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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)
Poorly animated, derivative, contrived, and generally awful bar the music
As a massive fan of Cyberpunk 2077 with over 400 hours and 4 characters I was expecting a lot more from this. After finally being persuaded to watch it by my 20-year-old son (he know I'm not a fan of animation) I was terribly disappointed. The animation is a joke, what's the frame rate there, 10 fps? It's poorly drawn, very rough and at times more like watching a PowerPoint presentation if you switch through the slides quick enough. The story was incredibly derivative and I predicted what was going to happen as soon as he got hold of the implants. The music was good, and it was nice to see recognisable (barely) parts of NC, but that's about it, I couldn't watch another episode.
As gamers we spend so much time ensuring we have the best gear to get the fastest frame rates, the highest resolution, perfect ray tracing etc, and then as modders, we go a step further to make the game as photorealistic as possible. Watching this drivel was like watching gameplay from a game in the early noughties.
I assume that the high scores are from young people brought up on anime, the worst kind of animation imo, watch Tom and Jerry from the 1960s, it's leaps and bounds better than this. Disappointing, can't believe CDPR would put their name to this rubbish.
How much better would this have been if it had been done in CGI to match the game graphics, a wasted opportunity.
The Stranger (2020)
Rollercoaster ride, very exciting, well acted
I've read many of the low star review ratings here and I can understand why many of the reviewers felt that way but, you really have to pay attention to what's going on. I don't want to reveal spoilers but all but one loose end I could count are tied up at the end. You may questions why some people make the decisions they do but that's based on your own much better judgement, some of these characters are desperate, afraid of losing everything so it's understandable how they reacted.
I really enjoyed this mini series, the acting from everyone was very good, even the kids were brilliant. I would have liked a different ending but that's because I'm a romantic and we can't always get what we want can we. I binged this in three days watching three episodes per day and was thoroughly engrossed, each episode leaves you on the edge of your seat almost screaming at the tv as you look at the clock and see it's 3am and you have to get some sleep. Brilliant, a solid 9/10 and for the reviewers giving this a 1 you need to watch it again so you can see where the threads tie together, it's very very clever.
Black Mirror (2011)
The first two episodes were enough!
After sitting through two hours of this series starting with episode 1 and 2, I just wanted to step outside and get a breath of fresh air to remind myself that this was just the ravings of some lunatic who somehow managed to get a budget to write this crass, depressing, ridiculous and totally unconvincing crap ever seen on TV and not actually reality as some people seem to think it is.
Really, don't waste your time, I want my 2 hours back, I can't have them, I don't know what is more depressing, watching this or knowing that I actually gave some of my life to do so. From a prime minister forced to have sex with a pig on live TV to a dystopian future where everyone is a prisoner in a windowless world forced to peddle for credits and watch pornography. Who writes this crap and how on Earth do people think this is good?
Wake up world, there are a thousand better TV shows to watch, the two episodes I have seen, and they will be the last two ever, are quite simply the worst stories I have ever seen on television, give it a miss, you'll thank me.
Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits (2011)
Well that's an hour of my life I can't get back
After the abhorrent first episode of Black Mirror I was convinced to keep going and at least try the second episode which is one of the most highly rated, so I did.
Oh dear what a mistake. I wonder if the best way to deal with this is to list the main problems:
1. It's very slow and boring taking an age to get into the meat of the story.
2. It is never explained exactly why everyone has to peddle to earn credits.
3. The amount of energy generated from the bicycle during a vigorous workout is at max 100 Watts per hour, a 55 inch TV will consume around the same, are we supposed to believe that they are powering society by doing this because they are barely powering the TV in front of them, if so the entire concept is massively floored.
4. I wondered if they were prisoners at first and this was their punishment, but again the story never eludes towards that premise.
5. The people who clean the floors have an easier life than the cyclists but are derided for not working hard enough.
6. Where is the outside world? At the end we see the lead character, having sold his soul and principles to the system, looking out over a forest that appears to be real but is it?
What is the message the writers are trying to tell us, that we are all prisoners to the mass media around us? I just don't get it. The only redeeming feature of this episode was the performance by Daniel Kaluuya when he made his speech on stage, for that this episode gets a 3/10 from me. The rest of the episode was depressing, ridiculous, poorly thought out, unrealistic, and just awful.
I will not be wasting any more of my life watching this awful series and I would advise you to find something better to watch, you won't have to look far.
Black Mirror: The National Anthem (2011)
Quite simply the lowest television could ever get
I was told to watch Black Mirror, it's a great series, with fascinating stories, so with nothing else to do I thought I'd give it a go and of course, I started at the first episode. The National Anthem is probably the most unrealistic portrayal of every character within the story. The general public would never expect the prime minister to have sex with a pig, whether the princess had her finger cut off or not. Before this incident "only" 28% of the public thought he should do it, after the finger snip that rose to 86% in polls. What total and utter BS,. They would back the PM and his team more as if the kidnapper is prepared to do this then there is little chance the princess would be allowed to live even if the PM decided to go ahead with this sick demand. The PM's wife had no sympathy for him and clearly a year later couldn't bear to look at him, the whole thing is just nasty. So that's Dark Mirror, I think I'll give it a pass.
But then, I read onwards and saw that even the biggest fans of this sick twisted steaming pile of horse manure hated it and advised newcomers to watch all of Black Mirror except the first episode, I shall therefore persist and see if it improves, it could hardly get any worse as this particular episode is probably the worst television episode I have ever seen in my 60 years.
Homeland: Prisoners of War (2020)
Entertaining but unrealistic
Carrie always has another way of achieving her objectives, she's proven that over the years, and yet here in this last episode she runs out of ideas and just blindly follows the GRUs plan, either give up the asset or kill Saul. This is lunacy.
Firstly they will know that the second she gives up the asset then that asset is gone, spirited away faster than you can say Homeland.
Secondly killing Saul would not reveal the identity of the asset and as they rightly point out Saul would have handed it over to someone else, but would he have handed it over to Carrie, an unstable person no matter how brilliant but also no longer in the CIA? That would have been handed over to someone else by now.
Thirdly, even if she had a brain fart and was unable to realise that this was a regional issue and Russia is the long term enemy, Saul actually told her that and she still went ahead with the ludicrous plan.
Fourthly, there is no way in hell she would put Saul through all that, almost having him killed, she loves Saul and vice versa, it is completely out of character.
There were many other issues with this season, not least the ridiculous loss of the helicopter carrying the presidents, so many errors there and many others I see have commented on that particular episode.
It was entertaining if you let your brain fall out, sadly this is typical of writing nowadays, they just run out of ideas and wrap up the story as quick as they can, I know let's have Carrie marry the Russian and then she can be Saul's new asset. Really? The minute she moved into Yevgeny's house he'd have had to have given up being an intelligence officer, no way on Earth the GRU are that stupid.
Shame it all had to fall apart at the end, it could have been so much better.
The Why Files (2020)
One of the best YouTube channels out there
With a mix of science, comedy, and interesting content The Why files is a must watch. AJ's presentation is flawless, his acting is great with the hilarious Heckle Fish. As a scientist I watched a few episodes expecting the usual nonsense but AJ debunks as well as he can and this is very refreshing, it still leaves an interesting story with perhaps the odd unexplained seed at its core. I particularly liked the time travel and parallel dimensions such as the Backrooms episode, the Vatican's secret time machine is also great, all fully debunked, it was fascinating to see how some of these stories originate.
AJ certainly does a lot of research into his stories, I wonder if he has a large team of researchers or if Heckle Fish does most of the work! I'm off to make myself a tin foil hat and watch more Why Files.
Highly recommended.
Better Call Saul: Saul Gone (2022)
How to ruin a great series
Its replayability value is basically nil now with such a depressing and hopeless ending. We were promised fireworks and we got a damp squib.
After Howard's horrific death it's as if the writers went on holiday and asked someone else to finish it off because they'd lost interest. On the other hand, Breaking Bad retains ultimate replayability because not only is it a rip-roaring rollercoaster of emotions throughout but you know that the final season ahead of your re-watch is the most nerve-wracking edge-of-your-seat stuff ever seen on TV, everything is heading up to this phenomenal ending, whereas everything in BCS is heading towards this slow drudgery of season 6's last four episodes.
For me they lost the plot at the end, they didn't know what to do with it, and rather than follow Jimmy's true character they went all woke and made him repent in this Damasican road revelation way which was totally out of character, a character we had come to understand in the brilliantly written first 5 seasons. It's as if they said, oh you know what, this guy you've all come to know and love in exquisite detail is now, in the penultimate minutes, suddenly a reformed character who wants to throw himself under the bus, and for what, to save Kim from a civil lawsuit which couldn't happen anyway?
Having thought about this for a few days now I can now look at the show from more of a distance and state, in my opinion of course, that they totally ruined the ending. There were many far better and more plausible endings proffered by people in this group, and most of them would have been more enjoyable than the rubbish we were given.
Such a shame, but at least there's no danger of Breaking Bad being knocked off it's thrown as the ultimate TV show.
Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure (2021)
"Mornin"
The guys have hit the big league now, this is a tremendously fun production with terrific directing, acting, effects, makeup and incredible scenery, the locations used are mind blowingly gorgeous, it's easy to see why Lord of the Rings was filmed here. The story is very poignant, those giving this a low star rating simply don't get it and sadly never will. I really hope they make more of these short films.
Missing 411: The Hunted (2019)
Pseudo-woo for the gullible
Some history
David Paulides is a former policeman who had to resign from the police force from his job as a court attendant after being caught scamming autographs from famous people using Police stationery. You can search this online there are plenty of links. He then went on to write books about Bigfoot and start the North America Bigfoot Search (NABS) LLC. After that, he started the Missing 411 series of books, which expound the theory that many disappearances within national parks are mysterious and cannot be explained by rational means. Interestingly Mr Paulides never promotes any particular theory for the disappearances and he says himself that doing so would greatly damage his integrity, he states he is just giving us the facts and letting us, the reader, make our own conclusions.
There have been numerous debunkings of the 411 phenomena, search for Kyle Polich 411 debunking, check the Wikipedia page, which Mr Paulides states contain many errors and is "disgusting" but which he cannot get changed, he points to a conspiracy at Wikipedia to undermine his work.
He also points to a conspiracy at the higher levels of the National Park Service for denying him access to lists of missing people. FOIA has been made by Mr Paulides and some have been refused this is true, but it doesn't mean there is a conspiracy just that the list doesn't exist or the cost to compile it would be too high.
An investigation into the first book, "Missing 411 Eastern United States - Unexplained disappearances of North Americans that have never been solved" was carried out by the user u/theOldUnknown on Reddit and details 12 cases from the book with original source material for reference, these cases contain numerous errors from Mr Paulides and in each case where the book states the outcome as unknown, the actual missing people are either alive and well or turned up dead.
Results:
Riley Amsbaugh missing 1902, found alive, Cause of disappearance: had Dementia. CANAM STATUS: Never found
E. C. Jones, 1903, Alive, Cause of disappearance: Marital jealousy. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Edward Gerke 1918 Dead, Cause of disappearance: Lightning or foul play (gasoline/kerosene)Found, CANAM STATUS: lightning is mentioned
Bernice Price 1923 Alive, Cause of disappearance: Domestic abuse. CANAM STATUS: Never found
William Pitsenbarger 1931, Dead. Cause of disappearance: Suicide Found, CANAM STATUS drowning is mentioned
George Bell 1936, Alive. Cause of disappearance: Anxiety. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Jewell Hinrickson 1948, Alive. Cause of disappearance: Visited her father's home. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Judd McWilliams 1948, Dead. Cause of disappearance: Exposure. CANAM STATUS: Never found
LeRoy Williams 1951, Dead. Cause of disappearance: Snowstorm (heart ailment?). CANAM STATUS: Never found
John Sweet 1953, Dead, Cause of disappearance: Heart attack/natural causes. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Louis Blair, 1956, Alive. Cause of disappearance: Monetary issues. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Anthony Holland, 2009, Dead. Cause of disappearance: Suicide. CANAM STATUS: Never found
Mr Paulides omits critical information from his stories, in the Aaron Hedges case he never mentions that Mr Hedges was a recovering alcoholic taking powerful meds to help with withdrawal symptoms. The dates in the movie are all over the place and inaccurate, the distances travelled are incorrect and so on. He lies by omission to suit his narrative and then makes wild correlations to make it look like something mysterious is going on. For example two women disappear decades apart but they both have three letter names beginning with the letter A.
Missing 411 is a virtual clone of the Bermuda Triangle but involves missing people, not ships and planes, and in areas of the National Parks of America and some other parts of the world.
His interest is in selling his books and making a profit, there is nothing wrong with that if they were factually accurate, but they are not, and they are aimed at the armchair detective whom Mr Paulides banks on not doing any actual research for themselves.
I would describe Mr Paulides as a mystery content creator writing books and making documentaries that are loosely based on actual events in an attempt to promote intrigue and mystery into what are pretty mundane and tragic circumstances. It is a shame that the families of the missing have to deal with the crackpot fringe pointing the finger at Bigfoot, portals, Lemurains, and aliens as having been responsible for the death or disappearance of their loved ones.
Reckoning (2019)
30 min of my life I will never get back
Boring, predictable, slow, unlikeable characters, wooden acting, the film equivalent of lift music. Don't waste your time.
Dark (2017)
I fell asleep - Dark and so slow
Ok I got half way through episode 4 and finally had enough. Seriously this is dull, long and drawn out, the first 4 episodes shouldn't have taken more than an hour, it's how long can we drag out the suspense whilst looking as dreary and bleak as possible. There is nothing good about this show, I am utterly amazed that so many people here think it's top tier Sci-fi, because they clearly haven't watched the Expanse or similar if they do. Perhaps the appalling dubbing on Netflix makes it worse, it certainly doesn't help, and this show really needs something to help it get going. It's like an old clapped out car that needs some nitrous in the tank to get it to go, watch only if you like the super slow burn, miserable people, miserable environments, over the top suspenseful music and awful dubbing. Yawn, I'm off to bed.
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Not the Star Trek I was looking for but still great TV
Review up to episode 7
I found myself wondering why I'd watched the first two episodes then left it for five weeks to catch up? It wasn't because I hadn't enjoyed episode one and two, I had, I suppose it just didn't grip me enough to sacrifice my gaming time to watch and I was in the middle of watching DS9 Dominion war episodes which I finished yesterday. So, last night and this morning I got myself up to date and here is what I think.
This is not the Star Trek I was hoping for but it is the Star Trek I expected. Picard is an old man in his seventies, had he not resigned he would have retired by now, so no seven year voyage of discovery to look forward to. This had to be about a personal journey, a story that could mean something to not only Picard but also to us, the fans. What more noble deed than to save Data's daughter after Data died to save Picard in Nemesis. Incidentally then she could not be data's daughter as Data was dead years before Soji was created, more she was Data's granddaughter, Maddocs created Soji using tech derived from Data from what I can see.
So Picard learns about Data's progeny from Soji's sister who very quickly gets killed by the Tal Shiar. We learn throughout the series that the Synths have gone mad, destroyed Mars and through, presumably some vision of the future mind-melded into Aggi via Commodore Oh, will destroy the Earth and trillions will die. That's why the Romulans are hell bent on wiping out all Synths. Obviously this will not be the reality and someone is manipulating everyone else, we'll find out later no doubt.
So what do I think? I'm not sure, I can say I am enjoying it and I'm looking forward to Friday and the next episode. Maybe it's easier to say what I didn't like.
I don't like the dark oppresive future assigned to the Federation, clearly neither does Picard, but the point is it should not be written like that, please don't take away our optimistic future.
I don't like some of the silly "clever" dialogue, some is so bad I have to put subtitles on to understand what they are saying.
I find it silly that the Captain would have to smoke a cigar to look cool hundreds of years after they will have been outlawed.
I don't like how characters tend to great each other with weapons drawn and decades of baggage hanging from their shoulders.
I don't like this entire thing not being about a Starfleet crew exploring the galaxy, it's more like a futuristic Bourne identity, which in itself is not a bad thing, it's just not Star Trek.
I don't like characters using the "F" word in Star Trek, ever, it's unnecessary and means I won't be able to watch it with my grand kids when I get some!
I despised what happened to Icheb, it was disgusting to watch and to one of my favourite Voyager characters, it was also a total waste of an excellent character who could have joined up with Seven later in the series, graphic torture has no place in Star Trek, for the same reasons the F word does not.
I didn't see any reason for Hugh to be killed, although I have a feeling his nanites will save him.
I didn't like the hints of an relationship of Narek and Rizzo, just odd man.
Why would the EMH's all look like Rios, seems silly, is the man so narcissistic he needs all of them to look like him?
The rest I totally loved and it's what will keep me coming back for more, episode 7 Nepenth, was lovely, seeing Troi, Riker and Picard together again brought tears to my eyes, fantastic chemistry which can never be acted, these people really do love each other in real life and are not acting in these scenes other than the words they say, and that was lovely.
Looking forward now to see what happens next and will review again at the end of season 1.
Salvation: Get Ready (2018)
Whatever it is, it's here!
Wow, never saw THAT coming, great twist, absolute mega cliffhanger for season 3, must be renewed.
Dinosaur (2000)
The perfect family adventure for the little ones
My son grew up watching Dinosaur, for it's day the CGI was about as good as it got and the asteroid impact is still incredible to watch today in 2018. The story is lovely, predictably safe for the younger children with just enough scary bits to make them hide behind a cushion from time to time. It has great moral values and explains in it's own cute way the life of prey and predator, and also how our differences can be great strengths. The musical score is beyond 10 out of 10, I love to listen to it and play along on my keyboard. I really don't understand what's not to like, and what's more I don't care, we, as a family, loved it and still do today, even though my son is not so little any more.
Hinterland: Return to Pontarfynach (2016)
A three season slog to a terrific finale
Finally, season three was worth Hinterland worth watching. The underlying story based around the child abuse by senior police was brought to a gripping conclusion. I was somewhat pleased that Prosser wasn't an abuser and in the end turned out to be not quite as weak as Owen believed, to his cost! However he certainly lost his way and was guilty of the murder of Iwan and the just execution of Owen.
Mathias was the real hero in this episode, he stuck to his principles and would not be threatened as so many before allowed themselves to be. Mared did her usually Guppy Fish impression on most scenes but she at least stuck by Tom. The romantic in me wanted to see these two get together by the end of this last season but I don't think the writer ever wanted anything so nice to play a part on Hinterland, most of the time you're lucky if you get a smile.
All in all I'm pleased I got to the end of this show, the road was long, slow, tedious, incredulous (in some episodes), miserable, boring and trite, however there is something about the show that kept me coming back for more and even now I can't put my finger on it, you'll have to see for yourself what it is.
Hinterland: The Tale of Nant Gwrtheyrn (2015)
Finally, some humanity
Not going to recap the story, not sure why reviewers do that as it's already in the synopsis. Here though is the best episode to date. Whilst the Welsh lynch mob is somewhat badly done the rest of the story is tragic but with a beautiful ending. I see feelings developing for Tom from Mared and I suppose it's inevitable where that will end up, but at least now we see some of the characters acting with some humanity and some emotion rather than wandering around giving everyone the eye like some miserable automatons in previous episodes. At the end I had tears in my eyes, so something worked and I do want to watch the next one.
Hinterland: Ceredigion (2015)
Hey character development!
Well here's a novel concept that clearly only occurred to the writers half way through the second season. Finally we begin to see the incredible burdens on Tom's shoulders. This is a better episode and I still am surprised that I keep on watching, but now at least I want to see what happens next.
Hinterland: In the Dead of Night (2015)
Switch your lights off!
Well season 2 and I'm still here propping my eyelids open with matchsticks, this episode moves at a glacial pace and is even more miserable than normal. Not one character in this show has any redeeming features, they are all as miserable as sin. The plot is very predictable although the final whodunit was slightly surprising and at the same time even more depressing than finding someone else for the murder.
Here's a tip DCI Mathias, if you're going to tail someone on a single track road where you're the only two cars for twenty miles at night switch you headlights off, the guy being tailed was clearly blind for not spotting the headlights.
Mared hurts her wrist after being knocked over and then shortly after is seen leaning with her full weight on the bannister, hmm, not convincing. Prosser spends more time staring out of windows and at tv screens watching Mared and everyone seems angry with everyone.
This area of Wales has to be the most depressing part of the UK, all the locals are miserable, none of them stop what they're doing to talk to the cops, they simply walk away as they are being spoken too.
Who writes this crap and why am I still watching? I think the main reason is I just keep hoping it will get better, that and I enjoy looking at Mali Harries, shame she doesn't smile, but then again nobody does.
Hinterland: The Girl in the Water (2013)
Really?
Unbelievable nonsense, this show gets worse. At least the scenery wasn't quite so depressing this time. The first kiss on the very spot the daughter's body was found, the obvious death of the women the moment she got involved with the unprofessional lead cop, the boys left under the supervision of their brother who would have been a child when their father went to jail, the weird loner who managed to make a model of the women he was to murder and place in a bath within hours of her being found even though he was in custody at the station...the list goes on. I hope the next season is better.
Hinterland: Penwyllt (2013)
Just carry on skinning the rabbits
If you or I were interviewed by the police as part of a murder inquiry, would we just carry on skinning the rabbits, washing the truck or mending the thingamajig? The only time anyone ever sits down and talks normally is when they are brought to the station. This is just not how real people interact.
The dark brooding stares were in abundance this episode, everyone looking at everyone else as if they know something, especially the police chief who generally always gets everything wrong and then grunts a lot and offers a begrudging thank you later to his DCI. This is the guy in charge and yet he is portrayed to look like a bungling idiot with not an ounce of detective in him.
So they wanted to teach the victim a lesson and they did this by snapping off the bolts of a cattle grid and putting him under it, all this at night in a terrible rain storm and yet when the police wanted to even lift up the cattle grid they needed a digger to do so, even post bolt snappage.
So many holes, so badly written, saving grace is the countryside but this series even manages to make the beauty of Wales look foreboding and unwelcoming, not occasionally as it should but in every shot.
I could go on but I can't be bothered, it's not worth the effort really.
Happy Valley (2014)
Well this is about as good as it gets.
Superb performances from all actors, but the shining light here is Sarah Lancashire, this lady is so supremely talented I find it hard to believe she doesn't have that accent and she isn't really a police officer.
The writing is first class, the story is thoroughly gripping from start to finish, my only regret is that I've finished all the episodes on Netflix. Hope for a new season is high, could be 2019, but whenever it is, it's not soon enough.
Hinterland (2013)
Moody, slow, interesting, unbingeable
The real star here is the Welsh countryside, shame it's always filmed in winter or autumn and mostly looking forlorn and windswept, however still beautiful. The stories are very contrived and just about plausible but you have to suspend a lot of disbelief. The acting is wooden on the whole because the writing is wooden, the characters are not given the freedom to develop and there is no warmth from anyone about anything, no banter, no light diversion from the grim realities of investigating a murder.
If you've watched all the others then this is ok, it's not terrible, but it's not bingeable (is that a word? it is now ok!). I found myself dropping off more than once during this and at the end, even though I knew who done it, I didn't care, I didn't care about the victims or the heroes, they are all so one-dimensional.
If you want to see how a real police drama is made then I recommend Happy Valley, this doesn't come close I'm afraid. I may update this review when I've watched more, if I can be bothered.
Grimm: The End (2017)
Terrific ending to a wonderful show
Thank you everyone involved in making this show. From the off it was something quite different to your average cop show or your average monster show. The characters are wonderful and the acting is spot on. There's a great chemistry between all the actors and whilst not every episode has a fantastic story the cast interactions make up for it.
This final episode was brilliant, if a little short. I think it also became obvious that Nick's family would live again, although they weren't brought back to life as some here have said, this was a temporal event and so they never actually died.
Going for 10/10 for this episode and 9/10 for the entire show. I do hope there is a follow up series.
Sherlock: The Final Problem (2017)
How the mighty have fallen
After being thrilled by the first three seasons of Sherlock it was with dismay that I watched the 4th season slide ever deeper into a convoluted mess. I am actually quite surprised the actors actually agreed to make this crap. The story in "The Final Problem" is so bizarre I think Moffat must have been on the same drugs Holmes used in the previous episode. Totally unbelievable throughout, it tries to be way too clever for its own good and ends up being stupid, and worse it makes Sherlock look stupid.
If this is the way it is to be from now on I would say please don't bother with another season, not unless you get a new writer. I give it 5 only for the fine acting which was the only thing that made this bearable to the end.