eroblesp Reviews

The Blacklist: Hannah Hayes (No. 125) (2019) Season 7, Episode 7

Filler episode for the wrong show

[1/10 · 8 September 2020]

The subplot could fit a Criminal Minds ir CSI*Whatever episode. But not it in this show. Stupid preaching propaganda.

The Expanse: Fight or Flight (2018) Season 3, Episode 1

A little sloppy

[8/10 · 11 April 2020]

So... In the middle of space, while doing some EVA... There is drag, you need magnetic clamps, and a hatch emits sound and falls heavy? You know, without gravity or atmosphere? Pretty sloppy in a production like this.

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019) Season 8, Episode 6

Bad in all aspects

[1/10 · 20 May 2019]

Bad dialogs, bad resolutions, bad acting, bad ending. I came with low expectations and came out disappointed. I can only hope the books will redeem some of this insult.

Top Gear USA (2008–2016)

Painfully bad

[1/10 · 2 March 2013]

I began to watch the show in History Channel last year, and to be honest, I never liked it. The presenters always gave me the general impression of being reading a cue card, the interviews seem forced, the humor is horrible, no chemistry at all between them. They do not know about cars, period.

Then, on the History Channel website, I read that it is based on a British show, and just out of curiosity, I looked it up on Youtube. After all, UK show are ALWAYS orders of magnitude better than their USA remakes (Coupling, Primeval, Life on Mars, and sorry, even House of Cards come to mind). Later, a friend told me it was on Netflix. And, Oh, my God! After having watched the UK version, I could not believe how badly HC botched a magnificent show! The knowledge, the humor, the cinematography, the interviews, the sheer panache of the presenters, did the USA producers even bothered to look a single UK episode? Do you honestly believe the USA show doing something the Bolivia Special, or the Arctic Expedition, for example? They even lack originality! Most of USA challenges are watered down copies of the UK version, and not even half funny. Face it, the USA presenters will never be able to say "You are a imbecile of apocalyptic proportions" with the straight face of James May.

I will add an additional issue : the dubbing. Being in Chile, we receive the programs dubbed to Spanish, no SAP available. History Channel dubbing are generally bad, but in this case, it seems they made an additional effort to make it worst.

So, I will stick to the UK version. The US version just sucks.

Elementary (2012–2019)

A detective who happens to be called Holmes

[4/10 · 16 October 2012]

OK, I have seen the two episodes so far, and I can say... This is a detective, who happens to be called Sherlock Holmes. But *Sherlock Holmes* he is not. Disclaimer : I am not comparing with BBC Sherlock. IMHO, if you name your character Sherlock Holmes, you must somehow respect your source material. It is not enough to use the names Sherlock and Watson. OK, now we have the violin. Of course I am not asking for the deer hat or the pipe. But to me, so far it seems more a variation of Monk instead of SH, with a sprinkle of Mentalist. I mean, please, he has a FATHER?? A brother Mycroft would have been more credible. And because he only communicates by phone, it would have been even more suitable to the reclusive books character. I have other complaints : If a show, *any show*, is boring to the verge of sleep, it's finished. And it happened to me on both episodes. I got asleep! No suspense at all. The solution for ep. 2 was obvious almost immediately. In the words of Conan Doyle : "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". But in this case, it was almost foolish, and I am no detective. I have no complaints with the actors (I just love Lucy Liu), but I refuse to see the overall result as a Sherlock Holmes variation. It is using only the name.

Nikita: Dark Matter (2010) Season 1, Episode 10

Good chapter ... but...

[7/10 · 3 December 2010]

speaking from Chile, I must say, what do the writers have in their heads?? OK, the episode begins with the revelation of the assassination of a presidential candidate in Chile. So far, so good. But then, there are... REBELS??? Using *MACHETES*?? really?? and Rebel Camps?? In Cajón del Maipo?? a place less than 10 kilometers from Santiago, full of picnic areas, restaurants, tourist places... there are REBEL CAMPS??? what are we, Colombia? I almost expected Santiago depicted as a dusty plaza surrounded with places labeled like "La Cantina", "El Hotel", "El Correo" like a banana republic in a '70's movie. One would think that in this era, those stereotypes would be long gone. OK that was my rant.

MI-5: Episode #9.2 (2010) Season 9, Episode 2

Not liking it so far ...

[5/10 · 3 October 2010]

I don't know what is happening here. I seems that all the pros have been killed, because everyone is acting like a bunch of amateurs. I include the writers in this. I mean, really? Two seasoned agents check a penthouse, without any backup on the outside? one man is able to overpower both with peppermint spray, none of them keep a safe distance? a foreign diplomat in a car is able to threat Lucas without showing any weapon, and he surrenders evidence just like that? The characters in general do not seem professional and competent as before. The situations are not credible (even for the series). What happened with Nightingale? not a word so far. Harry seems harried and distracted, not the iron fist we are used to see. All in all, the main elements that made the series a total favorite of mine, are missing so far.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Garbage

[1/10 · 21 October 2005]

I agree with all reviewers that think this move is awful. My two cents : from all the things they ruined from the original story, I cannot forgive the two characters that made the William Gibson short story a showcase of the cyberpunk universe : Molly! instead of the ultra-cool and lethal street samurai, with surgically implanted lenses and other gadgets, we get a common hysterical and drooling mess. The other is the Yakuza assassin : instead of the quiet, polite, cloned (and VERY lethal) ninja, we get a common karate thug. I don't understand why they mixed elements from several Gibson books, only to get a confusing mix. The bridge converted to a outcast-city is taken from Virtual Light, the cyberspace run is taken from Neuromancer, it is no mentioned in the original story. Johnny is only a data storage device, he was never a hacker.

Avoid at all costs and read "Burning Chrome" instead (for the original short story).

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

Good movie, bad adaptation

[4/10 · 30 December 2004]

OK, I enjoyed the movie. But I also have read the book several times, and the comparisons are inevitable, as several other people have done.

I just don't see the point of the most obvious changes from the novel : why using a Neo Nazi fanatic instead of Middle East terrorists? why a very young and single Jack Ryan instead of a married and older character? (Harrison Ford would have been terrific again) Of course a scene aboard Air Force One is more eye candy that a President trapped on Camp David because of a storm and a damaged helicopter. And : where is Ding Chavez??? A character from "Clear and Present Danger", is almost adopted by John Clark after being rescued, and they work as partners.

Some gaps on the story are too difficult to accept : you mean that the ONLY person able to communicate that the bomb was not Russian, is a obscure junior CIA adviser? what about all the agencies and personnel deployed on the explosion site? are they all mute? (On the book, Ryan passes the information but he is not believed by a hostile President and his Nac.Sec. Adviser, *and* a possible power struggle on the Russian government is completely left out).And how come that you can link without any problem from a Palm in the middle of a burned city?

Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Terrible adaptation of a great novel

[2/10 · 30 December 2004]

I had read the novel before, so I had high hopes on the film. I was so disappointed. The film not only botches the book quite badly, but has errors of its own :

*** Possible spoilers ****

• The whole point of assembling a special ops team of soldiers from Latino origin, was to make them difficult to identify as US forces. However, they happily yell in clear English on all combat scenes.

• Willem Dafoe as Clark is a TERRIBLE miscast. The character is always depicted as a tall, broad shouldered person. (Liev Schreiber is also a bad choice for the same role on Sum of All Fears).

• Almost all roles on the book are changed beyond recognition : CIA Dep. Dir. Robert Ritter is not the bad guy depicted on the movie; FBI Dir. Jacobs and Agent Murray are both killed on the movie (they are important characters on next novels); on the novel, James Cutter kills himself by walking in front of a bus.

• The soldiers persecution on the jungle seems like a bunch of scared kids running from a gang; the novel depiction of tactics and ambush scenes are FAR superior.

• And of course, the inevitable final up-close-and-personal fight between Ryan and Cortez : guess what, never happened on the book, since Ryan never gets off the Blackhawk rescue helicopter (not the puny Bell from the movie), because he is busy manning a machine gun. It seems that Hollywood thinks that a movie is incomplete without a "heroic" fist fight (the same issue that completely botched the ending of Patriot Games). Originally, Cortez is left alive on the backyard of one of the surviving drug lords : THAT is a punishment!!

In all, the movie not only presents a simplistic plot of bad guy-good guy, but ignores completely a much more complex conspiracy and anti-drug operation. This film had all the ingredients to be just great, but you get just cartoonist bad guys, a couple of good action scenes and a laughable ending.