Reviews

I was a little bit sceptical about an American version of Sherlock Holmes, but I am glad I came across this show.

I don't like police procedural shows that wrap up in 45 mins from the introduction of the characters the crime, and how the police solve the case, but there is something different about Elementary.

Many of the stories run over 2 or more episodes and each season has an over-arching story that runs for the duration of the season.

The acting is very good, and it's a top quality cast. The production is also top quality and what I really admire is the quality of the writing.

Watch and enjoy.

Elvis's life was packed full of drama and conflict but all of it is thinly covered in the film.

For a film/movie to work there needs to be a strong protagonist and a strong antagonist so that the conflict is clear.

In this film the conflict is warterd down and Elvis isn't a likeable character. All we learn about him is that he loves his mama and will do anything for her.

That's not enough for him to be likeable and the writers and the director should have seen that.

The production values are good, as is the acting, but I found myself asking how can I be bored with a film about ELVIS? The greatest star to have ever lived.

Elvis fan's will like this film but if you're not a fan, it is watchable.

Can anyone please tell me where I can find this show? The DVD depicted for The Gangster Chronicles is a documentary and not the drama that I saw back in the 1980s.

I have been trying to find it for years.

I will revisit this page so please leave a message if you know where I can get it.

Before I saw this show I had heard of Al Capone but never heard of Charlie Luciano and how he was the biggest mobster of them all.

(An interesting fact - he was responsible for getting the alies into Italy in the second world war).

The cast in the show are superb and it was the first time I had seen Jonathan Banks, who later found fame in Breaking Bad.

After watching the first two series I wish I hadn't bothered.

The set up was very good for a police procedural, but the actual detective work and story was terrible.

Jamie Doohave a look at my brooding personality was very good and I look forward to seeing him again.

So many holes in this show that Scrooby Doo would be embarrassed of.

The production values are good except for the director and how Gillian Anderson portrayed her character - awful!

I like her as an actor and her Miss Haversham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens was brilliant, but in this she is so wooden in this it beggers belief.

By the end of series 2 I was shouting at the TV for it being sooooooo unbelievable.

I'm almost reluctant to give the dvd's to a charity shop because it will leave the next viewer so disappointed.

I can understand why Gillian Anderson took the part but she really should have had more input into the production.

With more thought, this could have been brilliant. The portrayal of a psychopath is superb, but the portrayal of the cops and the investigation is from the pen of a sixth former.

Give it a miss.

Don't believe the glowing reviews - this show is not anywhere near a top quality production.

The writing is substandard and at no point did I care for any of the characters because there was no character development.

It was as though the writer read a newspaper article and turned it into a television show.

The direction was equally poor - drama means conflict and there was absolutely no tension in the first 2hrs, which resulted in my boredom.

More time was needed so possibly the writer was hampered with a limit of 4 episodes.

With too many hand-held camera shots. The lighting was no better with mainly 'keep it real' being the objective, which resulted in a 'cold' show with no warm colours to add depth to the characters.

Maybe it didn't help that the show was.

It's easy to see why professional critics liked this, but there will be a lot of people who don't.

Take any horror movie and the scariest part is always the foreboding silence before the climatic scene. Can that be stretched out to make a whole movie?

A Quiet Place gave it a good shot and hit the edge of the target.

For what it was, the director did a fantastic job but for me there were just too many implausible ideas to deal with.

Several times as I was getting 'into' the movie I was taken 'out' by a gaping hole in the screenplay.

I like to immerse myself in a film and be taken on a ride for a couple of hours, but unfortunately that didn't happen. It did keep me watching for the 87 minutes (minus titles and credits), but not enough to recommend it.

This show has taken the American formula for police procedurals and transplanted it into Europe.

Every actor looks like they came straight from a modelling agency and have no idea what drama school is.

The dialogue they have to speak doesn't help the actors either. It sounds like it was written by an intelligent teenager who has limited experience of how adults actually speak.

In its favour and unlike CSI and the like, it is two hours (with adverts in the UK) so the detective work is passable.

The production values are high with good direction and cinematography.

Comparing Van Der Valk to Morse or Lewis might be unfair, but it's okay for Sunday night viewing.

Personally, I don't know how anyone could award this a 9 or a 10, but I would recommend a watch.

The production values are excellent and the cast was very good.

Usually I don't like flashbacks but this show told the story very well flicking between the investigation in 1972 and the investigation in 2002 (?). The flashbacks aren't used to fill the story but to illuminate how things were done back then.

The story of the investigation is very well written, but my only problem with the writing was the lack of dramatic tension.

Drama needs conflict and there isn't much of it in this show. There were several missed opportunities to develop antagonistic tension that would have made this show a 9 and also give the actors more chance to get the viewer involved instead of just watching.

The first episode was too slow and just full of 'fillers' to set the scene in 1972. Get past the first episode and watch the rest.

This film is a collection of stories of the most horrific incidents that probably did happen in America in the 19th century.

As you can see from the other reviews it is a dark film.

My problem with this one is the emotional response it got from me. I only had sympathy with all the female characters and there wasn't a single character that I liked.

While the objective might to be to make a horror/disturbing film with a lot of tension, in my opinion if the story took the time to develop some positive characteristics in some characters it would have been better.

The cast and the production are excellent.

If you want a great portrayal of the American West at that time, watch Deadwood. Get past the swearing in the first episode and watch an amazing show that is an accurate depiction of American history and culture.

For what it was, it was very good, but in my opinion this would have been better to have seen on stage.

Film needs dynamics and try as the director did, this still felt like a play with little dynamism.

I do like an intelligent drama and this was pretty good on the thinking it made me do, but I think it was trying to be too intelligent.

For me, the most important thing a film has to do is to get me to have an emotional response to the characters, and sadly this one didn't.

The cast was great and they all performed admirably, but they didn't do much, except for Rhys Ivans.

His performance was outstanding. Trying to figure out his character is, in my opinion, the best thing about the film.

This show started well with some good drama and music but after a few episodes it quickly turned into a soap opera for young people (and possibly country music fans).

Good drama needs conflict and the conflict in this show primarily revolves around jumping into and out of bed (no nudity). The conflict is manufactured and unrealistic, and that let the show down badly.

It's another American (forgive me) show where every character is good looking and the producers listen to the numbers people before the writers.

The artistic merit goes to the directors, camera people and the sound engineers who made the show.

The actors do their best with limited material. At the beginning I thought this had scope for some really interesting character development watching a young artist find her way in the music business.

Unfortunately that didn't happen. She stays a whiny selfish shallow caricature of a pop star.

If you like it you will probably love it, but if you are looking for quality drama then look elsewhere.

Anyone with a brain will be annoyed with the time they waste watching this rubbish.

At the end of the pilot I understood the producers desire to show Dr. Brenan as a kick-ass martial arts expert who can take an FBI agent down in seconds and is also a crack shot, and I thought it can only get better.

It doesn't. It gets worse.

Booth (?), the male lead, is unbearably macho with a topping of 'how can he be so stupid' that the caricature is beyond a joke.

Then we get to autism which comes and goes with whichever writer is being used. This was unbelievable and an insult to anyone but especially those who do have autism.

Also unbelievable was the whole cast, which were probably selected by a market research team who wanted everyone to be good looking and between 20 to 35.

After three episodes I wanted to puke. Everything that is wrong with American police procedurals is in this show.

If you want a good forensic crime drama, try Silent Witness from the BBC.

I really like Silent Witness so I was looking forward to seeing Bones after it was recommended to me.

The pilot episode establishes the heroine as a no-nonsense kick-as girl who is a martial arts expert who is also a crack shot with a gun. Taking an FBI agent down is no problem for her. Does that want to make you puke?

Hold the gag reflex. Every character is good looking and in the age range of 25 to 40. The market research team created the cast with no thought of realism.

Okay, it is a pilot so the producers need to be blunt to get the green light, but I'm hoping for better to come.

Overall, this is far too stereotypically an American cop show.

Now you can puke.

I'm torn between really liking this and being really disappointed.

I will start by stating if you are looking for a fast paced, action packed, thrill ride, then look elsewhere.

Hugo Blick, the director, has obviously been influenced by the Coen Bros Oh Brother Where Art Thou (Homer's The Odyssey) and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, both of which are brilliant, but the writing isn't in the same league.

The cinematography is superb and the landscape is an important 'character' in creating the atmosphere and explaining the story, but the show needs far more depth in the human characters.

All together it just seems like a stream of events that are tagged together (The Odyssey) to make the series, without a strong enough story binding the events together.

Great cast, acting, direction and production values, but the writing should have been better.

This film is enjoyable if you under twelve years of age and are new to all the stereotypes it attempts to portray.

For adults I recommend suspending cynicism and watch it through your inner-child's eye.

It is a whimsical bit of fun not to be taken too seriously.

Some of this film is unbelievably crap and made me wonder how on earth did it get made. Then I recalled it was a BBC production which means jobs for friends in favourable places. Nepotism within the BBC is shockingly awful and the amount of rubbish they commission is embarrassing.

With such a great story to be inspired by the writer, script doctor, and director should have made a classic. They had four hours to use and should be ashamed of what they made.

The concept is good and the amnesia is handled better than I have seen anywhere else, but there is a problem with the screenplay.

The story was compelling enough to keep me watching but I groaned too many times at the wooden dialogue. Far too much exposition and in real life, people don't speak like these characters.

The actors do a reasonable job with what they have got in the script, but the actions and emotions are quickly milked to try and maintain a fast pace.

Any scene involving the police is terrible. The DCI might be good on stage, but he's no film actor and his dialogue didn't help either. All the police characters are reduced to simple stereotypes and they were awful.

It would have been better if they took the time to make the characters more human, and then I might have got involved with the show. As it was, I didn't care about anyone except for Dervla Kerwin, who was very good, and I felt this was a missed opportunity.

I wouldn't recommend watching.

This film is rated PG13 (UK15) and I am sure a 13/15 year old will find it thrilling (I would have loved it at that age) but for anyone older it's a disappointment.

The premise is reasonably good - a younger take on Alfred Hitcock's The Rear Window - and the production is of the top quality and the acting is very good, but there are Big problems with the script / directors vision for the movie.

I was intrigued by the setup and wanted to see where the story was going to go. I thought this film was going to be a real psycho-drama but it failed badly.

There were too many holes in the story and a change in direction that made it just like too many other films for teenagers.

If you just want a monster movie, then enjoy.

I wanted a monster movie where I would care about the characters, but this doesn't deliver. At one point I hoped that they would hurry up and get eaten so I could turn off.

The SFX are very good, but the direction is awful. In too many scenes the characters just stand around watching when they would be panicking and running.

The tension just isn't there and that's why I don't recommend this movie.

The political allegory is interesting but could have been handled in a much better way. IMO, and I can't believe that I am writing this, the allegory should have been more obvious and in your face.

A movie that should have been filled with thrills and scares, and made me think, left me feeling bored.

Totally unbelievable. It is fast paced like a stream of music videos and is very well produced. The camera work and the soundtrack are the best elements of the show.

The acting - terrible.

The script - terrible.

The tattoos - terrible.

The characters - terrible.

Plot holes - too many to count.

The cast - too good looking to be believable.

The Dr. - implausible.

The racial divisions - comical.

The criminals back stories - laughably bad.

The dialogue - cringe worthy.

The whole of season 1 was written to be an exciting thriller with no basis in reality. That's acceptable for some escapism, but this escape was from the mind of frat boys who just wanted a cool TV show.

It might work if you can disengage your brain, but not for anyone with an IQ higher than a goldfish.

I watched it for research purposes.

Episodes 1 and 2 are as good as it gets for a police procedural. Good writing, acting, and production values. Exciting, gripping, and thrilling.

Episode 3, I'm more than two hours into the show and writing this wondering if I will finish it. The acting and production is top quality, but the writing is a bit crap.

Too many implausible story arcs and the errors in procedures made me cringe - a writer should not make such mistakes. Research was substandard.

Also too much psycho babble and unrealistic 'getting in touch with your feelings' scenes that were... Crap!

Enjoy 1&2.

Book adaptations work with straight forward stories and Life After Life is a complex book.

A big country house - yes Starts before WW1 - yes

That criteria was enough for the BBC to think they had the next Downton Abbey - How wrong they were. They obviously hadn't read the book (and they didn't read the script).

Like most BBC dramas the production values are very good but the script was awful. There were incidents but no story development to start with and as for character development, nothing.

The two scenes that bookend the first episode are meant to be teasers, but they meant nothing unless you know the book.

As for the narrator, it is never a good idea to have a voice-over in a drama that tries to explain what is happening. That reflects the poor quality of the writing.

Yet another job for the people with friends in the BBC. When are the beeb going to use some new writers and maybe even make a quality contemporary drama?

My recommendation - read the book.

PS Don't believe the stooges (insiders) who claim this is brilliant - it's not.

How on earth did this get made? I can enjoy a bit of light weight comedy but this was so light it defied gravity.

The cast must have been paid a fortune to be involved because the script is awful. Having said that, they are good with what they have to work with.

It seems to me that the critics on here have seen something more to this film than I did.

I do enjoy a good 'art-house' film (Pans Labyrinth, Black Swan, La Dolce Vita...) but this left me cold. None of the characters engaged me and I found some of the direction to be that of an undergraduate.

At a couple of points I even laughed at HJ hamming it up like he was back in drama school.

I have just watched the extras and found out that the studio shut down the production half way through and it was finished as an indie two years later.

A good independent movie is, to me, better than most studio productions, but this didn't work for me.

I didn't expect to see Helen Mirren over-acting in so many scenes, but the time constraints (1hr 40) meant the director packed in every reaction he/she could think of..

The great thing about Prime Suspect is the time given to develop both the stories and the characters. Such time gives the actors an opportunity to show their skill, but in this episode there is a lot of crap acting - too rushed and overly dramatic.

The detective work is also a bit too contrived - it's all too quick and easy.

Parts 1-3 are superb, and I am pleased to see that 5 is back to the length needed for quality TV.

I recommend skipping this episode.

If you read the synopsis on imdb then you might be interested because it looks exciting. That must be all the producers read because the script was not very good at all.

It left me wondering how on earth did it get made? There was nothing special about the acting, direction, or the production. So I can use only assume it was down to contacts that this was provided for our entertainment.

The collaborations between the BBC and other worldwide producers (Netflix) should bring quality, but has failed several times.

Too many producers think being 'woke' is cool. I wish they would read the scripts!!! This was boring.