Film Reviews by PN

I've been an avid lover of Chernobyl documentaries for years, seeing recreations, photos, playing video games featuring Pripyat and have a pretty good knowledge of what went on. This series was simply outstanding at building on the info they had but actually planting the viewer into the situation, giving you an incredible insight into just what it would have been like at the time.

Documentaries don't have that quality a TV drama has. The suspense, the fear, the unknowing, the confusion and sacrifices of the people involved are captured beautifully. It's all in English (as it would be difficult to watch all in subtitles), wonderful cinematography. It focuses purely on what happened without the usual political correctness and casting characters the opposite of reality just for inclusion points. It's raw.

As for technical accuracy, it seems overall to be pretty accurate, I have no doubt scenes have been made up for the storyline to flow and maybe some scientists would take issue with minute aspects but for me, a solid 5/5 for expanding my interest in Chernobyl by slamming me into the heart of it over 5 episodes.

I sometimes find the National Lampoons to be a hit and miss but I'm addicted to spoofs and this one was great, taking the absolute mickey out of american college life, jocks etc. A great laugh especially for it's age.

A visually stunning film but the whole theme of custom bred dinosaurs was done before in the last film and seems to be rehashed again this time. Extreme unlikely to pull off stunts aplenty but I do like good visuals and sound and I'm a diehard Jurassic Park fan, although not great it wasn't bad but don't expect a masterpiece here.

This film is a great portrayal of the upbringing and the shaping of the mind of Jeffrey. Following his journey through school and his parent's relationship breaking down and the friendships he made which seemed to be purely exploitative of him for the groups entertainment. If this film is accurate, then it's clear from the offset Jeffrey was not of the norm and it's up to the viewer to decide if his murderous tendencies were a product of his misfit times throughout the years or always with him. It loses one star as I had expected it to be a horror film and it ends before his first murder so it's not really scary at all and more like a portrayal of who he was before he became a killer. Still worth a watch, shot very well and I suppose it is scary how relatable he was to people we all knew who were 'the quiet ones' at school...

I love the old animation films, especially the types where the producers had to animate them all by hand. I rented this in Blu Ray and the quality was really good for the age of the film. It's magical to see the scenes that they created and following mole and the other characters that represent different aspects of society is still fun. I couldn't stop laughing at the Houses of Parliament scene.

After watching series 7, I was quite optimistic that the writers had fresh ideas and that Still Game was back on track. This series was a little bit disappointing for me. Felt like they were clutching at straws with some of the storylines. One of the episodes called South Africa borrowed a set of jokes from their on stage show prior to the characters getting their own show which is fine for new viewers but for those who have seen it before it kind of confirmed lack of new ideas. Still funny but was hoping for a lot more from this series.

I remember many years ago watching the Beatrix Potter cartoons on TV, back before flat screens etc and the stories were enchanting. My sister had a collection of the books, ornaments and toys that we had read before and seeing them come to life through cartoons was great for us young kids. Now we are adults, I still fondly remember the stories and to see them in DVD quality was really something. Each episode is a 'Tail' of something and it has all the classic Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck etc on it. A joy to watch if you appreciate the style and story telling of Beatrix Potter.

I vaguely remember watching Thunderbirds as a kid, so decided to rent it and see if it still entertains as much nearly 60 years on and I was fascinated by the animation of the puppets. Obviously you can see strings and it's clear that they are puppets but there's a magic to it. The smoke effects, camera work, scenery detail etc draw you in and I appreciate this more than computer animation. Each episode is very well written and introduces you to the different vehicles they have on Tracy Island. It's retro but great, I blasted through them all in one go and look forward to the next.

This is the original stop animation Postman Pat episoes voiced by Ken Barrie. Chances are if you're over 30 these will be the episodes that you remember, the ones with the weather wreaking havoc in Greendale, the broken water pump, sheep on the loose. I prefer these episodes, there's some magic in the way they are animated and I appreciate how long this must have taken compared to today where you build the characters in 3D software and it's much quicker to produce episodes. Great to show kids nowadays the work that went into creating the old Postman Pat animations.

Season 3 and 4 of Peaky Blinders were masterpieces of suspense, twists and tension. This one was my favourite overall, although the mafia element to this series I felt was very charicaturised, I've never met old mafia so I could be wrong but the way he spoke seemed cheesy. As always there is family tensions, Tommy is trying to go his own way but gets enveloped back into Blinder business and we lose a main character too which was a shock to the family. Can't say much more without giving away the plot but the Blinders just keep improving series after series and this was incredible.

This would have been a great stage show to go to, obviously it pales in comparison to seeing the sketches performed in the actual show on TV with proper sets but it's a good summary of the Chewin The Fat Characters but you don't need to watch it if you watched the show as it's all the same sketches.

Still Game before it hit the TV for 8 series originated in the original Chewin the Fat and this stage show, I wouldn't be surprised if they based the decision to go to it's own show from the success of this stage show. The characters are all the same, same storylines, family etc. Just old guys, trapped in the flat because the lift was broken but the characters being fly and ridiculing each other is excellent. I loved this on VHS years ago, great to see it on DVD again. Must see for all Still Game fans and you'll notice if you watched series 8 that one of the episodes where they go to Navid's mates caravan, they re-used the South Africa scene in this show.

This is essentially a spoof mockumentary of the airport shows that used to be popular, infused with the humour of Little Britain. If you watched those airport shows you'll recognise the characters that this show is hinting at. The young aspiring trolley dollys, the dodgy CEO's, fast food workers, every facet of the airport mocked with wicked humour.

I really wish there were more of this series, it was original and felt like the evolution of Little Britain but it seemed Matt Lucas wanted to discontinue the show which is a shame. If you like spoofs or love Little Britain, this is essential viewing. 6 great episodes, farcical yet unnervingly accurate at the same time.

Having loved Guys enthusiasm for everything he does in previous documentaries, I rented this speed boxset not really knowing what it was about but purely on a Guy binge.

I never realised the guy set so many world records during this series, and was amazed to see the dedication he had to every task, they weren't all bike related. Fastest hovercraft, fastest sled, human powered plane and then on 2 wheels fastest motorbike, fastest tandem and amazingly fastest cyclist. I never thought he'd manage it being that motorbiking isn't as hard on the quads and cardio system as cycling but 'by eck' he gave everything his all. I won't list what records he set as he does fail at some and it would spoil the show.

There's excellent detailed analysis of each of his missions from engineers, scientists, experts with diagrams to show issues they overcome and keys to success. A great Guy series again.

I've rented loads of Guy's documentaries and gave this one a bash. This was different from previous projects of his, it was more a travel documentary showing Indian culture, lifestyles and how they live. I'm more used to the show focussing around an engineering masterpiece or challenge.

It was humbling and eye opening and he really enjoyed certain aspects of it and highlighted some of the negative aspects of India but I didn't enjoy it as much as I do his other stuff which I always find to be 5 stars. The Blu Ray was great quality. If you like travel more than engineering you'll probably like this a lot more than I did.