Change Your Image
meyer-wil
Reviews
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015)
Sorry, no sale
The leads are far too old for their roles. Ricci cannot pass for 16, and can't fake the relative innocence of a teen. Similarly, Hoflin is 40, trying to play 20.
Embarrassing, really.
The terrible casting of the leads may be one reason the story doesn't draw me -- it's implausible, start to finish.
I am sure that the story itself would make a great series, if well cast. But this is not that series.
Queens (2016)
Beautiful production
The production is beautiful, but as to the story, it is more drama than history. It seems by now obligatory to include same-sex intrigues which are not supported by history. In this case, not only is it false and a distraction from the historic aspects, but it also confuses the story line very badly.
Murdoch Mysteries: Winston's Lost Night (2013)
a loud sour note
Through five years of episodes, we have seen frequent reminders of Murdoch's faith. With the possible exception of a case involving the Masons, he has been quite believable in that faith.
Now, after a single session of prayer, he all but renounces that faith, in his declaration of disagreement with Church teaching. This is not a plausible attitude for that time and place, rather, it is clearly a 21st century influence on the script. Totally out of place.
This program has been notable for being quite acceptable in a family environment, and plausible in its historic references. There have been some idiosyncrasies and some anachronisms, as must be expected in a work of fiction. They have generally been minor, and did not detract from an otherwise program. In this case, however, as the error -- and it is surely that -- impacts a major and continuing element of the story, it is very disappointing.
Betas (2013)
Really? They spent money on this?
Truly pathetic. Fart-joke humor level. Bad language. Tedious scripts.
Brilliant? Not so much. Casting? Fine, I suppose, if you truly believe that all programmers are socially undeveloped. Not something I would permit a teen to watch. Not something anyone older than a teen should find interesting. Amazon's notion of presenting videos online as test balloons for production is a good one. Good use of technology, in a rapidly changing television environment. However, Amazon has the money to do much better work than this, using better scripts, higher standards, and much better themes. Amazon, please, the last thing we need is still greater volumes of nothing to watch!