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Lost (2004)

Boars don't attack..

.. and branches do not ooze some petrol type burning fluid.

These are just two of the highly unrealistic details from Lost.

At first glance, Lost is a fast-paced sci-fi series with a bunch of interesting characters. There is a mystery to be unveiled and it draws a terrible shadow on the community stranded on the island where the action takes place.

Sadly, all this exciting stuff soon is replaced by boredom. The story is drawn out way too thin. Shocking events lack the necessary follow-up to get some real idea of what happened. Key elements like introducing firearms in the community are left unattended. You have to keep asking yourself who is assigned to take care of them and why nobody asks for them in a lethal environment.

After a while I found it hard to be immersed in the story. What with all the giant plot holes, stupid goofs and shoddy character buildup. Add to that the senseless overuse of flashbacks and you're wondering how this show could ever become so successful.

Reacher (2022)

Second season disappoints after great first season

I've read some Reacher books. The first film proved that the books provide good material to make a movie. However, the material is not a no-brainer. The second movie was of much lesser quality.

The first season of Reacher was a pleasant surprise. Alan Ritchson carried the series with ease. His Reacher was exactly the right balance between bone-crunching strength and above average brains.

The second season confirmed any preconceived ideas one might have about oversized muscle types like Ritchson. The storyline is predictable, the dialogue ham-fisted and the fights monotonous.

Not sure why this happened but somewhere along the way the producers must have lost some important talent.

I'll watch the third season just to make sure, hoping it can recapture some of the qulity of the first season. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Scott & Bailey (2011)

Takes a few episodes to get up to speed

I changed my rating from 6 to 8. I was fortunate to not delete the entire series after the first episode.

The next few episodes reveal a true gem, the best BBC crime series I've seen in years. The main element of criticism in the first episode was what I perceived as poor chemistry between Scott and Bailey and between the crew as a whole.

All that soon disappears. The team becomes a well-oiled crime solving machine. Crimes are meticulously analysed and perpetrators ruthlessly hounded and captured.

Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones are more than up for the job. It's such a relief to see policewomen who are actually fully believable after a long list of sub-par castings in quality shows like Silent Witness and others.

Apart from the brilliant casting, the writing is superb. Creating an atmosphere that is both believable and allows that important ingredient, suspension of disbelief so the viewer is able to enjoy and get engulfed in the narrative, it's rare. The grittiness and horror of crime are skilfully allied to the personal lives of the team. Cliches are infused with life. Great dialogue and great acting, that's really all it takes.

An absolute must see.

Bullet Train (2022)

Tried and failed

Another comic book style movie that fails to deliver.

I feel like this is Tarantino's mess. There are so many wannabes out there, trying to copy his style. At least Tarantino has a talent for drawing a character before he blows its brains out.

For all the speedy, thrilling action, this movie lacks a narrative backbone and a central character that deserves to be called that.

That being said, the setting is entertaining and the cast is quite good. Brad Pitt holds his own as an action man. Joey King is a breath of fresh air and the Guy Ritchie ripoff pair Tangerine and Lemon could have been the centerpiece of the movie if given the space.

All in all a minor disappointment, because there never was enough juice in this project to produce a masterpiece.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023)

Lacks soul and dedication to the world of children

I went to see this with our 7 year old daughter. Needless to say, she thought it was a great movie.

She failed to notice quite a few inadequacies.

The movie tries too hard to outdo the last in the series and by doing so, moves even further away from the excellent TV show. It feels like an adult action movie trimmed down for kids. It's formulaic and lacks a pace and storyline adapted to children.

There are a lot of inconsistencies:

• The bad guys hardly move when Paw Patrol are in their base.

• Paw Patrol have a cool tower smack in the middle of town. Even though all the action takes place in the city, they also use a boat on the beach (maybe to sell more toys?).

• The bad guys are disappointing. They mostly talk and Paw Patrol do not have to be their best to beat them, except for a decent finale.

A Murder at the End of the World (2023)

Neither fish nor fowl

As an avid crime watcher, I didn't find much to love in this haphazard assembly of ideas.

The obvious mistake was to try and try too hard to target a specific audience. The title of the series however speaks of murder. And gen Z or not, everyone wants a crime to be solved in a smart and hopefully interesting way, and by someone who has a certain flair and strength of character.

The director is going everywhere and nowhere with the story and the characters. Add to that a deliberately slowed down narrative with too many flashbacks, and soon one starts to wonder if there are maybe more interesting crimes to be solved elsewhere.

Emma Corrin may be an excellent actress. For this role she needed more conviction. It may not be her fault, because everyone seems to be walking on eggs.

Pity because the basic idea (a young sleuth with hacking skills) was interesting.

Liebes Kind (2023)

Interesting plot

An interesting plot is ruined by an overly selfconscious direction and questionable casting decisions.

Constant flashbacks make it hard to get drawn into this drama. With the bungling and unrealistic police team not helping, it becomes a task to follow the zealous film crew to the revelation of the plot.

As a viewer, there are too few opportunities to get to know the characters. Their decisions are often psychologically unsound.

Locations are rarely pictured from a wider perspective, so they feel like decor rather than real life locations. Probably a conscious choice.

Even so, I'm hanging on to find out what happened.

Project Mc² (2015)

This is not the way

It's a good thing to make more girls interested in science.

But the end does not justify the means. The girls in MC² are for the most part empty-headed dolls. Giving them more normal attire and meaningful dialogue and character would have helped to raise their credibility.

On the science part, it's also mostly show. There are too few examples of smart things kids their age could actually put together. Instead they are toting "inventions" of their own that are simply modified gadgets used by most kids.

Odd Squad is much better in every way, even though it targets a slightly younger audience. And for girl power, the Babysitters Club has both its feet soundly on the ground.

The Stranger (2020)

Should be better

The Stranger starts off well - a perfect family's unity is broken by dark secrets. The series sets us on a rollercoaster course to unravel what is really going and who we can trust. Sadly, the direction in this series is under par. Juggling with time and place in an amateurish way makes everything look chaotic. The police team on duty does not help. The two officers do nothing to gain our sympathy and they are not working well together. One starts to wonder whether they are capable of solving this crime. The plot holds enough potential for a series, so all in all one can only speculate at the final result with a better execution.

Goliath (2016)

Routinely bad

Picking Billy Bob Thornton to play a sympathetic fighter for justice was not a good idea. He just doesn't care enough. No surprise then, that a few secondary characters attract more attention than intended by the director. Telling a story made up of bits scavenged left and right doesn't help when starting with a handicap. But when it's told so unconvincingly it's a downright shame. I couldn't force myself past episode 5, weary of the drudgery.

The Night Manager (2016)

Clumsy and predictable with a few highlights

Casting Hugh Laurie as the ultimate bad guy has to be the biggest casting mistake of the last 10 years, if not more. He's omnipresent and his presence is so wrong that I was often distracted from the story, following my own parallel narrative. After all, he's not just the world's most powerful arms dealer, he's also a father and a lover. Not quite as bad is Olivia Colman, whose grumpy housewife style already threw me off Broadchurch big time. Here she's equally unconvincing as a spy. More disturbingly, she has nothing whatsoever in common with Le Carré's characters. Tom Hiddleston somewhat saves the whole package. He's 18 karat gold and totally eclipses the former two actors, even though you have to give Laurie credit for not being irritating. Hiddleston finds an excellent companion in Elisabeth Debicki. She may also be slightly out of place, but she's so utterly convincing that it doesn't matter in the slightest. This is one of the worst Le Carré adaptations in that no attempt is made to give the story the typical brooding atmosphere. Everything is limpid, predictable, soapishlly boring. The director is to blame. Compare this to The Bodyguard. It deserves no superlatives, but it delivers in a humble and handcrafted way. All the actors are in their place.

13 Geboden (2017)

Too many loose ends

The story has its merit. Unfortunately the writers lose control after a while. Instead of being more gripping, the story just gets less believable. A pity, because the actors are doing a great job and the direction is spot on.

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

Stale waste of pedigree

While watching I was mostly trying to find a plot twist and marveling at the way Chiwetel Ejiofor was giving his co-actors a run for their money.

Apart from the aforementioned Ejiofor and Michael Kelly, the 18 karat casts looks preposterously out of place. Especially Julia Roberts is working hard and failing even harder to look like a policewoman. And Nicole Kidman is looking great and has some sizzling chemistry with Ejiofor. But nothing she does would make you suspect she's a tough DA.

The arrogant direction and non-existent scenario finish off this ill- fated production.

Hanna (2011)

Badly directed

I would have liked to enjoy Hanna. It's the type of story I have a weak spot for. An unlikely underdog with a secret past and unsuspected strength.

The movie wants too much and achieves too little. The story has many small and big incongruities and atmosphere killers. Why for instance would a pursued secret agent hiding in the woods for more than ten years have a little red button available to push so his detractors can immediately know where he is?

The actors are great, really such a pity that they had to end up in this dead-born movie.

The locations are varied and for the most part beautiful. The movie is filmed very awkwardly however, making the film look amateurish, like a student project. It all looks cheap and lacking in action.

I had to force myself to keep watching because the second half becomes repetitive and the story reveals too many weaknesses.

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie (2009)

Entertaining but overall a missed opportunity

A host of great films bears witness to the great respect the French have for British or should I say Anglo-Saxon crime writing. So why am I not particularly pleased this time around?

The two main characters are matched quite nicely and not just by typecasting. There is the necessary chemistry and not an unpleasant one at all.

I like the fifties' setting but here the director overplayed his hand. Either he thought he could create an interesting artificial setting, or he just didn't work hard enough to create a living breathing setting for the crimes to take place. It's all so clean, constructed, empty, fake. Whenever the story moves to the streets, there's a loss of atmosphere. The same super clean cars, close-up shots to keep us from seeing to much 21st century details. And I've seen my first anachronism already in the second episode.

But the coup de grâce comes from the direction itself. Many dialogues and situation are stale, unfinished, uninteresting. Apart from the main characters many actors are under-performing, the script is just too mediocre and the direction too tedious.

I still like the effort, but clearly this could have been ten times better.

Kill Me Three Times (2014)

The trailer is better than the movie

I dished out cash on pay per view for this very mediocre product.

The only real highlight is a smug and self-assured Simon Pegg, who does not mind having the camera on him and rewards the viewer with a memorable hit man incarnation.

The love triangle story is badly copied from countless films that came before and did this better. It's full of clichés and lacks any colorful detail that might be conveniently provided by the nice backdrop, i.e. an incredibly beautiful Australian beach.

The direction only adds to the misery. There are many lengthy and boring episodes where A is driving to B, B to C, back to A, etc. The stretches of highway used are average and so you're basically waiting for someone to drive to a destination for the action to continue, a LOT.

Apart from Pegg, most of the actors are a bit like used cars. Not bad, but they have seen their prime and their acting is not making up for it.

A missed chance.

Spectre (2015)

Runs out of ideas halfway

Spectre starts in a typical James Bond fashion, with an action scene in grand style. Best opening I've seen in a while!

The first part mostly keeps a good pace and we're treated to a host of gorgeous locations as well as some classy Bond women. If we compare to Die Another Day, one of the really bad Bonds that come to mind, we're at the opposite side of the scale. Spectre does a lot of effort to be truly and subtly beautiful. Léa Seydoux is certainly a good choice. Here I would compare to the more beautiful but much less enigmatic Kurylenko.

Unfortunately, after the first half has passed, the pace slackens and the attention for detail is suddenly dropped. One of the key locations here is an anonymous looking old building. Why we're asked to spend time here instead of any other location that would be less dark, boring and cliché is left in the middle.

Daniel Craig was not my Bond of choice, but he has grown on me (us) and he does a more than commendable job. Overall, I have only praise for all the main actors in the movie. It's all appropriate and top notch.

The same cannot be said of the scenario. It just won't do to get Bond to a location and then blow it up without any sort of showdown or tension buildup. The obligatory destruction of the bad guy headquarters deserves better than what we saw here.

If Mendes had kept up the level of the first half, we could be looking at one of the top 3 Bonds of all time. Now it's just an honorable mention. Such a waste of talent.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Artificial

As a Gyllenhaal fan I'm disappointed. In Nightcrawler, Gyllenhaal is out of his depth as a guiltless night creature. He's trying hard but somehow ends up looking just that - somebody trying hard to pretend.

As for the movie, it suffers from the same problem. The story is weak and lacks natural story line and characters. An example is when Louis has a job interview with a young guy and exposes him as a male prostitute. This whole scene is so wrong. The whole relationship between Louis and Rick may look good on paper but it doesn't work in the movie, even with two actors that can pull it off.

Although the character of Louis is certainly not a boring one, because it's so artificial it becomes tedious to watch. Add to that the many incongruities, I found myself wanting the movie to be over long before the end.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Great fun and somehow brilliant

I've grown up with Mad Max. The first came out when I was 16. I have seen all the movies numerous times, I've even been to a Mad Max Marathon, to see MM I to III. So, without being a hardcore fan, I like Mad Max a lot. But after Mad Max III I decided (and a lot of fans with me, I'm sure), that it was probably better to leave it there.

I went to the cinema expecting a rehash of the old Mad Max, but boy was I in for a surprise. George Miller has outdone himself and created a worthy successor that may even be better than parts II and certainly III.

The makers have squeezed every little bit of extra fun there was in the story and managed to put all this fun into a well-balanced movie that never stops, even though it manages to have a few quiet moments. I liked the humor and the timing especially. It is the best action movie I have seen for a long, long time for exactly that reason.

The only bit of criticism I have is Tom Hardy or maybe his presence in the movie. Did he have a fight with the director? All I know is, for a main character he doesn't have anywhere near the screen time he should get. Nicholas Hoult (compliments to him) stole a lot of it. Looks suspicious. Now I don't know Tom Hardy all that well, but I think he's capable of a lot more than what we get to see here. Which is basically a lot of muscle and very little facial expression or dialog.

All in all though this has to be one of the best post-apocalyptic movies of all time and an example of how to make action fun. It makes Death Proof look old.. very, very old.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

Waste of Neeson

I have watched 2/3 of this utter trash, the rest I was fighting against sleep.

I don't know where to start, there are so many levels of bad in this movie. The story is superficial and empty, but constantly pretends to be deep and meaningful.

Everybody is full of *bleep*, talking, walking, thinking out of character. The bad guys are perverts but they look and act like average bad guys in a normal gangster type movie. Actually, the movie should be a drug flick, but someone spilled a can marked "sicko pervert serial killers" into it.

Liam Neeson looks very much the part of the guy who can take care of things, confident, experienced, relaxed, heavy-fisted, but they make him do evil things. Things like take a little wise-guy boy under his protection for no good reason or talk utter nonsense at an AA meeting.

Such a pity to put this quality guy into such cheap cheap surroundings. And I'm not even a huge Neeson fan. But once you see him toiling through this failed director swamp and making it, you have to respect him.

Gone Girl (2014)

Sub Fincher level routine flick

What a waste of talent. Here we have a nice idea for a thriller, a few of Hollywood's finest actors and directors, and then we get this scraped together little mongrel of a film.

The movie starts off OK, but as the mystery unravels, more and more atmosphere killers crop up, spoiling the excellent premise.

Because this is a story about a meticulously planned crime, the scenario and direction have to be just as meticulous. Well, the production has not managed to keep the heads turned the same way. So instead of enjoying the masterful scheming of a sick brain, we're cringing at mistake after mistake.

Too bad, I really wanted to like this movie.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Falls short of its potential

I'm a huge Groundhog Day fan. Unsurprisingly, I'm charmed by the basic premise of Edge Of Tomorrow. Sadly, the idea has not been consequently exploited. There are many plot holes and we're missing real tension and intensity.

Although I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise, I have to respect how he can always lift a movie with a very reliable performance. I loved Emily Blunt, hovering between military toughness and subtle femininity.

If you didn't know the main plot before seeing the movie (a must if you want to enjoy it fully), the movie starts off with a surprise. But after an adrenaline-filled introduction, the story loses pace and starts stumbling from one plot hole to the next. The atmosphere suffers from the lack of different scenery and the overdose of scene repeats (necessary for the story but just not handled with the required finesse). If it weren't for the lead roles, I would put this off as a boring little scifi-flick.

Fortunately, the chemistry between Blunt and Cruise is excellent, which helps keep us on our toes and motivated to follow the story.

The Equalizer (2014)

Denzalizer

Like so many big budget action flicks lately, The Equalizer just can't deliver.

The only thing keeping this movie above cheap action flicks is Denzel Washington. His suave confident self, Denzel moves through the hordes much like his also aging colleague Liam Neeson, crunching bones and slicing throats with satisfying style and skill. It could make a TV cook jealous.

The story, though stuffed with the obligatory clichés that we expect from a self-respecting action flick, lacks a believable plot. What really stood out, IMHO, was a number of atmosphere spoilers. One that comes to mind is building up a pretty decent bad guy and then letting him leave almost unnoticed through the back door.

The main flaw, and a very regrettable one, is that the movie fails to develop Washington's full potential. The guy is pictured as a true killing machine, but just when we're nailed to our chairs, the whole thing falls flat. The book scene being extremely impressive, many of the other scenes missing out either through the lack of direction or by a lack of scripting.

There are many cheaper Jason Statham movies that deliver more satisfactory action. Looking at those and at the first Taken movie, the answer must be simplicity. The Equalizer has too much excess luggage and ends up losing the fight.

16 Blocks (2006)

Unbalanced and poorly directed

The idea for this movie is perfect for Willis: a guy who has all the odds against him rises to save the day. However, here the concept fails as the crew takes itself too seriously and overdoes virtually everything.

The first thing that comes to mind is Willis' makeup. He looks like he's still wearing his Death Becomes Her makeup. He's just plain ugly, he looks way too old to still be holding a job and there is no strength hidden behind those features.

Mos Def, who is also well cast, has dialogs pushed down his throat that must have made him wince. He can do so much better. Now he's just another whino. Very annoying.

Overall, aside the casting and the idea for the movie, there is nothing to tell here. It's run-of-the-mill stuff and you have to squeeze out some enthusiasm to keep focused on the movie. Five minutes into the movie you know how it will end and not much later you know both the plot and the bad guys. With the uninspired execution the movie lands before properly taking off.

Elementary (2012)

Short-lived

Elementary starts of nicely with an excellent cast, cracking plots and a good mix of drama, humor and of course mystery. Dialogues and direction are also spotless.

However, the quality soon wears off. After episode 10 or thereabout, the dialogues lose their edge, too many soapish elements find their way into the storyline and the plots are not as interesting as they were before.

A shame, because the whole setup could have yielded a series to last for years.

I highly recommend the first season.