redx1708 Reviews

Monk (2002–2009)

Just annoying !

[5/10 · 1 April 2024]

Crime litterature has had its number of eccentric detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe, as well as TV shows like Colombo. A show like "Homeland" had Clare Danes dealing with her bipolar disorder, and then there's "Monk": I must admit that I don't understand all the great reviews, and how anybody would be able to stay with it for 8 seasons. I held out for 2 seasons and 2 episodes of the 3rd, and then I had enough.

The thing is that I actually liked most of the characters, except for the main one.

And yes, I get it. The guy has a mental condition, and I suppose that we should bear with him because of his amazing deductive powers.

But my problem is that he's not likeable at all. He's annoying, egocentric, cheap and inconsiderate to everybody around him.

Also the fact that pretty much half the time of each episode goes with him fiddling around and getting distracted by things that aren't perfectly aligned, and then suddenly declaring "I've solved the case".

And that's it !!

So if this seems like your kind of show, well, it's your time to waste, so be my guest. I quit !

Song of the Bandits (2023– )

Eastern style western melodrama.

[6/10 · 30 September 2023]

Ok, I see a lot of 10 reviews and I can't help wondering why some people think this deserves a 10.

It's not really bad though. It has some great John Woo style action sequences and the historic background is interesting.

Now maybe it's because I'm not familiar with Korean style film, but to me it seemed kind of all over the place. Western style plot with eastern style action suddenly turned into romantic melodrama. Not to mention weird scene changes. People getting seriously damaged suddenly turning up looking totally fine in the next scene. Some guy getting his ear almost bitten off, and the next minute without a scratch.

Oh and let's not forget the girl suddenly marrying the bad guy near the end.

Oh well, it still was entertaining, I suppose, but I can't really give it more than a 6 rating, mainly because scenography and camera work was very good quality.

Suits (2011–2019)

Corporate soap !

[6/10 · 2 September 2023]

I have been aware of this show for years, but I never got around to watching it until recently, and I'll admit that I quite liked it, as well as developing a huge crush on Donna. Yep, I did !!

However, I must admit that I was a bit surprised over the the very good ratings some people threw at it.

I have always liked a good lawyer show, with what it usually promises with lots of intense courtroom drama. But there's not much of that here.

I think that corporate law is not very exiting, and i guess the writers were aware of that and decided to make a soap that just happens to take place in a corporate law firm.

So as a lawyer show I would probably rate it a bit below average, but as a soap somewhat over average.

The plot itself is stupid from the beginning. A top lawyer at a prestigious law firm decides to hire an associate who hasn't a license, or having passed the bar at all, but I guess that, with it being a soap, we have to buy that since it opens up countless possibilities of future conflicts.

What's even more surprising is that it managed to run nine seasons. After the first two seasons it just started repeating itself. Always some new crisis that ended up being solved with some blue folder being trown at whoever was the cause of said crisis.

Jessica and Luis, supposedly brilliant legal minds, are hardly ever seen doing actual legal work, and most of the drama is usually about Luis making trouble because of a gigantic inferiority complex. With a chip on his shoulder that big, it's a wonder he's able to stand at all.

The acting is pretty much ok most of the time, and there are some cameo appearances with well known names in the cast.

But overall I can't give it more than a rating of 6.

Shaft (2019)

Mindless fun.

[7/10 · 14 August 2023]

What can I come up with that's good in this movie ? The plot ? Nah, nothing about it really makes any sense. Most of the acting ? Nope, that's pretty much average. The action then ? Nothing we haven't seen before a million times.

So are there any positives at all here ? YES !!

We have Samuel L doing his badass stuff like only he can with a great deal of comedy timing.

Throw in Richard Roundtree (original Shaft), and Regina Hall who's always a pleasure to watch, and you're in for a couple of hours of mindless fun. I can think of worse ways to pass the time.

Now a 7 rating is probably a little too much, since it's a rather average movie all together, but Samuel L, while playing it without putting in too much effort, raises the bar a level or two.

From Scratch (2022)

Did we really need 8 hours to tell this story ?

[6/10 · 14 August 2023]

Back in 1970 people were crying their hearts out worldwide over the movie "Love Story". The plot was simple, two people meet, fall in love, she gets sick and dies.

Mercyfully it only lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes, but apparently somebody thought that we needed to have basically the same story told all over again, but this time dragged out in an eight hour series.

Now to be fair, the acting and settings here are on a considerably higher level than the movie, and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot for a while, but as it went towards the end I couldn't help wondering "is this guy ever gonna die".

Long scenes with emotional piano soundtrack, they dragged it out for all it was worth. And for me at least it was just too much, and instead of getting mistyeyed I started being a bit annoyed. And it's not that I'm cold hearted and lack emotion. I've been known to shed a tear over movies once in a while, but this just took too long.

Heart of Stone (I) (2023)

Great Comedy !

[3/10 · 13 August 2023]

Oh, It's not a comedy ?? Well, my bad then.

However I and a few friends were laughing our butts off at the sheer idiocy of the plot.

I'm not gonna try and explain it here, because it's all complete nonsense. I do however think Gal Gadot is totally hot and that it's worth a few stars to look at her. Throw in Glen Close in a few seconds cameo appearance and you have a 3 star rating, which is probably more than it deserves, but what the hell, I'm feeling generous.

There's a lot of CGI and and a lot of explosions. Are there no car chases you ask ? Oh, there are those too.

One thing is certain though. This is not a movie that's gonna further Gadots' career.

Funny thing is that when you look at the header at IMDB it mentions under stars 3 actors, two of whom are being killed early in the movie. You need to move all the way down to the cast to find Gal who's the actual star of the movie.

Doesn't seem like anybody are taking this seriously, and having sat all the way through it I can understand why.

The Hollars (2016)

Nice try, but.......

[5/10 · 6 August 2023]

I had great expectations for this, but sadly they weren't fulfilled. Looking at the cast, it seemed very promising, and to be fair my 5 stars are mostly given because the level of acting is very good.

Unfortunately the script leaves a lot to be desired.

Krasinski is unhappy in his job (whatever it is. It's not made very clear). Apparently he'd rather write graphic novels, but hasn't really got any confidence in his artistic abilities. On the plus side he has a rich, beautiful girlfriend who's pregnant, but he doesn't seem too happy about that either.

When his mother is hospitalized, he returns to his hometown, and we're lead to believe that she has had a growing brain tumor for 10-15 years, and lots of symptoms without ever consulting a doctor. The father says he thought it was a weight thing. (No wonder his business is going bankrupt, being that stupid).

Then there's the brother, who for some reason divorced his hot wife and mother of his two children, and is now having regrets, which makes him act like an ass.

There's also an x-girlfriend of Krasinskis' who falls all over him the minute they meet, even though she's married and expecting too. But that is not really developed, and we don't see her again, which makes me wonder why she was put there in the first place.

So there's a lot of material to work with, but unfortunately it's all too sketchy to be really interesting.

I see other reviewers talking bout humor bits, but I didn't find much, and in my opinion this is indy at its worst, and a good cast doesn't save it.

The Out-Laws (2023)

Was this supposed to be funny ??

[2/10 · 7 July 2023]

The number 1 deadly sin for a comedy is when it's not funny.

Same goes for a thriller that doesn't thrill.

This one manages to hit both criteria. Not even remotely funny and certainly not exiting either.

How it even managed to get past the script level, is a total mystery to me.

The basic idea could very well have made for a decent comedy, but it would have required some talent on the writers part. Oh, and it certainly would have required Adam Devine NOT to be in it.

From the moment it begins he embarrases himself with the most ridiculous over the top "acting" I've seen for years, and it just goes on and on from there.

Brosnan and Barkin don't do much besides collecting their paychecks, and they should both be ashamed of taking part in this piece of garbage.

FUBAR (2023– )

Not an award winner, but worth watching.

[7/10 · 29 May 2023]

I read a review in which the reviewer claimed that he watched 5 minutes of the 1st episode, after which he turned it off, rated it 1 and then sat down and wrote his review complaining the it was unrealistic.

Unrealistic ?? Come on ! This is an Arnie show, not a documentary !

Anyway, reviewing a show on the basis of 5 minutes just shows that some people shouldn't bother writing reviews.

While being a bit bumpy, this is not a bad show and anyone who likes Arnold will probably enjoy it. There's a lot of funny moments, and while it gets a little long in the tooth towards the end, I had a good time watching it.

Now Arnold has never been a great actor and he still isn't, but he fills out the screen well enough as he has always done.

It's clearly not a big budget thing, but you could do a lot worse than spending your time watching it.

The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023)

An insult to the books.

[3/10 · 23 April 2023]

Bernard Cornwell's saga about the birth of England makes for great reading, and the adaption into a TV series worked very well for four seasons.

While you may excuse the writers in "Game of Thrones" because they ran out of original material, it remains a mystery why the writers of this show decided to leave the original storyline at the end of season 4.

Season 5 bore no resemblance to Cornwell's books, and this final chapter just shows what happens when bad writers think they can make material that can stand up to the original author's.

This movie is so all over the place, that it defies belief and reflects dramatically on the whole show, and not in a good way to say the least.

It jumps from place to place with no apparent goal in sight and plot holes as big as craters (oh, and let's not forget the added gay angle that seems to be mandatory in every show these days, but has no basis in historical facts).

My 3 stars go to the final battle scene, which I'll admit was pretty awesome.

The Night Agent (2023– )

Average conspiracy thriller.

[5/10 · 23 April 2023]

Think "24", "Bourne" series, "Designated Survivor", this show adds to a string of conpiracy/spy thrillers, most of which were much better.

It's not really bad, but not exactly great either, although the first 3 episodes did look promising.

It does have quite a lot of action, (car chases and the usual shootouts where nobody seems to hit anybody), even a few explosions, so that part is covered pretty well.

The plot however, is definitely where it falls short, and the added twists (and there's quite a few of them), doesn't really help. Several of those twists can be seen coming from miles away.

The acting, like the rest of the mess, is mostly average, and although it seems to be cleared for another season, I doubt that I'll be wasting my time on it.

Inspector George Gently (2007–2017)

British Crime at its best !

[10/10 · 16 April 2023]

I love British crime shows, and I've watched a lot over the years. Compared to american shows they depend not so much on action, but more on characters, with even the small parts played by character actors of which Britain seems to have an abundance.

Of all the shows I remember, two seem to rise above the rest : "Inspector Gently" and "Foyle's War". Both are period pieces, Gently set in the 60s, and Foyle during WW2.

The setting here is perfect 60s style. The cars, the mini skirts, the Ronson lighters and the amount of cigarettes smoked by the characters.

I originally rated Foyle a 10 and Gently a 9, but after recently having watched them both again, it seemed to me that Gently deserved a 10 as well.

Shaw and Ingleby makes a perfect duo, with their incompatible characters, that against all odds seem to find the exactly right mix.

Highly recommended if you can tolerate slow burn and sometimes controversial topics.

Superman & Lois (2021–2024)

Superman ok, Lois not !

[7/10 · 7 April 2023]

It's been interesting to watch the different casts of Superman and Lois Lane in the array of series/movies over the years.

Christopher Reeve was the Superman/Clark most true to the original comics, Cavill did a pretty good job as a newer incarnation of the man of steel. I liked Dean Caine as a cooler kind of Clark, and Hoechlin isn't bad as "family guy" Superman. Finally Tom Welling was great as young Clark Kent.

But it seems very hard to come up with a good Lois Lane. Except for Terry Hatcher, who was totally on the spot in "Lois and Clark", The rest have been misses. Margot Kidder was a total miscast and Tulloch doesn't seem much of a Lois either. With a perpetually anguished look on her face even when she's trying to smile, you wouldn't think that she'd been married to the man of her dreams.

Did I forget the Lois from "Smallville"? Well not really, but since she has no place being part of Clark's youth, she doesn't really count. She didn't look like any incarnation of Lois anyway.

As for this show, the concept of parenthood/family life was definitely an interesting take in the continuing Superman saga, and not a bad one either, although it does get a bit cheesy now and then.

Misconduct (2016)

What a mess !!!

[3/10 · 9 March 2023]

I guess that most people, myself included, was drawn in by the names on the cast. And after watching it, I guess that most of us were asking ourselves why it took so many good actors to make a piece of garbage like this.

With a script that was all over the place and an inexperienced Director with no sense of direction, it was all up to the actors to save it from disaster.

Unfortunately none of them seemed too interested in making an effort. Pacino and Hopkins pretty much seems to play it by ear. Both have reached a point in their careers where they have earned their reputations, and are willing to take on anything as long as the pay is good. Duhamel seems totally confused about his part through the whole movie, and Alice Eve as his wife displays all the emotional expression of a piece of driftwood. Akerman is out of the story very fast, and Stiles doesn't really have much of a part.

There's a few plot twists at the end, but they are too late to change the fact that we all could have done very well without having to waste time on this fiasco.

The Last Kingdom (2015–2022)

The should have stuck to the original script.

[6/10 · 3 March 2023]

I don't really mind if screenwriters take a few liberties when adapting a book/books for movie or television, but this is getting ridiculous !!

Season 1-3 were great following Cornwell's storyline pretty straight, but then the writers obviously thought that they could do a better job than the author, and it all went downhill from there.

With the current season 5, we have completely left the original script, and if Cornwell should happen to watch a few episodes I doubt he would recognise any similarities to his work.

They have clearly opted for some kind of medieval soap opera, and all the painfully dragged out scenes with Uthred and Aethelflaed are just as ridiculous as Dreymon's accent.

Game of Thrones should have taught them how bad it can go when you don't respect the original material.

Your Place or Mine (2023)

Reese deserves better than this !!

[5/10 · 16 February 2023]

First of all, I have to admit that a 5 star rating is probably more than it deserves, but I guess that I mainly gave it because it was nice to see Reese again. It's been quite a while.

Just a shame that it would be in a piece of mediocre garbage like this. She does ok with what she's given, but the script doesn't offer her the opportunity to really shine.

Kutcher isn't much of an actor, but he has shown a talent for these kind of movies. Unfortunately he's given even less to work with than Reese.

Due to the fact that they aren't together through most of the movie, there's no real chemistry buildup, and the last 1/2 hour seems mostly like an afterthought, because somebody suddenly remembered that they needed to kiss and get each other at the end.

Steve Zahn makes a pointless appearance as some weird guy working in her garden, and somebody must have thought that it was a good idea to have his character in the story, but I can't imagine why.

So my 5 stars goes to Reese for putting up with this and doing her best, but she deserves a lot better !!

A Perfect Pairing (2022)

We missed the Koala !

[3/10 · 7 January 2023]

A woman travels to Australia pretending to be a tourist, but in reality having an agenda to sneak into the home of a wine company owner, so she can get a contract for her newly established distribution firm. Clearly an attempt of deceit !

Later the guy, after having tried to tell her a few times, finally tells her who he is, and she accuses him of lying to her.

Now, I'm not exactly sure how women's minds work, but in my mind lying is telling something that's not true, which he hasn't done at any point.

It's not the first time this has happened in these kind of movies, and I wish they would stop doing that. Holding something back is not lying.

Of course this is just a lame attempt to create some kind of conflict near the end of the movie. Cause we all know that there has to be a conflict, it's a mandatory part of any romance movie. But we also know that they are gonna end up together anyway.

Anyway, this is not really a good rom/com. Demos does his quiet and charming aussie guy, and he's pretty much the only one who should get any credit. He did the same type in "Falling Inn love", which was a rather more charming movie.

Victoria is pretty enough to be a female lead in these Hallmark type romances, but her acting skills are better left unmentioned.

So a waste of time, and we didn't get to see a Koala either !!

Peacemaker (2022– )

This is HUGE !!!

[10/10 · 29 December 2022]

Hands down, this is the greatest superhero show I've watched for a long time if ever.

Having seen the somewhat bumpy "Suicide Squad" of 2016 and "Birds of Prey", the 2021 version of Suicide Squad was highly recommended to me by several friends. And it totally bowled me over. This had everything the 2016 version missed, and the Peacemaker character rocked big time.

I think that I owe John Cena an apology.

I actually didn't think he was much of an actor, but the movie and this series proved me wrong as it turns out. What he brings to this character is nothing less than brilliant. The humour and yet sadness of his part just comes out awesome. Respect !!!

With a 2nd season coming up, I can only hope that they'll manage to keep up the quality level.

Always and Forever Christmas (2019 TV Movie)

Waste of time !

[2/10 · 28 December 2022]

I don't expect much from Christmas movies, but I usually watch a bunch during December, and this year there were actually 1 or 2 above average. Those were the ones where several of the actors could actually act.

This wasn't one of them.

I think this was the worst I've watched this year.

Not so much because the plot was stupid, that seems to be mandatory for these flicks. (A shop that only sells Christmas stuff ?) They must be doing terribly well during Christmas time to make ends meet for the rest of the year, considering that the stuff they sell seems to be in the cheap end.

But the acting ! Oh brother !

I understand that Ms Lawson was in Hamilton on Broadway, and allegedly did very well there, but there's a big difference between acting on stage and acting on camera, and she certainly has to up her game considerably there. Keeping a forced smile on her face all the time and sounding like she read her lines from a teleprompter doesn't quite work.

1 star each to Ghanime and Broderick for working hard to make this work, but pretty much a wasted effort.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

The dragons looked great !

[4/10 · 27 October 2022]

Some reviewers have claimed that I shouldn't compare it to GOT, but how can I not ? After all, it wouldn't have been here if not for GOT.

And while the first couple of episodes didn't exactly impress me, I decided to watch the whole season before judging it. I mean, giving it the chance to develop the characters, it was bound to get better, right ?

Wrong ! It didn't !

The crew in charge of lighting must have gone on strike, cause most of the season played out in semi darkness, and it also seemed like most of the episodes had plot for about 30 minutes of time, which caused scenes to be dragged out painfully, and supplied with fillers like 10 minutes of soft porn in #4, and 10 minutes of people dancing in #5.

And then there was the time jumps. The season spanned about 20 years, so we were treated to a lot of changing actors, but oddly enough some characters didn't seem to age at all. Otto, Daemon, Rhaenys and Criston looked pretty much like they did at the beginning of the season. I guess the makeup crew was too busy turning Viserys into a crypt keeper lookalike, to do something about that.

As for the acting, I'm not gonna comment on that, since the lack of character build gave the actors very little to work with. That also meant that whenever somebody was killed, I was mostly like "right, so that happened", because they hadn't build up the character enough for anyone to care.

If they wanted to make a spin off, from a popular show, they could at least have tried to maintain just a bit of the quality of the original, but this was just a very sloppy production way below what we have come to expect from HBO.

The dragons looked great though :)

Love in the Villa (2022)

Another two hours you won't get back.

[4/10 · 1 September 2022]

Another run of the mill romcom, but what can you expect. I totally agree with the reviewer above, and the only reason that I rate it one more star, is that I reviewed another romance flick yesterday and gave it 3 stars, and this one is slightly better. (Which is not saying much). It seems that every romcom that takes place in Italy, has to include at least one insane driver, and sure, we got one here too.

The girl gets dumped by her boyfriend at the start, which is no wonder since she's totally over the top, having everything planned to make her romantic delusions come true. However, we may wonder how he managed to stand it for 4 years, which apparently is how long their relationship has lasted. We might also wonder why he decides to turn up later and propose, but i guess that was in the script and out of his control lol.

The whole plot lacks imagination just as the lame title. Love in the Villa, seriously ??? You couldn't come up with anything better ?

It is possible to make decent romance movies even with the restriction the genre imposes, but it takes dedicated writers and actors, and they clearly didn't have either here. Tom Hopper looks like he'd rather be anywhere else through the whole movie.

Waste of time.

That's Amor (2022)

Don't bother !!

[3/10 · 30 August 2022]

Romance movies are a "once in a while" guilty pleasure of mine, and I don't expect Oscar material when I watch one. I do however expect relatable characters, passion and chemistry, and if I'm lucky, some above average acting and maybe a few twists that makes it stand out from your average Hallmark cliche.

Sadly this one lacks all these things, and I'm not comparing it to really great movies, but to movies of the same kind. And this is bad, even for a romance movie.

The acting is mediocre for the most part, although the Mother wasn't too bad, but the reviewer who compared her to Sally Fields, shouldn't be allowed to write reviews lol. And while predictability is pretty much mandatory in these stories, it can be done a lot more interesting than here. There's no visible chemistry, and the actors are left with doing what the script tells them and say their lines like they read them from a teleprompter.

The feeble attempt to create a bit of drama by bringing in her ex-boyfriend and his current flame falls flat because nobody seems able to drum up the tension that's needed. And the mother's long lost boyfriend magically appearing at the end is so cheesy that it defies belief.

Even Netflix have done better than this sometimes. Waste of time and money.

Love & Gelato (2022)

I love Gelato but......

[3/10 · 22 June 2022]

Sometimes I can't help wondering why some movies survives the script stage. It's not that i don't like a good romance flick, but unfortunately a vast majority sucks.

This one definitely does ! The characters are totally one dimensional and none of the actors seem to bother fleshing them out. Every twist and turn of the plot can be seen coming from miles away, and the most we get from this movie is some nice pictures of Rome, and that Italians are insane drivers.

We get some alleged love triangle between a smart rich guy and a nice not so rich guy, and there's some kind of mystery regarding who her father was, which might have been interesting if our leading girl was in any way interest worthy.

The script seems oddly fragmentary, and scenes just seem to be put in randomly. Waste of time.

Surviving Summer (2022– )

Hard to survive !

[4/10 · 3 June 2022]

Seems I'm the 2nd one to review this, and the 1st guy rated it 9. Well some people are clearly easy to please.

It's not exactly a bad show, but the story line is very superficial and most of the time are spent with us watching people surfing with pop music on the soundtrack.

What little drama we get is something bout Summer being mad about being sent away from home, and then not being mad about it after a while. And there's the dude that was injured once, and blames a former friend, but then they become friends again. Serious drama indeed !!

But i guess it just might keep the teen surfer crowd happy, although serious surfers will probably shake their heads in disgust.

Not much to say about the acting since there's very little of that, and I'm kind of insulted on behalf of the teens that are obviously the target group here. I think they deserve better than this. Personally I'm surely gonna survive Summer, but I doubt the show will survive more than 1 season.

The 5th Wave (2016)

No more waves please.......

[3/10 · 21 May 2022]

I decided to watch this movie because the poster looked cool (although they clearly stole the idea from "Independence Day").

It also had Chloe Grace Moretz in it, so i figured it couldn't be all bad.

And for a while it actually seemed pretty decent (in a discount version of ID sort of way). But then it gets predictable. The family makes it to a refugee camp, and suddenly the military turns up. Apparently they have electricity as well as fully working vehicles, something we learned earlier had disappeared with the 1st wave, so obviously something is fishy here. The alleged military then proceeds to kill all the adults and kidnap the children. Only Cassie escapes, (because she had to go looking for her kid brother's Teddy Bear of all things), and we follow her walking through the woods, until she finds a store where she kills some guy holding a crucifix.

Out on the road again, she's suddenly attacked and shot in the leg, and wakes up a week later in the home of a mysterious guy named Evan who appears to have saved her life, and after having watched him sporting his six pack while bathing, we get the feeling that a romance angle will appear shortly (and it does too).

She's determined to find her kid brother (apparently so he can have his Teddy Bear back), and Evan offers to help her. Have you wondered if Evan is really an alien ? If you have, you got it right ! However it turns out that he has become more human (of course he has), but she decides to move on alone.

Now the plot gets really stupid !

As you have probably figured out by now, the military are really the aliens, brainwashing the children to go out and kill any human survivors. Among the children we find her kid brother and also (oh, brother), a former high school crush of Cassie's, Ben, for some reason also known as Zombie.

After somehow managing to enter the military base and finding both Ben and her brother, they are almost caught, but who should pop up now but Evan (of course), who tells them that he has planted explosives all over the base and they better skedaddle as fast as they can before the whole thing blows up.

It's never explained how he got those explosives or managed to plant them, and judging from the following explosions, he surely must have had an enormous amount. But anyway they manage to escape together with some of the other kids, but so does the bad aliens, so we could well be up for a sequel. What happens to Evan is not quite clear either, but I'm sure he'll turn up again if they decide to make one.

Now, of course this is total nonsense, but Grace Moretz does what she can, and i must admit that I couldn't help finding it funny as the story went on, and it's clearly made for kids. That being said it's still a crappy movie, and deserves a rating of 3.