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Reviews
Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified (2021)
I learned so much, and i'm shocked. idk why this has such low ratings.
This was eye opening. I am shocked.. this was very well done, yeah sure some of the visuals when telling the stories are cheesy but that's not what's important. They had quality experts and people with encounters speak throughout. They offered a lot of crazy information about the history of UFO/ extraterrestrial research. I didn't know a lot of the stuff in this. Some of the abduction stories i had heard about but they offered a fresh perspective n theories related to them.
Check it out, you will know in the first episode of you'll like it. It's awesome and well done in my opinion. Kept me engaged the entire time, i watched every episode in one day back to back.
Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (2018)
Lacking that sparkle that made Kitchen Nightmares
Let me start off by saying I love Ramsay and love what he does. He is a true humanitarian.
But this? This was honestly a disappointment... I'm not saying it's not entertaining at all, but personally I don't think I'll watch any more than the probably 7 episodes I already watched. The first episode I watched didn't entice me to watch more because of the content, it was because of the fact that I just really wanted to give it a chance because I am a huge fan of Ramsay and his other shows.
I feel like this is just a huge gimmick. It feels staged, forced, weird. Even Ramsay's outbursts feel... off. The introduction to the owners feels superficial too. They use a template pretty much, "we started the restaurant because of "X". We've seen business go down and now we're "X" amount in debt. I think it's the *insert chef/owner*'s fault." It's definitely a different feel and doesn't seem genuine.
In each episode, they say, "we must get this under control in 24 hours or else this business will be done for!"... but they never truly spend time getting into the emotional side of these people's stories. So you're left feeling like... well of course yall have to remind me to feel invested in them emotionally every 10 minutes because we don't get a chance to get there organically by getting to know who we're watching.
Also, you don't see the owners clash heads with Ramsay... you don't get to see Ramsay "reach" these people. You don't get to see anyone's character development anymore or lack thereof).
That time is now spent on showing Ramsay getting dressed up as an old lady, dramatically taking off the "disguise" and the entire restaurant acting *shocked pikachu face* that... omg no way! The person sitting there with a camera in their face "whisper" critiquing the food, service, and decor this whole meal was Gordon Ramsay?!?!
The focus in this series is not put on saving the restaurants and bringing the checked-out head chefs and employees back to life and back to their passion.. it's about this forced 24-hour time frame. It's about the gimmick.
Kitchen Nightmares had a strict template as well, but each story was very different because it was so focused on the people Ramsay was mentoring and the process involved. This is not focused on that which is why I don't enjoy it personally, but maybe others find this more enjoyable if they don't find joy in these people's stories and character arcs as much. The end of an era. :,(
Check it out yourself, see if you enjoy it!
Heroin: Cape Cod, USA (2015)
Not a great documentary if you're looking to get insight on heroin addiction
It's unfortunate this documentary had the faults it did, because it meant well.
These were the issues that made it hard to watch for me:
1) It was a little confusing how they put together the stories of the multiple people together to create this. I understand wanting to include many different voices and experiences, but including so many different people meant that some of the people didn't get to tell much of their story.
Personally, I love watching these to get inside the heads of an addict so I can empathize better with those I care for and my loved ones. This didn't really offer much of a look into their minds and hearts because they had to be told so short.
2) Some of the people interviewed seemed genuine. They were raw and vulnerable, and really seemed to care about being a part of this documentary.
Others seemed to be more interested in bragging (literally) about stealing, neglecting responsibilities, and how they were a "better" addict than others. These were hard to watch.
I understand they wanted a range of experiences. I'm not judging these people's lives. We all have our stuff we go through and it's great that these people put their struggles and vulnerability on display to raise awareness.
I just feel some of them weren't interested in doing that, it seemed they just wanted to be on TV or something. Maybe if they had allowed us to see more of their stories it wouldn't have felt like this. I feel like they just randomly introduced people who wanted to brag.
3) They spent a long time describing how "amazing" the heroin high is. I mean like at least 15 minutes. I understand that they need to let people understand why the drug is desirable, but they didn't need to spend so much time explaining it. My boyfriend is a recovering addict (3 years clean!) and he had to walk away from this because it was so triggering.
I get that it's going to be triggering in a sense because of the topic, but he likes watching docs about heroin addiction because it helps him stay sober, seeing how far he's come and doesn't want to go back to that life. But this was super detailed, multiple people describing the high in very intimate ways.. I don't understand why they'd spend so much time just talking about how great it feels. Isn't this about awareness??
4) The interviews with the healthcare officials seemed randomly placed too. They didn't add to the story told before they jumped in. They just jumped in with random facts.
At one point, a pharmacist said "I don't know myself, but I have heard oxycodone produces a similar high as heroin". You don't know this?! They are both opioids... Why would they even include this clip in the documentary? This is supposed to be informative and the professional chosen to educate the public is admitting she doesn't know much.
Scary that a healthcare professional wouldn't know that honestly, considering they've linked the heroin epidemic to the over prescription of legal opioids in the late 90s/early 00s.. people turned to heroin when they cut down on this. This is universally known information. Again, if she didn't know about the heroin epidemic, why include her?
TL;DR:
They could have made a great documentary so easily honestly. A pretty standard formula, considering the bulk is supposed to be focused on getting to understand and empathize with the people telling their stories. Instead this gave many surface-level accounts from people who use heroin. They spent 15 minutes detailing what a heroin high is like and emphasizing how amazing it feels.. in a documentary meant to spread awareness.
Some of the healthcare professionals in the documentary admitted they didn't know much about the heroin/opioid epidemic but were somehow chosen to be in a documentary about it?
The entire construction was messy and poorly executed. It almost seemed more like a reality show rather than a documentary.