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    5+
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    19 years

Reviews

Jessica Jones
(2015)

Too Dark For My Taste
To me, this show feels like a throw back to an earlier time in comics related media. Unfortunately, not in a good way. The show feels dark and edgy in an effort to seem "grown up" in a way comics did in the eighties and nineties. It's the way teenagers sometimes hate the things they liked as children in an effort to appear grown up. I find it a little disappointing that this show has been reviewed so well at a time when superhero TV shows had appeared to have moved on from that and have grown up and embraced their roots.

I'm not a prude. I don't mind nudity or violence if it serves the story and it's the story that's the problem. It's just too bleak for me. I'm sick of heroes who are cursed by their power and I certainly don't need a villain as vile as Kilgrave, there's enough of that in the real world. Shows like The Flash have shown that it's possible to do great characters with great stories even while utilising some of the stranger elements of their source material. There are even great shows with female leads in Agent Carter and Supergirl. All those shows have an energy to them that Jessica Jones lacks because no one in it has any joy.

I love the MCU and I wanted to see the Netflix shows come together and see how they fit into that universe. So it's really sad that I just don't want to watch this to the end of it's first season. I think it's the first superhero show I've ever quit. But, I'm not going to endure this when there are so many good superhero shows on television right now.

The Kennedys
(2015)

Seventies Stevenage Sitcom
The Kennedys is loosely based on The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and is set in Stevenage in the late seventies.

I was born in 1979, so the nostalgia for me in this show is minimal. That said, it does remind me of my eighties childhood a little. I have seen some criticism of the show's anachronisms, something I'll admit to not noticing. I'm sure that could be irritating, but this isn't a documentary and shouldn't detract from the show's strengths.

The show focuses on the Kennedys and their friends Jenny and Tim, two young families grappling with the challenges of their era. Trying to be modern and fashionable at a time when lasagne is considered exotic.

Putting the past under the spotlight could easily descend into laughing at their ignorance and feel very mean spirited. Fortunately, Emma Kennedy's writing is much fairer than that. The characters' charm shines through and gives warmth to the humour that allows it to be absurd with out seeming ridiculous. While there are appeals to a sense of nostalgia, The Kennedys doesn't rely on it and allows it's humour to work in it's own right giving it appeal to me in my thirties and my parents who were in their twenties when this show is set.

The cast are fantastic. They manage to use the quirks of their characters to full comedic effect while keeping them grounded and believable as friends and family. This level of quality from the older actors is impressive, the fact that Lucy Hutchinson is up there too is astonishing.

I haven't read the book the show is based on, but the strength of the writing here really does recommend it.

Spun Out
(2014)

Flawed but funny.
It is easy to be negative about this show. There are some glaring faults, especially in early episodes, that make Spun Out difficult to enjoy. However, the show does have some genuinely funny moments and some of the cast do give strong performances that elevate the humour and bring some needed depth to the show.

I'll deal with the negative elements first. The main office set feels like a set. Lots of sitcoms have that problem, there's no way to completely hide it, but you usually are able to forget it. This set you just can't do that.

The writing needs to tighten up it's focus. There is rarely a main story to an episode and the cast are divided up into two or three unrelated stories. The show would benefit from allowing itself to focus on one story and allow cast members to sometimes play smaller roles for an episode instead of giving nearly everyone equal time.

On the positive side, some of the cast are great. Dave Foley and Holly Deveaux stand out and help bring out better performances from their co-stars. This is most obvious with Rebecca Dalton, who, despite looking nothing like Foley, seems totally natural as his daughter and has genuine rapport with Deveaux. But she has little chemistry with Paul Campbell, especially early on. Campbell has grown into his role, but early on he really did struggle with the focus the show put on his character. Al Mukadam is solid and clearly enjoys it when he's allowed to go a little over the top.

The writing can be genuinely funny and occasionally heart-warming. But it does lack consistency which I believe is due to it trying to force comedy over narrative. Of course the goal is to make us laugh, but sometimes a sitcom needs to back away from that and allow itself time to develop it's characters. Spun Out can do that and is stronger when it does.

Dorm Daze
(2003)

I can't believe I saw the whole thing
I have watched a fair few 'National Lampoon' movies in my time and the one thing that is guaranteed is that there are no guarantees. Some are hilarious, others make you wonder who looked at the script and thought 'let's make this movie.' The plot, such as it is, is far better suited to a sketch show. There are some funny moments, but the whole thing is essentially one long joke. This is why it would be far better on the small screen; stretching a joke for 10 to 20 minutes is hard, 90 minutes is impossible. The performances from the cast, all of whom have very little to actually do, are all OK. But to be fair to them, no one is going to shine with such poor material. See this film if you have nothing to do one afternoon and you can see it for free, as it is mildly entertaining. If you actually buy it on DVD you will be sorely disappointed as it has very little re-watch potential.

Freakazoid!
(1995)

Super-dude extrordinaire
This show was hilarious. The humour was so completely insane unyet clever with it. There are very few shows that can make you laugh just reading the script. Check the quotes link if you don't believe me. The cartoon has the excellent level of animation you'd expect from Warner Brothers and is voiced superbly. I'm not sure why this was aimed at children, the humour is quite adult (not that kind of adult). I imagine the powers that be saw it was a cartoon and scheduled it accordingly. This one is aimed at fan-boys but I think anyone can appreciate it. You'll get a good idea of what the show is about from the other comments, needless to say it parodies everything from super heroes to sci-fi and much more. Bring on the DVD, with plenty of fan-boy extras. This show was awesome.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
(1993)

Flawed but fun
Power Rangers follows the adventures of five (later six) teenagers granted super powers by a disembodied head called Zordon. While the plots are VERY formulaic, there are some good qualities in this show that are often overlooked.

The show does feature a lot of martial arts/ fantasy action, there are usually at least two fight scenes per show. This, of course, made the usual crowd of 'concerned mothers' try to ban the show. If anything, their bleating is probably a big factor in Power Ranger's early success. Personally, I enjoyed watching the Rangers fight, it was far more realistic then pro-wrestling.

The acting quality of the principle cast is patchy at best (although Amy Jo Johnson would go on to show a much richer talent) and the cast are clearly not taking it seriously. That said, there is chemistry between them all, and they are having fun. Even now, having recently re-watched a few episodes, I had fun too.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
(2001)

Jungle Love
Jay and Silent Bob finally get their own movie. Fans of Kevin Smith's Jersey movies (Clerks, Mallrats...) will know Jay and Silent Bob from their cameos which often contain some of the funniest moments in the film. This final (possibly not) outing is filled to bursting with in-jokes and cameos from the previous movies. The humour will never be considered high brow, but it does have several funny moments. The plot at times can be erratic as it is clearly just setting up the next (fart) joke. I would definitely recommend seeing the earlier films in the series first as their are a number of in-jokes (in order: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma). If you have seen the earlier films this is closest in tone to Mallrats. I really enjoyed this movie, I hope you do too.

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