Reviews

J K Simmons, who never appears in enough film & TV work for my liking, and Sissy Spacek give exemplary performances in a series that does not rush the story and creates enough intrigue to keep you engrossed. I really enjoyed their comfortableness with each other and you would swear they had spent decades in each others company.

Without giving anything away, I would definitely recommend this series and I hope there is another series soon.

US thriller/crime/action/war series & films are becoming an embarrassment of storytelling. The nadir should have been Heartbreak Ridge (if not before) where the invasion of Grenada is to be immortalised, time and time again US cinema with embarrassing timing pump out pro US propoganda disguised as 'hard hitting' critiques of anti democractic regimes. Here we have an average tale about counterfeiting, by Venezuela. Utterly unbelievable, no wonder Hollywood is in decline resorting to comic book exploitations to survive. Thank god for foreign cinema.

When I think of 12 Angry Men & One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, I see an empire in decline.

This series is OK if you expect nothing, you won't be disappointed. I can only surmise the current high rating is due to home support.

As somebody who has suffered a stroke this year (2022) from a bleed on the brain, never ill & healthy as a bull, the fight to regain thought process & use of arm is far bigger than any other battle in my life. This film simply lays out the challenges faced after the bell has gone. Superb, yet again, from Considine, a man who excels in front & behind the camera. A benchmark film, never afraid to delve into the simplest of struggles without the Hollywood urge to glorify or sex it up. As always in life the simplest solutions are usually the best.

For me obviously a very emotional experience as I am fighting my own way back. I cannot hold a pen, use a PC mouse & simple tasks take ages & a severe cause of frustration.

On the plus side I am lucky enough to have the NHS & it's heroic staff, who excel despite the Government of the day, not because of it.

Whilst this is a comedy & a light hearted look at fostering & adoption it raises critical issues of the importance of the need to help abandoned, refugee or mistreated children, or all of the above.

I appreciate the light touch approach & films like Nil by Mouth or series like Boys From the Blackstuff are far more harrowing, almost without redemption, I like this film because it reminds us, especially in this current apocalyptic society, there are so many good people doing great things in this world, but those in power are the people that should never be near power.

This film is a reminder of the good in society, but we need to rise like lions to those who abuse power.

Acerbic, pitiful, pathetic expose of the "American Dream" which is sold to 401K morons who still believe that hard work pays off.

This is Kirsten at her best, not since Drop Dead Gorgeous has she shown such 'gumption' and the ability to switch her talents from victim to a profiteer. Whi,St not pretty, she is exemplary in showing both sides to what is required. I wish I had seen more of her.

Visitors to the UK perceive it as cream teas, toffs & Hugh Grant. Whereas we have a German monarch trying to get exemption from climate laws & racial discrimination laws, a Govt. Deliberately culling it's population, an opposition party with less ideas than Joe Biden & the lowest societal care in Europe as well as the lowest pension in Europe.

This is another fine example of the cess pit that comes from living in a class based society where the working class are dispensable.

Season one was excellent, season two was worse than dental surgery. As usual a British person is the bad guy, so formulaic, but since Dr. Who, David Tennant has been a revelation in most of his work. He was excellent in this season one. I cannot stress how bad season 2 is. It was like Falcons Crest met Battlefield Earth, without any good bits. Am dreading to watch season 3...

This is epic in its capturing the zeitgeist of our times. In a world of polarised hate, fake news & limitless capacity to plumb new depths. The majesty of this film is how it tells the story in an easy to follow timeline of how plans escalate, how easy people are manipulated & how genuine vanguards for decency & change such as Corbyn, Sanders & Gabbard are conveniently disposed of or swept aside. The tension is ratcheted as the movie progresses. A real treat to watch.

I can honestly say, not since Natas the Reflection could I care less about a movie. When you have ZERO budget & two actors, you had better have; 1. A great back story 2. Great chemistry 3. Great special effects

Well, the actors looked like they wanted to kill each other, which I hoped they would to save time, the best special effect was a bee flying & the back story was earth is dead, live with it! The current pandemic is more riveting.

This is simply a retelling of events that were available at the time or thereafter. Nothing new is really revealed & whilst it is a neat compilation of the timeline, it is ultimately disappointing that it offers nothing new to those of us that followed it. If you don't know what happened or have never heard of Cambridge Analytica then it would be a good watch. My main gripe is it kept reporting biased, targeted ad campaigns and the No.1 example that was repeatedly shown was Hillary Clinton (lock her up, emails, Clinton foundation) as though she was a helpless, innocent target. This was extremely misleading.

If you are a fan of Radiohead this is right up your street. A pretentious meandering of self indulgent drivel, that makes one lose the will to live & an ending that is so meaningless, you could better enjoy your time counting grains of rice. Literally one of the worst films I have ever seen...

Each season brings a totally new storyline so if one season is not your 'cup of tea' stick with it. What I felt compelled to review is the absolute masterclass given by Jessica Lange. With an already impressive career, she excels in every role performed and I believe it is her best work. Definitely worth watching just for such a classy lady. I also have to give kudos to other cast members, particularly Lady GaGa whom I thought was very good.

This, in my humble opinion is the best thing Ricky Gervais has done. Stellar cast, Penelope Wilton always a pleasure to watch. This series is the perfect balance of darkness and light and sets out a credible concept of living with depression and suicidal thoughts. Depression is usually a lot darker and angrier for the most part and the direction did not allow this to happen and kept the viewer from being consumed by this aspect. I only planned to watch the first one, but was glued throughout in one sitting. Some heart rending moments, without giving away too much, the giving of money to Julian knowing what it was for was particularly poignant. Only deducted a point because the ending wrapped everything up in a nice neat bow and from experience, life is not always like that. Definitely recommend this though.

Great cast + great story + great direction = Something special. This is a gem of a movie, believable, credible and paced to perfection. This is a treat for movie fans who want a slice of authenticity to their pleasure. Loved it.

I am not a fan of these kind of movies or TV series. I watched Mullholland Drive as a youngster and did not like it, i accede that now I might be more appreciative being much older. However through the years things like Twin Peaks just confirm my disdain for meandering, far fetched, tenuous plots that demand a heavy intake of narcotics to gauge a small understanding of a plot so weak that after an interminable duration you lose the will to live and have lost all investment in a plot that a children's cartoon could outdo. All that said, this was a more amenable watch mainly due to Andrew Garfield who was excellent and also due to the movie getting better as it progressed. Still not my cup of tea as Spike would say!

Brilliant series, which has a cliffhanger effect like 24. Anna Friel is a joy to watch, mainly because I have a soft spot for her as she is so versatile as an actress. The story is strong without stretching credulity, but the weakest character is Harrison Walters, not because Jake cannot act, but his character was so weak in every aspect. As an activist he believed everything a plant told him, but ignored the hacker sidekick who keeps trying to tell him the truth. That apart, I loved it.

Binge watched this in 2 nights, a beautiful artwork of family grief, relationships & angst against a chilling backdrop of a monolithic family home. Superb cast, superb storyline & a masterpiece of blennding flashbacks with current life. Best thing I have seen in a while. A few more scares thrown in would have given a perfect 10!

Good cast x good character building x comedy = Great Movie! A really witty comedic horror, that play strongly to the Irish love of a drop or two! This is a refreshing addition to the genre, mainly because it does not take itself seriously at all and overdoses on the affability and endearment we hold the Irish nation in. Not much to fault really. Grab a beer & enjoy.

I thought this was a great premise for a movie and it worked well because the acting and pace of the film was good. A good twist with a moral dilemma certainly kept it gripping all the way through. Definitely worth a viewing.

Firstly, as usual, I am sick of the "guns to monkeys' brigade who have only two options: 1 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 I am not sure what education they received, but their teachers want sacking if those are the only two numbers taught... It seems a lot of negative views are about the annoying kids, which is strange that when in a war zone they did not respond like marines! Instead they act like small children who scream, who knew eh? I am a Michael Pena fan, I think he is an underrated actor with a natural on screen persona. Where this film lacked was it had a twist (albeit a good one) and built the film around it, but the story could have been fleshed out better. Overall I liked it because the twist was never forseeable.

As somebody from the U.K. critiquing a US drama it is a difficult job, especially when nuances, way of life and local daily life is so difficult to encapsulate for somebody who does not live and breathe life in a certain country, state or even town. Again, whilst I found Jim an anomaly of a character, somebody I do not recognise in the U.K. per se, I embrace that this could be normal in small town America. I did not dislike it, in fact the acting and pathos ran well with a viewers affection for the main cast and I always welcome a film that feels strong enough to omit (sometimes annoying) background music. That said, anything named after a song by the 'Peoples Poet' and one of my all time favourite songs I would like some reference to it and perhaps for it to be a backdrop to the film. Now I could be missing a trick here that the song was never played for a deeper meaning, but it would have served the film better, in my opinion, if this was a haunting backdrop to the crises being played out. When all said and done, a solid effort that improved as it progressed.

Probably one of the finest Modern westerns ever made and Bale is (as usual) a joy to watch. 7.2 (at the time of writing) is underscored and apart from a slightly 'hollywoodesque' ending it is still a brutal, touching voyage of the invaders intrusion into the land of the Native American. The beauty of this film is that our misconceptions of all players in this story go through a journey of change, however, the Native American philosophy holds true and their change is only in adapting to invasion. As somebody from the U.K. brought up on Americana, I have a strong empathy with the the indigenous population and their rights and treatment. The sad thing is once the invaders (like a virus) had killed the host, they moved onto the African Americans, who are suffering to this day. Changing the subject, one had to question what does Christian Bale have to do to get more recognition in the awards arena? From American Psycho to The Machinist & this, plus many more it is a farce he is so poorly rewarded for his exemplary work. Yet to see a bad film he has made.

There are movies that sometimes split the audience & this is such a movie. If you said to me, take Apocalypse Now, throw in some aqua men in rubber suits & throw lots of pigs blood around whilst taking acid, this would be the result. I like Nic Cage a lot, but I cannot like this. I don't throw 1's & 10's around as only morons do that, I try to score fairly. If you like 'trippy' films this will be right up your street. Ironically if they had done a Manson movie like this I would have probably engaged more.

A superbly directed and acted tale of cross, double cross, lies and more lies. The beauty of this movie is the pace is never forced and allows the events to proceed at a natural canter neither being overly simplistic nor too convoluted to lose the viewer. I continually kept trying to second guess what I would do in such a situation. Without giving any spoilers, I would strongly recommend this film.

OK, I have not watched that many films this year for one reason or another. However I have watched enough over the years to hopefully know a good film when I see it. The acting was superb and like Benito Del Toro in Traffic, I am sure Frances McDormand is a shoe-in for a few awards, however my standout was Sam Rockwell. A loathsome character, with lots of flaws but ultimately redeemable. Woody Harrelson was his usual laconic joy to watch and keeps getting better. It might be a tough watch, with barely a character that is endearing or somebody you can connect with, but stick with it, as the layers are peeled away their characters are revealed for what they really are Loved it, dark enough to be sinister with some acerbic comedic relief.