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BlindLemonPye
Reviews
Gunpowder (2017)
So Dull
Great locations, costume and overall a glossy high-budget and easy on the eye production. Just stunningly boring though. Even at only 3 episodes, it felt like you could cut out all the dull filler and condense the hammy, historically inaccurate narrative into a single hour of something a bit more watchable. Nothing remotely like Wolf Hall (which was gripping and superb). Definitely one to avoid.
Shameless (2004)
As good as TV ever gets
I'm not a great authority on this, as I hardy watch TV any more. If they came up with more stuff like this, I would be addicted to the Box. Fantastic script, characters and acting and the funniest, freshest British made comedy I've seen since Spaced and (to a slightly lesser extent) The League of Gentlemen.
Although I come from the north of England and lived in Manchester for two years and therefore, through direct association, find I can relate very naturally to this humour, it must surely transcend 'northern' taste and appeal, in the same way that Phoenix Nights did, to absolutely anybody who sees it.
It's no wonder Channel 4 are taking the unusual step of running the whole series again, as I think media interest/hype came too late this time round. It's the only British thing to come remotely close to challenging the HBO stable (6ft Under/S.A.T.C) stuff that has attracted TV's biggest plaudits in this last 4/5 years. I think it will go down as being an important landmark in British comedy broadcasting and gain cult status for years to come.
Commissioning a series two is a must - it was just hitting full speed last night with the closing episode of this first run.
The Martian Chronicles (1980)
You're alive
I saw this in 79-80, when I was 8 years old. It was shown quite late once a week on the BBC. Due to its late showing and married with my tender age, I was the only person out of all my peers who watched it. It left a big impression on me and I can still remember some of the scenes over twenty years on.....The thing is I have asked scores of people over these years to see if anyone remembered it. As the years passed and not one person said they had, I was beginning to wonder if it was a product of my fertile imagination - especially with its dreamy tone. Here we are on IMDB (one of my very favourite web sites) and you have proved to me that I am not totally mad. I hope it will be available in the UK one day so I can see just why it left this mark on me. I won't place a review though as it would be unfair after so long. LONG LIVE IMDB!!!
U-571 (2000)
oh dear, not again..
U571 is, in essence, a fairly good action movie. The problem I have with it is that once again Hollywood plundered the history books for factual events and then took it upon themselves to rewrite history to present what looks like a true story but is in fact total fabrication. The events of this film have some vague and i mean vague parallels with the British capture of an enigma, something most of the films publicity channels and media outlets chose to ignore. American personnel did capture an enigma of course, but this was in 1946 when you could just about buy one in a car boot sale. This fact altering trend even infiltrates film created specifically for children, take the laughable Disney reworking of the Pocahontas story. Moral obligation is a forgotten phrase in today's society but does Hollywood really want the current generation of kids brought up on lies and falsehood? Tantamount to the Nazi practice of book burning this trend of changing history in favour of a popular ideal is to me, genuinely disturbing. Yes its only entertainment, but why not draw a distinct line between fact and fiction.