Change Your Image
FrankBuckster
Reviews
Apples Never Fall (2024)
Started so well...
...but ended up being quite a disappointment.
The tone and atmosphere in the first 2-3 episodes seemed very promising. A good mystery building up, with two parallel stories (now and then) kept us intrigued and curious about where this would lead us, and how this would possibly end.
But as we got closer and closer to the end, or was all just hot air. Especially last episode is toe-curling and embarrassing banal. All turns out to be a family feud in a caricatured American spoiled family. Sickening happy ending.
Great to finally see good acting from both Sam Neill and Annette Benning, but not enough to keep this series alive, the good story needs to be there, too - and it's not.
All Good Things (2010)
Not bad...
This is not a bad movie at all, but you should watch the documentary "The Jinx" and get the true story. I didn't connect the two untill I watch this movie the second time, but this is made over the life and story of Robert Durst.
Both Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst play their roles very well, and there is an evil vibe to the movie - it never really shows any dull moments. Andrew Jarecki did a good job directing this, but a much better job directing "The Jinx", and the tension is so much better and much scarier. And of course have a huge flip side - but enough of that here ;-) Watch it instead!
Midsommar (2019)
Embarrassing
"Midsommar" fails to deliver on its promises of psychological horror and depth. While visually stunning with its picturesque Swedish setting, the film's slow pacing and lackluster character development make it a tedious watch. The story feels disjointed, with meandering subplots that add little to the overall narrative. The attempts at shock value and grotesque imagery come across as gratuitous rather than genuinely unsettling, leaving audiences more bored than scared. The cult element, while initially intriguing, quickly descends into cliché and predictability. Moreover, the protagonist lacks agency, making it difficult for viewers to invest in her journey. Overall, "Midsommar" falls short of its potential, leaving viewers disappointed and underwhelmed. Well, embarrassing, actually.
Masters of the Air (2024)
Time to stop...
After watching the other WWII series from Hank/Spielberg, I was awaiting this series with great anticipation, and as a person with huge interest in planes from this period ever since my childhood, this one was the one I was looking forward to the most.
But boy, was I disappointed? Oh yes.
These series are all great historical and creative interpretations from a time period that is important to not forget. Unfortunately, Masters of the Air has a seriously weak storyline with no or very little development, really shallow characters portraied in a cartoonish and stereotyped image of the American hero. You get the impression tat they basically won WWII all by themselves. Sickening, and such a huge flaw in a production of this scale, where you would expect authesity and historical fact to be closer to reality than what is the case here. Sure, it is TV and dramatised for that, problem is that there really isn't much drama. No doubt these soldiers and pilots went through hell during WWII, but showing an endless number of missions and and the overall extremely slow pace through each episode, this could easily be condensed to a 2 hour movie and not a 9 episode series. And honestly, I gave up midway in episode 4.
My 3 stars are solely for the cinematic work, which is impecable as always when Hanks/Speilberg roll out the big budgets. I wish they had spend quite a bit more on the storyline and shaping the characters, than they did - it would have suited the trilogy well.
Banished (2015)
Believable at first, but...
Started off promisingly with a believable atmosphere and interpretation of the time when England sent convicts to Australia. I was convinced that this might be like what life was really like there among convicts and their enforcers at the time (or close, at least). But after 3-4 episodes the Australian setting becomes irrelevant and the rest of the series could have taken place anywhere where a balance of power and conflict between two groups is present. The Wild West, a British prison camp, a medieval society etc etc. The convicts also live far too openly and freely, have far too much power and influence and can in reality run away at any time. In many (loud) scenes, there are not even guards nearby and they are not even attracted by the sound. I have just spent two weeks in Australia, in one of the former colonies in the west around Perth, and it was a completely different picture we were told about life as a convict at that time. The convict colonies in Australia at that time were like hell on earth!
So overly dominant and perfect characters among the convicts make the last 3-4 episodes of that series very long-winded, and dramaturgically it becomes an indifferent and far too often used template for TV series. For example, you give up a little when the "hero" is saved from hanging for the second time, as if it's something you can just talk your way out of. It certainly wasn't, I saw plenty of evidence of that in prisons in Australia.
Succession (2018)
Endless!
Soooo slow, 2 seasons too long. Unrealistic and childish dialog. Overall ridiculous behavior from all the siblings. Keeps going back and forth over the same petty things...you can easily miss a few episodes and still catch up on what's going on.
Only good characters are Siobhan and the swedish guy. At least the writers have some self irony played out via the swede. As a non-American we like that :-)
I really don't understand the hype around this series - especially the last season. People said it was sooo good. It was propably the worst of them all - except for the old annoying father dying.
Copenhagen Cowboy (2022)
Another disappointing product from NWR
I used to be a huge fan of NWR's movies and storytelling. But he lost me after Drive. No real renewal, always same expression. So I looked forward to this series and hoped to see him back in a new format, showing a new and interesting perspective from him and his universe. But...it was just more of the same. Getting a bit bored of his always underground-red-blue-flashing-lights universe, and stories that are just too weird! I love movies and series you need to think a bit about to understand...but this is just way to weird and incoherent. Too many elements and directions, all mixed up in one big pot. This script must have taken a lot of mushies or LSD to come up with - and I doubt anyone knew what they were doing at the end.
Great acting from Angela and ok from a few other established actors - and that's the two stars. Most acting is embarrassing, amateurish and below what to expect from a set like this.
I wish NWR would take a few years off and find himself again. Reinvent himself. Stop repeating himself and stop just being weird for being weird.
Lost Gold of WW2 (2019)
Wow!
Sooo poor acting! Hard to see if it's a bunch of really bad actors or a bunch of experts who just happen to suck on TV.
No head or tail in anything they do, extremely ineffective hunt. I deny to accept that normal people cannot see that they are running around like headless chicken doing everything and nothing at the same time. They must be well paid...
Waste of money, waste of time.
The 2nd star is for the opener - it actually seemed like a good story in the beginning, but air went out the balloon very fast.
Pirate Gold of Adak Island (2022)
Didn't think it could get any worse...
Woaw, this is probably the worst acting I have seen in a 'let's-find-the-gold-treasure' show since "Lost Gold of WWII"! And that was really bad. After watching the 8 episodes in season 1 I have no idea if this is a group of people who failed their application for entering drama school, or if it's a bunch of real experts who just happen to suck on TV.
Anyway, the concept is really bad, too. There is no organization whatsoever, so they all run around like headless chicken - searching here, there, everywhere. Extremely ineffective!
Example:
At one point one of them say that the pirate would never bother drag and bury a huge treasure on top of a hill, he would bury it at the foot of the hill. So they aggree that's where they should dig. Two minutes later another guy says the the top of the same hill was completely dug off and soil removed to another locating, to prevent turbulence from the hill at the nearby landing strip. So...let's find that soil and search for treasure there, because that's where it must be!! Eeeh, it's the same hill you just claimed having the treasure buried at its foot! So absolutely lack of knowledge and common sense - all the way through!
Another one: "Hey, this bay 5 hours away by boat, could hold a pirate ship! Oh, then that's where the treasure must be! Let's go!" Guess what? Didn't find anything! :D
Only positive to say about this series is, that according to history gold WAS found here. But that can of course have been made up, too - like the rest of this show.
Netflix, don't do this. Let other networks deal with low-budget reality TV. You stick to in-depth documentaries, thank you!
Cooper's Treasure (2017)
Seriously??!
2 seasons, 16 episodes, more than 700 minutes....and two freaking gold coins??! Seriously, if this guy think he found "the big treasure" he needs a medical examination! What a big waste of money and resources!
Challenger: The Final Flight (2020)
Basically good, but...
Remembering the times as kid when the shuttles were the big thing, I really looked forward to this doc series.
In general a good look behind the scenes of what really happened, but this was way too long. Not as a format but the content only holds for 1-1.5 hours.
And then the worst part, the sickening last 10 minutes, where - as usual with American documentaries - things are turned upside down and some producer tries to make things look like it all had a purpose and 'it's all ok'...
Could have been really good, maybe if it had been in the hands of a production company outside US.
Actually an 8/10, but ending lost it 3 stars.