nansjune Reviews

Love at First Bite (1979)

Extremely lame - somebody needed a tax right off?

[3/10 · 7 September 2024]

A very very poor film. Feels a bit like an attempt to copy the British sex comedies of the 1970s but forgot to include the sex and the comedy.

None of the cast had a clue, they're either hamming it up or playing it deadpan and they take turns hamming and deadpanning from scene to scene. The writers, cast and director made a complete farce of a farce.

Honestly there's nothing more to write about this pile of steaming manure. Personally I spend half the movie scrolling IMDb to see which of the actors were still alive. Surprisingly, given that this film is 45 years old and most of the cast weren't exactly teenagers in 1979, many of them are still kicking, no doubt cringing that this pile of mince has resurfaced on streaming services.

I reserve 1 and 2 star ratings for absolute nonsensical garbage or where there is an obvious objectional political\religious agenda and here, at least, there was a plot, lines were remembered, they kinda tried. That said this is the absolute bottom rung of movie making.

Death Wish: The Face of Death (1994)

Low budget, Poor quality

[4/10 · 2 September 2024]

Even with the low bar of the other death wish films this is a poor example. TV movie look and feel, Bronson looking his age, lazy story and script, paint by numbers - this time with boobs.

The psychology of the death wish films is probably more interesting than the films themselves. The original death wish arguably created (certainly popularised) the genre, take a perceived societal problem, exaggerate it, paint law enforcement as inept\corrupt\ineffectual and make the solution gratuitous violence and murder. It's a common theme across the media today, not just entertainment, absolutism.

To be honest I don't know how I feel about films like this, they're basically a form of pornography. It's lizard brain stuff. And just like pornography it has a broader effect, 20 years ago teenage boys weren't strangling their girlfriend while sodomising her and before death wish pensioners weren't standing behind their front doors with a hand cannon ready to blow away someone who got the wrong address.

The Running Man (1987)

Top marks for prescience alone

[10/10 · 30 August 2024]

One of my favourite films. I've seen it lots.

Firstly the movie itself; it's showing its age and there are numerous errors and inconsistencies in the story. On the plus side it's from the era when stunt men did stunts, when movies used actual sets and locations, when faltermeyer would write you a banging original themesong. While the script ain't exactly shakespeare it's exactly what it needs to be and it's quotable from start to finish. The film is a solid 7 or 8.

So what makes this a perfect 10? It gets so much right about the "future" ie today, that it's spooky. Here's some of the things I spotted:

• Exploitative, empathy reducing reality TV. Remember this was 1987.

• Militarisation of police.

• Corporate takeover of government.

• Deep fakes

• Widespread censoring of TV, film, books and music.

• Politics turning into entertainment\celebrity "get me the presidents agent", "get me the justice department, entertainment division"

• Two tier economy, a huge gulf between haves and have nots.

• Financial collapse (although this is perhaps a work in progress).

• Erosion of legal rights and norms, a top prize in the running man is a trial by jury (today arguably something often meaningfully accessible only to the wealthy).

• homeless tent cities next to sky scrapers and the homeless having jobs.

Imagine going back to 1987 and telling everyone that The Running Man is just a slight exaggeration of the 2017 it predicts.

A History of Violence (2005)

Layered, complex, intelligent

[9/10 · 29 August 2024]

They don't make many films like this nowadays, indeed they haven't made any for at least 10 years. Superficially this is a 'stand your ground' type movie, ultra violent and sexually graphic. Watch it again, a third time and you'll notice more and more.

The film is understated and muted, there are few locations, there's no booming soundtrack. The dialogue is sparse making the film reliant on the actors bodily and facially acting. As a film it assumes a measure of maturity, intelligence and focus from the audience. You have to actually watch the film, pay attention, you cannot be looking at your phone.

All the cast act their socks off, everyone is spot on. Bello and Mortenssen, in particular, are absolutely stellar, what would be pages of dialogue in a lesser movie replaced with a look or a touch. The director did a superb job getting everyone to perform with such consistency to the understated feel of the film.

The cinematography and audio are absolutely on point. The camera work is perfectly in tune with the direction. Shots are tight to the actors, the effect is like you're the characters watching their own out of body experience. The sound focuses on the little dialogue but also, almost subliminally, immerses you in the scene, it may be cicadas to imply heat or the clink of spoon to remind you of the couple at a table or a door latch closing to convey claustrophobia.

This is no superficial kill the bad guy movie, there is a lot going on under the surface. There is a strong theme of duality or perhaps hypocrisy. There's the loving gentle family man also an apex predator. There's women who love them yet pretend that the animalistic base man doesn't exist, it sickens them and yet turns them on. There's the society which abhors violence but celebrates those who apply it righteously. There's a nod towards pack mentality where a posture is the difference between the junior getting a beating or a hug . There is a lot going on.

A true masterpiece.

Continuum (I) (2012–2015)

Good sci-fi, clever, unfortunately prescient.

[8/10 · 24 August 2024]

Sci-fi should make you look critically at the world about you and Continuum does that and the older reviews of the early seasons reveal that in doing so it has upset some people.

This show was made a decade ago but has probably grown in relevance. The contemporary events when it was produced were enormous private corporate losses being assumed by the workers\taxpayers, growing rights for corporate bodies, fewer rights for citizens, the cementing of the concept of terrorism into the zeitgeist and then being used as a justification for all manner of privations against the people.

It's 2024 and in the UK they are trying to classify wife beating as terrorism, people unhappy with their lot and lashing out are being jailed for speech or for throwing an empty drinks container, tech is embedded and in bed with government and are happy to assist to criminalise and prosecute.

Whatever happened to 'i disagree with what you are saying but will defend to the death your right to say it'? 10 years ago continuum showed us this future where the police don't even need bother to arrest you, merely facially recognise you and show up at 5am and take you away in your jimjams.

Continuum correctly predicted the mindset whereby you can simply say 'terrorism' and everybody joins in the "daily hate" and demands more of their rights removed. That the protagonist and hero of the show was essentially a black shirt enforcer of this regime is what messed with early reviewers. This was a uniquely clever aspect of the show, I can't think of another movie\show where the heroes realisation was delayed so long.

For my money continuum is up there with the running man for sheer prescience, another sci-fi warning ignored. This is smart relevant sci-fi and I wonder if I watch it again in 15 years (assuming it hasn't been altered by AI censors) what else will it have got right.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

Guy Ritchie strikes (out) again: cartoonish

[6/10 · 28 July 2024]

Firstly I should say I would've enjoyed this film a whole lot more were it fiction. But this is not fiction and therefore it should've been handled with an awful lot more respect than is on display here. This is a cartoon, a comic. It's a disgrace.

Secondly, the casting is problematic, there is simply no need to employ steroid injected muscle men with appalling fake accents. Telly Savalas back in the day was far more convincing as a menacing sociopath than Alan Ritchson ever could be.

Thirdly, the "spot of bother", "hello ducky", "get her" campness on display in the script is cringe worthy.

Guy Ritchie has taken a tremendous true story recently declassified and turned it into a 'Carry-On' film with an extra serving of 'it ain't half hot mum' and a faint touch of Allan Partridge. He should be ashamed.

Disregarding the patchy script, the miscasting, the incongruous CGI glossiness, the expensive cheapness it's not a terrible film and for a younger demographic they might not even notice these obvious shortcomings. However, for me, the film does not do the history justice and that is impossible to ignore.

Should've been grittier, should've been an 18, should've been better. Not a 5\10 but not a 6\10.

Late Night with the Devil (2023)

Go back to film school

[4/10 · 16 June 2024]

This is a compromised film. Nothing about it feels right, looks right, sounds right.

Cinematography: It starts off as a "lost footage" type horror but gives up really quickly. Why even bother with the annoying 4:3 aspect ratio only to abandon the lost footage idea almost immediately. Similarly the supposed TV news footage looks like digital 4k with a very basic VHS smartphone filter. The switch to grainy black and white footage for "off camera" scenes is pointless. The "blink and you'll miss it" demonic ghostly flashes are amateurish. Even something as basic as the camera motion and angles are all wrong.

Characters: the talk show lead does a passable impression of 70s talk show host.

The skeptic puts in a mostly good performance.

The psychologist character is just stupid.

The "possessed" girl just doesn't cut it, miscast.

The announcer who comes over all Catholic is just bad writing.

More generally everyone looks like contemporary actors cosplaying people from the 1970s, their skin, hair and makeup are wrong (too professional, too good and too modern). The most beautiful Hollywood actresses on Carson in the 1970s didn't look as good as the psychologist in this film.

Writing\story: It's a good premise badly written, badly executed. The sick wife backstory goes nowhere. The corporate big wigs in the audience goes nowhere. The mass hypnosis idea is stupid. The psychic first guest and his fate does not tie in with the plot. The secret society backstory goes nowhere. The sudden religious fervour of the cast and crew is nonsensical. The ending is farcical.

In short, the whole film feels like a Gen Z film graduates first horror film, nobody involved knew how to do their jobs very well at all. Inauthentic, sloppy writing, lacks tension, badly edited, poor effects.

Nefarious (2023)

Unsubtle propaganda

[1/10 · 27 May 2024]

If they'd simply stuck to telling a spooky story about demonic possession then this would've been an ok film, it's essentially a recycling of the premise of Fallen starring Denzel Washington from a few years ago.

But no, this is an entirely different beast. This is the movie equivalent of a "cool" southern assistant youth preacher with a guitar arranging purity pledges and encouraging your teens to write the local congressman to ban the morning after pill.

It's essentially a 98 minute sermon against assisted dying and abortion but is pro death penalty, pro prison and pro gun with a little bit of semi-unintentional racism for good measure.

It's not subtle. It's actually insulting to the viewer's intelligence that the producers and writers clearly didn't want to take any chances that you'd have even the slightest dubiety as to the messages they're selling.

It's actually a real shame, the actors did an ok job and the dialogue was mostly well done but the staggeringly overt Christian fundamentalism (of the redhat variety) means this is one only for a very specific and very low brow audience.

Sprung (2022– )

Solid feel good TV

[8/10 · 21 May 2024]

Sharply written, excellent characters, well acted, excellent theme tune. This is light entertainment done very well indeed.

The acting talent on show here is formidable, cast members from the wire, deadwood and the greatest live action children's film ever made as well as outstanding performances from newer actors.

This is feel good "comedy" rather than belly laugh comedy but it works exceptionally well. It's not the most original of shows and at times you'll be reminded of various other films and TV shows but it still feels fresh and leaves you smiling.

It manages all this while avoiding gross-out stuff and excessive bad language but doesn't water things down to network level blandness. Honestly a breath of fresh air in a TV landscape that is more concerned with box ticking than providing entertainment. Superb.

Weeds (2005–2012)

Love it but goes down hill and disappointing ending.

[8/10 · 25 April 2024]

A risque adult outsider comedy with cool likeable endearing characters that when you stream it today you can watch the growing puritanical influence of the American mainstream slowly water down each passing season.

I like Nancy. I like Andy. I like Doug. I like Esteban. I like Silas. I even like the unlikable character played by the women that was in Big. Shane unfortunately, I didn't like. Sometimes child actors grow out of acting and this happens here so very very badly. It was a mistake to not write him out.

Weeds is one of those peculiar American comedies that don't make you laugh, it's escapism, dramedy. It does it, mostly, very well indeed.

But as I've mentioned you watch the show slowly deflate, the writing got tired, the actors got tired, it drifts from Showtime for adults to ABC for families with mid-teenagers. Unfortunately every TV show is now ABC for families with mid -teenagers unless it's violence or LGBTQ.

Road House (2024)

This needed 3 writers? It's terrible, avoid.

[3/10 · 23 March 2024]

Against my better judgement I watched this and 5 minutes in I thought, you know what, this may be different enough to be half decent. After about 30 minutes I realised how wrong I was. The film doesn't just stop there it keeps getting worse and worse and worse until the credits thankfully finally roll.

The original is a classic piece of 80s cheese, it's sexy, it's violent, it's got personality and character. This is a John Wick remake of road house, but not the good first John Wick film, this is a John Wick 4 remake of road house. It's truly terrible, instantly forgettable rubbish.

Arguably it's actually got more plot than the original, a good reason for the baddie acting the baddie for example. But also it makes less sense than the original with Dalton morphing from an MMA fighter to Denzels Equaliser at the flick of a switch.

What else?

The "actors" are simply not up to the job, There's no character development, There's no characters, The script is threadbare, The music is lacklustre, There's no love story element, It's been de-sexed and de-nudified, The fights are rubbish, Magreggor is an annoying clown bringing his own brand of small D energy, There's needless CGI, The cinematography is nauseating, It's far too long.

Really this is a cartoon for 13yo boys. Unsurprising but disappointing nonetheless. Avoid it like the plague.

Californication (2007–2014)

Season 1 - 6 only.

[8/10 · 21 March 2024]

Love this show and I kinda hate this show.

Hank is a loveable rake who gets into all kinds of mischief and finds himself embroiled in outrageous sexual shenanigans accompanied by his agent and best friend Runkle and Runkles potty mouthed wife Marcy.

Along the way the show pokes fun at Hollywood, yes men agents, movie stars, rock stars, society, hypocrisy, the rich, pretention etc etc. It's good dirty fun.

This is somewhat spoiled by the needy doormat "wife" and po faced annoying daughter characters. Come the end of season 2 I was praying for Hank to kick his inexplicable addiction to Karen and to send his annoying spoiled daughter to boarding school in Transylvania.

There just isn't any chemistry between McElhoe and Duchonvy, this undermines the kismet manifest destiny premise for the wife character. Especially noticeable when there is great on-screen chemistry between the other leads. McElhoe also struggles throughout to play the part, the role is simply not in her wheelhouse. The daughter character adds very little to the show and is something of a cliche. It's also very difficult to look at Becka and pretend there's any DNA shared with either parent. In all honesty these two miscast characters, if you let them, could totally ruin the show for you. If they could re-edit the show to remove them it would possibly be 10\10 TV.

The series should have ended with Hank running off into the sunset with the groupie Faith at season 6. Season 7 is a total disaster. Clearly the network cut the budget to nothing and the good writers had already moved on. Resist the urge to watch it, it is atrocious.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Pretty awful. Very disappointing.

[3/10 · 3 March 2024]

What a complete car crash of a film.

Clearly the public are wise to the Borat character which the film acknowledges and tries to get round by having Borat in 'disguise'. Unfortunately these costume changes are so flimsy that the viewer struggles to accept that the supposed "public" appearing in the film are being taken in by them. This leaves pretty much every setup in the film falling flat on its face.

The debutante ball was a failure, the characters went totally over the top and clearly fooled no one.

The women's society skit, again, was a failure, for the same reason.

The guilianni interview could have been great but isn't. The real world press "outrage" over his letcherous behaviour overegged my expectations and again this too fell flat.

The only sketch that almost hits the mark is the anti mask rally where a disguised Borat gets the crowd to show their true colours gleefully saluting and singing along to a q-anon inspired song.

The plastic surgery bit is completely incongruous to the "plot" and should've been left on the cutting room floor but the comedy nuggets from the doctor must've necessitated its retention in a film so devoid of laughs.

Above all a mockumentary has to be clever and it has to be original. This film is neither. Desperately embarrassing for the actors and the audience.

I had low expectations and was disappointed. Truly woeful.

Them (IV) (2021)

Arthouse nonsense or film student degree project?

[1/10 · 26 February 2024]

Biblical allegory? A pisstake of 'they live'? The dullest acid trip in recorded history? I have no idea and neither will you.

Perhaps this was made for CV purposes? Perhaps it was the condition of a will to make a film before someone could inherit $300m ala Brewster's millions? Perhaps somebody's rich daddy insisted that he see something from his kid that he's been funding through film school for a decade? Perhaps the computer broke during editing and all the good bits got deleted and they cobbled the leftovers into this?

I'd review the film but there's nothing to review, it gets one star because we're not allowed to leavea score lower than that.

Still no need to worry about spoilers, it is impossible to spoil this film.

Boiler Room (2000)

A far better and more honest telling than the wolf of wall street.

[8/10 · 11 February 2024]

Why am I reviewing such an old film?

My elderly dad is obsessed with far right "news" and watched an interview with "the wolf of wall street" himself. It was a fawning sickening piece of promotion for the convicted thief and fraudster. My dad was left believing the rantings of this thief and fraudster that 'everyone was at it' and 'he was just unlucky getting caught' and he was a 'scapegoat'. He had no concept that the thief and fraudster targeted people just like him. He had no concept that he was being manipulated by those who gain from his increasing cynicism at everything.

This event reminded me of Boiler Room which reminded me that there are 2 films based on the "the wolf of wall street". One of them is a disgusting piece of agrandising trash loved by ignorant juvenile fools and the other tells the story of the disgusting pieces of trash and what they did. Boiler room is the latter.

Boiler room is the film you should watch.

It helps that boiler room is actually a far better film with a sharp script and stellar cast. It clearly doesn't have the budget or Margot spreading her legs but don't let that put you off.

Even if you've seen the wolf of wall street you should watch Boiler Room and hopefully you will have a better understanding of why TWOWS is such an appalling film.

American Horror Stories: Organ (2023) Season 3, Episode 4

Remarkably poor acting from a lead actor in a big show.

[3/10 · 20 December 2023]

I seldom write reviews of individual episodes of television however having watched this particular episode I immediately looked up the lead actor expecting to see some kind of nepotism at play. This was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an allegedly professional actor, it was like watching a good actor act at being a bad actor and overdoing it.

The episode itself was not particularly great, the gist being that women will act like men (indeed can be worse) when they have access to the same level of power as powerful men, which in this context amounted to it being a letter of apology of sorts to all the me too guys. This gives the episode about as much appeal as a 9\11 joke on 9\12, there's edgy and there's this.

Yet despite this the biggest issue with it was the lead actors performance. Truly woeful.

American Horror Story (2011– )

It's a very mixed bag.

[5/10 · 16 December 2023]

When it's good it's great when it's bad it's atrocious. The later seasons are mostly the latter (particularly season 11 and season 10 stinks badly too).

I can't think of another long running TV show being quite so all over the place as AHS.

Watch seasons 1,2,3,5 and 9 as those are probably the best, 4,6,7 and 8 are ok.

Season 10 was a pointless dumpster fire, in two distinct and different parts.

Season 11, which I have just finished, was some of the worst TV I've ever seen.

To clarify season 10 was just really really rubbish incomplete storytelling but season 11 was depressing, contradictory, obvious, victim porn and was extremely heavy on the preaching.

The stark drop in quality from season 10 onwards coincides with the takeover of FX by Disney. I don't know what's going on at that network but they seem to get a kick from insulting your intelligence and producing really glossy HR instructional videos using the actors and characters from formerly well liked entertainment franchises.

Plane (2023)

Great popcorn movie

[8/10 · 5 November 2023]

I don't understand where the negative reviews are coming from, probably miserable specimens in their mums basement who dissect everything to bits and who immediately fired up their ancient copy of Microsoft flight simulator to try and replicate the action.

Who cares what those weirdos think, this was a great action film that just about squeaked under our suspension of disbelief, provided you don't think too hard.

The heroes are manly men (that probably triggered some folk); the passenger cliches are all there (mouthy yank, arrogant Englishman, attractive young women who scream, etc); the baddies are bad (and their backstory probably triggered the sort who are ferociously tweeting and protesting about how the terrorists today are merely misunderstood).

This is a good quality, predictable, entertaining, clichéd, exciting action film just like Hollywood used to make that most people still enjoy. If you're looking for some 110lb beauty queen to kick the daylights out of an ex-pro-wrestler-turned-actor or you want rainbow flags or the baddies to be old white men you'll hate it but that's because you don't realise that it's not this film that's a cliché it's you who is the cliché.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Weak, cheap, no effort. Boring.

[5/10 · 15 October 2023]

Too long by about 90 minutes, at the halfway point the director and writers decide to start the "narrative" (such as it is).

The gunplay becomes tiresome fairly early on in the film, it is so unrelenting that it becomes boring.

The film takes itself much less seriously than the first 3, actors in fat suits doing gymnastics, CGI dogs, bullets bouncing off lounge suits with a metallic clink, serious injuries healing in minutes. I would also be surprised if there was a single actual physical location used once, the whole thing looks green screened.

There is a general sloppiness on show, extras dancing in the nightclub scene, baddies obviously hesitating while the near 60yo hero gets to his mark in order to kill them etc.

The plot, such as it is, seems to have abandoned any effort at internal consistency to the rest of the franchise. Keanu phones in his "performance", he looks as bored with it as the rest of us. He's on a bum run at the moment; matrix 4, bill and Ted 3, wick 4, all stinkers. Ian McShane tries his best but he looks as tired as the dialogue.

There is not a single memorable scene in the film, not a single memorable line of dialogue. You may as well watch a kid play fortnight. Extremely disappointing. 5\10 and I'm being generous.

Frasier (2023– )

Reserving judgement but not a great start (2 eps)

[5/10 · 14 October 2023]

I'm an enormous fan of the original Frazier, it is one of the finest sit-coms ever, the writing and acting was second to none.

Admittedly only 2 episodes of this sequel have aired so far and I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for a few more but thus far I'm not impressed at all.

Things that need to improve, fast:

• Niles and Daphne's son isn't a character, he's a poor pastiche.

• the Dean of the school is a cliche and in this instance is neither used to deliver comedy or as a straight-man to bounce jokes off.

• the character played by Nicholas Lyndhurst has very few jokes and is again another lazy cliché.

• the premise of Frazier taking a job and buying a building feels forced and is a regurgitation of the original premise.

• the son character immediately jumped into "feelings" with zero comedy value.

• Frazier has lost his angst, his blundering despite best efforts, his effete snobbery has been removed. All the stuff that made him funny.

Cheers and Frazier had an edge to them, they were that sharp, slightly mean. This feels like an ABC early evening overly sanitised American 'comedy' that people may like but never really laugh at. So far this is very 2020s, there's nothing to laugh at.

Billions (2016–2023)

Watch it until Damian Lewis leaves the show.

[5/10 · 28 September 2023]

Thank heaven someone has finally put this show out of its misery.

This was a sharp, witty, clever show up until Damian Lewis had to leave for personal reasons. Thereafter it felt like the network was doing the rest of the cast a favour by keeping it going.

The final season is going very badly, the standard of the writing is atrocious, chatGPT generated? Characters have become characterisations, walking clichés vomiting movie quotes and song lyrics. To be honest I'm surprised they avoided doing the musical episode that shows sometimes do when they run out of ideas.

A wonderful show in the Lewis era that burned through viewer goodwill in the first season after his departure and in the final season degenerates into utter plop. I'm averaging out my rating as 5 for the whole thing, but really it's a 7-9 in s1-3 with a cliff edge drop after the Lewis era.

Physical: Like a Prayer (2023) Season 3, Episode 10

What in the name of jeebus was that?

[3/10 · 28 September 2023]

Having laboured through the unnecessarily complicated victim-porn side plots and backstory and suffered through the weird imaginary characters in Sheila's head in the final season we tune into the final episode to find the writers, the cast, the production crew and Apple have just said F it.

To be honest it would have been better if they had simply cancelled it. This was a studio exec saying 'you can have 50k come back with 30 minutes of footage that marketing can call an ending'.

Apple TV is really struggling at the moment. This was as rubbish an ending for a show as ever I've seen. But in fairness the show was going nowhere, it did have something, but the writers just couldn't capitalise on it. So I suppose that this is an entirely apposite ending, unrealised promise.

Zulu (1964)

Plucky natives with basic weapons take on occupying army

[6/10 · 28 August 2023]

Much like when Amy in the big bang theory pointed out that in the Lost Ark Indiana Jones is completely superfluous to the story you can today watch Zulu and see it for what it is, racist propoganda. How dare the natives fight back! You're invited to watch smugly as brown people throw themselves to oblivion against 'plucky Brits' aka the occupiers who have much more advanced weaponry. Don't they know what's good for them? Clearly they should bow before Queen Vicky and accept their status as third class not quite humans who's only purpose is to give the working classes, themselves treated like dirt by the aristos and wealthy, someone to look down on. Rule Britannia.

6/10 for showing how appalling British social attitudes were in very recent times.

Rollerball (1975)

Thoughtful sci-fi, somewhat prescient but a bit muddled.

[7/10 · 22 August 2023]

A misunderstood film that we now have near 50 years of history to judge it against.

Essentially in the "future" capitalism has run riot, rising to the level of actual warfare, until a semi truce arises amongst the world's new monopolies. The capitalist system has ultimately created a communist corporate society. Realising the nature of the successful communist society they preside over the chairmen of the various monopolies create a brutal game to underline the futility of individual effort and preserve their society, the game is rollerball.

To be honest the film is muddled, it's a warning against something but it's unclear what that something actually is. I think it probably makes more sense today than it did in 1975 in a world with books being rewritten, huge monopolies with more money than governments, private armies fighting wars on a contract basis, populations demanding less freedom and more security, a society eager to maintain the pretence of a "free market" that hasn't actually existed in anyone's lifetime.

Perhaps in another 50 years of hindsight the warning will make more sense, assuming it hasn't been erased from the corporate owned data banks. Let me know in 2073.

Quantum Leap (2022–2024)

Unnecessary, garbled, hashtag ticking, remake for whom?

[3/10 · 12 August 2023]

I was a big fan of the original, this is garbage. I can't imagine anyone who is tuning in because they were fans of the original lasting more than a couple of episodes.

Where the original had Sam and Al there's now a squad of additional "diverse" characters to meet some network diversity target. If the viewer notices your shoehorned-in walking hashtags then it's not working, in this case it's literally every single recurring character.

In the original you could believe that Dean Stockwell was a character with a vast life experience that could be called upon to assist Sam. In this remake I don't believe that the super-fit 20 something woman has much life experience beyond going to the gym and having her hoo-ha waxed. The grizzly old dude, gruff Vietnam vet is there but shouldn't be, the dude is long passed retirement age and would never be in such a job. The uber tough head of security is another hot young woman, just like every head of security I've met (cough). The tech geek is, I'm not even sure what that person is, but is it even acting when you rock up to set wearing your every day man-frock with your fav lipstick and eyeshadow?

Additionally a time travel show needs a certain level of attention to detail and this is absent even in the early episodes where I gave up, clearly the makers have decided this is tween plop and tweens won't notice stuff like fashions, hairstyles, music, props, vehicles etc being completely incongruous to the supposed time period.

In short this is junk TV made entirely and exclusively for gen-Z and younger and will likely trigger anyone who has been alive for longer than 15 minutes.