Change Your Image
thedurhamcyclist
Reviews
The Turkish Detective (2023)
Old values die hard...sadly
Very very very surprised to learn that the given language of the Turkish state is English. WOW THAT MAKES IT MUCH EASIER TO FOLLOW THE ACTION IF THAT IS YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE.
Then I did some checking was absolutely astounded to learn that I had been duped: can you believe it; the Turkish populace has several of their own languages; damn that makes it tricky for a colonial style production.
That said the production team do a great job of making a dreadful situation even worse by introducing the concept of dire acting / overacting and several other very useless acting standbys just in case the first draft of this dribble proved watchable to some unimaginable character
Hope this review does get listed as a review as one does cherish free speech.
G.
The Road (2009)
Why would you....one of the worst books ever
To be fair it follows the desperate, unimaginative tripe of the book so that earns it one star; simply for existing.
Like the book it is an incredibly drawn out tail of simple post nuclear war distopia (yes sooo boring and worn) that a fool could explain in less than 60 seconds. That includes a lot of blinking and dramatic pauses. The fact that the film is longer than this, and simply tells the same bleak story (admiidy over and over and over and over again) is amazing.
Not much to recommend it other than that apart from the mumbling and dreadful sound quality. Who knows maybe the post apocalyptic dust has yet to fully settle and is impacting the sound quality?
Rise of the Nazis (2019)
Great series spoilt by insulting banal commentary by pointless people claiming insight to the minds of Nazis
Very good series covering the factual aspects of the period in great detail. However it could have been so much better were it not for the shameless promotion of some pointless commentators.
Often, as is the style with most BBC documentaries, there is an annoying repetition of detail we have just witnessed. There is an assumption that the viewer has no memory. Pointless waste of film time and quite frankly demeaning. Also irritating is the laughable, and deeply insulting, speculation as to the innermost thoughts of the Nazis and victims involved.
Most of this is obvious fantasy extrapolation from events, however many of the commentators are amazingly contradictory despite this. The worst error however is boring, banal and unsupported commentary parading as knowledge.
Commentary from vacuous individuals purporting special knowledge gains zero out of ten, the quality of the "run of the mill" documentary makers ensure it is so much better than the headline flops.
Inspector Morse: The Last Enemy (1989)
Tedious and so over acted
Very very dated and so so poor. Such a tired script around tedious Oxford academic rivalries that lead to such unbelievable outcomes. Terminally ill, infirm old boys dealing in gruesome murder. It really is too pathetic for words. More and more the overly intricate plots defy any enjoyment by those who have the most rudimentary of their human reasoning capabilities left. There is also the questionable practice of clearly signalling the plot twists in the early stages, so plain to foresee that one wonders how a man so brilliant as Morse cannot see them immediately: one imagines that all who watch it must see them immediately. That does puzzle me, perhaps the only mystery here: it is quite unexplained how some seem to find these tales entertaining. It's so obvious what is going on that as has been mentioned in the summary, it's just tedious in the extreme.
Unforgotten: Episode #5.1 (2023)
OMG. Stereotypical damaged detective. But don't stop watching..
Well let's see where this goes but, OMG, it's started with rather biggest cliche in the book. How unimaginative.
Why do all, or certainly most TV detectives have to exhibit a disastrous personal life with one ( pick from a well use tired list) fundamental , life flaw? Is it just lazy writing or do the writers somehow think this is alluring/ interesting. Who knows. However this is where we find ourselves at the beginning of series five. Time will tell if the character can develop beyond this or if it becomes an all consuming sub plot to cover up sloppy plot writing. A shame we got to this as replacing key characters is always hard but to rely on threadbare cliches from the off is a bit dull and shows no imagination.
Update having watched the series in full. Well done writers and actors. It really plays out realistally and is up to the excellent standard of previous series. Not an easy transition to a new key character but well done in my view👍
Fortunes of War (1987)
Jolly hockey sticks nonsense
Dull, formulaic stuff. The only saving grace is that the characters are probably authentic representations of the boring dullards that caused the catastrophe they project. No doubt representative of the BBC in many respects. It reminds me of a dreadfully bad Brideshead Revisited: similar characters but so much poorly acted with dreadfully poor attention to cultural issues. Some of the actors should really know better but they don't seem too concerned when it comes to selling their cultural souls down the river. It really is the most tedious viewing and I am astonished that any sentient viewer can find this the least bit stimulating. What a dreadful little parade.
Shetland (2013)
Current series poor in comparison to previous episodes
So many holes in the plot and character / police behaviours that go beyond stretching credibility. Not sure if the writers have changed if they have just become lazy but the most episodes are full of holes / lack credibility. From the start, the victims car is rammed from behind, no damage apparently, or at least not picked up by scene of crime. A DC goes on a sole stakeout, never reports in despite incredible reason to do so, doesn't appear back at work next day: nobody misses him. The list goes on......
Just very poor in comparison to previous excellent series.
McDonald & Dodds: We Need to Talk About Doreen (2021)
Stereo typical pap, just dreadful acting and storyline
I think the above says it all. I am stunned that this made it past a pilot, the previous episodes were stretching credulity and your ability to ignore deadpan acting but this took it to a new level. Truly dreadful. I have no idea what the underlying premise for the series is: to copy Death in Paradise badly????
Craith (2018)
Dreadful, depressing, ill thought out dystopian drivel
Above says it all, this is dreadful and pointless from start to finish, made worse by the glacial pace of the obvious move towards the conclusion.