Film Reviews by PV

Knowing Carmarthen, Wales, well, and already knowing the true story, I SO wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, it reminded me of the sort of feelgood schmaltzy British TV dramas (such as NATIVITY) shown around Christmas. Why and how this got funding to be a feature film, I do not know. It would have worked far better as a TV drama, on ITV, like FAT FRIENDS and other Sally Wainwright drama of that ilk.

This film comes complete with unnecessary and unfunny manbashing, plus a TOTALLY invented chauvinist ethnic mayor who did not exist - Carmarthen has a mayor a year and the one before Richard Goodridge who sent a fax to Spielberg was a white woman called Mrs Sarah Mary Lorraine Maynard. There have been mayors in Carmarthen since 15th C so to woke this up is a disgrace, to tick boxes, no doubt to satisfy Ffilm Wales pc woke funders.

As I say, I know Carmarthen well - it is almost 100% white now, (Wales is 95% white) so would be in 1993 (the black female character is another invention) and there would not be an Asian kid in Amdram in 1964 in Carmarthen either!

The film is a mildly amusing farce, full of rent-a-Welsh-actor casting. Veteran Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce stars in a predictable and no doubt invented character role, created to rub in the schmaltz juice. Mostly cartoon characters, I have to say.

Wynne Evans is also a DJ on BBc Radio Wales, every weekday morning! And the GoCompare ('Over there!) TV advert man.

I was annoyed by the 21st C Americanese language like 'Can I get a coffee?' NO-ONE said that in 1993 in the UK,. not London let alone Wales. And as for the Americanese subtitles which seem to think 'stationary' is what stationer sells. Very sloppy.

It passed the time. BUT it is about as much related to real life and what happened (though the lock thing at the end is true, no spoilers) as Jurassic Park has to Biology O level. 2.5 stars rounded up, mainly coz I recognise the locations in Carmarthen.

THIS is actually the (public domain) letter sent by fax in 1993 which borders on emotional blackmail, and this is left out of the film, and Mr S did not speak direct to anyone on the phone in real life: “Dear Mr Spielberg,” he began. "I have just been informed that your latest film Jurassic Park will not be seen here at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen.“The Lyric Theatre has advertised extensively that the film is to be shown and indeed thousands now believe that the film will be shown here. However, many thousands are now going to be disappointed, not least to say, very angry that this has happened.

“People have postponed their holidays to see it. I am appealing to you to avert a crisis and look forward to an urgent response.”

There was NO direct phone conversation with Spielberg in person in real life, just with his people at Amblin.

This is a great series - 3 discs, each with 2 feature-length dramas of 80-90 minutes, so like 6 films with 6 separate crime stories. Some are stronger than others and some require massive suspension of disbelief BUT it is exciting stuff, danish Crime Drama at its best.

Serial killers abound in Denmark, clearly. Probably all that bacon... And the Grand Guignol state blood stuff is gory and gruesome here which may offend some (so don't watch then).

As ever, the strongest stories are at the start and the end, discs 1 and 3. I did also detect a plot hole or two. So 4 stars.

A shame there was no immediate 2nd series, and the actress Laura Bach is not in the revived series DARKNESS: THOSE WHO KILL, from 2020, and now one crime story with 45 minute episodes per series.

recommended. Not sure why I only discovered this 2010 series now!

The great Lars Mikkelsen,, brother of Mads, is the boss man here - he is also in the great House of Cards with the great Kevin Spacey, playing the Russian president.

I really enjoyed this if only for the character acting and scenes of Peter Sellers in particular - his portrayal of a northerner 'venal' doctor, surrounded by cats and losing his mind is one of his very best. Classic even and clearly adlibbed in part. Brilliant stuff! I laughed out loud twice at those scenes. Just beautiful. he steals it.

Ralph Richardson excels as the wiseacre old bore academic - I have known people like that! John Mills plays his brother.

I never really like Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in acting roles but if you do, here they are.

Tony Hancock appears briefly, looking a bit unwell, and this is about a year before his suicide.

Michael Caine here too, and John Le Mesurier and Irene Handl.

Worth watching JUST for the cast, if not the farcical swapped-box plot.

4 stars.

OK so this is not as bad at the AWFUL Tom Hanks remake of British 1950s classic The Ladykillers. But it is still pretty awful and unnecessary.

Watch the 2015 Swedish original A MAN CALLED OVE - I gave that 4/5 stars.

I give the inferior Hanks Hollywood remake 2/5 stars and 1 of them is for the cat.

Nice to see nepotism alive and well in Hollywood as Truman Hanks (a son no doubt) is cast as Otto's younger self.

The first half is passable BUT then the whole bloated overlong blubfest descends into a deep puddle of schmaltz and teary huggery, never to resurface.

The original has a middle-eastern refugee family moving in (Syrian/Iraqi or similar). This being the USA, the family moving in is Hispanic, or as we call it in the UK, 'white'.

And of course his best friend and his wife are African-American to tick that box. And then there is trans-representation in a young he/she/they/it character too, which is achingly on trend, and a massive plothole there and with Otto - why wait until act 3 to find the thing he could have used to start with (NO SPOILERS).

It could maybe win an award for WOKE? Esp with all the trigger warnings on the end credits.

Do yourself a favour and watch the Swedish original. This movie annoyed me and I was yawning and clock-watching and rolling my eyes on turbo by the end.

2 stars, 1 for the lovely cat.

This is now a very dated film, not just because of the attitudes of an upper-middle-class academic mother (which to be honest was even unlikely in 1991). It seems almost quaint really. Almost child-like. Like a time capsule, though 1991 seems like yesterday. Amazing how a world without the internet looks, and mobile/smart phones. Bliss, in fact. Esp re the latter. Porno cinemas once a mainstay of SoHo look antique! And most gay pubs have now closed, and many clubs, as people can meet online.

Some of it is baffling - actually thought from the title that 'cranes' referred to the bird., common in oriental designs and art. But no, it is industrial cranes BUT goodness knows why - all that stuff was baffling. No context is given to it here whatsoever. The cranes bit could be part of another film even. Poor scriptwriting and direction really - never assume your audience will get what you do, because you have read the novel and they have not!

The minor Cathy Tyson character is entirely redundant and extraneous. It would probably make more sense in the novel on which this is based.

These days, they'd woke it all up with tickbox diversity BAME actors. I probably prefer this, however dated it may be.

Directed by Sean Matthias, theatre director and back then boyfriend of Gandalf himself, Ian McKellen.

Brian Cox stars - looking a very bedraggled 45 - he looks much more aged really, more like late 50s. Amazed he is still going in Succession 2023 based on his aged mid-forties features here.

Still, this is an interesting curiosity piece and the last acting appearance of actor and film director (Midnight Cowboy) John Schlesinger. Nice shots of Greenwich too.

Important in a history of representation of homosexuality on TV, for sure. This is 1991, when gay pubs still existed (now hooking up is all online and most gay pubs have closed as they cannot turn a profit!) 3 stars.

It helps to know a bit of history before watching this. The Tartars - central Asians and Muslims - were, with Cossacks, expelled from Crimea by Stalin after the Second World war after supporting the German invaders. They were exiled to Siberia. Only in more recent decades were they permitted to return, 1980s I think.

So the father and son here are Tartars, not the majority of Crimean residents who are loyal Russians and orthodox Christian too. That makes this atypical.

It is watchable, yes, and interesting, rather than enjoyable. I am sure many more films about Ukraine will emerge in future.

3 stars

OK so I have just read these 5 The Last Kingdom series are based on 13 Saxon novels by Bernard Cornwell (born Wiggins, after his adopted parents).

Apparently, on the basis of his father's surname being Oughtred, Cornwell believes he is a descendant of Uhtred the Bold, upon whom he based the Saxon npvels.

So far so dubious. But what I REALLY hated in this final series was the colourblind casting which is an insuilt to history and human intelligence. Would they cast a white actor to play a Zulu warrior or a Chinese emperor or an Indian - maybe Ed Sheernan playing Nelson Mandela? WHY NOT. It's colourblind casting, YAY! Sick of it. THERE WERE NO BLACK PRIESTS IN 10th C BRITAIN. In 1939 there were only 6000 black people in the UK with a population of 44 million. JUST STOP IT!

What I liked was the great acting and scenes, the switching alliances - though it can be rather confusing and hard to keep up with the multiple characters and plotlines from all the series (I bet the author of the novels had a big map/plan on his office wall for that!). The battle scenes are spectacular.

But all in all, I do prefer the VIKINGS series. Maybe because it is easier to follow?

Great to see the history of Britain on screen anyway, though I doubt the women back then would be behaved like metoo activists, and all with perfect skin and teeth too. And no-one referred to being 'tasked with' anything in Britain until the 1990s at the earliest (though I do not expect them to speak Old Englisc)

3.5 stars rounded up.

This is a great fun film, vaguely reminiscent of the classic film Hobson's Choice based on the 1915 play.

It is basically a rags to riches trope, with morality, guilt and women thrown in, and social class of course - the great obsession of most British films esp comedies (until the recent import of US-style race obsession. Not progress then).

Petula Clark, famous singer of Downtown, stars here aged 20 - she is now 90 and still performing and recording.

There is also stalwart of 1950s films Wilfred Hyde-White (uncredited).

Yes, some bits are dated and owe a lot to the silent era, esp the mule scenes.

But i really enjoyed this good solid film, with morals, fun, and some great lines.

AND the CLUBCARD is mentioned - the title refers to that local shop buying scheme and also the main character, which is both likeable and unlikeable, so more three-dimensional than most main characters, even now.

4 stars

I enjoyed this, though as with Westworld and other robot stories and scifi generally,. one has to suspend one's disbelief massively.

What I liked was the context - the archaeology career of the main character who was believable, not overdone either way, not too feeble and not to 'strong and independent' as all wimminandgirl characters now are in Hollywood (a new cliche and stereotype).

The location of the famous Pergamon Museum on an island n Berlin, with the Market Gate of Miletus a backdrop to a scene..

A nice plot point I did not see coming connected to the main character's career which I did not see coming (no spoilers) but very clever and logical.

Brit actor Dan Stevens shows off his German no doubt acquired by that very expensive private school education.

It drags in the second half, so 4 stars. but it has some sublime moments., and some slick dialogue too, esp at the start. The flab appears in act 3. Some fun scenes too, though no sure I believe the sex scenes (no spoilers). It is FAR better when addressing issues of loneliness and what people want from friendships/relationships. And I liked the old father...

I liked it more than AI and much more than the tedious Ex Machina. The original Westworld movie is great as is Metropolis as a robot story. And the original Stepford Wives (1970s NOT the remakle and certainly NOT the yawnsome Don;t Worry Darling).

4 stars

I enjoyed this.

It is crude and squalid in parts, but shows what a lie the media is whether TV or online.

It follows an influencer keep fit guru - a young woman whose life is skillfully shown as not being all happy and joyful as her TikTok smartphone broadcasts show. There have been many influencers who have died young by their own hands - the obsessive attention-seeking is not that normal really.

I am not sure I believe the story arc here - but anyway, the main character is utterly believable and that carries this tragic tale.

4 stars - a decent modern Polish film.

watch REALITY a Spanish film to see how empty reality TV is too.

SO this is written and directed by the team behind the US version of THE OFFICE, just so the unlikely appearance of UK's original The Office writer Stephen Merchant makes sense.

This film is funny, in parts - certain scenes, very cartoon caper, but fun. The young actors do well, incl the lead Jacob Tremblay who 5 years before this was a tiny boy in ROOM - his parents must be coining it seeing just how many roles he has had as actor and voice for cartoons. one wonders if he ca translate that into an adult career. The ghost of the voice of Peter Pan movie from 1953 - Bobby Driscoll - still echoes...

Just to say, Grade 6 in the USA is like year 7 - first year secondary school - in the UK. Having been a boy that age, I can say interest in girls and sex etc doe snot really kick in big time until year 8, later, so the claim pre-pubertal boys get crushed on girls, cry buckets etc is very much an image of boys seen through adult writers' eyes.

SOMETIMES they get it right, though this is NOT the first film or book to use the phrase 'social piranha' which the Radio Times reviewer claimed.

No doubt some puritan US reviewers will be appalled by the sex references and se toys etc, which makes it even more fun, if rather crude.

It is OK, and I enjoyed it in parts. A shame everything has to be rap and modern R&B music though.

3 stars

OK so this started so well - the first DVD of 4 episodes. Credit to the writers, the actors too, esp the boy.

BUT then, in the second half, it all goes wrong (NO SPOILERS). Just to say that when writers decide to create unlikely coincidences to drive the plot forward, connect characters and create dramatic tension, they are scraping the barrel or, most likely, trying to stretch what should have maybe been a 6 part drama into 8 parts.

Up until that point, I;'d give this 4.5 stars; The latter half really does spoil it - my eyes were rolling so far back in my head I am surprised I could still watch it tbh. Totally unnecessary. Ditto the love interest (no spoilers). A real shame because up to then it was great.

As I know how writers think I know what they were playing at and why - and I suppose they had to stretch the story out to 8 episodes and add a required love interest BUT I SO WISH THEY HAD NOT. A real shame. I preferred the first series.

Be aware the subtitles are both American and often wrong too.

3.5 stars

OK so for a start, I hope this is not Michael Caine's last film - he is 89 years old here, yet this really is a mediocre movie.

I know Bohemia and lived a year in Prague, near ZIZKOAV the area named after this ZIZKA early 15th C hero (where the massive TV tower that can be seen from all over the city is situated - looks like a rocket ship). I know and have visited the ZIZKA monument with ZIZKA on his horse up high which I have visited. I know the statue of protestant reformer Jan Huss in Old Town Square.

SO I know a lot of the history of that region, religious and political, AND YET even I was confused! So those unfamiliar with the history must be utterly baffled!

WHY could the producers not add a short film at the start explaining the history or some text - I have seen films like that. It would make sense here.

Sadly, the usual 'strong independent women' characters are shoehorned in, absurdly knocking out big man soldiers. And some colourblind casting nonsense. not TOO bad, however. Compared to Hollywood.

It is so-so but all a bit boring and confusing. VIKINGS is a better watch as a TV drama and maybe that is what this history period needs - a quality TV drama series, not a movie trying to tick Hollywood boxes.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 - JUST. Only just.

I rented this as I am at present watching series 3 every Saturday on TV.

It';s a superbly tense drama, at 8 episodes possible 2 episodes too long though.

And the last part was disappointing. No spoilers but I felt there was an agenda here, to excuse any female criminals or killers and manblame for all bad any such women do, as if it is all the fault of males.

JUST IMAGINE that argument reversed - all bad men do, incl murderers, is because of bad things their mothers and sisters and girlfriends and wives have done. But if we want gender equality, we have to have that womanblaming to match the manblaming yes?

Until the end I was really enjoying it, would have give 5 stars. Instead 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

FAR better than awful BBc and ITV detective drama anyway which is all preachy woke sermonising lectures with tickbox casting and stuffed full is ishoooos. Why I much prefer foreign detective drama, from Denmark, Germany etc.

There are so many movies on Ted Bundy - one of the serial killers whose good looks, charm, friendly demeanour in court and body count - well over 30, mutilated, horribly murdered and raped - attracted macabre attention. Apparently, the way the FBI used his help in early 80s to try and profile the killer of the 'green river murders' (mentioned here) was the basis for the Thomas Harris novel SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

It is well written and acted, focuses on psychology, with the actor playing Bundy scarily believable. The focus is on he emerging FBI Profiling unit. Read the info at the end to learn about the main character psychologist interviewer.

Worth watching with other Bundy films like Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) which focuses on the trial and Bundy's capture and his girlfriends.

Some may object to the focus on the murderer rather than his victims - but that is the way it is. People are and have always been fascinated by monsters and baddies in general, from the devil and mephistopheles on. Jack the ripper too (who may not even have existed - mass hysteria seems a valid explanation), and also the clown killed Gacy who inspired the Stephen King novel IT.

Worth also realising that, as any police officer will tell you, most murder victims are males (75%+) and it is FAR easier for them to get media interest in a missing or murdered female, esp a young pretty one, than ANY murdered or missing man - now THAT is sexism. But it is the way it is, and taps into our dep instincts to protect the women of our tribe probably.

A decent film, if a bit disturbing sometimes. 4 stars