Reviews

I went to see this, not having seen the play before but aware that it was a one man show with all the cast being played by Andrew. It took me some time to get into the nuances of the play and to the subtleties of how Andrew plays the different characters. But once I did I soon settled in and began to enjoy this tremendously. It's a masterplay of sublime storytelling and character development done through clever stage design and character identification through use of personal effects as well as Andrew's acting abilities. His portrayal of the female characters is particularly impressive, as they are often depicted by men as overly effeminate. There are a number of female characters and he gives them their own personalities and makes them feel believable in their own unique ways. The play was a joy to watch and I felt that it was a privilege to watch it. There is no doubt that Andrew deserves the highest respect and praise for his performance in this play.

I'm in my late 60's and love sci-fi, books, films and tv. I was looking forward to this because of the pedigree of production and writing and also acting crew from GOT. This has got to be one to watch. I was even prepared for it to be weird with a fair amount to be expected not to be explained and revealed later. What I wasn't prepared for was the video game element by an alien race that doesn't understand the concept of lying that is doing just that, while travelling over 400 years to get to earth from a dying planet to destroy the earth for humanity so as to keep it for the aliens. These aliens call themselves Lord and revealed themselves to humanity in the Wow signal, and told us not to respond as if we did we would regret it. And it all seems to being coordinated from the UK which is completely bizarre and not the USA! Story in a nutshell. It's a bit like Monty Python does alien invasion. And where does the flashing countdown come from if the aliens are 400 years away? Too much of a disconnect between what should and shouldn't be possible even for fantasy sci-fi.

I started watching this show and also watched the documentary about Elizabeth Holmes. The real Elizabeth is far more scary and surreal than that portrayed in the show.

Just imagine what it takes having the brass tacks to lie to everyone and not give any second thought about the people they were taking blood from and hurting. People were being hurt and dying. Amanda gave a very credible performance as Elizabeth. She shows how easy it was to wrap powerful men around her little finger. The show gave a credible story about Theranos although skipping the technical details especially the actual testing kits and how they were dropped by Walgreens.

It's apparent I think that Elizabeth has some serious behavioural issues that render her incapable of empathy and this is portrayed by Amanda wonderfully. The physical appearance between the two women is very similar especially in the eyes and as they say, eyes are the windows to the soul, this is perhaps how she managed to sell herself so well to elderly men who parted company with millions to invest in her and Theranos.

I've seen quite a few screen adaptations and many have been played for laughs. For me this one was the perfect adaptation. Each character was played to perfection and not over the top with any performance. There was no individual character confessions which I seem in other screen adaptations, instead individual characters were able to give as much or as little about themselves and their backgrounds as they wanted.

It was up to the audience to decide what they thought about each character and their own motivations. The tone of the drama was very different to other films that made it more more interesting and serious. It was a perfect adaptation and even though I knew the story it was done well and by the book.

I'm not adverse to modern adaptations providing that they follow the story and spirit of the original. The trouble is there has been so many excellent adaptations that it's almost impossible to follow them, maybe and this one is no exception. Every cast member is miscast. John Malkovich can't produce a Belgian accent to save his skin. And Rupert Grint just can't act, even now. He got lucky with Ron Weasley, but as this role demanded little acting skills, he obviously hasn't developed any further.

The tone is dark and uncharacteristically Christie, pitting Poirot against Crome. Poirots vanity is overplayed and Crome's hostility towards him is exaggerated. I'm not sure about Poirots supposed back story, being an invention and not from the original Author herself.

Not an adaptation as many have pointed out, the Fall of the House of Usher is rather a modern nod to the old master of poetic horror. In this version the main character has sold his soul or a version of it, on condition that his offspring die before him and his sister. This they do, in quick order, in various gruesome ways unique to their own characteristics.

Their father, being a promiscuous man, had a number of affairs which produced illegitimate children. All perished in horrible, terrible and delightful ways. Each episode is given to the demise of an offspring under the various names of Poes literary writings, and themed according, eg Maske of the Red Death, The Raven etc. I thought this was inspired as while it references Poe, his poetry is used throughout the episodes which lends a gothic tone to an otherwise modern production.

The tone of the series is often light sometimes comedic, which juxtaposes the upcoming tragedy that is about to befall the family. The dark moments are very dark and happen more towards the end of the series as events leading up to this moment begin to be explained. This is a series of events about the price one man agrees to pay for success.

There's nevermore.

Based on a true story of Bernard Jordan, whose life was portrayed by Michael Caine in the Great Escaper. In this story the rifleman is called Artie Crawford, played by Pearce Brosnan, 007 himself.

The pace is slow and seems to get slower as the film goes on. Pearce is in his 70's so has to be aged to make him appear 20 years older, which takes some doing. He's very emotional throughout the film, constantly on the verge of tears and isn't in the best of health, having a couple of health scares on his journey to France. He's plagued by guilt over something he's done in the past regarding his best friend's girl.

The film makers take some liberties with the story which deviate from true life, specifically around his wife and her death before he departs for Normandy. Having seen the Great Escaper, I found myself comparing the two films and these little differences were annoying. I found The Great Escaper the better film by far.

Because Artie was so emotional, he was constantly moaning and it made it difficult to empathise with him, and he mumbled a lot. In retrospect, it would have been better to get a 90 year old to play the role.

The film was made to invoke and rely on emotion and sentiment rather than substance.

We've lived through 4 seasons of Das Boot and the ups and downs of Klaus Hoffman and the U-boat crews. We know in our heart of hearts that the war goes badly for the Germans, but he's got incredible courage and integrity and we are rooting for him to bring about a negotiated peace and we want him to succeed and come out stronger at the end. But he's our tragic hero, bound to his fate from the beginning and even though his efforts and justification is good, there's too much going against him. His star is doomed in a nation marked for defeat. I watched this last episode totally relishing the deaths of those who deserved to die and marvelled at the character development of Hanna whose story was equally heroic. I was totally shocked and devastated that our hero met a hero's fate, cowardly as it was, at the hands of an Italian assassin. He knew what was coming, that was the worst, and when it was over I felt numb as if all we had watched had been for nothing. But I guess that's the truth about war, it's pointless. Rick Oken played a brilliant role and he looked so young, so much to live for as Klaus. I will miss Das Boot it's been a first rate drama since its release.

This is one of those films where it feels good to be able to express pride in the history of this country. It feels good to see a film that exemplifies this and honours Bernard and the veterans who fought in the war and follows his journey to France to commemorate the D day landings. It's poignant that it was Glenda Jackson's last film and also a reminder that this remarkable generation is aging and their lifetime experiences and sacrifices are being remembered.

I appreciated the film although felt that it didn't truly reflect the past appropriately in dress and language. Modern attitudes towards use of swear words and also different racial groups at the time were different during the period.

Another thing is the portrayal of the care home, I've been in lots of care homes and never seen one like this before where people can have twin rooms and the staff actually care and talk to their residents!

Don't let us change how we see and feel about the past and this generation as it's only 80 years ago.

If you have good writers, and producers and directors, you don't need to resort to gimmicks like musical shows or animation to pull storylines back into place. TOS, TNG did these things very well without resorting to gimmickry or tricks. The show is trying to do what TOS did but unsuccessfully as the family of characters is too big and doesn't gel in the same way.

The second season has been a mishmash of episodes and has treated characters bizarrely, most notably Spock, Vulcans, Chapel and the killer doctor M'benga. It's tried to restore the Spock/Chapel relationship status quo with this episode but has failed leaving a sour Spock. The killer doctor is unresolved. There's a penchant for explaining every character's background story, even going back to TOS where they were unexplained such as Uhura. Some things were left for a reason. SNW is fast becoming another failed Star Trek series for me.

A killer doctor who has pledged to do no harm, who has covered up his past and present crimes and who has lied about it to his Captain and friend. A whiter than white nurse who is complicit in his crimes who we thought we knew and loved has also lied to cover up the doctors crimes, oh dear me, this is not the Star Trek we know.

Truth will come out, facts will be unearthed and M'bemga will be revealed as the murderer he is. I suspect that this will pave the way for others to take over the role of CMO including Leonard McCoy eventually.

The federation is far from being the more advanced society enabled to turn itself around after wars have ended. We have seen shades of this in DS9, but this is more brutal and violent. I'm not sure that Pike was taken in by M'bemgas explanation. He didn't seem sure.

The premise is that the crew from lower decks find a portal and at that exact same time the crew of the Enterprise are at the exact same portal and trigger it so that Boimler travels back in time to the Enterprise! I know Star Trek is scientifically implausible but this is almost scientifically impossible. The interplay between the characters lacked any chemistry or emphathy as the Enterprise crew haven't built up any chemistry with each other or their audience. They are just too new. The relationship between Spock and Chapel is just so wrong that it takes Boimler to point this out. We meet Orions for the first time.

In my opinion a failed episode relying solely upon the quirkiness of Lower Decks/ SNW crossover. It added nothing to the overall story and Pike looks increasingly uncomfortable in his role as Captain.

Better crossover episodes have been made more effectively especially Trials and Tribbleations, which is funny. Using animation at the beginning and ending added nothing except the perceived physical effects of alcohol on the Enterprise crew.

It might seem like a fun episode but the subject matter of the fun is Vulcans and their behaviour. Spocks mother would never behave in the way she did to outsiders in this way and the way she behaved to her spouse is just not right. Spock and T'prings behaviour to one another is unacceptable in Vulcan society even with Spock being half human. His behaviour was set in TOS and the films which SNW has just blown up by setting up a new relationship with Chapel which didn't exist before. We all know that Vulcans mate every 7 years and this has started another precedent and made a mockery of Vulcan society.

Don't get me wrong canon is meant to be for reference rather than set in stone but when an established culture is made fun of like this, it makes you wonder why?

An episode that happens entirely in another timeline that has no bearing on the current events in the Enterprise Pike timeline. It's a La'an, Kirk centric episode where Kirk is from an alternate timeline. La'an is sent there by a temporal agent to protect the timeline from hostile elements and forms a bond with alternate Kirk.

It's a pretty weak storyline that pairs two unlikely characters with very little chemistry and charisma between them. La'an is a damaged individual with a chip on her shoulder and Kirk is far from the character we've come to know from the Shatner/Pine portrayals. There's no personal connection that comes through and it's a long boring episode between two strained strangers. It's only at the end that the episode starts to get going but not enough to redeem itself.

I went into this without any expectations not having seen any trailers or reviews. The premise seemed interesting and the look and feel of the film was very stylish 1950's vibe with strong themes and music. The whole thing had a very Stepford Wives feel and was a slow burner which kind of kept you guessing.

The mysterious world where the men disappear into during the day couldn't be questioned by the wives who lived their domestic goddess lives supporting their husbands.

Florence Pugh is brilliant as the questioning wife who sees through the veneer of a perfect world. Harry Styles is passable as her loving husband, and even more so as the alternate tech junkie husband keeping his wife wired up to the machine.

The two worlds are in great contrast to each other and it does leave you asking which world would you choose. A perpetual theme of great sci-fi. A nicely done film.

Okay maybe not quite rubbish but not quite Okay either. The bells should be ringing when the near perfect couple have near perfect hobbies and near perfect sex and are near perfect beautiful as well!

They don't argue, look like hell in the morning and have a house where you can't find the car keys! But then they have a near perfect AI house maid to make time for all the things we don't!

We see the world through Mr Perfects eyes and the couple go through a car accident and from his perspective, things are not the same after. He has odd dreams and isn't allowed into a certain room his wife keeps locked.

The world treats simulants as 2nd class citizens although people can have their consciousness downloaded into them when they die. A procedure not unknown to every sci-fi fan. Mrs Perfect isn't coming clean on everything and there's a shady character we come across who has a foot in both camps.

Needless to say there's not much new here and the twist at the end, which I'm not going to spoil, isn't that much of a surprise. A good attempt by the actors to make more of the movie but a B movie all the same.

I loved Flip or Flop and the chemistry between Tarek and Christina. The two were very smart and bounced off one another. This show is just cringe worthy. They are so obviously in love and Tarek is very protective of his doe eyed blonde wife who is trying to learn the flipping business(who wouldn't be there without him or his money).

She's just not right for the show, candy sweet without a clue. Having to be told everything by Tarek. She's not a designer, except for designing herself or her nails and is making such an enormous effort to please him that it's just an awful watch. I couldn't watch more than 15 minutes of the first show and won't be watching any more.

Even Christine's new show with her impossibly wide grin is better than this.

It feels like original Trek in many way. The actor who plays Pike is very good, he as the mannerisms of the original series actor and although the character only appeared in the pilot episode the new character maintained his personality and characteristics throughout the series.

The character of Spock was a difficult character to follow as Leonard Nimoy set the character up and as a blueprint. Ethan Peck brought a different dimension to the character, a more human dimension not previously seen. The interaction between him and his Vulcan wife, was previously not explored. The emotional life of Vulcans was not revealed nor explained. It's reveal in this series is a very interesting.

Other characters backgrounds are explored as never before, such as No 1 and Christine Chapel. These are not the same characters as the original series. We don't get to see other characters such as Sulu and Scotty. It's as if we are seeing them in a different timeline or dimension.

Captain Pike we get to agonise his fate and his eventual retirement to Talos, although this is again not seen through the standard timeline history.

Trek but not trek.

I sat through this with a perpetual grin from the opening speech given by the Federation President voiced by Walter Koenig, to the last credits where Q makes his appearance. There's so many moments in this that were obviously written by fans for fans that it makes up for the dreadful first 2 seasons of Picard.

The Borg are on their way to assimilating the federation fleet and earth by assimilating the young and its up to the oldies to save the day on a starship relic Enterprise D, that is not linked to the fleet. Seriously you would have thought that the federation would have learned from the past, but no! The Queens true intentions for Jack are revealed and he is a willing participant in assimilation.

Shades of Star Trek 4, where the crew of the Enterprise save earth, again. So many other Easter eggs in this episode and homages to previous captains and crews, and of course, the renaming of another ship to become the Enterprise. Not the Yorktown this time but the Titan. Wonderful episode that sets up a new series featuring the new crew and characters, as Jack says to Seven, she's setting up a new legacy. I can't wait.

So sad to see this great series come to an end. The tales of Uhtred of Babbenburgh have been compulsory viewing for me since they started, and the historical context of translating modern place names into medieval names is genius. This film takes place following the death of King Edward and, as the title suggests, a prophecy of 7 kings must die is dreamt by the wife of Fennic to unite England.

The film's action proceeds to follow the Prince assumptive and the contenders. Good old battle between Saxon and Danes, with a mix of Scottish and Irish thrown in. Lots of political intrigue, backstabbing, betrayal and redemption along the way and losing some well loved friends and shedding lots of tears and sadness.

The final battle was awesome, tightly fought and brilliantly choreographed. Did they lose 7 kings? Maybe? The end result was satisfying but so sad and I shed lots of tears. I don't want to give too much away but I shall miss Uhtred. He definitely deserves his place at the top table in the banqueting hall in Valhalla alongside Brida, Heston and everyone else who are already there. Destiny is all!

It's nice to see Keifer back in an action role. For once I can hear what he's saying, as he's talking normally and not whispering as he's prone to do.

I'm still trying to figure out what's happening as it's not your average spy thriller as Weir (Keifer) has his own team to help him with missions. Setting up elaborate scenarios, to what end? Almost, but not quite in a mission impossible style.

As usual the not-very-attractive main guy is surrounded by gorgeous women, including his ex-wife, bending backwards to please him. I wouldn't mind this if the attractive woman were also good actors and not just eye candy.

I'll keep watching as it's intriguing and nothing is ever what it seems.

JP it isn't, but it is a reasonable look forward to see what the planet looks like with the dinosaurs in it. The story is centred around what must be a descendant of the infamous Dodgson, who is bioengineering life, not just dinosaurs. He has kidnapped Maisie and Blues daughter with the purpose of ironing out some of the dna problems. Enter Drs Satler, Grant and Malcolm who are involved in stopping the dastardly Dodgson. They encounter Claire and Owen, Maisie's parents trying to recover their daughter. It makes for a dashing and dangerous adventure. It's the true that dinosaurs take a back story and the glittering park ends up in fire and smoke like it always does, but it's good fun and the T-Rex saves the day by killing the big bad dinosaur and Dodgson gets killed like his predecessor did and he loses the shaving cream canister as well. The director must be a massive JP fan to pick up on so many JP nuances. I did enjoy it and especially seeing the old gang again. The redemption of Woo at the end was the cherry on the cake. I'm not sure why all the negativity comes from, after all this is where the thing was going with dinosaurs now being set free and greedy businessmen and unscrupulous scientists wanting bigger and better attractions for greed.