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Line of Duty (2019)
Well then.
I'm almost impressed by how badly this has aged. Although I'm not sure that even in 2019 "let's have a deranged cop and an annoying alt-news vlogger be the two main characters who you are supposed to care about" was a good idea.
The opening chase scene was entertaining enough - if a bit cliche and quite improbable, and despite not having enough backstory about who the suspect is, what he's done, why he can run faster than cop cars and punch out groups of cops who are pointing guns at him, etc.
After that the plot goes even more off the rails, and into cringey territory on top of the basic stupidity of it.
I stopped watching shortly after Aaron Eckhart teamed up with the most annoying YouTuber ever (a high bar). The combo of a conspiracy-theorist attention-seeker and a "You can't be mad at me for shooting a dude because you WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A COP" cop is just... Too much. It would have been too much in 2019, let alone post-pandemic/George Floyd.
The "cops can do whatever they want and still be heroes" attitude of this movie has aged like fine milk, and the plot/acting/etc is in no way good enough to make up for that.
Give this one a miss.
Troppo (2022)
Solid Aussie Noir
As a fan of killer-croc horror films, the opening scene had me hooked, and the rest didn't disappoint. I'm not sure what show some of these reviewers watched - the acting was good all-round, the story was exciting and well-developed, and despite a lot of the elements not being entirely original, the setting and atmosphere helped set it apart from your typical mystery/thriller show.
Thomas Jane was good as always, though maybe a bit similar to his character in The Expanse. I hadn't seen the lead actress in anything before, but she was more sympathetic than I was expecting her to be, and her being "clichéd" as a tough ex-con is kind of the point - the character herself is playing a role.
I would have given this an 8/10, but it's way better than a lot of the reviews make out, and deserves more than the current average score. Maybe an international audience will be more appreciative.
Love Hard (2021)
Couldn't get through it
I was in the mood for a cheesy rom-com, so I figured I'd check out this movie - I've been seeing clips/ads for it a lot recently and some of them weren't terrible.
I got annoyed pretty quickly by the unoriginal opinions of the Nina Dobrev's character that they tried to present as quirky and original - Die Hard is her favourite Christmas movie (the writers have clearly watch Brooklyn 99) and she hates Baby It's Cold Outside because it's a bit rapey (it is, but unless I've travelled back in time to 2016 this isn't a new talking point). Maybe I'm getting cynical in my old age, bu the characters were pretty boring and typical of these Netflix-coated Hallmark movies, though it was definitely nice to see more representation than usual - Jimmy O. Yang as Josh was by far the least annoying character and it was refreshing to not have him played by a typical TV movie-type guy (you know the kind I mean - handsome enough to get away with having no personality but not interesting enough to ever be an A-lister). Even Yang's likeability wasn't enough to make up for terrible dialogue though.
I got to the scene where they are in Josh's dad's store and Natalie starts talking about how a particular author is narcissistic, etc, and I had to stop. I wanted to watch a rom-com, not a collection of recycled op-eds revisiting what's wrong about previously-admired cultural works.
I'm giving this a 3/10 because maybe it got better later on.
Willy's Wonderland (2021)
Everything you could ask for in a Nic Cage movie
I get that this movie isn't for everyone, but I watched it on a Saturday night with a few friends and we had a blast. If you love B movies as much as I do, this one's for you. I was sold as soon as I saw the Netflix advert for it, which involved a sunglasses-wearing Cage staring down a sign with a cartoon weasel on it.
Nicholas Cage plays a send-up of all the quiet, brooding, tough-guy loners you have seen countless times in action movies. He literally doesn't have any lines in the whole movie, but still manages to convey his character while getting increasingly more "Nic Cage" as the story progresses (read: insane). This could also be explained by the number of caffeine drinks he consumes as the night goes on. The animatronic puppets are sufficiently creepy, but if you want genuine scares this is not the right movie. After Cage deals with the first puppet assault, you never fear for his character's safety again. The teenagers who show up to torch the place provide adequate cannon-fodder, but for the most part this plays more as an action-comedy gore-fest, as Cage John-Wicks the s**t out of the puppets one at a time, until the kids come and try to "save" him, but just end up getting in the way.
Overall, this is the best of B movies - lots of fun and clearly intended not to be taken seriously. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a great movie night with friends who are fans of a good scenery-chewing Nic Cage performance.
W jak morderstwo (2021)
A fun, cozy mystery
While in a similar vein to a lot of the "cozy mystery" type TV mysteries and book adaptations, this one is definitely an upgrade on your typical Hallmark Mystery, light-entertainment iterations.
The lead character is smart but a bit zany, and is clearly wasted on being a housewife. The supporting characters are all "types", but not in a way that is annoying - her husband is a slimy jerk, the police detective is a lovable dork, the veterinarian who offers her a job is sexy and supportive, and her best friend (the policeman's sister) is quirky and blunt, and always seems to be waving fans around (but this actually pays off in the end). There's also a guru-type mystic man who has a more redeeming story-arc than I was expecting.
As a mystery fan (pun intended) myself, I was impressed by the plot. It made sense (to me - not sure why another reviewer called the story weak...) but wasn't too easy to figure out before the end. It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff but it was a lot better than it could have been.
Overall, this is an enjoyable and entertaining mystery for when you're in the mood for a light and fairly comedic outing of the genre. I was going to give it a 7/10 but feel the need to offset some of the unnecessarily harsh ratings.
Endgame (2011)
Fun show!
I found this on Amazon Prime and watched all 13 episodes in a very short space of time. It's the perfect light-entertainment detective show for a rainy day, and I'm pretty bummed there aren't more episodes.
It took me about half an episode to get what the tone of the show was, as they mix some serious dramatic stuff (death of his wife, kidnap of a child, etc.) wish some sillier humour (basically any of the imagined scenarios that play out in Balagan's head). Once I got the particular sense of humour, I really started to enjoy this.
Arkady Balagan is a chess champion who is something of a Sherlock-type character (the TV show anyway), except while Sherlock lacks in empathy and people skills, Balagan is actually quite good at connecting with the various people who he comes into contact with (despite acting aloof and cynical), which helps him solve the cases he works on.
It's also one of the rare shows filmed in Vancouver that's actually supposed to take place there!
The acting is good all around - Shawn Doyle's portrayal of the chess master is likeable and energetic, but with enough vulnerability to make it believable that he is genuinely traumatised by his wife's death. The Russian accent isn't exactly spot-on, but it was always easy to understand what he was saying and it never took me out of the story.
The supporting cast is all likeable, and they never overstay their welcome (I usually find too many supporting characters annoying, so this counts as high praise).
The stories are fun and exciting, with a few standout episodes - the one with his cosmonaut pal, and the one with the highest-stakes computer chess game ever immediately come to mind - and there are no episodes that really fall flat. The over-arching plot about his wife's death is interesting (though using basically the same flashback every single episode got a bit dull towards the end) - unfortunately, as the series was cut short, we will never fully know what happened, though the last episode answers some questions.
All in all, I would highly recommend this series to anyone who likes a fun detective show!
The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
The self-help stuff ruined it for me
This would have been a perfectly nice romantic drama if it hadn't been based on a self-help book. The main plot itself, as far as I can tell, is in no-way related to the book - in fact, the only traces of "adaptation" come from Josh Lucas' character occasionally spouting weird positivity messages, about how if you want something enough you will get it (pizza, apparently, is a meaningful enough desire in the movie... I tried this in real life and my pizza still hasn't shown up.)
The reveal at the end was actually kind of interesting, but again ruined by the Fate thread: Josh Lucas ends up telling Katie Holmes that he came around to this mindset after surviving a plane crash... the plane crash THAT HER HUSBAND DIED ON. So basically, Fate decided that Josh Lucas was special enough to be saved, but not her beloved husband and father to her three children. This storyline had the potential to be effective, but Fate intervened to make it cringey.
The two leads had decent enough chemistry, though the leap from friendship to relationship was a bit sudden.
All in all, not a terrible movie, but it could have been a lot better if they cut ties with The Secret and it's author altogether.
Then Came You (2020)
Pretty Terrible
I tried to watch this because I like Craig Ferguson, and was in the mood for an easy-to-watch rom-com. The first red flag was that the main actress (who I had never heard of) also wrote the script...
Their car ride near the beginning was so painfully awkward to watch that I gave up before they even got to the Inn. It was not at all funny and the chemistry between the two leads was non-existent.
The Blacklist (2013)
Enjoyable First Season
I came across this show while endlessly scrolling through Netflix, and I'm glad that I decided to watch it. I have just started season 2, so this review is primarily about the first season.
The premise of the show is good, and the investigations and action scenes are fun if you like serial killer and spy shows. James Spader is intriguing in a not-entirely-good, not-entirely-bad way, which makes it captivating when he is on screen. Megan Boone is perhaps less charismatic, but is likeable and very good at looking sincere, which serves her well in this role. The two of them have good chemistry together, and it's nice to see a sweet (if not always trusting) platonic relationship develop between the two leads, especially when romantic tension seems to be the go-to in shows like this. The supporting cast is also likeable - the characters are three-dimensional, but also disposable enough to keep things interesting.
Unfortunately, the show suffers from the American cable TV curse of having far too many episodes per season, so the individual stories sometimes start to feel repetitive. The continued storyline of the first season is interesting, and there are a number of questions which develop well, like why Red cares about Liz so much and what his goals are in collaborating with the FBI.
Overall it's a solid action/detective thriller and a good way to kill 42 minutes (or longer, if you go on a Netflix binge like I did).