Robert1951 Reviews

Presumed Innocent (2024)

Horrible lighting

[1/10 · 1 September 2024]

Halfway through episode 1 I stopped watching. My eyes literally hurt because it looks like the director put a brown-gray filter in front of the camera lens. The image is constantly way too dark, without any contrast at all, and is also constantly shot from dark positions or through reflective glass. There is never any sun, except in the morgue, but then there is so much sunlight that the shadows are almost black. People are sitting in half dark rooms all the time. Because of the dark image, no face can be seen properly. White is brown-gray, black is brown-gray. It is horrible. Concentrating on the acting is impossible. I would have loved to see this series, because my favorite actor plays the lead role. I am sorry Jake, you should never have been in this piece of garbage. Shame on the director!

Drawing Closer (2024)

Blue haze

[3/10 · 17 July 2024]

What's with this unbelievably irritating blue haze. Like I have cataract or some other sickness of the eyes. It reminds me of the horrible hazy pictures of photographer david Hamilton. But that was in the seventies, fifty years ago. Which director still uses this outdated technique. If I want a blue haze, I'll wear stupid blue glasses. This blue haze is like the irritating background music that never stops, not even during dialogues. I blink all the time when I'm watching this movie, thinking I have grease in my eyes. So I stopped watching after five minutes. The real world isn't hazy, so why does a director think he or she should make it 100% hazy all the time? Why does a director think he should manipulate the image to make me feel a certain way instead, to make me feel sad or something. Hazy picture means weak story. Yuk.

News of the World (2020)

Promising young actress

[8/10 · 26 February 2022]

I think 6.8/10 is unfair. For me it's definitely 8/10. I watched the movie twice and I enjoyed it both times very much. I'm not a big fan of Tom Hanks, I think he can't act at all. But Helena Zengel is amazing! I cannot wait for all her future movies and I hope she chooses good scripts, for I have seen way to many actors and actresses who choose stupid scripts and were therefor a disappointment from the first minute in their following movies.

Big Sky (2020–2023)

The first seconds seemed to be promising

[1/10 · 1 February 2022]

Girl in diner cries. We see tears on here face. Then the waitress comes over and askes if girl wants more coffee. This is one of those moments that end up in the goof section. Guess: no tears at all on her face. Girl suddenly gets up and leaves, without a word, without paying. Waitress is fine with that. Next shot: a scene at an office! During office hours another girl is dancing to loud music of the Rolling Stones, while lady receptionist is sitting at her dek in the same room. Girl that cried in the diner storms in: dancing girl had slept with crying girl's husband. The acting is horrible. And the nostrils are huge! Next shot, just when you thought that it could not get any worse: a truck in a driveway and on top of the stairs of a very expensive house: Valerie Mahaffey! Which director ever thought that Valerie Mahaffey could act? Wher were his or her brains? Those were the first five minutes. I watched three minutes more: the expensive car of a guy from San Francisco is stuck in the mud. Trooper stops and goes to the guy and asks him if his wife likes the lovemaking slow or rough. Because the stuck car should be handled "slow". I tried not to vomit.

I've enjoyed Yellowstone and I longed to see more series with Montana as the main location. I almost said "But Big Sky is for nine year old girls", but I know I would offend any nine year old girl. Horrible, horrible, horrible!

Stella Blómkvist (2017–2021)

A must, if you like techno musicals and dumb cliche's (season 2)

[2/10 · 2 January 2022]

I watched season 1 and season 2 because of the main character (Heida Reed). She probably would be great in a movie or in another series based on a good script. First of all there is this continuous very loud techno background music (80 dB or so). First of all, I really don't know why so many Scandinavian directors think it necessary to bombard their viewers with unnecessary continuous background music. There just is not one moment without loud background music. Dear directors and producers and actors, we are not stupid and we know very well when there is tension or sadness. For instance: Stella takes a book of a shelf and at that moment the director thinks it necessary to play two very loud techno drum beats. Why? This background music is so loud during dialogues, that one hardly can hear the actors talk! Why? Secondly, why is it that in so many Scandinavian series the police or the protagonist are so stupid that they keep turning their back to the enemy. Not just once but many times and they never learn anything from their failure. This series is so full of dumb and predictable cliche's, that I wondered in what stupid universe I was watching Stella Blomkvist.

Outlier (2020– )

A must if you like musicals

[1/10 · 23 December 2021]

I stopped watching after 30 minutes in the first episode. 99% of the movie is loud background music to add to the mood of the scene etc. This background music only stops for two seconds and then starts all over again. It was horrible and immensly irritating and annoying. The story really seemed good and I wanted to see this series very much, but the directors, there are three of them (Kristine Berg, Arne Berggren andKen Are Bongo), completely ruined everthing. Dear directors, in real life there is no music in the background! Please only add background music when it's unavoidable. We, the watchers, are not stupid, we are not ignorant, we know when there is fear, tension, sorrow, gladness, happiness. You don not have tot let me know by your music what I have to feel or think. Apart from all this, the music is composed by Raymond Enoksen. It's like hearing the boring piano music by amateurs in a train station for eternity. Hell must be a paradise compared to this series. I've just watched season 4 of Those who kill. No music at all! Great series.

The Forest (2017)

Why music 95% of the time?

[1/10 · 29 April 2020]

Music music music music. Even during dialogue: music music music. Eve searches the woods: music music music. She finds a cave: music music music. This series would've been so much better without the maddening music. Why, director, please tell me why you had to use so much music. Is it because you think the viewers are retarded and without the music they wouldn't understand if a scene is tensive or romantic or sad? It is just impossible to watch and focus on what's happening. I have a suggestion for streaming companies: please, give us a button to turn off this darn music. Like we can turn off subtitles! Please, please!!

Where Is Kyra? (2017)

Whispering Kiefer

[1/10 · 2 July 2018]

I've watched the trailer, because Michelle Pfeiffer is one of my favorite actresses. And then I heard the voice of Kiefer Sutherland. Why doesn't he use his vocal cords? What he does when he speaks cannot even be called whispering. He does the same terrible thing in Designated Survivor. Is this becoming a trend, because Gillian Anderson also does not use her vocal cords in the 3rd Season of The Fall. After just half of the first episode of The fall Season 3 I stopped watching. The way these actors talk without using their vocal cords is excruciatingly irritating. Isn't there one director who will scream at Sutherland and Anderson: "Why don't you use your vocal cords? People can't hear you!"