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The Blacklist: Cape May (2016)
It's Over
The series just took a major dump. This episode had no plot, no meaning, no relation to any previous episode. It's full of "That couldn't have happened" events. I would say that it was difficult to follow. But I think more correctly, there was nothing TO follow. Mindless stream of consciousness. Like a video LSD trip. I couldn't tell if what I was seeing was Red's dreaming or reality. So I kept rewinding and re-viewing. And quickly just decided I didn't care if it was either.
I sort of predicted it was near the end about two episodes ago when the plots lost their twists and turns and became shoot-em-up bang bang between paramilitary tactical teams with advanced weapons who can't seem to hit anyone and their "Armor Piercing" bullets wouldn't pierce sheet rock.
Too bad. I think they could have ran with the basic premise of the show for several more seasons.
The Blacklist: Mr. Solomon (No. 32) (2016)
Plot Getting a Little Ridiculous
I sense we're headed for the end of this show. The plot has gone "over the hump" where Elizabeth and Reddington were a "sweet and sour" mix with different motivations but the same goal.
Now it's turned from thriller/crime/spy flick to ridiculously staged shootouts where the good guys fight off dozens of heavily armed tactical bad guys using only a couple of pistols.
Becoming heavy on the "Chick Flick" angle with the "What a wonderful guy (Tom)" and the "You're like the father I never had (Harold)".
The show peaked with Elizabeth on the run, then caught, then tried and took the deal. Now there's nowhere for it to go but to this silly "Feel good" and "Shoot 'em up" nonsense.
Magnum, P.I.: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1981)
Worst Magnum PI Ever
This single episode is the worst of the entire series for one reason. The old gangster character, played by actor Michael Gazzo, annoyingly SCREAMS and SHOUTS during the entire episode. It's not just unneeded for the plot, it's physically annoying to have to listen to that gravely, shouting voice for the entire show.
The girl's probably the least glamorous of all the Magnum fem stars.
The one way antagonism from Higgins toward Magnum is still pretty beyond reasonable. It's beginning to ease. In the previous episode it was a little less strong. But the characters generally haven't found their individual niche parts in the show. TC's still overweight. Magnum still walks like he's doing the Tango. It'll resolve later in the series, I hope!
Legends (2014)
Started out interesting, then switched concepts entirely
First season, darn good. Watching Bean play all the various characters, and play them well. Interesting FBI anti terrorist stuff etc.
Then for some reason, second season went to heck. No more playing "Legend" roles. He's wandering around Europe with greasy hair looking for his past, his family, something.
The constant jumping back and forth in time over 2 or 3 decades is difficult to follow. No real "action" in any of the episodes. No cliff hangers. No nuthin'. It's like the writers went on strike and the camera operators said "Ok let's film something over here and splice it in".
Falcon Rising (2014)
I'll give it a B+
Pretty good action flick. The usual stuff showed up. Pistols with endless magazine capacity. Why doesn't the guy pick up the guns of the other guys he kills etc. The hand to hand fights aren't "TOO" bad. It's not like bad Kung Fu movies with ninjas jumping around waiting for their turn to fight the guy in the center. It's close, but not quite to that point. Generally a watchable movie. I'll watch more in the franchise.
The blurbs can't seem to make up their mind. "He's an Ex-Marine". First off, you're never an "EX" Marine. The blurbs also call him a SEAL. Photo early in the movie shows him in a USN uniform as a PO2, but no Trident. I don't think the uniform is accurate for his rate. And I'm not even sure the single breasted coat he's wearing is a USN uniform item at all. Sometimes little continuity and factual background stuff like that turns me off to a movie. I mean, come on, get the easy stuff right. Someone, somewhere in the production organization was in the Navy or the USMC.
Checkmate (2015)
Stupid plot, Stupid dialog, Disconnected sub-stories
This movie is almost worth watching just to see how ridiculously bad it is.
Every 3rd word or so is an F bomb. That wouldn't be a problem if there was some kind of reason for it or if it were in context. But it's not. It's like the director just said "Throw in a lot of F's just to shock the viewer".
Catholilc priest is a sniper hit-man. Seems totally out of context to the movie. But there doesn't seem to be much "context" to the movie at all anyway.
Two guys playing high stakes chess for some kind of document that might be something like "Immortality". The "Devil" guy that loses the game has thugs with guns that can't beat a chick with a samurai sword. So after those thugs get beat up he calls on his "back up thugs" which consists of people in bathing suits wearing devil Halloween masks. Needless to say the devil aspect has no context to the movie either.
Chick flies a Robinson helicopter with something like a sailboat tiller in reverse. Then in another shot she has some kind of steering wheel.
SWAT team...Couple dozen cops can't shoot a guy standing in the open on the roof. In all fairness, that guy, with his automatic sub-gun, can't hit any of the cops either. Cops fail to notice the bad guy sniper on the roof, the priest sniper in the building across the street nor the bad guy getaway van with two thugs parked in plain view.
None of the actors seemed like they had any lines. It's like some director grabbed anyone off the sound stage and said "OK, sit here, pick up the phone and say something like ""Put me through to Captain""..." The incorrect grammar in my above actual line was deliberate. It's the actual line.
If the acting had been great, it would almost be like a really good parody movie, like "Airplane" or "Police Story" one of the Mel Brooks movies. But the acting sucked. The technical believability sucked. The continuity sucked. And the actors all looked like someone they rounded up at the last minute and offered them lunch if they'd be in the movie.
The Young Americans (1993)
No Action, No Suspense, No Thrills, A Big Grey Blob
I found myself pausing the movie and then not returning for a couple of days. It was that UN-exciting. The film drags on forever with those "Oh so polite" British cops and that "Is he trying to play a bad cop?" Harvey K. All set in the Oh so boring scenery of what I presume is supposed to be the rough district of London.
Harvey was a lot better bad cop in "Border".
The film quickly gets to the point where you don't really care who committed what crime, who killed who, who the real bad guys are, you just want it to be over so you can go in the kitchen and make more nachos.
Fire with Fire (2012)
Weak Story Line, Non-believable Love Interest
The LOVE angle is not realistic. First off, and I'm sorry for all those who dig the fem actress, she is butt ugly in the movie. Boy meets girl, one time sex, now they're in love enough to move across country with each other? Violate her law enforcement ethics? Commit murder? All based on one hotel night of sex? Not believable.
Bruce W has what, a dozen lines in the whole movie? They would have done the movie good to develop his character more but instead, they focused on the boy/girl thing.
Action bits weren't too bad - gun shots etc.
All in all the acting was about on par with a 70's porno movie, without the porn.
Cellphones in the movies always work a heck of a lot better than mine does in real life.
Nazi Hunters (2010)
Reenactment Military Technically Incorrect
With as much apparent research the producers did into the details of each of these Nazi series of events, you'd think they could get something like military rank insignia correct. They show actors described as key US Army Majors but wearing Captain bars. USA Colonels wearing 2 General stars. US Army NCOs in USMC uniforms.
When a documentary doesn't get the simplest of things correct, I have a hard time taking for granted that the more obscure things are correct. All that research into the Nazis and they didn't do any research into "What insignia would a Major have worn?". Is there nobody on the production staff that's ever been in the military? Nobody who's ever watched the news or an (accurate) movie that might speak up and say "Wait, I don't think that's right".
I hope that's all ten lines required. Seems like a silly requirement.
The Shield (2002)
Badges on the wrong side
What's with all the uniform cops wearing their badges on the RIGHT side, name plates on the LEFT. Essentially every US police agency wears them on the LEFT, over the heart. Uniform shirts have badge tabs on the LEFT. Then to add to the confusion, there's a couple of cops with their badges on the LEFT now and then.
Seems like a simple thing to get right. Surely there's some uniform security guys around the stage with their badges on the LEFT. Surely there's some LAPD (or other) technical adviser to say "Um, those are backwards". Surely the wardrobe people working on the project have done cop uniforms before. Almost seems intentionally wrong.
Still a good show. Just sticks out seeing the backward badge thing.
Hawaii Five-0: Imi Loko Ka 'Uhane (Seek Within One's Soul) (2013)
Worst Episode Yet
As the other reviewers have already described, the fake talk show angle was just plain stupid. Even without any kind of tie-in to the Five-0 characters, the talk show host did a horrible job of portraying a talk show host. Over dramatic. Over patronizing of the "live studio audience". Bad half attempt to do a "COPS" like follow along. Bad half attempt to do an Oprah or whoever she was doing.
The usual character interaction seemed to have diminished for the sake of the talk show. Steve and Dano banter. Max's goofy savant-like quirks. Kono and Chin Ho sleuthing out the tech crime fighting stuff. All gone. Or at least took a back seat to that stupid talk show.
Following the actual plot of the crime was difficult because of the distracting talk show angle. Seems like the underlying premise of the plot, murder, who-done-it etc., could have been great. But including the silly show within a show just made it the worst episode of Five-0 I've seen of this series.
Seems like the producers and writers are grasping at something to juice up what is perhaps the end of the run of the series.