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txflybyknight
Reviews
FBI (2018)
Very Good JOC/Tech
I like this show very much. One of the best procedural shows of its type.
Full disclosure- OA is by far my favorite character.
I did some time in a DHS Fusion Center and Police Operations Center in my 20 years.
This show is a great depiction of how analysts and other agencies in the JOC (joint operation Center) work together to solve crimes.
The time line is obviously highly compressed- a few clicks of the keys and.faster than google- they have all info from almost every database from any dimly lit bar room camera about a suspect.
We can do lots of things (in a perfect world) that they do in the show, just not that fast. It takes hours instead of seconds. And facial recognition from grainy cameras is not that precise- But hey, that is Hollywood.
The FBI works with local police a lot more. The often single car surveillance in the show is unrealistic.
And the FBI doesn't kick a lot of doors.
Check their memorial page- The most common death of an FBI "line of duty" for the last 20 years is cancer from 9/11 bombing. Before that it was airplane accidents of their surveillance groups.
My point is that they aren't "stacking up" every week like the show implies. But it's Hollywood. The stats always lead the charge. Only in Hollywood do agents in pistols and soft armor go in ahead of the guys with long guns helmets and level IV armor.
I can forgive those Hollywood necessities for a crime show that is not political preaching (like the other two FBI shows.
Law & Order: The Right Thing (2022)
I tried- but I'm done
Question: What would a serious police procedure show look like if the writers ignored all advice from police or legal consultants.
Answer: L&O, Season 21.
I used to watch law and order and it's spin offs quite a bit. Early on, It set the gold standard for procedural TV.
Season 21 is not worth watching. I tried, I made it through the opening scences of episode 5. This is sad because I really like the new cast and Sam Waterston is both a visual and moral link to the quality of the past.
Jeffery Donavan, who I loved in Burn Notice, Hitch, etc is nothing but a dirty racist cop, a throw back to the 1960s, an unrealistic stereotype who would have been destroyed on the stand for illegal searches and had the all cases thrown out. The young crusading assistant prosecutor, Halevi would have been disbarred after episode 4. It is ridiculous to think the million dollar defense team would not have figured out what she did.
Anthony Anderson is a talented actor but the role is unrealistic.
Every show has a subplot to lecture the viewer about race using tropes and cliches that are painful and unrealistic. Anthony is the lead and moral conscience of the police segments and a crusader, a smart man of integrity who always cracks the case- but there is no way a cop with that level of integrity would tolerate Donavan antics (defense would have him testifying against his partner most episodes) and he is too smart to not have known what the DA did in Ep 4 was highly illegal.
You can't have him be a moral icon and then do crooked things himself.
You can't have him be the smartest guy in the room and then go along with patently illegal crap that even a public defender would catch him being involved in.
The show causes moral dissonance.
You can't have a continual sub text where the audience is being shown some injustice of the legal system with visceral reactions by the characters, and then their SOLUTION is to break the law themselves to right whatever weekly wrong had been uncovered.
Out of Death (2021)
Cookie cutter plot and a little slow
Major flaw
Had Bruce Willis when he was the only one with a gun in his hand merely walked over and picked up the other gun when he first confronts Tommy and Bille as they were on their knees after they were about to execute Shannon, the movie would have lasted 20 minutes.
It has almost a "Teen Scream Movie" logic by the protagonists to keep it going with them not finishing the job when they had the clear upper hand on a bad guy.
Also, Shannon not running when she knew she was about to be shot and Tommy says, "Don't move." As he walks away to investigate a noise in the woods.
NCIS: Hawai'i (2021)
Has Potential
It may take a few episodes but this has potential.
I have a weakness for Hawaiian shows having been stationed there for a few years. That's probably worth an extra point.
The characters are still finding their place. But the lead is strong. Latchney pulls it off well.
I don't like.the yasmine character. She is weak and not believable. The writers were so interested in making her gay they forgot to make her competent. She just wanders around the set. And the DIA woman she is involved with is a like cartoon she is so bad.
When yasmine gets physical with a suspect, it's like watching a pro basketball player do a flop as the stunt man tries to make it believable, but fails. Lol. She can't even hold a pistol correctly.
They could all use a little more of that.
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The Rapture (1972)
Blast from the past
I am writing this at age 62 in 2021. I saw this film in the early 1970s in high school at a "Youth for Christ" meeting. You know it had an impact if I still remember it nearly 5 decades later.
I'd love to watch it again because like "1984", the concepts, which were not threatening at the time, are relevant today.
I am giving it a 10 because while I am sure that it was more crudely made than my adolescent mind realized at the time, any film that sticks with you for 50 years is unique.
News of the World (2020)
I read the book
Having read the book made the movie easier to follow. The movie fixed some of the historical flaws in the book.
If you are a fan of westerns and the virtues that used to be integral to the genre, this movie will appeal to you.
This is like the classic "Unforgiven" - a movie that relies on subtle facial changes as the characters grow and evolve.
It is a story, not a show.
It is about a decent man in a time of turmoil in a land of chaos whose moral compass remains true north.
The Captain and Johanna are polar opposites in every conceivable way.
Old v young, civilized and urbane v uncivilized and illiterate, wisdom v intuition -
It is a journey, like Lonesome Dove. They learn from each other along the way
The young girl "Johanna" was outstanding. I'm hoping for an academy award nomination for her.
FBI: Most Wanted (2020)
Virtue Signaling is their mission, solving crime is an afterthought
If you enjoy the original FBI show like I do, this spin off will disappoint you.
I am a retired police Lt, and worked major crimes, titleIII wiretaps and cartels. I worked with Feds too many times to count. I have a big etched glass award on my desk from the FBI for working VICAP.
This show is is TOTALY unrealistic. But hey, so is SWAT and Hawaii 5.0 and John Wick. And I can find things to enjoy in them. It supposed to be entertainment, right?
Not this.
What makes this show horrible is the 40 minutes of every show devoted to woke scolding and incessant virtue signaling.
These clowns are the antithesis of what a federal fugitive apprehension team acts like.
None of these professional jackasses would have made it out of Quantico.
Dirty little secret: Federal Fugitive apprehension teams rely on local agencies for things like helicopters, surveillance support and straight up street cop intel.
LaCroix wouldn't catch ANYONE because no cop would tolerate his pompous a$$ and he'd be on his own.
Contrary to what that show would have you believe, the FBI has zero authority to run around slinging orders. They ask nicely. They work and play well with others.
But hey, if you like being preached to about your sins by someone with a messiah complex, Special Agent LaCroix and his circus of woke scolds are your best bet now that David Koresh and Jim Jones are gone.