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Invasion (2021)
Mostly boring with a tad of action.
I can only agree with the criticisms already made by other reviewers. Exploring the angst of every main character with hackneyed story lines, i.e. Dead child causing marriage breakdown, abused mother, bad father, husband's affair, lesbian relationship, is not the best way to keep a show going. Golshifteh Farahani has one acting expression occasionally punctuated with a smile. The character Mitsuki is an immature, rude annoying idiot. My hubby wants to watch Season 2, can't think why, but may change his mind when I tell him that the show was cancelled after this. Can quite understand why it was. It hasn't been explained either why a soldier and his gang of civilians attacked a vehicle carrying the family. Still pondering that.
The Lost King (2022)
Very. Very Good
I would have given this 10 for a gripping story and brilliant acting, but - it didn't mention Dr Jo Appleby who made a gross error by using a mattock near the skeleton and putting a hole in the head. I doubt that even an amateur archaeologist would have used a mattock so near to the exposed bones. The hole in the head was mentioned by Tony Robinson as Time Team was following the dig as the bones were exposed, but there was no sign of them at the dig in the film. I think that it would have added a smidgin of something to know how this blunder by Dr Appleby went down with Philippa Langley. Sally Hawkins portrayed the chronically ill Philippa to perfection, and I have always loved Steve Coogan's work apart from one show which will be nameless. Mark Addy is another actor who always delivers, lately in The Full Monty series as well. Overall, time well spent not least for learning a few new facts about Richard III and Leicester University too.
Fantasy Island (2021)
Clichéd
I like this series up to a point. Up to a point it's funny, entertaining and poignant, and the setting is breathtakingly beautiful. However, the stopping point of admiration for me, which knocks off four stars, is the clichéd use of lesbian relationships. Why does every writer these days think that they have to turn even apparently heterosexual people into lesbians, or in some cases gay men? A few episodes in I feel as if I am watching the lesbian chronicles at times and it is spoiling a good show. I am 76 and have had two gay friends and five gay acquaintances in the whole of that time. Of course, people don't have to hide their preferences in fear and shame these days, which is a good thing, but it is so, so annoying to have the gay agenda pushed into your face in almost every single film or series on TV these days. You know that old saying that the English kitchen has three taps, hot. Cold and custard? Well this theme is like the custard tap, unimaginative cuisine.
War of the Worlds (2019)
Enjoyable but puzzling at times.
We watched Series 1 quite some time ago but didn't realise that there were further series until we did a trawl for something to watch last week. We (my hubby and I) enjoyed it very much and are looking forward to Series 4, although some things were a bit odd, such as an alien prisoner not being handcuffed while being questioned while Zoe was alone and she was attacked, and a couple of things with regard to the flip into ALTERNATIVE realities. Yes, the constantly annoying bit about this show was the use of alternate realities to mean alternative realities. I know that it's the difference between UK and US usage, but it's still an irritant and I can only assume that there were US writers of this story based very loosely, in fact hardly at all, on the book by HG Wells. Alternate in UK English (we were here first:)) means every other one, every second one as in alternate black and white stripes on a zebra crossing. Alternative means different or other choices or options, or in this case alternative realities as it was implied that these were numerous. Anyway, to get back to the story, good storylines, great acting and room for expansion into the next series. Only additional small criticism is a few slow-moving scenes where I was chivvying them to get on with it, to the point where I almost went and put the kettle on. Good overall.
House of the Dragon: The Princess and the Queen (2022)
Bewildering.
Hubby watches this regularly so I watched the beginning while waiting for the kettle to boil so that I could nip off and do something else. Opening scene, I said who's that pretending to heave a baby out? No idea, said my hubby. Waiting for an explanation was like waiting for a kettle to boil. I hung on until it dawned that it was a supposedly older Rhaenyra. Hubby clicked and spotted that the queen had changed, and that he thought that the king had dramatically passed away just as Rhaenyra was married in the last episode and it was just another pointless plot device. One reviewer previously commented, very rudely and unkindly, that Millie had an overbite. That kind of thing doesn't disappear with age unless you have a damn good orthodontist in the castle. I would think that makeup could age an actor quite adequately if necessary from teens to twenties, so this was just silly. Before I disappeared I asked who all those children were. No idea, said my hubby, who may I remind you watches this regularly. What a botch-up, such poor writing. And I am still bemused at seeing coloured actors with blond wigs. Quite surreal.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Crybaby Commander!
I'm sort of enjoying this in parts, but why oh why is the main character, Michael Burnham, bursting into tears or looking tearful in nearly every one of her scenes? Who on earth would write a Commander who is supposed to have had a Vulcan upbringing but is both emotionally unstable and incapable of making the kind of flash, life and death decisions required of command? The whole of everything can be at stake and yet she stands around crying about one thing ot another, agonising with someone while people around her are suffering and dying and the world is coming to an end yet again and you are thinking for God's sake get on with it and stop blubbering. The amount of emotion had me in tears, not of empathy but boredom. The amount of slow moving, soul-searching scenes is a drag on what could otherwise be a good show. The gratuitous violence is too much and unnecessary. I have commented previously in another place about the current annoyingly cynical use of gay or lesbian relationships in every series and film these days. The right to a relationship of your choice and way of life is an accepted thing now, so why is there a pushy political agenda which I think is patronising to gay people in that the producers assume that gay people won't watch anything without a gay person in it? Sci-fi fans are sci-fi fans no matter who they are, and it is partitioning gay people rather than treating them as normal viewers like the rest od us. I also found some action very confusing. The special effects are great, though. We're into Series 3 so I don't expect the crying to lessen. I tend to go and make tea now in the blubbery moments, but one can only drink so much tea in an hour or so.
Raised by Wolves (2020)
Warmed to it.
Truly, I am sick of these streaming channels cancelling so many series when a cliffhanger has been left at the end of the last episode. This is the fifth in the last few months, and all channels are culprits. My hubby and I were not keen on it, but in the absence of something to fill some TV time we carried on, and had agreed that it was improving. I particularly liked the characterisations of Mother and Father, and with streamlined figures to envy, The plot was fast-moving with twists and turns, and there we were at the end of Season 2 with Marcus miraculously rising from the dead with no apparent explanation and Mother encased in membrane and imprisoned in a sleep pod as a result of borrowing the cowl from Grandmother who had her own sinister agenda. For goodness sake, if these really annoying, mercurial companies are never sure if they are going to finish the story for viewers, they might at least make it mandatory to.complete the story lines at the end of each series. It just makes you wonder whether it is worth watching any series unless you know that it's story is complete. Not ideal as you might have to see the finish before you see the first episode.
No Time to Die (2021)
No way to end the JB saga
Good actors and action but I am rating it 1 star for a predictable and disappointing ending. It's a very old ploy that when the main character finds a happy relationship you can bet your bottom dollar that he (usually) is going to be disappointed in love somehow. In this case his disappointment was terminal. Killing off the main character or having them estranged from their love interest is old hat, designed in my opinion to annoy the audience. Examples: Trip and T'pau in the finale of Star Trek Enterprise, a damp squib of a finale; Crusher and Picard in one of the Next Generation films, can't think which it is; Leia and Han Solo in The Force Awakens, also a terminal assignment; last but not least. Jon/Aegon and Daenerys in Game of Thrones. Jon turns out to be a contra to character wuss who won't man up and lay down the law to his contra to character, out of control aunty whom he has been boffing, preferring to do her in and walk off leaving, to paraphrase one reviewer, the sub characters sitting around a table about to order tea and biscuits. I can't say that I am a huge James Bond fan even though I have seen all of the films at one time or another, but I think that people like a happy ending. Why wasn't he given one? It isn't clever to kill off the main character at the end of a seies or film.
Andromeda: Phear Phactor Phenom (2004)
Hasn't improved much and where's the real Andromeda hiding
The plot has moved on a bit from the first boring episode, but oh my, where is the real Andromeda hiding? The substitute avatar, Doyle is not convincing. I know that Harper is supposed to have a shallow attitude towards his ideal women, and I'm going to steer clear of the horrendously offensive myth of the dumb blonde, but I'm afraid that Brandy Ledford cannot carry off this part. The difference between her persona and that of Lexa Doig is like the difference between a classic novel and a romantic novella. The initial costume was garishly annoying, and subsequent ones make you wonder whether the costume budget had be pared down to a minimum. Dylan resembles James Bond in space, continually boffing every woman who comes his way. Are women really so serially cow-eyed and stupid? Maybe so but you just think oh here we go again. Where has the charm of this show gone?
Andromeda: The Weight: Part 1 (2004)
Most boring episode ever.
My hubby and I were quite looking forward to Season 5 but we sat there astonished at how poor the intro episode to this series was. If someone was having their first taste of Andromeda they would have switched over to something more interesting. If a writer thinks that an episode consisting mainly of dialogue and a mandatory bar fight is acceptable then he is wrong. It was painfully plodding. If there was a no-star option I would have taken it.
The Magicians (2015)
It has grown on me.
Further to my first review below, I have to say that this has grown on me. The coarse turn of phrase has had me in stitches at times. How do they think of them? Now we have come to the end of Season 4 on Prime Video and the writers seem to have made the classic mistake that I have often commented on. Why oh why do they take themselves so seriously that they think that they have to add a touch of 'realism' to the plot of a fantasy by killing off a major character, this time Quentin. I'm not surprised that the fans were raging at the time, more so because he wasn't brought back to life in Season 5. It's fantasy not reality, doesn't need reality and the fans don't mind you killing off someone as long as you bring them back. Writers are writing their preconceptions about what the viewers want, which is to see the characters they love make it to the end. And as someone has pointed out already, it was a bigger blooper because the plot started with and centred around Quentin. You can't knock out a major/the major character and hope that people won't notice the big hole left in the show.
I like fantasy shows and we're currently watching this, not sure for how much longer, but it could have been really good if it weren't for a glutton's amount of swearing, bonking and blood. My first impression was that it was written by a pubescent youth for his mates, so much swearing and jumping on each other. Blood and gore happens in a lot of stuff these days and has lost the power to shock as a result. We've just finished all seasons of Haven and I can't help comparing the quality of one with the other. There was a fair amount of bonking in that, oh dear some more people tearing their clothes off and having hot sex on screen, but it was generally quality and the only swear word that I recall was pissed, pretty tame these days. Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice seemed to have but two modes of acting - frowning and blank, much like that other Taylor, Eliza, in The 100, which I gave up on after the first season. I can only put that down to the directing, but it does produce furrows between the eyes if done for long enough. I can't help drawing a connection between magicians pulling rabbits out of hats and characters copulating like rabbits. It seems that the show is being cancelled and that doesn't surprise me. You can only substitute sex, swearing and gore for good writing for so long, then the youngies turn to their smartphones, the middies turn in for some sex of their own, and the oldies like us look for a decent film or go to UK Gold for an old but entertaining comedy show. Shame, might have been good.
Haven (2010)
Two stars off for the ending.
This was addictive because of the plotlines and the beautiful setting, and the actors had talent and charisma that carried off the romance. The love/sex scenes didn't look acted, as in other series that I've watched and there was chemistry going on onscreen between Audrey and Nathan, and Audrey and Duke at times, and Duke's other dalliances. But As with so many other things the ending didn't make sense and made the huge mistake of killing off two main, popular characters. I'll bet that there are many like me who found this both annoying and disappointing. I would venture to say that audiences do not like their favourite characters being despatched, and I think of too many of these dying in Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, to name but two. So moving on past Dave's demise, Duke managed to recover but said that Nathan had to kill him because Croatoan was taking all the troubles out of him, so it was said that he saved the town and this was his destiny. But this was a pointless and mistaken plot device because Croatoan (William Shatner, sometimes with expressions reminiscent of James T Kirk, quite fun) was all powerful anyway and it was actually Audrey going into the barn to power it with Croatoan that saved the town. A bit of a plot slip up there I think. So prior to this, Croatoan, who was Mara's father hence Audrey's, had done for Nathan, but Audrey made him fix it, as she put it. And he had resurrected Dwight's long-dead daughter as well, so why not ask him to resurrect Dave and Duke and keep the viewers happy? I can't give full marks to anything that kills off my favourite characters. Finally, Haven was described as a town of 25,000 inhabitants. This I couldn't believe at the rate that the body count rose throughout the five series. More like 2,500 by the time it was done. Good quality on the whole.
The Expanse: Nemesis Games (2021)
Removal of Alex flawed.
I like this show very much, but am docking 2 stars for the loss of the character Alex which was to show that 'there are consequences and add it adds reality' to paraphrase the blurb I read. I think that viewers have been misread about this. Some may go for it, but I'm sure that I'm not alone in hating the loss of major characters. It isn't reality that we're watching, it's fantasy and you can always leave main characters alone to satisfy the viewing public, especially when the loss of one is not true to the book. Don't upset the fans, as happened in Harry Potter when too many of the well-loved characters were killed off by the author; Game of Thrones which had illogical, annoying and sometimes ludicrous plot lines and poor writing, especially the ridiculous finale, and some sequels including a couple of Star Treks and Star Wars where characters bound together by adversity and love are then shown as separated through circumstances etc. It doesn't wash. The kind of love that has endured through thick and thin, endures through thick and thin, and strong characters have strong characters, if you see what I mean. Producers and writers are so bound up in themselves, taking themselves too seriously, that they sorely misjudge what the viewer wants from fantasy. Drama, yes, but they want their major players to emerge intact from bad situations. The loss of Alex is a loss to the strength of the cast.
Last Christmas (2019)
A Christmas story with a difference
My hubby doesn't care a great deal for Christmas films but we settled down to watch this because the choice of films on Sky Movies is often abysmally samey-samey or unacceptably violent for most of the time, and this was the least of all evils. Although it started out seeming rather bland, and I couldn't help seeing Daenerys Targaryan in elf's uniform every time I looked at the lovely Emilia Clarke, I soon warmed to it, especially on experiencing Emma Thompson's superb, realistic and endearing portrayal of her Eastern European mother. It just got better and better as the story unfolded, engrossing and with superb acting by all and a twist in the tail, a movie great in my opinion.
The Rhythm Section (2020)
Didn't stay to see if it improved.
I understand the premise of the film and that the main character might be traumatized. but to keep watching you need to be drawn in and I was just repulsed, unfortunately. Why would even a broken person from a middle class family end up in a squalid brothel? I can't do squalid anyway. If there is a squalid bathroom scene in a movie I close my eyes and just listen to the dialogue, and here the squalor went on and on. The city looked squalid, the journalist's flat was squalid, the loch side cottage was squalid, and the dirty, cowering wreck of a character just put the tin hat on it, just repulsive. Even the lovely land of some of my forefathers, Scotland, was made to look uninviting. You need something to keep you watching and it just didn't have anything. About 20 minutes in I called a halt and we watched an old Thor movie, brilliant entertainment. I think that I would have even preferred the intensely annoying and distracting thing that most movie and series makers are doing these days - colour coordinating everything in shades of aqua, turquoise, teal and blue with the odd dash of bright colour, all filmed though a bluish filter it seems. When I watched the trailer it seemed worth watching, but unfortunately it didn't live up to that, and I didn't stop to find out why it was titled The Rhythm Section.
Truth Seekers (2020)
Oh yeah, this is for me!
I am so pleased that this is another series warranting a 10 star rating, the last being Succession. Another where I'm eagerly anticipating the next series, although Covid is putting the brakes on next seasons at the moment. Some of my favourite actors are here: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Malcolm McDowell, Kelly MacDonald (Evangeline in Nanny McPhee playing opposite Colin Firth) and some creditable new faces, to me, anyway. I don't normally go for ghostie horror, but Nick and Simon know how to do it with the right amount of comedy, as in their last zombie film which my hubby persuaded me to watch, so glad I did. The 'ghostbusting' seemed to be separate episodes until they all came together as the series progressed. I did notice a Serafinowicz in the production team and wondered whether he is related to Peter, but that is by-the-by. Great series, great entertainment.
Riviera (2017)
Two stars for the scenery and settings
I have to agree with much of what saintgirluk has said. It's also a rare occasion when you see a wooden plot with wooden characters brought somewhat to life by good actors, but I suppose that that is the mark of a good actor. I'm surprised that some accepted the parts but I suppose that the need to work and money are good incentives. I think that this is not the first time that I have seen Phil Davis (Jukes) uncredited in a production since his role as Jud in Poldark , and I'm not sure why, though he was instantly recognisable. I also wondered about the mix of accents, and the milky-skinned, red haired Adriana, looking more like a cross between a Mucha and an Alma-Tadema model than the daughter of two dusky types. There was no need for such sickening graphic violence, and there was also so much oral sex that it's a wonder that there wasn't a major outbreak of herpes. And about the sex - so fake looking, apart from when Negrescu raddled Irina on a table, that was hotly acted and realistic. At times I thought that I was watching a Victorian melodrama, particularly the ending, totally unbelievable for this character to go to the extremes of stabbing someone to death. How to explain the disappearance of a family member? Not necessary it seems as that was that in series one. This ending also reminded me of the totally naff, awkward and disappointing ending of Game of Thrones, where the writer lost sight of a natural progression to a satisfying ending in the effort to wind it up, and you wondered why you bothered watching. Just worked our way through season 2, dear me! Lacy dialogue and plot as in a lot of holes. Julia says to Irina that Adam tried to rape her, and later to Jeff that he did rape her, which is it? Or a later attempt to justify what she had done? She blames Adam for Constantine's 'death' but he just happened to mention it to his then girlfriend as far as I understood, not with the intention of killing his pa in an explosion. When Georgina sees Constantine, barely clinging to life anyway, she berates him soundly for not letting her know that he's alive, but neither he nor Cassie bothers to mention that a) he was unconscious for a month and b) he was a prisoner and his attempt to contact her was foiled. Then when she tells the family that she has seen him but he's dead now, they are angry because she didn't tell them so that they could go to him while he was alive, and yet again where you would expect some sort of explanation she doesn't bother saying that she has only just seen him and that he died before she had hardly left the building. Further along, in her obsession with pinning down Nico for Raoul's murder, incredibly she has Negrescu released on bail on her assurance of good behaviour. What!!!! The notion that a murderous gangster, who has killed one witness and was caught in the act of trying to kill another, would be released on bail is preposterous. That's the hallmark of a lot of this programme, including that she would set fire to a valuable collection of works of art including a piece on loan. So having started on Season 3, you have to ask why a reputable restitution expert such as Gabriel would steal a piece of jewellery and later try to gain from it. Action is split between Argentina and the Riviera, and Daphne turns up in St Tropez. Why is she single? Oh things have changed a lot in the last year. Could we not know why, likewise why no mention was made of Adriana who was on the verge of marrying Nico or the condition of Irina who miraculously survived a fatal fall? I would have thought that at the least Georgina would have asked after Adriana and Irina, if not from Nico then of Daphne.
Succession (2018)
Superb!!!
I can't remember any series that has engaged me so deeply and being so frustrated at having to wait for a third series after devouring two. It has a 'can't wait to see what happens next' plot and pithy, witty, hilarious writing, sprinkled so liberally with the f-word and other expletives that it reminded me of someone who's bought a ton of potatoes and now has to use them for every meal plus snacks in between before they go off. This amount of swearing would normal put me off watching anything, but in strangely it works for me in this series, blended into quality. The characterisations are superb, brought to life by top notch actors, and the gamut of emotions really does run from A - Z, apathy to zeal, if you like. You get a feel for each character as you watch events, from the malignant Logan, the loyal but watchful Marcia, the utterly foolish Connor, the pathetically repressed but capable Kendal, the flamboyant, crude Roman, the totally selfish Siobhan and her ultra-ambitious husband Tom, to the self-interested people who surround them. This is pure entertainment, with no OTT sexual scenes, and minimal physical violence though plenty of the mental kind. I have one criticism, something endemic in most of the series and films we watch these days, and this is that the music is often more foreground than background, and poor sound recording sometimes muffles the quickly spoken dialogue, so that we had to watch with subtitles on. On one occasion the subtitle even read something like 'dialogue drowned out by music'. There you have it, if the subtitle system can't hear the dialogue, the music needs turning down.
Grand Star (2007)
4 Stars for making me laugh a lot.
I agree that it is garbage to a large extent, and yes, why would you use so much energy when there was a shortage? But it made me laugh a lot, sometimes because there were funny bits, and sometimes because it was so naff. I kept watching it for its unintended entertainment value. I mention no names, but actors who act mainly by sideways twitches of the face and pursing of the lips, are extremely annoying. My hubby dislikes actors who go around with their mouths open all of the time. The romantic scenes between Cal and Suki were yukky, mainly because there was no chemistry there and it looked acted, besides the fact that he looked far too young to have that kind of strong attractiveness.
Personally I think that she should have gone with my favourite character, Damien, who was far more mature and funny, although his fuhrerfest at the end was a bit much. I had a lot of sympathy with the character because I thought that he was very used and abused, so it's no wonder that the worm turned big time. I laughed and replayed the scene in the railway carriage at the end where his hair looked like as if he had had an electric shock. Funny to the end.
A Discovery of Witches (2018)
Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!
I love good fantasy (no pun intended), and this is good fantasy. As others have said, great writing, great actors and acting (not a single duff performance), and a plot that you want to keep following. The chemistry between Matthew and Diana has been obvious from the start, which doesn't always happen even when characters are supposed to be madly in love. It takes two actors who understand the essentials of sexual attraction to portray it convincingly, with just the right amount of smouldering, held back intensity that you know is going to end up in bed. I'm not sure that I wanted it spelled out (again no pun intended) quite so graphically in one scene, as we all know what goes on when two people jump passionately onto one another, and prurience isn't my thing. Can't wait for Season 2. I am not even going to dock any stars for one of my pet hates, a cliché used by many film and series makers and last annoyingly seen in Alex Ryder, and this is the inexplicable colour co-ordination in shades of aqua, teal and turquoise with splashes of red and orange, plus shooting through a blue-green filter which makes white look like pale blue. I know that some scenes need to be dark and forbidding, but not every scene benefits from being muted with a filter. Stop it! But even this distraction faded as I watched the plot unfold. Super-duper series!
Knives Out (2019)
Simply outstanding!
I'm usually writing here to pick the bones out of poor quality shows or films, characters, plots or scripts, but I couldn't find a thing wrong with this film. It was an absolute gem that has raised the bar in film making. The plot, script, setting, everything was first class, and the leading lights shone brilliantly, as did the less famous cast. I wish it were the first of many of this genre. More please.
The 100 (2014)
Hmm.
I can understand the great reviews in a way because it does have decent ongoing plotlines, and the actors are convincing for the most part in good characters,but I think that in attempting to create effect it's more brutal than it needs to be sometimes (I don't think that graphic torture is necessary and anyway there is an overkill of this as it's used too much as a plot device), and the body count is going up exponentially. The bill for fake blood must take up a large part of the budget, and you have to wonder why the characters hardly ever wash or wipe it off but choose to go around looking like Pollock paintings. Or for that matter have a normal wash or wipe occasionally such as normal people would do even in trying times. The amount of blood and dirty faces is starting to be risible and we're only into Season 2. Lincoln's 6-pack looked like a 12-pack, and I must say that it added a lot to the viewing experience. The latest thing that we've watched, which is where Clarke discovers the horrifying truth about the Mountain people, is a bit of a rehash of an idea from a few shows such as V and I think that there was a Star Trek episode that had something similar. But no matter, we've next to see how her 'lotus eating' friends are alerted and how they escape, seemingly with an alliance with the grounder leader Anya, according to the synopsis. Hey-ho, on with the show. I might have given it more stars, but it is suffering from a failing that seems to be endemic in these series on Prime, in that the music is far too loud and sometimes drowns out the dialogue so that if you turn the sound up to catch the dialogue you risk annoying the neighbours. Please, do something about this there is no need for the music to be so loud. Speaking of which, it is a mixture of really great tunes and the awful crappy homogenous stuff that passes for pop these days. Bring back the Beatles!
Another Life (2019)
Boredom incarnate.
I've hardly ever been so bored with anything in my life. I think that the previous reviews have just about covered everything. It's like a risible horror movie (and I find most risible) combined with a stock standard horrid aliens movie, combined with a sleeping pill. "Wake up, love" my hubby said as I nearly fell off the couch fast asleep. Not that I was on the edge of my seat with suspense, it's just that I was poised to go and make some coffee while enough footage passed to move the 'plot' on. Instead of a nippy sci-fi all you got was a stretched-out Freudian soul-searching saga. I'd rate it less than the last series of Dr Who, which was pretty terrible on the whole. And speaking of doctors, the most interesting bit was trying to work out whether the doc on the ship was intended to be androgenous or gender undecided or both with his/her 7 o'clock shadow. Dr What, you might say.
The Vanishing (2018)
Who was Charlie?
The plot was really ridiculous. I detest films that purport to be based on a true story and yet contain great chunks of fiction, because a story is either true or not. This film takes the biscuit. I googled the Flannan Isle Lighthouse afterwards to check whether there was actually any basis for the full plot, and there is not. It is one great chunk of gratuitously violent fiction based simply on the idea that three lighthouse keepers disappeared without a trace, and that is probably the extent of the true bit of the story. If I were a descendent of James, the only one with children, I would be furious at the slur cast on his character. And who was the ill-fated Charlie and what was he doing on the isle? Couldn't find a trace of him even when running the film again up to the point where the men disembarked at the lighthouse. Had they been abducted by aliens at least it would have been entertaining and amusing. Thumbs down from me.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Good story, bad filming.
We watched this last night and although the story and cast were fine, it suffered from the malaise that seems to be infecting modern sci-fi, Star Trek included. It was too dark to be comfortable to watch. If you take the darkness of most of it and add 3D specs, it is a strain on the eyes. Why do film makers do this? In an attempt to create atmosphere, they are making it almost impossible to see some of the detail, and irritating the viewer. This wasn't a technique in the old Star Wars films, and they were great, so why do it with the new ones? Stop it, please, it makes the film less enjoyable!