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Reviews
The Rockford Files: The Dark and Bloody Ground (1974)
Burning Screen Time.
Rockford is in aggregate one of the truly golden series in broadcast television. However the show was occasionally prone to overlong and absurd chase scenes. The chase between Jim in an underpowered Chevy Vega and a Mack cabover takes the cake as perhaps the worst in the entire series. Painfully long and utterly absurd. Unless Jim had suffered temporary amnesia all he had to do was move left or right stomp on the brakes and watch the Mack zoom past him. The Mack is by no means a nimble vehicle and even that Vega could out accelerate and out run it to say nothing of its ability to out maneuver the Mack. Instead we get an interminable scene with endless cuts between the same shots over and over. Worth watching only for the incompetent direction and scripting. A sure sign the script was a wee bit underwritten. Otherwise a decent episode in the development of a show on its way to becoming a classic. Notable mostly for the introduction of one of the best drawn characters in the show, Beth Davenport.
One sad note, this episode is one of countless films and tv shows seemingly hell-bent on ridding the planet of every Jaguar XKE in existence. Painful.
Chernobyl (2019)
Brilliant
Absolutely a masterwork. Crushing. Horrifying. Jared Harris delivers a hauntingly poignant conscience. A very disturbing but utterly resonant depiction of how clever we humans are and how imperfect and short sighted. I watched this over a year ago and it has not left me yet.
American Auto: Pilot (2021)
Oh, the Payne
Wow! Sinking ships are sad. Words fail. All kinds of ostensibly Profesional production people have pooled their talents to come up with this stinking fish. Is this all the brain trust at NBC can come up with? Oh how the mighty fall. Absolutely dreadful. The actors, to their credit I guess, try to breathe life into this mess but alas they are but actors and not paramedics. Perhaps if they had employed writers it would not have been so Payne-ful. Other than that I guess it's pretty good.
Quincy M.E.: The Death Challenge (1979)
Momentum delivers more brilliance
Preposterous premise. Dreadful dialogue. Absurd plotting. Punch the clock direction. Perfunctory yet overwrought performances by guest actors. Many unintended comedic moments however not enough of them to deduct 60 minutes from your life. It must have been a chore to take this mess all the way through post-production. Poor Don Ameche utterly waste of his time and talent A tour de force of incompetence slapdash drivel.