Boogalow Reviews

Miss Scarlet & the Duke (2020– )

Another modern take using The Lord's Name as a swear word.

[1/10 · 6 September 2023]

Very disappointing to hear this from one of the main characters. I thought I'd found a new show which did not use The Lord's Precious Name as a swear word. It's awful to hear. Third episode in so won't be watching again. I seriously doubt that in those days they'd use The Lord's Name as a swear word. In these broken and messed up times it is horrendous to hear it but to put this in a drama where they would not do that is just horrible. The Lord died for all that all may have eternal life, suffering such unimaginable torture at the hands of roman soldiers, beaten to almost death before that Cross. Too weak to carry it himself, Simon of Cyrene helped Him. The Lord endured six hours of agony to die nailed to a Cross for you, dying once for all sin to give those who truly turn to Him and believe eternal life. That's The Gospel. Your salvation was paid for with the Blood of Our Lord, turn to Him and believe, that's the good news. To treat our Lord's Name with such bitter contempt is absolutely dreadful, disrespectful and demeans His sacrifice for every one of you.

Please stop demeaning our Precious Lord's Name like this. Please.

The Orville: Twice in a Lifetime (2022) Season 3, Episode 6

More very strong blaspheming. Becoming unwatchable for Christians

[1/10 · 8 July 2022]

Does Seth MacFarlane have any idea about how many people he turns away from this show with the constant blaspheming? Taking our Lord Jesus' full name in vain is abhorrent and unneccessary. I used to love this show but have had to give up on it now for the incessant blaspheming. If Seth and the others took a moment to understand what Lord Jesus did for them on The Cross they would not be so quick to slander His Holy Name. It appears His name and Our Fathe's name are blasphemed. Would he blaspheme any other religion? He'd be shut down. I am SO disappointed in Seth and the others blaspheming because they ruin a great show for me. I have to ask our Lord to forgive them for blaspheming, it's one of The Ten Commandments. Jesus loves them if only they knew even though they won't acknowledge him in any other way than blaspheming.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

Really looked forward to this but

[1/10 · 7 July 2022]

It's meant to predate TOS yet has a movie era Enterprise all silver and full of all kinds of next gen stuff, even a bar. Would Starfleet have then gone backwards to the Kirk era? Plots are (not very well) rehashed from TOS and Next Gen. We now have a 'Starfleet Remembrance Day' and 'crew people' Is it going woke too? The only good thing is Ethan Peck's Spock, his voice at times is very Nimoy like. And was early Spock sleeping with T'Pring as in the first episode? They greeted each other with finger touching not tongue down the throat sex. It really stinks. In TOS Spock was bethrothed to T'Pring but he gave the impression he was not happy with it but here it's all racing merrily on. What is it with reimagining Nurse Chapel? It doesn't work. If Paramount/CBS really wanted to see how to do a true pre TOS series they need only to look at Star Trek Continues. I'm thankful to have all the TOS episodes and movies but this should have been called anything but Star Trek, maybe Star Trek Like or Wokes in Space. Dreadful.

R.F.D.S. (1993–1994)

Tried hard to like this but ...

[2/10 · 28 June 2022]

It's very frenetic, no character development, no depth to them. Nowhere near as good as the original Flying Doctors where the characters focussed on their patients whose storylines were detailed and were based on the real cases of the Royal Flying Doctors. The characters here are shallow and it feels very much like a shouting match. The only saving grace for me is the inclusion of three characters from Flying Doctors - Vic and Nancy and Penny. I watched this hoping for a continuation of the FD but this is so far removed from that it's on another planet. I'm so disappointed in it. Why did Crawfords cancel the original show after 9 seasons to serve this tripe up. Should have just continued. I'm surprised it limped on for 13 episodes.

The Flying Doctors: The Good Book (1991) Season 9, Episode 9

How it used to be.

[10/10 · 16 June 2022]

Through all the changes over the years and seasons, this episode was brilliant. Pat Evison's character Violet Carnegie moved to England and according to Vic in this episode has passed away. Dr Tom, Dr Chris, DJ, George Baxter, Sgt Jack, Emma Patterson w/kids in tow (no Sam). It reminded me of how good that ensemble cast was, back in the day it felt like a real town with friendly people in it. Each story was interesting and it worked. Don't get me wrong this season, it's last, is showing its decline. I have the DVDs so can always reminisce about those times when it was a well anticipated watch. Now it's lost that but being loyal will watch to the end. I really miss those early seasons - they were great. Ripper snd You little beauty they were.

Twist (2021)

If you can suspend any link to Dickens apart from character names being used, you will love it.

[10/10 · 30 January 2021]

Just watched this. It's a sky original and so you might expect woke-on-steroids but it's really great little movie. It's supposed to be an updated version of Oliver Twist but really, all that is used from the great man's work are the names of the characters; oh and Sikes is as nasty and evil as a woman as the character was as a man in Dickens's' original. Set in London, it's a great caper movie and stars Michael Caine as Fagin and Lena Headey as Sikes. A young man by the name of Rafferty Law is Olver Twist and yes, he is the son of actor Jude Law and boy can you tell, he walks, talks and looks like his dad, and he has the acting chops, unsurprisingly, to carry off the role. Noel Clarke does a great turn as the detective inspector and David Walliams plays a serious role as a bent art dealer (creative licence on these two obviously).

At the very beginning, the announcer intones, amongst others, that there is strong language etc but there is only one instance of the F bomb being dropped and one mouthed but not said.

Dickens purists absolutely hate it as the ratings on IMDb show and it's understandable, they have their valid viewpoints and are very much allowed to have them, but if you can suspend your purist wants for the duration of this film as see it as a high energy, well written and acted story with a few Dickens character names in it, you'll have a blast. Absolutely loved it.

Will (I) (2011)

A brilliant British film.

[10/10 · 4 November 2012]

I have no idea why some reviewers are saying this is awful, it is not! This is a British film in the mode of 'They don't make em like that anymore.' FROM HERE THIS FILM CONTAINS Spoilers: The film deals with the father bringing his son tickets to a football match in Istanbul in 2005. If those who are decrying this film actually watched it they would see that Alek explains to Will, when he finds out that the tickets are fake, that the father had been taken in by whoever sold them to him - he did not deliberately buy fake tickets to give to the child! The film is a really good and takes Will on a journey after his fathers sudden and therefore unexpected death to Istanbul via Dover and Paris in the company of Alek, someone who tried out for Liverpool and didn't make it, to watch Liverpool win the EUFA Champions League Final in 2005. There are a lot of recognisable characters in the film, Damian Lewis (the father) from Homeland, Bob Hoskins and Neil Fitzmaurice who plays Fergus in the TV series Mount Pleasant and cameos from Liverpool legends Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Kenny Dalglish. Add to this the amazing countryside and scenery of France and Turkey as well as the beautiful Nether Wynchendon House in Oxfordshire - it is a movie that will pull at the heartstrings and the final dedication once you sit through the end credits will bring a lump to the throat.

And for those wondering (if indeed you were ) I am an ex-pat scouser and a Liverpool fan. Not surprisingly I loved it ... as did my husband who is not a scouser or a Liverpool fan! I loved it rather more for the story telling, the acting, the scenery and the emotions throughout, not just because I am from Liverpool - that it was about a Liverpool fan added to the enjoyment, it is a really good film - those criticising it, although they are entitled to their opinions, have maybe missed the more subtle explanations for the things happening in the film, I don't know. I loved it and I think you will too. Liverpool fan or not!

The Newsroom (2012–2014)

Good show but unwatchable for me

[1/10 · 1 August 2012]

Began watching this show and thought episode one was amazing. Given that it's by the same people who brought us the excellent West Wing, I thought I was in for another good show but I was so wrong. Every other word in following episodes is the F word, I mean seriously, it's every other word and it's wearing, it is annoying me because it's lazy writing. Yes OK the F word probably is used in newsrooms but every other word by every person? I don't think so. I have now stopped watching it, I'm sure it's a good show and all but I can't get past the F word so often that it is distracting. Are we given to believe in the UK that America likes the use of this word over and over ad infinitum? I wonder, I really do because we are led to believe that America does not like the F Bomb being dropped as they call it, so often and just as they don't like nudity in their programmes, they don't like the F word being used (in my view to compensate for lazy writing).

Wonder if it's turned anyone else off watching.

Jonestown: Paradise Lost (2007 TV Movie)

Incredibly sad, beyond words at times.

[9/10 · 4 April 2012]

I was 18 when these events took place in Guyana. Being in the UK I hadn't been aware of this horrendous series of events leading up to the mass killing of all those people and so many children. Much has been made in earlier reviews of the portrayal of Jones by Rick Roberts but in my opinion I thought Mr Roberts did a great job of portraying Jones in his final three days when, after his leadership was being questioned and his arrogance worn down by drugs and an increasing paranoia, became dangerously and lethally unstable. I'm sure Powers Boothe did a tremendous job in an earlier retelling of this atrocity and perhaps portrayed Jones for a longer period than just the last three days of his life. At the end of all of this though, regardless of who played the roles, is the unimaginable horror of the mass killing of all those people and those trying to get people out of Jonestown; failing in the process, and for that I am saddened and truly sorry. If this retelling serves as a warning of the dangers of cultism (as other reviewers have said) then maybe some good can come out of such a dark and harrowing time.

ZOS: Zone of Separation (2009)

Bloody, Brutal and Crude

[1/10 · 10 February 2012]

I have been lucky (if that's the right word) throughout my life thus far never to have been involved in conflict or wars of any kind personally, so I don't have any experience of knowing whether this show accurately depicts a real life portrayal of trying to enforce a UN brokered peacekeeping mission. All I will say as a viewer is that I could not watch beyond the third episode, I almost gave up watching after the first episode but wanted to try and stick it out to watch the entire 8 episodes, I could not.

I was not prepared for the scenes of torture, mutilation, full frontal nudity male and female and an horrific gang rape of 2 of the non military peacekeepers one male, one female. The crude, course language all the way through it and drug use (in one scene a child ingests a drug while a man and a woman have rough sex on the bed he is hiding under). This show is extremely violent and crude and I would not let children watch it at all.

All that said, I don't doubt that things like this, and possibly worse go on in places like this where there is little or no law and order, so do I want to see it in a TV show - no.

Christmas Mail (2010)

Went straight to TV, bypassed DVD - that's how bad it is!

[1/10 · 6 December 2010]

One of the worst Christmas movies I've seen. Starts off OK and then meanders off into a lame, hackneyed and unwatchable mess. It's a good premise too, Santa's daughter supposedly, gets a job working for a *yawn* scrooge like boss who hates Christmas, (Lochlyn Munroe what are you doing in this drivel?) but meets a put upon postman who, yep, falls for her. The 'girlfriend' who tries making the new girl welcome ends up being a drain on the nerves and her attempts at being feisty and 'with it' miss the mark completely, it's a very bad parody of Christmas and that's putting it mildly, yet it's meant to be a 'romantic comedy' - shame they couldn't get actors who played the roles better. I was really disappointed and it's an hour and half of my life that I won't get back again.

The write up made it sound like one of the newer Christmas movies that would be good, but the fact that it was made in 2010, didn't even get to DVD but came right on into TV says a few words about how bad this is. This is also available via Amazon's video-on-demand service but really, don't waste your money or your time on it. There are better Christmas movies out there.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas movies and I do like to watch them but I have to admit to giving up on this one, it is truly dire.

The Indian Doctor (2010–2013)

A wonderful little series

[10/10 · 17 November 2010]

This little gem of a series should not be hidden away in the daytime schedules, it should be on later, perhaps on a Sunday evening?. The doctor in question, played by the brilliant Sanjeev Bhaskar comes to a small Welsh mining village in the early 1960's and the 5 part series follows him and his wife on the many problems they and the doctor's patients face.

I liked this very much, not least because Dr Sharma could easily be my own GP who is Indian and dresses exactly the same.

Sanjeev Bhaskar does a great job and is very believable in the role.

MORE please BBC, and in a better time slot.

Beacon77 (2009)

Absolute pants!

[1/10 · 26 August 2010]

Quite possibly the worst film I've ever seen. An hour and a half of my life I won't see again. Having paid to watch this dross on Sky Box Office I was not happy at all. The synopsis sounded amazing - British Spooky Chiller, erm were was all the spooky chills. All this was was a cheap, nasty little gore fest with petulant teenage type females arguing and seeing how many times they could use the F word. It became wearing after a while and shows just how lazy the writers are. You don't need to litter a movie with F*** every five seconds and you need to have a believable story. All that going on in a penthouse in a seedy run down block of flats in London and no-one notices - come on! I wondered what the people in the flat below them were thinking as noise travels in flats so all that idiot nonsense would have been heard, the police would have been called especially with all the screaming Zoe was doing - there was a character that you wanted to slap to shut up her incessant complaining, ranting, screaming and shouting. Not one of the characters made you want to invest in them, their story or their fate, it was a cheap, crappy, lazy tripefest of a movie and if this is what The British Film Council is actively encouraging then its no wonder it's being disbanded.

Kelly Adams of Hustle fame needs to choose her roles more carefully in future; this crap will do nothing to further her career if she leaves that show.

What a complete and utter waste of time and money, I absolutely detest rubbish like this, advertised as one thing and is totally the opposite. Lazy and ineffectual writers should be told to go back to school and learn their trade PROPERLY, not have money thrown at them to go away and make rubbish. The more that happens the more rubbish movies like this we can expect to see.

All in all this was F****** Sh*t, just like they kept saying all the way through the movie. Appalling, abysmal waste of time and money.

Adventureland (2009)

Awful eff-fest

[1/10 · 20 August 2010]

Maybe I don't get it but does this really have to be littered with the F word all the way through it? Even the obnoxious motherf***** is in there. It's described as a 'delightful comedy' but it isn't funny with all this bad language, it's unnecessary and spoilt the movie for me. I turned it off after an hour hoping it would improve, but it just got worse.

I only watched it for Ryan Reynolds but he was wasted in this, loved him in The Proposal - now THAT's a delightful comedy, but Adventurealnd sucks.

This business of having to have ten lines of narrative is also a waste of time IMDb! Perhaps if someone has something to say which doesn't need 10 lines then that should be allowed, otherwise, just like this extra narrative AFTER the review is just meaningless words to take up space.

Tormented (I) (2009)

Repugnant F*** Fest

[1/10 · 18 June 2010]

Stuck about 3 minutes of this abysmal offering. Got really fed up with hearing the F word every other word. Why do film makers have to rely on this, it's a total turn off. It may be that the F word is used like this in schools today (sad indictment on our society) but really, EVERY other word - it's lazy and it's boring!

This is a movie that could have been a lot better than it was, the premise sounded great, saw it advertised on Sky Movies and read the synopsis, thought wow, this sounds like a good film only to turn it on and hear that awful word every other word and turned it off again. Alex Pettyfer is a good actor, he has the looks and the ability, it's a shame he followed up his excellent Alex Ryder 'Stormbreaker' movie with this tripe. It stinks and I hope it doesn't wreck his career, he could go far if he stays away from dross like this.

Crime of Innocence (1985 TV Movie)

My thoughts

[18 June 2010]

No disrespect to anyone here, just wanted to say that the way Andy Griffith was fantastic in this role. Film makers always take things too far and I'm sorry if the movie didn't portray the people involved as accurately as they could have done. I have only ever seen Andy Griffith in nice guy roles and in this part he was downright hateful, not a person you'd like to be on the wrong side of.

Andy Griffith did a good job, as did Shawnee Smith. Being the daughter of a famous movie legend (Raquel Welch) it can be difficult to carve out your own career but the emotions were spot on, the acting was great. I agree with the OP though that the person who should have been sued was the sheriff as the jailer would have been hired by him and he did not protect the girl in question when he should have done.

Finally, what a horrible thing to have happened, I hope those victimised by this awful crime have gone on to better lives.

Cadillac Records (2008)

Repulsive and Repugnant

[1/10 · 16 April 2010]

Was really looking forward to this but had to turn it off after half an hour due to the mass inclusion in every other word of the abhorrent swear term Motherf***er! Why the industry seems to think this is a nice phrase to listen to is beyond me. It's bad enough when we have the F word littered through out a movie but this is EVERY other word - why? do you think it adds to the 'flavour' - well it doesn't, it turns people off. Was this word even around in the fifties or just some modern day idiot who thinks it's a 'fine' word because it isn't. You show yourself up for the poor writer you are having this nasty term in every other word. It's a real shame too as this could have been great.

The Pest (1997)

Abysmal

[1/10 · 18 February 2010]

Only watched this to see Joe Morton in an early role and honestly wished I hadn't bothered, he can and has since, done much better than this crap. Cannot understand why anyone finds this kind of stupidity funny but each to his own; it is an absolute mess and not funny in the least. No wait, ONE line only was funny, where Mr Kent (Joe) and his family are having dinner with this nut job as he's been invited for dinner (Lord alone knows why). Pest to Mr Kent: You know what it's like dog, you've been there Mrs Kent: Not lately, Joe's expression was funny but that's it one line does not make a great comedy and this tat is so far away from being funny it should be consigned to the nearest trash cart, it's only good enough for that. Joe Morton - glad to see you don't appear in rubbish like this anymore; you are far superior and a great great actor.

Eureka (2006–2012)

Eureka WAS good - a very long time ago!

[3/10 · 15 February 2010]

I really hate to say this but Eureka is going so far down the pan since Ed Quinn left, and once Joe Morton goes there's no point in going on with it. Henry Deacon & Nathan Stark along with all the other great characters in seasons 1 and 2 were what we all loved, by taking them away the writers/execs etc have lost it - seriously. The only original members will be Jack Carter, Jo Lupo, the rather childish Larry & Fargo and Zane and good as they are they can't carry the whole show. Hate saying that but that's what I feel. I genuinely loved this show but I really hate when writers mess with the format and wreck once great shows; not everyone wants to see relationship angst in this once brilliant show.

When Stark was exonerated by Mansfield at the end of season 2 he should have been given a better job in GD (if not reinstated as Director, or Co-Director) and there would have been no need to sideline the character with the resulting loss of the actor leaving. It stinks and I want my Eureka back, the way it was in seasons 1 and 2, why try fixing something that ain't broke? I have seasons 1 and 2 on disc but there's no way I'm buying more until the show gets it's Mojo back, but that's highly unlikely given the mess it is in now. Parading a stream of young women to 'head up' GD is just stupid, as is having them have 'crushes' on Carter; THAT is really insulting to the viewers as we're not all hormonally charged teenagers who want to see T&A in this show. It was about science once, but that was a long time ago - when it was a great show, one to look forward to - now all I do is turn it off - it's BORING!!!

Christmas Angel (2009)

Only a favourite with me because of Bruce

[5/10 · 20 November 2009]

A nice movie I thought, with a good idea behind it. Personally, and this is only my own thought, (others will disagree I'm sure) that the character of Nick could have been used more and had more of an input further into the movie than he did. Yes, he was in it for the first hour(ish) but I sadly realised what was coming when he is talking with Ashley in his apartment, and says the line: "I won't be around for ever." So when he wasn't in it (I had tears in my eyes - it was so sad that bit) I kind of didn't want to watch the rest of it because his character is so integral to the movie.

Bruce Davison is one of those understated actors who makes acting look so easy; it isn't. You know you're going to get a good solid performance in every movie he does, he is an awesome actor and picks his roles well, and as well as getting more handsome as he gets older, the characters he plays are always magnetic, they pull you in to the character's heart and you feel their emotion, their hurt, and a life story is painted for the viewer so easily and quickly you feel like you've known the character all your life. Nick Anderson, is such a role: quiet, unassuming but 'carrying a hurt' - this will move you.

Manfast (2003)

An awful trashfest of a movie.

[1/10 · 12 November 2009]

I only bought this because Bruce Davison was in it, but all I did was fast forward through the dross (and there is shed loads of it). Tried to watch it from the beginning but it fast became impossible to sit through this utter, utter rubbish!

Mr Davison (and Erin Gray) are two of the finest actors in America; they don't need to be in trash like this.

If, like me, you are a Bruce Davison fan, do what I did and fast forward to his scenes; that way you can watch the good bits without sitting through the dross. I only paid around £3.00 for this movie so glad it didn't cost me any more than that.

Daylight Robbery (2008)

One of the worst films ever made - overloading the f word!!!

[1/10 · 16 July 2009]

Forget, if you can, the fact that the 'f' word is used every other word (and then some) and that the writing is abysmal - well OK, you can't; it is that dreadful. The writers seem to have tried to make a film based on their 'ideas' of a bank robbery, it is heavily slanted in favour of the 'robbers' and the police are portrayed as soft (well this lot ARE dreadful) even helping the robbers along: Shaun Williamson's character (the Police CHIEF no less): "We want to help as much as we can" - puhlease!!! At the beginning of this mess (film) it takes ages for the sound of sirens after the alarm is raised; SO19 would have been there in the first few seconds of the alarm going off not fifteen minutes later!!! There is also a propensity for the robbers to tell their captives to take their clothes off, it is laughable and a sad excuse for a film. The warning they give out at the beginning of this movie 'This film contains bad language' should really say 'this film contains normal language' because there is so much foul language it is a total turn off, it is puerile rubbish from start to finish.

The 'people' who wrote Daylight Robbery ought to be ashamed of this tripe, and I sincerely hope they are not allowed to present any more rubbish like this in the future.

If you really want to see a bank robbery film watch the excellent 'The Bank Job' (2008) - a properly written, directed and acted film. No need bad language here, the writers are not lazy and actually have an imagination which does not include the 'f' word ALl the time.

Hush Little Baby (2007 TV Movie)

Tripe Ending

[2/10 · 12 June 2009]

Was OK for the most part but what was it with the ending? I was expecting another ten minutes to explain what happened. The end scene shows the house and a female voice saying: 'Come on Katie, time for your nap' - it's awful and I hate films with non-endings like this.

It's all down to lazy writing, was it too much to come up with a reasonable conclusion? - obviously!

It always amazes me how trash like this ever gets filmed, do the writers, for instance, know they have to write a beginning, a middle, AND an end?????

A very poor effort I'm afraid.

Mystery Woman: Redemption (2006) Season 2, Episode 4

Why such loud music over the dialogue?

[1/10 · 2 June 2009]

I should have known better than to try and watch a Mystery Woman Movie - why? well I always think the producers etc would learn their lessons and NOT play such loud music over the actors' dialogue but here we go yet again ... why is it necessary to have Such LOUD music playing over the actors' dialogue all the way through the movie? Are you lot aware the audience can't hear what is being said? So next time either make a silent movie (which is what this series is fast becoming), make a musical (in which case you can play your ridiculously loud music to your hearts content), OR GET RID OF IT ALTOGETHER!!!!!!!!

I've just settled down to watch this, can't hear a word for the music so switched it off. Good marketing ploy by the powers that be, play loud music over everything so you can't hear the dialogue, yep, that's gonna sell a lotta movies guys - NOT!

Rapid Fire (2006 TV Movie)

Based on real events?

[6/10 · 29 November 2008]

It's hard to believe this was based on real events; all that carnage for what? If it's depicted as accurate the shopping mall siege and the revenge for Billy's killing went on too long. The writing wasn't as tight as I'd expected from the write up on the back of the DVD cover which leads us to believe it is a relentless action movie full of high speed chases and action. It was, well, to a point ... once it got going, some 45 minutes in that is ... in events like this, there are always casualties and apart from the wounded, who hopefully recovered, it is so sad to learn that one of the policemen died and he'd recently become a father.

Nothing was gained by the gang at the end of the movie, except death for 2 of them and prison for the other 2, the leader was played by David Cubitt (a brief deviation from Detective Lee Scanlon in Medium) and while he gives a great performance as the ringleader (as did all of the other respective actors) I feel the writing could have been better. As it was, the story felt very loose and half hearted. The actors did their best but they were let down by the writing, directing and overall direction the powers that be wanted this movie to go.

Apologies to those who disagree, it's just my opinion that's all.