GranHotellover Reviews

The Last Bus (2021)

Full of unrealistic scenarios, not one realistic interaction

[1/10 · 21 November 2021]

As a frequent bus driver I've seen all sorts of interactions on the bus. None of these interactions on this film felt true to life.

No-one would actively tell an old man to go up stairs to the top deck or to stand. People rarely get kicked off a bus mid journey for not having the right fare, bus drivers don't have the time for that, they will usually ask you to pay the difference or let you off and say get the right fare next time. Most bus companies will take elderly people on the bus for free or a ridiculously cheap fare. I could go on but you get the idea..

The Great (2020–2023)

It's hard to laugh at something with such a clear agenda

[3/10 · 21 June 2020]

This gets 3 stars because of the hard work of the costume designers, directors and production staff. We are now done with the positive aspects of the TV show. =============

In the same vein as shows like Riverdale that coin phrases like 'I beg your misogynistic pardon'. Producers continue to read a bunch of social media tweets, make minimal effort and then proceed to crown themselves woke.

I'm sorry but you don't make an inspirational woman by trying to make everyone around her act like apes and mindless drones. In this case you could show adept people skills or political understanding to show how she succeeded. But no we just say Catherine can read and is surrounded by fools and they more or less call it a day.

As is the trend these days they also cast a black actor in a side role as a white aristocrat and proceed to call it a day for showing diversity. Yes there were freed slaves that made it to the aristocracy but they had their own stories that ARE worth telling. Where is our show about Frederick Douglass or Ottobah Cugoano or any of the other black abolitionists that have stories of moving from African culture to being freed only to find you are never quite equal to white people? But no that is too much work so you cast a white side character as a black man and call it a day. This is not only a lazy way to show diversity, it erases history. It is clear to me that even the most sympathetic members of the white aristocracy never fully saw black people as their equals, perhaps they felt sorry for them but that is not the same as seeing someone as your peer. This aspect of black history is gradually being erased by these fools. You think with the racism existing today white people wouldn't bat at an eyelash if a black man dressed in finery walked past them? You think the society that had rules about dressing for your station would act this way?

As for the humour, it's the same kind of humour you get in crude British comedy designed for teenagers / young 20 somethings. Once I saw the show it became clear to me why they cast Nicholas Holt in the role, they want his skills from working on the teen show 'Skins'. This is a shame because I think the actor is capable of more.

It's a shame because with such a great production they could have been able to make a beautiful abstract painting of the key players in this historical period with intelligent humour. I completely understand why Russians take offence to this 'interpretation' of their heritage. This show feels like English University students broke into a BBC costume drama and started messing around based on what the bits that caught their attention in the cliff notes of a historical book.

The Pianist (2002)

The film serves a very simple purpose

[7/10 · 6 May 2020]

The film serves a very simple purpose, to show you that if you were a Jew in occupied Poland, every day you were grasping for survival. That the Nazi's took away the dignity of people gradually and got more brazen with killing them as time went on. Because of this very simple narrative some have given the film 1 star which I think is unfair. I have watched some unwatchable films with shaky cam, poor acting, editing etc. This was a pretty decent production with some great Direction not a 1 star film.

However I do have to wonder whether we have moved past this type of simple film. As someone interested in history I occasionally enjoy watching films around the war to see it from another perspective or to get further details that I did not know. The minute I saw Emila Fox's character look wide eyed and shocked at some restrictions, I looked up a timeline of antisemitism in Poland. Turns out like much of Europe antisemitism had been prominent in Poland way before the occupation. It can be dated back atleast a decade just from legal restrictions. From then on I doubted how much care had been put into accuracy. I am sure there is much to be learned from a first hand account that Wladyslaw Szpilman was able to provide in his autobiography but I can't help but think you would get more from reading his book in his words rather than this romanticised version.

It does tell a very simple story of Nazis were bad, Jews were victims and people that helped the Jews were good. However I do believe that this film would be a good introduction for some people to see the war in a more personal , emotive way as I think over time the young have distanced themselves from the atrocities to the point they easily joke about it. I could picture older children watching clips of this film to facilitate their engagement with the subject matter.

However for anyone interested in a beautifully shot epic, their are films on the war that are more visually interesting. For anyone who already knows details around the holocaust their are films that are more informative. Since the millennium I have seen a number of films that look at the war from less well known angles, they look at the Nanjing Massacre, Soviet atrocities while attention was on the Nazis and so on.

Tee Shot: Ariya Jutanugarn (2019 TV Movie)

Miserable

[1/10 · 2 May 2020]

This is a story of a parent that pushed his children so much that would call it abusive. On Netflix it is labelled as 'inspiring' and 'heartfelt' which to me is misleading. It's almost 2 hours of misery which I guess is just a small snapshot of their lives. After all that misery you would hope for a better conclusion than what we got.

Emma. (2020)

The book come to life

[9/10 · 27 April 2020]

The cinematography that you see in the trailers is abundant in the film. Beautiful set, costumes, camera work and direction. It is also such a relief to see that the costumes and hair styles have been researched. Hopefully other period dramas will learn from this that staying true to the way people actually looked during this era is not a sacrifice on the beauty of the costume. After many years of just seeing pieces of hair fall at the front of an updo, we also get to see ringlets of the regency era!

Onto the plot, the plot is pretty much as Jane Austen would have wanted it. It carries her constant theme of mocking regency society with all it's peculiar unwritten rules. The language also has a similar intelligence and wit shown in the books. However I do feel that for the casual viewer who isn't interested in classic literature or reading up on History, I think they may find this adaptation a little cold. I've heard some people say they expected it to be funnier, I would say it is more accurate to say it is full of wit rather than laugh out loud funny. I also know many people are used to masses of passion in period drama romance the so called 'bodice ripping' passion, this is not that kind of film. This drama carries the subtle romance and friendship of l classic literature and I have to say even as someone who can appreciate them staying true to the books, I did find the chemistry between the two leads a little bit lacking. That's just a nitpick though and overall I loved it. 9/10

Mission of Honor (II) (2018)

Ignore negative reviews, they have too much of an agenda

[9/10 · 23 April 2020]

I'm sorry but if you have an issue with showing the contribution of the Polish and the very idea of depicting racism in the 1940s Britain just because some relative says they weren't racist, then why are you reviewing this film? I'm a big believer that your review should be based, not on whether you like the concept, but on whether the film stays true to it's premise/ trailer.

To me this was a good production, if you read up on how the Polish people were treated by the Nazis, Soviet and the level of disregard by the allied leaders you will understand how important this is. There were characters from many different perspectives that you could relate to. Not every Brit was depicted as a big racist like these reviews make out. Some people say about poor CGI, it wasn't so bad that it was distracting, it's a bit of a nit pick. Perhaps it can be called a 'TV' movie. it certainly doesn't have the budget of 'Dunkirk' but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable to watch at home.

Trust me I've seen some films that have such choppy editing and over the top acting that they deserve a 5.9 rating. This is not one of them.

Milada (2017)

Laughably poor camera work and editing, ok actors.

[1/10 · 19 April 2020]

The first 20 minutes you see: The picture accidentally bounce presumably from the camera man losing grip. The story also barely allows 3 minutes for each significant to be digested before it cuts to another important moment, really poor editing. After say 20 minutes I was laughing at how we had skipped through 2 decades of her life scene by scene. Never really resting on one place or time.

I think it's a shame because she seems like a really interesting woman but if you can't rest on one place or time for a few minutes, the story has no emotional impact and is hard to follow. I would love to see this footage worked into a documentary-drama, where after each scene a historian gives further details. Alternatively they could have used some clever exposition and decided what part of her story they wanted to focus on. Anything but this 'style' of production'. Never seen such bad editing in my life.

In Family I Trust (2019)

Too many chick flic tropes

[5/10 · 12 April 2020]

I grew up in the late 90s/ early 00s when I used to love these chic flics but we now live in a time of films with gritty realism. I realise that escapist romance still has it's place but it would be good if in 2020 it was a bit more grounded in the reality. It was just a chick flic trope every few minutes that just made it hard to relate to any of the characters.

I've given it a 5 because I think people that binge watch Hallmark romances might like it. For me I'll look for more modern romances because I found the way the lead was just another flighty female lead cringey/ borderline offensive. Also the man looked like he was just there to flirt with her, didn't have other things to deal with, another bad trope in romances.

Spirited Away (2001)

I, like many westerners, didn't get it.

[1/10 · 10 April 2020]

I guess this could be called a Japanese Alice in Wonderland. The trouble is I never liked Alice in Wonderland and I don't know a lot of Japanese culture. To me the whole thing was trippy. It would be nice if at-least the animation was special but to me it just looks like every other anime accept the characters have well proportioned eyes. I can't say the musical scores were particularly special either, reminded me of the music you get in a kids TV show. I tried just watching the subtitled version but no.

When Calls the Heart (2014– )

The acting made me cringe so much I really struggled to get through it.

[1/10 · 10 April 2020]

I am someone who seeks out family friendly TV shows. I've sought out shows from around the world and watched some classic old TV series.

I tried to ignore how one of the main characters looks like she had bleached blonde straightened hair and a sun tan. My goodness the bad acting and obvious cues of what's going to happen were just too much. We have scenes that are the equivalent to say a guy bumps into a girl, she reprimands him for being rude . He half smiles and silly music plays. Oh I wonder what's going to happen there..

I tried to compare it to the lovely Anne of Green Gables films but here's the thing Anne is an innocent child so her little squabbles and misunderstanding make sense. These are adults that are forced along by circumstance to learn what intelligent people worked out a long time ago.

It's funny that the reason people claim to like this is because its wholesome because the silly historical antic remind me of a mills and boon novel minus the sex. I rarely give 1 star reviews but when it's unwatchable. I'm sorry it's terrible. Watch Anne of Green Gables 1980s movie series, it's better.

Mr. Jones (2019)

A part of history rarely talked about, captured with great actors and production

[9/10 · 9 April 2020]

After seeing masses of trailers for films on the Nazis, I appreciate when a film highlights that the 'allies' side of the war did not smell of roses.

Some criticise the film for not going in enough depth about the situation in Ukraine. I think what we saw was horrifying enough and I imagine for Jones it was similar as you only have to be in that environment for a few days to see the travesty.

The only strange thing about the film is, that despite being 2 hours long, the ending feels a bit cut short. I guess that was a bit like how it felt for him. I do think this film would have been slightly better as a TV series. They could have included all the interesting things that happened before and after the events in the film. A good insight though, I was interested in looking into his life afterwards.

Eugenie Nights (2018)

Entertaining but it starts to falter towards the end

[7/10 · 5 April 2020]

I have enjoyed this more modern style of Egyptian drama that is less dramatic and more subtle. I am not a big fan of the over the top make out scenes in American cinema so I found this really refreshing. The story starts slow but you grow to understand all the characters and root for them. My only issue is that in the last few episodes you really see that Egypt can't quite move away from it's traditional views on marriage. The hardest part to listen to was the lack of concern people had for protecting a domestic violence survivor. I tried to tell myself that this was because the show was set in the past and perhaps something got lost in English translation but by the end their was no doubt in my mind that their is only so far a liberal view they are willing to show. It's a real shame and I would love to see this remade in my country in the same way Gran Hotel has been adapted for different cultures.

Travelers (2016–2018)

After one episode it's clear that this plot just doesn't work

[4/10 · 3 April 2020]

I gave this a try because it was free to stream at the time I watched it and because I love Sci-fi series. I have to say though,seeing the premise in action, I just kept asking myself 'who's bright idea was it to put these people in the bodies of vulnerable people that are more likely to blow their cover more than anyone else?

I guess you are supposed to go along with it all because essentially what they are trying to show is what it's like to view someone life objectively first hand and explore the ethics and related emotions. If that's the case though why not just have the premise be that people are given a second chance of life but they can only do this through taking over the life of the dead? Why have all that cliche save the world business?

There's a lot of scenes where people just go along with things that I don't believe. I have a feeling that if this had been a tween show maybe it would have been more successful because they may have bought into a lot of this and enjoyed the relationship drama but this is rated for adults because of some of the the things they could have easily excluded (drug use, nudity etc). Definitely wouldn't say it's anything special but it could be OK as a guilty pleasure watch or if you can stream it for free it might be nice to half watch while killing time. However I'm still on the lookout for something more worth my time.

Criminal: UK (2019–2020)

Poor depiction of the British criminal justic system

[3/10 · 1 April 2020]

The reason this hasn't got 1 star is because of the good production, concept and actors. The script though is terrible and it is beyond me why this has got such a high average rating when every review talks about how terrible and boring the script is. The show just can't be taken seriously, British interview/interrogation rooms don't have big neon lights and they have to be very careful on how they phrase questions, particularly as they will be called up on all that was recorded on tape/ witnessed. Everyone keeps talking about David's acting but the first half on that episode he just has the line 'no comment'. To me the lack of realism and lack of realism just took away any tension.

I think this is such a waste of a great production, actors and concept. I really hope Netflix considers the concept of doing the same show in different countries again because what I love most about Netflix is how it allows you to experience TV from around the world. Sadly this does not represent the British criminal justice system well and that's pretty bad considering crime dramas are where the British usually excel.

Velvet (2013–2016)

Cannot understand why this series is so well reviewed

[3/10 · 21 March 2020]

I don't understand why everyone calls this 'visually stunning' the outfits are so basic and cheap looking. The production value was poor and worst of all I was bored. It is so slow paced and the large amount of main characters are hard to invest in. If you want high drama, romance, soap opera stories and high production value, I prefer the producers later production Gran Hotel.