ranchofiesta Reviews

The Factor: Episode dated 11 December 2001 (2001) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

Was this the episode?

[10/10 · 11 September 2023]

Was this the episode with James Woods taking about "hijackers" on his flight in August 2001??

Woods praised FBI and FAA for taking reports seriously.

Unfortunately we don't know why the suspicious known individuals weren't "detained" in August - weeks before September 11th 2001.

And just as unfortunately, we continue to shy away from detaining anyone for fear of being accused of racism or offending someone. Much more than just "race/ethnicity" goes into *profiling*.

Why are the powers (Fox?) that be hiding the episode?? Why isn't the Bill O'Reilly interview with James Woods shown every year??

Harlan Coben's Shelter: Phantom Threads (2023) Season 1, Episode 4

This episode was a waste

[2/10 · 26 August 2023]

WHY?? Hannah and Shira?? How does this "relationship" advance the story?? It doesn't. It's a side-story that takes away from the plot and Shira's distraction is distracting and Shira's discomfort makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to know because I don't care.

We got stuck with "Shira" because Netflix owns "Myron". We had to have some relative to take in Mickey because he needs a guardian. So be it. But still, WHY? Why can't "auntie Shira" just be a quirky lady trying too hard to be her nephew's "friend" instead of his pseudo-parent??

And now Ema too?? Please, Amazon, stop forcing it. Just stop treating it like we're in San Francisco. You're ruining the small town vibe.

Great Expectations (2011–2012)

Lower your expectations

[3/10 · 24 August 2023]

1999 Great Expectations was great. 2012? Not so much.

Everyone praising Gillian Anderson's performance? She wasn't "Miss Havisham", she was "Norma Desmond" straight out of Sunset Boulevard 1950. Anderson's portrayal reminded me of Carol Burnett's skit spoofing Gloria Swanson's "Norma Desmond". Her high "faux spooky" wavering voice - like she was pretending to be a ghost.

Yes, Douglas Booth was much too "pretty" to be "Pip" - Ioan Gruffudd was better suited. And "Estella" wasn't nearly as beautiful as she should have been.

Even David Suchet wasn't quite condescending enough to be Jaggers.

One of my favorite Dickens stories, read and listened to so many times. I've watched the 1999 mini series twice and it's like reading the book. This 2012 version is like a remake of a remake but they didn't see the original.

Murder in Provence (2022– )

WHY??

[3/10 · 24 February 2023]

Murder in Provence is based on "Verlaque and Bonnet" murder mystery novels by M. L. Longworth (like French "Tommy and Tuppence"??. I haven't read any, but rumor has it they're all based on French characters in Provence.

Every character in the Britbox series is, as you might guess, English. WHY? OK, if you must have the three main characters be English, fine, but can't they have actual French actors for all the other characters??

I really, really like Roger Allam, and I absolutely LOVE Nancy Carroll, but these two have zero chemistry with each other. The "witty banter" dialog in the first scene is like watching a cheesy vaudeville routine rehearsal. Their comedic timing with each leaves a lot to be desired - it's like "you do your bit then *hahah*, then I do my bit and *hahaha*...". It's not conversational wit - it's reading lines. Both actors are so much better than this!

If Nancy Carroll and Roger Allam had the slightest bit of rapport come through the screen you wouldn't care how contrived the plots are.

Sadly, this is a "nah, but thanks" for me.

Hidden Poland (2020)

Peter Greenberg's vanity doc

[2/10 · 19 February 2023]

Poland is hidden alright! Travel guide Peter Greenberg tells us there's many castles in Poland, we see some stone rubble, we see red rooftops of a castle built in the 13th century - lots of different people have owned it over the years. Do we learn about any of them? No. Other than when the Nazis took it over and the Polish Army was there, now it's a hotel.

We see Peter going in and coming out of a castle's hidden passageway doors. Do we get to go along with him? No. Just Peter going in and coming out.

We see Peter climbing the 100 steps to the top of the tower. Peter looking out the window - do *we* see what Peter sees? No. We see Peter looking.

Peter takes a hot-air balloon ride. After a split-second of the view, we watch Peter looking at the view.

Waste of time. Thanks for nothing, CBS.

Suspect (I) (2022– )

Suspect? Yes, a couple of things are...

[5/10 · 16 January 2023]

Danny's policing skills and his parenting skills are both "suspect".

Subtract each episode's "recaps" of the previous episodes, the show's "intro" and the credits at the end, you get btwn 18 and 19 minutes of actual "show". And every minute of it everyone is telling Danny what a terrible father he's been or reminding him what a bad copper he is.

If we take Danny's own criminal behavior beginning in eps 1 and we believe every "suspect's" experience with Danny, yeah, he's a loser impossible to sympathize with.

You get all the way to eps 4 before you're treated to worn-out and predictable accusations of "privilege", veiled "racism", and "homophobia" - and all that from one character!

We never get to hear Danny really defend anything he's done in the past, so we assume he really is a terrible man.

We get one episode to admire Sam Heughan working out, but the workout (without breaking a sweat) is only slightly less convincing than his perfectly innocent "reasons" for doing whatever he's done.

The premise of the story had such promise (when you read the description) so why does it fall flat?? All very capable actors. Most of the dialog is actually quite good. Why didn't I like this more?? Even 19-minutes should be enough to find at least one character relatable.

But no. I don't even care about the poor dead girl, even though she keeps showing up (visions? Memories?) to Danny as a sweet girl. The "suspects" all say she was either a "lost soul" or she was "ruthless".

Not a series that's painful to watch, you just want to ask the writer "I'm sorry, what exactly did you want me to get out of this??" Meh, not something I'll remember by next week.

Vera (2011–2025)

How authentic is this series?

[3/10 · 13 January 2023]

Admitted ignorant American here. I read a lot of the other reviews and comments on "accents" being less than stellar, but that's not the authenticity I'm asking about. I found Vera on Britbox, after falling in love with Shetland...

So, is it common for UK police to stay on the force into their 70s?? If so, by the time these coppers hit their 60s, wouldn't they be more apt to send their younger detectives out gallivanting along cliffsides and bogs?

I mean, I get it, it's about "Vera", but frankly I'd find it more believable if we tagged along with Vera much earlier in her career. Or were producers dead set on this as a vehicle specifically for Brenda Blethyn??

Season 1 just about put me off the series - there were times that Vera slipped into a weak whimpering caricature, even pulling her hair, right in the middle of the crime scene or investigation! VERA! C'mon pet, pull yourself together or go back to the station and let someone else handle it! Her only other emotions seem to be anger and insincere smiles. For heaven's sake Vera! Joe's wife is in labor! GET ONE OF THE OTHERS TO RUN AROUND AFTER YOU! You thoughtless old cow!

The other thing that bugged me in the first few episodes - the other female characters were all so "fragile" that they seemed mentally ill (the digging under the Rowan tree 🤷‍♀️) Sorry, but for some reason I expected Northumberland women to be of sturdier minds, and not so gullible with men that treat them badly. (Your son has been murdered in your home but you leave your 14-yro daughter home alone and spend the night at your loser boyfriend's?? REALLY??)

Again, I am not at all familiar with the size of the area but it seems pretty rural and rural folk seem to know each other and look out for each other. I can't imagine that you'd have that many murderers running around out there.

Season 2 isn't cutting it for me either, so I'll see what else Britbox has to offer.

Ghosts of Christmas Past (2021 TV Movie)

Current day Christmas romance?

[3/10 · 21 December 2022]

Completely self-absorbed yet vapid female is sent by a fortune teller, on what feels like *The* 12-step program to apologize to all of the (probably) decent guys she "ghosted" on a dating app.

If you need to be told you're shallow and not only do you need to change your ways, but maybe look around and make amends to the people near you, your conceit is probably a lost cause. Fortune tellers should advise everyone to get off the apps and go meet real people "irl".

Most surprising twist? Not one of these guys says "no worries, I totally ghosted you first." I suggest if this is the only Christmas movie on, turn off the TV and bake cookies for your neighbors.

Miss Scarlet & the Duke (2020– )

Came for the mystery, stayed for the Stuart Martin

[7/10 · 12 December 2022]

Think "Murdoch Mysteries" with a female lead. Nice (clean) colorful costumes, and the leading lady wears very stylish hats.

It's a "cute" series, with predictable plots, and the biggest scandal of the time-period is the *female* "detective agent"! Unfortunately she just can't stop herself from cracking every case and making the dishy Detective Inspector Wellington of Scotland Yard look the dullard every time. Small doses of sexual tension between the two childhood friends, but there's only so much nonsense a man should be expected to take in honoring his word to the young woman's father.

Honestly, Stuart Martin is the only reason I watched beyond episode 2. And I was pleased they contrived an angle to have him traipsing around London in snazzy formalwear!

It's a cute show.

12 Dog Days Till Christmas (2014)

Not a "feel good" Christmas movie

[1/10 · 24 November 2022]

"The 12 Dog Days of Christmas" movie is on, in the other room while I'm in the kitchen. I'm hearing the dialog, thinking to myself "developmentally challenged kid hanging out at the local animal shelter story". Then it goes to commercial for Humane Society of the US with pictures of tragically neglected and abused dogs.

Then I remembered HSUS is known for more euthanasia of animals than actually rescuing and re-homing animals.

Then I remembered San Diego State University showing this movie as a Humane Society fundraiser in 2014.

This is actor Vincent Giovagnoli's translation of "a troubled teen"?

Sorry, but this movie has no redeeming qualities.

Que the Sarah McLachlan...

Unsolved Mysteries: Mystery at Mile Marker 45 (2022) Season 3, Episode 1

A good mystery with questions unasked

[7/10 · 20 October 2022]

Too many questions that weren't even asked.

Why was she cremated only 2 days after the autopsy? Who made that decision?

What was the deal with the credit card? Who is "the friend" whose credit card she stole? The ex-girlfriend?

Was there followup with the "hearsay" witness?? Why did the attorney say the witness "was under oath" during police questioning? Is that even a thing?, to be under oath when giving a statement to police?

Can the family file suit against the Transit police for leaving body parts behind at the scene?? My God, that's horrific, as well as against procedure on so many levels! Obviously jurisdictions need to change when there's a death because the investigation skills of the Transit police are severely lacking.

If I only have the evidence shown, I lean towards "murder", or "foul-play" at least. Not suicide.

Counterpart (2017–2019)

Starz can't take a win

[10/10 · 18 October 2022]

Just like a lot of other reviewers, I wondered loudly "WHAT?? Only 2 seasons?? WHY?" I was drawn in half way through the first episode! I found Counterpart on Amazon Prime and wondered why I'd never heard of the show. I have Starz and I do not remember ever seeing this. I love J. K. Simmons! I would remember this show!

Anyway, I searched "why did Starz cancel Counterpart?"

Oh. My. Wait until you see this.

The reason for canceling, is the reason Starz really needs new people running the company.

Per Deadline - "Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch addressed the cancellation at the TCA summer press tour and admitted that the show's audience was "too male" to fit into its new female-focused strategy" (oh wait. It gets better) "Counterpart was a great show, we had great partners in MRC and Justin is a great writer, but it was a very complicated show, a very male show." (yes, really 😳)

So, ladies, you're just not bright enough to follow this "very complicated show", it's for guys only, honey, so get in there and make a sandwich for me while I watch the last episode of Counterpart. Chop chop! Oh, and a beer...

I'm a woman. I managed to follow the story.

Jeffery Hirsch, you are an idiot.

The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)

Reviewing only the SOUND

[3/10 · 21 August 2022]

I'll admit my complete ignorance of the process, but I'm sure there must be dozens of crew involved in producing and editing the "sound" in every film and TV series.

So, I have questions - do sound engineers/editors actually work with writers?? Are sound editors aware they're making a show for TV and not for theaters??

I have always assumed writers write dialogue to be *heard*. I'm grateful, even in my "old age", I'm not hearing impaired. I don't have a lot of my own background noise going on while I'm watching TV.

Yes, the musical soundtrack is important for emotional nuance and the other sound effects (explosions, birds twittering, gunfire, wind blowing...) are very important to a show... BUT! I practically broke the volume button on my remote for this series! My TV volume level goes to "100", it has multiple sound settings, like "speech" "music" "theater", etc.

To actually *hear* the normal conversational dialog I had to turn up the volume to "60", and in the next seconds the BACKGROUND SOUNDS ARE DEAFENING and I have to "mute" the sound while reducing the volume to about "18", and the "background" sounds are merely that; background. Or, before the "conversion" is even finished, A MUSICAL CRESCENDO ASSAULTS THE AUDITORY SENSES having nothing to do with emphasizing the conversation!

I just gotta say, if the dialog isn't important enough to hear save your money on writers.

It's really distracting, annoying, and frustrating when one needs to have their finger on the volume control THE ENTIRE TIME they're watching a show AND I AM the only one in the room watching. I've begun muting the show and just reading the closed captions. Sorry music people, sorry rest of the magical "sound" people, I can't hear you.

Maybe y'all could get together in front of a television and just listen before you send out the finished product? Like, writers could say "This conversation is important to the story, can I get a little more volume on the words, please?"

The Pale Horse (2020)

NOT *Agatha Christie's* The Pale Horse

[2/10 · 12 August 2022]

Prime Video lists it as "Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse".

Yeah, no it's not. It's so not Agatha Christie's.

Title - check List of names - check People die mysteriously- check Witches (supposedly) - check

The Agatha Christie story??? Nowhere to be found. If you don't already know the "story", this two-part series won't tell you the "story". Too bad, you'll have to read the book.

Love Rufus Sewell's style of "warm" upper-crust Brit - stoic with heart and humanity.

Sean Pertwee, normally the epitome of sharp English Inspector, whose seen it all, seemed somehow uncomfortable in his Inspector Lejeune character.

The rest of the cast? Forgotten.

It was like they really, really *wanted* to give us more and tragically, the writer just didn't write any "more" for them to give.

I even tried to overlook the odd "diversity" of the casting (for 1960s London) because I'm tired of being forced to acknowledge it.

The 60's sets and costuming was stellar! Costumes by Charlotte Mitchell. Production design by Jeff Tessler.

Victoria: Comfort and Joy (2017) Season 2, Episode 9

Christmas with all the relatives

[9/10 · 7 August 2022]

I thoroughly enjoyed this "Christmas with all of the relatives". We know how trying our family members can be, but imagine them all as truly entitled royalty!

I loved that Prince Albert wanted it to be special for the children, and tolerable for the invited family members. Victoria? Well... she's the queen, so... I do think they both had a great love for each other and the children.

My biggest "beef" is with Mrs Skerret's "inheritance" and how she deals with it. We're to assume the slaves are in America of course, because the English do love to beat up on America for "slavery". Anyway, so it's 1848. Mrs Skeeret, understandably, cannot in good conscience "sell" people, no matter how great it would be to have £10,000, so she tells the solicitor to "give them their freedom"!! Very noble, except.... At that time in America slavery was still legal and accepted in most of the colonies. So "freed" slaves had a limited amount of time to move far away from the slave-holder colony or be taken up and owned by another "master". Freed slaves would have no money, no jobs, (most) could not read or write, had no way of traveling to a safe colony, so turning them out to fend for themselves wouldn't have been a noble act.

Most would sell themselves back into slavery rather than starve to death. Slavery wouldn't be abolished until 1865. We'd have 17 years a bloody Civil War in the meantime.

So, Ms Daisy Goodwin may know her history of England very well, but I wish she'd given us better in this part of the story. Like, did she send them money to help them on their way to freedom? Or was it more turning them out on the streets to survive as best they can??

The way this was written, it feels like just another cheap shot at America, to allow the character be a "holier-than-thou" liberal, consequences be damned, because freedom and Americans bad.

Murdoch Mysteries: Murdoch Without Borders (2018) Season 12, Episode 4

Don't use this episode to study for a history test

[5/10 · 3 July 2022]

I enjoy the Murdoch Mysteries series for the clever way they weave bits of real historical characters, events, and "inventions" into campy stories of 19th and early 20th century Canada.

Sometimes, as in this episode, the writers take the slightest jist of an historical event and completely obliterate it with "artistic license". I know, I know - it's fiction, not a docu-series or even historically accurate, but sometimes the writers are just waaaaay too heavy handed with the liberal bias. Villainous characters are always overtly racist, misogynistic, and/or callously capitalistic. You knew who the killer was the moment he's introduced. Give the viewers a little credit for intelligence. Please.

The writers of this episode could have used a little more historical fact as to why the Canadians began rioting against Greek immigrants. It had nothing to do with greedy racist building moguls or labor unions.

Before the First World War ended, some Canadian war veterans (including some injured and/or disabled by the war) were feeling displaced from society and resentful towards people perceived to be "slackers" who were not contributing to Canada's war effort. The riot stemmed from an incident in an eating establishment and some inaccurate information circulating about Greece and Greek people living in Canada. It had nothing to with "xenophobia", it had to do with Greece starting out neutral in the war, while Canadian soldiers were fighting and dying, so it was more than just "hurt feelings" that caused the rioting.

Were they right to attack Greek immigrants?? Of course not! And I'm not defending their actions. I'd just appreciate a little bit of fairness written into the storyline. Occasionally.

However, journalists more than likely fueled the fires of racial division, much like Miss Cherry does...

Hamish Macbeth: The Good Thief (1997) Season 3, Episode 4

Some "bad" kids have their reasons

[8/10 · 24 April 2022]

I enjoyed the "message" of this episode, even though the story was more than a bit convoluted. Sometimes kids behave badly for reasons we don't understand.

I love this program because Hamish always teaches us something, when it comes to how life usually isn't as straightforward as it appears.

I was bothered by "Frankie's" speaking voice sounding dubbed, throughout this episode, so I tried to find out about the actor, Stephen Henderson, who played Frankie. There's not much on him other than appearing in a 2021 fundraising TV program "Saving Birdland", which was a musical, so this kinda tells us the actor actually did the singing for "Frankie's" performances, and they were beautifully done! Still, the speaking parts just didn't sound right, but I can't find any explanation.

The final scene is heartbreakingly sweet.

Vikings: Valhalla: The Greenlanders (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

It's fine. It's not a documentary

[8/10 · 28 February 2022]

It's not a documentary. It's not historically accurate. It's fine. It's entertaining. It has beautiful people and beautiful scenery (of Ireland). It's fine.

Depending on which "historians" you believe, 11th century Norway either had African and Asian slaves or it didn't. It's fine. Vikings were travelers, so they could have had.

I understand they took artistic license with historical characters and timelines. It's fine.

Two things I'm having a difficult time "forgiving"? That Leif Eriksson really died when Harald Sigurdsson was 5 yrs old? Nope. That it was actually Cnut's father who took revenge for the St. Brice's Day massacre? Nope.

First - King Aethelred was 30-ish when he called for the "extermination" of the Danes. So, WHY did they choose an actor 73 yrs old??? Not that Bosco (ya gotta love his parents for that name!) Hogan isn't a lovely actor, but please, even a 45 yr old British actor would have been better.

Second - I love Bradley Freegard! Hinterland, Keeping Faith! But his (Danish?? Norwegian??) "Scandinavian" accent absolutely sucks (insert cringy-yikes face). Every time this gorgeous man speaks, he sounds like a lousy attempt at a Middle Eastern accent. Stop rolling your "R"s! Even his own Welsh accent or a British accent would have been better.

But, it's fine. (sigh) Yes, I'll watch the rest of the season and it'll be fine. It's a fantasy. Based (tent-sized) loosely on historical people and events. It's really fine.

Agatha Raisin: Kissing Christmas Goodbye (2021) Season 4, Episode 1

Crass even by British standards

[1/10 · 3 January 2022]

I got to the part where Roy says he couldn't sit down for a week, and not the for the "usual reasons" and turned it off.

Not humor, just crass.

I didn't expect the episode to be too "Christmas-y" with a pentagram in the thumbnail, the first few lines of dialog were so forced - not witty, not clever, but Roy's comment was something you'd expect from a cabaret drag show.

The Madame Blanc Mysteries (2021– )

Just meh.

[3/10 · 7 December 2021]

I liked the premise. Episode 1 was interesting... until... no one, including "Mrs. White #1" suggests finding "Mrs. White #2"??? Everyone in the village knows her, yet not a word about who she is, where she is???

So, Sally Lindsay wrote herself a little mystery series, good on you girl!

However, I for one can do without the annoyingly over the top characters. And Sally-Jean - a little more "energy" please? I mean, you've decided your husband has been murdered, and he had a fake wife, for maybe the last 10 years? I'd be a bit more keyed up about that.

I've a couple episodes to go to finish the first season, but I'm not all that excited.

A Long Walk in Socialism (2020 Video)

Stunning and eye opening

[10/10 · 22 November 2021]

Documentaries are not usually my first choice, but seeing this won an Emmy did pique my curiosity. I've lived near two California Indian Reservations for half my life, I worked at a tribal casino for 16 years, I know the people and love many of them.

This doc film puts everything in perspective, showing what happens to people when, not only Federal government runs lives, but Tribal government believes socialism is the only way of life. Everyone owns everything on the reservation, but really, everyone owns nothing. The Federal government claps themselves on the back when talking about all of Federal "aid" provided for the Native Americans, but watch the documentary to see how that works out.

Open your eyes to the truth of socialism. It's not the utopia Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would have you believe.

The Agatha Christie Hour: In a Glass Darkly (1982) Season 1, Episode 2

Feels like a BBC costume drama, in a good way

[8/10 · 8 September 2021]

Acorn TV has a lot of these 80s BBC series and you can't go wrong with any of Agatha Christie's mysteries to TV shows. "In a Glass Darkly" is an intriguing little story with an Agatha twist yet ends sweetly. My very first thought in seeing actor Nicholas Clay, was "my gosh! He looks remarkably like Jim Caviezel!!" Yes. I even paused the show to compare photos!

Costumes are terrific, indoor scenes are well set, with a touch of "noir" feel. Outdoor/garden scenes were good, while "war scenes" seemed to be filmed on a stage in a high school? But you get the grit, the sounds, the explosions, and most of all, the feeling of fear and despair the soldiers felt. While I hoped the "doctor" at the party would play a bigger part later on in the storyline, he doesn't, so the ending is almost miraculously "neat" and far from real life.

All in all very entertaining and I enjoyed it very much.

Murdoch Mysteries: Return of Sherlock Holmes (2013) Season 7, Episode 4

Return of Sherlock Holmes

[9/10 · 7 August 2021]

I admit I love Andrew Gower's Sherlock Holmes in The Murdoch Mysteries! (As much as I loved Mr Gower's Prince Charles Stuart in Outlander) So I knew I would enjoy this episode, and was not disappointed. Well, a little disappointed - the final scene leaves a lot of assumptions. So Benjamin just, what? Inherits everything and happily lives with the Nanny as his guardian?? No follow up on how Ben handles the loss of parents AND imposter parents?? C'mon Dr Ogden! And you a shrink *smh* A very short conversation about that, between Sherlock and Ben, would have made sense. All in all though, I did love it.

The Beguiled (2017)

I also wanted to be beguiled

[3/10 · 17 July 2021]

Alas, no. So this film won 5 awards? Hmh, none for "lightning". I kept wanting to yell "CANDLES, CANDLES! WE NEED MORE CANDLES! RIP OPEN THE DRAPES..." if only to have a clear view of "the Corporal" while listening to his Irish lilt.

None of the characters made an impression. Even dialogue that should have been snappy, fell flat. When you've seen one tree with faux Spanish moss, you've seen em all.

Even popcorn on a boring Saturday afternoon couldn't get me through the entire movie.

Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham (2021– )

Better than the book

[7/10 · 16 February 2021]

Very rarely does anyone prefer the "TV show" over the book, but in this case it's a "yes" for TV. Considering it started out to be a podcast, changed to a book (which I must admit they got it written, edited, and printed in what felt like record time!) then they shopped it to Starz, which everyone knew Starz would jump on! My first impression, episode 101 is "What? 30 minutes? The episode is only 30 minutes??" Then I watched it. Very enjoyable, nice to see Sam tends to drop into a Scots accent after so long in London. Probably a bit of mimic, but lovely to hear nonetheless. Of course beautiful scenery of Scotland. I could almost smell the food, the peat, the sea. It left me wishing they'd put more than 3 minutes in at the restaurant, it just seemed rude to rush through - I'd have enjoyed hearing and see more from the Chef. Outside-seaside cooking needed more too. More in the distilleries. Just more. Will I be waiting excitedly for next week's episode? Probably not, but I'll watch it if I happen across it. I do enjoy Sam and Graham together but I hope it doesn't turn into caricature any more than it already has.