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Reviews
Great Expectations (2023)
Clunky, obvious, unsubtle modernisation.
I don't mind progressive and modern reinterpretations if they're done well. Sometimes I enjoy the counterpoint of classics viewed through the lenses of more modern mentality; but it has to be done well! Otherwise it just feels forced and changed for the sake, merely, of pre-existing conditions. Simply put, they lay it on thick. Every single plot point, every character, every single line is solely used to break the story apart, but not in a clever, or intellectual or satisfying way. It's just 'tick box' ( not in terms of casting) but lazy, lazy, modernist, themes. Bad, boring, A-level script writing. When will these producers come down from their ivory towers and re-write the classics in a sophisticated and engaging way???
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Poor acting, they sound like they're from our planet circa 2010
The script is generic dialog by committee, the acting is terrible and really amateurish. It's honestly really off putting and ruins any sense of witnessing another planet. I really wanted to give the 3rd sister a fair go but unfortunately she's a bit out of her depth and experience as an actor. I just don't believe her. Her delivery and mannerisms are very much of our time and place not a galaxy far, far away. Which breaks the illusion. Poor. I think it's time to cancel my subscriptions. All of them are producing trash.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Ridiculously smug. Far too many nods and winks to internet culture.
This whole film is like a middle aged man turning up to a skate park and saying ' hello fellow cool teenagers'. It's awful. Truly awful. Acting is terrible. Script is beyond parody. It's bad in every single way.
Murder in Provence (2022)
Terrible acting. Wooden dialogue.
Some of the acting is so bad it made me laugh. It's so clunky and wooden that I thought it was a parody at times. The script is laughable. But the scenery is nice.
The Responder (2022)
Incredible acting performance.
Martin Freeman is totally brilliant in this gritty and affecting drama. It's a pretty grim and dark setting so if you're expecting some light relief then this won't help. But if you enjoy totally immersive and compelling acting then you'll love it. One of the best acting performances I've seen in years.
Four Lives (2022)
Excoriating portrayal of Police incompetence.
Jaw dropping, anger inducing, incredibly sad and heart wrenching. Story told with compassion and dignity. The acting is quite frankly some of the best I've seen in a long time. Merchant is fantasticly cast as a weird and creepy Poole. Sheridan is brilliant. Supporting cast is very good. This is an important drama. The Met must be reformed.
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
Incredible. Historic. Made me sad, happy, mesmerised.
As a lifelong Beatles fan I found watching this documentary really emotional. I felt great joy and sadness. It's joyous to see them all together, alive, and young. But it also felt melancholic knowing what happened to John and George. It felt like watching a long lost home video of family members. Just mind blowing how talented and how the stars aligned to give the world these monmentally talented musicians. That's the best part. Just the bloody great talent of them. But also seeing their fagility and interaction was fascinating. But again even though it is fascinating and joyous, it's also nostalgic and melacholic. To me at least. A deeply affecting documentary.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Intelligent, thematically complex, characterful, beautifully shot film.
This film has stayed with me for a number of days. It's a complex and beguiling film of strangeness and complexity. It's a very intelligent and nuanced exposition of repression, power, sexuality and the dynamics of feminine vs masculine. The characters are deep, played with amazing subtlety, the cinematography is beautiful, the plot is slow but wonderfully realised through the characters. Those that can't invest in attention, thought or thematic complexity will struggle. This is not a film for modern immediacy. It takes intelligence and investment to understand. Modern need for obviousness and immediate gratification will hate this film. I rarely say it but a lot of people 'just won't get it'. Which makes those that do enjoy it all the more.
Midnight Mass (2021)
A really entertaining, gory, thought provoking and well acted story.
It's dark. It's gory. It's well acted. It's well written. It's not what I expected. I loved it!
Foundation (2021)
Ferrari with a Hyundai engine, driven by a kid straight out of drama school.
I think amazing visuals can't carry a poor product anymore. I used to seeing the incredible. I'm not used to good acting, good writing, good editing, good casting. All of which are sadly missing. The casting is horrible. Just horrible. The lead is wooden and seems entirely out of their depth. The editing is terrible. But it follows the script. Which is awful. Incredibly important moments come out of no where. They just 'jump' onto the screen one after the other in order to cram as much plot as possible into a short time. Deeply philosophical and important bits of interaction and dialogue come out of no where, without prompting, and last 30 seconds, with no discernible change in emotion, and then the characters move onto the next large CGI moment. It all just feels rushed, un-sophisticated, and un-polished. They've got all the money and visuals in the world but they've forgotten about the basics. The cast, plot, timing, editing all just come across as slightly amateurish. It's like a Ferrari with a Hyundai engine being driven by a girl straight out of drama school. Disappointed.
Vigil (2021)
Laughably bad.
I was genuinely excited when I saw the trailers. I've always loved the claustrophobic setting of submarines. It's a great place to set a drama. But this is an absolute turkey of a production. It's so bad that I was openly laughing within the first 10 minutes. All the characters are so badly written, they 'tick boxes' and the acting is wooden to the point where you just know that they read the script and thought ' I'll just get through this as quickly as possible'. The whole thing is a car crash of a series. None of it makes sense. So bad.
Clarkson's Farm (2021)
Love island for Waitrose shoppers.
Banal buffoonery for Middle Englanders who's only cultural or intellectual pursuit is a biannual trip to a National Trust property to check to see if it's been ruined by the 'left'. A classic piece of contrived drivel for those that have never read a book and delight in safe 'one of us' TV. A great conversation starter for Audi drivers to bring up at the golf club as they struggle to think anything original. Terrible TV for terribly safe but angry people. Love Island for John Lewis shoppers. Clarkson is just a 'throughly good chap!!' Awful TV for awful people. One long advertisement for Londoners to sell up and ruin the countryside as they 'play' at landlordship. If they hadn't ruined the countryside with second home ownership they'll be buying up farms now to indulge their whimsical boredom.
Time (2021)
Top quality writing, acting, direction. Brilliant
A throughly realistic and engrossing portrayal of life inside a British prison. Pretty grim but essential viewing for anyone who may harbour preconceived ideas about life behind bars. Bean is fantastically understated and very believable as a man who made a huge mistake and is facing the consequences of his actions. Graham once again shows that he's the finest actor of his generation. Great supporting cast and throughly thought provoking. Recommended viewing for those that enjoy realism.
Prisoners (2013)
Moral ambiguity, tense plot, characters with depth.
A really engrossing and throughly thought provoking study in ethics and the effect trauma has on individual moral actions. Each protagonist is well developed and brilliantly realised. A tense and unnerving plot with satisfying twists, red herrings and dead ends that keep you guessing till the denouement. Although bleak and not easy to watch at times each characters actions are easily held up to your own subjective 'what would I do in that situation?' With some people unable or unwilling to hold up mirror and ask themselves 'what if??' this film will be too much for them. But if you like a good thriller, a genuine conversation starter and a brilliant example of film craft and scripting. This is the film for you. Really enjoyed it.
The Woman in the Window (2021)
A pretty fun thriller that shouldn't be taken too seriously
I hadn't read the book, didn't know the story, but I quite enjoyed this. It's by no means a classic and doesn't break any new ground but was beautifully shot and had some good performances. It's a nod to Hitchcock and not very original but I genuinely enjoyed it. All in all I've seen better, I've seen much worse and at the end of a rainy evening stuck indoors I thought it was actually pretty enjoyable. I'm not going to remember it in a few weeks but sometimes just a fun thriller with a over dramatic finale is just fine.
Jupiter's Legacy (2021)
Another corporate 'quick what's relevant??Copy that!!!'
This is just another cynical unoriginal production by committee. I can imagine a meeting at a production company sat about in suits with charts looking at which recent shows have made money and just crashing this together. ' Ok so in 1st quarter 2019 superhero's, but with a modern twist, were trending at 23% above median in advertising for demographic 3 ages 18-35! We need a Superhero series quick to take advantage!' Why do these companies think the public will buy the stuff? They won't do anything original. They won't take risks. It's an arms race. As soon as there's a hit, all the surrounding production companies just rush to copy the hit. Which is what this is. The 'Boys' was a hit so they crashed this out to take advantage. There are thousands of fantastic scripts out there. By really talented writers. But these companies keep buying terrible copy cat scripts and really poor adaptations of popular books. Avoid this series. It's bad.
Shadow and Bone (2021)
The acting lets this down. Not a 10/10 by any stretch .
This is a perfectly enjoyable series let down by some poor acting. Some of the cast seem to think 'this is it!! This is my big chance! ' And miss the mark. It doesn't detract entirely but there is no subtlety whatsoever. Many over act in their parts that made me cringe a bit. That being said the world is beautifully rendered, it's an exciting tale, and it is by and large enjoyable. But it's definitely not a 10/10 . I'd be suspicious of those that give this top marks. It's a classic evening in with nothing else to do kind of show. Not mind blowing but pretty enjoyable.
WandaVision (2021)
A really original and different series that gets better and better.
I've always been a little apathetic about Marvel films and programs. Some are entertaining and exciting but I was never a 'fan'. But this is different and original. I really enjoyed the premise, the sets and the growing understanding that not all was what it seemed. Enjoyable.
The Conversation (1974)
One of the greatest films ever made!
This film is fantastic. A true masterpiece of suspense, intrigue and misdirection. The acting and performances have a strange understated feeling to them, which gives the enigmatic nature of the film a real style. I really love this film. I believe this film to be an absolute classic. It's one for the open minded and is much more sophisticated and unashamedly of its time than modern cinema. If you like 'modern' blockbusters perhaps this isn't for you. But if you like eerie, suspenseful, slightly surrealist and mysterious films of real character and boldness then this is for you!
De twaalf (2019)
A throughly enjoyable and suspenseful drama.
I hadn't heard of this drama, set within a court case in Ghent, Belgium. Initially I was not immediately hooked but I was intrigued mainly because there are stark differences between the continental and common law systems that I found really fascinating to watch. I've seen plenty of British and American court dramas and I've enjoyed many of them. This drama really developed into a straight 'who done it' but with plenty of ambiguity right up until the final scenes! I really enjoyed it. It's not perfect. There's a few moments of ' why don't you just!!' frustrations with characters but by the end I was still pausing the drama to discuss and decide who the guilty party is with my family members. That is a rare occurrence as the majority of 'who don't it's' are obvious. I good court drama that I recommend you stick with right up till the end. It's also got a couple of the most disgusting and reprehensibly immoral characters I've seen for a long time. They're a joy to hate!
Aliens (1986)
Re-watch it every 10years. It's still great!!
I love this film. It's perfect. From the suspense to the action to the characters; it's a classic piece of 80's. It takes the premise of the original and cranks it up, not in a grotesque or exploitative way, but in a real levelling up. Weaver is great and the rest of the cast too. One or two dodgy moments but these do not detract from the whole. It's brilliant.
Tombstone (1993)
Russel and Kilmer have great screen chemistry!
I remember watching this film in the 90's as a teenager and enjoying it. It's uncomplicated and a good balance of many themes. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than a good fun film. I always remembered the chemistry between Kilmer and Russel and after watching it again recently they really do make the film. It's not complex, it won't make you think, but if you've had a hard week, want to sit back and be entertained, with a well produced and acted film ? This is it! Throughly enjoyed rewatching it.
Utopia (2020)
It's awful.
Watched the original. It was ok. I enjoyed it. Nothing amazing but a good show. This is awful. Truly unwatchable. There's been a few attempts at taking a British show and remaking it in the US. Every time they make an undignified mess of it. They literally took everything good about the original and rather than even attempting to transplant it they just got rid of it and made it a million times worse. By the way you can see all the paid professional reviewers on IMBD. They give this a 10/10 but no one in their right mind would give this a 10/10. It's the worst remake I've ever seen and I didn't think the original was all that!
Session 9 (2001)
It's a mess. Truly awful.
This film is a total mess. It's as though a bunch of 14 year olds got a camcorder, went to a spooky building and made up a film on the hoof. It's appallingly bad. This is my first rating of 1 star. Anyone who has given this a 10 is being paid to give online reviews. I would almost say this is the worse film I've ever seen. Terrible, awful, boring.
The Deceived (2020)
Terrible acting
Was struggling to find something to watch after binging most series during Lockdown . I usually really like 'spooky' thrillers and often give them the benefit of the doubt; suspending belief to enjoy the programme. I know C5 have a bit of a reputation for below quality dramas but I went into this with an open mind. I was disappointed. The Irish countryside, as a setting, is perfect to draw the viewer in and ratchet up suspense. It can't compensate for the poor acting for the lead characters. The writing is ok. Nothing special. The male lead is trying but I get the distinct felling that he's working on exposure and taking it as a 'gig'. The female lead is terrible! She can't act. I've seen amateur dramatics productions with more competent actresses. No chemistry between characters. No range. Poor delivery of the lines. The female lead made me cringe. It's also a bit creepy. She looks 14-15 years old, having an affair with a 30-40year old man! I know she purportedly at university making her 18 but honestly it made me uncomfortable to watch a child acting out sex scenes with an adult man. All in all terrible.