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So I just watched Inside Man on Netflix, starring Stanley Tucci and David Tennant, written/produced by the guy who did the modern Sherlock Holmes

 

It was absolutely awful. Total shit from beginning to end, which is a bit of an accomplishment, given who was involved. It was maybe harder to do it badly than to do it well, but they found a way.

 

Spoiler

The problems start with the writing which is based in more lazy genius trapped in a cell but manages to manipulate an army of people on the outside tropes. Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot this guy is not (not even Hannibal Lecter). 

 

But this is one of those idiot plots in which the whole thing could have been avoided if the characters weren't so stupid and merely said the sensible thing, instead of saying the thing that will creak the plot forward. As an example, the chief couple realizes their hostage is manipulating them by telling them different things trying to sow suspicion, so naturally they continue to see the captive separately, rather than going together, which would nullify that tactic. At every turn, every character (except Tucci, who knows things he cannot know -- although he seems to have 24/7 phone access, but we never see how he learns the things he knows) does the dumbest thing possible, making the whole experience frustrating and predictable. As an example, late in the series I said out loud, "This character is about to be hit by a car" and one second later, that character was hit by a car. It's that kind of "which cliche would be the most likely here?" and then it happens.

 

The "logic" of the thing is questionable throughout. To wit: Tucci's character says he noticed another character didn't file a missing persons report -- which told him (Tucci) that the character must have known where the missing person was. The plot of the story, however, and the cover story of that character make clear that the missing person had been and gone. In other words, the missing person went missing _after_ leaving the place, so what sort of a person files a missing person report on a person they don't know is missing? That moment is supposed to be presented as some "aha" moment, but it ignores what been shown. Careless.

 

 

 

Anyway, it's bad. Don't bother unless you're a Tucci/Tenant completist. I don't think this one is going to be mentioned in the lifetime retrospectives these guys get someday.

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On 11/23/2022 at 11:15 AM, Nova Carmina said:

So I just watched Inside Man on Netflix, starring Stanley Tucci and David Tennant, written/produced by the guy who did the modern Sherlock Holmes

 

It was absolutely awful. Total shit from beginning to end, which is a bit of an accomplishment, given who was involved. It was maybe harder to do it badly than to do it well, but they found a way.

 

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The problems start with the writing which is based in more lazy genius trapped in a cell but manages to manipulate an army of people on the outside tropes. Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot this guy is not (not even Hannibal Lecter). 

 

But this is one of those idiot plots in which the whole thing could have been avoided if the characters weren't so stupid and merely said the sensible thing, instead of saying the thing that will creak the plot forward. As an example, the chief couple realizes their hostage is manipulating them by telling them different things trying to sow suspicion, so naturally they continue to see the captive separately, rather than going together, which would nullify that tactic. At every turn, every character (except Tucci, who knows things he cannot know -- although he seems to have 24/7 phone access, but we never see how he learns the things he knows) does the dumbest thing possible, making the whole experience frustrating and predictable. As an example, late in the series I said out loud, "This character is about to be hit by a car" and one second later, that character was hit by a car. It's that kind of "which cliche would be the most likely here?" and then it happens.

 

The "logic" of the thing is questionable throughout. To wit: Tucci's character says he noticed another character didn't file a missing persons report -- which told him (Tucci) that the character must have known where the missing person was. The plot of the story, however, and the cover story of that character make clear that the missing person had been and gone. In other words, the missing person went missing _after_ leaving the place, so what sort of a person files a missing person report on a person they don't know is missing? That moment is supposed to be presented as some "aha" moment, but it ignores what been shown. Careless.

 

 

 

Anyway, it's bad. Don't bother unless you're a Tucci/Tenant completist. I don't think this one is going to be mentioned in the lifetime retrospectives these guys get someday.

Thanks for the heads up!

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41 minutes ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

What do you think of this whole series overall so far?

I'm only really at the beginning of this one yet. And like most of the stories you can't really tell in the first couple of episodes. I like it so far though. I would say Roanoke is my least favourite one so far, but then I'm not a fan of that kind of parody style, and I don't like found footage type stuff either. It was pretty funny in places though. The funniest part was the whole Kathy Bates character going crazy think she really was The Butcher!

 

Oh do you mean the whole series. Well I like it, but it's possible there's a general downwards trend for me. It's kind of getting weaker as it goes along. I think I'm going to like this Cult one better than the Roanoke one though.

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On 12/9/2022 at 1:04 AM, treeduck said:

I'm only really at the beginning of this one yet. And like most of the stories you can't really tell in the first couple of episodes. I like it so far though. I would say Roanoke is my least favourite one so far, but then I'm not a fan of that kind of parody style, and I don't like found footage type stuff either. It was pretty funny in places though. The funniest part was the whole Kathy Bates character going crazy think she really was The Butcher!

 

Oh do you mean the whole series. Well I like it, but it's possible there's a general downwards trend for me. It's kind of getting weaker as it goes along. I think I'm going to like this Cult one better than the Roanoke one though.

 

I didn't care much about the direction they took with Roanoke either. Cult is one of my favorites though. I think they definitely redeemed themselves after Roanoke. I will have to go through this whole show again at some point and see if my opinion on any of the seasons have changed. I haven't watched any of them since they originally aired.

 

There is also a spin off series called American Horror Stories. I think there's only been one season so far. Each episode is a stand alone story like Tales From The Crypt was.

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1 hour ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

I didn't care much about the direction they took with Roanoke either. Cult is one of my favorites though. I think they definitely redeemed themselves after Roanoke. I will have to go through this whole show again at some point and see if my opinion on any of the seasons have changed. I haven't watched any of them since they originally aired.

 

There is also a spin off series called American Horror Stories. I think there's only been one season so far. Each episode is a stand alone story like Tales From The Crypt was.

I've got that spin-off series lined up for after I'm finished, there's two seasons, altogether 15 episodes.

 

I thought that Cult was good but the series seems to be going in a non-supernatural, more political direction. One bad point in the show I have to mention is the Sarah Paulson character's sudden change from being scared of everything to fearless hero killing people left and right, was very unconvincing. And why would this supposedly super-intelligent cult leader suddenly allow her to be his right hand man, and this was the woman who's life he ruined, messed up her marriage, took her kid away, scared her to death and humiliated her? How could he ever believe she would be on his side after all that, would he really trust her? And would he really kill his brother and sister before he killed her? If that were me I'd have killed her as soon as she found out about the cult, why would you leave her alive? Seems like it was a plot set-up for the Sarah Paulson character to win the day, in reality she'd be killed before she ever did any of that stuff.

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I love politics and especially political dramas such as The West Wing and political sitcoms such as Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister

 

However, a few months a friend made me aware of another BBC political sitcom/drama called "The Thick of It". There were four series in total, dating between 2005 and 2012. Very much an updated and hard hitting version of "Yes, Minister" with lots of foul language to boot. And yet it has me hooked to the point where I've had many repeat viewings.

 

 

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Still getting caught up on Yellowstone.  It's like Sons Of Anarchy, but on horses; I love it.  1883 was heartbreaking.

Been watching 1923 in realtime. 

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