Reviews

I really enjoyed this one. Good characters, action sequences and costumes etc. It was interesting seeing a war film without an American or British lead. A little bit 'chatty' for my liking ( why is there always that one dub voice who sounds like he's a 30 a day man and is in everything, from spaghetti western to modern films?) Interesting use of a mix of black and white and colour filming. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be funny in parts or just very wry but either way I did enjoy it. I took off one star because of the mistreatment of a piglet. My western sensibilities felt it was a bit rough.

My main gripe with Luther Fallen Sun is Andy Serkis. God bless him but Andy made his name doing animated creatures and unfortunately has not held on to any of the close subtelty of television work. When his own face is in view, he's a pantomine villain, all exaggerated expressions and bigger than necessary movements. A subtler actor would have improved the film x 10 if you could get past the daft plot. Idris, as always, knows Luther inside out, and though he's never quite reached the heady heights of series one, with the phenomenal writing/relationship with Alice ( one of the best TV characters ever written and played) he did the man proud and I would love to see Luther MI 5 as a short series.

If you have pedantic tendencies or know anything about the ancient history of Britain, give this one the body swerve. If, however, you enjoy a bit of daft humourous writing with a big dollop of fun ( the Romans zonking out on discarded herbs is particularly amusing) combined with a grand amount of blood and a smidgen of gore, then you'll enjoy it. The only complaint I might have is that the main actresses just looks like she's about 12 all the way through. I feel an aged up actress in the latter stages would have worked better. Some great characters and fantastic scenery are on view. Mackenzie cook is immense in the role of the chief druid, all bones and weirdness and looks frighteningly skinny throughout. But he is magnificent in the role.

I love The Boys. I really do. But this was a filler episode. Ackles is looking good and should prove to be a positive addition to the series but Homelander is still the king. It's perhaps the lack of Homelander that made this a slightly underwhelming episode. I get that we have to move the plot along but hey ho. It takes Soldier Boy so long to fire up his chest that Homelander will have sliced him in half before he fully charges. Talking about plots, I'm HATING the Frenchie storyline. He's a fab character but all this Russian mob poop is just so off base and out of place that it's distracting.

So we have a tight knit group bound by blood and suddenly a new kid appears and is instantly into every deep secret a d with a better grasp of the storyline that I do. She's the most annoying addition to any series ever. This lot have taken her so much to heart and told her just everything that the police should have just sent a young undercover cop in and they'd have got the whole story inside a week. Urgh. Awful character. Awful plot line. No reason for her at all. Just a complete cringe fest. The season was sub par as a restult which is a shame because Bryce (Justin Prentiss) showed some serious acting chops.

This was a highly watchable film with good performances from Fiennes and the supporting cast. I know it's a small quibble, but I had an aunt who spent some of her childhood in a Japanese internment camp and these actors were simply too well fed. I'm not asking for the kind of extreme method acting that Chris Bale goes in for, but a loss of condition and a bit of weight loss would have added to the authenticity a little. The conditions in these places were atrocious and there just wasn't any non-make up suggestion of that. I don't know how close to the story this was but apart from my rather mean quibble, it was a good film. A couple of collar bones from naturally slender guys does not starvation show!

Some fun concepts at work here though the acting / script at some points was a bit lacking. The basic plot line is that three fairly hard-core gamers take on a new game only to fall into the quest itself in a fairly intense way. It's a bit Jumanji (which is actually mentioned at one point) though with the higher budget and of course, bigger stars, Jumanji did it better, but the small cast and the close quarters filming keeps it intense. Not terrifying, not too bloody, but a fun enough watch if you're not doing anything else. And it raises the question - how 'into' a game can you get without starting to lose touch with reality?

Some reviewers have complained about a weak ending to this film, but I have to disagree. As a woman, and a mother, the ending was perfect. I liked the rather unexpected special effects, coming as they did, after a smorgasbord of the worst of humankind. The two principals are very good and at times their performances are difficult to watch, but the film treads the true path and leads us to a satisfying outcome. It seems drawn out for most of the early part but it's worth sticking with.

This film just has no redeeming qualities. Moth, AKA the longest, most boring road trip you could ever take, is badly acted, boringly written and possibly with the least amount of chills per minute of film ever created. The lead actress has the personality and charisma of a dead fish and her male support is at least as bad. They spend so much time cramped together in the car or saying, "did you her dat?" or 'wat is dat?' that at no point are you ever invested in the characters or the story. The shaky camera is also bad, offputtingly so. The real problem here is just the lack of anything happening. It's a real 'student project' type of thing; minimum cast, people in the car and then the woods, just no. Sorry guys, it was just ghastly.

I'm not a comic geek. Until Deadpool appeared in the Wolverine Origins film, I'd never heard of him. Apparently fans were incredibly outraged at that portrayal, and frankly, as the new Deadpool is supposed to be almost identical to the comic version, I can now see why. Reynolds is supposed to be a big Deadpool fan, and it really shows. The humour starts right at the beginning with a brilliant title sequence that sets the scene. The audience is almost a participating player in the film, such is the level of breaking the fourth wall. It's not so much broken as reduced to rubble and crunched under Deadpool's feet! I wasn't sure if I'd take to that but it was just brilliant. This is the superhero film for adults that we've been waiting on. Yes, there's a lot of swearing, but it's really very in context. Yes there are hints at DP's supposed sexual interests but that's presumably for later films. I loved the referencing of the other X-men films. I loved the poking fun at other superheroes. I loved the humour and even the violence was so well choreographed that it was fun rather than horrific, and it was very tongue in cheek. Which is probably a sexual reference somewhere as well... I loved remarks like 'smells like a franchise...' it was just so OTT and funny that the audience was laughing out loud as indeed was I a couple of times. I now know the backstory to Deadpool and am looking forward to him taking his rightful place among the best of the superheroes. I will definitely get it on Blu-ray when it comes out (I expect it will break a whole new set of records when it comes out) and I look forward to the second instalment. My only fear is that any follow-ups can't possibly maintain the humour, the insanity and the sheer pace of the jokes and one-liners that this film brought. Reynolds brings his A-game and blows the X men out of the water.

The summer disaster movie is a tried and tested formula of one third story and two thirds humungous special effects. San Andreas is no exception. No one goes to a disaster movie looking for Shakespeare and its obvious that most of the quite big names in this have been looking for a film they can do that doesn't call for angsty hand-wringing. It's big, it's bold and it's predictable fun. It's undoubtedly Dwayne Johnson's film and he plays the character he's good at, a tough but tender heroic type with the gutsiest moves and the scariest stunts. The stunts are great and kudos to the stuntpeople who can never get the praise they deserve. Don't go looking for highbrow entertainment. Take a big bag of popcorn and hang your scepticism up at the door. It's a great ride.

I saw this last Saturday and enjoyed it but I found Benedict cumberpatch's extreme emotional disconnect so extreme that it gave the entire film a flat and dull edge. The portrayal of the period was excellent and the casting was good (with a special nod to Mark Strong) but the principal performance is so tight that it seems to drain all the life from the piece. Now I realise that a certain echelon of society in these days prized the stiff upper lip but mr cumberpatch plays the buttoned down mathematical genius so devoid of anything approaching emotion that the interest drains from chunks of the film like water down a plughole. Unfortunately it's a style of performance that he is beginning to produce time and again and I begin to wonder whether he actually has much range. Three quarters of the way through I began thinking about the performance produced by 'I, Claudius' star, Derek Jacobi and wishing it was him I was watching. In the end I found this film enjoyable but dissatisfying. And as a nod to the real man, incredibly tragic.

I'll start by saying I'm Scottish with a reasonable knowledge of the times in the drama and this is bunkum BUT it is enjoyable bunkum with a very beautiful Mary and some of the best music I've heard on a TV show since the new Battlestar Galactica. Think 'The Borgia's' without Jeremy Iron's pope and you will be on the right lines when you imagine what 'Reign' is like. It's actually so pretty, and the music is so great, that I really want them to dump the historical narrative altogether and disappear off into a fantasy world where they can make up their own ending and create their own marriages and alliances as they go along. Adelaide Kane is a gorgeous Mary - in fact I keep forgetting it's supposed to be Mary Queen of Scots and getting confused with 'Snow White'. That girl was just born to wear red roses in her hair. Her young French prince is the ringer for the younger of the Borgia sons and is very easy on the eye - and talking about eyes, the 'bastard' brother to the French prince is another honey. And then we get on to the pagans in the woods, the conspiring Queen and the enemies all around. It's quite sumptuous. As I say, it's nonsense; it's absolutely not to be taken seriously, but I will carry on watching it because it is all just so darned enjoyable and glorious in it's wrongness. And the soundtrack is just breathtaking.

When I was at school, Shakespeare was as dry as the pages it was written on. To watch it, performed by actors who really know and understand Shakespeare, and can convey that in their work, is to enter a world of majesty, of subtle innuendo, of humour and of total understanding of the work of the Shakespeare who used his gift to allow 'the common man' to discuss and understand the goings-on and political machinations of his age. There are no 'spoilers' when it comes to Shakespeare - the work is out there in a myriad of forms and interpretations, waiting to be read. This production is one of the best available. Watch it, then read the plays. Savour the words. Go back and watch the scene performed. Truly appreciate the nuance and the masterful language of the master at work. I cannot recommend this production highly enough. From the haughty, almost effete King Richard (Ben Wishaw) through Jeremy Iron's haunted Henry IV to the masterpiece of development that is Tom Hiddleston's Prince Hal, this production brings the humanity and the grandeur of the role of King and all that conveys. Get it. Watch it. Love it.

I guess I wasn't expecting too much - Mr Paul is a fairly average actor who has been lucky to land a long running series, and I hadn't heard of the female lead at all. So not high expectations I guess. But I was pleasantly surprised. There was a decent plot line, the acting wasn't awful and the special effects were, if not blockbuster, were certainly fine. The tightness of the set made for a taut thriller which relied heavily on the acting chops of the two principals. It was definitely one of these films where you were waiting for the next twist to come along, and like the male lead, you have a niggling feeling that it's not finished yet. With a bigger budget and a couple of named stars, this would have been right up there with the best films of the year. It needed a slightly more defined end and stronger performances, as well as some steadier camera work to build menace rather than spinning round to show confusion, but apart from that really not a bad film at all. Begging for a remake.

If you are of a sensitive nature, then give this, the latest in the 'Spartacus' TV series, the body-swerve. But if you enjoy lots of chiselled male bodies, plenty of both gender nudity, lots of CG gore and aren't offended by some of the bawdiest language ever put into a TV programme, then Spartacus; Gods of the arena, is for you. Neatly tied in carefully with a brief intro (the finale of the last series, Spartacus, Blood and sand) the story whisks us straight into the early days of the house of Bateatus as the scheming Roman builds his gladiatorial house against all the politicking and sexual shenanigans of the vicious and cut-throat world around him. There can't be many sentences where 'cock' is not used, and f**k is thrown about liberally too - as I say, not for the easily shocked, but Chaucerian in its vulgarity! And the reference to Shakespeare? There can equally be few TV programmes where characters say lines like, "He arrives. Let us end discussion and set mind to purpose..." Straight out of Shakespeare for fifth year! So, yes, an eminently suitable successor to Blood and Sand, and will not disappoint the same audience. I feel a need to give it a thumbs up - and let it live for longer to carry on the games!

Billy Connolly is a brilliant actor who became so famous for his comedy that he was effectively lost to acting. On a par with the best in his generation, his touching portrayal in this masterpiece is nothing short of brilliant. Jon Morrison also deserves mention for his excellent work here. The two men work effectively together and give the play some real resonance.A sensitive play about what it means to be grown up, and the responsibilities that brings. Perhaps slightly dated now in this day and age of gap years and mass unemployment, the play, nevertheless, has something to offer everyone. Thoroughly recommended, though very rarely seen now. A superb theatrical experience.

Just switch your brain off and go along for the ride. Strictly clichéd, but lots of action. Everything way over the top. Colossal amounts of gore, lots of gross-outs and in some places it's too dark to really see what's going on (if you're a gross hound like me). Karl Urban strips down well and should get his kit off more often. The baddies are clearly defined (liked them speaking Icelandic, by the way) the goodies are appropriately unable to fight back and our hero does all the hard work. Didn't love it, and wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again, but it was alright. In the great scheme of things, I've seen a lot worse. I've seen a lot better too, but it's not as bad as some of these other comments have suggested. As I say, clichéd, no surprises and probably one I'd be happy to watch on TV.