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Silent Witness: Matters of Life and Death: Part 2 (2021)
On life support
It"s been many years since Silent Witness stopped being an intelligent medical drama, and turned into an implausible, badly-scripted soapy mess. This series was no exception, and the post-credits teaser suggests they're desperate to reclaim some viewers.
Cruise Ship Killers (2020)
Compulsively bad
My wife and I love this show because it's so terrible.
As others have said, it's questionable whether many of the stories are actually true, though a couple of them did turn up internet hits. But that's the least bad thing about it.
From the actors pretending to be real friends or relatives (with no indication that they're being portrayed by actors other than the terrible acting), to the fact that *everything* except the talking heads is shown in slow motion, to the experts talking in such generic terms that it's clear they're not even talking about the case of the week, to the voiceover scripts that sounds like they've been written by someone who's never spoken English before**... it's all just weird. (And that's disregarding the fact that half the cases don't even seem to involve a killer at all... they're just disappearances that may or may not have involved foul play.)
We can't take our eyes off it!
** Most recent example: today a passenger was found "drowned to death". In an earlier episode, there was a piece of crucial evidence that "cracked the case wide open". Which was it, did it crack the case or blow it wide open?!
How to Build a Girl (2019)
Forgettable coming-of-age caper
I'll be honest, I already wasn't a fan of Caitln Moran's origin before I tried reading the book on which this film is based, and I got about two chapters into it before realising it wasn't going to change my mind. So when this turned out to be the 'surprise film' I'd pre-booked a ticket for at a recent festival, I wasn't expecting much. And that's what I got.
It's the semi-biographical, played-for-laughs tale of a bookish teenage girl from a none-too-well-off family. Her father is a failed musician, her mother suffers from post-natal depression, and she shares a bedroom with her teenage brother. With encouragement from the talking posters on her wall, she finds her writing mojo, with the proverbial hilarious consequences. But we know the real Cailtin Moran is still a writer, so you can probably guess the ending.
I thought perhaps having never been a teenage girl myself was the main reason for failing to connect with anything the protagonist experienced, but my wife seemed to like it even less than I did. So I have to conclude it just wasn't very good.
S.W.A.T. (2017)
So bad it's good!
This show is hilariously bad. From the blacksploitation theme tune to the cast diversity checklist and the moral lesson of the week, it's like a cop version of Baywatch, only even worse.
I can't take my eyes off it.
Sunset Song (2015)
Watch the TV series instead
It follows the book more or less, but Doric is a hard accent to pull off if you're not a native, and the attempts in this movie are detrimental throughout.
Do yourself a favour and find the original BBC series of all three books in the trilogy from the 1970s, with the wonderful Vivien Heilbron as Chris.
Unsane (2018)
We're reviewing it because...
... many of us have seen it at film festivals already. I saw it this past weekend in Dublin.
There were plenty of tense moments in the 1h 37m, but the whole "is it real or in her head" idea has been done many times before, and this one ultimately didn't really go anywhere novel. And there were plot holes aplenty, none of which I'll spoil here, other than to say one particular character clearly had the means and motive to make the whole thing end, but inexplicably didn't.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Slightly disappointed
Was expecting better, to be honest... basically just another "toys don't listen to Woody, toys get in trouble and wish they had listened to Woody, Woody has to rescue them" storyline, with a necessary, but rather predictable ending tacked on to round off the series.
There were also very few "grown-up" jokes for the adults in this one compared to other Pixar movies, which was disappointing. The only reason I would buy the DVD is to check out the big 'crowd scenes', as I'm sure there are lots of things going on in the background there that I missed first time around.
One plus point was the aliens getting more of starring role in this one, though... they've always been my favourite characters!
The Craig Ferguson Show (1990)
Wrong forum, guys...
Why are you talking about his current late night US TV appearances in the discussion forum for a 16-year-old British sketch show that you won't even have seen in the US...? There's an entry for the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson if you want to slag him off there...
As a Scot myself, I find it kind of annoying that he's sold out and moved to the US, but each to their own I guess. When I was a student in Scotland in the late 80's/early 90's he was a bit of a cult figure (along with his comedian sister Lynn), mainly thanks to his "Bing Hitler" character. His stand-up was always much funnier than his TV shows, though; The Craig Ferguson Show was a pretty watered down version of his act, and it showed.