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Awix (3310 KP) rated Network (1976) in Movies
Feb 16, 2018 (Updated Feb 16, 2018)
Acclaimed satirical comedy-drama; impressively prescient look at American media. Long-serving newscaster is victim of falling ratings, has breakdown and threatens to commit suicide on live TV: network execs are appalled until it transpires this has caused a spike in viewing figures, so they give him a job as a ranting news gimp.
Smartly written and well-performed; slight tendency towards speechifying rather than actual dialogue in the closing stages, but at least the speeches are good. Movie predicts rise of reality TV and collapse in news values with eerie accuracy, also the potential power of rabble-rousing TV demagogues (chief rabble-rouser does not complain about fake news, but it's a near thing). On another level, film is basically just cinema being snotty about how television is a more juvenile and morally bankrupt medium - 1976 was one of the very last years they could do this without it seeming like massive hypocrisy.
Smartly written and well-performed; slight tendency towards speechifying rather than actual dialogue in the closing stages, but at least the speeches are good. Movie predicts rise of reality TV and collapse in news values with eerie accuracy, also the potential power of rabble-rousing TV demagogues (chief rabble-rouser does not complain about fake news, but it's a near thing). On another level, film is basically just cinema being snotty about how television is a more juvenile and morally bankrupt medium - 1976 was one of the very last years they could do this without it seeming like massive hypocrisy.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Ghostwatch in TV
Jul 18, 2018
Don't Have Nightmares
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time: do a properly frightening ghost story for the TV age, by framing it as a live broadcast from a haunted house. The really inspired thing about Ghostwatch is the decision to have well-known and trusted BBC personalities playing themselves throughout. Of course, that was probably where the trouble started - not only did it make people more likely to take the show at face value, but putting a children's TV presenter in the middle of the action ensured a rather-too-young audience was tuning in for what remains, by any objective standard, a genuinely terrifying horror story.
The trappings of live TV are painstakingly reconstructed (and maybe desconstructed); Michael Parkinson in particular gives an astonishingly good performance as a seasoned media pro slowly beginning to realise something has gone horribly wrong and the ghost has got into the TV network. Little touches, such as the ghost quietly hanging around unheralded in the back of crowd scenes, mean this is a very re-watchable show.
You could certainly argue that the makers' claim that they weren't trying to fool anybody ring a little false in view of all the evidence to the contrary, and that there is something very irresponsible about the whole enterprise - the fact that people were genuinely traumatised by a horror story they thought was true is not really something for anyone to be proud of. But that doesn't detract from the fact this is a brilliantly executed, really scary hoax.
The trappings of live TV are painstakingly reconstructed (and maybe desconstructed); Michael Parkinson in particular gives an astonishingly good performance as a seasoned media pro slowly beginning to realise something has gone horribly wrong and the ghost has got into the TV network. Little touches, such as the ghost quietly hanging around unheralded in the back of crowd scenes, mean this is a very re-watchable show.
You could certainly argue that the makers' claim that they weren't trying to fool anybody ring a little false in view of all the evidence to the contrary, and that there is something very irresponsible about the whole enterprise - the fact that people were genuinely traumatised by a horror story they thought was true is not really something for anyone to be proud of. But that doesn't detract from the fact this is a brilliantly executed, really scary hoax.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2072 KP) rated The Shooting Script (Diagnosis Murder, #3) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
When Mark hears a gunshot at a neighbor's house, he investigates to find two dead bodies who have been dead for more than a couple of minutes. He's certain the killer is the person with the perfect alibi. Can he prove it? Lots of twists and turns with characters who live up to their TV show persona. Another great read.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-diagnosis-murder-shooting.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-diagnosis-murder-shooting.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
David Betteridge (327 KP) rated The Addams Family (2019) in Movies
Jun 7, 2020
Disappointing
I always enjoyed the Addams family, from the original TV series to the 2 live action films, I was hoping for more from this animation, it had a great cast, even the look and feel of it seemed right. However the finished film is terrible in my opinion, its a terrible story that feels very disjointed, I didnt like the way characters acted and I felt this was just a recycled predictable story
Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) rated Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy in TV
Apr 22, 2021 (Updated Apr 22, 2021)
Exploitation
Exploitation at its worst. It's terrible to subject children to some of these people chosen for this show. They may have the adults would make good tv but at what cost to the children who have to live with that stranger for a week. Parents who sign their families up for this should be visited by child protective services to determine what other poor decisions they have made involving their child's care because some of this stuff is borderline abuse.
The nerdy birdie (67 KP) rated Roku Express in Tech
Aug 18, 2018 (Updated Aug 18, 2018)
Fantastic!
I won this remote in a smashbomb giveaway and I could not be any more grateful!!! My parents already have one Roku Television & I gave this other remote to them for the second tv that they had in their home and now they can have a wide variety of shows, movies, etc. at their fingertips throughout their own little home! They live in an area where it is hard to get cable, and the installation is incredibly expensive so this works wonders for them! Especially since it can be linked to a Netflix! They are loving life! Sometimes it really is the little things! Thank you again so much! Hooking this up literally took 10-15 minutes! Easy breezy!
Dean (6921 KP) rated Run Hide Fight (2020) in Movies
Aug 18, 2021
OK thriller
An intense thriller if a little of a made for TV feel to it. A bunch of kids decide to start a mass shooting at a high school and live stream it whilst one student decides to fight back. It's watchable although does seem to be a bit of a low budget Die Hard feel about it at times. There are some silly characters and a few events that happen that are questionable. But it's OK for a one time watch.