Reviews

This is a really enjoyable episode, giving us some back story on the characters, with the theme that a single decision can have life-changing consequences. I loved the back-and-forth structure (there's an in-joke on this in the episode when someone mentions 'Traffic'). Nice to see this much confidence shown in the writing.

This is a terrifying film. I'm a woman and I watched it on my own, which was pretty stupid. Everything in it is grounded in reality, which is what makes it so frightening. The acting - especially Donnadieu - is very good and the exploration of what evil really looks like is painstaking. There is also grim humour and the ending is haunting. A top-notch movie.

Narcos is OK kinda-sorta, but I'm not sure I'll be watching any more, having just got to the end of the first series. First, the plus points: excellent camera-work - the DPs on this are great. And Wagner Moura has a ton of presence on screen. Negative points: way too much narration, which distances the viewer from the action and is also very uncinematic - half the time it's telling you what you can see already. Lead actor Boyd Holbrook is dreadful and has zero presence on screen. No time is really taken to flesh out the subsidiary characters, unlike in - say - The Sopranos, where each one of these dreadful people was fully rounded with good points and flaws. And finally, there is way too much sex that exists purely to get some breasts on camera to titillate male viewers (witness the scene between Moncada and his wife in the bath, which could just as easily have been done at the breakfast table). As a woman, I hate to see women's bodies used in this way. I've come at this series from The Americans, where I looked forward, every evening, to the next instalment with excitement and anticipation. Narcos I can very much take or leave.

I gave up on this series during series 6 - the episode on the plane. This was the point at which the characters became mere caricatures and the show descended into farce as the writers ran out of ideas. It started out OK - series one and two were quite good, though probably too explicit for some (sex, after all, is what the show is about). Series three went off the boil a bit - Duchovny's attractions just aren't sufficient to believe he would attract ALL of these women, especially given his age (when I was a student, I wouldn't have touched any man over 23 with a bargepole, frankly). Charlie's relationship with his boss was just stupid, but the series had some strong plot arcs that made up for it. Series four was when I started to get annoyed, as I just didn't believe Hank's lawyer would behave like this, though the trial denouement was interesting, but series five was much better, with the characters' bad behaviours and poor life choices coming home to roost. However, series six totally lost the plot - there are only so many ways that writers can find to keep principal characters apart so such issues tend to become contrived when a show outlives its natural lifespan; Natascha McElhone was given virtually nothing to do except roll her eyes; the rock stars and their wives were just caricatures. Meanwhile, Charlie by now had become a character that existed only for bad things to happen to, including his small penis/bent penis/premature ejaculation/baldness/general sliminess. So, I gave up. Shame. If they'd stopped at series 3, perhaps, my memories of this show would be better, but overall I wasted a bit too much time on it.

Oh dear, how this film is showing its age: the endless fades, the wooden acting, the actors twenty years too old for their roles. Perhaps also it is that the very ideas and themes are showing their age. In a modern era, Leslie Howerd's character just seems wet rather than sensitive - you wish the guy would just grow a pair; the attitude to his club foot seems horribly unenlightened in an era where we say 'disabled', not 'cripple'; and Mildred's 'shocking' behaviour and ultimate fate seem laughable and judgemental. Bette Davis's Cockney accent is dreadful, poor lass, but having said that, her acting is the only good thing in this film: Leslie Howerd is dire and the only bit-parter worth his salt is Alan Hale: the characters of Harry, Sally, Sally's father and Norah are all poorly drawn and the film attempts to cover far too long a time span. Although I am a huge fan of vintage movies, including silents, I was able to watch this particular film only as a curiosity piece. Worth watching perhaps once for the costumes, furniture and Bette Davis's eyes.

I can't understand why this movie has such a low rating on IMDb - I thought it was the most intelligent thriller I'd seen in years. I love the Bourne films but this is much quieter - far more like the 1960s classic Le Samourai.

Wonderful acting by everyone involved, and thought-provoking. I can't remember when I last sat in such a state of tension throughout a film - note the beautiful score and use of threatening sound, too. Probably a vast disappointment to teenagers who want a shoot 'em up film - this a film written by adults, for adults to watch. We recently had the pleasure of seeing Thekla Reuten on British television so it was great to see her again here.

Very much a European film.

I've just finished watching the first series, pretty much back to back, and it's got some nice acting, and beautiful costumes and locations. But the rather slight script is flawed in a way that Gosford Park (also written by Fellowes) wasn't. Gosford was considerably sharpened by Altman's iconoclastic viewpoint, but in Downton, Fellowes seems to have been given a freer hand as an unashamed apologist for the upper classes. All the gentry are super people with hearts of gold, especially Robert - paying for operations for the staff, giving them days off to visit their sick mothers, keeping on a disabled servant etc. The only villainous characters are working class. Even the servants may be rough diamonds but are good at heart and endlessly forgive each other for transgressions (Mrs Bird and the kitchen maid, Carson with Bates etc), and the so-called 'socialist' never tells us what his political views actually ARE, and absolves the Earl of all responsibility for continuing to enjoy his privileges. This is a very simplistic at a time when most people became servants solely through poverty - people were not politically unaware. It is common today to look back on the Edwardian era as some sort of golden age but the majority of the population endured malnutrition; child mortality was rife; there was rampant industrial unrest; and life expectancy for workers was around 40. This series could have tackled so many issues (as Upstairs Downstairs did to much better effect) but it has copped out in favour of a domestic romance. Let us hope that they bring in some additional writers for the second series, and for a better overview of the period, read 'The Perfect Summer' by Juliet Nicholson, about the summer of 1912.

Gosh, how I love this film. I just watched it for something like the 15th time in seven years. Someone mentioned it's like a good book that you can't put down, and indeed it is. It seems to conjure up the quietude of this past era, with its natural-light photography, realistically dirty and worn costumes and small-scale domestic interiors - note the scene when the family are taking tea in front of the fireplace.

All the performances are lovely, especially the heart-breaking Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, whose repressed hurt and anger are simmering beneath the surface as Captain Wentworth. Great piece of work, which I watch whenever I'm down, or tired or can't sleep.

Be warned - this film gets off to a very slow start, and I nearly gave up on it, but it's worth persevering for what in the finish, is a finely-wrought piece of cinema.

Full of difficult familial relationships and tensions, a character who's clearing suffering PTSD, strange behaviours that seem at first inexplicable, it gradually builds into a sad, unsettling story that really draws you in, and a number of plot twists that may surprise.

The scenery is harsh and beautiful, and that sense of being a cuckoo in the nest in a small town is captured very well. The acting performances are also very good, especially from Matthew MacFadyen (SO much better here than his sleepwalking performance as Mr Darcy), who beautifully conveys the sense of someone with deep internal wounds.

Glad to have found it.

This is a very funny, sharp and witty film that's a joy to watch. I saw it twice in a week, owing to scheduling on my satellite package, and enjoyed it even more the second time.

The script is unashamed about the sheer awfulness of adolescence and reminded me of how clever, smart and in control I too THOUGHT I was at Igby's age. The central performance by Kieren Culkin is a gem and when he's 40, he'll look back and wonder how he could have been this good, this young.

The other performances are also sterling, including Susan Sarandon, playing a mother with claws, Ryan Phillippe as a near-psychotic WASP, Jeff Goldblum as a steely, oversuccessful godfather and a touching performance by Amanda Peet.

I suppose for those with chips on their shoulders, the mega-rich New York glitterati setting might be offputting, but I didn't find it so.

As an added bonus, the music soundtrack is great.