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A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Excellent show
Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij have done it again. Another truly superb show. I try to watch everything that their hands touch because they are incredibly imaginative and creative. I first learned of them when they did The OA, which was also excellent.
This show, Murder at the End of the World, is really very well done. Great acting, intriguing plot line, good scenery, etc. As others have said, the show will keep you guessing. At various times, I thought I knew where it was going, but I didn't until they exposed the actual villain.
The only slightly unfortunate piece of the show is that the hotel in which the action occurs doesn't exist; it's just a CGI construct. Too bad, as it looked quite cool.
Anyway - great show. Highly recommended.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Almost a parody. Terrible. Don't waste your time.
I'm really sorry to say it, as I enjoyed all of the prior Mission Impossible movies, but Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is just plain terrible. The premise, that is, the "villain," is an absurdity. The writing is absolutely horrid. It's kitschy and silly and almost a parody of most thriller/spy movies. And, the much of the action is ridiculous.
Yes, once again, the Mission Impossible team has delivered with enormous vistas, incredible sets and amazing action sequences. Unfortunately, many of the action sequences are just utterly ridiculous. One example is a scene in which Cruise and Atwell are racing away from the bad guys in a mini-Fiat, that sounds like it's an EV and is surprisingly fast and powerful. Cruise is driving, but, after the car tumbles down a set of stairs, they have reversed their positions in the car and she is now driving - and, of course, she is a laughably bad driver.
Like I said, a terrible movie. Don't waste your time.
In from the Cold (2022)
Idiotic premise.
I watched the first episode and thought it started out in an interesting manner. Basically it's about a suburban housewife on a trip to Madrid, Spain with her daughter, who is part of a United States ice skating team. Mom appears to get kidnapped, and it turns out that she was taken by the CIA and her kidnapper thinks she is actually a dormant Russian spy. Of course, she denies it, but needs to show her fighting, etc. Skills when her kidnapper tells his cohorts to kill her. Now, her kidnapper knows he is correct, and he gives her an assignment. The assignment goes bad, and she . . . I won't spoil it, but the remainder is utter stupidity.
Manifest (2018)
A truly ridiculous storyline, especially near the end
This show started out as reasonably interesting, notwithstanding the totally unrealistic basic premise of the entire series and the lousy critics reviews. The acting was passable, and I kept watching because it always left me wanting to know where the story would go next.
Unfortunately, in the second half of the fourth season, the storyline went completely off the rails. It's both absurd and silly. Angelina thinks she is an angel sent by god to choose eight people to survive the death date? Egan goes back and forth from one side to the other like a piece of popcorn popping in a pot - and eventually wants to marry Angelina? The head of the government agency imprisoning the 828ers makes a deal with Angelina? 828ers continually escape from their prison; and on and on and on and on and on.
I'm almost done with this series, and I'm not sure why I'm continuing to watch, other than wanting to see how they end the show after the time investment I've already made. My advice - don't even start watching this nonsense. It's really quite bad.
Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)
Absolutely idiotic
I very much enjoyed the Luther TV series, and I'm clearly not alone. It ran for five years and is currently rated here on IMDB at 8.4 out of 10. Unfortunately, this movie sequel is absolutely idiotic. It has one of the most improbable, idiotic and inane plots that I have had the misfortune to see in quite a long time.
There are so many stupid plot twists that I don't even know where to start. One example is at the end, where Luther is in the car at the bottom of a river(?) under the ice. He isn't even trying to escape and he's been there for quite a while, so he should be about to die. All of a sudden, a helicopter appears and, very quickly, divers (plural) are in the water to save him. How did they know there was a car in the river? How did they know that someone was in the car? As they were on the way to the house to apprehend the bad guy, why were there even divers in the helicopter?!?!? And, if they could so easily find the hole in the ice to dive in and save Luther, why did the bad guy not know where the hole in the ice was so that he got caught and died?
If I felt like watching the movie again, I could probably take notes in ten different scenes and explain why those scenes were equally and utterly absurd, but I'd rather poke my eyes out. The acting in the movie was actually okay, but the movie has an utterly absurd and idiotic plot. Don't waste your time.