Change Your Image
juliemorrissmith
Reviews
Fortitude (2015)
Best and worst drama ever
I'm not sure where to start. I have just finished the last episode of the third season.
The first season was absolutely enthralling. Set in a remote community in Norway/Iceland (!) the governor of Fortutude has plans to build an hotel in the glacier. It is designed to be the ultimate in luxury accommodation. The planning report has gone in and is waiting to be approved. However the discovery of a relic revealed to the guy doing the report forces him to review it and he is murdered. Then begins a complex but reasonable storyline of an insect suspended in permafrost, which begins to infect inhabitants of Fortitude. 10/10 for the first series!
The second series continues the storyline but with a more conspiratorial side. Politics and business madness intoxifies the scientific research and progression of the infestation from the first series. 8/10 for the second!
HOWEVER. The third is just a spoof. The characters become ridiculous and the storyline is held together by a gnat's hair. Pardon the pun. If you seriously enjoyed the first and second series I would suggest you will gain nothing from watching the third. There is no conclusion and it feels almost as if one of the producers said "we got them hook line and sinker with the first two series, let's make a third and charge £12.99 for the dvd. That'll get 'em!!" Third series 2/10.
I got caught out! It really is so disappointing, I thought the overall tone was very "Twin Peaks" but it felt it went offline in the very same way. Shame. Sad face.
Witness Number 3 (2022)
I'm lost.
I absolutely get the ambience of this drama. It's scary, intimidating, thought provoking and chilling. However I'm finding it really disjointed. In fact I'm wondering if I nodded off in the first episode and missed something. The first significant thing for me what's the guy asking to use Jodie's phone. It all seemed to go wrong from there. So what the crime was and what she witnessed is lost on me. What the hell did I miss? The police detective and the witness protection PC seem to be the sole content of the police force and are as frightening as the perpetrators. I'm sorry but everything feels very unrealistic and.... Disjointed. Apologies if it's me but I'm nearly 2/3 through the 2nd episode and jumping ship.
What Remains (2013)
BEST DRAMA FROM BBC FOR YEARS
A detached mansion style house, split into 5 apartments. A decomposed body is found in the loft and turns out to be a tenant from the top flat.
The residents in the house all have their own stuff going on; a young couple who are pregnant, a lesbian couple in a coercive relationship, a man who has his son and his lover each visiting but not knowing about the other, and a lecherous disabled school master in the basement.
Each have a connection with the deceased but was it suicide or murder?
Len Harper is on his last day in the Police before his retirement. He goes to the house when the body is reported but has to let go at the end of the day. Whilst the team in CID (?) seem uninterested to investigate, Len is curious and determined not to let it go I investigated. So he does a bit of digging around and begins to find the links and dark secrets that are deeply hidden!
Twists and turns kept me gripped until the closing scene in the last episode. Very unusual for the BBC, not woke, not anti-men, not cringy at all. I wish they would produce more decent material like this rather than waste their resources on mediocre dramas that panda to the few.
15/10!!!
Best Interests (2023)
Moving but very BBC
I enjoyed Best Interests, similar in storyline to The Children Act. Thought provoking, emotional, hard to watch at times, but being the BBC, it has to include every minority in a small community which makes it a bit ridiculous. The father is realistic, and likeable but the mother is the irrational and blind sided parent who is convinced everyone is out to kill her daughter, not considering her "best interests".
It really opens your eyes to the challenges faced by families with a terminally ill child. There really is never any break or respite and puts massive strain on all the family relationships.
Michael Sheen is TREMENDOUS.
Obsession (2023)
Lustful drivel
I wish to god I had read the reviews before I wasted a few hours of my life watching this. If you have lived a closeted and sheltered life then this may be intriguing for you. However if you have had any shred of experience with sex or relationships it will bore you.
The characters are all awful, William is ridiculous and weak, Jay his son is a chip off the old block, and Anna is a control hungry wannabe temptress. William and his wife are educated and successful to a point of AMAZING, they have a wealthy and gorgeous family and yet William is caught in the net of this poisonous spider Anna.
A ridiculous game of power, submission and - oh - obsession - follows.
I haven't seen Damage but if it's Obsession on drugs I wouldn't want to bother with that either.
The Deep House (2021)
Awful acting spoils any chance of a good film
I'm exactly half way through, so I thought I'd check out the reviews. When they say it falls flat towards the end of the film I know I'm on a hiding to nothing.
The main guy, Ben, is a complete dick and very poorly acted. Anyone making videos like this to put online would be lucky to get a single viewer with his monotone delivery, and Tina is just plain dim.
The diving masks do just that - mask any expression that could assist the blatant lack of acting talent. The dialogue is more like the kind you'd expect from an audio drama where you have to imagine what you are supposed to see...
I am simply bored with the slow moving and atrocious script of this film. Visually it's intriguing and the idea is good but delivery is extremely disappointing.
Ostatnia wieczerza (2022)
Shell shocked.
I honestly have no idea what I have just watched. Even the cat was watching it. It was that weird.
Very gothic, great scenery, and (I think) a good start... but about 2/3 of the way in, it just lost its way.
I think the other reviews will give a good idea as to what the film is about, and without spoiling the excitement for anyone, the effects are ok, it's very dark and probably not the ending you would expect.
However I feel quite violated mentally. Whatever the writer and director were on when they came up with this, could make an absolute fortune in some circles. It just doesn't really piece together...
I am gutted that I will never get that last 100mins or so of my life back and now am in desperate need for some headache pills... I'd urge you not to waste your time watching this drivel unless you are on some kind of self destruct mode to waste your waking hours.
1899 (2022)
Believe Nothing. Trust No-one.
What started off as a bit of a chilling Titanic idea went a bit awry at the end of episode 3. Basically from then on it descended into a chaotic mix of The Matrix and Alien.
All the characters are captivating in their own way. The special effects are great and I love the way it started. But I feel as though I have been told to expect a periodic ghost drama only to find myself embroiled in a sci-fi thing I'd usually avoid like the plague! Really disappointed. I guess it may mean that fantasy buffs could miss out on something they'd love mistaking it for something boring.
I don't think I'll be watching anything else from Boring Bo.
Midnight Mass (2021)
ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!
Wow! Midnight Mass is gripping, fantastical, thought provoking and beautifully made. It is hard to believe it is created by the same folk who made Hill House and Bly as it is head and shoulders above them. The acting is brilliant, the characters are believable and the tale and it's underlying messages are profound. Seriously the best thing I have watched for ages.
Set on an island off the US coast, a community lives a life centred on their church. A new Vicar arrives to take Mass and from then on changes begin to happen... the good are rewarded and the bad face reckoning. However things are not as they seem and a darker side is lurking in the shadows...
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
A complete mess
This started with SO much potential! Great ghost tale with all the features of a Hammer film. But it completely falls apart in episode 6. The story loses it's grip and just becomes completely bizarre. By the end of episode 7 it's clear that this is just another version of The Others. Episode 8 tries to claw it back and fails. But at least we know what the muddy footprints are all about. You can easily watch it on ffwd. Gets the pain over quicker.
Carla Gugino's accent becomes verrrry confused and ridiculous, it's difficult not to think she is morphing from a pretend English lady into a pretend Northern lass...
Episode 9, brings us unceremoniously to the end with almost an entire hour of faceless ghosts traipsing back and forth to the lake strangling anyone who crosses their path..
The best thing about this mishmash is the acting of the kids which is really cute but even that fades into insignificance by the end. I wish I had abandoned it halfway through.