In it's first year this felt like a "Star Trek" series with no ambition and little progress but with a cool premise. Then suddenly it started to become bolder and more interesting. It dared to go deeper into religion, politics and character studies than any of the other Trek series did on the air. Today I would say that this series began a kind of production that we would later see on cable with long-running story arcs, a huge cast list and pushing the envelope on what was allowed on TV. The last 10 episodes of this show (and beginning of the 6th) was like seeing a long-running 10 episode HBO series on syndicated TV to be blunt. I also liked that this was "Star Trek" where the leads were flawed and not perfect so they actually had to have internal fights with themselves and their own demons at times. They even managed to make their villains three-dimensional and sympathetic and I liked them all. What would have helped the show would have been an even healthier budget would have given some scenes better effects, more action and detailed battle sequences as this show had bigger ambition and tried to be more epic than what they really could manage to get through on screen. Some lousy embarrassing comedy and weak B-plots ruined some episodes too but this show produced some magic moments and is the show that has more hits than any of the other newer Trek shows that I have seen so far. This is the one show that deserve a revisit if one only skip over most of the filler episodes in season 1, 2 and major part of the third one.
There is impossible to envision anyone else than David Suchet as Poirot after seeing this show and especially after following him in the role for 25 years. He did it all: the novels, short stories and took everything from the written form and made it into his character. Excellent costumes, atmosphere and the title sequence from the first seasons was so good it is sad they dropped it for the films later. Every episode (especially in the later seasons) is a mini-film on it's own. The relationship between Poirot and his three friends, Hastings, Miss Lemon and Chief Inspector Japp is fun to behold. Some obvious changes from the stories where even the killer is different will anger the purists but I felt not that bad about it actually. I'm not a fan of the Adriane Oliver character that is introduced in some of the last films though as she is annoying and so full of herself (even if she is meant to be a self-parody of Agatha Christie). Still, this is the classic crime series that any other crime show has to be compared to. Absolutely fantastic.
Wife wanted to see a romantic movie. I didn’t. I had seen the ad for this streaming show and decided that I could make a compromise and see this short film. It was actually a rather cute story that thankful did not outstay it’s welcome nor was it even that sentimental. It was about a much deeper kind of love that can affect people and a much better story than most of what we get in the genre. Solid 30 minutes.
You know what I think would have given this story an added bonus? That Mr. Death had been played by Rod Serling instead as that would have been perfect as he (as the writer and creator of show) has the power of death and life over all his characters anyhow. A missed opportunity in what is a cute sentimental story about letting our children have fun in the playground and save our planet while we let go.
Based upon the "true" accounts of the Spanish Borgia family and it's head Pope Alexander VI who had an enormous ambition and an even bigger sexual appetite. Jeremy Irons was surprising casting at that time (when few film actors turned to TV) as the pope and the ensemble around him is filled with exceptional European and Canadian actors. The series look and sounds great and had a fascinating backdrop but sometimes it go "overkill" on shock value and gory moments which seems unnecessary and makes the series seem more like exploitation than as "true drama". The show was never completed as the series tell about the pope family from Alexander got the papal job up to the height of his power when he had removed all his enemies, but doesn't show the downfall and "poetic ending" of him or give his son (the true villain of the piece) the fate he deserves. That is probably a shame as the series seem to finish with the last 10% of the story left untold. Still, it is a solid series and it may make people interested in reading up on a part of Vatican history that one did not knew existed and that the Catholic Church would most hope would remain buried.
It is hard to make a production work where there is essential only one actor for the majority of the story. It could easily become stale, boring and uninteresting. Rod Serling for his first "Twilight Zone" story dared do it - and made possibly one of the few essential stories in the genre "last man on earth". It is almost a definitive comment on isolation and is also beautifully shot by Joseph Lashelle.
A fantastic limited surreal series where creator/writer/producer and star Patrick McGoohan had almost full creative control of everything except that he had to create some additional episodes in order to sell it to the States. This show is filled with iconic imagery, great intelligent writing and excellent direction. McGoohan is magnetic, charismatic and intense as No.6, his most famous role helped with several excellent guest actors as No. 2. Excellent location shot on a unique-looking holiday resort. One of the best credit sequences ever made too. A masterpiece.
Gritty science fiction and fun fast-paced cowboy stories blended with an excellent ensemble, Fun dialogue and surprising twists that never lost it focus and could tell both fun and dramatic stories. It was a series with the heart in the right place and I loved the effects. Sadly, Fox fucked up the episodic order and never gave it a chance. Deserves all the attention it has gotten.
One of my favorite series. It was created by "The X-Files" creator Chris Carter, but actually I found this series to have a better overall writing quality and a superior atmosphere of dread as it was hugely influenced by the cinematography and grittiness of "Se7en". The lead hero, rubberfaced Lance Henriksen, do the best performance in his life as he plays a man who can see what the killer sees and put himself in their mindset but also manages to be a gentle family father and loving husband. There is also a possible approaching apocalypse that he has to stop which get more explored as the series go. While the first season consist mostly of stand-alone dark serial killer stories by the second season we get to learn that there are darker forces that motivate the killers to do their killing and that there is a greater battle between good and bad. Add on top of this the best score Mark Snow has ever done and great guest actors and this is a must-see. At least for me. Only the ending is a little underwhelming and the reunion at "The X-Files" was even more so as that episode felt half-finished and lacked the heart that this show had.
An obvious outcome and predictable story can’t change the fact that the society portrayed feels disturbingly familiar as people are slowly is stimulated into silence through consumerism, propaganda and sex. It may not be very subtle about the way the U.S. is headed but then why should it be? What should one do when all enemies are gone? Create new ones to scare your citizens into willing subjects.
Realistic autobiographical stories of parachute soldiers that served during WW2. Disturbing violent imagery with a lot of needless wasted deaths and gruesomeness. Damian Lewis' break-through role as the natural leader of the pack sticks out the most. It also dare to show Americans in a bad light. Sometimes hard to see which actor is behind all the dirty faces and muddy helmets (which is a shame!) as there is a lot of good actors here. It is also a show that is hard to see more than one episode at a time as it usually ends in a rather somber and unhappy note.
A great historic drama that felt rather autentic and realistic that It introduced many to Japanese history and culture. Richard Chamberlain made a solid appearance and it featured tons of Japanese actors and actresses talking in their real native tongue but it overuse ritual suicides and has too many scenes drag on as we first get to see Japanese characters talk and then their dialogue is translated. It is understandable that the producers wanted us to be as much "fish out of water" as our hero, but they should have subtitled it. The awaited epic battle that would make one of the characters Shogun, and the reason for the series' title, is also only mentioned in an narration and is done off-screen. Acceptable but maybe a remake is needed?
Science fiction show with one of the best casts ever put together on TV. It's use of color and sounds make it trapped in it's own bubble and give it a timeless cartoon feeling even fifty years later. Smart stories (for the most part) with great plots and some great inventions. It had one of the most beautiful starships ever designed and the series is full of iconic moments and legendary dialogue. Words that got created here now exist in everyday life. Several episodes have some pretty risky sexist costumes on highly attractive girls that is everything but political correct. Even the worst episodes (most of them during the series' last season) are so hilariously terrible they become Grade Z-fun like a perfect Ed Wood movie. Low budget make the puppets look like something made in kindergarten and there are blank studio-sets of colored background that are terrible to look at and make the series look much cheaper than it deserves to be. The moralizing can sometimes ruin an otherwise highly entertaining episode. Still, it is impossible to take away the importance of this show and most of the episodes are treasures to look at.
Ten years before "Twilight" there was this teen romantic series where a teenage girl falled in love with an alien. There was a lot of teenage angst and not much that happened at first, but at the end of the first season the show started to embrace it's science fiction roots and became actually rather watchable. It is not as bad as one could expect and the characterization is actually well done. The acting was above average too, but it was sometimes hard to get through all those long "deep" romantic conversations between the two leads. The music was also very modern and up to date at the time. It survived three seasons when it was expected to only last one due to devoted fans and it ended with an okay, but open ending. It is still enormously more satisfying than what "Twilight" ever was.
Originally planned as a feature film than rearranged to be a limited series with it's first two hours getting an exclusive premiere. If the plan was to make this series feel like it was a cheesy Marvel show produced during the 1970s by a Glen A. Larson wannabe then they succeeded. It is also extremly annoying that they "sold" it as a limited series as the ending clearly hopes that this could have been extended into a full series, but after seeing these episodes there was no hope. It was a lousy written show with stupid dialogue and heroes, the Inhumans, coming across as arrogant, selfish racists - and while the villain is unlikable as hell at least he looked the part and has some good reasons as hero leader Black Bolt seem to wanna fart at every second and Medusa had such a stupid superpower that the creators decided to shave off her hair (she could manipulate it!). The rest of the heroes are even less interesting. The effects are also weak with the most "impressive one" being a lousy CGI dog that can transport characters to other areas. Since the budget was so low every scene was filmed at an island in Hawaii or at a stage with background set-design that was made at kindergarten. Weakest Marvel live show by far. Forgotten by everyone.
Both utterly camp and surprisingly artistic. This «Black Swan» mixed with «Showgirls» and a old-traditional soap gets away with being entertaining and tedious. All the stereotypes are here but the wicked dialogue embraces them and there is few series that would let their main heroine have scars from years of rape and incest from her big brother. Nudity, drugs, murder, sex, stripteases, gay love and more. All in 8 ep.
I can’t help myself but liking this one even if it is a variation on Blade Runner mixed with I Robot. Shame that it have a predicted twist ending but at least there is some power in the words at the end and thought behind them. Among the better ones in the show.
Classic "whodunits" without too much gore, blood or attention to violence. A strong female presence not afraid of using both her intellect nor her sexuality. Great romantic arc between the most important characters also make the show fun to watch. Costumes, decor and cars are top-notch. Some mysteries are predictable for an old sleuth like me and there is too few suspects making it easy to know who did the deeds. Recurring characters have very little to do too most of the time.
It is close to the definitive version of the sabotage in Rjukan of Norsk Hydro's heavy water factory that supplied Hitler with means to create a nuclear bomb. It is an excellent production with high quality footage of nature, costumes and acting put in one package. It also don't turn it's head in addressing the more dirty side of war and that civilians always are the losing side of it while rich people always seem to turn with their feet firmly placed on the surviving side. Beautiful Anna Friel is also included in the cast together with the Norwegians but she adds little less than some tear-eyed eyes and looking good in a uniform and was mainly here to sell the show to English speaking countries. I also wish there had been a tiny bit more details at the epilogue.
All Marvel's Netflix series has the problem of going too far into the character's psyche and self-doubt and this is especially true for Iron Fist where the hero seem to question every single punch and move he does - something that made it a hard watch for fans who wanted a full-blown, fast-paced fantasy martial arts adventure with a dragon, which this ain't. It is more about a troubled man who complains - a lot. It had some great female characters in it though who was hell-of-a-lot better than the leading man. It got better as it went along, but it was hard to shake the terrible start from memory.
Visually nice and an ensemble with a few genre favorites. At first glance it should be intriguing, but the writing is dreadful and the actors go beyond over-the-top as they do stupid mimicks in the hope that they can create a joke out of thin air (space?). Embarassing bad comedy is probably the genre I detest the most and this is sadly among the top contenders there. It is easy to ship this crew out of the airlock.
The show that put science fiction back on T.V. and made it serious again. A lot of excellent written concept shows that newer shows have recycled or done entire series from. Patrick Stewart became a superstar and is a big reason why the series work as he spits out dialogue and science babble as the Bard himself should have written it. He got help from a very well-balanced ensemble and The Star Trek universe became bigger, deeper and even more interesting than before. Since the show consist of many stand alone stories, every single episode "hit-and-miss" depending on how lucky the writer was with his/her idea and how the production and director executed the story. The first two seasons did have a lot of stinkers and there was too much of Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher during that time who was a terrible character on the show when he was a regular while his stories as a guest star later was excellent. Some cheesy moments also make this series a lot more dated than it should have been. My main problem though is that the series lack character continuity as most of the personalities comes through in dialogue and small moments and they never change by events from episode to episode (most remarkable is when Geordi LaForge who got brainwashed in one show but is just as good and normal the following episode). Still, this is a show that set the standard for science fiction for the next two decades and is full of entertainment value. If one only skips the worst written episodes that is.
Deep detailed account on what happened historically during WW2. Produced while we still had a lot of people alive from the war and with their memories of it still intact. Huge and fascinating archive footage from the war that were presented for the first time in this series. Adding to the depth is one of film's biggest personalities giving his voice (Laurence Olivier) who narrated it. Only some newer "hidden secrets" from the war that has been revealed after 1973 is missing - and while gripping stuff it is impossible not to take long breaks between episodes due to it's heavy and sad subject matter as the brain need to process it all.
I have fond memories of watching this animated "Star Trek" show when I was a kid via satellite dish on Sky Channel. It prepared me for the live action version and when I rewatch these episodes now it is easy to see why I liked it. The series used the same voice cast as in the original series. It had many of the same writers who delivered some interesting stories and even delivered a good background story on Spock. What was not that great was that the animation was pretty static and repetitive at times and that there was not enough character moments to give the show a true depth. It was sadly also disowned by the creator and a long time was not available to see, but luckily it is now possible to see it again. It is not a masterpiece but it gives fans what they want: additional adventures with their favorite crew and it do feel and look like the original show without overdoing it which is nice.
In many ways this is a kind-of "Star Trek" show, but with an overall "more logic" mission that make every planet exploration necessary in order to find a possible cure. With a cast of genre favorites it is sad this series never really stood a chance. Troubled from the start with TNT executives tampering with both the show and it's editing which changed the impact of the series. The lack of good music and dodgy effects also didn't help it. That the story also takes place during a time of already known "Babylon 5" history also made the outcome predictable as we already had seen "everything" in that series final episode. In a way the series was an unwanted child from the start as TNT was more into wrestling and reality programming and fans probably had been a little fed up with B5 too (even I was after that terrible season 5) but at the time I found this one to be a refreshing spaceship-bound series that had potential to it that never was really explored. As it stands it is 13 episodes with some interesting episodes and-a-lot-of-misses and mistakes as it tried to create something unique and special.
The one adaptation that actually feels like an autentic version of the Robin Hood myth. It is a much more mysterious and has an aura of fantasy over it which actually makes it more fantastic than anything else I have seen about the character. This series was also hugely inspirational on future productions as it was here that we were first introduced to a merry men who was a Muslim and Marion even participates in the action. Sheriff of Nottingham is also played as a egocentric crazy bastard that steals any scene he is in. Michael Praed would also never again achieve the same dimension and facets as he did here and his excellent turn was so good that he was tempted by Hollywood money making him leave the series at the end of season 2 in what is one of TV history's most shocking moments. Luckily, the Robin Hood myth actually contain two characters so a new Hood was introduced in the third season and it actually made sense, but Sean Connery's son Jason was inferior to Michael and probably why the series only lasted three seasons. Clannad's music add an extra dimension to the supernatural and while the series didn't have a huge budget it delivered much more joy, excellent stories, ambition and strong acting than other shows I have seen from the 1980s. The one Robin Hood that all other Hoods are compared to.
Still has a timeless classic feel to it, but the most important thing is that characters seem to behave as in the comics. On the downside: Iceman's voice was not as cool as one would hope, especially since Frank Welker did the job.
The third season is better paced and has a perfect balance of humor and creepy scenes, but it is also predictable, especially it's last two hours. It is best when being a "Blob / The Thing" homage with people getting devored and destroyed and "your neighbour can be one of 'em", but it all ends sadly in another monster showdown. Excellent new character additions though and the humor/homages are beautiful.
How to get away by having a gangbang without society, religion, family and government getting in your way - do it through a collective mind where souls and heart are connected together. :laughing:
Feels sadly as artifical, plastic and lifeless as the world described here. Even Steve Buscemi had nothing to bring to this story with Sidse only being mildly interesting as a dying artifical companion. Sadly feels like a waste of time.
