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mclairforet
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Heer & meester (2014)
Delightful Rom-com from Holland
Why a 9 out of 10 and not 10? Subtitles. Other than that I wish there were quality fun rom-coms like this in the US. The acting is good to adequate and the camp is very entertaining. It is just serious enough to not be foppish, and light enough to give a good laugh each episode. Great date material (if you are sitting in bed with your wife) and great entertainment for the whole family. Kids get it and laugh - if they can read fast enough. Too bad they didn't dub it in English, or shoot a second shot with English. I'd like to see this on CW or some other US network, but not Pivot, not wide enough exposure. I recommend it to every lover of James Bond, with a light hearted laugh and bowl of popcorn.
Vyzhit posle (2013)
Russian Zombie World Order Conspiracy Series With Kids
It was really good, and really bad. With a limited budget, some good kid stars (under 25), poor adult stars (over 30) this was a mishmash of conspiracy plot lines involving fabulously good looking female zombies, really stupid kids, "diggers" (sewer workers), and an assortment of world order conspirators. This series plodded along through trial and error to a what could conceivably be called an ending. Without giving away the ending of the first season, of course you have to know they gave it one that could terminate the series if not picked up, but with enough of a hanger to keep going if funded. My vote is, with the same writers and production company, forget it. With a new writing team, production funding, and change in some of the characters it could make it as much as other regionally successful shows of this ilk. It is hard to give this a review without giving spoilers left and right. Needless to say, the bad guys were bad all the time. The good guys weren't really all that good or gained our sympathy. When folks died, both good and bad, you were sort of relieved to see them go along with their bad acting and really crappy personalities.. The longer you watched, the more you waited for everyone to get knocked off and just watched to see how it would be done. The characters may have reacted the way Russian youth of the ages of 18-23 would have acted, but not in America. They were self possessed, argumentative, fighting each other, scared to death all the time so badly even when threatened by catatonic zombies they couldn't defend themselves, and totally type cast. Even heroic deeds among them didn't redeem their personalities or make you feel for them when they died, or did something good. You just had a feeling of relief and sighed an "oh well." It is not worth recommending unless you like zombie pictures with a dose of world order conspiracy thrown in. But be warned, you will sit through it thinking of how you would have written that scene, dialog, shot, back drop, character reaction, lighting and everything else.
Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015)
A complex character that's easy to read
It's a good show with complex characters that are easy to read. Their reasons aren't clear, their progress lacking, the emotions constrained and retarded. People move on from divorce, death, loss of children, and bad things that happen to them. We want them to. We need them to. If they don't they just become boring and tiresome. Jesse needs to move on from his wife, get over himself, find a love interest that inspires him and allow him to stop feeling so sorry for himself all the time. He needs a good laugh, a smile, something that makes you want to share his life with him instead of yell at the screen, "get over it and move on!"
The production value is great. Too much emphasis on dogs. Too many lines repeated over and over. It's a 165 page script with 135 pages of dialog without the repetition. If he focused on Jesse Stone he could easily do two of these a year and have all the life he wanted instead of commuting to NY from LA. In fact, he could shoot them in British Columbia instead of Nova Scotia. I enjoy a good mystery, and at least these hold suspense throughout and don't give away who the bad guy is until the last 10 minutes. All in all, this series needs focus and directed attention and it could be one of the better, if not the best show on TV.
Fortitude (2015)
Intriguing, engaging, slow paced drama, addictive
Potential Spoiler content: I love this series. Only mistake was killing one of the main characters. They need to bring his doppelganger back because his cool demeanor makes the show. The sheriff is a nutcase who needs to be replaced by someone else. This is one of the best mystery drama murder shows on TV. Better than anything on US TV sets. There are technical flaws here and there, but can be overlooked. People enter rooms and unzip their coats, only to later turn around and unzip them again. Also the cold as it is, people walked around without gloves, in street shoes, and other minor problems.
Other than that this is a great show. Whoever the technical specialist is evidently didn't go the island and walk around in the cold. It also left out various explanations as to who owned the dogs, who was taking care of them, how people got ashore from boats, and various other things. Oh, and for all the cold, why didn't we see anyone's breath. However, all the negative aside, it was a great show and should get funding from at least ACORN TV, or one of the many US cable stations. HIGHLY recommended.