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sarahjohnson-88311
Reviews
Ripley (2024)
Wanted to love this....
.....but it was just trying too hard. I appreciated it as a stand-alone show independent of the earlier film, though it was a bit hard not to draw comparisons.
Scott was too old for a credible swap to be viable. He was also a very untalented criminal to be able to pull off what he did. Fanning did a good job but what on earth were they thinking with Freddy? What a flat, dull character, devoid of personality.
I didn't mind the black and white but combined with the artsy camera angles, long stares, dark shadows and mysterious animals, it landed on me like someone is angling to be labelled "the new Hitchcock". Worth watching but didn't blow me away.
Diagnosis: Detective Work (2019)
The father!
The father is awful. Made it all about him, completely unsupportive. Didn't want a genetic diagnosis because it made him feel bad. This was an interesting episode with a positive outcome but I hope the father feels ashamed of himself when he watches this show.
Not much else to say but haven't hit the minimum word count. Show is interesting and reminds me a bit of House. Watch House in 2023 and see how horrendously non-PC it was. I found it funny at the time but not on a rewatch - it didn't age well. Also the diagnostic skills were useless. Basically guessing, trial and error. Anyway. That's House.
Beckham (2023)
Interesting even for non fans,,.
I have no interest in football and knew little about David or Victoria Beckham before watching this. I found them to be a much less pretentious couple than I imagined and delightfully well suited and I enjoyed the show. The abuse David suffered was appalling and phenomenal and the British public should be ashamed of this particularly low point in its history as soccer fans. But really, what was Victoria thinking, telling a love-struck and sensitive guy like David that she was pregnant immediately before such a big match. She seemed clueless that what followed could have been prevented had she shown a little kind restraint.
How to Become a Cult Leader (2023)
Great narration, poor design
I had no idea Peter Dinklage was such a beautiful narrator. His voice is silky smooth, and execution is well timed and witty.
The show appeals to a certain audience by presenting as a "how to" manual which degrades the content in my opinion. It could have stood on its own without the sales pitch, and without a lot of the kitschy animated sequences.
Cults are fascinating so I don't regret watching the series, but I believe the format presented as a lost opportunity for a less dumbed down version of the content.
Content is 8/10, delivery 5/10, animations 2/10 and narration 10/10.
Watch and enjoy. Don't become a cult leader.
The Diplomat (2023)
Great show but could've allowed Keri Russell to shine more
Great show! I enjoyed this a lot. It has the right blend of political intrigue, Brit/American disconnects and humor. Rufus Sewell is fantastic. My only grievance is how they tried to depict the ambassador. Keri Russell is a talented actor and a beautiful woman. She's aging gracefully but looked a crumpled mess most of the time. It seems like they were trying to get a balance between Tèa Leoni's rumpled elegance in Madam Secretary, and Claire Dane's functional style in Homeland. But they could have done it without her looking greasy-haired and clueless about general grown up comportment.
Looking forward to Season 2.
Terrorism Close Calls (2018)
Who greenlit the narrator??
How could so many people have thought this narrator was okay. He can't pronounce words correctly and inflects on the wrong syllables and words. And unless he's making it up as he goes along, or can't read, he was given terrible material to read. Seriously, how did this even get aired? I'd be mortified if I were a hard working JTTF agent and then saw the quality of material I'd associated myself with. Kudos to the guy who stayed in the shadows.
And the editors are using material from the wrong cities! Make an effort to match the right graphics with the right events.
Just terrible. Hard to believe it's got as many stars as it has.
Elvis (2022)
Elvis has left the building
Elvis is before my time, but I appreciate his influence on music and culture. I think Baz Lurhman is a bit of a genius so was interested in this film though I found the styling inconsistent. Austin Butler was awesome but the actor playing Priscilla terribly miscast - she projected none of the youth and beauty of the real deal. Also omitting the meeting and marrying of Priscilla was an oversight (given Elvis basically groomed her). Big fan of Tom Hanks but I can't help wondering if the Colonel Parker focus was because the filmmakers nabbed a big name in Tom Hanks. Overall, a long movie that I enjoyed on my sofa, but wouldn't have paid to see it in a theatre.
Emily in Paris (2020)
Simply unbelievable
Trite and silly - seems geared for teenagers but with R rated content.
And much as I'm a fan of Kate Walsh, she's 55 years old and pregnant? How are we supposed to swallow this.
Like Sex and the City, there are a lot of very silly clothes. The only redeeming quality is the background. It's lovely to see a show set in Paris though cringeworthy to see the clumsy Americans and their disregard for cultural differences and assumptions that the American way is the only way. That is perhaps the only realistic component in the whole series.
Great to have running in the background while you're doing something else.
From Scratch (2022)
Persevere, this is worth it
After the first or second episode, I was fairly certain this was going to be an updated and protracted version of Under the Tuscan Sun. I was deeply mistaken and I encourage anyone who dismissed this early to persevere.
It portrays a love story between an American lady and Italian man, and the life they build together in the US. Nice scenes of Florence and Sicily, a mix of languages, messy families in both countries, and some Inter racial stuff thrown into the mix. A few plot holes and a somewhat at unrealistic lifestyle given their likely income.
This turned out to be poignant and rich, and was a lovely binge watch.
High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule (2021)
Distracting makeover
Good on this woman for owning up to the whole mess and serving her time. Who didn't screw up at 20 or under? Most of us not so dramatically thankfully.
I was surprised it took her a year to figure out that learning Spanish might have been a good thing to do, and I would have been super impressed if she did her court hearing in Spanish.
I can understand the backlash when she returned home to Ireland and the makeover didn't help. For the series, I found the veneers and injected lips just too distracting.
Interesting light viewing, easy binge watching, and an insight into prisons in developing countries.
The Watcher (2022)
What was that?
A great show to binge watch on a Sunday when there is absolutely nothing else to watch.
I'm guessing the writers aspired to produce a psychological thriller with credible plot twists and turns but they failed miserably. It seemed like they tried to throw as many implausible red herrings as possible, or maybe had to pad out to fill the seven required episodes. The cast, which includes plenty of great talent, did an admirable job given the material they had to work with, and deserved better.
If you can find something else to watch instead, I recommend that as a better use of your watching hours.
Grey's Anatomy: Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response (2006)
Give me a break
Two men who cheated on their wives telling each other how honorable they are. Appalling scriptwriting. Hard to believe this series is from a female director.
A female doctor who jeopardizes her career for a man? Really?
And the dialogues are tedious. They fall into 2 categories.
1. One person talks, the other doesn't listen, but then talks. The first responds to their own issue, having not listened to the second. The second responds to their own issues, having not listened to the first. Kinda exactly like any conversation with some nationalities.
2. Long monologues based on the rule of threes. Always three. Massively contrived and artificial. This is a great series to run in the background while you're doing something more important .
Succession (2018)
Take a shot every time you hear "I mean....."
The premise of this show is just so good. Relevant, topical. But the scriptwriters should be fired. Is "F### off" the only expletive they know? And why does almost every dialogue have to start with "I mean....". Once you hear it, you can't unhear.... I don't know if it's bad writing, bad acting or bad directing but the love affair of the award-givers with this show is bewildering.
Inventing Anna (2022)
Enjoyable true crime
I hadn't heard of Anna Delvey at all until I watched this show. For all the negative reviews, I enjoyed it mostly. The timing was okay and I liked the melding of the journalist's story with the criminal's story. What I didn't love was that the protagonist, at the end, was seen as a hero or victim. She was a criminal, but we are supposed to root for her because she is a victim of the patriarchal society? They didn't make that link well enough so I was offended that the likeable journalists and lawyers were cheering at the not guilty votes and bemoaning the guilty votes.
A good show, thankfully not weighed down by the pained, unrealistic dialogues of other Shondaland productions.
Spycraft (2020)
AI Narration?
Came to the comments to see if anyone else had issues with the narration and yes indeedy! I actually wasn't paying a lot of attention to the pronunciation as many other reviewers were. For me, it was the modulation that was off. I think they've used a text to speech program to narrate it - no-one actually talks like that. It really degraded the program.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)
Shame on you Netflix
That poor girl lost her life and first a bunch of idiot wannabe you-tubers jump on the bandwagon and then Netflix does. This could have been an interesting story if not for 3 hours of opinions and speculation by morons with no life.
Dirty John (2018)
Season 2 - excellent
This is a review of S2.p (I didn't see S1). I know women cheat on men, but this is a review in the context of the man being the infidel (term used in the series).
This season perfectly describes the deep trauma a woman goes through when her partner cheats on her. She suspects, he denies. She still suspects, he calls her crazy. She doubts her own judgement and her self confidence and self esteem suffer.
By the time he is ready to deal with the issue in an upfront way, she is only just learning of the reality. He moves on, wounded by the break up but not mortally. She will never be the same again. Women who go through what the protagonist went through are permanently scarred. Not only distrusting of men, but carrying self-hatred, and a complete and total loss of confidence in their own ability to judge people and their motives.
This show was real. It will resonate with many bitter women who were once happy in their relationships, then became suspicious and "crazy" only to learn everything they thought they knew and trusted, was a lie.
Death to 2020 (2020)
Loved it!
Watched this on NYE 2020 and a couple more times in Jan 21. I thought it was funny and took a dig at everyone, regardless of political affiliations. Interesting that so many reviewers who rated it low were offended and thought it left-wing biased. But the left wingers found stabs at Joe Biden and lib-tards just as humorous as the digs at the right.. It says something about people who can't laugh at themselves once in a while.
Hitler's Circle of Evil (2018)
Fire the script writer
Interesting and enjoyable but I found the poor narration a complete distraction. Being a grammar Nazi (pardon the pun), I would have preferred that someone with an understanding of English had either written or spoken the script. Circle, party, Gestapo, government are singular so take a singular verb. Constant use of "the inner circle have"; " the inner circle circle think" instead of has/thinks/decides etc was awful!