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Reviews
Ted Lasso (2020)
Why do I like this so much?? I should be hating it!
I'm a confused soul. Having watched Ted Lasso I'm wondering why I like this show so much where I should be hating it. I mean; the story is flimsy at best and as sweet as 5 lbs of sugar, the characters are shallow and everything around the show is unrealistic and very very predictable. But still...I could not stop watching. I guess that is the strength of the show. Despite the above mentioned flaws it leaves you with a craving for more. I can recommend it to everyone. And if you ignore the obvious flaws, it becomes (strangely enough) a show that pulls you in. I find myself hoping for a 4th season although that seems very unlikely.
Grenzeloos verraad (2023)
No Oscar material but nice to watch.
I enjoyed watching this movie although I did needed some time get into it. From the beginning it becomes very clear that this movie was made with a low budget (300k Euro). Most of the soldiers in it are re-enactors without any acting experience probably wearing their own uniforms. The firefights look a bit clumsy and confusing and the acting of some of the actors (especially Peter Nilessen) is very poor. But..... once you have set aside all this it becomes a nice movie where people really made an effort to portray things in the right way. The uniforms and weapons are history locally accurate to a large extend. And the movie highlights a very unknown military operation that had a big impact on the war in the North East of the Netherlands.
Dutch cinema has always struggled to make good WW2 movies since "Soldier of orange". "The resistance banker" and "Black Book" are just 2 of many examples of horrendously bad Dutch WW2 movies which had a much bigger budget. So in that light this movie was not bad at all. Don't expect Oscar material but a nice viewing experience nonetheless.
Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976)
Simple two words; Loved it.
This series has 'childhood memory' written all over it. I simply loved it.
Being interested in WW2 aviation at an early age I watched and read everything I could get my hand on. And one day I found this series on TV. I was blown away. What were these beautiful blue aircraft? I knew of Spitfires, Mustangs and Messerschmitts but what was this?? It was the beginning of a life long adoration for the Corsair which is still there today.
The series was far from being historical accurate, in fact it only has very few connections with the real Black Sheep Squadron (VMF- 214). But this does not matter. Sure, the story line is over the top and incredibly fictional and the same goes for the characters which are way too 'Hollywoodlike' (with Robert Conrad's role getting 1st price there). But all of this is not annoying and as a viewer you accept this as other parts in the show (like the dog fighting scenes) make up for this.
The actors chosen also fitted their parts very well. They all seemed to be cast just right and all have their specific place in the squadron and all share the same amount of attention (except for Pappy of course) . They "jumped the shark" as they say in Hollywood when the nurses arrived in the series in order to save the ratings. Too bad it was canceled. The show had much more potential.
When I found out many years later that the series could be bought on DVD, I ordered it immediately without even checking the price. Many a rainy day has been spent watching the series. Now it's my young son asking what these beautiful blue aircraft are.