jeffkresse-814-345969 Reviews

Masters of the Air (2024)

3 Episodes in and Underwhelmed

[5/10 · 4 February 2024]

This should have been a grand affair, reminiscint of Band of Brothers and The Pacifc, both epic WW2 series. I delayed this review until the expectations of the mammoth advertising build-up subsided.

The writers breached conventional wisdom by eliminating almost all character development, reducing roles to barely two dimensions like the cardboard actor cutouts on the floor of now deceased Blockbuster Video. Also the introduction to each episode has too much time devoted to declaring upcoming epic majesty while serving up lukewarm fare. Add to that each ends about 7 minutes early and resorts to slim previous of the next episode.

I can only think that they sacrificed character development to meet a budget. Any other reason is less that forgivable.

Finally Caught (2022– )

Good Storyline but Expert Sinks It

[3/10 · 24 December 2023]

So-called expert Christine Hannah ruins the show. If she is an "expert" you can add being a boring expert at reading on camera, never looking at it, and even misarticulating a few words here and there. The producers of this series had a good concept but i don't know why they didn't pull this commentator. A crash test dummy has more personality and character after it impacts the test wall than this person. I thing single-handedly she tanked the show and there are no more seasons.

Also, after returning from every commercial break, they recap events for two to three minutes, which just fills time needlessly and makes it even more ploddingly boring.

The Interpreter of Silence (2023)

Captures post war Germany well

[8/10 · 16 November 2023]

18 years beyond the fall of the Third Reich finds us in a Frankfurt courtroom where several Nazi soldiers and officers stand trial for atrocities at Auschwitz. They face a variety of former prison camp survivors whose testimony is translated from Polish by young German-born Eva Bruhns. Their descriptions of the hellscape that was the Auschwitz experience has profound effects on Eva, arousing profound introspection and eventually leading her to find out her parents worked at Auschwitz. She discovers a world around her where older Germans eschew her for her participation in the trial, a very typical reality after the war as many refused to acknowledge war crimes choosing rather to forget. For Eva, she becomes one of the new post war generation that begins to seek comfort and forgiveness for the profound horror experienced by the persecuted.

I was a little baffled why this is in German language only with English subs because it was a Disney project. German is world famous for its language dubbing capabilities so i don't see why they would limit their audience.

Operation Napoleon (2023)

Entertaining and well-paced throughout ... never read the book

[8/10 · 18 August 2023]

Taken by itself and without knowledge of the book this was a pretty good film. There is continuous action and plot development through to the end so it definitely keeps your interest. Having read a bunch of poor reviews I kept looking for big deficits in the movie but they just were not there. I understand how a movie can be very different from the book original and the disappointment which results, but this movie has me looking into the authors books now whereas I would otherwise have not been exposed. The Nazi story line works well and there is plenty of historical fact to support it, e.g. Operation Paperclip, so the secret allied collaboration to help Hitler escape to South America is not implausible.

I recommend this as solid entertainment worthy of your time.

Asteroid City (2023)

Bizarre waste of talent and the writers should stay on strike...

[2/10 · 12 August 2023]

...because if this is the kind of drivel we are expected to pay writers more for then I don't want it. Move to North Korea and melt their souls instead. It is incomprehensible why marketing pushed this so hard and delivered us a Fyre Fest sandwich instead of something with substance. I don't think it is possible to even get high enough to appreciate this disjointed and thin film without first undergoing a prefrontal lobotomy. It is no wonder why award ceremonies continue to decline in viewership. And what is really odd is that no matter how many films tank due largely to dismal writing, the studios continue to fling this stuff to the public like a zoo monkey's feces.

Ranger (2022)

Watch a guy lazily talk about his experience for $7.99

[1/10 · 14 April 2023]

Put yourself to sleep with this guy droning on about his experience like watching paint dry. Thanks for your service but what in the world were you thinking here? Sit in a chair and lazily talk about your experience? How on earth did Amazon even add this let alone for the premium rental price of $7.99? Iam going to request Amazon to give me a refund for this horrible production.

Not a lot to say otherwise in defense of this. This has absolutely no place as a video for rent let alone for sale. This is an embarrassment and I cannot believe I wasted $7.99 plus tax on this. Please save your money for a more deserving production!

The Night Agent (2023– )

Completed Series Well Worth Watching!

[10/10 · 25 March 2023]

I cannot understand some of these poor reviews and.quasi-esoteric complaints about poor writing. I found it to be compelling and watched back-to-back episodes.

In contrast to quite a bit of Netflix offerings, this series had a good story line developed over 10 episodes and ended very well, and to that it left it open for a sequel. I would be the first on board to watch a part two series for certain.

Bosso and Buchanan did very well as the two main protaginosts. Their performances were quite believable for the desperate situations they found themselves in. Fola Evans-Akingbola and D. B. Woodside were very welcome in supporting roles.

Gotham Knights (2023)

A very good start but will CW put the work in to have a hit?

[8/10 · 20 March 2023]

One episode in and it shows promise. CW is famous for turning a good story into trash quickly, e.g. Roswell. Gotham Knights adopts a whole new premise on the Bat story, throwing Bruce Wayne out a window to his death from the get go and falsely accusing his adopted son. Along with three other teens framed for carrying out the murder, they escape during prisoner transport (okay, not so original) implemented by Robin, the famous sidekick now gender-swapped and a woman of color, or more appropriately a teen of color, resulting in an 80/20 Caucasian / non-white ratio when you include Bat-son Turner's quasi girlfriend, the latter a pretty blonde teen with computer skills rivaling an Einstein-level genius.

The good news is that the kids get the usual assortment of hot teens to worship, the adults in the room get a decent mystery with just enough "Bat" to satisfy, and then everyone gets to place their bets on if and when CW sends another good concept to an early ratings grave.

True Lies (2023)

total lack of tension and drama/darkness

[3/10 · 2 March 2023]

It is one thing to be campy, it is another.to transcend the Adam West Batman style, and only lacking the on screen "wow" "pow" cartoon bubbles.

There is no tension in threats or danger faced by the characters and you know they are going to survive anything with some idle banter and cliches. The missions they supposedly go on are imminent threats with huge consequences yet are engaged with simple-minded alacrity. A little darkness, drama, the potential consequences of actions would lend believability to an otherwise shallow narrative.

Omega's spy systems flourish with fancy digital stuff that makes it seem even more comical.

Ambush (I) (2023)

Overburdened with cliches, inaccuracies and poor writing

[3/10 · 2 March 2023]

I like Aaron Eackhart but I think he was on board just to secure financing. He plays a general that phones out orders as much as he phoned in this role.

The premise was to find a secret document containing names of Vietnamese assisting Americans and had a few enlisted men, supposedly special forces as stated on shoulder patches, given a ridiculous two hours to scour underground tunnels of the NVA for it. A Colonel leads the above ground search wearing full insignias and bright silver full bird colonel rank insignias on each collar, which was not done because it gives snipers instant recognition of officer targets. Officers scream commands at enlisted when in reality there was tremendous respect between them and especially because these were supposed to be army special forces.

Aaron Eackhart's character seals the ending saying of those killed "their blood is in the earth, they shall live forever." I cannot believe such a trivial statement would ever be made.

I wasted $6.99 on this do not follow my lead...

Khakee: The Bihar Chapter (2022– )

Exceptional Do Not Miss for Crime/Drama Fans

[10/10 · 28 November 2022]

I'm not revealing any spoilers because this series is simply too good of a story to ruin any element. Well-crafted, taut, and certainly fast-paced with new reveals in each episode, this series escapes the tired scripts and slow-moving death found all too often in this genre. English language viewers may want to turn on subtitles because of a rather thick native accent, and it is so good you don't want to miss anything as this series speeds like a downhill locomotive to its inexorable conclusion. The series weaves necessary commentary of Indian society, culture and family in the early 2000's without burdensome side stories interjected throughout, delivering a well-rounded story in seven episodes.

It is based on a true story and book about the main character as a young police inspector, so unless there are new chapters coming I don't think there will be a second season, but I would be very happy to be wrong.

High Water (2022– )

Very good wrap of a true disaster with internal fictional characters

[8/10 · 6 October 2022]

Production and acting were very good, but where this true disaster movie excels is placing the characters Jasmina and Adam, former lovers, within the center of the series. As a hydrologist, Jasmina takes the reins quickly in predicting the disaster and offering advice to an unbelieving cadre of political officials and other experts, including her ex-lover Adam. Jasmina harbors the secret of her 14 year old daughter with Adam, telling no one so her daughter Klara won't learn that she was a heroin addict still struggling on methadone treatments. Without their previous relationship emerging throughout the crisis I cannot see how you could create a compelling series on a flood. Binged all six episodes and was anything but slow. I highly recommend.

Family Law (2021– )

I'd watch anything with Victor Garber but...

[5/10 · 3 October 2022]

...this is not one of them. The attorney father that abandoned his first family to go on to two more takes back his recovering alcoholic daughter, also an attorney, to work in his office after she gets censured for arriving late and puking-hungover to court. Ha ha ha, very funny so far. Harboring great enmity toward her father, the daughter manipulates a case to get retroactive child support from a man who answered an ad for a woman to get her pregnant with no strings attached. Other shows with father-daughter work relationships like Just Shoot Me (´97 - 03) were funny. Expecting laughs from this show is like tuning into any History Channel show searching for aliens, Hitler or you name it, and expecting to get a credible answer at the end. Five stars are for Garbar only.

Bosch: Legacy: The Wrong Side of Goodbye (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

So GOOD it has been renewed for a second season before the first airs!

[10/10 · 6 May 2022]

From one of Michael Connelly's standout crime dramas of the same name, Harry Bosch is now officially retired from the LAPD while his daughter Maddie is just beginning her career in the force. The main story is Bosch hired to find the missing hier of a remorseful and dying aerospace billionaire, and the subsequent attempts by evil insiders to derail him from finding that hier so they can assume control. We even have a pair of diabolical Russian criminals to contend with. Bosch is hired by Honey Chandler to help her defend a wrongly accused homeless man and this case gets wrapped eloquently in a dismissal. However there is always more. When Honey Chandler loses a murder case to a hung jury, and the defendant Carl Rogers also had her shot twice as well as having attempted to also kill Maddie Bosch, Harry joins forces with Honey Chandler to reverse the outcome. The first four episodes are masterfully crafted and delivered the same day, whereas we have to wait for each subsequent episode in upcoming Fridays...but you can get them Thursday after because Amazon knows we cannot wait and releases early.

Dog (I) (2022)

Could have been amazing but succumbs to lazy writing...

[5/10 · 24 April 2022]

Love dogs and the military, so I spent the $20 to buy this the first day available. It should have been amazing, beginning at Ft Lewis which is only 30 minutes from my home, and then a journey along the Pacific coast to a solemn ending in New Mexico. It is the journey story that is mediocre and prevents this from rating a seven or eight or even more. The writing is just plain lazy.

The story is to having Channing Tatum's character escort a military working dog to his deceased handlers funeral, and the next day take the dog to an Army base to be euthanized. Taking the dog on this journey the first stop is Portland, Oergon, which Channing Tatum's character seeks out the Portlandia experience including unsuccessfully trying to get more than cozy with your typical pair of middle age lesbians. Boring, predictable stereotype of Portland and this is your first indication the way the story develops. Lazy writing at its best. I'm surprised they did not run into some characters from the Portland-based series Grimm, but they probably would have been an improvement.

Not to worry, the dog doesn't die, predictably Channing Tatum flees the Army base with the dog and I guess live happily ever after. So many missed opportunities for more sobering and compelling drama and even better comedy but we don't get that.

Coroner (2019–2022)

A night at the asylum and we don't get the good drugs...

[5/10 · 11 March 2022]

As breathtaking as Serinda Swan is, that is not enough to overcome lukewarm scripts wherein the majority of the key players. Now, with only a couple of episodes remaining in season four, there seems to be no course correction, no attempt to bring intrigue and add more energy to the mediocrity in 37 episodes.

Jenny Cooper, our main character, seems forever tied to whatever mental maladies resulting from her involvement in her sisters death. Her son is cast as a ne'er do well gay teenager unable to escape the emotional loss of his father. Jenny gets involved with a veteran crippled by PTSD who is killed by a schizophrenic kid. Jenny's father, played by the very fine actor Nicholas Campbell, suffers from bouts of dementia and looks like a homeless old man, far from his confident Da Vinci's Inquest character.

Speaking of the latter, Da Vinci's Inquest was a top rated Canadian production of a Vancouver coroner. It lasted seven years and had highly sophisticated, often multi-episode arcs that were richly satisfying. The same can be said for Australia's similar coroner-based series Harrow (Hulu).

Coroner is like watching a boring outing to an asylum, a cast of irretrievably broken characters pandering to weakness and woke agendas run amok. This is no Island of Misfit Toys, even they were salvaged in the end from a hopelessness that escape Coroner.

Killing Eve: Just Dunk Me (2022) Season 4, Episode 1

What an incredible show rendered unwatchable by another schizophrenic writers pen

[2/10 · 2 March 2022]

This was an incredible show that season 4 episode 1 parked in an avant-garde ditch. We had all waited seemingly forever for the final season only to be rewarded with this absurd episode. Like a drunk driver recklessly driving a great car into a ditch, this episode leaves viewers in a "what happeneded" recovery coma. Some may watch episode 2 to see if there is hope left for this show, many will not. I certainly will not but I do wish goodbye to an incredible series that died the death of a thousand writers cuts.

From (2022– )

Weird and slow....three episodes in won't watch more

[2/10 · 21 February 2022]

Family trapped in town with no exit, human-like monsters that come out after dark to kill, oh and then there are the towns people who has resigned themselves to accept their life with threatening monsters. What can be more fun for the whole family to watch? The kiddies watching will ask mom and dad what the old naked fat lady is doing humping some guy in a chair in the towns strange hotel at the beginning of episode 3, Your kids won't go blind (although maybe they will need glasses?).

So back to the story. Family of 4 in RV get run off the road by two guys in an SUV on drugs or whatever, are rescued by towns people who introduce them to the fact they will never be able to leave again. Day before monsters kill mom and daughter when daughter opens window to monster, father of course was gone all night on a bender and not present to protect the family. Driver of the SUV that caused the accident being treated by volunteer at local medical facility is kissed by young volunteer then she stabs him in the jugular, claiming to hear a voice telling her to do so. Son of Sam said same thing, was hearing a dog giving similar instructions. I did not see any credits listed for any such dog here.

Now that you are salivating like Pavlov's dog to watch this drivel, do watch this right before bedtime so the deathly slow pace can lull you to sleep.

Reacher (2022– )

"If I'm gonna die I'm going to flavor country one last time..."

[9/10 · 4 February 2022]

...has got to be the best line of the show by Malcom Goodwin a.k.a. Clive Babineaux from iZombie, as the former smoker lights one up in the finale.

I have to say I struggled the first three episodes missing Tom Cruise in the role, but Ritchson does grow on you and closer to the Jack Reacher I found when I first read Killing Floor, the book by Lee Child this first season is based on. I don't understand the comments about needing better writing since the eight episodes were as close to the book as you could be in 386 minutes of screen time. Casting was awesome and especially liked seeing Currie Graham as Kliner Senior...he has a unique talent of playing fatally flawed characters very well.

Ritchson and Goodwin working together seem to dominate the majority of the series and work well together.

I hope we don't have to wait too long for season two like we are for Jack Ryan season 3. Having retired the excellent original series Bosch last year Amazon has few action originals with substance.

1883 (2021–2022)

Good character set up it should move more quickly in future episodes

[10/10 · 19 December 2021]

I have a hard time understanding reviewers who eschew the guns and violence. They need to feed off baby shows until they grow up. This series takes place less than 20 years after the Civil War and many of those involved were veterans of either the Union or Confederacy. Times were hard, there was no law enforcement structure west of Kansas so you needed to learn how to defend yourself in the face of adversity. After the immigrants were confronted and several killed you see justice in the bar scene: "There's only one killer in Ft Worth and that's me" is a great line by the avenging lawman. However the leaders of the wagon train realized vengeance was coming for the bar shootings and decided to leave the next day.

I thinks the two-plus hours of character development was required simply because of the larger number of characters vs. The limited size of the Dutton family on Yellowstone. This development prepares us to understand each character better and gauge their future motives.

Continue watching for great forthcoming entertainment!

Hightown: Crack Is Wack (2021) Season 2, Episode 7

Oh yes, I can quit you!

[2/10 · 5 December 2021]

Watching as a fan of James Dale Badge since Rubicon, I cannot proceed any further after this episode. The perpetual celebration of sex, drugs and drinking makes you want a shower like you've just been exposed to high level radiation without any protection. The overnight drug party Jackie has with her adulterous father and his skanky girlfriend went beyond the pal when her father asked her to go to the bedroom with a degenerate old drug dealer to pay off $80 of drugs. That is degeneracy of Sodom and Gomorrah proportions that you have to be pretty screwed up to even write. This is not being edgy it is pure filth that I can no longer bear.

After that event Jackie goes home, calls someone to help sponsor her in another attempt to reclaim sobriety, stating she has finally hit rock bottom. I would say she fell right through rock bottom and entered a plane of a degraded existence no one would imagine even possible.

There are enough drug addicts and perverts in Hollywood so I cannot excuse this to actors stretching into their roll. There is no stretch here and we all know it.

What could have been a good New England crime drama with local flavor and accomplished actors has been irretrievably ruined.

Hanna (2019–2021)

"It's done, it's done..."

[10/10 · 25 November 2021]

In the words of Mirelle Enos (Marissa) Hanna is over after the sixth episode of a shortened final Season 3. Again this was a well-crafted story with tight action in every episode. Assisted surprisingly by Terri (played by Cherrelle Skeete) the end comes for Chairman Evans (Ray Liotta), aka Marissa's father, shot by Marissa herself twice. Marissa dies in Hanna's embrace after bleeding out from an abdominal shot her father gave her in retaliation.

Hanna leaves everyone behind, boarding a flight to who knows where, purposely to live where no one knows her. No cliffhanger here suggesting Season 4 since the producers have said they only expected 3 Seasons.

I sincerely hope that Amazon produces more well written stories instead of the assortment of arcane productions that cater to teens like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and others that must be geared to millennials that live in their parents' basements.

It is increasingly rare to find shows like Hanna or Bosch that you can watch again with great enjoyment.

Hanna (2019–2021)

Outstanding story and acting ending in a shortened season 3 !!!

[10/10 · 3 November 2021]

Hanna was a great, intriguing production distinct from a majority of Amazon Originals which largely are bizarre, disturbing, drug and foul behavior obsessed. Hanna is the same caliber as Absentia and Bosch, not weird and depraved like The Boys, Goliath and I Know What You Did Last Summer. I cannot fathom why these latter originals were even made, unless Amazon is feeding psychedelics to both the producers and the writing staff. Real people who act and behave in the manner they display wind up in jail, asylums or dead.

Invasion (2021–2024)

I want to believe...that there is good sci-fi out there...

[3/10 · 23 October 2021]

...but it is not here! 3 episodes in and another snail-paced sci-fi melodrama! No sense of urgency here, lots of character development but never builds anticipation for the unknown alien presence. Good sci-fi engages the audience fairly quickly but Apple and the writers apparently were absent from writers class that day. Artistically compelling and very good acting cannot save this intergalactic Titanic of a series. Apple kiss my subscription goodbye.

Ghosts (2021– )

Deleted from DVR after pilot episode

[3/10 · 9 October 2021]

I cannot tell if this was supposed to be funny or what. Funny it is not. Rose McIver and iZombie was hilarious. With so much streaming and network content to choose from. Comedy is difficult to write for but not impossible.

There is no edge to the supposed humor here. Good comedy is set up to foster unanticipated consequence and whereas Ghosts is swimming in rampant predictability.

So Rose Mc Iver is a freelance journalist and her husband an almost trending chef. They couldn't be more boring than if they played tax accountants. Writers are not giving us much to work with here. They cannot even make her after-accident ability to see the ghosts funny because there is no upside to this revelation. The ghosts, for some unexplained reason are doomed to forever haunt the mansion, are laden with uninspired transparent one liners.

CBS we deserve better, especially when you are taking it from the successful BBC version. I can only wonder if these ghosts will ascend from their earthly exile and a mid-season replacement fills this time slot.