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Reviews
Doctor Who: The Long Game (2005)
Series 1 Episode 7
Pretty unremarkable episode. Mere filler. Simon Pegg is great but despite him this is mid season fodder. Not awful just forgettable.
Doctor Who: Dalek (2005)
Series 1 Episode 6
The Doctor meets his greatest foe, well just one of them but one is enough. First stellar episode of new who and an amazing spittting with anger performance from Eccleston.
Doctor Who: World War Three (2005)
Series 1 Episode 5
No improvement on Aliens of London. Lots of running about poorly designed monsters and the most grimly photographed episodes of the entire revival.
Doctor Who: Aliens of London (2005)
Series 1 Episode 4
First double episode of series one and a low point of the series. Farting aliens a botched attempt at gaining insights to Jackie and Mickey. Only saving grace is Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North.
Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead (2005)
Series 1 Episode 3
Charles Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas? First historical romp of New Who and one of the better scripts by Mark Gattis.
Doctor Who: The End of the World (2005)
Series 1 Episode 2
A better idea of where 21st century Who was heading after episode one. Mix of humour and scares and finding out why this doctor is full of rage and regret.
Doctor Who: Rose (2005)
Series 1 Episode 1
Where 21st century Who began. Introducing the 9th doctor (Christopher Eccleson) to a new generation of viewers (plus those watching it before the 1989 cancellation). Everything here is seen through the eyes of the titualar character Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) a working class girl with no expectations from life. Russell T Davis does a good job at presenting a new doctor which obviously was a success (or I wouldn't be writing about it over fifteen years later). As an episode its main appeal now is its importance and for me fond memories of watching its first broadcast but a grade A episode it isn't. A steady rather than spectacular start.
Days of the Bagnold Summer (2019)
Beautifully understated comedy
Daniel is a morose, thrash metal loving teenager dressed in black with long unkept hair who is painfully unsure of himself. He does not have a great relationship with his mum Sue, who, despite having a sunny disposition and cheery manner is also painfully unsure of herself. Daniel is hoping to spend the summer with his father who is now living in Florida but when that plan is scuppered it's clear that he's going to have to spend it with his mother.
To say this film is understated is....well, an understatement. Some reviews have seen the film as pointless and innocuous and to be fair this directorial debut by actor Simon Bird isn't going to change your life but I found a lot to like. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments a few moving ones (but not overtly sentimental) the direction and photography and the songs of Belle and Sebastian perfectly capture the bright but often deadly dull days of a suburban British summer. The supporting cast is full of great British comic actors who are great although the central performances of Earl Cave and especially Monica Dolan as son and mother are quite wonderful.
Your socks won't be blown off but give yourself 85 minutes to immerse yourself into this world and you will find it, I think, a rather disarmingly charming experience.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
Ted Bundy as Male Model
I wasn't sure about this film given that Zac Efron was playing notorious serial killer Bundy his young female fans who might not know of Bundy or his crimes might get the wrong signals.
But after watching the film the casting made sense. Bundy was a handsome well presented well spoken man who did attract women even drawing a fan base during his televised trial for his murderous activities. Not knowing like his long time girlfriend the full horror of what he did even believing he might even be innocent. Zac Efron earns his acting chops and does a fairly good job, the film is well made but those looking for evidence of the true horror of the crimes are better off with the 2002 film Ted Bundy.
Very watchable but leaving little impression once the titles had rolled.
Nice cameos from the really nerdy one from The Big Bang Theory and the kid from The Sixth Sense (who is twenty years older rocking a great beard) and that Malocovich actor bloke.
Other People (2016)
Small but effective drama
Drama with comedic elements based on real life events that happened to writer/director Chris Kelly. Although cinematically often rather flat it is an engaging drama that doesn't skimp on the often deeply difficult elements of the story namely a woman (an excellent performance by Molly Shannon) losing her battle with cancer and the effect of those around her. The story is mainly seen through the eyes of her eldest son David a rather shy awkward gay man who leaves his failed relationship and unsuccessful writing career in New York to move back to Sacramento to be with his mother. Jesse Plemons is also rather excellent in the role of David.
The setting of Sacramento and David's job in comedy writing made me make comparisons with two other more widely viewed and distributed films from around this time Ladybird and The Big Sick and while those two films are on the whole better this film is still worth viewing with some sequences leaving a great impression. If you loved those two films chances are you'll like this one.