Reviews

Olivia Colman is always worth watching and she does not disappoint here. She appears to be having great fun in a part offering such contrasting behaviours. Jessie Buckley and Timothy Spall are also great.

In some ways this is a typically British film: tremendous acting squeezed into a little film about a forgotten incident a century ago. It's lovingly done but you do sometimes ask yourself whether there wasn't a bigger story that would showcase these talents more effectively.

It took me a while to tune in to the comedy, perhaps because of the incessant swearing. I hate gratuitous swearing, but it seemed less offensive than it might have been, perhaps because it is central to the story line and so not actually gratuitous, but also because it is delivered with a kind of innocence.

Worth going to see Olivia Colman enjoying herself so much!

This series has its strengths and its weaknesses. Its biggest strength is its two leading actors, both of whom are more than up to the task of powering the action and giving us characters to root for.

They are aided by a complex plot with many twists and turns and some well-realised action.

On the downside, the focus on delivering entertainment too often eclipses any attempt at depicting reality, which somewhat punctures the excitement that might have been. Also, many of the characters are rather one dimensional. Goodies and baddies are painted in bold strokes with no room for rounded characters, except the one or two who change their spots as the plot develops.

But still, it's an entertaining watch with two likeable stars, and I was happy to enjoy it for what it is.

I am not generally a fan of reality TV, much of which showcases the worst human behaviours in the pursuit of unedifying entertainment. However, I am prepared to try the genre where it gives us positive human behaviours to cheer on. This series certainly does that and I could not be more pleased that I gave it a chance.

It is amazing to listen to amateur piano players hitting the keys in train stations across the land, quite often with no previous experience of public performance. The talent displayed by ordinary members of the public is enough to make you wonder why you have done so little!

It does seem a significant proportion of the best players have a challenging background, which makes you all the keener to cheer them on.

A contest like this can be jarring if the judges make what seems like the wrong call, even though you cannot argue with their expertise. But that happened much less often in series 2. And the overall winners of both series were totally the right picks.

This is positive, edifying reality TV to savour.

My review is based on series 2, as I don't remember enough about series 1. But clearly I enjoyed that first series enough to get me watching the second.

I have been to Japan twice and really love the country and the people. So darn polite and helpful. Experiencing a completely different world without having to be intrepid. However, this series takes you into the criminal underbelly of Japan. Not something that my tourist experiences incorporated!

So it was great to see a different side of Japan on the screen, combining that mix of assimilated western culture and the differences that make Japan such an enigma.

All wrapped up in an exciting tale of gangsters and corruption. Loved it!

I was pretty scathing about the first film, but watched this hoping for something better. It is better, although it still has its problems.

The last half of the film is a spectacular battle, which certainly helps. Zack Snyder delivers destruction and pyrotechnics on an immense scale and we all know that he can manage stylish action with aplomb. So much so that you forgive the film for lapses in common sense and coherency.

Unfortunately the first half of the film is less assured. An attempt is made to make us care for the village community our heroes are striving to protect. The most obvious example is an extended community harvest scene on which much care has been lavished, but it just doesn't work, perhaps because it does not "fit" within the overall narrative and so feels like it's forced in to the story.

Also, an effort is made to round out the characters of the band of heroes, but with a similar lack of success. Nevertheless Sofia Boutella, Djimon Housou and Bae Doona manage to bring their characters to some sort of life, without much help from the script or the director. The other heroes could almost disappear from the screen.

So the final battle is the key. Enjoy that and you forgive so much else. I did anyway.

I am not a fan of Jennifer Lopez, nor a sci-fi geek, yet I did find something to enjoy here that gave this film sufficient impetus for me to keep watching and left me pleased that I had done so.

The need for AI Smith to earn human Atlas' trust, despite her deep suspicion and unwillingness to enter into any such interaction, lent sufficient weight to their relationship to get me engaged. Of course, this idea is far from new, but it did provide a much needed additional dimension to the unceasing CGI action sequences.

Without that relationship the film has little to offer unless you are a fan of Jennifer Lopez or love CGI action. But It seems I did forgive the movie on both counts!

I am not a natural fan of Mad Max, not being a petrol head, nor a lover of violence as entertainment in it own right. But I did enjoy Fury Road and so I braved this.

And I enjoyed it. The story of Furiosa offers plenty of opportunities to buy-in to her character and her fight, so providing enough emotional connection to make the action on screen meaningful. Both the child and adult Furiosa actresses do a good job.

However, the stand-out performer is Chris Hemsworth, who seemed to be having a whale of a time as Dementus, and who surprised me with his larger than life depiction of the the evil villain driving the plot forwards with his demented shenanigans.

None of which gives us an adult movie with a mature story populated by real people. But that is not what George Miller is trying to do. Instead he delivers non-stop high octane action. The 150 minutes pass in the blink of an eye - well, almost!

So this film gives us just what you expect from Mad Max, with enough plot and character to draw in even the non-petrol heads among us.

This is a satisfying tale on many levels.

Best of all is the redemption of Benedict Cumberbatch's character. He is a great actor and his skills are on full display here. His demons drive the series and he is fully able to make every bad decision and awful utterance believable and "true" to his character. Of course he has to reach rock bottom in order to face up to his failings and so he does because of the disappearance of his son.

The imaginary Eric is crucial to this journey and our understanding of it, so although Eric seems a little forced and unnecessary at first, these doubts soon fall away as you buy in to the power of the story that Benedict Cumberbatch is giving us.

The depiction of New York in the 1980's is also satisfying, in the sense that it feels real and truly dreadful. Was it really that bad? Although I did make it to NY in the 1980's, my intended stay of a few days was truncated by my instant dislike of the place, perhaps aggravated by a short walk in Harlem, so I journeyed on to Boston instead. In light of which, I am inclined to believe it.

Lastly I will highlight the character of Detective Ledroit, a gay, black man surviving amidst NYPD's intolerance and bigotry. I guess it is easy to believe that particular scenario.

There is much in this story to get your teeth into. I'd like to think that NY's improvement since then is a source of optimism, but then I have never been back, so what do I know?!

I was persuaded to watch this by an Indian taxi driver who said it would show us what Bihar is like, as my mother was born and raised there.

I am glad I did. This is an exciting story of the police hunt for a notorious gangster. That story is lent significant weight by the fact that it is drawn from a book written by the policeman who lead that hunt.

Perhaps even more interesting for me was the opportunity to experience a slice of India. What emerges is a highly believable depiction of rampant corruption, industrial violence and widespread rural poverty.

I was in India as a tourist earlier this year and bemoaned the fact that we were ferried between architectural monuments and western hotels with almost no contact with the "real" India. Perhaps this show has filled that gap?

There are some good things about this series. The special effects are good. The characters of Ahsoka and Huyang are not without interest. Baylan Skoll offers far more depth, however, and justifies a series of his own, although I believe the actor has passed away since.

Despite these strengths the show as a whole comes up short. The plot is pretty farcical, especially the space whales flying at hyper-speed between galaxies. Some of the characters lack any credibility - most obviously General Hera Syndulla - with almost no attempt made to give us any reason to believe that she really was a battle-hardened hero of the New Republic, used to commanding armies. Also, Ahsoka's multiple backflashes to her apprenticeship with Anakin Skywalker appeared entirely irrelevant to the story.

I guess it was easy watching, but it was less than satisfying.

I watched this because of the presence of Eun-bin Park, even though I know nothing about baseball.

What struck me was the plot similarities with Ted Lasso: a struggling sports team bring in a manager with no knowledge of the sport because the owner wants the team to fail. The one thing missing was Ted Lasso himself. Here the manager concerned is much more cold and calculating, with the heart provided by the character played by Eun-bin Park.

Nevertheless, it seems that this series was made first and perhaps Ted Lasso took it as inspiration.

I was moderately entertained as I watched this, whereas I thought Ted Lasso was very good. So the absence of that character did suck something out of the entertainment for me. Perhaps baseball is just too alien to me also, whereas football is all around me, even though I don't follow it myself.

But hey, I was moderately entertained and Eun-bin Park is always worth watching.

I enjoyed this film. There is enough stirring action to keep you watching and sufficient political shenanigans to help you believe that the film portrays truth as well as fiction.

But I was always aware that I don't know enough to sort the truth from the propaganda.

PM Modi is a very divisive character. I was in India earlier this year and heard a lot of praise for his policies addressing India's poverty and social problems. By contrast GB news media focus on his supposed growing authoritarianism and Hindu nationalism, neither of which were part of the perception of the man I heard in India. Presumably all these facets are part of the man and his government.

Any film that takes sides in an ongoing political issue, let alone supporting one party during an election campaign, should be viewed with caution. Certainly a quick bit of on-line research suggested that the Kashmir "problem" is far from solved.

It is a shame that the makers of this film did not present a more even-handed picture of the problem and its solution while entertaining me so successfully.

First the health warning on this review: I have never been a fan of star wars. I thought the original films were aimed at a younger audience and I was pretending to be an adult when they first appeared!

Then came Rogue One. The only Star Wars film I would rate, with mature storyline and an explanation for the ridiculous notion that the Empire would build a weapon of such power and leave it vulnerable to a fighter attack.

Then came Mandalorian, which I surprised myself by enjoying.

This is better than all of them. The world it creates is very believable, with excellent special effects and meaningful characters.

I particularly enjoyed the prison spaceship, which was superbly realised, visually and conceptually. Plus the meaningful character portrayed by Andy Serkis added so much to the depth of this realisation.

I do hope for another series.

I do love reading historical fiction, but was not grabbed by the Shardlake books. I only read the first. However, the books have many fans and perhaps I would have been won round had I ventured into subsequent volumes.

With all that in mind I watched this with some hope. I was not convinced. The story seems rather slight, with major events in British history reduced to a foggy murder mystery. Stephen Saylor showed how to use this genre to shed light on history with his Roman novels. Now, a series based on those would be worth watching! Rory Clements did the same with his Tudor series.

I won't attempt a second series, should one be made.

.... then you may well like this.

Certainly, I liked this series in many ways. The main actors all perform well. The child actor is delightful. Some of the stories moved me to tears. And I wanted to know how the characters would find their way through their difficulties.

But it is just too long. The fantastical concept at the heart of the drama is too flimsy to support a story wallowing so deeply and at such length in its emotional moments. In consequence, my emotional engagement was continually challenged.

Nevertheless I stuck with it to the end. The final episode epitomised the lengthy wallowing I have mentioned, with an hour and a half of tears for the audience to sit through. I did come through that not regretting my perseverance, which is all credit to the strengths in my opening paragraph.

I guess pretty much all cinema and television thrillers have holes and inaccuracies in their plots. The search for excitement and entertainment is not generally constrained by accuracy and lucidity.

The best thrillers carry you along willingly for the ride, such that you don't even notice the moments that might have punctured your enjoyment.

This does not achieve that.

Nevertheless, if you are able to focus on being entertained by the twists and turns you can still enjoy this, even as you scoff at the latest unlikely event on screen.

That enjoyment is helped along by the character played by Jing Lusi, who grew on me as the series progressed.

Let me start by admitting that I am not a lover of Star Wars. I found the original films seemingly targeted at a younger audience. The only Star Wars film I would actually rate is Rogue One.

So imagine my surprise as I was won over by this series. Series 1 was good enough to warrant watching series 2. I guess this is due to the winning character afforded to Grogu, who is a triumph of the designers.

Series 2 and 3 are even better. Budgets seemed to grow as the series progressed and some of the later special effects are top-notch. Katee Sackhoff also brings a compelling character into the story, allowing us to move beyond the problem of the Mandalorian himself being faceless and the Mandalore religion being too shallow to be credible.

Overall, I was highly entertained, despite the issues highlighted above.

Ninjas rampant in modern-day Japan, with dead bodies mounting up at speed, is hopefully a fantasy?!

The action is very well presented, with the fight scenes as excellently choreographed as you could hope.

Such a story might have been moderately entertaining, but here the family dynamic provides a much needed moral core and significantly adds to the excitement generated by the action, as you care what happens to the characters. A love story is interrupted. A dead son offers uncertainty. Granny remains enigmatic throughout. So many avenues yet to explore.

A second series is clearly planned, as so much is left unfinished. I look forward to that.

As a lover of the book I was slightly disappointed with the last TV adaptation. So I had my fingers crossed that this would be better. And better it is.

What makes it better is the courage the makers showed in focusing on depicting a society so different from ours while trusting us to persevere through cultural differences that are not always easy to understand. Given that focus, John Blackthorn is less dominating as a character, with more time given to the Japanese characters. The love story with Mariko is still central, as Mariko herself is so fascinating.

Those changes meant that this is even better than the book. A fabulous series.

This is a highly believable depiction of the medieval world, blessed with stirring action, fine acting and great direction.

But it is the fact that it is thought provoking that dominates my view of the film, which is something of a surprise. After-all we all know that the medieval world treated women very poorly. Those antediluvian views and actions are clearly depicted. But I did not expect them to carry so much relevance to today. We have moved on, haven't we?

What was challenging is the thought that we have not moved on as much as we should. That part of our society continues to treat women poorly. And that those of us who think we are better have not completely lost every one of the attitudes we would like to have discarded. Being better than we were does not make us good enough.

Joseph Bologne is a fascinating multi-stranded character, living in a momentous time period, with an exciting story to tell. Unfortunately this film fails to tell that story. Nor does it even seem remotely interested in doing so.

Instead his life is pillaged for a Mills & Boon love story, which may or may not be based on truth, a racist sub-plot, precocious musical genius and a bit of revolution to spice things up. Such an approach might be forgiven if the result was entertaining enough to make you forget to be disappointed. But the film does not get to grips with any of these strands sufficiently to generate any traction, let alone engage your emotions. None of the characters seem real, even for a moment.

So - a disappointment. It does have a saving grace though: it gives you an opportunity to discover Joseph Bologne and go and find out more, as I have done.

This is a great film in many ways. But it also has its problems. In the end it is saved by a wonderful performance by Madeleine Yuna Voyles, who draws you into her character and makes you care.

On the plus side the story is interesting, the cinematography is amazing and the special effects are all you could wish.

Unfortunately these strengths are somewhat negated by difficulties hearing and seeing what is on the screen (I watched this on television and also struggled with the accents and mumbling at times). Such problems following the story were aggravated by events on screen that did not always make obvious sense.

But then along comes Madeleine Yuna Voyles and every reservation is forgotten and the fate of the world on screen is focused down to the fate of her character in your mind.

So be forgiving of its problems and you will find this well worth watching.

I lived in Sierra Leone for 2 years before the nightmare of this civil war. So for me the strength of the film is in it's recreation of the country. I could feel, see and smell it.

Djimon Hounsou gives a magnificently compelling performance as the father determined to get his family back. That story is the heart and soul of the film. Particularly his son's journey to child soldier and later back to his family.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly give sterling support. Despite a shaky accent there was emotional resonance in the former's soldier of fortune finding his way back to a degree of humanity.

The action is superbly mounted too. But Hollywood has given us a film about Africa that attempts to tell us a truth beyond entertainment.

If you haven't seen this film then do so.