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Barry_Norman
Reviews
Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story (2022)
For International audiences more than the British audience.
Reading the reviews here it seems people are complaining about how most of the documentary seems like a biopic rather than in depth investigation into his crimes. Yes the British public are mostly well aware of his career and most of this docu is redundant to them but as this is on Netflix it's possible most of the international audience are unaware of who Jimmy Savile was and why he was so revered by the British public for decades. This documentary goes into huge detail about his time in the 70's and 80's and people will be fascinated by this regardless.
The best part of this docu for me was all the archive footage, and there's a lot of it. It doesn't have to be re-enacted like other shows.
Reunion (2020)
The house is the best character in the film
The first half hour I didn't know what the hell was going on. It seemed like they were clearing out a house but the I didn't understand why a heavily pregnant woman wouldn't want to stay in hotel rather than a creepy hoarded house with a mother who was faffing around with a bunch of keys hanging from her neck. She seemed busy but wasn't actually doing anything other than going up and down the stairs, locking and undoing doors and being a bloody pain in the arse. All this and some family mystery lurking in the background.
The film does explain all in the last 10 mins, well, sort of. To be honest I didn't really like this film but it has stayed with me. I particually liked the setting. A house that seemed dark and claustraphobic. Overall I would say it's worth a watch if you like a mother/daughter weird dynamic.
Tenet (2020)
Watch Dark on Netflix instead
Christopher Nolan is over-rated.
If you want to see a complex show about time travel and the futility of it then watch Dark on Netflix. It's much better than this boring, po-faced nonsense.
And yes, it does have subtitles.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
A film of nothingness, how did it get the green light?
The first WW film was surprisingly good, an anomaly in the DC universe for sure.
But this one is actually the worst. A plot so wafer thin. Literally the first hour of this film is people walking in an out of empty offices. The second half is Chris Pratt, or Pine or whoever looking and acting like a plank. And I don't know what Pedro Pascal was paid to star in this movie but it wasn't enough to see him be humiliated like this.
I cannot believe how this somehow passed all the execs at Warner Broswithout somebody saying," this is hot garbage, right?"
Dark (2017)
Exquisitely crafted like a swiss watch
Don't you just hate shows/films about time travel that break their own rules and fall apart by the end (Lost, anyone?). This one doesn't. It obeys them. Diligently. It starts off simple enough but as the story unfolds it gets progressively more complex, almost to the point of your brain melting. But amazingly it comes together in the end.
It does leave a few questions here and there, you can find webpages on these. But it doesn't detract from the fact that this is one of the best tv shows i've seen in a while. I enjoyed it.
The Curse of Oak Island (2014)
In 2014 intriguing. In 2020 boring and repetitive.
When this first started back in 2014 I was hooked by the story of the Knight's Templar, Francis Bacon, Money pit ect...
But now in 2020 the story is beyond tedious. It's basically a group of men standing around a muddy hole talking about "we've got wood" ad nauseam.
The show has far too may episodes per season. With addition of the metal detectorist it's given the producers of the show to pad out episodes with Gary finding things like "cribbing spikes" and expect that to be entertainment.
And the Clotsworthy, the narrator must be saying this stuff in his sleep because like on Ancient Aliens he says the same things over and over.
To summarise. I you are new to this show, don't get sunk in to the trap of thinking they will find treasure. They won't. Only more muddy holes.
Undertaker: The Last Ride (2020)
Brilliant from start to finish
With all the rave reviews about The Last Dance how about shining some light on The Last Ride.
Just like with Last dance you don't have to be a wrestling fan to appreciate this story about a man who wants to continue in his career but who's battered and broken body wont let him. It's universal in sports and life. and this from a man who has stayed in character for 30 years. Now Mark Calaway speaks and it's an absolute treasure.
The ending is just perfect, it gave me the chills.
Gale Force (2002)
A good cheesy romp
After reading the comments here I was fully expecting a bad film. This gave me the incentive to watch this film as a good cheesy romp can be entertaining. I wasn't let down.
I agree with an earlier comment made that obviously people here have taken this film WAY too seriously, judging by their reviews. Think, how many disgruntled, suspended L.A detectives do you know get invited to appear on a T.V reality game show?
The first 'controversial' scene with the car chase ripped from Last Action Hero was comical if anything else. It does seem a bit disjointed from the rest of the film but sets up the premise (an over-the-top one) of why our hero is off work and has nothing better to do other than to eat barely-cooked hot-dogs dipped in mustard and appear on Reality TV game show.
After that were introduced to the rest of the contestants and the shady game show host. It appears he has plans about pocketing the cool $10 million prize for himself rather than the unwitting contestants. Again, what T.V company would bury $10 million in a treasure chest on a remote island?
They get there, have a getting to know period where the dominant characters emerge to lead the two teams to the treasure. Of course Treat is one. They later find out that a team of 'pirates' will hunt them down to prevent them from getting the secret stash.
Next day they set off with good intentions but eventually run into a band of men carrying large machine guns, and not paint-ball guns as they were led to believe, and run for their lives. Meanwhile a huge tropical storm is brewing.
Basically then it turns into a cat-and-mouse type of affair but the cats aren't very proficient killers. An over-the-top sequence that resembles the nuke scene in Apocalypse Down, just to take down half a dozen straw huts is hilarious. I wouldn't say this was a particularly violent film. Just an implausible one. Like hiding in a beach cave while a huge 50 foot tsunami wave is just outside threatening to destroy the whole island. And what happened to the building at then end.
You can't really go into this film expecting a masterpiece, just accept it for what it is, ridiculous, over-the-top hokum and you won't be disappointed.
6/10
Hard As Nails (2001)
tits and guns
I think the only way to describe this film is 'tits and guns'.
Most of the film revolves around a strip club with the the larger-than-life Russian owner trying to put a deal together with an unstable half-japanese American lad to buy a mass of guns. The young lad gets frisky with a delicious Lorissa McComas pole dancer and all hell breaks loose. Coupled with the fact an undercover cop is lurking about and you have a recipe for one violent action scene after another.
Speaking of the fight scenes, these look lame compared with say a Jet Li/Jackie Chan movie. The long trench coat smacks of trying to be a Matrix copy but falling well, well short.
All in all, pretty average action thriller. 5/10