Reviews

The underlying story is fascinating. A timeless tale of male violence & female denial. Yet the production is dreadful. The director has decided to do it differently, which is fine. But the different approach is just a mess. The people who were actually involved, the actors portraying them, the film crew, the crew filming the film crew - they all just get in each other's way & in the way of the story.

I suspect that the bright spark who decided on this approach did so in large part to promote themselves more than the story, which is a terrible error in film making. Any respect for the director evaporated at the court room scenes. Everyone knows barristers & QC's don't dress like that. No doubt the director trying to be different but it just comes across as inaccurate & shoddy. The story still makes it worth watching but it's a spoiled opportunity.

A great story to be told, with high drama, big characters & more than a little David v Goliath. Sadly & bizarrely though the Gaelic brigade (BBC Alba) got hold of it & made a right hash of it. Alternating between the main characters being interviewed in English (not many Dundonians or Dundee players speak Gaelic) & a Gaelic narrator with English subtitles it's quite incoherent.

Add to that mess various touches such as participants being identified for the viewer by kids spraying their name on a wall (eh?), followed by a picture of them on another wall, sometimes with their name & job also appearing & sometimes not; and actors portraying scenes, such as 'being the young Jim McLean' & 'player's Mum scolds Jim McLean on the phone' & the whole thing takes on an air of 'S6 drama class end of year show'.

I hope that a proper documentary maker has a go at this story. It's just too good to be left to BBC Alba.

The movie reminded me strongly of Wilhem Dafoe's movie-within-a-movie in Mr Bean's Holiday. The continuous, monotonous soliloquy, the endless dull shots of Fassbender walking around, the general dullness of the whole exercise.

The whole exercise screamed out for a big twist in the plot, a step up in gear, just something to alleviate the sheer boredom of it. I assumed that the first 30 mins were just setting the scene & the tone & the character & that it would explode into life when things went awry. But no. It just droned on.

Netflix laughably describe it as being endlessly action packed, or words to that effect. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Once you know that the lead actress Keegan was in Coronation Street for years then it all begins to make sense - the flat performance, the limited range of facial expressions, the limited range generally, the odd lips. She generally looks like she just stepped out of a low budget magazine shoot, not like an experienced officer with active military front line experience. Hers could have been a really interesting character for a decent actress to get her teeth into.

It's a shame really because her casting lets down the rest of it, which ain't half bad. After 2.5 episodes that is. Apart from the comedy junior detective, who is also just implausible & annoying.

Suffice to say that I won't be rushing out to buy a Coben novel any time soon. I might make it to the end of episode 8 though. Wish me luck.

The show is supposed to be like a group of funny friends sitting around chewing the fat, being funny, with intermittent monologues by Frankie. Instead it comes across as stilted and awkward, with obvious hesitancy between gags, no real connection or dynamic between the comics & a sense of palpable relief each time somebody picks up and runs with the gag for a minute. So it can get a bit unrelaxing to watch. Frankie can be very funny and often is here but too often he strays into the surreal, to the extent that the humour is just lost. The comics are almost always of a similar political mindset too, which makes for the dull spectacle of them nodding along & agreeing with each other.

Fascinating subject, poor execution. Substantive accounts & explanations spread far too thin, interspersed with lots of repetitive, breathless narrative about why Fraud Is Bad & intrusive, dramatic music.

The red flag comes at episode 3, when the little boy gets asked where he wants to live. The implication being that if Mom, Dad & sis had chosen to live in a house in the town but the 6 year old had chosen the hippy colony on the hill, the morons in charge would have made it so. This tells you all you need to know about this nasty little turd of a drama.

Season 1 is a malign, sucky monster, draining the joy & hope from viewers as they go from episode to episode, wondering where this is all going but slowly realise that it ain't going nowhere, biatch, it just exists with actors, dialogue, a bit of a script, a set & a few special effects, to persuade you to keep watching so that they can count up thousands of viewers & sell it to TV channels.

The series is a zombie! No, really, it's a turd.

I had no idea Bulger was played by Depp until I came to IMDB to read reviews. What I was wondering was whether anyone else found the Bulger character offputting. Strange looking, a bit like a showroom dummy come to life, but lacking much life or depth - not really believable.

The Depp revelation explained all that but what were they thinking with this bizarre approach? Why not cast Depp but without the prosthetics? Cast anyone decent without the prosthetics?

Otherwise, decent film - characters, plot, setting, camera work. Shame they spoiled it with the plastic lead. Missed opportunity.

Dull as ditchwater. Unworthy of a Stephen King story. The lead character is as dry & 2 dimensional as a bookmark - the actor sounds like he's doing a Tom Hanks impression throughout.

It's the civilian version of Predator. First half weak but it gets much better, so stick with it. Moss plays much the same character as in Handmaids Tale - but she's decent at it, so that's OK.

There's a fascinating tale to be told of the canyon in the 60's & 70's but this isn't it. If you're not keen on the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield or Dylan jr. Then it's very slim pickings. No Joni, Carole King, James Taylor, Ronstadt, Nilsson etc. Someone else please take a run at this while many of the protagonists are still with us.

Like the man himself, a straightforward & unassuming tale of a man who emerged from a humble background to become one of the world's top mountaineers. A touching & human story.

A gem. An exceptionally touching tale of a family, full of its imperfections, tragedies, successes & joys. Documentary making at its finest.

And what was that accent that the implausible old farmer had?

Great film, from the same era as the first Bond movies & with more than a few things in common too. Written by Ian Fleming, produced by Cubby Broccoli, featuring Desmond Llewellyn (Q) & a lead female character with a saucy name, (Truly Scrumptious). And of course a car with amazing hidden capabilities. One day I'll write my thesis on the parallels.

I gave it 2/10 & only then because of some decent scenic shots.

Really, as soon as the idiot couple lost their car, the film crew should have just left them to it & gone off & spent the rest of the shoot filming the fabulous outback scenery.

Two dimensional characters, with barely a sympathetic trait between them.

Nobody cares.

Really disappointing example of producers killing a drama by dragging it out for far too long. First series great, second series okay. Third series? Virtually all padding, no momentum, little happens that is central to the plot. It attempts to be psychologically compelling but by this time you know who the killer is, so all tension & momentum has gone. Do yourself a favour - watch series 1 & 2, then just look online to see what happens in series 3. No series 4, thankfully.

Riddled with implausible scenarios & plot holes so big you could drive an unrealistic train crash through them. But a good cast (Liam Neeson, Sam Neill, Mike out of Breaking Bad - even Colin McFarlane out of the Fast Show) & non-stop action keep it motoring along nicely. Good fun!

Good story about a cop & a robber's worlds colliding & the fall out for their sons, years later. Delivered by a quality ensemble cast, with a thoughtful script & nicely paced direction.

A really entertaining fantasy romp. Highly recommended!

Awful, pretentious guff. So convoluted that I had to look up the plot afterwards. Waste of a decent cast & no doubt sizeable budget too.

Beautifully shot & acted. A real tear jerker. Highly recommended.

Every scene a masterpiece. The spiritual life portrayed with beautiful simplicity. Profoundly moving.

This movie has it all. Humour, love, regret, redemption, drama, good vs bad, a bit of tinsel. Deceptively simple, but multi-faceted, this is an annual festive treat of the highest order.