dirkjanvv Reviews

Ripley (2024)

Gets repetitive, quickly

[21 April 2024]

Gets boring quickly. The whole repetitive telephone/doorbell ringing thing gets so annoying.

The story boils down to: people ringing at the door posing a threat or problem which he solves or people are calling on the phone and represent a threat/problem which also gets solved and then a problem gets presented by a letter which he also solves. He then moves to another location/town/hotel and the whole problem / threat cycle starts again. And again, and again.

The whole concept of this story is fine (identity theft/mixup of identities) but it lingers on and on without a clear direction.

The cinematography / photography is excellent though but offers a meager excuse to sit this out for 8 episodes.

1917 (2019)

Pretty decent

[7/10 · 17 March 2020]

For the people who never read anything by Tardi, who actually seems to be the only inspirator. Good enough movie though

Ad Astra (2019)

Mmm

[7/10 · 8 December 2019]

Heart of darkness/Apocalyps Now in space with slick props en nice photography

Ripper Street: Ashes and Diamonds (2014) Season 3, Episode 3

Bad

[2/10 · 14 June 2019]

Or how yankeedollars spoil a decent serie. Since the BBC stopped and Amazone took over there is a different director, different writer. The stories became ridiculous and somewhat formulaic, the characters became shallow karikatures. Shame.

Just watch seasons 1 and 2 and enjoy a good written and well performed tv series

Vikings (2013–2020)

Not the best of seasons

[12 March 2019]

The writers give the impression that had no idea what to do with the characters. The became flat and shallow and the only development they show lies on the insane. There is no distinction anymore between characters, they all seem the same: unreliable, psychopathic and not capable of even the most basic form of empathy or love. Not one character evokes the slightest bit of interest or care by the viewer. Because they have no depth nor any , except perhaps for Lagertha. She seems the only one capable of showing different emotions. And then there is Ivar: he is really over the top, a caricature of a despote, the überpsycho, king of all psychopaths. Every sentence uttered by him is a threat and it's only powerplay, powerplay, powerplay. Even when he asks for some wine. And it's always the same look in his eyes, in every scene and every shot. His evil is not a subtle thing, brought to you in small doses. He is not a frustrated, troubled en deranged human being doing evil things because he doesn't know how to be kind. His evil is not the result of bad choices, his evil is Same problem here as with the other characters: only one dimension. He is apparantly evil incarnate, no shades of gray, only one shade black. So that there can be no mistake about the nature of his persona. The producers probably think we're all thick as mud, not capable of comprehending any subtle psychology in their characters. In spite of the abundance of grotesk violence, gore, blood and intrigues the series is getting boring and tiresome. Or maybe it's "because of" in stead of "in spite of". After all, there's nothing new here: if you seen one carnage, you've seen 'm all and there a lot of carnages. A lot. So here's my advice: watch the first 4 seasons because they're really good, untill the death of Ragnar and skip the later episodes.

The Last Kingdom: Episode #1.8 (2015) Season 1, Episode 8

That music, please kill me

[7/10 · 3 February 2019]

Hope the next season will have a better music score. The disembodied screeching from a sort of banshee that should pass for ethnic Saxon singing was a real horror. Sounded more like Apache anyways.

The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)

About as exciting as watching a comatose person

[4/10 · 21 January 2019]

Let me be brief about this. The one thing that annoyed me the most in the end, is that expression on Moss' face. Once I started noticeing that she constantely had the same blank or vacant expression in every shot of every episode, my observation rapidly evolved in some kind of irritation. What kind of emotion(s) does that stare intend to expres anyways? Skipped the first series after only three episodes or so, I couldn't bare it no more. What a drag.