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mwascholz
Reviews
The Truffle Hunters (2020)
It teaches you nothing
If you want to know all about truffles, how they grow, what are they, why are they expensive, where exactly are they found, why are they unique, the whole (clandestine) trade behind it, this documentary will tell you absolutely nothing.
If you want to look at old men and their dogs in the forrest and dark alley dealings without having a clue who is who, what they are doing and why things that happen, happen; this is the documentary for you.
It often felt like an old Marcello Masteroianni movie where not a whole lot happens but it is beautiful to look at and the slow pace fits the whole scene.
But boy they could have made this more interesting.
And I don't even like truffles.
Barry (2018)
Comedy or thriller?
First of all: the show would be so much better without Sarah Goldberg's character. She is annoying and has no purpose.
Second: I enjoy the whole crime side of the series. It has loads of great, funny characters and it is enough dark, tense moments.
The whole 'I wanna be an actor' bit... mweh and unbelievable. And most scenes about Barry trying to act and especially when whining and annoying Sally is involved; I could do without them.
Bottomline: it is a fun series. Not as great as everyone says it is, just fun. And not too long. Very good that they stopped it after 4 seasons (most shows go on way too long).
But bottomline: it is too gruesome for a comedy, too silly for a crime-thriller.
9-1-1: Lone Star: Push (2022)
Ridiculous storyline
I enjoyed the first two seasons of this show even though it was quite unrealistic to see the complete fire station to attend minor events where in real life, no firemen would attend, let alone with all the trucks.
Also, they hardly ever fight fire.
Slowly towards the end of S2, it becomes obvious that the everyone in the cast will be non-stop involved in huge events that concern them personally.
They are non stop in the hospital, have near death experiences and Austin is hit with literally everything possible in the world: volcanoes, tornadoes, dust storms dumping meters of sand everywhere, arctic storms. In reality, none of this is possible.
At the start of S3 we see Austin experiencing an Arctic chill. Normally, Austin rarely gets temps under 10 degrees Celsius. Does not matter. And then we get 4 episodes of absolute chaos. The cast joins a rollercoaster ride of (personal) disasters that goes all over the place. We were exhausted after the conclusion of episode 4.
The writers need a chill pill and maybe consider not creating more hazardous situations for the cast besides the normal ones they could encounter with them being fire fighters.
One of the main writers is John Owen Lowe.
Yes, the son of. And sorry, he is just not that good.
Someone in Hollywood should tell dad Rob that the endless promoting of your skincare products is just weird and that sorry, your son is not a great writer.
1899 (2022)
How a trailer deceived us all
When the trailer of 1899 came out, I thought it to be the coolest thing to hit Netflix this year.
Dark was a great show, cleverly written and you really had to pay attention.
With 1899, the first episode is promising. But soon it turns out to not be what the trailer made it look.
From episode 2 onwards, it goes on and on with endless walking around, crawling through tunnels (again?!) and people talking to each other in different languages without having trouble of misunderstanding.
It becomes so boring and yet, it could have been better. The actors do well but can only use what is given to them: a cool idea that was poorly executed.
Dead to Me (2019)
Started good, spiraled out of control
First season was fun, a bit dark. Christina Applegate played a bitter woman with an edge. Loved it.
James Marsden plays a nasty guy, something we haven't seen him do and he does it well. Linda Cardellini perhaps plays it well but her character is the least believable of them all.
Halfway the second season things went out of control with a twin brother showing up, no one telling each other what any normal person would not keep themselves, Greek Mafia, incompetent police and farfetched storylines. Add a double dosis of every coincidence you think of mixed with dozen misunderstandings and you ended up in season 3.
The Week Of (2018)
Unwatchable
This could have been funny if they would have added an actual coherent story. Each scene has more people in it and nothing actually happens. Sandler does his screaming act every now and then and Rock is helpless.
Designated Survivor: Summit (2018)
Ridiculous episode
What a ridiculous episode. Why on earth would they make up fake countries when it is obvious that North and South Korea are meant.
Hannah as always is doing everything by herself, now debriefing the defecting son of President Kim. Such a load of nonsense.
Of course there is a small, meanigless funny story line, this time about Lyor's duplicate.
The acting is lousy, the story is weak and this show is going downhill fast.
Designated Survivor: In the Dark (2018)
No power, no phones, excepts Hannah's
The power is out and no one has mobile phone access. Yet, Hannah can call Chuck without trouble