Film Reviews by PV

This is a lots of style but not so much substance. The creator Gareth Evans is from a martial arts and action movie background, and it shows.

Shifting loyalties of various ethnic gangs over 8 episodes. Paper-thin characterisation apart from a couple of the gang leaders - the Georgian Koba, Asif, the Jamaican. It is true that London and the Uk is ruled by these foreign criminal gangs - Albanians, Russians, Kurds, Jamaicans, Turks as shown here, plus the old traditional British white gangs like the Richardsons, surely the model for this. Joe Cole is Joe Cole and stares well.

BUT it is rather glossy superficial, and the target audience is surely those who do not care much about that and just want lots of blood and guts and violence, shooting, stabbings, explosions etc. Well there is plenty here.

Not a patch on the real classics of TV drama about organised crime and drugs such as Peaky Blinders (early series), The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Narcos. Compared to them, this really is division 2, B-movie land.

I found it hard to suspend disbelief here esp re the supposed UK police guy, the black character who lost his family in series one (Cannot remember the name).

But it's watchable. 3 stars. Just

The same director made the BEST film about drug addiction ever made - OSLO, 31 AUGUST. Used the same actors too! Just watch that, and ignore this over-rated wordy pretentious self-absorbed character study of a very spoilt and demanding privileged young woman in Oslo, the (privileged posh well-off director's home city, though his dad and grandad were Danish film aristocracy).

A shame then that all his other films since then seem to be an attempt to ride the MeToo bandwagon, with main female characters, as no doubt he knows a trend when he sees one. It worked - for that reason the screenplay for this was nominated for an Oscar. The wordy, rambling, telling-not-showing, pretentious screenplay. Tsss.

I almost turned this off, as it is so achingly pc and ticks all the MeToo boxes. That often means like so many movies which do this, it massively stereotypes ALL men and boys, brands them as this and that as if all males were one being. Just sexism, and the usual misandry of professional feminists (as captured here in a radio interview scene).

There are some great scenes though, satire of the absurd way some think some DNA test which shows they are 3% African, think they are African (despite the fact DNA tests present populations AND Africa/Asia populations are full of white European ancestry due to the slave trade of white Europeans, and empires since Alexander in 300BC).

Some moving later scenes too. BUt a lots of self-obsessed self-absored flab here too, very wordy and obsessed with Metoo. The main cartoonist character guy is played by a great actor, Anders Danielsen Lie, also in OSLO, 31 AUGUST.

Always fun wit Scandinavian films though coz one sees the SAME actors again and again - it's the new Australia! Remember when the same Aussie actors popped up in all soaps and movies from Aus?

Anyway, not bad but not good, 3 stars, just.

2.5 rounded up - great music soundtrack though.

This film starts so well - the first hour is great.

Sadly then it gets very tricksy, meta, post-modern as SO many movies do these days. I just prefer straight horror takes - I liked MIDSOMMAR more than this, though themes are similar. It also reminded me of MR ROBOT a bit. And Stephen King's IT with the metaphysical element.

This is based on a graphic novel so may well be just following the source material.

This starts in Tibet or similar, and some hokum in what is a prologue lasting for the entire first act - then we are in the USA, before or after, I am not sure. The timelines are confusing here as is the story, BUT I just let it all wash over me.

VERY graphic violence too.

If the power of the first hour had continued, and this had not become all meta, then it';d be 4 stars. But it sags badly in the second half.

As it is, 3 stars.

Some may moan that this film is offensive in language and portrayal of native Africans and indeed women. They would. Those who require trigger warnings and grouphugs should maybe grow up and realise this was made in 1951. AND it is very progressive.

We have a main character, a former hunter who switches sides in a way to found a wildlife reserve in east Africa - people forget now it was white Brits there and whose families had been there for several generations often who we can thank for preserving the wildlife esp larger mammals,. elephants, rhino, lions, cheetah, leopards etc. The natives wanted to hunt them or food or to supply ivory traders. Compare the British empire to the amoral empire from the east, with Chinese demand for ivory and rhino horn etc meaning all these animals will be extinct in the world very soon.

Anyway, here, in 1951, set in 1946/7 we have an environmentalist Brit who dedicates himself to found a nature reserve (across Kenya, Tanganinka(Tanzania/Zambia) and Uganda. He is pitched against the baddie of course - whose racist views of natives are made explicit here. This film is not racist - the baddie it! The hero is not, and says 'Africa is changing' and the racist baddie is of the past, that there is no place in Africa for men like him now.

Watch it, all wokies and greenies, and peel the scales from your over-sensitive eyes. This is an important film, re wildlife in Africa.

Nice to see a happy family with a happy boy growing up like that too. Compare to now and weep.

4 stars

This is a brilliant film. There were two later films on the same event, in 2016 - THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART (based on the novel HHhH) and ANTHROPOID. They were decent films too, esp the former, but this 1975 film is the best of the 3.

A great cast with Anthony Andrews, Martin Sheen. And a superbly sinister Anton Diffring as Heydrich.

I know Prague well from living there in the 1990s so it was interesting for me to see locations I knew - minus the commercial cafes and adverts etc. I used to pass by the church at the end all the time on Tram 22. The bullet holes are still there and fresh flowers are there all the time with the Czech colours. Prague 1975 looked a lot like Prague 1942 really, just as grey and funless and dour.

A superb synthesizer score makes this special too. I love that.

5 stars. I have watched this film 3 or 4 times and it never gets boring, Essential viewing and better than the late films of the same event.

I loved this film. Watch the great film LAND OF MINE (awful unfunny punny title) to see Denmark after the Germans leave. THE KING'S CHOICE too, though that is Norway - also invaded by Germans in April 1940 (important as German ships damaged in fighting with Brits and locals). also THE WINTER WAR a 1989 film about Finland's attempted occupation by the USSR.

Watch this right to the end to see real-life interviews with older men who were young soldiers in 1940.

Not many know this story, and in reality Denmark did not suffer much in the Second World War (only 3000 died). Denmark declared it was neutral in 1939, then it was occupied but very few Danes died in the war and some collaborated and fought for the Nazis, and 2000 died fighting for the Germans. Norway has similar collaborators and there were many pro-Nazi Free Corps in occupied states all over Europe. Sweden was neutral - again - and made a fortune supplying Nazi Germany with iron ore. happily the vast majority of Danish Jews were sent to neutral Sweden to avoid internment ordered by the Germans in 1943 .

Lars Mikkelsen has a slight role here as a senior officer. It is a slight film too, but fascinating.

4 stars

This is 3 episodes; it would fit will in 4 or maybe even 3 or 2.

It is SO slow, long and drawn-out.

Ultimately, it gets rather tiresome and boring, and one does not really care about the victim or what happens. It is all post-murder and procedural which does not help.

Watch THOSE WHO KILL, 2011 series and revived 2019 series. Great and exciting, unlike this.

Passable. Maybe 3 stars.

I watched it a week ago and can barely remember the characters or story. It is all so MEH. Why care?

2.5 stars maybe rounded up

I enjoyed so much of this - some great visual gags. Suspend disbelief and enjoy!

Un-pc on SO many levels and all the better for it (maybe not re the elephant tusks and hunter).

People these days need to grow up and realise comedy ALWAYS has victims - laughing at people is not immoral. it is comedy. Not necessarily nasty either.

The jokes there re the wheelchair and on leg are hilarious. No doubt people will call out sexism and misogyny too,. No black people so no racism...

Maybe not the best of their films (i loved A CHUMP AT OXFORD from 1940). But classic and better than any TV or film comedy now.

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.