Turbs1977 Reviews

Masters of the Air (2024)

Underwhelming

[6/10 · 17 March 2024]

Watched all 9 episodes, still unclear which one was "Buck" and which one was "Bucky".

I shall watch the documentary about the real heroes that was advertised at the end of the last episode and perhaps that will be more satisfying. The only character I actually really liked was "Rosie" and possible the Navigator guy ( and narrator ) wasn't so bad. Buck and Bucky just didn't feel like very fleshed out characters to me at all yet they were the stars.

They clearly wanted to be another Band of Brothers but I don't feel they really pulled it off. At the end where they showed the characters and the real people behind them they featured two of the Tuskegee Airmen. This is great, but honestly from watching the show I only had half a clue who one of them was and no idea who the other was. They had one episode out of 9 where they really featured them and it was so rushed that, for me, it did not leave an impression. It felt like lip service.

We Have a Ghost (2023)

Almost, but too long

[6/10 · 22 March 2023]

This started out quite well, and does have some genuinely touching moments but would have benefitted with half of it being left on the cutting room floor.

I saw no benefit at all to the silly government agency plot at all. This could have played out much better and been a more appropriate length if that entire section had been cut out. The search for whatever happened to "Ernest" and the reveal would have been just fine without any need for the running from the police and escaping from the government facility nonsense. That section made me tune out a bit in the mid portion of the film.

For me, this could have almost been a 7 due to the endearing performances of the main young lad actor and David Harbour, but it fell short because they just tried to cram too much in and it felt like a bit of a muddled mish mash of genres. As a touching drama about a ghost in limbo yes, add in the action comedy . . not so much. I also found it a little odd that at the climax of the film they seemed to put too much emphasis on the relationship between the ghost and the boy when his actual daughter is standing back watching his final moments as an entity on earth.

Sahara (2005)

Puzzling

[7/10 · 24 July 2022]

I have never really understood the author, Clive Cussler, and his hatred of this film. His dissatisfaction killed any prospect of any follow up films. To be fair, it is considered one of the biggest flops of all time but I thought it had potential to bring a few more of his novels to the big screen and perhaps become a profitable franchise.

I feel that McConaughey did a pretty good job of portraying the spirit of the character from the books, if he had been 3 inches taller I don't really see what problem Cussler would have had. Pitt in the novels I suppose was probably based on an underwater James Bond, tall . . swarthy, smooth . . charismatic . . McConaughey ticks some of those boxes but not all.

Steve Zahn was maybe miscast. He really doesn't fit the book description of Giordino very well at all, he was short, but powerful. A fiercely loyal tank of a guy but I think the chemistry between Zahn and McConaughey works well and he does a good job of being a bit of a flippant wiseass which does fit the novels.

Overall, its a compact and enjoyable enough film, its not too long and zips along at a good pace and has a killer sound track. The novels are not exactly prize winning books, its just fairly entertaining action fluff. This was never quite going to be Indian Jones in a wetsuit but it certainly wouldn't be something I would regret watching. Cussler, I believe, favoured the "Raise the Titanic" film from 1980, but that was pretty dire really, I feel he should have swallowed his pride and not torpedoed this potential franchise.

Overall, enjoyable . . lots of action, not a completely terrible story and no fault found with the actors. As a fan of the books, I enjoyed it.

D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! (2022)

Pretty standard

[5/10 · 13 July 2022]

This follows the general standard these days. A lot of sensationalism, not a whole lot of substance. Its not badly made, but there's a lot of focus on some pretty obsessed and self serving people that don't seem to want to let facts get in the way of their obsession.

The hounding of that Robert guy didn't feel right. The guy was a bit of a badass maverick and obviously seemed to revel in the suspicion that he was Dan Cooper and enjoyed being mysterious and evasive over it. The original police sketches made it look like the guy was in his mid 40s, maybe older and Bob just didn't seem to fit. I really didn't like the part where they were ambushing him for an interview and pretending they didn't have hidden cameras on him. It was a bit odd that he really didn't want to make the definitive statement that he wasn't D. B Cooper though, but I think that's just him still hanging on to that arrogant mischievous guy that he once was.

This reminds me of shows like Hunting Hitler, and The Curse Of Oak Island. You may get some entertainment from it, and there may be interesting information in there but they are so manipulative in their presentation of it that in the end it may just annoy you.

The Batman (2022)

Pretty good

[7/10 · 29 March 2022]

For most of this film it felt pretty different. The city was impressively dark and seedy and really captured a lawless city where the criminals ruled and general citizens feared walking the streets. I had thought that the whole film would be approached more as a murder mystery where batman plays the role as vigilante detective and the film didn't conclude with him saving the city from a dastardly criminal act of terrorism, but that didn't quite end up being the case.

I thought Pattinson worked OK, but more in the batman role. He was quite a contrast to the Bruce of Christian Bale though where he gave the impression of the flashy playboy to help conceal his work as Batman whereas Pattinson played Bruce as an introverted oddball.

Ultimately though the film is way too long, with several natural ending points in the final 30 or 40 minutes missed. It actually made me quite angry at the end that they don't seem to know when to end a film anymore. The final 30 minutes played out like a series of post credits scenes stitched together and I just wanted them to get it over with so I could leave the cinema in the end and it soured an otherwise enjoyable film a little for me, hence the score of 7. I would have given it an 8 otherwise.

I had also expected the film to be a standalone film akin to The Joker, but they clearly set up for sequels at the end. Cat-Woman, although a decent character, could have been largely removed from the story to cut that runtime down and the little romance between them seemed out of place and undeserved.

Its definitely worth watching, but needed someone more ruthless in editing in my opinion.

Don't Look Up (2021)

OK, not that great.

[6/10 · 24 March 2022]

No complaints about the acting. Some big names in this, and they all deliver what you expect from them. For me though, it was a little too pointed in its social commentary message. I can't really stand films that try to make a point about the worlds obsession with social media and ratings. I know this is a thing, but its something I tend to roll my eyes at and don't really appreciate having it shoved in my face.

The film was probably 30 minutes too long but did raise a couple of chuckles, but not many. I did quite like the post credits scene ( and the second post credits scene . . . ) . I think this could have actually made a pretty good serious film considering the first 45 minutes of the film was a pretty solid drama about the discovery of an extinction level comet impact but we have all seen a couple of films like that already a while back.

Its OK. Its not bad by any means, but maybe you have to be from the US to really appreciate some of the social commentary on the leadership. A little like Space Force which seemed to get many rave reviews, but I just didn't get it.

If I had to sum it up, I would say it was almost good but not quite.

The North Water (2021)

A good watch

[9/10 · 17 September 2021]

Stumbled across this one somehow and was pleased to find all episodes were available on iPlayer to watch straight away.

To describe it I would say its like season 1 of The Terror but without the super-natural element. Its a nice little self contained 5 part series that doesn't waste much time. Good acting. Colin Farrell, sounding very much like Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, was very menacing and Stephen Graham is always good value.

Definitely worth a watch if you like gritty historical stuff.

Army of the Dead (2021)

Meh

[5/10 · 25 May 2021]

Its worth watching for some of the action and some good CGI and a few really gory scenes. It is also overly long with some really dumb scenes that make no sense and riddled with plot holes probably caused by having to heavily edit it to even get it down to a bloated two and a half hours.

Seemingly the army were working with the rich Japanese guy to get that vial of blood when the army were the ones that had possession of the original alpha guy at the start but never thought to get any of his blood.

The first team member to die is just left to die just feet from the rest of the team, all of whom were pointing their guns in the direction of the zombies surrounding her but never even fired at them. Big build up with the guy and his badass circular saw that never gets used to kill a zombie at all.

The mole guy who grabbed the head decides to randomly sabotage the team several times instead of just grabbing that head from right where they entered the zone and getting the hell out of there. Almost everybody dies and I didn't care much at all, a bizarre scene crowbarred in with one of the team deciding that it was an appropriate time to declare her love for the main man seemingly only to try and make us care when she gets her head twisted clean around seconds later.

Just really odd. For a director that recently gained acclaim for reworking Justice League it seems he needs someone else to return the favour with this one. Worth it maybe for the zombie tiger. Don't expect too much from this one.

Bosch (2014–2021)

Great show

[9/10 · 29 April 2021]

I had this one as a low priority watchlist item for a while until I noticed that it was based on books by Michael Connolly so I gave it a go.

I was pleasantly surprised, I was expecting the usual cliché riddled standard detective series but I found myself gripped. I have only finished season 1 and just moved on to season 2 at this point but I have no doubt that I will blast through them in no time now.

What I like about it is that it really isn't what you would expect. Divorced from his wife and hasn't seen his daughter too much lately . . neither hate him and he has a good relationship with both. He is a bit of a complicated guy with some issues and a tough history . . yet is generally popular at work and has a good relationship with his colleagues. Little things like that kept my interest at first. Based purely on the genre I was expecting a tough no nonsense rebel who doesn't need or want any help and cares little what anyone thinks of him and its not really like that.

I can only really vouch for the first season but it had an engaging plot that gave me a case of the "just one more episode" when I really should have gone to sleep. I recommend it.

Man with a Plan (2016–2020)

errr?

[1/10 · 24 April 2021]

Someone says something, pause . . . Laugh track. Repeat, repeat, repeat . .

Very out of date, the laugh track is so distracting and patronising and actually makes it unfunny. I may have found something amusing, if the laugh track didn't constantly bash me in the face a split second before I may have found a joke amusing. This show doesn't deserve to do well.

Hey Tracey! (2019–2020)

Rubbish

[1/10 · 31 March 2021]

Absolute trash. Joel Dommett is someone who obviously identifies as a comedian and we have to swallow it unless we want to be accused of some kind of prejudice.

This show is absolute trash. The contestants surely cannot be as thick as they appear to be because they never have any idea of the answer to anything and therefore have to phone a member of the public. Its just pure, lowest denominator garbage aimed at drunk or stoned students probably. In my day it was "The Word" that I might watch whilst my head was spinning if I managed to turn the TV on after staggering home from the pub. It was rubbish, but at least it didn't insult my intelligence quite as much as this show does.

The Stand (2020–2021)

Could have been good

[6/10 · 15 February 2021]

I am a huge fan of the novel. I have read it several times, the complete unedited version as well and its a very big book. This is the problem really as its a really epic story being crammed into a mini-series and it isn't quite working.

I haven't finished watching the series, I believe it was episode 7 I just finished but it feels like it is just rocketing along to the finish line and really not doing justice to the source material.

In general they have done some things quite well. The casting isn't terrible. I am a fan of how they changed Larry's character as I feel the choice for this series fits a lot better but as with all the other choices they just haven't dedicated enough to the characters to make us care about them. Larry is supposed to be a man on a redemption path. A selfish, narcissistic taker that becomes a responsible man as the story unwinds but we never really got to see that side of him. Harold is another one where they didn't really let us understand the character, how he was always an outsider which pushed him to feel that his tormentors didn't matter because he was their intellectual superior coupled with his rejection by Frannie left him vulnerable to corruption by Flag. They didn't really touch on how he was teetering on the edge and almost accepted that he had a new start in Boulder and didn't need to be burdened by the failure that he was. They had a go, but not enough time.

I could go on about each and every character, but it all pretty much boils down to moving too fast. Nick for example, in the book it was a major event when he got killed but it really didn't seem to have an impact.

I'm a little sad because this probably means that another attempt to do justice to this novel wont happen now. Its always been too big for a film, but its also too big for a 10 part mini series. Some of the imagery has been pretty good so far like how they portrayed New Vegas but it isn't quite cutting it for me.

The Curse of Oak Island (2014– )

I'm committed now . .

[7/10 · 7 January 2021]

Its 2021 now, and I believe its the 8th season that is just starting in the UK. I have watched this from the start and I find it a fascinating situation but get a little frustrated by some of the American show tactics. I am watching the show, I don't need them to give me a "best of" clip at the start of the show, neither do I need them to give me a "coming up!" every time there is an all too frequent advert break. I find myself diving for the remote control ( usually when the metal detector guy grabs something as the second he says "oooh, what's this?" the adverts come ) to skip past it because I am watching the damn show and don't have the attention span of a goldfish.

Its an interesting premise, is there or isn't there any treasure etc. They must have spent many millions by now digging around and I try and forget that if they had actually found a great treasure it would have made the news way before I got to see it on the show. Its sensationalistic, they milk every last insignificant thing as much as they possibly can but if you buy into the mystery its very compelling even if you watch it as a show about the insanity of spending a fortune chasing something that probably isn't there to be found.

Very minor spoiler alert. Season 8 episode 1, they sent a diver down to investigate something glinting in the wall of the shaft. I predicted before it happened that he would dig something out and then drop it . . . its how it is sometimes. If you can put up with a little manipulation such as this then I do believe it is essentially a genuine treasure hunt.

Space Force (2020–2022)

It got slightly better

[4/10 · 4 June 2020]

After watching a few episodes of this show i jumped on IMDB to see the ratings, and was a little baffled because it seemed to be divided between people who hated it and those who absolutely loved it.

Midway through the series i nearly gave up . . it wasnt funny, it didnt have a good plot, the political jokes didnt seem to really work ( I am from the UK but have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the US but still . . ).

The episode where they had some stupid fake battle with balloons was a particular low point for me.

I have to say that in the final 2 or 3 episodes i warmed to it a little, it still wasnt really funny, i think i might have laughed three times through the whole series but i started to warm to the characters a little and maybe, just maybe i might check out the next series when it comes. It may have been marketed wrong, or people might have presumed because of the pedigree of those involved that it would be a laugh a minute, it really isnt.

Its maybe worth pushing through it if you can, but it was hard.

Not good, rated it 4 but if i was rating the first 6 or 7 episodes alone it would be a 1.