Film Reviews by SJ

Anything with David Attenborough's name on is sure to be informative, but I did spend most of this series asking "how do they know?". The second series is better at explaining some of the current thinking. Mostly I relied on other wildlife programmes of modern animals to draw parallels. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud, showing it's not all bad. There is too much emphasis on contrived stories (this seems to be the way of Natural History shows these days) which made me wince when there is a potential danger but phew! emergency over.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but clearly I was a little disappointed in this, due to the lack of explanation which usually accompanies Attenborough's programmes. The imagery is very impressive, holding up my score to three stars.

Oh my goodness me, how to totally ruin a traditional story. The voices are all wonderful, if only they'd stuck with the actors. The music is somewhat aggravating and the dancers are offensive. Avoid at all costs.

Being a middle-aged female I am clearly not the target audience for this film. The comedy is much more for teen-20s males, or those with a similar mindset. All those cameos were what sold it to me, and I am disappointed that so many people sold out to such worthless drivel. I am just very glad I didn't spend money on this film.

Glenda Jackson's performance is so utterly convincing that I kept forgetting she was acting. A brave rendition of an illness that undermines many lives - not just the sufferer's, but the families and carers as well.

Dementia in whatever guise is a tragic erasure of identity, and sufferers cling to available memories, often of childhood, to make sense of their current world. This was so powerfully shown in this drama with Jackson's character Maud drawing links between the missing sister in the past (the weak sub-plot other reviewers have mentioned) and the missing friend in the present. But the dementia wins in the end as Maud doesn't remember what has been revealed.

The casualties, the family and the friends, were so brilliantly portrayed that I felt I was experiencing the horror and fear for myself. It also made me wonder how I would deal with it in my older relatives, and whether I could be so calm. While nothing can prepare a sufferer for what they may go through, I feel that this film has taught me things to bear in mind to make allowances for the sufferer. And to wish that no-one ever goes through this, because it was demonstrated to be truly awful.

I am glad to see Jackson won awards (BAFTA and EMMY) for this role, it was probably the best performance of her acting career.

Bringing back Jean Luc Picard was the best idea since Deep Space Nine. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this, and we all watched completely enthralled. There are references to past Star Trek outings, and watch out for some visits from old friends, but it was new enough to not lose the attention of the uninitiated. There were so many clever twists and turns throughout the series, that I kept saying "cool!" (to the others' annoyance). So much of it was unexpected yet felt so familiar. Well done to the vast team that brought this all together.

OK, so I should have seen the ending coming, but when it was so drawn out I forgave myself. Roll on series 2.