daderdog Reviews

Dark Winds (2022– )

Great mystery with respect for the culture

[10/10 · 25 July 2022]

I read all the Leaphorn/Chee books years ago so I. Don't know how true this is to Hillerman's writing. That said, they have done an outstanding job of casting and filming this story. Every character rings true and the series does a great job of presenting the.tension between the people of. The Rez vs. White bureaucracy. This is also a breakout role for Zahn McClarnon brings charisma and gravitas to what could be seen as a simple tv mystery. Can't wait for the next season.

Joe Pickett (2021–2023)

Solid, but can be improved.

[8/10 · 13 July 2022]

The toughest thing about creating a film/series about a beloved book series is getting it right for the fans and making a world accessible to people who know nothing about your characters. E.g. Jack Reacher with Tom. Cruise vs. Reacher with Alan Ritchson. Cruise is clearly the more famous and arguably better actor, but he was wrong, wrong, wrong for the part. Ritchson was perfect.

This cast is all strong with Julianna Guill as Marybeth is the standout performance. Some could quibble about the casting of Nate Romanoski, but I have less against the casting on more concern about the way he was directed. In the books, he is a force of nature with a mysterious past. Here is is...less.

The story stays fairly close to the book, but they could easily told it in one less episode if they had not spent so much time on Joe's backstory. The pace was a little slow up until the last three episodes, but you needed the character development. And they did a fine job of setting it up for the next season. I have high hopes for this.

Foundation (2021– )

Why did they buy the rights to Foundation if they ignored the books?

[3/10 · 12 October 2021]

I grew up with the great Sci Fi writers of mid-century America. Asimov and his Foundation series was one group of books that I read over and over since they were so good. Imagine my excitement when Apple announced they were doing this series. Now imagine my disappointment and disgust with what they did. I'm not saying that the film maker cannot touch the canon, but he/she should at least use some of the story beyond the character names. If Apple wanted to make this series, they should have just named it something else and say that it was "inspired by" Foundation.

Jolt (2021)

Looks like a pilot

[6/10 · 27 July 2021]

Fun action thriller with a pedigree that goes back to Terminal Man. It played like a one off until you get to the closing scenes and you realize they are trying to create a franchise.

Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020)

A show you want to scream at through the screen.

[5/10 · 6 February 2021]

First. I love BBC dramas because, as opposed to US shows, they use actual actors who can actually act. We turned this on just to watch Derek Jacobi. He, and the others do not disappoint. That said, this is an infuriating soap opera. Every character seems to have a congenital inability to think before they speak. And they are all on a hair trigger to believe the worst about every other character in this loving family dramedy. We created a drinking game that whenever a character says something like, "I've never told anybody this before," or "sit down I need to share something," we bet on how long its will be before they share that confidential tidbit with the one person who will take it in the worst possible way. You want to like the characters, but they are all dozy pillocks.

Spenser Confidential (2020)

Bait and Switch Spenser

[5/10 · 7 March 2020]

Whatever the good you can say about this film, it is NOT a Spenser and Hawk story. Whoever wrote it took the names of the main characters and glued them onto a random buddy cop story. I like Wahlberg and Arkin is a great actor. But there is nothing in this movie which Robert Parker would recognize as the great characters he created. The most disappointing part is Hawk. In the books and the original series, he is a force of nature - cool, deadly and competent. Winston Duke is probably is a fine actor, but they wrote the character as if he were Michael Oher in the Blindside.

All that said, this is a good enough distraction as a whodunit action film. It has enough action, humor and conflict to fill the time. I do think they were trying to set this up as a pilot for a new Spenser series.