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Reviews
Here Comes Hell (2019)
Not belly laughs, but chuckles throughout. Skilful parody.
I enjoyed this film tremendously. From the very first scene you can see where it's at...a detailed parody of pre-war B movies. Beautifully filmed in black and white, well scripted and acted. The little details mattered...the gaps between dialogue, the dramatic poses and cliched characters, the continuity lapses...all very 'true'. The plot was thin, naturally, being a parody of bad films, and exactly what one might expect. The nice twist was the weaving in of a modern, strong female lead in Elizabeth, coming somewhere in between Ash (Evil Dead) and Beatrix from Kill Bill. The only draw back for me was the sound quality. The dialogue was difficult to hear above the (admittedly rather good) music. I would imagine the bad reviews here are from people too young to have grown up watching stuff like this on the telly. Shame...they obviously missed the joke.
Flesh and Blood (2020)
Predictable with annoying characters
I watched it and felt bad. Fortunately, nobody I've ever met is this utterly vile. Great for people who think soap operas are life affirming.
Clunky dialogue and predictable plot. I wouldn't recommend it even if you have 4 hours to waste, unless you want to feel really, really, really negative about your family. Yep..it's a hate-fest.
Francesca Annis has aged well.
Catch-22 (2019)
Waste of time
I made it to the 2nd ad break of the first episode before switching off. This is just another bland US TV show...the sort of thing they churn out these days. No humour. No depth. No pace. Terrible casting. I loved the book and I loved the 70s film, in which Alan Arkin was a terrific Yossarian. The man had funny bones. This guy is just a piece of meat. What a waste of time and money.
Pure (2019)
Great writing, great acting
Marvellous. Funny, charming and, most of all, full of love. Great music too. More like this please.
Marcella (2016)
waste of 8 hours
Series 1 was OK, but nothing special. A bunch of cliches strung together. That series 2 followed was a surprise. How did it get commissioned? Utterly dreadful. A waste of 8 hours. The plot seemed to be written on a beer mat one afternoon down the pub. It seems that the plan was to portray almost all the characters as certifiably insane. The result was confusion, of course. What did they expect? I did sit through it all, more fool me. I don't know why. Well, except that Anna Friel makes me laugh. She fumes and swaggers and waves her arms about quite endearingly. Regardless, if there is a 3rd series, I won't be watching.
Ordeal by Innocence (2018)
Atrocious
Another hatchet job by the hack Sarah Phelps. Honestly, how does she still have a job in television? I'd have thought Hooten & The Lady would have finished her off. Maybe she has other talents. Bill Nighy, as usual, plays Bill Nighy, badly. The rest of the cast soldier on with the limp dialogue, but never really pull it off. Agatha Christie wrote perfect plots. It's arrogant and stupid to tamper with them. 2 stars, because the scenery was nice.
Aaaaaaaah! (2015)
Marvellous
An excellent portrayal of the inner human. Of course it doesn't make sense, it's surrealism. Not enough film makers are bold enough to make stuff this loose. If you get David Lynch, you'll probably get this. I would have liked the actors to make a bit more effort with the grunting. Often, it was too close to words (Toyah was particularly bad). The music is stunning. Very Fripp. Lovely little cameo from the instantly recognisable Alice Lowe.
Murder on the Blackpool Express (2017)
Shocking
Truly awful. I can't believe this was written by the creator of the rather funny 'Hebburn'. Some of the cast were well chosen and coped bravely with the puerile script, others were just wooden and uncomfortable. Havers was a gem. What a waste of Kevin Eldon, the best comic actor of his generation. Mark Heap...well, I don't deny he's a very funny man in the right context (Big Train, Spaced), but he's no actor. Vegas, as usual, is like a large blank space on the screen.
Borderline (2016)
Perfectly composed
Why are people in these reviews going on about The Office? It wasn't the first, or the best mockumentary. Borderline is perfectly composed. Understated and very funny. Somewhat reminiscent of Chris Langham's 'People Like Us'. All the main characters are sympathetically created and believable, just slightly twisted. Two series now. I hope there will be more.