Reviews

After a stellar season one expectations for the second season were obviously high.

Now, don't get me wrong: the Tennant/Sheen couple is still a major factor and the setting and the story are quite interesting, but at the end of the day this season is just a linear story with predictable twists and no surprises.

We were treated with a first season where you could expect anything, memorable one-liners, sillines far beyond the 11-mark on the Python scale, but most importantly : all round originality.

Season two is a mix of romance, angels' and demons' dull politicking and a bit of humour - which in my opinion doesn't even hit the martk all the time.

After a while it gets a bit boring, still kind ok but simply doesn't hook you and doesn't make you erupt in laughter every other scene, so that's definitely a huge jump down the scale after the effervescent season one.

My rating is hence full marks to season one and just above average for season two.

I'm Italian an although I'm not a football fan, being born and bred in Italy "calcio" is of course part of my culture.

When tne show started I immediatly realized it was clever and well written just from the way football was presented. The writers were using Ted Lasso in a very clever way as the quintessential candid but curious football profane from US landed on Premier League planet as a vessel to explain football's basics and dynamics to a non-football savvy audience, but they were doing it in the most natural and intelligent way so that people like me could still see what they were doing but not feel patronized. That was not easy, but they managed brilliantly to do it and that alone was a seller for me ever since episode one: of course the charachters would have been realtable, of course the plots would have been interesting, of course the show would have been fun, that's inevitable since the writers are good!

That brings us straight to the last episode, three years and a whole tedlassodey later, where the writers reaped all they had sown all along the way. The title sums pretty much perfectly what it is about and I'm pretty sure delivering a hour-long episode almost entirely made of farewells is a task almost impossible to achieve without falling into cheekiness or cliches, but they managed to walk the line brilliantly and gave us a finale which just stands up to all the standards they had set throughout the whole series.

Every time I review a series or a movie I put under the lens all aspects: script, acvting, direction, photogrphy, costumes, music

The lot

This one has a great script , a rock solid cast with some outstanding duets between Bridges and Gleeson - they really stand out in a league of their own.

So in these departments the series is damn good

As far as the direction and photography, they could have done better. I liked the diner scene not only becuause it's a showcase of the two main players literallly giving an acting masterclass, but also because it's a great scene visually : lights, camera angles, cuts, direction. Everything is just damn good. The rest of the show is much more ordinary and "TV-ish", so in comparison with the diner scene it made me feel they could have done something outstandingly special but for some reason they didin't .

The music score is aboslutely anonimous, and even if you can't have a big soundtrack in a show like this it's nevertheless a minus - they could have gone for something more original for the titles at least, but fore some reason they didn't.

That's whay I'm giving a 7 out of 10, so if you want a great story with great actors and a couple of really outstanding performances that's what you need, but on the visual/cinematographic side be prepared for something just average

This show is great and I love it. You've probably already heard about how good it's written , how good is the cast, how good are the locations and photography.......

So let's talk about Brandy the dog. Brandy was given the most hard part to play, she must be caring and gentle but also full of energy and that jumpy get-the-stick-and-bring-it-back spirit at the same time. She must counterbalnce Gervais caharcter but also not steal the show or push it too far on the happy, tngue lolling, playful doggy side - and of course Brandy nailed it. Every time she's on screen you notice how pivotal she is but she 'a also extremly careful and she's never the diva stealing the shot .

You'll certainly love the scenes in the kitchen and on the beach, but you'll absolutely melt for the senes in the bedroom..

Brilliant, just brilliant..

What? You think this is a joke? Just watch the show and then we'll talk about it. Trust me.

My review's title says pretty much all.

The show is OK, but That's just it. Direction and photography just average, costumes and scenes just about OK, special/digital effects seem right enough.

What really makes me feel watching a dramatization of one of our D&D game session with my schoolmates when we all were teenagers is the script. Generally speaking the plot is interesting - but that's a credit to the books. What's really disappointing is the script. Dialogues are weak, charachters are predictable and no one will never ever do or say anything my and my classmates wouldn't have had our PC done or said in our D&D games back in the 80s. The script and charachter handling it's the kind of stuff that made me go "WOW" when I was watching John Millius Conan - but there it was part of that no-nonsense, punch-in-the-face, slash&bash fantasy extravaganza where everything MUST be direct, brutal, larger than life and roaring wildly. And it worked - big time! Here that kind of approcah is somewhat disappointing since characters are not just cliches and they COULD have been handled with a bit more of subtlety and layers to make them really stand out. Pity.

So all in all it's a fairly good, entertaing show but far from reaching its potential.

Ok , so I stumbled upon "A Song of Ice and Fire" after reading the first Dunk & Egg novella in the graphic novel adaptation. Since reading the first book, I thought Martin had just redefined sooooo many standards in Fantasy literature but, at the end of the day , had written an incredibly complex and masterful story, period

Then news started to come out about TV adaptation - that was really, REALLY frightening. The complexitiy , the subtelty, the richness, the vastness of Martin's work was so hard to handle that I was fearing for the worst.

I mean, how can you possibly transport Tyrion form page to screen without loosing the characther soul, spirit , wit and depht? That's the kind of things I was worried about.

So episode 1 was finally on the air, and when I sat and started to watch it I was prepared for the worst.

But them I saw the Men of the Black Watch getting trough the tunnel. No words spoken, no sounds but the horses' hoofs softly clopping the snow-covered soil. I just needed to see THAT first sequence to relax and dismiss all my fears. I said to my self : "the lads REALLY know what they're doing". I watched the rest of episode 1 with half a smile on my lips, every charachter/actor choiche was incredible, and the small details diverting from the books - like Sean Bean dirty blonde hair vs. Ned's black ones - were completely overriden by the actors' performances. And of course after witnessing Dinklage doing his things the imagine of Tyrion I had in my mind was definitely transformed into a new, Dinklage-ish version

Having said that, I still think the Dorne plot was miserable -even if Pedro was in-fu*§ing-credible as the Red Viper - so there are still thing in this show that can be put down to an human level......but overall this is still the closest thing to perfection one can imagine

It's as simple as that: take your classic heist movie, an Irish context, lots of unexpected situation and a real Murphy's law rampage.

The movie is fine, entertaining, with a handful of punchlines that made me laugh.

Acting is more than good, with veterans alongside young, very young and child actors all doing a great job.

This is not a masterpiece nor will never become a cult, it's just a nicely made funny wee movie you won't regret watching.

Have a pint, sit back and enjoy it.