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Reviews
The Place of the Dead (1997)
Much Ado About Nothing
1997 film shown on Talking Pictures 2024. Early example of expletives being used in drama. Unusually, not dubbed out by Talking Pictures.
To be honest this all seemed rather pointless and there was no sense of credibility. Those rucksacks obviously had nothing in them and there was no genuine sense of fatigue amongst the men.
Why were they on this expedition at tax payers expense in the first place? There was no rhyme or reason for it.
The resultant enquiry came to no conclusion that was shared as to why it was required or of any outcome.
A group of soldiers on a British Army expedition attempt to navigate an unexplored Malaysian gully. So inaccessible is the area, that they must ascend the highest mountain in Southeast Asia just to reach the entrance. The initial climb proves to be difficult for some of the party. Against strong objections, they are allowed to catch up and rest, rather than being turned back. Things don't improve the next day, however. With rations going more quickly than expected and time running out, a decision must be made. Should the lead group wait even longer and risk the entire mission, or save time by scouting the location ahead of them? Descending over "The Point Of No Return" could split the team permanently.
Lucan (2024)
More a story of obsession
I am not really giving anything away when I say that before I even watched it I knew that there was going to be no sensational revealing of what happened to Lord Lucan.
It would have been a big news story some time previously if there were.
It is interesting, although three episodes is a bit too long.
This is about the son (Neil Berriman) of the murdered Nanny and his quest to find the man responsible for killing the mother he never knew, he being given up for adoption by her. He did not find out who his really mother was until after his adoptive mother had passed away.
It is fair to say that Berriman has/had become completely obsessed with his quest. At first it seemed reasonable, but after seeing, briefly, what his wife thought of it all, it became clear that his whole life became revolved around the search for Lucan.
Fortunately his cohort, the investigative journalist Glen Campbell, was with him and kept a sober view on everything.
Even when Berriman was convinced he had found Lucan, Campbell was not.
En helt vanlig familj (2023)
Another good Swedish drama
En helt vanlig familj AKA - A Nearly Normal Family
Swedish with English subtitles.
Similar in concept to the Finnish drama A Good Family, whereby the parents, independently and unbeknown to one other, go to extraordinary lengths to protect their progeny when implicated in a murder.
It is extremely well edited and gradually the story of the central event is revealed until the viewer sees the whole picture.
Having said that, I think it would have been better without the last minute. I would have preferred to have only seen what was presented to the judiciary.
When I went to bed and started to think about it I realised the story was deeply flawed.
The court ruling would not be the end of the case.
Amina Besic's testimony would mean the investigation would continue.
Contrary to Amina's police statement, DNA was found in Chris's apartment. Why was she not questioned about this? Why was this evidence not made available to the defence?
When the police turned up at Ulrika's house with a search warrant, why did they not search her bag? This was particularly ridiculous.
Anyway, I enjoyed it.
Ludwig (2024)
Agatha Christie meets Jonathan Creek
Easy going mystery drama, somewhat similar to Jonathan Creek from the late 1990s.
While playing an essentially dull and boring character (I do not think he smiled once in 6 episodes) David Mitchell manages to remain engaging throughout.
He is ably supported by a good cast, apart from the one dimensional Sophie Willan.
The actual storylines are a bit farfetched and the motives to the crimes, although Ludwig pays no heed to motives, are beyond credible.
The series would be a lot more enjoyable if the stories did not follow the same formulae each time. Watching one after the other would be difficult.
There is some nice chemistry between John and Lucy as the latter seems to be coming to the realisation that she may have married the wrong brother.
A real treat - no profanities throughout.
Musta valo (2022)
Way better than average
AKA - A Good Family
Finnish with subtitles.
It was refreshing to find a storyline that had something new. The scenario whereby, unbeknown to one another, a female cop and her husband independently try to bend justice for the sake of family.
It was tight and suspenseful throughout, but there were a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies.
A lot of the outdoor scenes were very atmospheric, particularly filming in real rain.
Do cops not pair up in Finland, because Anna was going it alone most of the time and the female cop entering a derelict building on her own has become rather clichéd.
Overall it is definitely worth watching.
Six Four (2023)
Worth watching
A few twists and turns leads the story from something that seemed complex into something more straightforward, revenge.
I doubt that the overall story translated particularly well from the original Japanese book, the cultures are too different, this being set in Scotland.
There were strong performances from the main cast with the exception of Alex Ferns, who was very wooden. James Cosmo wasn't entirely convincing either.
Somebody commented, "It's not Shetland", well that is a big plus in my book.
I can't understand why profanities started to creep into the last two episodes after being free from them in the first two. They are no necessary. The story and good writing should carry the plot emphasis.
At four episodes it is just the right length.
Showtrial (2021)
Enthralling drama
Series 1
I think the mark of good acting is when a performance really gets under your skin and the odious Talitha certainly did that. I just wanted somebody to wipe the supercilious grin off her face.
So, full marks to Celine Buckens for her performance.
The potty mouthed DI Paula Cassidy grew to be equally unlikeable.
This was balanced by the empathy of Kerr Logan as James Thornley
Ok, that said, this did hold the attention throughout. The acting was good all round and the story really sucked you in.
Who is lying, who is not, and even when I started to believe them I really wasn't sure.
Tracy Ifeachor was also very good as Talitha's lawyer. Quite believable.
The profanities were unnecessary. The cast, story and script were strong enough without them.
The viewer was left to decide who was guilty and who was not.
Personally, I do not think justice was done.
Alma's Not Normal (2020)
Crude, tawdry, tasteless and vulgar.
This will appeal to those whose intellect is challenged beyond using profanities.
Viewers are accused of not having a sense of humour because they don't roll around in laughter at every use of the F word. So, to them this is very, very funny, but in reality it is crude, tawdry, tasteless and vulgar.
Take out the ironic and reactional obscenities and it would still be funny if the writing had a bit more craft to it.
This is a contemporary drama and contains language and/or attitudes that some viewers, particularly those of a more mature generation, the Silent Majority, will find offensive.
Why has it become apparently acceptable to have so much profanity-ty in supposedly entertainment productions? It is literally supposed to be an entertainment, not a medium to create a profane culture. Current generations are being brought up to think this is normal. Is it normal? It never used to be. The worst language I have ever encountered was in the school playground in the 1960s, but it was not prevalent in general society, certainly not in TV and films. So, when and where was the decision made, and by whom, to find it acceptable to introduce this sort of language into the lounges of the population where it is not deemed acceptable? Unfortunately turning off is becoming less of an option as it is literally in every drama and most contemporary so called comedies.
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024)
Failed to deliver
I wanted this to work.
Reading the background to the production, it was along time in coming to fruition, so why is there no story to speak of in a 3 hour production.
I understand the idea of portraying the west as it really was, but I was left to reflect on a series Called Hell on Wheels from 2011 which essentially covered the same ground but didn't flinch when it came to portraying life a bit more realistically. Neither production contained the profanities so prevalent today in TV dramas and would have been back in the 1860s, but Horizon skirted certain issues and in doing so fell into the trap of culture correction.
Maybe the episode covering the Civil War will be better, but adding a spoiler at the end of this episode was a bad idea.
The Wives (2024)
Truly Awful
This is so lame it is beyond comprehension.
If it wasn't for the usual profanities I would have thought it was made for the afternoon slot.
The script is abysmal, the acting awful, and there is nothing original about the storylines whatsoever.
I almost felt it was a vehicle for the three leading characters because nothing else was on offer.
Please take heed and don't waste your time on this.
A year on from Annabelle Morgan's disappearance in Malta, the family are returning to put the past to bed, but when Annabelle's husband arrives with a new partner, the remaining Morgan wives investigate Annabelle's death for themselves.
Outlier (2020)
Fizzled out.
I was enjoying this up until episode 6 which was really dour.
The final two episodes were pedestrian and the ending was really disappointing.
Could a police chief (Johan) really be so useless and ineffective at his job and still get away with it? I don't think so.
There was a huge plot hole relating to the remote building and the fire. Why did the jogger stay in the building he had only just stumbled across for so long?
Why did the police suspect "murder by fire" without any specific evidence. No mention of accelerant etc.
Why did the perpetrator burn the building? Why not dispose of the body in the same manner as he had been used to.
Maya's controlling English boyfriend was annoying and their relationship not cogent.
There was a lot of the usual profanities but no violence or graphic images at all.
The scenery stole the show.
Douglas Is Cancelled (2024)
Deeper than it appears.
Was Madeline supposed to be really annoying in the first two episodes? I don't know, maybe.
Everybody else was fine, apart from all the profanities, then it all changed.
In episode 3 Madeleine becomes the victim of the of "casting couch" sexism and misogyny that is frequently featured in the media these days. Or was it a test to see if she was up for the job? Yeah right! Very well written and easy to see how Toby could spin it either way in his favour. Poor Madeleine.
Then in the final episode (4 of 4), she turns, or at least appears to turn on, an innocent party, Douglas.
He has been struggling with the media handling of a comment he made in private, although he has denied remembering what he said.
Somehow, and it is not made known how, Madeleine deduces the comment was about her, and finally Douglas admits it.
However, as far as Douglas perceives things, the comment is actually true and not really that malicious, just a blokey one liner based on a situation he had observed.
Now what we have here is Madeleine angry for allowing herself to be found in what could be perceived as a compromising situation and subsequently inadvertently destroying the career of her mentor, Douglas .... OR
She planned it all and she was a self-serving, manipulative hypocrite who would do anything to further her career.
The last scene did sort of support that, but the lack of the self-satisfied smile that I was expecting did not materialize, so it left some doubt.
All the characters played their parts very well.
The language in this drama was simply appalling. When was it deemed allowable to have F bombs as humour or F used as a really nasty verb.
Ironically it is when the women use this language that it jars the most, or is that all part of being liberated?
Marlowe (2022)
Dull
There were glimpses of what this should have been, but only reminders of the style.
This failed completely to have any real sense of the period and the style of dialogue associated with previous Marlowe incarnations is strained.
To be honest it was very dull and lacked any sense of interest and I gave up after 45 minutes.
Marlowe is a 2022 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Neil Jordan, who co-wrote the screenplay with William Monahan. Based on the 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville, writing under the pen name Benjamin Black, the film stars Liam Neeson as private detective Philip Marlowe, a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, and features Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alan Cumming, Francois Arnaud, Ian Hart, Danny Huston, Daniela Melchior and Colm Meaney.
Irresistible (2006)
True Pyschological Thriller
A psychological drama in the true sense of the words.
Top performances from Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill and especially Emily Blunt.
This drama really draws you in as it is hard to work out just what is playing out, who is doing what and why?
All is not revealed until the last thirty seconds, and even then it is no spelt out but left to the viewer to interpret (* See spoiler below)
I have to admit I looked at Wikipedia to see what that last scene meant.
I was still thinking about it the following morning and it occurred to me that that there was something else that may have happened (** again see spoiler below)
There were a few holes in the plot, like there was no aftermath to the fire in basement. Who put it out, questions as to how it started etc. Attempted murder??
Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
* While Mara continues to recover at home, she pores over old news clippings and photos of Kate. There is a photo of Mara and Kate together as children in the orphanage, and we see that Kate looked just like Elly does now. In another photo of them as adults in Kosovo, it appears Kate grew up to be the spitting image of Sophie, revealing Kate to be Sophie's daughter. Mara angrily cuts out Ruby's face from a family photo and replaces it with her own. The caption written in the scrapbook reads "Mother and Me".
** Were we to draw conclusions about the fire in Kosovo and the fire in the basement. Was Mara responsible for Kate's death in Kosovo? If so, she is a real psycho and Sophie's daughters would be in imminent danger as Mara would not want to "share" mother.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Disaster Movie -Literally
Satire - the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
This just about encapsulates everything about this film.
The problem is that there is a point when it is not satirical or funny because it is so reflective of reality and all that is wrong with contemporary politics and society.
There is nothing amusing about the end of humanity and our planet, and having really irritating characters continue to follow their own agendas and superficial and shallow existences just ain't funny!
There is a colossal waste of talent on show here.
Even sticking with it, it was so stretched out that I was fast forwarding the last 25 minutes just to get to the end.
Kidnapped (2024)
Poorly constructed docudrama.
I had never heard of Chloe Ayling nor the event that this docudrama focused on.
So for me it was completely messed up by focusing on the aftermath at the beginning of the first episode.
Any sense of drama or interest was lost as the reenactment of the kidnapping unfolded over subsequent episodes.
As the outcome had already been revealed it was just a case of waiting for the kidnap to play out as we knew nothing would happen to her while being held to ransom. As a result it was drawn out and tedious.
It would have had far more impact if the drama had been played out in chronological order and then the attention from the gutter press/media/social media would have had far more impact as a viewing experience.
With regards to the attention, Chloe Ayling was a victim of her own personality. She took full advantage of her abduction to raise her profile as a model and dressed accordingly when interviewed on TV, which is to say inappropriately for someone who wants to be taken seriously.
Kapningen (2023)
Overall disappointing.
Some familiar faces but that doesn't save this from disappointing. Adam Lundgren (The Restaurant), Jonas Karlsson (Beck). Ana Gil de Melo Nascimento (Jordskott).
It starts of ok, but it long and drawn out and at the end I hadn't much of an idea as to why the plane was hijacked. The pilot was either acting badly or reflecting how somebody in that situation would react.
Ana Gil de Melo Nascimento I found very poor.
Not much of it made any sense.
When a Nordic Airlines flight to the USA is hijacked, a team of Swedish investigators must race against time to unmask the mysterious hijackers before they bring the airplane down or the US military shoot it out of the sky.
Nightsleeper (2024)
Is this what my license fee goes on?
If local amateur dramatics did action thrillers then this is what it would look like.
It is cringingly embarrassing to watch. The ensemble on the train are woeful.
The scenes between Alexandra Roach and Pamela Nomvete are just painful.
Joe Cole does his best, but it is lost cause and it is no wonder Sharon Small doesn't want to be seen on the train.
Are they trying to do a Murder on the Orient Express as suspicion serially passes from one character to the next.
As for the plot and all the technobabble rubbish, well, it is just that, rubbish.
Why do these dramas have what I can only imagine is machine code scrolling on the screens with personnel seemingly understanding what they are seeing. I worked in IT support for 40 years and never saw anything remotely like it.
I was going to say come on BBC you can do better, but I don't think they can. They are churning out decidedly sub standard dramas these days.
I watch a lot of foreign produced dramas and it is embarrassing to watch UK efforts as they are so poor by comparison.
This is just an example.
2 * and I am being generous.
Lessons in Chemistry (2023)
Breath of Fresh Air
At last an intelligent contemporary drama.
Set in the 1950s it looks great. There is a certain feel to dramas set during this period and this one has oodles of it, especially the fashionable clothes.
Brie Larson is mesmerising in the lead role and she reminded me very much of the Swedish actress, Sofia Helin. Her mannerism, delivery etc.
Many sensitive areas are covered; racism, sexism, misogyny etc. But there is nothing gratuitous at all apart from the potty mouthed TV producer. We could have done without him completely.
I do think this drama could have done without the profanities completely. It is well written and skilful writing can always avoid using profane language to express feelings and frustration.
Red Eye (2024)
Watch it, but it is nonsense.
A fast paced political thriller which has no sense of reality whatsoever. It is flawed in so many ways that the best thing to do is just sit back and watch it ... and not think too deeply about it.
We are subjected to a lot of psycho babble and techno-nsense.
I am not a Richard Armitage fan, but he was tailor made for this.
Lesley Sharpe as always is good, but the romantic relationship is just embarrassingly awkward and looks all wrong.
This must have cost a fortune to make, but the plot lines let it down.
BTW, anyone with a fear of flying should give this a miss.
London police officer DC Hana Li is escorting Dr Matthew Nolan back to Beijing where he has been accused of a crime. However, on board flight 357, she finds herself embroiled in an escalating conspiracy and a growing number of murders.
North Shore (2023)
More Aussie Soap
When British and Australian detectives team up to solve a murder mystery, they uncover a conspiracy with international political consequences as well as a clash of cultures.
Joanne Froggatt is not one of my favourite actresses. She is too one dimensional, essentially she always plays the same character, herself.
This is no exception and she is just totally unconvincing as a UK member of parliament and even more so as a prospective Prime Minister.
A few of the male actors are wooden, a lot of them being modelled on Ken and all looked alike.
The whole plot turns out to be nonsense.
I think it was supposed to be a psychological thriller, but there was little in the way of psychology and no thrills at all.
The sub-romantic-plot for Max Drummond just turned out to be bland.
The profanities were really in your face.
It really is offensive when F is used as a verb rather than and adjective, particular by women.
This is a contemporary drama and contains language and/or attitudes that some viewers, particularly those of a more mature generation, the Silent Majority, will find offensive.
Omerta 6/12 (2021)
Poor
I should have guessed from the 1960s comic title that this wasn't going to be good.
It started off action packed but that soon wore off and became somewhat boring.
Action, no substance, action, no substance.
The storyline became more and more far fetched and in the end was ridiculous.
The characters were hard to take seriously in particular
Cathy Belton who was totally unconvincing.
The actors clearly did not know how to handle weapons and in one scene in particular Nanna Blondell (Sylvia Madsen) was aiming her weapon in the air and still manged a straight shoot kill.
Overall it was let down by poor acting, protracted Hollywood style action scenes and a plot that was full of holes.
Whitstable Pearl (2021)
Lame
The Whitstable tourist people must have been rubbing their hands in glee at all the free publicity for the town.
However, after all the adverse publicity regarding spillages, I wouldn't eat anything that came out of the sea in this area.
So why is it in 12 episodes that all that was ever mentioned to eat was fish. Literally, all they ate was seafood.
Ok, so there was a beef and oyster pie in episode 5.
This is one of those "cosy" dramas where there is little to take offence at and played out almost whimsically. Now I am not against that at all. Any program with no profanities to assault the senses is refreshing, but they do not seem to be able to produce such dramas that maintain these ethics but have a bit of bite to them.
Murder should not really be taken lightly and matter of fact.
At least Mr. Misery (DCI Mike McGuire) didn't laugh a lot ... at all, actually.
But he had local sleuth and part time gumshoe, Pearl to show him the way. Fantasy.
The Mercy (2018)
Interesting but ....
I had never heard of Donal Crowhurst, so I knew there was not going to be any triumphant end.
I let it pan out but felt that Colin Firth was miscast and Rachel Weisz was too young looking and it didn't come over as a cogent relationship. In reality the Crowhursts were both 37. Firth was 48.
I didn't find this moving at all. As it progressed from quite early on I thought Crowhurst was completely deluded in believing he could do what he set out to do and utterly selfish with regards his family.
I have serious doubts that he was of the same personality as portrayed by Firth in the film. Firth didn't seem strong enough, lame in fact.
It is still worth watching from a historical and human interest point of view.
The most interesting part of the film was the end when it showed that Knox-Johnston donated his prize money for the fastest competitor, a sum of £5,000, to the family of Donald Crowhurst.
The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot (2024)
Very interesting but let down by poor production
I still gave this a high rating because it told the story of something that I remember being in the news but knew very little about.
Unfortunately a poor production technique of mixing reality with "drama" made this a bit of a jumble.
They had all the actual people, so why mess with actors portraying the same people. There were times when the actual detectives and their acting doubles shared the screen. Why?
Although it highlighted the issue of coercive control it did not really get across exactly how this man was getting inside the women in his life's heads. As a viewer I couldn't understand how they appeared to be so easily taken in, serially. They seemed to want to come back for more? So it really was quite important that it be explained exactly how he was doing this.