pmpmn9 Reviews

Call the Midwife (2012– )

I've always been addicted

[10/10 · 14 February 2024]

I've watched every episode from the very beginning and I'll never stop watching it. I can't say I understand why some of the characters leave at times, but I'm hooked and I will always be addicted to this show. I once wanted to become an OB/GYN or a midwife, but it wasn't to be, so watching Call the Midwife is the closest I will ever get.

I love Sister Monica Joan, Sister Julianne, Fred and Violet, Tom and Shelagh, Nurse Crane, Trixie, Nancy, and all the others. They are all so caring and genuine and I really appreciate that the show covers the issues that came up in the time period it takes the audience through with sensitivity and realism, including portraying the intolerance people would have been subjected to, though it can be very hard to see. In many ways, the world has changed a lot since then, though in some, it hasn't changed as much as it should have by now and that's a real shame. I really hope viewers are learning from this because I think that would be the best outcome that could be accomplished by this show.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (2023)

Could have been better

[5/10 · 28 September 2023]

I'm Canadian and I didn't read the book, in fact, I never heard of this story before I found it on Amazon Prime. I am also a survivor of childhood and domestic abuse, most of which wasn't physical, but was very damaging. If I had stayed with my abusers, I could have been killed eventually because these situations always have the potential to get out of control.

I have read most of the reviews and I've come to the conclusion that most reviewers don't understand the fundamental dynamics behind domestic violence. It usually happens to women who have been abused (not always physically) by at least one parent or guardian in their family of origin and is the basis for ending up being abused by others (partners/spouses, friends, co-workers, bosses, etc.) throughout their lives. I would never say that it's their fault, but they're usually unaware of how they contribute, involuntarily, to what happens to them, unless they come across the right information, because therapists rarely ever help them to understand it. And the worst thing a therapist can do is blame them, but therapists often do that and, as far as I'm concerned, the ones who do are incompetent and have no business being in the therapy profession because that drives women who need help away and puts them at further risk. These women have been made to feel all their lives that they can never do anything right by anyone and the very last thing they need is more negative judgment from a so-called "expert." It may seem difficult to be patient with victims, but their lives depend on it.

When the adult Alice begins her relationship with Dylan, he is the typical abuser and the way he is portrayed is quite clearly as a classical narcissistic abuser. That part of his character was at least good for learning from. Alice opens up and trusts him too soon, which is also very common. She is too giving, forgives too easily, and believes that he will change and all of this is very typical for a survivor of childhood abuse. Like most abusive men, he is a narcissist and narcissists never change because what they do to hurt their victims works for them, so they don't see their behaviour as a problem and no one can ever make them recognize that. One reviewer said they found it hard to believe that Alice and Dylan's boss would believe that Alice had abused him, but this is actually very common because narcissists are very good at turning things around and convincing others that they are the victims and their victims have abused them. It happens all the time. They never accept responsibility for their behaviour and if they ever apologize, they're being manipulative in order to continue using and abusing their victims. Their victims think everything is their fault because they were brainwashed by an abusive childhood to believe this, so it doesn't take any convincing to make them stay and keep trying to please their abuser. Childhood abusers are mothers just as often as they are fathers and sometimes children are abused by both parents.

The abuse also causes a victim to become "trauma-bonded" with their abuser, which is why they find it so hard to leave. Their childhood abuse has given them such poor self esteem and self worth, so they believe that no one else will ever want them and that they're lucky to have the "love" and interest of the abuser and they have to work hard to keep it, but narcissists are incapable of love and they have absolutely no compassion or empathy for anyone. They can pretend to possess those traits, but all they do is mimic them by observing the behaviour of others. They also believe that they are "entitled" and worthy of special attention and consideration from others and won't tolerate being judged negatively. They can become this way because they were spoiled or mistreated as children, but either way, they become this way during their childhood and/or adolescence.

Another thing narcissists do is lie a great deal, like June did, to hide things about themselves and their past that they're ashamed or embarrassed about. Her character is also narcissistic and this is why when she's found out, it comes as a shock to the others. They expect better of her because she's been helping them, but her overprotectiveness has also been harmful because it hasn't allowed the women to grow. As Candy said, she kept her child-like instead of recognizing that she became an adult over time. June kept her "flowers" stuck, as though they were incapable of overcoming the dysfunctional patterns they learned in childhood. She held them back like an overprotective mother, which didn't help them mature into more capable adults. It also didn't help Alice prepare for adult relationships. June wasn't able to handle her own adult relationships because she never recovered from what happened to her when she was younger, which caused her to be distrustful of her own adult partners. And she lied about and hid what happened for decades because she didn't trust anyone to love her unconditionally. She was therefore, incapable of loving the others unconditionally and helping them recover from their own trauma. When you love someone unconditionally, you don't keep things from them and you don't lie to them. A real relationship is one that is completely open and honest, but it takes time to develop that trust, it doesn't happen overnight and you should never rush into a commitment. Always be wary of someone who wants to rush into a commitment...that is a sign that you are dealing with someone who is abusive.

It was good that June was confronted by the others about lying about Charlie and other things, but they just stood by her regardless and that wasn't okay. In the end, the only one who didn't stand by her, but might have if she had answered the phone, was Alice, and she didn't seem the least bit remorseful when June died without being able to speak to her again. It seemed just a waste of time to even suggest that Alice tried to contact her at all because it served no purpose.

If everyone was paying attention at the beginning, they will recall the foreshadowing of June saying something about Alice being better off if she stayed away from "this family," when Alice was still in the coma, referring to everyone at Thornfield. I found it confusing that June still decided to go and get Alice from the hospital and take her to Thornfield regardless, when she had voiced her concern that her own home wasn't a good place for her granddaughter. She obviously knew that Alice wouldn't do well there but took her in anyway. Ultimately, June proved that, like most narcissists, she only cared about doing what she wanted for herself and not what was in Alice's or anyone else's best interests. And what she left for Alice when she died just caused her more trauma and grief and I found that very off-putting. If I were Alice, that would have sent me running again, rather than causing me to want to take over the work at Thornfield. And in the state she was in at that point, she was in no way prepared to take over that work.

Both narcissistic abusers and their victims fear ending up alone as they age. The abuser is insecure and projects all of their negative feelings and behaviours onto their victims and the victim may feel worthless if they have no one to take care of. It's as though they always need a "project" to avoid facing and working on the problems within themselves. It never occurs to them that the one person they need to take care of the most is themselves because they spent so much time trying to please their narcissistic parent/guardian when they were young, in the hope of winning their approval.

My hope for this series was that it would point these things out and help viewers understand what is really behind abuse because that knowledge is greatly lacking in the world. We see Alice exchanging messages with Dylan after she has returned to where she came from, but we never know what happens later, whether she figures out that she's trauma-bonded and how dangerous that is because if returns to him, she could end up in an endless cycle that could lead to him killing her when she tries to leave again. The fact that this series didn't address this leaves it open-ended and fails to provide essential information about domestic violence and relationships involving coercive control, a type of abuse that can lead to physical violence if a woman doesn't leave during that stage of the relationship.

The most important thing anyone can learn is to have good boundaries and keep them strong. If someone loves you, they will respect your boundaries and never demand that you lower your boundaries or give up time with family and friends to spend more time with them.

Too often people blame women who end up in abusive situations, but it's really not their fault that this happens. It's the fault of those who raise them to feel badly about themselves and to believe that they don't deserve anything better. And this can happen to anyone in any kind of relationship, including LGBTQ relationships. It's unacceptable that any educational system refuses to acknowledge that there are such relationships and that all relationships have potential for abuse and what to do if one is abused. The worst thing that anyone can do is blame the victim and do nothing to help. You can't make an adult leave an abusive relationship, but if you do nothing to save a child from an abusive situation, you're just as harmful as their abuser(s) because you're allowing them to continue being harmed. The sooner a child is removed from a harmful environment, the more likely they are to get the help they need, but it's also crucial for them to be made aware that they aren't to blame and they deserve better. They need to learn how to take care of themselves and how important it is to love themselves first and above all else before they become involved with anyone else.

Caligula (1979)

Awful!

[1/10 · 6 September 2023]

I saw this in a Toronto cinema in 1981 at the age of 17 (they didn't ask for ID) and it was absolutely the worst thing that I'd ever seen. My boyfriend was with me and he was two years older. We honestly had no idea that what we were about to see was pornography and neither did the rest of the audience. People walked out in disgust. We just sat there in total shock. I don't think either of us understood what we were watching because we'd never seen anything like that before in our entire lives...at least, I hadn't. I remember one middle-aged couple, who left at the same time as we did, saying they thought they were going to see a movie about real Roman history and it certainly wasn't that. My boyfriend and I never talked about it afterwards...I think we were too shocked and overwhelmed to say anything to each other about what we had seen. I know I didn't want to discuss it at all and that was the end of it. But now it's 42 years later and I can honestly say that I've never forgotten that it was the worst movie ever. It wasn't identified as a pornographic film and should have been. I still feel that some kind of fraud was committed against young people like me at the time and to this day, I still cannot believe that it happened. I looked it up just to see if it really happened because it was mentioned in the description of a television program that was on tonight about the man who ran Penthouse magazine and sure enough, he was the person responsible for this terrible movie.

The Rebel Princess (2021)

Acting, costumes, and sets aren't everything

[5/10 · 14 November 2021]

Okay, the acting, costumes, and sets are pretty spectacular. However, if the people who made this series intend to keep marketing their work to English-speaking audiences, they need to get someone who is thoroughly fluent and skilled in written English to do their subtitles. They also need to leave long subtitles on the screen long enough to be read. I'm 39 of 68 episodes in and I have never repeatedly rewound and/or paused portions of programs so many times in my entire life just so I know what's going on!

There are one or two episodes (so far), where the subtitles are just awful, apparently done by an entirely different person. Words are frequently repeated back to back, words run together, and there are spelling mistakes, etc. In other episodes, there are frequent issues with pluralization, possession, verb conjugation, inappropriate word usage, wrong word endings, (eg. "ing" instead of "ed" and vice versa) etc. The word abortion is used in place of miscarriage. Characters are referred to as assassinated when they are still living. "Royal" is mistakenly substituted for "loyal" a few times. Several main characters have at least three different names and/or titles, which is confusing because they're just thrown at the audience without introduction or explanation. Then there's the inbred nature of the royal family depicted (worse than the English and at least as bad as the Habsburg's), including at least one set of double cousins who are supposed to marry...eek! My head was spinning for the first few episodes as the familial relationships were revealed and I started to make sense of them.

My overall feeling is that it's too long, but that may be because the subtitles are difficult due to all the errors and problems. I think I'd find it easier and more relaxing to watch if it were dubbed rather than subtitled, though admittedly, I've always found the "out-of-sync" appearance of voice dubbing annoying.

Love & Friendship (2016)

Could have benefitted from better post-production

[3/10 · 22 December 2019]

Some of the costumes (particularly Beckinsale's) seemed at least a few decades too modern for 1790. The audio and video were very out-of-sync. For most of the movie, I was convinced that the actors were speaking a foreign language instead of English because the audio was that far off from the movement of the actors' lips. There were even times I could hear a character speak when their lips weren't moving at all.

George Carlin: What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988 TV Special)

Still Relevant 31 Years Later

[10/10 · 1 July 2019]

I never saw this in its time, yet here we are in 2019 and pretty much everything George said still applies, except it's not the time of Reagan, it's the time of Trump. I can't help wonder how he'd feel about his country now if he were still alive to see the state of it. Would he even be able to find any humour in it anymore? What would he think if he could see that it's not just the time of Reagan repeating itself, but the time of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini beginning to rear its ugly head again and that so many Americans helped to bring it on, shamelessly revealing their true Fascist and hateful natures? He had seemingly become so angry and fed up by the time he died, having lost his wife to cancer and fighting it himself. I didn't like the direction his comedy took the last few years of his life...it didn't make me laugh much at all because it was too dark. But this...it was still part of the good times, when I found humour in everything he said, even if he was turning political and in spite of the fact that it was 31 years ago, it's still relevant, even today. I was really surprised by that. It was one of several of George Carlin's I chose to watch on Prime and the first one I decided to watch this last weekend in June 2019, so it really amazed me that aside from the fact that he was talking about Reagan and other things from the past, it could just as easily be about the times we're living in now, except back then, people were so much more optimistic and now, we can't afford to be.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016–2022)

I love Sam and her show

[7/10 · 8 June 2019]

But I'm eternally frustrated by the fact that it's so rarely on. If you're going to do a weekly show, be on weekly rather than, almost never, which is the way it's getting. There's just no excuse for this. You either want to do a show and entertain your fans or you just don't care.

Chernobyl (2019)

I never knew the truth until now

[9/10 · 4 June 2019]

When Chernobyl happened, I was in my early 20s, living in the Canadian prairies, and in the third trimester of my pregnancy with my second child. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it (there wasn't much to pay attention to) and I never knew much about what happened in the aftermath. I'm not sure if anyone did. Now, thanks to this miniseries, a lot more people know what happened and why, including me.

I think people should take the time to consider that the Soviet system of secrets and lies that did its best to cover this up is what Putin loved and was once a part of and wants to revive in Russia and as much of the surrounding European countries as Russia can possibly annex back into Russian control. He cannot be trusted with regards to anything. What he wants is absolute power and control and it takes dishonesty to maintain that.

As for the miniseries, I agree with most reviewers here. It was very well done and is definitely a contender for an Emmy and other awards. We can never know exactly what went on in the most personal moments of these people's lives, so it wasn't a documentary, but a dramatic retelling of their stories. Nonetheless, it was very well presented with the right lighting, cinematography, writing, music, etc.

It was satisfying to know that Valery, the scientist who had the courage to tell the truth found a way to covertly get the truth out before he was punished for it so those who suffered the most and died first didn't do so in vain. And thankfully, because he got the truth out, the other reactors were finally retrofitted so this couldn't happen again.

I couldn't believe that the most culpable person was one of the longest to survive. And he didn't have to live tormented by what he did or the death toll all that time because he very likely didn't have a conscience. The kind of people who bully their subordinates in a workplace situation are narcissists and never feel any sense of responsibility or guilt for their wrongdoing, they just perpetually shift blame onto others.

I was also surprised to learn that it's possible (though no one knows for certain, due to all the covering up) that not as many people died as was believed, yet saddened to know that the majority of those who did were children. It makes me sick that children pay the highest price for the folly, greed, apathy, and narcissistic avoidance of culpability by the adults around them. Sadly, that's the dark side of human nature and it still persists today. People need to realize that voting truly is a privilege as well as a right and consider the future they're leaving for their children and future generations when they vote instead of clinging to the past or there won't be a future.

This happened in a place where people weren't allowed to vote and had no choices about anything...where they lived, what they did for a living, whether they were educated or not, etc. If you don't use the rights you have now, one day, they will be taken away from you and you will wish you had them back. Don't take what you have now for granted.

Wide Awake (2006)

Thought it Might Cure my Insomnia for a Moment

[3/10 · 30 May 2019]

I've had insomnia for years. I thought there might be some answers or help in this movie, but no, it's just some egocentric guy whining about his own issues with sleep...or lack thereof. And I actually fell asleep about 15-20 minutes in. But at around 57 minutes, I was abruptly jolted awake by the sound of yelling. Alan, his wife, sister, and mother were sitting around a table yelling at each other and they wouldn't stop. I was so annoyed at how irritating they sounded, that I decided to turn it off. I have no intention of watching it (or trying to) again.

Island of Bryan (2019– )

Why?

[3/10 · 14 May 2019]

Why do the Baeumlers keep doing building/restoration projects together and getting them on television? I'll never understand it. This doesn't make for quality viewing or entertainment and I don't think viewers really learn anything from it, either. The things they really seem to focus on are how annoying Sarah is, how they don't get along, and you end up wondering how they stay married. I honestly haven't watched a Bryan Baeumler show since they built their last home (I still don't know how I endured that) and I don't know how/what compelled me to watch this one. There was a time when I felt I was watching to learn something, but there's not much to learn anymore, other than, "has Sarah learned anything new?" And she never does. It's so boring.

This project is a money pit. The more they do, the more that needs to be done...it never ends. It doesn't seem like a popular vacation spot. No matter how good a job Bryan, Adam, and the rest of the crew do, I can't imagine they will ever break even, much less turn over a reasonable profit. I suspect that's why previous owners abandoned it...it must have bankrupted and ruined them. Meanwhile, I just wish Sarah would stay behind the scenes. I like Bryan, he's a nice guy, but I can't recall seeing him more miserable.

The only good things about this are the benefits to the local economy and the jobs it provided for the local tradespeople.

The Secret Life of the Zoo (2016– )

Delightful and Educational

[10/10 · 1 April 2019]

This show gives me something to look forward to. The keepers are really compassionate about the animals in their care and you can really see that Chester Zoo is a top-notch facility, even if you've never been anywhere near it. I find myself getting really emotionally involved when I watch, especially when the animals are hurt, or worse yet, when one of them dies and I'm really happy when something good or touching happens. The keepers say that they're not supposed to get attached to their charges, but how can they not? As one of them said, they spend more time at the zoo taking care of the animals than they spend at home and they're only human. I'm sure that if I were in their places, I'd find it impossible not to get attached. After a while, you can really see that the animals have characters and personalities. You can see it in the way the female elephants train their calves to behave, the mischievousness of the otters, meerkats, and the young penguins, and the way the chimpanzees act up (I really respect and admire the way Niall understands them so well after working with them for over 45 years). I have learned a lot about some of the animals on this show, some I never even knew existed before, just listening to the keepers talk about them. I hope this show keeps going for years because I'm sure there's no end to what it can teach people about conservation, care, and respect for the animals we share our world with and just how precious they are. We really cannot afford to lose them.

Family Tree (2013)

Not that funny

[2/10 · 11 February 2019]

I thought I would enjoy this, since I've done some genealogy of my own and it's been no great thrill, but after enduring about 2-3 episodes, I'd had more than enough. I don't get the whole puppet thing...I think the sister should keep her thoughts to herself because they don't add anything to the series. The parts where the characters break the fourth wall and talk to the audience as if they're being interviewed also don't work. In fact, nothing really works in this show. I can't remember laughing during any of this. I get British comedy and I've laughed at a lot of it, but this really just isn't that funny and I can't be bothered watching the rest of it.

Saints & Strangers (2015)

Nat Geo should stick to documentaries

[2/10 · 11 February 2019]

Not impressed with this at all. Between the series itself and the reviews here, I'm convinced that at least eighty per cent of Americans have never met an Indigenous person in their entire lives and really don't care about them, their culture, or their history. I didn't appreciate the way the Indigenous characters were portrayed. I didn't find it credible or compelling. I also have to agree with "jackhuntermtl" about the poor production, etc.

Embarrassing Bodies (2008–2022)

Not what others make it out to be

[8/10 · 31 January 2019]

I think it's great that the people on this show who come for help get it, they're happy with the outcome, and the audience gets informed at the same time. Other reviews give the impression that this is just another show about cosmetic surgery and it's far from that. I don't think feminists give it a chance. I don't think anyone who appeared was forced to do cosmetic surgery or anything else. I've watched every episode available on Netflix and in my observation, no one ends up doing anything they didn't want to do to begin with. Most of the so-called "cosmetic surgery" people have done on this program amounts to corrective surgery and there's nothing wrong with that. If someone feels better about themself after having a substantially smaller breast made larger (because that is an actual medical condition that causes years of emotional anguish, self-esteem and relationship issues, and requires surgical correction to actually fix...you can't just "get over" that with self-acceptance counselling, not when you're reminded every time you dress and undress) or another kind of physical malformation corrected because they don't like the way it looks, or it actually feels physically uncomfortable, that's their prerogative. It's no one else's right to tell someone not to have corrective surgery, but go and see a counsellor to learn to accept themselves as they are instead. That doesn't help everyone. Years of bullying, ridicule, and torment can leave scars that never go away and for some people, the only way to finally relieve themselves of that is to get rid of what caused it. That doesn't make them weak, it makes them human and no one has a right to judge them. The doctors in this program aren't forcing anyone to do anything. The patients go in saying, "I want to fix this," and they need a referral for it. They don't go in saying, "I think there's something mentally wrong with me because I'm dead set on having a physical malformation corrected. Can you send me to a counsellor to talk me out of it?" The goal of the show is not to convince people that their medical concerns are all in their head (which too many people have heard too many really rotten doctors tell them, and that can drive people to depression and sometimes even suicide). The goal is to teach them that their doctors should be listening and hearing them and validating their concerns, not belittling them and sending them to counsellors and psychiatrists for physical concerns that are really bothering them. Too many doctors are too quick to prescribe anti-depressants for things that aren't mental in origin and all that does is keep feeding the already too high profits of multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, who don't actually know how those medications work...it's all just theory and for the sake of profit (and frankly, I don't think anyone should be in a hurry to tamper with chemicals no one fully and completely understands...I've seen the damage that stuff can do to people when it's mishandled). Being told your physical concern is a mental one by a doctor too many times or by too many doctors can lead to developing mental illness, like depression.

And whatever doctors are called in the UK is what they're called. They're just as well-trained and qualified as doctors anywhere else. If you don't like it, don't go to the UK for medical treatment. Objecting to and making assumptions about someone's job title is just another form of prejudice.

I admit, I was shocked and surprised by the amount of exposure of intimate body parts the first time I watched this program because I'd never seen anything like it before, but you can't mistake the medical conditions for anything else. And what shocks me more now is how long people will leave things before seeing someone. I'm sure it's far worse in the U.S., where far too many people don't have medical insurance and can't afford to see a doctor or get reasonable treatment before things are really out of control and may even become life-threatening. At least in the UK something can be done in most of these cases, which is why I've been really shocked that people still let things go as long as they do out of embarrassment and then "let it all hang out" in front of a camera.

Still, I would rather there be a TV show like this one, which is frank about medical matters (especially the honest, down-to earth discussions about alcohol and STIs with young people) rather than making too light of it and having meaningless distractions, like the U.S. show, The Doctors (which comes off as tabloid TV...too much advertising, scandal, promoting celebrities who don't need any more promotion, etc.). If you're not learning anything, what's the point? But if you think this program isn't good enough because you assume someone's free choice was taken away when they decided to have surgery and it's not what you would have done, then you're jumping to conclusions. Like most things, it's not all about you and you're not them. If you can't remember that when you watch this and be as happy for them as they are with the outcome, don't watch it...nobody's forcing you to.

Venice (2004– )

Very informative and interesting

[9/10 · 22 January 2019]

I think Francesco da Mosto is probably one of the best people to tell anyone about Venice. He's lived there his whole life and his family's history in Venice goes back a thousand years and began as traders and merchants. There seems to be nothing he doesn't know about the city's history and he's certainly in love with the place, regardless of all its dark times. He doesn't hide the truth of its weaker moments and seems to enjoy taking the audience to every part of Venice, every corner and island, and showing every building that has any role in its story. This documentary covers things you probably won't find in any travel guide or history book. I always find the little known secrets of a place infinitely more fascinating than the "same old stories" every tour guide tells and that's what this series is about.

Dirty Money: Cartel Bank (2018) Season 1, Episode 4

Now THIS is how you do a documentary!

[10/10 · 13 January 2019]

I started watching two other episodes and almost watched all of another, but I just couldn't get through them...they were terrible. I was expecting the same from this, but it was great! I couldn't stop watching it...it was so compelling!

Until I watched this, I'd only heard rumours about what happened with HSBC, but I didn't know the details. This program really made the story interesting. It was very well done. It also had a real emotional impact, especially after going over how the legal case ended, when it reminded the audience of the people murdered by the drug cartels in Mexico. My heart felt so heavy at that point.

I was really astonished by the irresponsible behaviour of the bank and its true cost. You can't put a price on human life and because of that, the way this ended is so hard to accept.

Dirty Money: The Maple Syrup Heist (2018) Season 1, Episode 5

Shaking my head

[1/10 · 13 January 2019]

I coudn't even get past the first 20 minutes and I am Canadian, though not French Canadian. This just wasn't that interesting. And, contrary to what the other reviewer had to say, it's got nothing to do with Canadians being polite (and first of all, the polite thing comes from Britain and secondly, we're really not that polite if you get on our bad side). It just wasn't very well presented and seemed to have more to do with one woman's fight against the Federated Producer's monopoly over maple sugar growers. Yawn.

Dirty Money: Hard Nox (2018) Season 1, Episode 1

Wasn't even surprised when the scandal hit

[2/10 · 13 January 2019]

The first time I saw an ad for VW's "clean diesel" cars, I thought, "yeah, right!" I knew it was too good to be true right from the start. So when the whole scandal blew up in the news, I wasn't even surprised. I'd seen that coming right from the start. I don't know why everyone else didn't, why people were so gullible as to think diesel could ever be clean or anything close to it. Diesel has never looked or smelled clean and it's so noisy. I think it's the worst thing ever invented.

The only thing this program revealed to me that I wasn't aware of before is that VW was created during the 1930s when Hitler was in power. Like gee, that explains everything! If it happened under Hitler, it's got to be evil! I wouldn't be caught dead driving anything made by VW, even if they gave it to me for free.

Dirty Money: Payday (2018) Season 1, Episode 2

Disgusting and boring

[1/10 · 13 January 2019]

If I had to listen to one more of these disgusting, greedy crooks whine and carry on about how hard done by they think they are because the legal system Went after them for the fraud they perpetrated against honest, hard-working low income people, I swear I was going to vomit!

What an awful program! All they did was tell the story and then allow these spoiled, dishonest, greedy parasites go on and on about how they thought they were running an honest business and the law was all wrong for holding them accountable and charging them for cheating people and robbing them blind! Nobody needs to hear that over and over again, ad nauseum! These crooks got what was coming to them and that doesn't happen nearly enough. If they didn't want large numbers of police showing up at their homes and arresting them in front of their children, they shouldn't have been ripping people off the way they were! They actually expect people to pity them? Not a chance! They don't deserve anyone's pity for what they did! They knew exactly what they were doing and they set it up to hide the business and be protected and insulated as well as they could be from the normal legal consequences. And shame on that Indigenous Chief for getting involved! He's a disgrace to First Nations people everywhere! He did it for the money and that makes him just as greedy and parasitic as the rest of them! Decent Indigenous people don't do things like that! If they want to make money for their people, they look into things and make sure that the money comes from an ethical source.

And if one guy committed suicide to escape justice, you know what? Who cares?! He was a gutless, narcissistic coward who couldn't be bothered taking responsibility for his actions. The world can always use a lot less of them because there's far too many of them hurting vulnerable people on this planet.

In my opinion, this documentary wastes far too much time on the crooks babbling and whining about how unfair they think all this was on them and it needs to be a LOT shorter.

Secrets of the Zoo (2018– )

Would like to see more of this show

[9/10 · 30 December 2018]

I watched this one day because there wasn't anything else on and I was bored. I couldn't get over how bonded one of the flamingoes was to one of the female staff. I always thought flamingoes were boring and didn't have much for personalities until then. My experience with them in person (on the rare occasion that I've been in a warm place that had them on display) was that they just mostly stand around on one leg shaking their feathers every once in a while. But this one on the program had imprinted on and went nuts over this woman and it was pretty funny to watch.

This program shows a lot of detail about how the handlers in the zoo and conservation park deal with the animals, the objectives of the animals being there, why they do things the way they do, etc. It's very informative and the people are fairly likeable. I hope there will be more episodes in the future.

The Last Kingdom (2015–2022)

Ugh!

[5/10 · 29 December 2018]

I watched the first two episodes years ago, but never had time or patience to watch more until now. Finally got around to binge-watching all three seasons over a week. I'm really into historical-type stuff, but this is ridiculous after a while. I was so sick of hearing "destiny is all," I felt like vomiting.

By the end of the first season, I had to wonder if this Uhtred guy had any sense at all to keep going back to Winchester and putting up with Alfred's nonsense, and for what? Sure, Athelwold wasn't fit to be king, but neither was Alfred...he could never decide if Uhtred, after everything he did for him, was loyal. And then Uhtred had the stupidity to be there when he died too, knowing that it would be a hostile place. And he still hadn't figured out that Athelwold killed Ragnar so he could just get that over with.

Alfred never deserved anyone's loyalty, his wife was selfish and irritating (he had to die just to get peace from her constant controlling and nattering), and the perpetually judgmental, so-called Christians in this thing reminded me constantly of why I'm not one anymore. I couldn't wait for it to be over and I honestly couldn't find one sympathetic character who stayed alive through the whole thing, including Uhtred. Mostly, I pitied the innocent women who were needlessly killed. I hope the third season was the last one, not that I'd watch it again if there was another. I'll never understand why it has so many positive reviews. I guess there's just that many people out there who enjoy what basically amounts to a mind-numbingly repetitive soap opera full of violence. No more Viking shows for me...there's too many of them now. And I don't want to hear the name "Ragnar" anymore. Between this and the TV series, it's been done to death.

Icebox (2018)

Compelling, yet disheartening

[8/10 · 9 December 2018]

I found myself frustrated at every setback Oscar faced, yet still hopeful that somehow, someone would come through for him. It seemed that at every step things were stacked against him. It was a real emotional roller coaster. At the hearing, I started to see the pitfall he was being lured into and I began to holler the the TV, telling him to answer, "no" repeatedly, but it was too late. Oscar was honest, but the system wasn't. This is a system that treats victimized children, who cannot protect themselves against criminals, as though they are adults who have choices and autonomy that they don't have and denies them rights (eg. the right to a lawyer to represent them in a trial and then assumes they have waived that right voluntarily, when it was never offered to them in the first place) that would help them to succeed.

Anthony Gonzalez plays the role of Oscar very well, IMO. He really got me on Oscar's side and wanting him to find an adult ally who would stand in his corner and go to bat for him. At the end, I was so sad for him. It seemed to foreshadow the kind of future he might have, becoming like his uncle, not trusting people, always being wary and afraid of losing everything. America always seems to be the only place to go and yet, when people get there, it's just another place to keep running and hiding in fear rather than a place of comfort and peace.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Two wasted hours

[1/10 · 19 September 2018]

Usually, when there's a crime involved in a movie, it gets solved by the end. You at least know what happened. But apparently, this really isn't about the crime at all. This one seems to be about a small town where police and angry citizens can be as foul-mouthed and violent as they like without legal consequences. In real life, where I come from, there are always legal consequences to violent behaviour. I didn't find any of it funny and I found a lot of it really stupid and pointless, like when Mildred fire-bombed the police station. There was also no good reason for Willoughby to shoot himself in the head, either. What a cowardly and mentally cruel thing for a cancer patient to do to his family. And the one person I honestly wish Dixon had shot was his drunken, narcissistic mother just to shut her up for once and for all! And then there was the ridiculous "phone rang" ending. I wasted two hours of my life waiting for that?! I will never understand what all the critical acclaim was about because I didn't see a nanosecond of entertainment value in this whatsoever.

One of Us (IV) (2017)

Very enlightening and utterly shocking

[8/10 · 24 August 2018]

I thought I knew enough about Hasidic Judaism before watching this documentary, but it turns out I was very wrong. I cannot understand how the state of New York allows children to be provided with an inadequate education that is solely religious and leaves them so ignorant they are entirely unable to provide a living for themselves so that they become reliant on welfare as adults. This should never be acceptable. It makes breaking free all but impossible, which as far as I'm concerned, makes this particular religious community a cult. It leaves those born into it without choices and without the human rights guaranteed under the U.S. constitution.

I also cannot understand how these people can be allowed to have their own civil courts so that children can be handed over to an abusive parent who had his estranged wife run down by someone in a car who had been stalking her for months! Her only crime was that she was no longer willing to put up with the physical abuse of her children and herself by her husband and had him removed from her home with a restraining order. And who taught him to be physically abusive? No doubt it was his parents...it seems that physical abuse of children is what goes on in these communities. And sexual abuse of children is allowed to happen with impunity and the victims are never given or permitted to seek any kind of treatment or therapy, even as adults...they are left to think of it as their own fault and suffer in silence.

I think this documentary was long long overdue and I commend the three subjects for having the courage to tell their stories, especially Etty. As a parent and grandparent, I cannot even begin to imagine how painful her experience was to go through. I wish she could have sued the community in a state civil court on behalf of her children to protect them from their father's abuse. They deserve better. Children are nobody's property! They are human beings deserving of kindness, respect, and above all else, love!

Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019)

Season Six, Tiring

[4/10 · 30 July 2018]

It was tiring to watch. This season contained more dysfunctional and maladaptive behaviour per episode than any previous one. It was like watching a cast of elementary school children in adult bodies. I lost track of how many times I thought, "grow up!" I found that I had a difficult time keeping track of all the characters, new and established, in the context of a new location...it was disorienting and really shook things up. For that reason, I felt frustrated, irritated, and stressed throughout the season until more than halfway through the final episode, when things finally began to resolve. Mind you, I binge-watched (not recommended for this season).

Spoilers: I felt that the only good parts were the early releases, the wedding, and an unrealistic, though serendipitous, turn of mood near the end of the season finale when people finally stepped off the disasterous path they were on. But there was also a predictable travesty of justice that reminds one of what a pile of inequity the world continues to be. The entire season built up to that moment and the way it went was one of the worst letdowns I've ever experienced in entertainment. We can only hope for a "hail Mary" next season. Honestly, I kept thinking I'd be over this show by the time this season ended, but of course, as usual, they left enough unresolved stories and unanswered questions to keep true fans coming back, if they do.