Essex_Rider Reviews

Shōgun (2024–2026)

At last, a real vision of James Clavell's masterpiece

[10/10 · 7 March 2024]

This is just stuning. A have now seen three episodes. I will admit a little niggle when Anjin escaped from the captain of the Black Ship, but it was a minor detail I won't reveal here as I don't want to write a spoiler. Finally we have some real stars coming from Japan, always a country I felt had the vision but was up against Hollywood.

Hiroyuki Sanada is magnificent as Yoshii Toranaga, and good to see him and Tadanobu Asano playing Kashigi Yabushige redeemed after that awful 47 Ronin.

I really liked Hiroyuki Sanada as Takeshi Nagase in 'The Railway Man'. He really is the male actor to bridge East and West movies and let's not forget how good he was in 'The Last Samurai'.

Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko is just breathtakingly beautiful, but she also plays the part to perfection. Mildy hostile to John Blackthorn (Anjin) but also drawn to his honest view of the world beyond Japan.

This is just a magnificent series that I really cannot wait to progress. If I could give it more than 10 stars, I would.

Wifelike (2022)

Every man would want one.

[8/10 · 3 March 2024]

The earliest version of this low budget movie was of course 'The Stepford Wives'. Let's be honest here, what man wouldn't want an obediant sexy wife with whom you could sit back, watch the game, have a beer without being berated. I love my wife but sometimes when I am watching the news or reading, I do wish there was an off switch.

I have to say that not having seen Elena Kampouris before, I would want to see her next movie, she certainly deserves a big budget one to show her talents because I thought she made a damn good job with limited direction.

I thought the plot had a few holes in it and halfway through, it was obvious there was more to her 'marriage' than met the eyes, but all in all a good effort for an indy movie.

Mr Bates vs. The Post Office (2024)

Compulsive viewing

[10/10 · 5 January 2024]

Wow, what a rollercoaster ride. This is the true story of how the Post Office, a part of government we all regarded like a comfy maiden aunt turned out to be a vicious cruel self protecting entity.

Toby Jones was suburb as Alan Bates, a dogged precise individual who refused to take the accusation against him lying down. The whole cast we utterly believable and I really feel this is deserving of the odd BAFTA or three.

I knew before this TV drama was televised about the appalling miscarriage of justice on these decent Sub Masters and Mistresses, but not in the detail this drama went in to. The duplicitousness of the Post Office heads must, if there is any justice, be bought to account for perverting the course of justice.

I really hope this wonderful drama goes some way into forcing the innocent into some form of decent compensation, but even that won't bring back the lives ended by suicide.

Alien Conquest (2021)

Absolutely Hilarious Rubbish

[1/10 · 25 November 2023]

I have given this a 1 because of its wonderful comedy value. It is surely beneath even Battlefield Earth and that was dire. The acting was so wooden I think make up must have used fencing paint. The script was worthy of the late great Ed Wood (Plan 9 from Outer Space). What is lacked in brilliance it made up for in stupidity. Oddly enough, here in the UK, they changed the name of this rubbish to '2021 War of the Worlds'. Perhaps they thought renaming it would somehow save it. Guess what? It didn't. This is to Sci-Fi was Putin is to Peace. Avoid unless you want your brain to die an early death.

The Long Shadow (2023)

Best crime drama in such a long time.

[10/10 · 5 November 2023]

It's a shame that some reviewers have concentrated on the actual failings of the police force hunting the ripper like aalreetmarra who gave us a historically accurate 'report', but not a comment or critique about the actual series. The series was excellent because focused on the lives of the victims, their families and the police hunting him, however, let's not lose the fact this is a drama and not all the minutiae of the investigation could, or indeed should, have been shown. It was a superbly acted and written series that certainly made me view the women murdered with a lot more sympathy. These were desperate women, many with children, trying to survive in a harsh world. In the end, yes, there were failings by the police, but no failings in this superb series.

The Lost King (2022)

One day we'll all know the truth

[10/10 · 21 June 2023]

I read once that a lie can be so big it lasts forever. I feel this is the lie that made us believe Richard III was a usurper, murderer and tyrant. This is a movie that tries in some small part to set matters right. Even more amazing that Phillipa Langley eventually persueded the House of Windsor to put right a terrible wrong by putting on its own website that Richard III was not a usurper.

The wonderful Sally Hawkings (The Shape of Water, The Dagenham Girls) played the part to a tee. The supporting cast was also excellent which made the story really believable. I wasn't even phased by seeing Richard's ghost because it only added to the charm of the story.

Really good watch, but for anyone interested, read 'The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey. It will throw a new light on this film.

Operation Mincemeat (2021)

Not bad but gets a little lost in places

[8/10 · 8 January 2023]

I remember watching the original 'The Man Who Never Was', staring Clifton Webb and the wonderful Gloria Grahame. The original, because it was filmed in 1955 had a more authentic air about it, but the director still packed a punch with this version. Where I think it falls over a little is the minutiae of the protagonists lives. It really wasn't that necessary and I felt it a little drawn out. In the original, Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu was extremely sympathetic to the dead man and to the dead mans father. He was treated with gentle dignity and respect. The corpse was never shown, perhaps a little too graphic at the time but in this version, he clearly is. This one was not only shown scant respect, his sister was even offered a handful of cash to walk away from her dead brother. They also commentated on how 'ripe' he was becoming, whereas in the original, this was never mentioned. In the original, the spy, sent by the Germans to ascertain if the major was genuine sent Patrick O'Reilly, an Irishman. We know through history that Ireland, although supposedly neutral, actively assisted the Nazi's with intelligence gathering. In this version, and in todays climate, they decided to go a little woke.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Worth every minute of viewing

[10/10 · 29 December 2022]

Sometimes I measure a movie by the reaction after it's been viewed. After we (my wife and son) watched this, we were talking about it for some time. It was a superlative tragi/comedy. The performances from all involved were amazing and captured both the bleakness and warmth of the island of Inisheran. The two protagonists did, in our view, deliver the finest performance ever. The despair of Colm coming to light in the confessional. The sadness of Pádraic who is unable to comprehend the actions of his best friend. For a low budget movie, this truly deserves to be up there with the greats. The background civil war between the IRA and the new Irish Government never seen but somehow there. The unrequited love Jonjo has for Siobhán is both touching and amusing until tragedy strikes and you realise the depth of the writing and acting. I would happily watch this again and again.

A Christmas Princess (2019 TV Movie)

Utter rubbish

[1/10 · 6 December 2022]

I've seen some cheesy Christmas movies over the years but this must surely take the gold prize for the worst. The acting was beyond bad, the storyline was just hopeless and the sets were laughable. The supposed prince sounded more at home in Walkabout Creek. Queen Alice looked and sounded like a fishwife on steroids and King Connor? I'd have preferred King Kong. I thought it was a real hoot to see the parents of the hapless Jessica invited to dinner with the king and queen, the table looked for all the world like it had been borrowed from a greasy spoon cafe. The idiotic Lady Eliza of Devon was light years beyond parody. The whole movie was probably on a shoestring budget of let's say, $100 and it looked it. Jessica was supposed to be a chef, but the only turkey around here was this turkey.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

Strange new wokery

[2/10 · 13 July 2022]

Well, I gave it a try. This is just awful. Woke and beyond bad. The storylines are just dreadful, Ethan Peck's Spock is a travesty, along with the ears. The original was far better even with the bridge and cheap scenery. This is just CGI gone mad. The Enterprise is about the only thing in it that isn't wooden, and that's a CGI image. The ridiculous references to the real Star Trek have been thrown in to make up believe we're watching something of a prequel. Well, we are not. It's not a reimaging, it's not a prequel. It's a lacklustre awful pile of drivel. Why don't the writers just replace any white male with an ethnically diverse female or trans? At least there would be some honesty there.

The Stand (2020–2021)

Disjointed

[5/10 · 14 June 2022]

Having previously read the book and enjoyed the original mini series with Gary Sinise, I was really disappointed with this. For reasons I cannot understand, the direction was disjointed, no surprise really as there were 6 directors, all of whom decided to flood the entire series with juxtaposition after juxtaposition skipping time. It made it difficult and uncomfortable to watch. The original was time linear, this jumps all over the place. I found some of the casting odd. In my view, Amber Heard was nowhere near as good as Laura San Giacomo playing Nadine Cross. In fact, the whole cast from the 1994 series outclassed this effort. This is not the fault of the actors but poor direction. Sorry but in the grand scheme of things, it's 'Must do better'. Perhaps if it was re-edited to stop the time jumping around it might be better, but I doubt it.

The Midwich Cuckoos (2022)

Imperfect but very watchable

[8/10 · 12 June 2022]

I always start by mentally giving any movie a 10 star review, then I whittle it down. I think is was deserving of 10 stars for the superb acting of some very fine young actors. They gave just the right hint of menace. The casting team certainly worked hard, and succeeded in getting real lookalikes as the children started to grow. I will take a star off because in the original book the 'Cuckoos' looked nothing like their parents, because they were not their progeny. They were 'something else', but in these woke times, the producers had to reflect on the realities of a diverse society.

I will take another star away for deviating from the original. Yes I know the world has changed, we have the internet and a PC/Laptop in every home etc. But what has not changed in an Englishman's right to self-determination. These residents willing acquiesced to the instruction to sign the Official Secrets Act and have their village taken over by the government. I live in a very small town, and I know there would be riots if the government tried to impose their will on us.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it and even though I knew how it would end, it was an ending well thought out and very well acted. A really good mini-series.

The Essex Serpent (2022)

Intriguing and different

[10/10 · 26 May 2022]

I watched this because I live a few minutes drive from the locations in this drama series and I was curious to see how it panned out. Initial thoughts after three episodes are that it's pretty good. Claire Danes is excellent as Cora and to be honest, there isn't a bad scene in the whole series so far. It's an intriguing story that really shows the prejudice of religion battling scientific enquiry. This was self evident in the school scene where there is a fundamental difference of opinion between Cora and the local religious screwball Matthew Evansford, although I won't give anything away. All in all, this is shaping up to be something a bit special. The whole thing keeps you guessing, is there a serpent, isn't there? I'll have to watch the whole series before I know the answer to that.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Timeless and great

[10/10 · 30 January 2022]

I first saw this as a child in the 50's, but recently bought the digitally remastered DVD. I bought it before it disappears forever in a cloud of Woke thinking. I hear that the Disney Studios are going to 'bring it up to date'. That fills me with a chill, because in the current climate, we are going through another McCarthyism that the Disney Studios themselves endured back in the 50's, but this is the opposite of the right, it's now the woke left subverting our thoughts. I wonder what the new version will be called. 'Gender Neutral Caucasian Monarchist and the Seven Vertically Challenged Non Gender Specific Mine Workers'? I dread to think what they'll call them. I will keep my DVD as a treasured memory of what was, not a fear of what is coming.

Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

I was transfixed

[10/10 · 21 August 2021]

I well remember this film, I remember it because I fell hopelessly in love with Hayley Mills. That said, this is a review of Whistle Down the Wind, not about my unrequited love. It was about a child like innocence, a young girl taking a literal comment from a tired and broken man who whispered 'Jesus Christ' on being awoken and the innocence of a child believing this man was the actual Christ.

This whole film, shot in monochrome, is a masterpiece of British film making. There isn't a single moment in it where the cast are not at their uttermost and enthralling best. This film should be up there with the greats, honoured with the Hollywood greats like 'To Kill a Mockingbird', or Casablanca'. It shows a criminal heart hardened by years of hardship and ruination being slowly softened by the actions of an innocent child and then children.

It's a marvellous film, and yes, Hayley, my heart still summersaults when I see you.

Midway (2019)

Magnificent

[10/10 · 15 July 2021]

I watched this as someone very interested in WWII history, fact and fiction. Like all major event movies, this one followed the lives of a few of the men who participated in the battle of Midway, to do anything else would have made it a documentary. I thought the GCI effects were pretty impressive compared to the original movie, however the original 1976 movie did not have the benefit of GCI so to compare the two is a bit churlish. I thought the acting was on point and the background storylines were convincing. Most of all, I liked the way the movie referenced the fighting men on both sides. Japan at that time was effectively ruled by a warlord, Hideki Tojo, he overruled the Navy, Air and Land forces and was a brutal anti western dictator, so in reality, the U. S liberated Japan as well as defeating it. All in all, definitely up there with favourite war films.

Survivors (1975–1977)

Fiction made (possibly) fact

[10/10 · 4 June 2021]

I remember this when it first aired, fiction? Yeah, right!. It now looks increasingly like this fiction made it all the way to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The world is in the grip of a pandemic and although the death rate isn't as bad as the fictional series, the economic cost is horrendous.

They should definitely show this again, or maybe the woke warriors would complain too loudly.

Cosmic Sin (2021)

Awful beyond belief

[1/10 · 10 May 2021]

There isn't really much to say about this 'movie' other than it consisted of moving pictures. What was Bruce Willis thinking?

Storyline: Pitiful Acting: Wooden SFX: Dire Plot: thin as consommé.

A waste of time watching it. Utter garbage.

Intergalactic (2021)

Better than Plan 9 from Outer Space

[7/10 · 4 May 2021]

I know this is a low budget series, I know that there is a lot of ham and cheese in the storyline, but hey, you have to admit the whole thing is worth watching just to see Eleanor Tomlinson. Drop dead gorgeous doesn't really fit, more stunning beyond belief. That said, the special effects are more akin to Ed Wood's infamous 'Plan 9', and I just know that with budget restrictions they'll be shooting more and more on terrestrial territory. I found it hilarious when in one scene there was an attempted kidnapping on an 'alien world' using a VW van. Good old Volkswagen, they reached the stars.

Also highly amusing was an alien world nightclub scene where one of the customers was drinking what looked like a bottle of Budweiser. What a hoot.

I have to say that Sharon Duncan-Brewster playing the man hating Tula is really overdoing the cockney accent. I didn't think the sound of Bow Bells reached the outer limits of the galaxy. (For our American friends, a true cockney is born within the sound of Bow Bells in London). Nice to see Natasha O'Keeffe (Peaky Blinders) as a very glammed up scientist holding a sort of secret power. She looks good with the grey streaks.

But it is what is it. A low budget piece of hokum that's sort of enjoyable to watch but you won't find many people admitting they watch it.

Coming 2 America (2021)

Just awful

[1/10 · 8 March 2021]

I am a huge fan of Eddie Murphy, but this was a real stinker. It was as unfunny as the original was funny. I just wasn't feeling any of it as I watched it. Nothing about it was remotely comical and I can only imagine the great James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman were deluded doing this dreadful movie. I just wish there was a minus score I could give it.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

A torch on history

[10/10 · 12 February 2021]

As an Englishman, I am aware that my predecessors were certainly not as kind ad sweet as we would like to believe. There have been attempts at addressing this in film, Ghandi for instance and the massacre at Amritsar comes to mind. There have also been some pretty solid drama series such as 'The Hanging Gale' with the McGann brothers. These showed the brutality of my countrymen toward the people they governed.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley however, takes this to a new level. Firstly the performances. Faultless and memorable. Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney were frankly, among the best I have seen. The rest of the cast played it as it should be played, as a people repressed and looking for a way out. There were some scenes that were harrowing and hard to watch, and I must confess, I did need subtitles for some of them.

Secondly, the history. It's something we in the UK need to take on board. We were poor masters. The Black and Tans were brutal, backed up by English landlords and the rich merchants draining Ireland of its resources. It's also worth looking back further than the film period. The UK was fighting in WWI, many soldiers had enlisted from Ireland, and in the middle of this, there was an armed insurrection, the Easter Rising. The British government saw this as insurrection because at that time, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Their answer was brutal repression.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a film that graphically illustrates the internal conflict and confusion at the time, and to an extent, that is still echoing down through the years to now. But, here's the thing. The Irish and English have such an exchange of spit and DNA, we're the same people driven apart by politics. I have visited Ireland, I love the people and the country. I know of almost nobody in England that 'doesn't' have familial links to Ireland. My sister in law's family are Irish, my sons lovely partner is Irish and her family are lovely people.

It's been said that if there's one thing we learn from history, it's that we learn nothing from history. I would recommend that this be compulsory viewing for us blinkered English. The past is bitter, but it is the past and we cannot change it, only learn from it, so congratulations to Ken Loach for a film that might, just might, make us view our own and shared history differently.

I Am Mother (2019)

Brilliant but you do need to pay attention.

[10/10 · 12 January 2021]

This is a truly great piece of Science Fiction. There are several clues sprinkled around, the first being the length of time passed in the facility and the age of 'Daughter'. Another clue is outside the facility where crops are being grown, for who? There are no humans left.

The droid is part of a single consciousness, it, along with the other 'outside' droids, have a single purpose, the survival of humanity, yet in order to achieve this, the droid needs to undertake moral end ethical decisions, something it is achieving, but is it only a facsimile of ethical understanding.

It's a clever, atmospheric and vaguely threatening movie. If you follow it and don't take the obvious as truth, you will see who 'Mother' truly is. There are some anomalies, the woman's religious beliefs, preying over and over. The differences in the bullet calibre etc. but I'm pretty sure if I watch it again, I'll figure it out.

This is a clever adult SciFi unlike the usual dross. Low budget, high quality.

Transplant (2020–2024)

Good, but could be great

[8/10 · 5 January 2021]

I liked the premise of Bash being seen sweating and looking shifty as a short order cook in a dodgy looking kabab house. I think this was to lure the viewer into a judgement call about the main character. Things change when we see him employed as a Trauma doctor, but he and his sister are still suffering from the same prejudices from society in general. The unconscious bias in people see him as a Middle Eastern Muslim first and doctor second, and that's the problem. We are having 'Woke' thought control throughout this pretty good series. I work for a major teaching hospital in London. I see a doctor as a doctor, a nurse as a nurse. I don't 'see' them any other way. If the writers concentrated more on the abilities and less on Bash's ethnic make up, I think it would be much more enjoyable. I do understand the reasoning behind the writing. Show Bash as a stranger transplanted into a foreign land, poor housing, social suspicion, racism. All of these thing we can do without in a modern world, and I do understand that a drama series like this can (hopefully) change hearts and minds, but ease up on the throttle. That said, I think showing him having flashbacks from Syria does perhaps make us think of people like Bash and his sister's tragic loss. The stupidity and futility of war (civil or not). I feel that by concentrating less on Bash's visit to a Mosque and more on his skills, humanity and professionalism, we, the viewer, would see past the colour of his skin, his ethnicity, his religion and see a gifted doctor and a part of a whole focused on healing and saving lives.

Rediscovering Christmas (2019 TV Movie)

In a land beyond Woke

[2/10 · 12 December 2020]

Come on, this was a movie made in the cause of wokeness. There was no character development, no empathy with the main (or any) of the players. It was a movie laid down to the alter of wokedom. Rubbish and I switched it off after 35 minutes.

Das Boot (1981)

Emotionally Draining

[10/10 · 7 December 2020]

My late father served in the Royal Navy in WWII and was torpedoed by a U Boat, so when I sat with him to watch this in 1986, I fully expected him to be filled with hatred for them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. He told me that seamen, even those on opposite sides, share something unique. He told me that his ship picked up some U Boat survivors from a ramming. They were just ordinary men doing the bidding of their masters, just like he was. They were put down at Scapa Flow as POW's after being at sea for 5 weeks. Many of them had formed friendships with the Royal Navy men, including my father. He formed a friendship with a submariner called Gotz Stiffel and they remained friends until Gotz passed away. My father attended his funeral in Duisburg and he was welcomed as an old friend by the survivors of that U Boat sinking. My father said that film bought tears to his eyes. They were just ordinary men caught up in extraordinary times and this film captured everything from fear to boredom and relief. He said, and I utterly agreed with him this was just about the finest anti-war film ever made.