Tomus7 Reviews

Pachinko (2022– )

Not much closure at end of Season 1.

[7/10 · 11 May 2022]

I agree with the generally very positive reviews, but want to draw attention to one specific problem - it didn't end the season properly. Thank goodness it got renewed for another season but that is a year away.

I can well understand that the streaming companies would want to go in this direction to keep viewers from cancelling - keep them hooked on Apple TV+ - but I sure hope the others don't start doing the same thing. If the story needs 2 seasons to achieve some sort of real closure then they should have handled it the way Netflix did Lupin.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Enjoyable, but just too dishonest.

[6/10 · 19 December 2021]

In reading other comments and reviews I'm baffled that people care so little when a movie does such disrespect to history, to the truth.

Many of the inventions and misrepresentations are minor enough - I'm not quibbling over details here.

But the fact that they made up one of the main storyline/themes is too much - that the band is family, and then breaks up when Mercury goes solo and then dramatically reunites just in time to find out Freddie has AIDS and a week later gives the performance of a lifetime.

Richard Jewell (2019)

The irony of the movie slandering the reporter

[6/10 · 5 December 2021]

The way they presented the reporter was as so over-the-top evil, it seemed hard to believe. It seemed (and turns out to be true) that they were prepared to sacrifice accuracy and nuance, in order to present a super simple good guy / bad guy narrative. And this is amazingly ironic given that this movie is about powerful institutions slandering the little guy for the sake of entertaining readers (in the case of the reporter), and here are Clint Eastwood/Hollywood engaging in the same thing!

World on Fire (2019–2023)

Some good acting, but the inaccuracies were just too much.

[6/10 · 26 July 2021]

Some aspects were quite good: sean bean and leslie manville, and the whole premise of the show. And the budget seemed to be good enough to do it all justice.

However, there were inaccuracies that they should be ashamed of, eg. The handling of Lois and her pregnancy completely wrong for the era, and having characters magically teleport out of Poland was just too much - kinda ruined it for me. It's rather insulting to their viewers I think.

Alien Xmas (2020 TV Special)

The moral of the story...

[5/10 · 25 December 2020]

Is that christmas is about giving gifts. Or, if I remember correctly I think it said, more explicitly, that giving gifts is how you show your love.

On the whole it was cute and amusing, but I'm not a fan of that underlying message.

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)

Engaging, but simplistic and manipulative

[6/10 · 4 July 2018]

It was totally engrossing and disturbing (and I mean this in a good way) but it seemed a little simplistic and manipulative. For example, the main bad guys had little nuance - they were pure evil (the mayor was the only character that was interesting). And the stoning scene was just too much. Yes, I understand that this really does happen, and that I should expect this in a movie with this title, but we just couldn't watch the whole, long stoning scene.

Secrets of Britain: Secrets of Selfridges (2014) Season 1, Episode 2

White-washed Selfridge?

[4/10 · 4 July 2018]

Reasonably interesting but came across as part documentary, part commercial. That impression is reinforced by them leaving out important stuff and minimizing his womanizing (though not his profligate waste). Perhaps the Weston's kicked in part of the budgets in exchange for some editorial control?

Jessica Jones (2015–2019)

Why did they have to make her so incompetent?

[5/10 · 4 July 2018]

We didn't mind the other unusual aspects of her characters, but we couldn't bear how incompetent she is. So many episodes were the same: jessica captures Kilgrave, jessica decides not to kill him, so he escapes and kills more poeple. And repeat.

Luther (2010–2019)

Great S1, but then got ridiculously far-fetched.

[6/10 · 4 July 2018]

First season was excellent - intense and unique, though a little far-fetched. Then it went from a bit far-fetched to completely ridiculous. The portrayal of internal affairs in season 3 was so ridiculous as to spoil the whole show.

London Spy (2015)

Lots of style, little substance.

[6/10 · 4 July 2018]

Lots of style, little substance. They became so focused on camera angles they forgot about pace. It was tolerable in the first episode where it contributed to the love story, but after that it became annoying.

Best of Enemies (2015)

Good doc, poor debate

[8/10 · 4 July 2018]

Interesting and well done doc, but came away with a negative impression of both Vidal and Buckley, and no interest in seeing any more of those debates.

Rectify (2013–2016)

Great, interesting, nuanced show, but a bit uneven.

[9/10 · 4 July 2018]

Rectify is a great, complex, and nuanced show but after S4E1 it loses it and turns into something rather weird. From this point it was clear they were just winding it down and threw in lots of over-wrought emotional filler.

The Buddha (2010 TV Movie)

Light on info, but visually beautiful

[8/10 · 20 February 2018]

This documentary was quite light on information and expertise - one of the main speakers had a byline that just said 'poet' - but I guess this is meant as a first introduction to Buddhism so that is understandable.

On the other hand, the visual background consists of beautiful art and well chosen images that made this an enjoyable watch even if the viewer doesn't learn very much.

Snowden (2016)

Too dishonest. Accuracy matters in a movie like this.

[2/10 · 16 October 2017]

For a controversial subject like Snowden it is important that the movie be at least moderately accurate. This movie will probably be how many viewers form their basic understanding of what happened - and that would be a great shame.

If you want to know the real story, check out Citizenfour which is a documentary and makes an attempt to be honest.

Fair Game (I) (2010)

Valuable reminder, but not enough meat for a movie.

[7/10 · 6 October 2013]

It seems to me that they had to fill the first half of the movie with a bunch of Plume's CIA operations - though these really had little to do with the Plume affair and were probably made mostly up - because the Plume affair itself didn't have enough meat/drama to make a movie from. Or maybe it did - they rather rushed through most of the later stuff.

On the other hand, I appreciated that they reminded the viewer of the affairs' core issue in the scene near the end in which Plume's husband is talking to students and points out that they all know his wife's name at the expense of knowing the key sentence of Bush's speech. It was a bit heavy handed but it drove home the movies' point quite well.

GoldenEye (1995)

Couldn't get past inane opening

[2/10 · 11 November 2012]

Even by Bond standards, the end of the opening scene - where Bond in free- fall catches up to the plane, climbs in and flies it away to safety - is incredibly stupid.

I had heard that this was one of the best Bond films, but I was so put off by this scene that I had to stop watching. This might seem extreme (and you can certainly fault me for rating a movie that I watch so little of) but doesn't this scene imply that the rest of the movie will be total void of reality too?

All Bond movies require a certain suspension of disbelief, but there is a limit - past that point something snaps and the whole thing turns into a comic.

Sugartime (1995 TV Movie)

Related reference in the CIA docs...

[28 June 2007]

From the New York Times of 27 June 2007, about a just released batch of CIA documents.

"One technician was arrested in 1960 after trying to bug a Las Vegas hotel room. The operation had been requested by Sam Giancana, the Chicago mobster, who was then helping the C.I.A. in a plot to assassinate Mr. Castro. Mr. Giancana had been concerned that his girlfriend, the singer Phyllis McGuire, was having an affair with the comedian Dan Rowan, and surveillance was ordered to "determine the extent of his intimacy" with her."

I think this is a 'telling' incident on several fronts.