Ratings
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Reviews
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nasty, brutish, and long
What a horrible experience, watching this was. So much nastiness and so few sympathetic characters; a run-of-the-mill and unsubtle story; an ending that is telegraphed well in advance.
Watching this nasty, brutish and very long film is a horribly depressing experience. It reminds me of the quote from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever."
This dispiritingly bleak film needs to be consigned to the vaults and never shown again. It has no redeeming features or qualities. Please don't waste your time on it.
The Wrath of Becky (2023)
Bland sequel
I stumbled across the original film, Becky (2020), on a free streaming service in the UK and was surprised that it was so well made and entertaining. I enjoyed the original film so much that I bought this sequel on Blu-ray (from Germany, since a UK version wasn't available). But this sequel is so bland and slow paced. It's far, far worse than the original.
There's no real sense of danger or peril. Things trundle along and some people get killed. The concluding scene makes it feel like the whole purpose of this sequel was to set up a further sequel -- "Becky 3 - The Key To It All" perhaps. We might as well have gone straight to "Becky 3".
Seann William Scott is very low energy as Darryl. I don't know if that is down to poor direction or the poor script. He's so unmenacing that he has to tell a story to demonstrate how ruthless he was on one occasion in the past.
Please do watch the original if you haven't seen it, but this sequel should be given a very wide berth.
Virdee (2025)
BBC Virdee Review - Staz Nair Delivers a Leaden Performance
Staz Nair fails to command the screen as DCI Harry Virdee, lacking both intensity and emotional depth in this bland BBC crime drama. His portrayal is an unfortunate balance of absentmindedness and misdirected focus -- fire the focus puller -- making Virdee a standout character for all the wrong reasons.
From low-octane chases through Bradford's streets to louder, hair-pulling moments as family members grapple with each other, Nair delivers a mind-numbingly boring performance. His miniscule screen presence and emotional lack of range make Virdee not even a detective, and definitely not a man fighting battles on multiple fronts.
With a box-ticking script and sophomoric storytelling, Virdee is a do-not-watch, not least as a result of Nair's monotone and single-layered performance. If this is the start of a franchise, the BBC are doomed!
(This had to be said, in the interests of balance.)
Wisting: Episode #5.2 (2024)
Nice convoluted story, spoiled by poor crutch acting and unbelievable "two lonely people" incident
A nicely convoluted story. Lots of suspects. But spoiled.
I was drawn to this by the casting of Shelley Conn. But I can do without the sight of her getting it on with the very crumpled Sven Nordin. Rather like watching Marilyn Monroe get it on with Bernard Bresslaw.
And the crutch acting! If you're using a single crutch and you're able to walk up stairs, then you really don't need the crutch. He seems to need it one minute and not the next. He limps one minute and the next he is able to chase a thief. He then uses the light aluminium(?) crutch as a weapon, as if it had the weight of a baseball bat.
Silent Witness: I Believe in Love... - Part 2 (2025)
So tragic and sad
(This is a copy of my review of ep09 -- the first part of this two-parter.)
I haven't been a regular watcher of Silent Witness over the years. I watched for a few years at the beginning and then got fed up with the characters. I started watching again last year (s27) and have really been enjoying this year's s28. And this two-parter is absolutely one of my favourite stories.
I hope it's not a spoiler to say that this story is so tragic and sad. But if I don't mention the "perfect" tragedy and sadness, then I can't reveal what I particularly like about it.
The underlying "condition" covered in this story is heartbreaking. It's so well acted, not least by Seosaimhin Hennelly as the young girl Dawn. The characters are given space to develop and reveal themselves at a perfect pace. Wonderful!
Silent Witness: I Believe in Love... - Part 1 (2025)
So tragic and sad
I haven't been a regular watcher of Silent Witness over the years. I watched for a few years at the beginning and then got fed up with the characters. I started watching again last year (s27) and have really been enjoying this year's s28. And this two-parter is absolutely one of my favourite stories.
I hope it's not a spoiler to say that this story is so tragic and sad. But if I don't mention the "perfect" tragedy and sadness, then I can't reveal what I particularly like about it.
The underlying "condition" covered in this story is heartbreaking. It's so well acted, not least by Seosaimhin Hennelly as the young girl Dawn. The characters are given space to develop and reveal themselves at a perfect pace. Wonderful!
Monsters (2010)
Nothing happens
I started out enjoying the slow pace of this film. But I eventually realised that absolutely nothing of interest was going to happen.
And the carelessness of the two principals, Andrew and Sam, is infuriatingly ridiculous. They just don't take things seriously, given their lives are most definitely at risk. Of course, if they didn't act idiotically, there would be no real story here. But to act so unbelievably idiotically makes it hard to take any of this seriously. Things that happen just seem to wash over them and trigger little in the way of emotional response.
Oh for some real sense of peril and some scary CGI.
This Farming Life (2016)
This Diversified Life
(Reviewed after watching the whole of seasons 6 and 7 on BBC iPlayer. I was drawn to this by s6ep09of12 in which "Carianne searches for the missing mother of a newborn calf." I watched that episode and the following ones and then decided to watch the whole of season 6 from the first episode.)
Much as I enjoyed season 6, there was a lot of interminable repetition, not least the showing of animals by the little kids. So I would recommend season 7 over season 6.
Season 7 has a very strong theme of "diversification". So much so that some of the farmers seem hardly like traditional farmers at all and more like businesses that utilise land to host outdoor activities. I guess this is the way farming is going, but perhaps a future season of this programme will contain no animals or crops at all?
Patience (2025)
Patience (not) required
(Reviewed after watching all 6 episodes of the first season.)
The opening "origin story" episode is so slow you really do need patience to persevere with it. But it does pick up speed in the second episode.
The big problem here is that I'm not convinced that Patience is actually autistic. Her "autism" is almost a cartoon version of what (I think) I know of real autism. She seems to struggle with certain things, but as soon as that gets in the way of the plot, she magically seems to overcome her struggles.
One implausible moment stands out: she can't tolerate being touched but when she he is hugged by the son of DI Bea Metcalf, she looks as if she has just realised that there is absolutely no reason to fear being touched. Again, as if autism is just someone being awkward and all they have to do is think themselves out of it.
Chinook: Zulu Delta 576 (2024)
Far too long
This is far too long because it's presented as a human interest story rather than as a focussed analysis of the cause(s) of the crash.
The first 30 minutes of the first episode can safely be skipped. All that happens in those 30 minutes is that the occupants of the helicopter are described and we are introduced to their surviving relatives. While this perhaps helps viewers care about what happened to the specific occupants, I think it's safe to assume that anyone who decides to watch this is already motivated to do so.
There's really no need for this to be any longer than 60 minutes. So, either a single 60 minute episode or two 30 minute episodes. A total running time of 120 minutes is simply far too long.
North Shore (2023)
Watchable, but nothing special
It's a decent whodunit and better than many in this genre. But it's nothing special: a decent time filler but in no way a must-see.
I read many of the reviews before binge watching this and so knew there was a "twist". This does begin to drag as you get into the 5th episode and, during that episode, I worked out who the killer was. (I'm not sure I would describe there as being a "twist", it's more a case of there being the usual misdirection that is an essential element of whodunits.)
I felt John Bradley was miscast as Max Drummond and gave too humorous a performance. I also struggled to accept Joanne Froggatt as a determined politician.
The Box of Delights (1984)
Dreadful first episode, but then it flies along
What an awful opening episode. I was sick and tired of hearing "the wolves are running". And the whole episode was a little too disjointed for my liking. Fortunately, this improves massively from the second episode, perhaps because the narrative seems simplified.
There doesn't seem to be much of a story here and the "box of delights" is rather like a very under-powered two-button PlayStation. Perhaps, in the good old days, being able to go small or go swiftly was a meal in itself, rather than simply an appetizer?
While I can understand them wanting to spread this out for 3 hours over 6 episodes, I doubt they would have lost anything significant if they had "gone small" and produced this as a 90 minute TV special.
The Diplomat (2023)
Justice-Loving Brits in the Sun
(Reviewing after binge-watching the whole of the first season.)
Entertaining, but too gentle to be described as a thriller.
The strong points are: Sophie Rundle's performance as the central character, Consul Laura Simmonds; Philipp Boos' performance as Fabian Hartmann;
Isak Férriz's performance as Inspector Castells; and the generally well-paced script.
Sophie Rundle is reported as saying: "This is the closest to myself that I've ever played. I know women like Laura, and I went to school with girls like her." (Source: "What's on TV", UK listings magazine.) And the story arc of the death of the young man on the yacht provides a solid backbone, one from which single episode stories are successfully hung.
The weak points are that the conclusion of the story arc feels very rushed in the final episode -- in stark contrast with the way it had evolved at a natural pace in the previous episodes. And Carl Hyndley (played by Dylan Brady) is an underused character and appears to be there only to provide someone who takes offence at an apparent "Karen" in episode 5. If this gets a second season, they need to put some work in to evolve the character from a simple stereotype.
Competencia oficial (2021)
Laugh out loud when it wants to be
Lots of laughter from me at many points in the first two thirds of this film. But I wasn't interested in the "resolution" in the final third.
It's not so much that "director" Lola Cuevas (played by Penélope Cruz) requires her "actors" to do absurd things, but the things are just so silly that I couldn't help but laugh out loud at them. (Do any of those things really make much sense, or are they simply "incantations"?)
I felt this started going wrong when a character (nameless to avoid slight spoilers) is explaining a medical diagnosis to two other characters. I wasn't sure if we were meant to take the character seriously or not. Indeed, was the actor playing the character intentionally doing a bad job of convincing the two other characters? This is when things started to be less fun.
Christmas on Cherry Lane (2023)
A theory and philosophy of family Christmas
There's so much in here about families and how Christmas brings out the best and worst in them, that it almost feels like the writer is presenting a theory and philosophy of family Christmas.
It's one of the most interesting and innovative of the "family Christmas" sub-genre of Christmas movies that I've seen.
That said, there is an awful lot going on here and I got a little lost as I wasn't paying full attention. Not least because the description I read didn't make it clear that events are happening at different times in the same location. So I was struggling, at times, to work out precisely how the various characters spanned the 3 time periods.
The Listeners (2024)
The sound of 6 out of 10
While there's nothing particularly deep here, there are some strong and very measured performances. It did make me think about things as I was watching it and it certainly wasn't predictable. The conclusion was also reasonably satisfying.
Rebecca Hall was very believable as Claire. I also particularly liked the performance of Amr Waked as Omar.
Without giving any spoilers, I think it is possible to say this is "about" people who are suffering (hearing the "hum" that most cannot) and trying to find someone who can help them. It strikes me it is also "about" the way the brain can construct both helpful and unhelpful explanations.
Well worth a watch, so long as you're not looking for anything deep and meaningful. (I enjoyed this enough to binge watch it last night.)
Where Are You, Christmas? (2023)
Unhappy Bad-hair-days
This is going to seem like a very tangential review, but I really struggled to ignore Lyndsy Fonseca's distracting hairstyle.
This probably won't mean much to an international audience, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the hairstyle of the British comedian Max Wall. (His was an absurd hairstyle with much bald scalp on show and ridiculous volumes of hair at the sides and back of his head.)
I had a look at photos of Lyndsy Fonseca in other movies and she does seem to have had some flattering hairstyles. But here, she has a centre parting, lots of forehead on show, her hair is pushed back at the sides and had far too much volume at the back.
The Chelsea Detective (2022)
I don't want to go to Chelsea to watch these detectives
(Reviewed after watching the first 4 episodes of the second season.)
Much more filler than thriller. Probably OK if you want to kill time, but otherwise I'd suggest giving this a miss.
Adrian Scarborough does a reasonable job as DI Max Arnold. I'm so used to Mr Scarborough giving rather theatrical and fruity performances that I was surprised by how pleasantly muted he was in this. But I never felt that DI Max Arnold had much of a character, no unique characteristics that made him interesting.
The first two stories -- spread over 4 episodes -- of the second season were rather bland and boring. I never felt I cared for any of the characters nor how the stories would be resolved. For all this is supposed to be set in Chelsea, I didn't get much of a feel that this is set in a specific as opposed to generic location.
Beacon 23 (2023)
Decompression sickness
The storytelling is so infuriatingly decompressed. The characters are so ridiculously unsympathetic. And the cliffhanger ending of the first season is a real kick in the teeth.
What on Earth -- or in space -- were they thinking when they thought this very thin story could be stretched out for hour after hour after interminable hour?
Barbara Hershey's performance was the only thing I enjoyed in this. I jumped ship at the end of the first season, but I really should have headed to the airlock around the third episode. Such a horrible waste of time. Please learn from my mistake and give it an extremely wide berth.
Joan (2024)
Goes down easily
(Reviewed after watching the first 3 episodes of 6. I abandoned it at that midway point.)
It's well acted, especially by Sophie Turner, who plays Joan. It's had a reasonable amount of money spent on it. It looks good and as bad as you expect the 1980s to look. But there's not much of a story -- at least in the first 3 episodes -- and what story there is, is no different to many such stories that have been told on screen before. And the choice of contemporary music is poor.
I'm not a particular fan of the "noble criminal" genre, so perhaps this was never going to be my cup of tea. In this instance I was especially appalled by the robbery of the painting -- no good deed goes unpunished.
LOLA (2022)
You Really Got Me
Wonderful!
We're told it's all going to go wrong -- that is no spoiler -- and it's intriguing to wonder exactly how things will go wrong. (There's a short headline in a newspaper which gives a hint of what might go wrong.)
One of the strengths of the screenplay is that everything goes perfectly right -- ignoring one hiccough -- for the first 30 minutes. We need to see just how wonderful their invention is, so we're fully emotionally engaged when things start to go wrong.
The wartime footage is used very effectively. Stefanie Martini gives an excellent performance as Martha. And it's strange to think that Spandau Ballet might never have existed.
Christmas Connection (2017)
The hairpiece before Christmas
What is it with Tom Everett Scott's hair in this film? Is it real? If it is real, is it naturally that solid a colour? I found it so distracting that this awfully bland and unconvincing film slipped by me, without leaving much of a trace. (Perhaps there were some reshoots after he had had his hair cut, since there are times when his hair looks reasonably natural?)
There are just too many occasions when Sydney, played by Brooke Burns is drawn further into Jonathan's family and her protestations are just too half-hearted. She seems to have no agency and simply goes along with whatever others propose. Is the moral of this film that a woman cannot be truly happy unless she is a (step-)mom?
How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
It's a hell of a job, getting into heaven
Enjoyable, nothing too serious and with a pitch perfect central performance from Lindsey Gort. (While I can understand why some reviewers disliked the ending, I don't think it even comes close to ruining the film: just ignore it if you don't like it.)
I'm not sure if US realtors are meant to be the spawn of satan, but Sarah, played by Lindsey Gort, seemed like a rather decent and generous person. So I didn't understand why she was made to jump through so many hoops in order to get on the list of those permitted to enter heaven.
Still, I enjoyed this film and especially the performances of Lindsey Gort and Derek Theler.
Nightsleeper (2024)
Trainspotting
"Choose life. Choose anti-virus."
(Reviewed after watching the first episode.)
This rattles along at a fair pace and is nicely twisty.
But I struggled to accept Alexandra Roach as Abby Aysgarth. She's playing a character who's supposed to be acting technical director of the national cyber-crime agency. She looks about 16 and simply doesn't have the necessary gravitas. (And it would be really nice to have a Scottish drama that doesn't wheel out James Cosmo. Just for a change.)
Having coincidentally re-watched Non-Stop (2014) last night, I'm wondering if this is going to be equally entertaining but also equally implausible?
A Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019)
Steely Dan
Absolutely terrible.
I almost lost the plot when the child psychologist was explaining the boy's temporary mutism. There's no way a professional would explain things in the way she did. Just a laughable caricature of a child psychologist.
This is ostensibly about a "widowed young mother [... seeking] the truth behind her husband's murder", but if feels that that is a very secondary element of the story. It's much more about a woman who is ridiculed by pretty much everyone, especially authority figures and men in general.
It's just impossible to take it seriously. The "gangster" banging on about metaphors is unintentionally laughable.
Please give it a wide berth.