr. Tarantino should ever read this review, I have this to say: You made a film that succeeded on plot rather than just violence - maybe you should keep going in that direction, because this was your best film ever. And I think the other reviews prove it.

Leverage: The Corkscrew Job (2012) Season 5, Episode 13

The ultra-lite CO2

[4/10 · 17 September 2014]

There are so many mistakes in this episode I hardly know where to begin.

The wine that is supposed to be 300 years old is in a bottle that is clearly recent. The shape is approximately right but - well google for oldest Lafite and you'll see what an old bottle really looks like - it's much cruder with thicker glass than a modern one owing to the successive improvements in glass-making over the centuries.

At one point the women are supposed to actually be drinking this wine but it is never opened.

For me the silliest though is that the windows are opened at the top of the building to let out the CO2. But surely everyone knows that CO2 is heavier than air so this would have no effect. The ventilation needs to be from underneath.

Leverage: The Rashomon Job (2010) Season 3, Episode 11

Deteriorating from before this episode

[9 September 2014]

The third series may have been rushed compared with the first two. The first thing I notice is that the background music is of less quality.

In the the earlier series, we had cool up-to-date club jazz in the background. This series drops down to more standard and less well- conceived stuff in the background.

In this particular episode, the identity conceived by Sophie, "The Duchess of Barrington-Highsworth" is way too sloppy an error for someone who is supposed to be a top grifter.

I thought everyone knew that a Duchess is a very high rank - the highest below monarch if not indeed a monarch. The Queen of England is unusually referred to as the Duke of Lancaster instead of Duchess. But the principle is that a Duke or Duchess is the ruler of a province at the least. There is actually a Viscountess Barrington Highworth - note the lack of "of" at this level. At the viscount level we can indeed expect the name to relate to an estate rather than anything as massive as a province. Note also the fact that it's Highworth, not Highsworth. Point is, a grifter that sloppy would get caught more often than not!

And then we hear that the security system, a cutting-edge "Tanuki", in the museum is run by a mainframe. I'm not sure if even when mainframes were the latest technology, back in the 50's and 60's, they would have been capable of running a security system. Mainframes are distinguished by having a separate processor for peripheral devices using synchronous I/O. Security systems have to service asynchronous interrupts.

Surely these people can afford a few bucks to consultants to avoid making such mistakes? Or do they think they already know everything and don't need to do any research.

Under the Dome (2013–2015)

A dome with no home

[5/10 · 28 August 2014]

Having got to episode S01E03, with still no explanation for the dome, it seems to me it would have been better, instead of the dome, if the town had been afflicted with some kind of disease that warrants quarantine. That would have created more opportunity for the plot.

The story is not too bad; but without an explanation for the dome it makes the dome a bit pointless which is not a good place for the main theme to be.

The drama and music also don't match, with the music too loud and obtrusive, making it even harder for the dialogue to make an impact.

The acting is okay and some of the ideas are okay, but just nothing special or is it that the plot ideas don't get developed quickly enough to create suspense.

Whatever the cause, this series could have been a lot better if more work had been done on the script first.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

A must-see for all sci fans

[9/10 · 20 August 2014]

Early on I thought it would be a twist on Final Destination, then Groundhog Day but at some point after that I accepted it had originality in the plot after all!

Emily Blunt certainly managed to live up to her established record of playing unique characters that have much more than average depth. In fact it's not hard to feel that Cruise was playing above his league opposite her.

The film made me look for more Emily Blunt films in fact and without digressing too much - I'd recommend that exercise, which bore some exotic fruit.

Looking at the film as a whole, it has above average originality on the whole, good special effects, good acting and was well worth the effort.

The Tunnel (2001)

Totally realistic - this will hold your attention all the way!

[10/10 · 23 June 2014]

There have been earlier films about tunnels under the Berlin wall, but this is by far the best. It traces the story from the building of the wall and is fact-based.

This film is best watched with subtitles, because listening to the dialogue in German affords a complete suspension of disbelief. I felt as if I was actually there!

The plot is deliciously unpredictable and the characters exceptionally well developed.

Also the length is generous but justified by the fullness of the plot.

Moreover, the plot, while lengthy, doesn't contain much distraction, so that suspense builds up from beginning to end.

Payback (I) (1999)

Dirty is good

[9/10 · 13 June 2014]

Once again I have to express surprise at the average rating. This is far better than any of the Mad Max or Lethal Weapon offerings. The fact that Mel Gibson plays a crook rather than a cop gives him licence to thrill much more by comparison. Compared to the Porter character in this film, Mel's other characters are pussies. This plot on the other hand keeps you guessing all the way and sitting on the edge of your seat. The action doesn't let up, without spending much time on chases etc. which are unnecessary to a plot. By cutting out that crap, this film is still ahead of its time. I mean to say, good plots don't need it!

It also has a much larger celebrity cast than any of the mad max or lethal weapon films. So I am guessing the makers expected far more at the box office. I would have done!

I just don't understand why I had to dig this out from the bottom of the ratings pile to see it. I thoroughly recommend this film.

Spy Game (2001)

An engaging spy story

[9/10 · 11 June 2014]

Frankly, the 7.0 average rating is a gross annoyance, because 7.1 is the minimum for IMDb to classify it as "liked". So I only just got around to seeing it and only because I couldn't find anything I hadn't seen in the genre with a higher rating.

Fact is that this is one of the best spy films I have seen. It keeps your attention from the get-go. Well worth seeing.

Also it has a rich mix of intrigue, action, politics, spy-technicality, you name it!

Could it be that the genre as a whole is just too complicated for the average reviewer? Possibly looking at some of the other ratings for top spy films!

Populous: The Beginning (1998 Video Game)

A well-balanced strategic game

[9/10 · 11 June 2014]

I have only just started playing this, although it's been around a while, having played the original version on an Atari ST in the 1980s when it was packaged in with version 1 of Sim City.

The best feature is that after a few introductory levels, it starts to become a challenge already, but without going too far to be worth pursuing (some games especially some FPRPGs often make the mistake of requiring too many retries per level). I am not sure how many levels there are, but I expect that it will offer plenty of entertainment as it progresses.

Another thing I like is the volatility - winning or losing a fight is a finely balanced proposition. And if you overbuild resources, it is often too late - the enemy advanced too far and it's over.

Also, the computer players usually start off with much more, so you really need to use your wits to catch up.

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

A good day to watch something else

[5/10 · 9 June 2014]

I have to agree with the rating on this one. I think the moral here is: treat the audience like fools and they will think you the fool.

The keystone of the plot is the silliest. If you were a stranger to Washington DC or London and you had vague information that your son was in a particular one of these locations being held by the authorities, you could hardly expect to bump into them at random while travelling to the courthouse. Let's take London for example. A taxi from Heathrow to the Old Bailey would approach the Old Bailey from the West. The most likely remand location however, would be Wandsworth prison to the South. So that's a 90 degree difference in approach which is exactly average in fact, given that there is always an acute angle between two random direct paths to the same point. I imagine Moscow or any other city would be no different. The same rules apply.

Of course, I didn't calculate all this while watching - the silliness was plain enough right there and undermines the rest of the plot such as it is.

Asking myself what would be a better plot, what about some real terrorists? We had fake terrorists in the first film, but real terrorists haven't featured yet.

Furious 6 (2013)

A law of diminishing returns on film value

[5/10 · 9 June 2014]

One has to wait about 4 or 5 years between Riddick films, all of which I love. I guess I wish all the effort spent on regurgitating F&F went into delivering Riddicks more often!

Of course I realise such a preference is harder to satisfy, given the relative cost of sci-fi, whereas, apart from smashing up a few cars, F&Fs tend to be relatively low budget.

The first F&F had some suspense but after that with the details of the roles established it just seems to recycle to no good effect. I did like some of the theme tunes, although it needs to go more underground for the music accompanying the action.

The basic plot seems just too similar between one issue and the next for my tastes.