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Reviews
Annika (2021)
Dreadful, dire, awful waste of good actors time.
Nicola Walker as star made me think that this might be worth watching but I was wrong.
This series was obviously made on a very large budget in a beautiful setting everything about it is a total car crash.
I have absolutely nothing good today about the basic premise dosen't hold up, the story line of the first episode simply dosen't work or hold the attention. It doesn't the dialogue is terrible and the characters badly drawn. The gimmick of breaking the fourth wall is totally inappropriate for this kind of police drama.
It is a shame because Nicola Walker is a huge talent and many of the supporting actors are fresh faces who deserve a better chance than this junk.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016)
Seriously junk --- Douglas Adams work deserves better
So awful even BBC 3 made a better job of bringing Dirk Gently to the screen.
I really cannot think of anything good to say about it.
Save yourself the pain watch something else anything else.
Emergence (2019)
Not too shabby ---- Quite good
Spoiler alert ! Fans of classic SF will recognise a similar core plot to the the ground breaking BBC Serial A for Andromeda which was written by astromer Sire Fred Hoyle and John Eliot.
Gracepoint (2014)
Not quite as good as the original Broadchurch
Scene for scene version of Broadchurch transplanted to Canada , David Tennant should have used his own Scottish accent. Episodes are shorter than UK original so 10 episodes in place of 8.
Wild Bill (2019)
Promising
Better than I expected almost Life on Mars like with its fish out of water plot.
Well cast although accents a bit off.
Maniac (2018)
Mad worth watching.
Maniac is quite the maddest series I have watched since Fringe came to conclusion. Some episodes were really fun others much darker. The scripts are peppered with tiny subtle homages to other cult movies and series including A Clockwork Orange, Silent Running, Total Recall, and Blade Runner among the ones I spotted.
The Alienist (2018)
Poor Ripper Street Clone
The best thing I can say is after watching the first episode is it is better the the BBC America series Copper but suffers from the obvious comparison to BBC UK and Amazon's much missed Ripper Street.
Twisted (2004)
Dirty Harry with a sex change.
From the start this movie has too many echoes of the Dirty Harry movies the characters the direction, the cinematography and the San Francisco locations as result it feels more like a 1970's film than movie made in 2004. As a result it fails to work, it feels clunky and contrived. The main characters fail to in engage the viewer, the plot is hackneyed.
Close to the Enemy (2016)
Utterly brilliant --- Poliakoff
You either like or loathe Stephens Poliakoff's work. Close to the Enemy returns to well trodden Poliakoff territory the darker side of those from Britain's great and good who appeased Hitler and murk deeds of the UK's intelligence and security services, however the tone is not quite so menacingly dark as that of "Glorius 39". In spirit it perhaps closer to "Dancing on the Edge" which has a similar hotel setting and range of characters. Like Dancing on the Edge it uses jazz to add to the period feel and provide relief from dark theme although less prominently than in the earlier drama.
Poliakoff's work as always attracts a superb cast Alfred Molina in particular puts in a superb performance, an Lindsay Duncan is as always worth watching. Phillip Glenister puts in a quality performance. I should also individually praise all the members of the cast from the rising generation of actors but as every single one them was superb it would take all day.
The Incident (1990)
A Jewel of a TV Movie
Great story, sensitive direction and superb acting from Peter Firth and Walter Mathau. Firth best known for Flipside of Dominic Hide, Rome and Spooks plays against character but is utterly convincing as a Nazi charged with the murder of a fellow POW.
Mathau as always turns in wonderful performance as the small town lawyer his style contrasting brilliantly with Firth's powerful but minimalist acting. Story raises many issues that are especially powerful in today's highly partisan political climate when we strangers living in our midst.
Watch this movie you will not be disappointed.
Ripper Street (2012)
A long haul to the end of season 5 but Ripper Street keeps on getting better.
Originally a BBC series now a joint Amazon BBC production Ripper Street stands head and shoulders above other detective dramas set in the late 19th century. The Ripper Street follows Detective Inspector Edmund Reid and his the team of detectives based at Leeman Street in the East End Of London. Reid had hunted Jack the Ripper. The Police's failure to catch the infamous serial killer forms a backdrop to the story. However Ripper street is not a reworking of The Ripper story it is firmly set post-Ripper and follows Inspector Reid as he struggles to protect the largely poor immigrant population of the East End from murder, organized crime, anarchist plots and assorted mayhem.
Played by to remarkable effect Mathew MacFadyen Inspector Reid is very loosely based on a real life Inspector Edmund Reid who was a remarkably forward thinking man with a love of science described by newspapers of the era as "the best all detectives". However the script writers have created for Reid a new back story that explains why this very moral policeman is prepared to bend the rules in the interest of the greater good.
Reid is accompanied by a posse of strong well drawn characters some pretty dubious all their own back stories and played by an amazing good cast, who make well written dialogue come alive. The result is western set in Victorian London, more Hell on Wheels than Sherlock Holmes.
The production values are remarkable, sets and costumes are flawless and the script, direction, editing, cinematography and sound are near perfect
Death at a Funeral (2010)
Suffers in comparison to original British made version
This is a Hollywood made version of a 2007 British comedy of the same name. The script and scenes are almost identical to the original but it lost something on the journey across the Atlantic. The only major change was to replace the uptight British upper middle class family setting for an equally uptight American upper middle class Afro- American family but it lacks the crisp punch of the original.
Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad movie it is well acted, well directed and has a a good script but it just misses its' target. I would highly recommend watching the original version which has Mathew MacFadyen, Kris Marshall, Keeley Hawes, Rupert Graves and Jane Asher in the cast and I rate it as one of the best comedies I have ever watched.
Trivia, there is another remake in Hindi entitled "Daddy Cool" (2009).