Reviews

Well, well well, this is a turn up for the books. This show is all heart, authenticity, family and a peek into living and loving someone with bipolar. I was shocked in places, the children's language, what a twelve year old girl is allowed to look like, but once I got past the end of my own nose I was more and more impressed by the family unit and how they keep it all together. The insight into bipolar is stellar. I do believe this show will remove a lot of the stigma surrounding men and mental health issues. None of it felt scripted or contrived, which is hard to come by these days. It's not something I ever thought I'd watch, but I'm glad I did. The show is not what I expected at all.

I must say, this documentary is a job very well done. It gives us great insight into who Stephen is. We get to see his games as a boy, teen and man. We see his support network, parents, coaches, school friends and teammates. We begin to understand why he's so humble, and we see how loved and respected he is at Davidson. I often found myself grinning and punching the air. It's feel-good on steroids. As for the edit, that too is great work. There are no drawn-out monologues. They keep the dialogue short and snappy, which gives the whole thing breathing space. Even if you're not a sports fan you'll enjoy this.

So far, so good. We're not getting, 5ft waif can out-punch a 6 ft3 fella without breaking a sweat. We are getting, feral, traumatised, female, wants to avenge her innocence and honour by stomping every fecker she sees to a bloody pulp. However, they are giving us realism, in that when blokes smack women the women go down. Being a female-led drama, they get back up, whereas we real women would be in traction or dead, but still. The cast are all acting their socks off. Zoe is fab, Nicole, may be overegging the 'I'm heartless and sinister' pudding, but it works. Laysla is phenomenal as Cruz, but she does have to wade through the 'anything men can do' tropes. There's a cringe scene where she says she ought to be in the men's line because she can give 20 chin-ups NOW! Like I say, she's a great actress so we're willing to go with her. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the season. Fingers crossed it keeps the standard it's set in its first two episodes.

Another engaging, non-taxing, action movie. It's all guns, explosions and skilled hand-to-hand combat, what's not to like? Gosling brings some gravitas to it, as always. He also provides the funniest "Thanks", ever delivered on film, in my opinion. I hope to see a Gray Man follow-up very soon.

Acting: Awful

Plot: Dire!

Woke: Level Ten!

Racial Tropes: All of them!

Fight Choreography: Risible!

I've never been subjected to such dross. I'm left wondering if the ten-star reviews are bought and paid for? If vamps and slayers are your thing, I suggest you rewatch Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Buffy or True Blood.

What the devil is it? I'm not at all sure, but whatever it is or will be, I'm in! For the first time in a long time I actually had to pay attention. God I hope the rest of the series maintains the openings frenetic pace.

This could have been condensed into two hours. After a time nothing new is said. I expected the interviewer to ask the hard questions of those who witnessed assaults, brutal beatings and rapes and did nothing about it, but those questions never came. So much is missed in this documentary. Give us the names of all the men involved. Tell us who in the police department was in Playboy's pocket. Take to task the parents who signed their daughters and their bodies over to Playboy when they were still minors. We see women of all ages give their accounts and notice the ravages of time, drugs and trauma on their faces. Aside from rape, there's another commonality between these women. There's no light behind the eyes, they are detached, uncoupled, gone!

Firstly, this isn't a comedy, there's not a single laugh to be had. This is an attempt at a tearjerker, the film fails there too. Tatum is neither skilled nor expressive enough to create the necessary character development required. Another dud with paid-for reviews.

Finally, a Reacher I can get behind. I couldn't quite believe it when the lilliputian Tom Cruise was cast, this is more like it. Great action sequences and it moves along nicely. Alan Ritchson is a decent enough actor, pretty as a picture and, judging by the amount we see him shirtless in the first episode, he's more than willing to be casually objectified. What's not to like?

Mindless and a whole lot of fun. Great to watch as a family and worth it for Sheeran's cameo alone. So refreshing to see a film with no nudity, sex scenes or graphic violence, things which to often creep into what are supposed to be child friendly movies.

Perfectly acceptable! The film lacks dynamics. The acting is fine, the plot is fine, and the visuals are fine. It's a bit of a nothing burger, so you never really become emotionally invested in any of the characters aside from rooting for Mary during an excellent catfight. About thirty minutes in I found myself lamenting the fact Tarantino hadn't written and directed this movie. He would have done so much more with it.

An ode to Daphne. This special is as funny as it is poignant. Dave Chappelle really is remarkable. So much of what he was trying to say has been lost on the perennially offended. I'll think about Daphne for quite some time.

Deadwood is so good I thought I'd take a look through Milch's back catalogue, I wish I hadn't. I'd suggest fans of Deadwood in particular not watch JFC. To see talented actors miscast and having to wade through the dross Milch has written here is tragic. Many of the actors cast in JFC played much loved and memorable characters in Deadwood to see them in something so slapdash is jarring. The young leads acting is disastrous. The plot, if there is one, is dire so too is the dialogue. I never thought to see the day when Milch screwed the pooch on dialogue. Don't waste your time on this.

I'm not sure how a film about such an emotive topic can be so bad. It takes talent to make the degradation and violent deaths many in the CRM faced seem mundane, but it has been done here. Then there's the old tropes to contend with. Innocent white woman won't have sex before marriage, brown bird gets her cookie out without a second thought. Acting, bad! Script, worse! Direction, calamitous! Tropes, ALL OF THEM!

Have you ever met someone so ugly they're almost cute? RATLD is a little like that.

It is let down by its ending, sometimes it's best not to give the audience what it wants. It's acted well and the first half is rather good. I say give it a whirl and make your own mind up.

Acting , BAD! 😭 Plot, WORSE! 😭 Tired Tropes, ALL OF THEM! 😭

You simply can't go from Kinnaman to Mackie. Kinnaman is a talented actor with real range. Mackie is stiff as board with one expression. A horrid casting choice. Mackie has zero chemistry with Goldsberry so thank god they kept hold of Will Yun Lee. The writing was dross, the plot expected, the lead dire, design uninspiring. It lost its heart, humour, tension and drive. So sad, as season 1 was, from a visual standpoint alone, spectacular.

This should have been so much more. Instead, it's a horribly clichéd and lazily scripted load of old..... Cameron Diaz is not quite skilled enough to pull off improv and Kate Upton while very attractive was vacant at best, but more attractive than vacant so that's something. It's an old premise that was covered superbly by Goldie and Co in 'The First Wives Club'. I'd recommend giving that a look over as opposed to this.