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Reviews
Hope Street (2020)
Meh
I've watched three seasons now, but I think that says more about the lack of decent television currently available than anything.
As others have said, Season 1 showed promise, and Season 2 didn't really live up to that promise. Season 3 was lacklustre. I'm really ready for some good drama that isn't a murder mystery/police procedural. But production companies are afraid to break fully out of the genre, so we get these weird hybrids. What is it with these "feel good, coastal cops, nothing too heavy" series? It's become a genre in its own right, and I'm bored already.
Also, something is bothering me. The women's hair. I'm not longing for beautiful hair-dos - that wouldn't look believable. But most of what I'm seeing doesn't either. If I see one more high ponytail . . . Then there's poor Marlene's stringy bob with a uniform that doesn't come close to fitting her to complete the look.
The Ex-Wife (2022)
The sooner they murder each other, the better
Watch the first episode, and you should easily be able to predict the rest. Naive pretty girl encounters nasty rich people behaving badly. Everybody is jealous, the dialogue is terrible, you can actually shout out the next line before they say it, nine times out of ten (could make a good drinking game, I guess?).
The whole thing is just frustrating to watch, because you know it's just going to drag on and on and on with people not trusting each other, being creepy, trying to make it all work one more time, rinse and repeat ... especially once hubby's true colours are revealed at the end of episode 1.
One Lane Bridge (2020)
Scenery can't save this
I'm about three episodes into season 1. There's not much else on, so I might finish it. But that's about the best thing you can say.
This is one of those "rural crime with a spooky undertone" type shows, but while I think they're trying hard to hold the viewers' attention by dropping one weird little moment after another, it's too disjointed, and the lighting is too terrible, leaving the viewer looking for the handles. Or maybe the remote.
There are shades of the (much better) Outer Range. "Can we hang onto the farm?" is a question that can make for great background tension, but there's not enough of farming life or any sign that the characters care about much of anything to make it work. Inexplicable weirdness, alone, isn't enough for six episodes - let alone there are more seasons. Oof!!
The racist undertones and homophobic overtones of the locals could be used to some kind of good effect to make a statement, but I'm not holding my breath. One of the more racist elements, to my mind, is the stereotypical "indigenous with psychic powers" sub-plot. Or maybe it IS the plot. Hard to be sure. (This is also a theme in the much better Dark Winds, which actually HAS a plot.)
Locations seem to be all the rage, at the moment, but the looming mountains and rolling farmland feel more like an actress who was cast for her looks alone, than a meaningful part of the whole.
London Kills (2019)
No redeeming features
So - the premise is that some cardboard cut out characters are going to walk around trying to solve a crime every week. The script writers will give the guest characters just ever so slightly more of a believable background story than the main characters get - which is almost no background story. This fits with the main characters' almost complete lack of personalities.
Behind the weekly easy-to-solve crime, a backdrop of something fishy involving organised crime/other cops develops, except because you don't care about any of the cardboard cut out people with no real background, it's now impossible to care about the undercurrent of corruption which the cardboard cut outs will attempt to uncover. Sharon Small is wasted here (actually, so is everybody).
The Gaelic King (2017)
Great effort - and an actual Scottish production!
I'm not a fan of sword and sorcery or fantasy, but I am Scottish and interested in historical films about Scotland, so this caught my eye.
This correctly belongs in the fantasy/sword and sorcery genres, but I found it quite engaging. Yes, it's a bit fast and loose with historical reality, and portrays both Gaelic and Pictish royalty as rag-tag beggars living in the the wilderness, which is almost certainly a long way from reality. The supernatural stuff with the evil sorceress is just silly, but it's what drives much of the plot, so okay ...
For me, it was the all-Scottish cast and genuine Scottish locations which really made this work. There were no cringe-inducing fake accents, and I think that really added to the mostly inexperienced (?) cast being able to get on and act. And the acting was very good, from the leads, which suggests that, director Philip Todd could do great things, given the chance. Once or twice the "banter" strayed too close to modernity, which kind of broke the spell - such as the village leader making a joke out of showing respect for his king - but these were minor niggles. No one was going around saying "dude" or anything!
A really fun adventure film if you're not expecting historical reality.
Holding (2022)
Don't miss this!
I was afraid that this was going to be another twee and quirky Irish guard in a small village series. They're getting a bit predictable, to be honest. But this one is a cut above. Conleth Hill as the local guard and Siobhán Mc Sweeney as Bríd, the woman at the centre of the storm turn in beautiful performances as unlikely lead characters.
I was excited to see Brenda Fricker on the cast list, but her character seemed too obscure. Turns out, that just made episode three all them more worth waiting for. Fricker's scene is so matter of fact and at the same time, so intense. One of the best things I've seen her do. (No spoilers!) This series is worth seeing!
One Night (2012)
Living in London sucks
I knew it was a mistake to get drawn into this series. It's well acted, and makes you want to see the next episode, but the storylines are hellish, it's hard to like the characters, and everything is fraught and frantic.
If you want drama that makes you squirm with embarrassment at the way these people live their lives - whether the middle class or the underclass of the high-rise estate, then I guess you'll love this. And yet, it isn't 'gritty' or 'real' and doesn't portray either social group very accurately. The middle-class are cardboard cutouts, and the kids in the 'hood are a fantasy. Who are these people?
Never Let Me Go (2010)
Terrifying
This is a horror film, but not quite as you'd expect it. This is futurism, but not the usual sort. It's warm-hearted at times, enough to make the film not intolerable to watch, but it is entirely a story of hopelessness, or learned helplessness.
If you are someone like me, who has a horror of medical procedures, loss of autonomy to the surgeon's knife - any kind of invasive procedure, you might want to think twice before watching this one. What the film contains will be a thousand times more chilling than any number of space monsters, weird plagues, or post-atomic dystopias.
Great acting and production values, but this film gave me waking nightmares for years.
Beyond Paradise (2023)
Good episodes, stupid endings
I've not watched an episode of Death in Paradise, as the holiday-destination-as-location is not really my thing. And, yeah, I do get that Devon is also a holiday destination ... but I thought I might like it better.
And I was pleasantly surprised in that I quite enjoy the characters and acting. The first episode slightly overplayed Humphrey's awkwardness and eccentricity in an effort to 'introduce' him. However, all the characters quickly grow on you in spite of the slightly "Hallmark" production values. Too immaculate locations, too charmingly-attired female characters, and -- I assume the director is telling the actresses to gaze up adoringly at Humphrey every time he speaks??
They "mysteries" are hopelessly transparent. You'll solve them yourself within the first 20 minutes, but worse is to come. As the characters fill up the hour looking for clues (if they're cops) or having little bumps in their personal lives (if they're Humphrey and Martha), it still feels like a nice bit of escapism.
But then, UGH! It's time for the reveal. The clues are reviewed and Humphrey reveals the solution in a weird set of flashbacks scenes in which he and his sergeant are green-screened into the shot. This part would be perfect for kids under the age of eight. I find myself dreading it, and now, switching it off at this point.
Love Sarah (2020)
Celia Imrie is wasted on this
It's no wonder the publicists put Celia Imrie front and centre on the posters and thumbnails for this one, because she is, literally, all it's got going for it. (With the possible exception of the sets/locations - which are tastefully low-key.)
Celia Imrie plays a slightly frail-looking grandmother who used to be a trapeze artist. I've rarely seen her in anything but comedy, but she brings immense acting skills to this part. He facial expressions and body language tell a story all their own and give her character immense depth. She is even given some decent lines, which she delivers with great feel and timing.
Unfortunately, Imrie's character seems to have wandered into some kind of Hallmark film, set in London's fair city where the girls are so pretty (and the men all look like catalogue models and just as wooden). Pretty little people walking around saying their lines, and like me, wondering what the hell the scene is about, or whether the film will ever develop an actual plot. Admittedly, I didn't make it all the way to the end, but I was a long way in when I finally gave up.
Anne (2022)
Worthy subject, terrible film
I'm a huge fan of Maxine Peake - and have enjoyed everything I've seen her in, regardless of genre. This is the exception that proves the rule, I suppose, because her excellent acting couldn't salvage much here.
The horror and injustice of Hillsborough and the difficulty the victims and their families had in getting justice seems like a great topic for a mini-series, but nevertheless, it's a terrible mini-series. The script is flat, leaving the actors little to work with. Too much time is given to Anne's extreme distress in the first episode at the expense of any other dramatic action. Stephen Walters, as Anne's husband, also makes an excellent job of his characterisation - as far as the script allows it - but the poor guy doesn't really have much in the way of lines, or scenes, to work with. It's like the age of silent film all over again.
The film drags from episode to episode with many slightly under-lit scenes where everything seems gray, but the script is still the dullest thing in the room.