House of Cards, for me, categorizes as what I call shooting star shows. They come out of nowhere, shine bright for a while until they ultimately fade to the point they disappear from sight.
Don't get this the wrong way - this is a well made show. The acting, especially Kevin Spacey, is top notch. The breaking of the forth wall was genius. I liked the first season a lot as it showed the game of politics as I could very well imagine it to be. Or I should probably say, as I think it actually is. But there came a point where it became just too much. Watching bad people do bad things and come away with it each and every time was nothing I would continue to watch. Plus they introduced so many uniteresting sideplots that made me at times left the show running while I went out of the room. Like I said, it just went on too long. There wasn't a single character I could get behind. Had it finished after the third season with the Underwoods going to jail for what they did, I would have given it a much higher rating.
I made it to the end of season four and, seeing how the ratings drop, went on to look what transpired in season five and six. And I'm fine with stopping there.
I dropped out after season one because I didn't connect with it. I wasn't expecting Sci Fi and would rather have settled for a real alternate reality. What I watched felt long and tedious. Like it could have fit within a two hour movie. I also don't think it was that well done all things considered. It was good but not outstanding. Yes, it was nominated a lot but it didn't win a lot and most of it for supporting actors or the title sequence.
What can I say ? Another highly rated show I dropped. Maybe I should look for those rated in the 60 %tage.
This is the best animated Iron Man I've seen so far. It feels much more mature and more aimed at an adult audience. I like the animation style.
The plot takes reference to the first Iron Man movie and kind of builds from there. I was surprised that there is a strong nationalist part in the story. Would have liked to see more from this but it is a complete stroy so maybe they never intented to make this into a series.
It's not awful or un-watchable. This is a European production. Which works both, in its favor, as well as against it at times. It hasn't got the "Hollywood-Shine" which makes it look more natural and more believable. Since it envolves cast memebers from all over Europe they choose to produce it in english. Which makes sense. And in some cases the accent spoken by the actors help sell the character. But you also notice that for many actors it isn't their natural language and they seem to feel a bit uncomfortable. I want to point out Isolda Dychauk, who play Lucretia Borgia. She always sounds as if reading from a sheet of paper instead of sounding natural. Others have problems as well. Like Andrea Sawatzki, who speaks the typical german accented english. That's a bit of a downside.
As for the plot, it is historical drama. And the emphasis lies on drama. They've surely cut corners with the historic facts and a lot of things might be added for the sake of drama. It comes with the genre. That's not my main problem. No, it's the fact that there is no one to like in this story. They all are scheming, manipulating and spinning intrigue for their own good. But, of course, all in the name of a higher calling. Which shows a lot of hypocracy. There are no selfless acts. Might be accurate but doesn't sell well. It is very repetetive. Which by the way are all problems I had with the version featuring Jeremy Irons, too. Those characters are all very unlikeable.
There is a lot of sex and violence here. And it is portrayed rather colorful. Again, compared to US productions, who tend to tune this down at times, it can be good or bad. While it helps the story to a certain degree to display the times, the more the show progresses it just seems to be there for it's own good. Now, I don't want to preach moral but you need to find the right balance.
I'm about half way through the show and not sure if I go to the end. My interest is dwindeling. I don't think there will be any new angles of interest. Maybe I watch an episode now and then to close it out.
I had no idea that Brian is such an avid petrolhead. But it is very refreshing to have a car themed show featuring a presenter that oozes passion for cars from every pore.
Although I got the feeling that some of the companies reps were uncompfortable with his open remarks. Doesn't bother me, though.
It loses a bit of the impact and edge if you already know the book. But it's still a good adaptation. I think Hartnett played really well.
Harris picked up something here one should think about. It's not total science fiction. Yes, there is no true AI, yet. Beside that this is something I can see happening in the future.
I'm pretty sure a 50+ year adult watching this about 25 years after this aired was not on the producers mind. For sure many kids and teens got their kicks out of this but it hasn't aged well. Even compared to many other animated shows that I've watched, some of them even older, this pales.
The writing is weak, voice acting is dreadful as is the dialogue. Everything is extremly repetitive in terms of plot and even animation itself. I don't think I've ever seen the equivalent to a clipshow in animation. Second season is slightly better but this would be like saying a thunderstorm is better than a blizzard.
Maybe you've watched this as a kid and want to relive some nostalgia, go for it. But otherwise I don't see why one should watch this.
I decided to quit after season one because, while not a bad show as such, ultimately it didn't win me over. I pondered to quit during the first four episodes but it became better so I stuck around. But it was to much up and down, back and forth for me. I didn't particulary liked any character and while the story is interesting I often thought I'd much rather watch a docu about the topic or listen to the original interviews.
And with a possible season three still hanging in the air and maybe never to occur I don't want to end up with an unfinished show after season two.
I still give the show a "7" which from my point of view is the highest I can give to a show I quit watching. It's loss of interest and rationality and not quality of the production why I quit.
That Ant is a top notch mechanic was never in doubt. But building a complete car put him on the next step. I wouldn't have minded if this had double the amount of episodes to show even more details of the build. Because this is what it's all about. There isn't any of the nonsense thyt alwmost always creeps into any car show.
You can skip the second season's two episodes. It's nothing more than a vlog that did nothing for me. Probably forced because of the pandemic but it would have been better not to make it at all.
And hopefully someday he learns how to say "Porsche" the right way. :wink:
Looks more at the political side and the relationships between the Big Three.
Not bad but I do disagree with the final conclusion and, judging by the rating, so might others.
Watched the first season and it was OK. But, personally, I fail to see the masterpiece everyone is talking about. Which isn't really surprising for me as this lines up with many high praised TV shows I found rather mediocre or didn't even watch because of lack of interest in the first place.
This (S1) was a story for a two, maybe two and a half hour movie. But not for 12 hours. And in the end it was very generic. A unmoral politician who covers up his arse by sweeping a horribly gone wrong drone strike under the carpet which turns a POW marine into a terrorist. That's not what I call ingenious writing. Granted, it is of some interest and they managed to fool me completely. But the main reason I didn't buy in was I never saw Lewis playing a bad character. Which might be one reason he was casted for this role.
While both, Lewis and especially Danes towards the end, deliver remarkable performances, I don't like their characters and have no interest in how their story moves forward. This is why I quit after the first season.
This was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was expecting a low to mid level 70s TV show at best. But this was very entertaining and some episodes even tackled social issues which was not typical for the time.
Despite the fact this is a sequel to the movies you don't have to watch them. The show works well on its own. Roddy McDowell seems to be enjoying playing an ape again very much and Harper and Naughton work well together. The generall plot is repetitive and you'd better not apply logic and/or continuity. Those things weren't high on 70's TV. The individual episodes work well and there are many known guest stars appearing, most of them not recognizable because of the heavy make-up.
I think there was some more potential in it but at a reported 250k $ per episode and with low ratings CBS pulled the plug. Like I said it is entertaining to watch. I was considering rating it as an "8" but that would be to high even in the context of it's own time. But it is a very good "7".
This production brings something back to attention we don't think about so much today. In fact, in my case, I don't think about it at all. And I was old enough to remember it well. But it is still there, the danger is not gone, it sleeps. And at some point in the future someone will have to deal with it again. Maybe they will play it down too and try to sweep it under the rug.
Ultimately it isn't important if the events depicted here are 100 % accurate. It is historical fiction. Even the producers will admit to that. It's about the dangers, the negligence, the bureaucracy in the system, all the lies and misinformation that lead to this desaster and the aftermath. It is about the price of the lies.
The state was unfailable and everything proofing otherwise simply doesn't exist. The former Soviet Union surely doesn't hold a monopol on those kind of things (heaven knows the US is no stranger to that), but they had this down to a T and turned this into an art. We see this again years later with the sinking of the Kursk.
I had to give this a "10" not because it is enjoyable but it is important to be reminded so that those things don't happen again. That's the wishful thinking. Sadly I'm fairly certain next time something big happens everything will repeat itself.
I've always preferred factual documentaries over those using reenactment and this show is a prime candidate why.
I hear the accounts of these soldiers and it is really interesting, gripping, even terrifying thinking they experienced this. Next comes a dull insert or cheap reenacted scene completely ruining the moment. I would have loved a version with just the interviews and enough of background info.
So the low rating is completely because of the style this is presented.
I watched the 2005 movie and therefore decided to give this one a try also when I found the DVD box online.
This wasn't a cheap TV production. And while it surely looks outdated, especially in terms of the SFX and rather like being even ten years older than it is, all this doesn't matter. The movie, according to imdb, had a 180 m$ budget (which is huge) and benefited from better technology. But this is made with a lot of love and dedication for detail and espcially the animal costumes are phantastic.
From the three parts I like "The Lion...." the most. Which is part due to the fact that the protagonists change moving forward and I didn't like Eustace or Jill that much to be honest. There is obviously a strong christian theme which starts and ends with Aslan. Interestingly, as a full fledged astheist, that didn't bother me at all. The funny thing is, I didn't even made the connection until I read about it. Then many things present themselve in a different light.
It's still a great adventure story for kids to dream about traveling to a mystique land and living through a series of adventures.
If you're looking for a historical accurate tale you should not watch this. There are more than "some events/persons that have been altered" for the story. The whole timeline of events is messed up. Meaning, many of those events happened at other times than shown here. This isn't a history lesson, it's a scripted drama. Entertainment. And that's totally fine with me because it does not claim to be anything else.
Historical drama is one of my guilty pleasures and this feels like watching something akin to Dallas or Denver in medival England. The costumes are amazing and having the oportunity of filming in this great locations is a luxury that makes this look so much better. The spanish accents are a little bit thick and sometimes it was hard to understand the actors. But in general they did a great job and I was especially taken in by Charlotte Hope.
Even from this mostly fictional depiction I gather that Catherine of Aragon must have been an interesting person and I might even take the time reading up about her. And if a show manages to do that I can only rate it as a success.
Well, I am not a Marvel Fan as such and I certainly don't read the comics. I watched about 90 % of the movies but they became more and more tedious for me. I just mention this so you better understand my comment.
I watch the Marvel shows because they are on Disney. Simple as that. Some I liked (Wanda and Falcon), some I didn't (Loki) and this one is kind of in nowhere-land. Started well and I hoped it would make the character of Hawkeye more interesting. It didn't, and after the first couple of episodes I liked it less and less. The story just didn't make me care for anything that happened on screen. And the humor and awkwardness that nowadays seems to be a must-have doesn't sit well with me either. What some percieve as funny are roll-eyes-moments for me I could live without. There were no real highlights and I really didn't like Kate Bishop. Bringing back Kingpin only made me realize how much I would love to have had another Daredevil season.
Since this shows main purpose is to be a precursor for upcoming movies I might not even watch, it is entirely possibly I am not getting the point of them. Maybe they don't work as stand alone because they are not supposed to. And because of that maybe I should not watch another.
I am not ripping them of or calling them awful but that's my point of view.
Say what you will about the BBC but they make the best documentaries no matter what topic. I could watch this without commentary and it would still be great just with the sound and picture.
It's a "Counting Cars" clipshow. Maybe they were forced to do this do to COVID - I don't know. After all they did I normal season, too. Despite the fact I watched all the episodes and there were some cool moments brought back I'd still say there's no need to watch this.
I gave up on this after the third episode:
It's not completely awful or unwatchable but at the same time everything just feels empty. Things just happen without any emotional weight. An indian village is burned to the ground and cut - six years later, new characters. A new part of the story. Things just come and go. They show us some town which is then massacred - why do I care ? Those characters were on screen just a couple of minutes.
This projekt probably was to ambitous for its own good. They wanted to put to many things in. For that they needed more episodes. On the positive side there is the at times beautiful scenery. The CGI looks very outdated, though.
For a hard core Star Trek Fan this probably doesn't offer much, if anything, new. And the style is similar to Netflix's "The Movies that made us" which I didn't like much.
But I'm a huge fan of Gates so for that reason alone I keep watching it.
Edit:
Overall an interesting journey through the history of Star Trek. But even as a decade long fan who thought he knows much of the story already, I was asking myself more then once: "How could this franchise become so big and long lived with all what was going on behind the scenes ?"
I found the Guardians movies among the best from Marvel but this animated version is terrible.
Maybe I'm putting to much into it with this being predominantly a kids show. But the characters don't have depth for prolongued stories. There is no developement whatsoever in them. They all have one trait that gets boring or in some cases, Quill especially, nerving.
I pretty much lost interest during the second season but continued for the sake of completion. And even that was tedious. The third season was then a complete nosedive and, quite frankly, dumb. As far as I've watched it because I regarded it as a waste of time to continue.
This wasn't for me.
Due to its unique style this probably won't satisfy all Star Wars fans.
But like I mentioned before, you shouldn't compare episodes as each one is an individual take by the creator - a vision. This leads to you liking some but maybe not all episodes.
You can identify the Star Wars mythology within each story and some of them I would like to delph further into. Maybe becoming it's own series outside of canon.
Overall I'd say the idea worked for the most part but I don't think I'd need more.
I can only repeat what I said on multiple similar shows before: I am a firm believer that there are other intelligent cultures somewhere in the universe but I don't think even one has ever been here.
This is just another docu where people claim to have evidence that is ultimately circumstancial and inconclusive. Most of the time they say it's unexplainable (to which I can agree) and therefore it has to be from outer space (to which I don't agree). Now, I am not ruling out the possibility but for me there isn't hard, undeniable proof.
Plus the style, like almost every documentary I've seen on this topic, is leaning very much towards over dramatizing, conducting interviews in abandoned warehouses f.e., which ultimately is another thing that makes me doubt many things.
Maybe one day we'll have proof one way or the other. And I for one are very much looking forward for that happen. That there'll be a day where there is no shred of doubt left. And I would accept it even if we could proof nothing of it was from another world.
But we are not there yet.
Monsters at work is pure entertainment.
There is no hidden agenda, no message, no complicated plot with twist after twist to follow.
And I find this VERY refreshing.
This is one of great 80s comedies you couldn't make today.
An antisocial, nihilistic, chauvinistic, misogynist cop with violent tendencies. Try pitching that to a studio exec. There is no way this is going to fly in todays tv climate. Of course back then people were able to differentiate between a satire and reality.
This is not a sitcom, there is no laughing track and a lot is actually filmed on location. David Rasche plays the character of Hammer with the seriousness that is nessessary . He's complemented by the lovely Anne-Marie Martin and Harrison Page and the three together have great chemistry.
Understandably some of the humor might not work as well today as it was time specific. But in general the delivery of the jokes was on point and you can still get your share of laughs out of it.
Awesome footage. Personally I don't like the choice of music which doesn't go along well with the pictures.
I took a break after the third episode because I lost interest and I thought I wait for the final episode to watch the rest in one take. Now all episodes are released and I still have no interest to continue.
This one was not for me.
Whether or not this is historical accurate, and I 've read a lot of comments claiming it isn't, this really isn't a tale of heroism or gallantry for the most part. Even though they try to sell it that way.
The production value also isn't very high. There is a massive re-use of scenes over and over again. The acting scenes aren't that great either. And it seems you just need to had a role in a Western to be considered an expert.
I really wanted to like this despite the fact I usually don't watch real life documentaries because I was a truck driver myself for many years.
I can forgive the repetitive narrative because such is the nature of the job. But the edditing is awfull and the way they are trying to create suspense is insulting to the intelect. You want to know what straw broke the camels back read this comment:
