cloudysky1919 Reviews

Les rivières pourpres (2018– )

Mostly Good scenario ideas executed really bad.

[5/10 · 22 April 2024]

A lot of the stories were really interesting as concepts but the execution was at best mediocre. This tv show could be great 30 years ago, as it's full of repeating cliches that every boring crime drama always includes.

The first story was the worst: A satanist rock band that kidnaps virgins and kills monks. Look like some hot topic ravers and has two violent ''street punks'' as its members. Wow! They also do drugs and their fans are biker gangs! Zero research made in any way to depict the villains in any realistic fashion or culture of our age. Of course, they were the first suspects and guilty for everything without any plot twist or other interesting suspects.

The other season 1 stories were somehow more interesting, but a lot of known cliches are present. Macho old cop that beats the cr*p out of whoever he pleases, pretty female assistant that usually falls in distress and then, HE always saves. Tormented family backgrounds. Complete ignorance of how European law enforcement works, even between different countries. Old cop somehow bangs hot German countess. Episode in Germany has for sure nazis included. Always, a specialist around to give a helping hand. And the list goes on and on...

In conclusion, the acting itself is really mediocre by everyone in the series and the script doesn't help a lot in that way. This series is in no way comparable with the two movies of the same name that were quite decent.

Vikings: Valhalla (2022– )

Terrible

[1/10 · 2 March 2022]

As a historian it hurts me x2 when they murder my field. Netflix should just stick to fantasy/sword and sorcery and not mess up people's national history or epics.

Doxobus (1987)

The Palaeologi civil wars through a personal story.

[5/10 · 29 November 2014]

By the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was, if not on the verge of actual collapse, at least seriously decadent and clearly on its last legs. All of the Empire's frontiers are in high pressure by its enemies, Heretics (Bogomils) are preaching inside the Byzantine territory and last, but not least, a circle of civil wars will emerge at the European parts of the Empire. In this story, a widow lives in the 14th-century Byzantine village of Doxobus, at the banks of Strymon river, Macedonia, with her son Xenos. She forms a relationship with a village elder, and when she gives birth to the elder's son, Xenos is sent to live in a monastery. When the boy reaches adulthood, he chooses the life of a soldier in the Byzantine army and swiftly rises through the ranks as the civil wars emerge. In fact, as a reward, he is given the governorship of his native village, proving once again that success is the sweetest revenge.