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Reviews
Changing Ends (2023)
The British Young Sheldon!?
As I live in Northamptonshire (and know how much Alan Carr has done for local charities and schools in villages like Overstone) I may be a little biased. That said, I think this is the best new British comedy in some time - I hope it gets more seasons as I can see it running and running like a UK version of Young Sheldon. The casting is superb, the mentions of Northampton are frightfully accurate (even if some names have been changed slightly to disguise locations like Weston Favell) and it's a super touch with Alan popping up in person rather than just a narrator. Young Alan is simply superb, love his mum and dad, and let's not forget brief appearances by Ray Purchase from Toast of London, Well, Well, Well!
Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area (2022)
Worth Sticking With....
If like me you've decided to watch the Korean version of Money Heist as an extra fix after watching the superb Spanish version (multiple times in my case) you may be initially disappointed. Aside from the brilliance of a casting department able to somehow magically represent each character in the story so well you could guess who each is playing despite little similarities, brilliant, but once the plot seems to appear as a almost exact copy of what you've seen before, the shine fades half way through this short series. But its worth persevering to the end as sufficient differences are in fact woven into the tale as to make this a whole story worth watching in its own right. Like many Korean programmes I've seen on Netflix the fight scenes are often a joy to behold. In summary, if I'd seen this before full fat MH, I'd have scored it higher, but as a sequel I enjoyed this anyway and the acting was great throughout.
My Old School (2022)
Something a little different for a change
The director set out to create a different kind of movie or documentary if you prefer and I think he really succeeded. Whilst a little confusion in parts as you try to get your head around the juxtaposition of real people, actors and the made up characters, overall I think he tells a complex tale well and with compassion for all concerned. Maybe it was all worthwhile to get a crack at kissing lead girl, maybe he just needs to become a doctor, either way I feel sorry for Brandon today who's life seems on hold and probably needn't be? It was also a shame to hear about the Head, what a nice inspirational man he appeared to be. For me, one of the highlights of the film was the way it showed the camaraderie of the old students who seem at ease together today as 30 or so years ago, and how nice to learn about the posh bit of Glasgow, makes a nice change from stories about the projects.
Ad Astra (2019)
Not worthy of your time
Wow, where to start. I'm not a huge space movie fan or technical nerd but having said that The Martian is right up their as both my favourite book and film combo of all time - and for every believable aspect of that film, Ad Astra seems to polar opposite. So many elements of the film seem unrealistic to my untrained eye - from people being jettisoned into space when approaching our here from above (surely spacecraft lose stages from below?) to seemingly impossibly accurate manned space flight sequences with no visible means of propulsion? And you've surely got to question the quality of a space movie with less technical "experts" on the cast, by a big margin, than stunt people or drivers? Maybe I stumbled into the wrong film and this is a remake of The Driver? If you like lots of close up moodily lit shots of Brad Pitt you'll probably live Ad Astra, if your like a bit of technical accuracy in your space programs, pun intended, I might be right and this is actually pretty pants. Won't watch a third time.
The K2 (2016)
I'd rather watch paint dry!
I normally like Korean cinema and also the occasional telenovela and action movie - this was a poor combination of all three and I was relieved it finished at 16 episodes - please don't make a sequel. Some good casting and acting was marred IMHO by a badly conceived and far fetched script and perhaps the worst dramatic action and fight scenes I've seen in many a year. Have the coreographers or stunt co-ordinators not viewed excellent comparisons such as Vincenzo which I think is on a par with Hollywoods finest. By comparison K2, with the exception of the last couple of episodes, was filled with fight scenes where kicks and punches never land, car chase scenes that are just a few sped-up swerves and explosions consisting of little more than simply shaking the camera. And let's not start on the ridiculous plot points ranging from the All-Seeing magical AI computer room through to politicians with more lives than a cat. In a word or two I'd summarise "not good enough, go back to film school" as you're ruining the actors hard work.
Hell or High Water (2016)
A bit sloooow!
An enjoyable enough take on the strange lost world in middle America where a cowboy lifestyle and dust bowl towns exist hand in hand alongside the dodgy money men of the mortgage and oil world we all love to hate about today - hence the plot centres around foreclosure of an old family farm once oil has been found or suspected.
All characters play their parts well, with the exception of the annoyingly changing accent employed by Bridges (seems to be his new thing - wish he'd just talk normally) but he's still watchable.
Highlight for me is the cantankerous rattlesnake of a waitress, she'd make a trip into this town worthwhile to see!
Binsenjo (2021)
A Korean telenovela with style?!
A thoroughly enjoyable telenovela / rom-com / Crime thriller set in South Korea with some great acting, lots of humour and excellent action sequences that seem real rather than the usual CGI. The main actors are excellent and have good on screen chemistry. Only a few unrealistic plot points lowered my score - hoping for a sequel. Even watching in English sun titles failed my enthusiasm for this series so well done Netflix, just a shame it's not a real telenovela as from the ones I've watched they seem to go on forever with at least 200 episodes, sadly Vincenzo (uk title) has ended (so far?) at just 20.
The Diana Investigations (2022)
Thought Provoking....but.....
An interesting update on this long running sad saga. It's little wonder Mr Alfaed and the boys have struggled over the years with all the extra pressure piled on by the media and a BBC journalist who should have been jailed for fraud not elevated to manage religious programming.
I digress - feels like the programme but most conspiracy theories to bed - just left two unanswered questions for me.
Did HM The Queen really say "that" to Paul Burrell?.... And has she ever contradicted him or explained further? (And even if you can't bring yourself to interview the Monarch surely the Police can submit a list of questions to be answered?)
And secondly has some misdirection being going on pointing the finger at MI6 (via a all so convenient disgruntled employee?)....surely the UK has many other clandestine departments that get up to dirty tricks? Was only MI6 interviewed?
Other that that I felt the producers did a good job of tying off many loose ends and we can rest easy!
Isanghan byeonhosa Woo Young-woo (2022)
Couldn't be Better
Well done again Netflix. A corker of a show, hugely enjoyable, great characters and acting, interesting plots plus a chance to learn more about Autism.
It's part Ali McBeal, part Suits, part Rainman but more thought provoking than any of these individually.
Only two minor criticisms - like the concept of whale facts/talk but the visuals were a tad much.
Secondly, the law firm realism is questionable. This might not apply to Attorneys but S. Korea comes last of 29 nations in The Economist Glass Ceiling index - so surely unlikely these two leading law firms would in practice have female CEO's (but nothing wrong with setting an example onscreen) but more worryingly they'd field a team of 5 lawyers per case....imagine the invoices!
The Undeclared War (2022)
Interesting visualisation of coding
Let's face it, films showing people writing, reading or viewing pages of computer code (or hard to read text messages) are less enjoyable than watching paint dry. This series tackled the task in a very creative and almost understandable way - aside from a seemingly rushed final episode, we enjoyed it from start to finish and hope for another series.
Better Call Saul (2015)
Pretentious Twaddle
If you're hoping this will be a way of extending your BB hit, don't waste your time, watch narcos instead. Breaking Bed IMHO is simply the best TV show ever made - great plots, characters and twists, through the series you even change your allegiances. By contrast, BCS has whole episodes of unnecessary padding, ridiculous story lines and no sight of a purpose and really confusing mix of past present and future story lines adds to my woes. Only the later episodes where some old BB characters start to appear lifts this above an even worse score. If you still need a BB fix, just watch that series again and swerve BCS which could have been so much better.
Dorosute no hate de bokura (2020)
Headache making but worth it!
This was one of the hardest films to watch and understand, not made easier with subtitles / really thought provoking. Enjoyable, well acted and clever - recommended.
Yankee (2019)
Really poor attempt
I watch anything to do with drug wars, especially Netflix box sets and even 160 episode tele-novellas! This is by far the worst yet.
Despite good acting and decent characters / central story, the individual episodes and plot just aren't believable - so it's been ruined by bad script writing making it like watching paint dry. Half way through, not sure if I can bear the rest - might watch the picture test card instead!
Sneakerhead (2022)
A Great First Effort
I wasn't expecting much of a three episode mini comedy series on Dave but with half decent scripts and good acting throughout, Francesca Mills being particularly noteworthy, I really enjoyed what is actually a pretty simplistic plot - even rushing ahead to watch the final episode before it was aired. Hope they make a second series, and with more episodes. They've got some good characters here which could mature nicely, given the chance. Good spot Dave team.
High-Rise (2015)
Fav Quote
Royal (The building Architect) "You can't put him (Laing) over the edge (of the tower block) he owes me a game of squash". Other than this, pretty disjointed film and not at all enjoyable.
Mandibules (2020)
French Bill et Ted👍
The similarity has been mentioned in other reviews - I only twigged on a second viewing when I noticed many similar behaviour traits. One of the weirdest films I've ever watched but great fun - hope they make a sequel, lots of potential crazy plots for an almost housetrained giant fly!
Inside the Superbrands (2022)
Can't they do maths in TV?
Not off to a great start - Heinz quoted as being a brand worth $1bn. In reality the company market cap / value is about 5000% higher! Pull you socks up Channel4.
Sorry We Missed You (2019)
The only Loach I've managed to finish
And what a good effort it is - albeit a sad indictment of our times and how corporate greed combined with successions of self serving politicians are grinding our country down.
Persischstunden (2020)
Shame on you Academy Awards
An enjoyable film (notwithstanding the subject matter obviously) and suitably tense to the end. Having visited Belarus and learnt of the appalling suffering their during the war both in terms of the Jewish & Russian people, and also infrastructure, it's all the more supervising and commendable that they've risen to heights capable of producing such an accomplished film, and are willing to tell a story like this to widen knowledge of what went on. I feel the Academy Awards panel could have done the decent thing and cut them some slack on this submission - I suspect politics at play given the countries alleged allegiance only to Russia, not something I encountered myself. So, good film and worth watching even if you don't like subtitles, speak German, Farsi or imaginary Farsi!