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Low IMDB review score tells me that viewers don't rate films on visuality.

This is a highly visual film. It's a feast for the eyes - costuming, makeup, sets, movement, ensemble grouping, cinematography.

Reviews of plot and story-line in a film like this miss the point.

The story is the visuality, and the visuality is the story.

It's actually a superb period costume piece, a tribute to the so-called American Dream, tongue firmly in cheek.

Frank Oz gets this so right.

Sit back and let it visiually wash over you.

If this doesn't work, stick to the book.

Included in my 10 best visually realised films.

Rated 10.

Dumbed down and embarrassing remake of the 1939 classic.

Well worth seeing the original, now remastered in Blu-ray, the 85 year old script compares favourably with the best currently around now, as does the acting and direction and cinematography - a timeless classic.

This remake is apparently justified as an accurate depiction of what women are really like now, compared to 1939. It's un-wokenly advertised as 'a chick flick', which puts it into the 1980's time-frame or earlier.

The first 10 minutes is promising, shades of Breakfast at Tiffanys. Annette Benning starts it off well, but already the mediocre dialogue is a jarring note. I watched it right through, and would say except for the 2 cameo roles, it's downhill from then on to the end.

Compared to The Good Wife and The Good Fight, which depict strong females and great scripts, this remake is a bumbling embarrassment - a real put-down of females. One wonders how a female director could get it so wrong.

I watched it right thro only because of the calibre of the 1939 original. But I wouldn't watch it again - rated 3 for the production values,

Despite many scathing reviews of season 6 because Kevin Spacey was gone, I think it's the best season of the lot. It's totally different, replacing Kevin's bull in a china shop over-the-top macho masculinity with Robyn Wright's more effective machete in velvet glove devious manipulations.

While it's a total contrast, and may take some adjustment to the previous 5 seasons, I think the exploration of why Claire would want to be married to Frank, and how and why she takes it to the next level, is brilliant.

By way of background, the previous BBC House of Cards 1996 production, ended with Liz (Francis' wife = Claire in US production) arranging for Francis to be assassinated by a sniper. The series ended with the unanswered question - who is this woman who has lived with Francis, condoned and encouraged his ways, and ended his life when he was in over his head. What's her back story, how does she prosper in the future?

These intriguing unanswered questions from the UK series, are actually answered in this US series.

One might speculate that the producers had decided to do a season 6 answering these unanswered questions from the start. Or, they didn't originally, but it evolved as the series ran. Whether they decided to write Kevin Spacey out because of an already developed season 6, or whether his departure was unforeseen and producers had to flesh out a new story along these lines, is something which 'you might very well say that, I couldn't comment'.

Season 6 is credible about Claire's backstory of abuse from males, and her motives about deliberately and consciously deciding to marry a guy like Frank. One starts to appreciate the depth of her animosity to controlling males, and her choice of Frank as her weapon to wreak revenge. She's a very unusual woman, just as obsessed as Frank, with the advantage of having clear goals and a committed passion for revenge.

The production style of season 6 is different to seasons 1 - 5. The personalities of Claire and Frank are chalk and cheese - over-the-top versus understated. There are to my mind brilliant bits, eg. Delaying the news of Francis' death, being ambiguous about it, setting up questions, taking risks with the viewer. I like the deliberately tenuous and evasive camera.takes to show Claire's state of mind - I think this is brilliant directing and acting from Robin Wright despite the negative reviews from others. I thought it was highly effective in portraying the real persona of Claire Underwood, and consistent with what we saw in seasons 1 - 5, but now we see it without Frank - perhaps too much change for many viewers.

This is not a series about Team Underwood or Battle Underwood, it's a series about what you get when two obsessed individuals work together for different goals, only one of whom knows both sets of goals. It actually turns out to be a thriller. You gotta admire the producers for sticking to their guns, and finishing what the BBC version didn't do.

I realise many viewers may not 'get' season 6, and seasons 1-5 are already at a very high level. Season 6 tops it all up, and is strongly recommended if you are a connoisseur of machiavellian psychology at it's very best.

Rated 10/10 with season 6 included.