nigelmacdonald-97173 Reviews

The Captive (I) (2014)

Incomplete mess

[3/10 · 4 February 2024]

Yet another film ruined by jumping timeline. Can nobody edit a film properly amymore. What could have been a reasonable thriller is made umwatchable by a timeline that ricochets all over the place. I know directors still think its a clever device, but it has been done to death now. Aside from that the plot is beyond ludicrous and none of the characters believable. They just don't behave in ways that are recognisably human. Reynolds is watchable and does his best to be empathetic, but the whole film needed a rewrite and a much more feasible plot to make this the twisted thriller is tried to be.

Columbo (1971–2003)

Absolute classic

[10/10 · 4 September 2023]

Over 50 years old yet still peerless In its writing, acting and perfect pacing. If only they still made TV as well executed as this. Very few episodes fail to enthral and Peter Falks portrayal of the central character is iconic. The humour and the intellect he put into the performance is magnetic and timeless. The incidental music has aged, but gives it a nostalgic feel and there is no doubt this will be repeated forever. There are an abundance of brilliant cameos from a host of famous and not so famous actors. Most of all the scripts, plots and dialogue are top notch and its a shame there just doesn't seem to be the same quality in todays TV.

Something Bit Me (2022– )

Fascinating series

[9/10 · 24 July 2023]

This series is similar to 'I Shouldn't be Alive' series and is just as interesting. Deals with real life stories of peoples near death experiences, but as the title suggests, this time it's solely dealing with interractions with other species on our wildly diverse planet. The reconstructions are well made and the interviews with the unfortunate victims and others involved are informative and often very moving. Many of the stories are also very uplifting and show sides to human nature that are very positive, as well as showing respect for nature and giving great tips on what to do when those interractions don't exactly go to plan.

The Unholy (2021)

Dumb religious propaganda

[1/10 · 3 March 2023]

Typically cliched and nonsensical Conjuring etc ripoff cloaked in usual American religious mumbo jumbo. Does the opposite of everything The Exorcist did so well. Drags slowly towards a predictable ending with no surprises or fathomable point except to make already an already brainwashed audience believe it has any insight into faith and the belief in good vs evil. Worse than that it is really boring and the few attempts at anything resembling horror are watered down and randomly placed with no suspense or attempt to create an interesting plot. Basically its for people clinging to crazy beliefs in order to ignore the true horror of reality.

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer (2017– )

Utter conjecture

[1/10 · 16 January 2023]

First episode is good because it deals with known facts, but it goes rapidly downhill when they run out of actual evidence. From then on it becomes more and more ridiculous in its efforts to come up with something, anything vaguely new or relevant to the investigation. There are so many ifs, buts, maybes and possiblys that it becomes laughable and you realise what a con this series is. There is nothing here that hasn't been revealed before and the whole thing is stretched so thinly with filler and red herrings that it loses all credibility before you get half way through. Hopefully the case will be solved some day, but this doesn't get close.

137 Shots (2021)

Keystone Cops

[10/10 · 3 January 2023]

The problem again is the intelligence of the people they allow to become police officers. Their should be a much higher level of education required to be able to carry guns and involve themselves in situations where they make decisions that can cost innocent people their lives. These guys were just idiots and there were lots of them making the dumbest of mistakes and craziest actions that were inevitably going to end in tragedy. The car chase was straight out of The Blues Brothers and hiding behind a badge doesn't excuse their insane actions. Utterly despicable that they lied about it all afterwards too.

Crooked House (2017)

A proper story at last!

[9/10 · 13 October 2022]

It's been so long since I've seen a film with a decent plot and intriguing storyline, that this was an excellent find. I'm a big Christie fan anyway, but this somehow slipped under the radar and is vastly underrated imho. It has a great cast and atmosphere, the mystery keeps you guessing until the end and I can't fault the production qualities. I wish more film makers would use better source material and tell a coherent and believable story than relying on film trickery and crazy timeline jumps to try and engage an audience. This is a masterclass on how it should be done and deserves the attention of anyone who likes a whodunnit?

I Came By (2022)

Don't Bother

[2/10 · 24 September 2022]

A low budget and no brain Don't Breathe rip off. Yet another film that relies on characters being incredibly stupid to keep the story going. They make such poor decisions that you end up not caring what happens to them. It also drags a lot with pointless filler and there's nothing much to recommend other than to see Bonnevilles creepy performance. Even his character does the most ridiculous things that make very little sense and defy logic. With a little more thought and better writing this could have been a half decent thriller, but if you have no investment in any of the characters it just falls flat.

9/11: One Day in America (2021)

THE 9/11 Documentary

[10/10 · 20 September 2022]

By far the best, most shocking and revealing of all the many 9/11 documentaries out there. You will go through an emotional journey and it will stay with you, so be warned if you don't like to be reminded of how cruel humans can be to their fellow man. It is almost unbearable to contemplate the fate of some of the victims on that horrific day, but it also shows the incredible heroism and bravery of the emergency services and the selfless sacrifices so many made attempting to rescue survivors. The interviews restored my faith in humanity even as the images made me despair at how awful and insane such terrorist organisations are.

Elvis (2022)

For Tom Hanks accent alone

[1/10 · 19 September 2022]

Why did Colonel Tom Parker have a Nazi German accent? He was Dutch American and there is plenty of evidence that he had a Southern American accent. I'm 5 minutes into the film and if they can't even get that anywhere near right then I don't hold out much hope for the rest of the film. Also why are we requested to submit 600 words when most films these days don't deserve even that much effort? If they can't be bothered to get the most simple things like an accent right we should be able to dismiss the films as easily. It smacks of racism and anti-European sentiment, which is all we get from Hollywood lately.

Beast (I) (2022)

Wasted opportunity

[3/10 · 9 September 2022]

I liked the idea of this film and wanted to enjoy it. Half an hour in and I was bored stupid. The characters were dull and irritating and the acting was bad. Idris' accent in particular was distracting and all over the place. The lion was quite realistic looking even if it didn't behave anything like a lion would. It shouldn't have been difficult to make this suspenseful and entertaining at least, but the terrible dialogue and lack of plot just made it drag. The reason why Jaws stands the test of time is that you actually care about the characters and are drawn into the story because of that. These people are so stupid that you end up rooting for the lion.

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Just bad writing.

[4/10 · 29 August 2022]

Not as bad as some of the reviews suggest, but it does suffer from terrible dialogue and a ridiculous plot. It didn't need so many ideas thrown about and is far too long. Luckily the dinosaur effects are still well done and the set pieces are good and so its still entertaining in places. It just needed a much tighter script and a lot less rambling speeches. Not sure what the point of bringing all previous characters together was apart from massaging the actors egos. It is predictable and there are so many crazy coincidences which ruins any suspense or real sense of peril. The dinosaurs should be the real stars and are fascinating enough without all the extra bad science.

Constantine (2005)

Religious gobbledegook

[3/10 · 14 August 2022]

I know it's based on a comic, but they could have done a better job. Keanu is as wooden as ever and the whole thing is laughable. There are some reasonable CGI effects for the age of the film, but nothing scary enough to class this as a horror.

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Pretentious twaddle

[2/10 · 7 August 2022]

Another sub-Tarantino film that tries far too hard to be cool and fails miserably. Even worse it tries to crowbar religion into it. Neither a decent thriller or a black comedy as it isn't thrilling or funny. It's just a mess.

Prey (I) (2022)

Unwatchable

[3/10 · 7 August 2022]

Really wanted to like this, but 20 minutes in and can't tell what is going on because its too dark. Why can't film makers even get the basics right these days? They are either unlistenable due to mumbling/overuse of background music or have terrible jolting camera work. In this case a pitch black screen is just boring.

Resident Evil (2022)

Atrocious

[2/10 · 24 July 2022]

Where to start? This completely wasted opportunity to make up for the terrible film franchise is actually even worse. The story(s) such as it is, makes no sense and the jumping timeline makes trying to follow either incredibly annoying. The big budget effects are wasted by jerky direction and long, boring scenes that have nothing to do with anything in the games only add to the utter mess.

Stonehearst Asylum (2014)

Predictable poorly written tosh.

[3/10 · 18 July 2022]

No idea how this got so messed up. A decent cast and great production values with good source material and yet its just really bad. It drags on and none of it feels believable. It feels more like a parody of Poe and some of the performances are really over the top.

The Skeptic (2009)

Decent ghost story

[6/10 · 15 July 2022]

This was much better than I expected. It built tension well and was well directed throughout. For a low budget film it delivered a much more coherent story than most and it made the most of clever camera angles and lighting to keep an air of genuine dread. No ridiculous and over the top CGI needed.

Pistol (2022)

Disappointing

[3/10 · 18 June 2022]

Apart from a reasonable John Lydon impersonation this is a surprisingly amateurish and often cringeworthy telling of the story. None of the rest of the cast are at all believable. The rest is about as authentic as the extras terrible wigs and it even manages to mess up scenes that are direct copies of actual footage. As it's told from Steve Jones skewed perspective there is a lot that is pure fiction.

77 Minutes (2016)

Must watch

[10/10 · 13 June 2022]

Sadly, almost 40 years later none of the lessons from this horrific massacre have been learned. This should be watched by every American. Especially those who use the second amendment of the constitution to espouse their 'god given' right to arm themselves with assault weapons. The lunacy of one man is only matched by those who choose not to do anything about stopping this from happening over and over again.

Legend (I) (2015)

Total fiction

[3/10 · 3 June 2022]

This rewrites history and trys to present the Kray twins as working class heroes. In reality they were parasitical scumbags. They ruined lives and were hopeless losers when it came to their own lives too. Unfortunately it only muddies the myth instead of exposing the truth about their sad and pathetic existence. It's also full of Cockney cliches. I expected them to start singing 'Roll out the Barrel' round a piano at any moment.

Sea Fever (2019)

Yer wha?

[6/10 · 22 May 2022]

Enjoyed this mostly. It was original, intriguing and well paced. The only thing that spoilt it was the sound. There were parts where the dialogue was unintelligible and it got really frustrating. It may have just been the weird mixture of accents that took constant adjusting to, but I think it was mostly just poor sound engineering.

The Batman (2022)

Surprisingly dull

[3/10 · 19 May 2022]

I'm amazed that others have given this such high scores. The only thing that saves it is The Riddler. It really does drag in places and it adds nothing to the mythology. More of a rehash than a reboot.

How It Ends (2018)

Wish it ended sooner.

[3/10 · 28 April 2022]

No budget yawn fest. Its basically a road movie where very little happens. The world coped with a global pandemic for 2 years and yet here society collapses in 2 days when they lose their TV signals. None of it makes much sense and none of it is believable either. The best bit is when the main character admits he doesn't know wtf is going on. I was in total agreement there.

Prometheus (I) (2012)

More fiction than science.

[5/10 · 17 April 2022]

This isn't in the same league as Alien, but is still quite entertaining when it eventually gets going. The special effects are great and it has some of the originals atmosphere, but it's let down badly by some very dodgy science and a quite ridiculous premise. There are too many scenes that steal from the original too which only makes it look poorer in comparison.