blueskystyling Reviews

Mea Culpa (2024)

Really a Zero and a Shame

[1/10 · 28 February 2024]

All the the money wasted on this worthless thing could have made a huge difference in thousands of people's lives. There's no excuse for something this terrible making it past first draft of script... unless one's ego makes it possible to finance and produce it by one's self.

Usually I can find SOMETHING redeemable in a film... like... costumes? Hair makeup? Props? NOPE. Nope.

And girl PLEASE!!!! The defense lawyer just happens to go on a trip- during getting ready for a murder trial??!!! - and runs into the supposedly dead person? What the hell? Does Tyler have NO SHAME?

That can't even be counted as a spoiler since I think you have to have a plot to be spoiled to begin with.

Bye.

Hometown (2021)

Can't Keep Track...

[4/10 · 7 November 2023]

Can't keep track of the characters and timelines!

Korean series are a challenge for a lot of Anglos because of the characters' names being hard to recognize and remember. This series adds flash forwards and flash backs and having different actors play the same characters in the different timelines and that all adds to the problem of keeping track of who is whom.

I had to just stop watching in the middle of episode 2-I just could not figure out who was missing, who was murdered, when did things happen and how were these people related?

I was up for putting in effort and paying close attention and still I just couldn't figure out what was going on!

Im basically a fan of Korean detective series, but couldn't watch this one.

Bummers.

Ridley (2022– )

So bad!

[3/10 · 6 September 2023]

I keep trying to watch this but end up shouting at the screen because the dialogue is SO BAD!

Indulging Dunbar as a jazz musician by having him sing entire songs in every episode is one thing, but to surround that with just the most hackneyed plot points and completely predictable dialogue ( Im like able to say the next sentence out loud along with the actor its so trite!) has no excuse!

How did all these people go through with shooting this every day? It's just literally hard to imagine.

I am mystified about how this got green lighted. I'm just a hairdresser and I could have done a better job. Ugh!

Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama (2022)

Ridiculous amount of texts and alert sounds!!!

[4/10 · 13 January 2023]

I couldn't get past 10 minutes of this because of the constant text and tweet alert sounds going on. Then there were the rapid fire visuals on tweets, Facebook posts and texts that we we're supposed to read to understand the content- forget it! I watch streaming content to get away from all of that irritation!

I couldn't even begin to discern what the plot line and character portraits were.

I suppose the whole series was targeted to those who grew up with those constant pings and beeps and texts and tweets and posts. Granted the story was about how social media use affects people's lives but, well, the form was as irritating as the function.

The Ravine (2021)

Basically just ridiculous

[1/10 · 14 December 2022]

Skip this sappy time-waster. Just a bunch of unfounded and illogical "spiritual" claptrap dressed up as a mystery crime drama.

The wise, all-seeing woman appears on the scene bragging she has talked to the dead so she has all the answers for the poor suffering people left behind wondering. She gives no proof of her whole concocted story, and the friends don't know her from Adam (who could have actually answered their questions ) yet just believe every little thing she says.

She even had the nerve to call it The Universe at one point, contradicting even the flawed Christendom stories she had been telling!

Just plain stupid.

No redeeming characteristics at all; even the music is cheesy.

María Marta: El crimen del country (2022)

Too much flashing forward and back!

[4/10 · 13 December 2022]

I am a sophisticated and experienced viewer of series, foreign and domestic, and am used to subtitled content.

The yellow subtitles that were embedded in the Netflix version of this series were practically unreadable because of their size and color, as well as the speed at which they flowed.

That, coupled with a literally constant switching of time- forward flash and back- made it unwatchable for me. I really wanted to watch it too, since I had enjoyed the documentary about the subject.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it past the 4th episode.

Somehow I feel I'm not alone in this assessment!

I'm sure it's a completely different experience for a Spanish speaking viewer.

Aloha, C Thompson.

Suspect (I) (2022– )

The eyebrows are the thing

[4/10 · 6 October 2022]

Nothing rose above the weird eyebrows on James Nesbit in this repetitive series. We know he has alopecia - which can be a challenge- but just get a good makeup artist so the overly-black distracting brows could blend in with the rest of James' face!

The ridiculous coincidences where Nesbit's character just happens upon all the people he's looking for just throws me more out of my suspension of disbelief. Then add the daughter sparkling and smiling and encouraging from the beyond... well I didn't even finish watching the thing.

There's a little fun ridiculing every ridiculous conversation followed by an outburst of Nesbit's constant smoldering rage... but a VERY little I'm afraid. Skip it, I say.

Tomato Red: Blood Money (2017)

Self conscious but interesting...

[4/10 · 24 September 2022]

This film has some great actors- and pretty good performances. The dialogue goes in and out from natural to poetic... but then it switches into self conscious, kind of stilted pronouncements that reminds us that someone wrote this dialogue and is trying to be profound and important.

The main challenge, though, is that the "holler"-ostensively a thickly wooded valley in the Ozarks- is shot in some desertlike part of Canada. Ok, so there are some large, dry mounds around that could signify "mountains", but come on! Are the Canadian Film Board subsidized tax breaks worth making it impossible to suspend disbelief for the entire film? Nope!

The Bay (2019– )

Season 4- Why bother?

[5/10 · 6 June 2022]

Ive never seen a series that starts at one point, and just doesn't go ANYWHERE! The lead character change for Season 4 was not a good choice- and all she does for 6 episodes is ask everyone if they are okay, then recommend talking about it.

None of the characters reveal any depth or development, all action could have been completed in 2 or 3 episodes instead of stretching it out to 6, and the dialogue is strangely empty; leading nowhere. Motivations are vague... for example a couple just suddenly says it's not working out and split up, apropos of nothing!

I say give it a miss... I had it running in the background while online shopping which is the only reason I actually got to the (lackluster) ending at all!

That all said, the first 3 seasons were well done and entertaining!

Aloha, C.

Hellier (2019)

It is real (ly lame)...

[2/10 · 12 February 2019]

Not buying this is a Blair Witch type fake docu- if this is a fake then I think they would have had SOMETHING actually happen. Five episodes of nothing except..did you hear that? That was weird ...then hyper-analysing every conversation, feeling, perceived entity, and encounter. It's definitely a show about NOTHING!

The ABC Murders (2018)

But What Is That Accent?!

[8/10 · 1 February 2019]

I've always been a fan of J Malkovich. I'm mystified by his strange, stilted, definitely not French, accent. I am so distracted by his speaking that I can hardly pay attention to anything else!

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti (2017)

Some Might Miss the Subtle Touches...

[10/10 · 30 July 2018]

Just gorgeous, well acted, beautifully and invisibly directed, though some seem to miss the subtle way the cinematography flattens the spaces and abstract the shapes like Gauguin's best artwork does. Cassel is mesmerizing and looks uncannily like Gauguin's self portraits. His portrayal can make us understand the he had no choice but to paint, and all costs.

The simple loving relationship between Paul and Tehura is worn down and corrupted in the same way the People of Polynesia were by sickness and greed introduced by the colonizers. The innocent playful fun, the jealousy, suspicion and pain... this film tells a story that shows there is no running away from the human condition.

The Bad Twin (2016 TV Movie)

Simply the worst

[1/10 · 30 December 2017]

I like bad movies sometimes...they can be laughable and absurd...but the acting in this movie is so abysmal that it is nothing but constantly irritating. I fast forwarded it so I could see what the plot and ending entailed, and it only got worse. Really, there is no reason to watch this movie unless you are Haylie Duff's mother. Even then, you are bound to cringe....