ToneBalone60 Reviews

Masters of the Air (2024)

Dull British bashing snooze fest. Belongs on Netflix who love to bash the UK

[3/10 · 12 May 2024]

What a complete and utter letdown from BoB & Pacific.

Firstly it really doesn't work inside an aircraft with masks & goggles.

There isn't the camaraderie you got in infantry combat. So they have to try and build the buddy relationships in the comfort of the anger management in the mess or the pub rather than freezing to death in a dugout in a frozen forest with no food or morphine.

Just not something that translates to a script or a TV series.

Should have gone back to other material from the ground war. There's plenty more like BoB.

The Brit bashing is unnecessary and anachronistic. Maths? It was called arithmetic in Britain in the 1940s.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

OMG so boring. Like watching paint dry.

[3/10 · 16 March 2024]

Another highly overrated movie, over promoted through social media.

I expected so much better.

What you get is a claustrophobic repetitive story that just repeats the same theme.

I found the flashes to his mother and father to be cringe worthy and boring and cliched that i find myself doing forward it going other things.

Just didn't have the patience to watch it in one sitting either.

I found Mescals' character just weird, grubby and slightly demonic. I would not have let such a person in, real or imaginary.

A very indulgent film with minimal script, much of which is mumbled and just another depressing gay movies.

Mary & George (2024)

Disappointingly silly

[6/10 · 7 March 2024]

I had high hopes for this.

The budget is clearly plenty.

The actors are of good quality.

The cinematography is decent.

But the plot, the script and the character behaviour is just plain unrealistic and silly.

Clearly an LGBTQ targeted show so that's OK if you accept that from the premise.

Historical fact it isn't and even as historical fiction it's stretching the intrinsic truth.

There's a continuous theme of England bashing. Most of it subliminal but some clear and unrepentant from the snipes from the French character at the start, to the hints from the Irish English & English men hating lesbian prostitute. Was this necessary?. Would it have been acceptable in a period of high suspicion of foreigners and catholics.

The prostitute is clearly not a devout catholic so why is she acting like an Irish radical in a Royal court that would appear to be far more tolerant and accepting than her national kinsmen back home.

There are also many questionable incidents that defy reality.

People coming and going to the Royal Court and gagging access to the King without any security checks?

The King is treated as a highly gullible clown who spent all his days rollicking with rent boys? One wonders how he found time to work on the bible. 🤔

A very minute Royal court of about 20 people and a couple of guards. Really? All Royal courts from Henry Viii onwards were very sizeable affairs rather than this close nit community of hedonists.

King James openly flaunting his sexuality to both court and people? Erm No.

In fact to this day, his sexuality is still not 100% proven by evidence. Most is circumstantial .

The Queen certainly wasn't involved in choosing his "favourites" nor was he constantly surrounded by a pack of overltly promiscuous rent boys, at least not in view of anyone not involved. Only the current favourite would have been visible to the court.

Mary is portrayed as having way to much power and access to high ranking people at the beginning of the story.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the superfluous use of sex scenes and male posterior shots suggests material filler through want of actual substance. This is always a bad sign.

Overall I felt let down and they have wasted a lot of opportunities.

Doctor Thorne (2016)

Beautifully set but a disappointing race through and dilution of a masterpiece

[7/10 · 5 March 2024]

Trollope's third Barchester Chronicles novel is one of his best and whilst marriage is again at the centre of the plot he filled his novel with over 600 pages of craftily built mystery, deceit and psychological play.

Unfortunately a three 30 minute episode mini series cannot give justice to that. The twists are revealed to early, large sections of the journey are cut leaving a rather predictable and somewhat unfulfilling package for TV.

Mary is kept from ever meeting Roger Scratcherd in the book which is a huge part of the dynamics between Scratched and Thorne.

She only meets the Scratcherds after Sir Roger had died.

Here they have rewritten that which removes much of the intrigue and setup for the final will.

Beautiful settings with a collection of gorgeous country houses, a reasonable bunch of actors but they don't have a lot to be work with because the script is clumsy, not true to the novel and overall rushed.

Julian Fellows is better working with a longer series and this should have been written over 10 episodes.

Unfortunately Fellows also had a habit of delivering more soap opera than period classic. Hence much of the psychological drama of the original is replaced here with inane character behaviour and overall banality.

Andrew Davies is the master of squeezing eipc classics into mini series without feeling you've lost anything from the novel. He would have done a better job here than Fellows and McCormack.

The Paradise (2012–2013)

Decent adaptation of Zola's classic to a Northern England location although lacks French angle

[7/10 · 10 February 2024]

Am entertaining drama keeping to the overall theme of Zola's novel.

Episodes tend to focus on different subjects, many not from the novel and sometimes a little trite and often in a soap opera manner.

But the overall trajectory of the series follows the social, political and psychological themes of the novel and the destination of the plot.

A cast of strong actors with Sarah Lancashire shining in her somewhat tragicomic portrayal of Miss Audrey.

Sonya Cassidy and David Hayman both deliver superb supporting performances as the villains of the piece.

I did find Joanna Vanderham's Denise a bit too saccharine and too perfect.

In the novel Denise comes from rural poverty and her character is much less refined and urbanised than the TV series portrays and she is in the novel a rather unkempt and slightly brash country lass.

Maxine Peak would have nailed it.

Personally i think Mathew McNulty as a seasoned British period drama actor would have been better cast as Moray. He is somewhat redundant here as Dudley.

The actors playing the lower shop staff I'm afraid are less convincing and are the elements that bring the soap opera and banal subplots which weaken the production somewhat to the point of irritation.

Overall another well structured, alluring period piece from the BBC.

Read the book though to get the best from this novel which really was based on the world's first department store; The famous Bon Marche in Paris (still trading today in the site of the small shops of the Left Bank that it eventually devoured) an often overlooked tourist and historical landmark.

The novel explores in more detail the huge social changes of the Belle Epoque era. The change in retail and the impact and upheaval on small shops and craft industries by this often overlooked part of the industrial revolution and the shift from Agricultural to urban economies.

We also miss the particular French angle of the evolution of fashion and haute couture which catapulted Paris into the global fashion hub that it is today.

This is something that can't be replicated in northern England where at that time textiles were only manufactured rather than turned into their final products.

They were swiftly moved south to be designed & retailed to the upper classes. The concept of department stores didn't arrive in Northern England until the mid 20th century and large scale retail luxury fashion not untill the 1990's.

The British (2012–2014)

Politically correct garbage. Fiction over fact.

[2/10 · 26 January 2024]

A ridiculous romp through thousands of years of history punching and choosing events that suit a narrative, ignoring thousands of years of early history.

The entire Anglo Saxon prod is skipped The Celts are incorrectly referred to as druids and Welsh.

The Welsh didn't exist at that time they were all Bretonic Peoples before the Romans and the Anglo Saxon arrived.

The series is about the British yet we keep bouncing back to Ireland. We have s whole segment on st Patrick but nothing about st George or St Augustine who brought Christianity to Britain.

The entire Plantagenet era is ignored.

So much factually incorrect information.

Racing to get to slavery and evil empire the main political goal of the series, completely ignoring thousands of years of British servitude and slavery to 4 invading forces resulting in death and cultural annihilation far greater than the slave trade of the 18th century.

Actors, leftist historians, comedians and footballers brought in for the reading of scripts for a few seconds pretending it's their own thoughts.

Its an insult to every British person.

Please don't believe this subjective, revisionist, progressive nonsense is the true history of these isles.

It isn't.

Mates (2023)

Lost opportunity, Decent actors, Poor script

[6/10 · 25 November 2023]

This could have been so much better. The message was well setup but the plot waa pedestrian, the script amateur at best.

It comes across like a college drama class attempt at a movie.

The cinematography is good but the chemistry and the dialogue is severely short of the mark and doesn't drive the film forward.

A disappointing unfulfilled destination. Cut off with no resolution, thus following the standard trope of gay fim endings.

Sadness, loss, missed chances and a general downer.

I thought we had moved on with gay movies by now and stopped being locked into the victim and outsider narrative.

The most realistic part was the bully who actually delivered a good performance that felt natural.

The protagonist character was so isolated that it made no sense that he would have even embarked on the journey. This wasn't so much about gay guilt, shyness or subconscious homophobia but more about depression, self confidence and mental health.

You can feel sorry for someone only so far. But when they don't try to engage and accept friendship their fate become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Connor, the protagonist as such became irritating, selfish and a general tantrum driven bore. I would have had far less patience with someone who doesn't even try to embrace their own existence.

Das Boot: Nichts persönliches (2023) Season 4, Episode 6

Dreadful ending. What the Hell?

[2/10 · 5 November 2023]

The season finale ruined the entire show.

The plots all led nowhere Worse series ending since game of thrones

Did the writers just give up?

The entire show came to nothing and everything Klaus Hoffman did was a waste of time.

Should have ended the show After season 2.

From there onwards absolutely nothing made sense or mattered.

Hardly any scenes on the Boot either.

So don't expect much submarine action in the final season.

Pointless subplots and fillers.

A problem throughout the show unfortunately.

But the plots towards the end become ridiculous A complete let down and anticlimax

1/10.

Das Boot (2018– )

Starts off fantastic. But drifts badly from S.3.

[9/10 · 31 October 2023]

The first season was quality TV.

Exceptional storytelling and acting.

Season 2 became weaker with a rather tedious and implausible American subplot and the loss of some key characters.

Season 3. Starts to become messy, silly, and overly complicated with so many unanswered questions from the end of season 2.

Also characters have adopted widely inconsistent personalities. The U-boat stories start to take a nack burner with too much time spent on the Lisbon plot. Here the acting takes a duve too and it all appears to take the shape of a shoddy B list spy movie.

Season 4 - im only 3 episodes in.

It has intrigue but hasn't really so far recovered to its original quality and much if the silliness of season 3 appears to be continuing.

We've also lost more good characters and one has been replaced with an entirely different actress who bears no relation whatsoever to the personality of the original actress

The budget has definitely been increased for the Berlin scenes but unfortunately our protagonist Klaus' conversion from hero to a rather wimpish international do-gooder and the totally unrealistic way a deserter and his family have managed to fool tne highest eschelons of the Reich is beyond credible. I preferred the patriotic U-boat commander Hoffman not this sanctimonious liberal saint, who is hardly guilt free of his own Nazi past.

Edit.

Just watched the last episode of the entire series.

What a complete let down.

Hoffman dies having failed at his plan.

All the crew members Either disappeared to the USA or died

The writers must have followed the ending in GOT. Lets destroy the entire value of the show with a pointless, meaningless ending and kill off all the best characters.

Das Boot: Fool's Gold (2022) Season 3, Episode 8

Sadly it all went downhill in this season

[5/10 · 31 October 2023]

Overly complicated plot in Lisbon.

None of the Gold and Wolfram plot made much sense and too many unanswered questions.

Who stole the three gold bars?

The moping Eidleman arc became boring.

The British naval captain and his dreadful wife was one of the worst and badly acted subplots in the entire series.

I groaned and fast forwarded all of that unnecessary sentimental nonsense which added little to the show.

Too many coincidences.

No explanation of what happened to Rochelle in America and how Klaus left the US.

The entire US plot in season 2 eas also boring and pointless as we discover in Season 3 when it was all forgotten.

The only impact of that arc was to turn Klaus from an interesting character and hero if season 1. Into a tedious wimp by Season 3.

And what happened to Frank?

Did he ever find his daughter?

Did he know his sister was dead?

I was hoping he would come back with Klaus to take his revenge out on Forster which would have been more satisfying than Forster's suicide for his involvement in the cote Nazi atrocities in France and Poland.

This season three is where Historical fiction turned into revisionist fantasy and sadly none if it was convincing and the show went from a 9 in season 1 to a 5.5.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024)

One foot in the grave - American style. Some laugh out loud moments.

[8/10 · 22 August 2023]

OK It's very dated now, 2000's but it look and feels like just after the Seinfeld era in the 1980's. Dreadful fashion still going strong in 2000's Los Angeles.

Some episodes are very funny, especially with the parents of his agent although because they're short they don't make full use of potential comedic playouts.

Some episodes however are just not that funny in today's age and fall flat.

Larry can barely keep a straight face in these series and quite a lot of adlib and improvised comedy.

Essentially each episode is Larry trying to lead a simple retirement but unexpected consequences of cause and effect and a little too much coincidence with bizarre characters and old friends, results in everything he does coming back to bite him in the ass.

Fall (I) (2022)

Utter predictable ridiculous drivel.

[1/10 · 17 March 2023]

Two dumb sobriety girls who really should have stuck to a summer job in Hooters.

Decide to climb a mast (the 6th tallest structure im the US) without enough rope, emergency communication equipment, food, water.

They haven't secured any back up by letting anyone know where they are if anything goes wrong.

They haven't inspected this rusty structure to ensure the nuts and bolts aren't loose.

Then they decide to start Instagram shots from the top by swinging by one hand and no harness.

What was Negan thinking?

(Even an appearance of his darling Lucille being used on these stoopid chicks couldn't have saved it.)

Netflix seems to continually testin how low they can reduce the bar and still fool sheeple to keep watching.

Don't waste your time.

The Empress (2022– )

Polished well acted period piece.

[8/10 · 4 February 2023]

A nice change to have some insight into the history of Hapsburg monarchy.

Hopefully the first of many productions in this genre as there is a whole wealth of interesting content to tap into for TV shows focused on The Austro Hungarian Empire and the German and Prussian empires of the 17th to 19th centuries.

A lavish, polished production with some of the finest up and coming German & Austrian actors.

Gorgeous costumes and cinematography.

The only criticism is the weakness of the sub plots which focus too much on the trivial chic- flick type of trite romantic fluff and not enough on the political machinations within court and the wider societal changes.

Revolutionary fever is growing but this part of the story is not entirely convincing and is not given enough prominence.

Its not quite at the standard of "Versailles" or "The Crown" but its definitely an improvement on the asinine "Bridgerton".

I Care a Lot (2020)

Ridiculous plot, ludicrous ending.

[6/10 · 18 September 2022]

A strong cast let down by a plot full of holes and disbelief.

More attention should have been given to the legal detail.

Putting the disbelief aside, just when the action and twists get going the film is brought to an end where a cunning care worker suddenly trusts a murderous Russian gangster who has just attempted to murder her and her partner, by going into business with him.

Because he "respects her".

Shaking my head.

Rosamund Pike gives a good polished performance. Drinkage is largely pedestrian and clearly not emotionally invested in this movie.

Would have made a decent 6 part series if the plot had been more believable and further twists and turns were involved with a more satisfying conclusion.

Lost potential.

Fatima (2020)

Beautiful film with amazing child actors

[9/10 · 21 August 2022]

This is a very good film that captures perfectly the Portuguese village life of the turbulent early 19th century.

A careful interpretation of the facts as they unfold.

Many still question the events and put them down to a collective psychological phenomenon.

As the Virgin mother said to the children when they asked for a sign so that the people could believe.... "Even when standing in front of the face of God, how many men still don't believe"

Are we not in the presence of miracles every second of our lives?

How much proof do we need from God?

Are we so complacent & greedy to reject everything around us and still ask for more?

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle" (Albert Einstein)

I haven't been to Fatima but I've been to Coimbra where Luecia entered the convent.

That beautiful medieval town on a hill is like most of Northern Portugal, a very peaceful & blessed place.

Apparitions are not random events, they are chosen for special people in special places where the message will be spread through simple folk already suffering great strife.

Through pain, poverty & suffering we are much closer to God than the idle, wealthy and covetous.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Through suffering is salvation

[10/10 · 14 August 2022]

This is an incredible focus on suffering and sacrifice.

Through his sacrifice we are cleansed of original sin and through his new covenant, the faith in his body & blood giving us all eternal life.

The pain problem that countless philosophers and theologists grapple with; why does God allow pain?, why does God let children suffer?is answered in the passion.

Through Christ's pain we all are free.

Through our own pain we can suffer up our souls to God.

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Through darkness there is light.

Through pain there is glory.

Empire (2005)

Formulaic Soap opera - divorced from historical accuracy.

[4/10 · 8 August 2022]

A decent cast of actors unfortunately let down by a budget script and a budget production.

Focused on fictional characters and gladiators with thin political history as a setting. A knockoff of Gladiator.

First off the bat - episode 1.

Octavian was not in Rome when Julius Caesar was murdered, he was on military excercise with Agrippa in West Macedonia.

Caesar was not stabbed inside the senate with all the senators joining in. He was butchered only by a few senators on the steps to the House.

Most of the senators were not involved in the plot.

Caesar did not drive a chariot around Rome without an armed guard.

We are still waiting for the 21st century pinnacle movie to this period. To-date, since 1960's epic and a decent TV film a new big budget movie is long overdue on the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Empire.

Dark Encounter (2019)

Great movie. Ignore poor reviews. Gripping.

[8/10 · 4 July 2022]

I loved it.

It takes a good movie to keep me interested until the end. I've seen some turkeys and bad Z rate horrots but this was a clear 7/10 for gripping interest and sustained creepiness right to the end.

Much better than the usual Hollywood muck.

Good to see that it included almost entirely British actors and was made in the UK yet they managed to make it feel like 1980's rural Pennsylvania.

A lot of ET vibes and 1980's Sci-Fi and some Interstellar thrown in.

Yes it could have been improved upon plot wise and some parts were slow, but overall it ticked the box for good 2 hour entertainment with a nice Metaphysical & Supernatural mind bend to chew on.

Good show.

Middlemarch (1994)

The actors are too old

[3/10 · 30 April 2022]

How can you take this seriously when most of the actors are 20 to 30 years older than the characters they are supposed to be playing.

This novel contains a lot of passion but given the age of the actors that is completely lost and it's almost ridiculous.

Rufus Sewell is around 40 when this was made will Ladislaw the character is supposed to be playing was only around 22 to maximum in the novel.

We have a wealth of excellent younger actors in Britain. It's time to start casting that resembles the original material.

This isn't artistic licence.

And tell Equity to butt out.

Angela Black (2021)

Boring and farcical

[4/10 · 8 April 2022]

How in 2022 someone can be sectioned under the mental health act politely on the day of her abusive husband, with no input from friends & family, no lawyer, no input from her GP.

It just couldn't happen.

That critical plot hole sums up the entire premise.. ridiculous.

Our House (2022)

Decent enough. But poor ending and odd plot holes

[8/10 · 10 March 2022]

I enjoyed this.

Ill watch anything with Tuppence in it because she has a unique ambience about her although this was below her talent and might have been more suited to Suranne Jones.

Unfortunately the lead actor is, as usual a one truck pony, he has no range and effectively plays the same role in everything he's in from Line of Duty to The submarine drama to this.

I'm bored with such a one dimensional actor with his disinterested Scottish accent.

Anyways decent enough story to keep you interested but cut off by an anticlimactic ending.

They could have had another two episodes with a great twist at the end, where Bram faked the suicide and the other girl accomplice has stitched up Toby/Mike and gone too the light side.

Wasted opportunity.

Now let's talk about the ageless children... that was a glaring loophole in the "10 years earlier" flashbacks where the two boys were exactly the same age in both time periods...how on earth didn't the children age by 10 years...??

They should have been 17 &14 in the later time period but they were still 7 & 4.

Come on that's just sloppy 🤣

Old (2021)

Ludicrous plot holer.

[3/10 · 7 March 2022]

Sorry but you need to suspend all logic on this one because the writers have clearly ignore a minefield of obvious plot holes like.

How did the kids clothes still fit?. And why did none of their hair grow?

John Adams (2008)

Intelligent TV for once

[7/10 · 7 January 2022]

I really enjoyed this series.

It's intellectual and is packed full of court room style oratory together with the machinations of persuasion and rhetoric surrounding the profound thinking of the founding fathers and other great men of the time.

Finally a show that doesn't need gratuitous sex scenes or unnecessary melodrama.

The family scenes are a true depiction of the domestic lifestyle of pre revolutionary America without soap opera.

Every actor has been chosen not just to deliver the character but also they look amazingly similar to the actual founding fathers themselves. Excellent casting.

Giammatti as alway presents the legal egal expertise of a true court room performer and he does it with ease.

I would like a similar series about the life of both Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Two of the most interesting characters of the time.

The Courier (2020)

Boring, underwhelming budget movie.

[1/10 · 31 December 2021]

Once again a plethora of fake reviews on IMDb by studio hacks giving this trite low rent movie high reviews.

This was a total snoozefest.

Ham attempts to create a 60's setting with ridiculous clichés (chain smoking and office boys daring to take a second look at a blonde...how distastefully old-fashioned and unwoke?. No you're trying too hard.

Ridiculous attempts to pass off obvious London locations as Moscow. Then throw in a red telephone box when we need to notify our viewers that this scene is actually London.

Nothing exciting happens.

I couldn't care less what happened to any of these people.

We are supposed to be in the edge of our seats over the Cuban missile crisis.

Cumberbatch obviously lost a lot of weight for this role which really wasnt worth the effort for such a trivial back catalogue movie. Save your strength Benedict, this turkey could have been smelled a mile off.

No doubt its a real story which at the time was probably very significant but in the scheme of things today hardly worth a movie format.

Fortitude (2015–2018)

Dreadful mess.

[2/10 · 22 December 2021]

The entire premise is ridiculous.

It's supposed to be Svalvard i guess.

How the police men behave is beyond exaggerated. There appears to be no chief of police or judges that keep an eye on the law.

The three corrupt, sexually deprived and deranged police officers are accountable only to the Island governor who's also married to one. She appears only accountable to the Mainland Oslo government who aren't interested in this island at all. She covers up crimes and just follows her own agenda. There appears to be no elected council.

The law is laid down by vigilante lynching gangs of the locals instead of courts.

There's only one doctor who seems to be out of her depth.

Bad acting English actors pretending to be Norwegian An American working for the British special branch ??

Waste of time.