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Sixteen Candles (1984)
Condones scary amount of sexism
I'm a child of the 80s so was too young to watch this when it first came out and never got round to it til now (in my early 40s). So I can't be fully sure what my reaction to it would have been had I watched it as a 90s teen for example, but I still think I'd be taken aback by its sexism. There are multiple instances of sexual assault and harrassment (always of girls of course) and they are all brushed off by the girl as no big deal and just corny/sweet, e.g.:
- slighly younger nerd hassles lone girl repeatedly on school bus
- same nerd launches himself bodily onto same girl repeatedly in school class workshop
- romantic lead jokes/boasts to nerd about how his girfriend is out-cold drunk and he could 'violate' her 10 different ways if he wanted
- romantic lead hands over his out-cold drunk girlfriend to nerd to do with her whatever the nerd wishes
- nerd proceeds to rape the out-cold drunk girlfriend (thankfully not shown on-screen, we only see the aftermath)
- the girlfriend, on waking the next morning, realises she & the nerd had sex and she's just fine with it (rape is no biggie in this world - she wasn't just a bit tipsy/drunk, she was full-on unconscious)
- same girlfriend (and this is what gets me the most) apologises to the romantic lead (her now ex-boyfriend). WTF. The rape victim apologising to the guy who put her in the position of being abused, and he gets his ego stroked. He does not apologise to her, of course.
Strictly a film for those who don't believe sexual consent is a big deal. Or watch it to realise how out of touch it was. I was shocked when watching it, it reminded me of the completely unexpected rape scene in Saturday Night Fever (another film I'll never rewatch for the same reason). I'm sorry I bothered watching in a way, had been hoping for a lighthearted teen comedy, but it wasn't that at all. At least I can put it on my 'never to watch again' list. Stars are for the acting and some decent funny scenes, but they don't make up for its problems.
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
Frustrating
I waited a few years to watch this, until I had rewatched the original series & had plenty of free time. And now I'm wondering both why I waited, and why I bothered. I wanted so much to love this, and indeed it started off so well. But about 3-4 episodes in, it descended into.... I don't exactly know how to describe it, but can say it was extremely poorly edited thereafter: it lacked proper plot, lacked a half-decent pace (I actually prefer slow-paced series/films, but this was on a whole other level), had a ton of unrelated/unconnected, unimportant scenes with irrelevant characters that had nothing to do with the main plot - at all. They could literally have stripped out a load of extraneous scenes and not lost any meaning whatsoever from the main (supposedly) story.
It was so disappointing compared to the old series. No camaraderie around the diner with conversation, coffee & pie (ok, maybe twice in the 18 episodes)... no real character development of anyone except the few people I was probably least interested in - I think we spent more time with Gordon Cole, Albert & new woman agent (didn't even get her name, but whose sole purpose seemed to be to pout and stick her hips out like a model when she walked) than we did with Cooper. Now, as it happens, Albert is one of my favourite characters of old and I was very glad to have more time with him, but I did not care to spend so much time on Cole & model agent. And how much time did we spend with the real Cooper - you know, where he actually spoke? Hardly any. Mostly it was Cooper 'asleep' inside Dougie (which was funny for maybe 1 episode but went on for so... much... longer... it was painful).
It reaches peak weirdness in episode 8, word of warning on that one - don't go into it expecting anything like even a usual episode of this series.
If I was advising someone who had never watched any of Twin Peaks before, I'd tell them to watch the old series & stop there, and not bother with the new one at all. It doesn't add anything of substance, it doesn't explain much, and Cooper ends up almost exactly where he started at the beginning of the series. And none of the major loose ends get tied up: e.g. We find out Audrey is trapped somewhere but nothing more than that, she's never otherwise mentioned even by her father, there are no conversations between her and anyone but some stranger who is her husband, who is, as usual, weird but otherwise uninteresting. We know Josie is still trapped in the hotel but still nobody learns anything more about it than that, which we already knew going into the new series. We spend ages with characters who have zero influence on the wafter-thin plot, e.g. Laura's old psychiatrist, Ben Horn's brother, various one-off characters in the drinking place (can't remember the name), Shelley's daughter & son-in-law, one-off scenes with nameless characters discussing other nameless off-screen characters so we have no reason to ever get to know/care about them...
Unfortunately it's all style over substance. It looks great, like a film; but the writing/editing is so sorely lacking, you'll wonder what it was all for - I certainly do. I had high hopes, and in comparison to the old series it is a big downgrade. The old series was so great, full of characters we got to know and consider; we saw all the interlinking relationships and how all those eventually tied like a web into the plot and the overall mystery/case of Laura Palmer. But this new series comprises many bit-characters with little/no links to each other & none to the main story. In addition, it's missing the fun of following the clues/detective work with Cooper as he investigated & chatted with Harry/the locals that was in the old series. Instead, here, Cooper is either 'asleep', a 'doppelganger' or silently watching/walking somewhere - he has extremely few lines, and as the main character, it really suffers without his presence. I think there was only 1 half-enjoyable episode with the 'real' Cooper in it. His doppelganger was somewhat interesting but we don't really get much explanation of what he's doing or why, we just get to watch him, for the most part, silently walk/drive around, doing.... something important? (again, we've never really told what) - it's quite dissatisfying. The scenes of the Twin Peaks Sheriff's dept. Were some of the most enjoyable to me, people working together, getting to know each other better at the same time as following clues & investigating a mystery (the reasons I enjoyed the old series in the first place) - was very disappointed they were not in the last episode at all.
Also, Cooper suddenly being in a relationship with Diane and his (if I recall correctly) almost-engagement with Annie just being completely ignored & him not mentioning Annie at all is not explained anywhere - that was hard to understand. Cooper doesn't strike me as a cheater, but I'm supposed to believe he cheated on Diane with Annie for months, 25yrs ago, and is now 'over it' (or something) - didn't make sense.
One other big problem - it was in some ways too predictable, as regards Dougie anyway. I don't know how many episodes were spent on him, but it was a lot, and more than 1 was a total waste - either Cooper would eventually wake up, and Dougie had been a waste of time watching, because he was of no importance, you were just waiting the whole time for Cooper to awaken, or Cooper would never wake up, in which case there was still no point in watching Dougie, and we should have simply been spared that completely. Either way, you knew already that it was a total waste of time and in all likelihood Cooper would eventually awaken, so you were simply sitting there tapping your foot, waiting for the inevitable. I'd far rather that time had been spent on either Twin Peaks characters, or Cooper waking up sooner and actually showing us him investigating alongside others, actually talking to each other.
So overall very frustrating - a lot to think about, but very abstract, too long/meandering, big lack of Cooper & far too much of Gordon Cole (though I could have tolerated that had Cooper been in it more, as the proper Cooper), and ended up basically back where it started, i.e. Cooper stuck somewhere with Laura, right before she screams & disappears, and Cooper is lost... again - it's beginning to look lazy at this point, to never really advance the story. The music was very good though - probably the best part of the new series. Doubly frustrating to get no conclusion to bit-stories like Audrey, Josie, and whatever was going on with Sarah Palmer. Was nice to see James again, and was glad to see Norma & Ed get together finally - nice/happy moments were very few & far between in this. There wasn't even much comedy like there was in the old series, that would make you smile - I think it took itself far too seriously and overdid it big-time. I read afterwards that it was written as a film and later cut down into smaller episode lengths, and it shows, but not in a good way.
Efterforskningen (2020)
Riveting, though with some small issues
I didn't know this was a true story when I started watching, so to those reviewers who complain that 'everybody knows the story/outcome already' - well actually, no we don't all know. I never heard about the case at all at the time, and I live in Europe. I think that was an advantage, as I genuinely had no idea about how the investigation would go, if the police would ever find what they needed, if the accused would go to prison, etc. So if you have no knowledge going in, I think this series will probably be more interesting, as I felt plenty of tension wondering how the investigation would go, but if I had already known the outcome I probably would not have and would have enjoyed it less. I also had no idea it would be in a foreign language (am an English speaker) but got used to the subtitles quickly so wasn't an issue.
I liked the pacing - some will find it too slow, but to me it seemed perfectly suited, as it lets you feel, alongside the investigators, how frustratingly slow the process of building a case like this can be. It doesn't necessarily happen in days, or weeks even. It was like I was right there with them, wanting to throw something, because nothing was going right - that kind of thing can be riveting: they have to keep going and not give up, even though it seems hopeless. I was actually impressed there were not big emotional outbursts from the detectives - it is such a relief to for once watch detectives acting professionally, not engaging in in-office flirtations/shenanigans, doing their jobs properly, and letting us see what detective work is really like - that's what I like to see. It's not flashy or physically action-packed; it's mesmerising because you are (at least I was) completely immersed in the case with them. It reminds me a bit of The Wire in that sense, except we don't get to see any side except that of the detectives.
A few small qualms:
1. Boyfriend completely uninvolved & never shown, even though he was the one who reported her missing, the 2nd most likely suspect, the person with whom the victim was living at the time, the last person she spoke to aside from the main suspect, and the person with whom she had plans to emigrate. It also did not make sense that it was the parents who had all her journalistic belongings in their possession, like as if she lived with them, even though she was living with her boyfriend in another country, about 200m away from the suspect's home - why would the detectives not have searched her home first, as evidence, before it was released to the family? All seemed very strange to me. I thought it extremely odd that the boyfriend was not shown even once, especially when they were trying to understand the victim's life - I have to wonder if there was some disagreement between him and the victim's parents in real life to explain why he was almost thoroughly omitted. Or maybe he asked to be left out.
2. Lack of victimology - e.g. We never even see the victim's face til the very end credits. It was an unwise choice I think, not to let us get to know her better. We never find out e.g. Why she was interviewing the accused in the first place, the details/plans for that interview, what type of journalist she was, what kind of articles she wrote or was writing; just something really vague about 'giving a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves' - we're left to apparently make up our own minds as to what that means. So I've no idea if she was a journalist writing about e.g. Forgotten old trades, undocumented immigrants, women's rights, developing countries, etc. No idea about her general habits either - just that she was a good journalist. You get the picture I hope - even at the end, we know extremely little about the victim - we know far more about the detectives' eating/sleeping habits, and that was dissatisfying. I guess maybe the makers didn't want to pry too much or something, but it didn't seem at all realistic for a murder investigation. What happened to her was horrific, but it often seemed like it happened to a name on a piece of paper, and not a person.
3. Relationship between chief detective and his daughter was, unfortunately, boring and predictable - and I say that while having sympathy with them both. But I think it should have been done without, it didn't add anything useful, it detracted from the main story - I'd far rather that time have been spent on e.g. The victim, court work or forensic examinations.
4. It's a bit like Harry Potter in the sense that unless a detective (in place of Harry in this comparison) did/witnessed it, it's almost never mentioned. So we don't see interesting things like the forensic examinations, the pathologist's work, the court case - we almost only see the bits in which the detectives are involved, and not even all of the best bits of that - and probably a few too many scenes of the chief detective taking this dogs out for a walk (once would have sufficed) or arguing with his daughter.
5. I wish it had been explained why the victim being a journalist was an 'aggravating factor' (or some term like that) and what that actually means in the Danish legal system. The term cropped up at almost the very end, and seemed to be really important - was noted both by the prosecuting barrister (who made it seem like some kind of big revelation) and in the end credits, yet it's never unexplained *why* it's important, what its implications are. I still have no idea why that was specifically mentioned. Hopefully some knowledgeable Danes on here will fill us in. But I really think that should have been explained somewhere, even just as a passing comment, for those of us not in the know.
6. Wife of chief detective had no personality, was not fleshed out at all, but clearly there just as a prop for him. I don't even know what her name was (not sure it was mentioned even once) nor what she did for a living. Would have been better to e.g. Remove the daughter completely and give that time to the detective-wife home life interactions, so we could see/understand more what was going on in the detective's mind, have him talk a bit more to a non-detective. Instead all we get are one-liners like 'How is the case going?'....'Well, we found her body tonight. I need to ring her parents' or something like that. No personal insight really, so a bit disappointing - I guess he was trying not to bring his work home with him, but since she was asking, I'd have thought more could have been done with those conversations.
Overall really liked it, binged it in 1 night and would watch again. Shout-out to the divers in particular who did Trojan work, I had no idea they would keep looking for so long. Had never heard of cadavre dogs either, that was really fascinating to learn about, as well as the current/water/decomposition info from the oceanographer.
I really hope the victim's father has since stopped searching for the unnecessary mobile phone evidence and is instead spending that time with his wife, who I think had a much healthier outlook on how to move forward. It did end on a sufficiently bright note. I for one was happy not to have the series focus on the perpetrator and their dark side, like most series do - but it was slightly flat because that was not replaced by focus on the victim, but instead on the detectives almost exclusively. I did like the matter-of-factness of the detectives, that was as it should be, but I think injecting a bit more insight into the victim would have helped with the overall tone.
Would appreciate more series like this, with the above points better dealt with. Will be looking up the cast/writers/directors to see what else they have been in, I hope to find other good series.
Prokurator: Episode #1.1 (2015)
could not take seriously
Made it about 19mins in, til we got a scene in the mortuary with the new forensic pathologist, who apparently does not know anything about, or else does not care about, contamination/cross-contamination of evidence. To the extent that she is smoking within the mortuary itself, right on top of the dead body, who may have been murdered, and who has not even been cleaned up yet. I've never been to Poland, nor in a mortuary, but I find it extremely difficult to believe that in this day and age (ok, 6 years ago now to be more exact but still) that any real forensic pathologist would ever do such a thing. Found this absolutely ridiculous and could not watch any further. If that is the standard they are going to hold to, there is no point watching any more, it completely took me out of the story. I know smoking is more popular in some countries than others, but it does a major disservice to forensic pathologists and to Poland to even try to portray this as believable.
Bloodlands: The Kidnapping (2021)
Only for shaky cam lovers
Videographer seems to have an obsession with shaky cam, I've only watched the first 36mins and had to stop, it was genuinely making me feel motion sickness. Shakycam constantly throughout, even when people are standing still! Not sure I will manage to watch the rest. There is really no point making a well-acted/written series if the camera work is so shaky that it makes it unwatchable. Four stars for the acting/story/production of what I managed to get through - would have good potential except for the terrible camerawork. Hard to believe, but apparently there are still camera people who don't realise that shaky cam is really only suited to faux documentaries/battle scenes, i.e. Such that it induces actual realism. Nothing realistic about people standing still, talking to each other, where a documentary crew would obviously never be allowed and no real physical action is occurring, and yet camera still shaking every which way. I might skip to the 2nd episode to see how it is, maybe it was a one-off - once my head stops spinning and the nausea goes away...
Donnie Darko (2001)
Not great
This film is disjointed, meandering and shallow. I watched it for the first time last night and was left feeling at most empty and disappointed, and thinking 'Was that it?'. At about 1hr 30mins (director's cut) I was looking at the time and hoping it would be over soon, it was actually boring me and giving me too much time to think about what else I'd rather be doing or to notice little things, instead of pulling me in and gripping me. I made it to the end but it was not particularly worth it.
I read in several other reviews that there is some book online you apparently need to read to understand the film, but I have no intention of spending time looking that up. To my mind, it was simply a paranoid schizophrenic who was having delusions shortly before his death. So basically the entire film was a delusion and nothing actually happened except his death, so pretty much a waste of time. Or, the main character did actually travel back in time to save his girlfriend & Rabbit friend by dying. Honestly, either way, I did not care - I found it really difficult to care about any of the characters because they and their relationships were so underdeveloped. Even after 2hrs I don't think there was more than 1 or at most 2 meaningful conversations in the entire film. When Donnie died, I just went 'Oh, so he died after all' - but I had no emotional reaction to it whatsoever. To me that's a sign of a bad film - even a character I hate is better than a character I couldn't care less about; e.g. I think I learned only 2 things about Donnie's girlfriend in the whole film, that's how undeveloped she was, though I actually felt more shock/pity for her death than I did for his. Tons of other characters were wasted or introduced and never given anything of interest to do. There was exactly 1 funny scene in the entire film (the church-mad gym teacher at the Darko's door).
The acting, cinematography, etc. Is all good, was nice to see Patrick Swayze in an unexpectedly devious role, and the soundtrack was great; but it couldn't make up for the lack of depth. Maybe it's the fact that I'm well into adulthood; this film is I think best suited to children and young teens who can probably still be impressed by the bad storytelling if it has some weird scifi/CGI. It will depend on what one looks for in a film, whether one can enjoy this. I don't mind a film with an open/unexplained ending, I can figure something out to suit myself or even leave it as-is, but I at least need to be engaged and to care about what happens to the characters. Just making a long slightly scifi story and throwing in some characters around it does not suffice.
Supernatural: Carry On (2020)
Pretty much perfect
The ending was basically everything that I hoped against hope it would be. It takes a lot of courage to kill off a main character, even in a finale, so I wasn't expecting them to do it but am extremely glad that they did. It was completely fitting. I've watched this series from the very first episode, so for 15 years I've been waiting and hoping for the Winchester family to be fully and permanently reunited, and finally got my wish.
It was notable that the main picture on Sam's family wall over his later years is of the 4 Winchesters together the last time they were all on screen together. It was my greatest wish for them all to find each other again, which they finally have done now in Heaven (or wherever it is that they are). For me, this series has always been first and foremost about family, your closest connections, what you would do for each other, how you stay together through everything and are always there for each other when needed. And it ended in just that way.
My only tiny gripe is that the beginning of the episode started off pretty slowly and ordinarily, I was actually groaning inwardly thinking they were just going to show us a normal monster-of-the-week to depict how the rest of Sam and Dean's lives would go, and I was thinking to myself, why bother? You should have just ended it with the previous episode when it at least seemed like a proper finale! But then, it all turned upside down with Dean and from that point on it was a roller-coaster of brilliance.
I would probably rate it a 9 in reality but am giving it a 10 to try to balance out all the people giving it 1 star which is frankly emotional overreaction and immaturity. As usual, lots of people are giving the episode 1 star just because they didn't get a happy ending in the way that they wanted. That is a completely overreaction and totally unjust for the quality of the episode. In particular, the writing and acting in the goodbye scene was excellent; I didn't want to cry but ended up doing so anyway. I had not watched the series in about 6 months, ever since the break, and decided to instead do a straight sitting of all the remaining episodes in 1 go, so maybe I was a little less emotionally attached than if I had been after watching it weekly for months, but although I did shed tears at the goodbye scene, I was still also happy, knowing that Dean was likely to finally see his mother and father again, and finally be at peace.
From the very first episode, and I think really from the moment Dean lost his mother the first time around, I don't think he has ever been at peace, and more so after this father was gone. Sam and Dean together were a stable team, but Dean had so much unresolved longing for a reunited family, we see this again and again over the years - he is much more affected by this than say Sam. That got taken away from Dean once more when his father came back but had to go again, and yet again when Mary died. I don't think he was ever going to get over that, not in the way that Sam could. It was clear even in how he treated Jack - he simply could never get past it, and I think that was another brave and realistic decision; I had been expecting them to have Dean all buddy/fatherly with Jack again any episode, not because I thought that was how it should be, but because that's how shows like this normally go, generally as a crowd-pleaser. So I applaud going the route they did, it really highlights the differences between Sam and Dean well. Dean was only ever going to reach peace in Heaven when the family could all be together again. Dean was never going to leave the hunter life, he'd tried that before and couldn't be happy out of it, and he's mentioned many times over the years how he saw himself going out - I am pleased that he died in the way that he wanted/expected, even if the actual timing was sudden - it was always going to be. I am glad that his suffering could come to an end finally.
Sam, I think it was accurately said by Dean, was always the more resilient of the two mentally, the one less attached to their parents, and the one who least wanted to follow the hunter life in the first place. With Dean around, of course Sam would stay a hunter alongside his brother. But with Dean gone, I expected and was glad to see that Sam left the hunter life and went for the life that he had originally planned on having way back in the very first episode. I am so glad he got to have that life, he deserved to be happy, even if it was bittersweet without his brother. I choose to believe he married Eileen - I think they kept his wife's image blurred out (probably couldn't get the actress due to Covid-19, thanks 2020-21!) and had her and their child look very like her so we were given that impression, but it's a bit open to interpretation if that is one's preference. I also think it was telling that in one of the episodes in the run-up to the finale, some time was taken up with Sam and Dean, as children, discussing how Sam wanted to go to college and not follow the hunter way of life, and how Dean eventually respected that. This has been brought up many times before and I think it was probably a way of mentally preparing us for Sam's true future.
I wasn't expecting the whole Six Feet Under dénouement treatment for Sam, but am glad now that they did it, so that it does actually end quite happily, with Sam and Dean reunited in Heaven, with their parents around and together (though of course we can't see them either, ugh) and friends like Bobby nearby. Castiel is apparently back in place as an angel in Heaven, just as he should be. Jack (though I have to say Jack is my least favourite of the main characters) is being fulfilled in his own role and has finally become independent - this is the Jack I could actually like, pity it took til practically the end for him to get there but I'm satisfied for him. I think it's right that the 4 of Sam, Dean, Castiel and Jack go their separate ways eventually, to places they really wanted to end up. I am so happy with the entire episode. Congratulations to everyone who worked on it. It has made the past 15 years of watching, hoping and wondering completely worth it. I will treasure it forever.
Scary Movie (2000)
plodding
This plodded along so much so that at 25mins in I had to stop, check the time left, and decide if I could be bothered watching the rest. It was pretty hard to get through; I powered through eventually but can't say it was worth it. I was clock-watching much of the time, couldn't wait for it to be over; it was so pointless, the plot was so thin and characters so unsympathetic, that I could barely make it to the end. And I hate giving up on a piece of work like a film or book before the end, but this is easily one of the worst I've ever seen in that respect - there was just so little to hold my attention. I couldn't have cared much less what happened by the end.
I had expected so much more. I knew going in that it was a spoof and I've seen most of the stuff it was spoofing, but it just didn't do it well. What I assume were the 'laugh' moments were just not very funny, not even in an American Pie way (I actually find that film hilarious, even with its gross-out humour, because it does it well and balances it with plot, relatable moments and well-written characters) - this film had the gross-out but not the humour. It's not a patch on Airplane! Not even as good as Hot Shots! Some parts were so gross, and not funny at all - just gross. I won't spoil it with detail but there are at least 2 scenes of male nudity that were totally gross and not funny in any way, apparently the appearance of this should be a joke in itself according to the writers, but no actually - you need clever comedic writing to make a joke, not just show some genitalia. That's what makes the difference between the gross-out humour in this v American Pie or There's Something About Mary. Here, they shove (insert gross scene/image here) in and expect you to automatically laugh just because it's there, instead of showing relatable moments where (gross scene/image) is inadvertently involved but not the main thing happening - this makes such a difference.
The regular references to people's skin colour and related stereotypes were tiring - I get that this is an American thing, but it gets so old and as a non-American I couldn't find it funny at all. Also, the near-constant objectification and belittlement of women's bodies was hard to watch. Some bits were genuinely funny, I'll give it that - they were just so few and far between. The best funny bits were those where the events were OTT (of course, it's a spoof after all) but still relatable to real life. But most of it is just, as I said, gross.
I'm sure that in more capable hands, this could've been really good, but I only really laughed a few times throughout the entire film. Such a pity. I won't be watching the sequels that's for sure. I still give it 5 stars because after all I did laugh a bit and enjoyed reminiscing about the films it spoofed, and the acting is not the worst... not sure if I'm being too generous.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012)
Shaky cam & non-impact plot
Unless you enjoy about 90mins of *non-stop* shaky cam effect (yes really, I'm not kidding) then all that's worth watching are the first and last 15mins - you won't miss anything important outside of that. I don't understand why shaky cam was even used throughout the film - did the makers seriously expect us to believe there was someone making a documentary in a sci-fi world? Or that we wouldn't understand it was an action film without it? All it did was distract, make the film hard to follow, and make me feel ill to boot. It wasn't just in the action scenes, it was in every single scene, non-stop - I cannot stress this enough. I have never seen a film with that before, and hope I never will again: think opening of Saving Private Ryan on steroids for 90mins... I got a headache and felt quite nauseous after about 30mins, to the extent I had to stop watching the screen and mostly just listen to the film instead, with only the odd glance. The film was literally unwatchable.
Aside from the disastrous shaky cam, the plot was just not very interesting, had no real impact, barely developed characters... most time and effort clearly spent on loud explosions, special effects and the ever-frenetic shaky cam. Nothing much was explained so unless you're already familiar with BSG (which I'm not very, I've only seen Caprica so far), it's a bit hard to follow - not smart if they wanted to attract new fans.
This is one of the few films in my life where I checked how much time was left with barely half the film gone and was disappointed it was not closer to the end, I could not wait for it to be over, but kept hoping it would eventually redeem itself; that didn't happen. I will however give it 3 stars for production & acting as they were ok - but the script and camera work were woeful. I advise to save yourself the excruciating 90mins - I wish I had done.
The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story (2014)
unfair low rating
Just watched this tonight. Don't understand why its rating is so low, can only assume it's because people have a problem with it being from Screech's perspective or maybe didn't like that the actors were not exactly like their characters or didn't concentrate more on what people expected to see... Whatever the reason, I think it's unjust as this is actually a fairly good film. I'd really rate it a 7, but am giving it an 8 here to help bump it up a bit to a more realistic rating: 4.6 is totally unjustified. The acting and pace are good, and honestly I thought it was a bit too short, would have liked them to go into 'The College Years' but guess they didn't have time. I grew up watching Saved By The Bell so was very interested to watch this. I know it did not depict every single thing accurately and omitted a fair bit, but I really enjoyed it anyway and was not bored at any point, it left me wanting more.
I think it would be better to be familiar with Saved By The Bell before watching as there isn't time to explain very much about the TV show itself, though you could probably still get away with not knowing much about it, and still enjoy it. Am glad I watched it and would happily watch again. Maybe my familiarity with the characters (i.e. the real-life actors from Saved By The Bell) is biasing my view, but I'd guess most people who go to watch this film will have the same background anyway.
Veep: South Carolina (2019)
best of the season to date
A big step up from the 3 previous episodes of this season in terms of writing - not sure why the change, but very much hope this continues... I was beginning to think this whole season would be mediocre, which would be a great disappointment given its once high calibre. This was the first episode of this season that had me laughing almost the entire way through, as opposed to just cringing. And importantly, the things which I believe it has been getting wrong so far this season (in particular: extreme verbal cruelty (especially towards Amy), extreme stupidity/rudeness of Jonah, people acting out of character/reliance on cartoon characterisation rather than plot) were very much toned down. And in their place was more nuanced humour and situational comedy, harking back to prior seasons; the kind of comedy that made Veep great in the first place. It's hilarious, but also believable. Really hope that they keep this standard up for the rest of the season, to give Veep the send-off it deserves.