Reviews

I do not think I have watched any comedy series without laughing 90% of every single show. The guests have always been top notch (perhaps with the exception of Ardal O Hanlon) and they never fail to make me laugh. This is what I believe to be true comedy, the art of improvisation. You get something different every time and it must require great talent to adapt to these situations so quickly! Highlights of this programme include Party Quirks and Standing, sitting, bending. Clive Anderson makes a very droll host. I believe the British version to be superior due to less whooping from the audience (although the American audiences are better participators!). Although we have our fair share of great comedians on here including Tony Slattery, Jim Sweeney and Josie Lawrence to name but a few, the Americans and Canadians bring a fair share of laughter. My particular favourite is Ryan Stiles, who in my eyes is a modern comedy genius! Closely followed by the lovely Colin Mochrie.

I thoroughly recommend this program. Comedy has never been done so good.

I tried watching the British version and just did not find it funny. Ricky Gervais seems to be less than endearing and sometimes annoying. Steve Carell is exactly the opposite. I am so lucky to catch the American version currently showing over here on BBC2. I thought Id give it a shot and it was funny from start to finish. Steve is the perfect "boss from hell who tries so hard" and the supporting cast are fantastic in their roles. The British supporting cast did their parts justice but for me, just was not funny. I am now willing to give our version of the Office a second chance, thanks to Steve Carell. Hopefully this show won't be ruined by an attempt to keep this show going and going. Two or three series should be enough to give it the status that its predecessor gained over here.

I expected a lovely, lavish children's movie along the same lines as Harry Potter with huge chunks likely to be omitted. Once I started watching I just no longer cared. The acting was absolutely fantastic and Tilda Swinton was an absolute joy to watch. I cried, I laughed, I admired the courage of Peter. The little girl who played Lucy was a pleasure to watch.

For those unaware of CS Lewis's masterpieces, this is the second book of seven "Chronicles of Narnia", about the four Pevensie children who accidentally stumble across the Land of Narnia and a tense situation between Aslan (voiced wonderfully by Liam Neeson) and the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).

The Christian Allegory so many press articles seem to be picking up on is there and very blatant. But so what? What I saw was a fantastic retelling of CS Lewis's book and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

The two and a half hours just flew by and I wished it could have been longer but no doubt the fidgeting children would have been a nuisance. Perfectly condensed, great casting and some lovely effects. I could not have asked for more.

As a Yorkshire lass born and bred and growing up near Sheffield, it is very easy to see why I enjoy this film so much: its close to the heart. The scenes were all too familiar and I have walked down a fair few streets in the film.

For those who haven't seen it, the basic plot is that six unemployed ex steel workers are desperate for jobs and begin toying with the idea of stripping. What ensues, is simply hilarious. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but there are some very funny moments, and some very touching ones as well, particularly relating to desperately getting money for Gaz's (Robert Carlyle's) son (William Snape). The actors are top notch and manage to carry off the Yorkshire accent, which I know from friends trying to imitate it, is not an easy one to pull off. Of course for the born and breds like Mark Addy, it wasn't too tricky. But of course there are always variations within regions but the Sheffield accent sounded good to me.

I didn't have a particular favourite character, each one had their reasons to either laugh or cry at their plight and misfortune.

This film is like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. Many may not understand it because of the highly localised plot and characters. But if you can see past that you get a film that will make you laugh and make you go aww. And the ending is definitely worth holding out for.

8/10

I was hooked on this programme when it first came out and now I have it on DVD, I can see just how fantastic this series is. Its a completely different take on the usual crime solving programme and the solutions to puzzles are absolutely amazing. I was constantly baffled and thought it was very clever the way Jonathan worked out some of the clues. Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin were absolutely fantastic in their parts, and I thought perfect for their roles. When Julia Sawahla replaced Caroline, I was dubious at first but she too was great in her role, despite not being the ultimate replacement for Caroline. I did not think any of the mysteries were at all daft, just very very clever and the chemistry between Alan and Caroline was fantastic.

The guest stars were great in their roles, Annette Crosbie was particularly good in the House of Monkeys episode and it was a joy to see Bill Bailey pop up in the later series. I think, providing the mysteries keep coming, this programme can continue for maybe one or two series more.

This was a spectacular film full of lavish sets and costumes and some wonderful singing. I have not seen the stage adaptation so I cannot be too critical. What I saw was a wonderful film with some good acting and singing. I thought Minnie Driver was fantastic as Carlotta and Gerard Butler wasn't half bad as the phantom. I wasn't too keen on his singing voice though. Emmy Rossum was wonderfully innocent as Christine and she has such a beautiful singing voice but sometimes she came across as a little bit wooden at times. The biggest surprise was Jennifer Ellison. I am used to her as a mouthy Liverpudlian and never thought much of her as an actress but I really loved her as Meg and thought she looked very pretty and sounded wonderful singing wise.

The film overall tended to drag in places but I loved the use of the main theme song for the dramatic moments and there were plenty. The mixture of accents tended to be slightly annoying, from Miranda Richardson's french to Emmy's rather confusing American then British smatterings. The sets were wonderful, I loved all the costumes. The ending I found very poignant and quite sad but still enjoyable.

It was a fantastic film and it makes me want to see the stage adaptation even more which I imagine will probably blow the film out of the water but I saw the film impartially, have been waiting for weeks and thankfully I was not disappointed. 8/10

Having never seen any of the alien or predator films AND this not being a genre I usually pay any attention to, I didn't really know what to expect of this film. I didn't hate it which I was pleasantly surprised at. There were some great special effects and the plot line wasn't as silly as I thought it would be. There were no shock factors and obviously most of the gore had been cut out but I don't think I'd like to meet an alien or a predator on a dark night. The ending was a tad predictable but probably any other ending would not have suited the film at all. I'd recommend seeing it because it is a good film to switch your brain off to. The acting was good too, although no performances stood out, there were none that were particularly awful either. I give it 6/10.