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Jason Byrne's Special Eye Live (2013)
Not a special show.
First let me start on a positive note. I originally saw Jason Byrne some years ago on Live at The Apollo describing his childhood 'special eye' and he was superb. Last year I caught him at the opening of the Edinburgh Fringe as he acted as a compere and he was quick witted, creative and very funny.
So this year (2016) we ensured we saw his solo live show. I have seen a lot of excellent quality and well known stand-ups over the years and this was simply fantastic. In terms of sustained, gasping for breath, tears of laughter probably one of the best comedy experiences I have ever enjoyed. His improvisation, banter and physical interaction with the audience was outstanding as was his scripted observations.
Which begs the question: what on earth was happening 3 years ago to produce such a flat, crude, uninspired lazy 'comedy' event? This DVD seemed more like the desperate attempts of an immature teenage amateur who thinks a strap on dildo, the word 'fanny' and 'knob' and making fun of physical deformities is pure comedy gold. Gone were the crafted stories and clever observations, instead we had poorly constructed ramblings which said very little except 'I have no worthy material but toilet humour always works, so surely you'll laugh anyway?' Well unfortunately for Jason, an emphatic no we did not!
Even his audience interactions and spontaneous improvisations which in the past and certainly recently have been second to none lacked luster and made both viewers and participants uncomfortable, embarrassed even . I was so disappointed with this DVD I felt it only right to warn others. Do not buy or watch 'Jason Byrne's Special Eye Live ' as it will either spoil your past appreciation of him or if an introduction, put you off seeing anything else - a great pity because he can be brilliant.
The Grand Tour (2016)
Not so 'Grand'.
It just goes to show that an immense budget does not a 'Grand' programme make. In fact very often it is a perverse fact that success in monetary terms so often seems to stifle or retard the talent it is supposed to stimulate. I'm really sad.
When the BBC lost the Top Gear team I was certain any attempt to replace them would fall flat. And indeed overall this is what happened. It tried to rehash the same formula that had worked so well,but it previously succeeded because of the relationship and wit of the three presenters. Replacing them simply did not work.
So in this new multi million pound programme we have the same talent but contracted by Amazon and with immense expectations. After 3 episodes I am sorry to conclude it has not delivered. It feels over-scripted and forced. The segments are often not about motoring and are overly long and so far the content is all 'bling' and has no soul, intellect or memorable content. The natural banter when at the BBC is now contrived and often shallow. Obviously it has its' moments but we are left without sustained entertainment, and it is far removed from its previous incarnation. As I said before, I am really sad.
It would appear the combination of the BBC and these talented journalists was the perfect match and take away either of these two elements and we are left with a shadow, a not quite right combination which makes you nostalgic for the halcyon days of past.
I don't understand those who are giving this the highest accolade since it is very clear it is not worthy of such OTT praise. I suspect these are a result of either being paid by the Amazon machine or just Top Gear fans unwilling to face the truth? Either way I felt compelled to leave my comments here as anyone thinking of paying the Prime fee purely to view this show should think again.
Sausage Party (2016)
It cost me nothing but 90 minutes of my time and I still feel cheated
First let me admit I saw this travesty for nothing. Zilch. No money has fortunately been passed to the creators of this juvenile, unfunny indulgent crap. So I write this without being out of pocket. Yet I still feel angry. Why? Well partly because talented animators have spent thousands of hours turning a puerile, witless, uninspired, humourless script into a film that has benefited from international distribution when it should not have left the grubby napkin I assume it was written on. (Though I read somewhere it took Rogen 10 years to write?!) Also because I feel obliged to add this brief review to warn others even though it does not deserve or warrant any further attention or time spent on it. Just so you know this is supposed to be animation for 'adults', Rogen throws in religion, violence,sex, sexuality,drugs,rape, constant profanity - indeed anything where he hopes offence can be generated. If you have nothing funny to say then Rogens' philosophy ( I use the term lightly) is grab all the taboos and chuck them back in the hope the audience at least react. It is a pitiful attempt. It tries so hard it falls flat. You would think the dialogue was written by an overexcited,immature, half-witted teen who had just discovered the word 'fuck' and every character repeating it is hilarious. The only offence I felt was that anyone should feel this was worthy of a positive review. This is vacuous film making at its' worst, and this flop should be avoided.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Don't believe the hype !
What a disappointment! I was expecting a quirky, but down to earth, charming drama with comedic elements and an engaging story to be enjoyed by young and old. The first 10 -15 minutes are overall promising but it is generally downhill from there. Initially I had no intention of seeing this film as the posters looked as if the film was essentially aimed at kids and it holds a 12A classification. In retrospect the publicity got it right! However, the reviews on IMDb, the comments, reputation of the writer/director and overall score of 8.3 convinced me otherwise. Unfortunately the story is formulaic and offered no originality on the central theme of a 'damaged' child who finds friendship and meaningful relationship with caring adults after various events. The acting at times was clunky from the central young character and other minor roles as was the dialogue on many occasions. The humour was derived from too many forced situations and the peripheral characters became increasingly unbelievable and the overall feel just juvenile and very childish. There were several incongruent bloody scenes involving animal slaughter which simply felt unnecessary when sitting along side the more silly story arcs. The scenery was indeed spectacular but the characters' placement on extreme peaks at times was totally unbelievable and done simply to showcase the background. The last 30 minutes became predictable, mawkish and there are a ridiculous series of events which are aimed at creating laughs at the expense of any credibility. I think this is an overall miss as the level of humour and plot could only be appreciated by uncritical 8 - 11 year old's who it is not primarily aimed at! This review may seem harsh but is needed to counterbalance all the OTT positive reviews whose motivation for such praise is perhaps questionable. It is a 6/10 but I have voted 5/10 to offer some counterbalance.
Absolutely Anything (2015)
Absolutely not worth watching
I just want to ask the usually talented Terry Jones who co-wrote and directed this forgettable flop ; Why bother to gather such a range of comic talent together to produce such a derivative, plodding and humourless film? Surely between the Monty Python team, Simon Pegg, Edie Izzard,Sanjeev Bhaskar & Robin Williams we could have expected at least one laugh out loud moment. Unfortunately I can assure you, nothing. Barely a smile,let alone a snigger. Zilch.
The bland story line fares no better. Unoriginal in all respects. The central theme of an individual having unlimited powers has been done several times before and with greater aplomb (Bruce Almighty, The Man Who Could Work Miracles) as has a talking dog ( Men in Black II, Look Who's Talking Now) as has an American ex-lover stalking the central female character (A Fish Called Wanda) as has a downtrodden, average Joe smitten with an unattainable attractive neighbour, but winning the day because of his personality rather than good looks (Endless examples!). Why spend time and money on this project when it must have been obvious from the script that no amount of talent could save this from being mediocre at best? The CGI special effects were OK, as indeed were the efforts by all actors involved so 3 stars awarded, but why re- hash all these well worn plot devises into one pointless bore fest? Mr Jones and Co - Shame on you!
The Last Man on Earth (2015)
Please don't waste your time - I did !
I really wanted to like this show. I have persevered. On reflection, mindlessly. I have now watched season 1 and most of season 2 (up to episode 9!) and I am still waiting for humour, original ideas, character development or engaging plot. It really is one of the most dull lazy 'comedy dramas' I have ever spent time with. The relatively high IMDb score is a mystery - as is the continuation of this drab irritating show. I just kept thinking 'surely this has got to get better'? 'Eventually I will start to see something that will justify my time previously wasted'? Like a degenerate gambler who always wants to throw one more roll of the dice - I craved a return on my unwise 'investment'. But alas I finally cracked, and had to bid this tripe farewell and accept my losses.
Will Forte is credited as the creator of this and it appears as if the script writer(s) (and I use this term lightly) started with a basic idea i.e The eponymous,Last Man on Earth, wrote a couple of episodes around this concept, then to their surprise the show was given the green light. Obviously panic ensued as they rapidly ran out of ideas, literally lost the plot, simply gave up on supporting the central conceit and introduced other characters in the hope of making the show more interesting. I can tell you it failed. Much stereotyping and obvious and repetitive events follow. Plus the central character Phil is the personification of a dolt. He's so unlikable, tiresome and shallow there is no possibility of engaging the viewer.
I have offered little by way of description of characters or plot, or specific information about this detritus from Fox - (because others have already done so) and I simply needed to get my frustration and irritation out of my system by writing this. Mission completed. Oh yes - and warn others who may be tempted to roll the dice.