Film Reviews by PV

This is what TV drama used to be like, before it decided that woke polemic and preachy pc sermonising was more important that telling a good story well, with an exploration of ideas and solid characterisation.

This `1972 TV film is from the golden age of such drama, especially children's TV drama which is now unwatchable, if it exists at all (most kids' TV is cheap digital Korean import cartoons, it seems).

Based on a children's book called The Ghosts, this is s genuinely entertaining film which had me hooked - far more so than the over-rated Railway Children from the same era (too soppy girly for my tastes). These days, the critics would call it old-fashioned and derivative - but that is precisely why it is so good.

Set in 1918 just after WWI and a century before. Yes, sentimental - but so what? Dickensian really. Think Oliver Twist's end.

Genuinely full of surprises and I had no idea how it would end (unlike most TV drama now). My favourite character has to be the hideous cook Mrs Wickens, played brilliantly by DIana Dors, no less. Some rather risque scenes, hints of a child brothel run by her, and some swearing mean it would probably not be made today - not like this anyway. No doubt they'd diversity-quota the cast too, I would not watch any remake. I detest socalled colourblind casting as in David Copperfield, a movie ruined by it., Charles Dickens was NOT Asian! And yes, it matters.

Anyway, I bet kids today would love this film too IF they could sit still long enough. It is worrying that many children now have never watched a film all the way through, as they just watch snippets, so goldfish-tiny is their attention span.

A brilliant film to watch at any time of year, especially Christmas (though no seasonal themes in it). Ghost stories are always fun at Christmas, I find, for some reason - maybe the winter dark and cold and candle light? Like A CHRISTMAS CAROL itself of course, the subheading of which is 'A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY'.

5 stars. I loved it., All of it.

I watched the end credits to try and find out where the film was made, which country house. But it just said made at Pinewood Studios. Hmmm... Looks like a real house to me though...

I really enjoyed this. It's a thriller-cum-horror with OTT and crasy Santa and Mrs Claus. Real panto stuff!

Clearly influenced by 'Silence of the Lambs' in parts, this film never gets boring - it keeps up the pace and craziness throughout.

4 stars

Typical Mike Leigh film in many ways - cartoon character working class and underclass characters with snappy lippy dialogues, and of course the middle class characters all mocked and demeaned and even more cartoon characters.

Leigh has been doing the exact same thing since Abigail's Party - a well-off middle-class socialist like him living in a million pound house in north London cannot stand aspirational working class people who want to be middle class.

Here it's embarrassing and reverse classism really - the stereotype posh southerner predictably called Jeremy pitted against salt of the earth northern folk. Cartoon film really. Just imagine a film portraying a black character to tat level of stereotype. If the middle class were a race then Leigh would be a racist lol.

Deeply unpleasant, meandering and pointless film really and SO long and goes nowhere. Really - there is no plot or structure at all., It just meanders around aimlessly much like its characters - none of whom I'd want to know.

But this is one man's film - David Thewlis who steals every scene he is in with his sharp sarcastic sardonic dialogue, so an anti-hero of the underclass really. Watch him in the 3rd series of Fargo now to see him steal that too, and how he has aged!

If not for that tis would be 1 star max. I only watched it as I felt guilty I never head. Glad I did - but not in a good way, I got it out the way like a visit to the dentist. It's over now...

This 3rd series is a return to form for True Detective though it's not as good as series 1; anything is better than the mess of series 2 though.

Set in 1980, 1990 and 2015, the first DVD has a features section which shows how they differentiated those parts - fascinating stuff, all to do with colour schemes and lighting.

The acting is fine, though no actor can ever really pull off playing old. I've seen worse though! Much!

The final act and part becomes rather Midomer Murders - it is so calculated and frankly not believable, But hey ho... Best not to count the plot holes or you'll run out of fingers...

3.5 stars rounded up.

As a fan of both movies set in WWII and many German film, such as the sublime TV drama GENERATION WAR, I loved this.

Yes, it drags and sags a bit in the middle. And the boys look too old - they are meant to be born 1929 so 15.

Anyway, I enjoyed it all - and rate it as one of the better WWII films.

Nice visuals and music.

4 stars.

Tedious film -very pretentious, woke, right-on with female leads and same-sex relationships etc. However ticking such pc boxes does not a decent film make.

This is slow. pretentious, with pretty lame limp mediocre music too - as written by one of the female leads. Rather unsurprisingly, no song penned or sung by her has been a hit...

One wonders how such films get funding but then so may have in the post MeToo era.

Do yourselves a favour and rewatch American Werewolf in London or perhaps Severance for a good horror ride with werewolves etc.

Lame special effects too. Was gonna be 2 stars but the final act made that 1 star. Avoid.

I enjoyed this. Yes, it treads a well-worm post-MeToo feminist revenge porn path, true. However, it does so with style, poise and panache.

It stars better than it ends and is so unbelievable as it morphs into somesort of gallic desert Wonder Woman shtick which is unintentionally hilarious at times.

I Iiked the unusual setting and close-ups of Nature etc. Plus the dreemy truppy bits.

Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.

3.5 stars rounded up

OK so this film is entertaining to watch though sometimes a tad gruesome, which is why it has 3 stars.

I found it funny at times, esp some of the madder female characters who demand ops.

Not so sure re the revenge theme; I always play the equal-and-opposite game at such times - I wonder what feminists would make of a male surgeon doing this stuff to the same deluded self-obsessed women.

A nice touch was the real-life people with split tongues, horns and the rest, doing cameos. All a bit weird and disturbing but original hence the 3 stars not 2.

I enjoyed this - a neat cheap horror flick. It obviously panders to the present craze for MeToo movies with mostly feamle main characters but unlike so many of those tedious preachy flops, this film is actually entertaining.

'Set in the future' is often an alarm bell for such films. However, here it sort of works, weirdly.

The movie has pace too and is entertaining. As a metaphor for those being pursued in the woke witch hunts of now, this is like The Crucible of the McCarthy era.

The classic movie reference is fun but the film loses momentum after the excellent beginning first act. By the 3rd act, it's running out of petrol, for sure.

But better than most horrors. Why 4 stars.

OK so this film has a stellar cast - of voices.

It is essentially a puppet movie and the extras on the DVD shows how it was filmed. I did like the puppets, esp Goebbels.

One wonders how new film makers got the funds and the names.

It is not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, however, and not in the same league as TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE.

The plot is daft and occasionally funny - but peters out rather towards the end which flops. Maybe it's a wish fulfilment fantasy from the writer/directors (who have Scot Land names). And of course, in real life Hadrian's wall is in England and was never a border between Scotland and England. In real history.

And what accent is Ewan McGregor doing? West country via Scot Land?

Some smutty humour does not save it, and some very metropolitan elite superior claims of the people being little Englanders are trite, pompous and inaccurate.

One wonders if wokeness would allow this to be made now too, especially with the Punjab regiment. and associated jokes.

BUT watchable. And mercifully not too long. 3 stars.

Well what to say about this. Great music, yes - though one objection. In the credits DECK THE HALLS (sic) is credited to Thomas Oliphant 19th C musician. BUT the tune is traditional Welsh, as WIki says: "Deck the Halls" (originally titled "Deck the Hall") is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century,[1] and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862.'

Anyway, this is really aimed square at women and teenage girls - it's a child's film really. One could call it 'emotional pornography' like Mills and Boon or romantic TV drama (Bridgerton et all). Romantic interest fantasy.

The plot is very slushy, icky and odd. I found the litterless London hilarious and the lack of crime too. And btw half of homeless people in London have homes - in Eastern Europe, and yet all homeless people here are stereotype tramps with trousers held up with string. It's panto time!

Clearly made to appeal to the Chinese market, though what these conservative viewers make of the irritating main character's behaviour, I do not know.

The first series of True Detective was utterly superb - strong, believable characters and wonderfully written with lean efficiency and sharp focus.

By contract, this second series is flabby, confused and confusing, with a real lack of clarity and focus - why is this? Well there is no hypnotically strong character as Matthew M was in series one with his well-contrasted partner Woody H.

Instead we have a fragmented story and lone characters and cartoon character baddies with little in common with each other whose lives occasionally randomly interact. I suspect a real effort has been made for create main female characters and this seems very forced, as some just take up screen time for no real reason.

I let this all wash off me and made the effort to watch all episodes, but it did not grab me and I really was not sure what was going on at many points. The action sequences and violence are well done, at least.

Even the music is not up to the standard of series 1. What a shame.

2 stars

OK so I have not watched all the Mission Impossible films before this one, loads of them by the looks of it, but thought I'd watch this as critics seem to all give it 5/5 stars. I can only assume they were well wined and dined by the producers and the film studio!

This is OK. A so-so action film with some exciting action sequences and car/plane/helicopter chases in some spectacular scenery.

The problem is that half the time I had not a clue what was going on plot-wise and that means I very much doubt the average 12 year old will have a clue either - they will just like the glossy action, and fighting scenes. Fair enough.

I let this flow over me, like a glossy high-end action movie wave. I have seen worse. But ultimately forgettable.

I preferred INFERNO based on Dan Brown's book tbh.

3 stars

This 1978 3-parter may be a bit dated but it is a great watch. Classy cast incl Kenneth More most famous for playing Douglas Bader in 1956 classic 'Reach for the Sky' - a must-watch, that, as is the Dambusters. I did not see it at the time as it was probably on late and I was a child! Never repeated as far as I am aware, possibly because of some gross sexism and comments to the female secretaries etc.

Fun to see Nigel Havers (born 1951) looking younger than his 27 years here - I watched this at the exact same time Mr Havers was presenting the Repair Shop on BBC1 as his now 70 year old self LOL.

This has the same workmanlike director as Shoestring - but the premise is always fascinating. WHAT IF Germany had won WWII or a peace had been reached with Britain. Nothing original in that as many MANY novels and films and TV series imagine it (1994 novel and film FATHERLAND; 1962 novel THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE; .Films like WENT THE DAY WELL from 1942 a must-see; SILENT VILLAGE 1943; IT HAPPENED HERE from 1962; THE EAGLE HAS LANDED 1976; so many).

This TV drama has an unusual premise - a TV drama about the events of 1940 when the Germans won and invaded Britain is being made and More plays its writer. His sons and the resistance are the sub-plots but the main theme is what the main character played by More will do and which side he will choose.

Remember this was written/made in 1978. The country was in chaos with strikes everywhere - binmen, bakers, the lot! Oil crisis in early 70s. UK had to go cap in hand to IMF for a loan. We were the sick man of Europe and some thought there COULD be an uprising from the far left or far right - both were very vocal and active in late 197os and an uprising or coup was a real possibility, unlike now. That is the context.

4 stars. I enjoyed it. Youngsters may find it too slow for their puppy attention-spans though. Not many whizz-bangs and fast0-edit action here.

This takes a while to get into but it's mostly worth it.

The story is strongest when it focuses on the crimes - and weakest when it deals with relationships with wives/women etc. That is a must these days for pc reasons but is so often superfluous (the final series of Breaking Bad lost it in the same way).

The dialogue and character development is brilliant, as is the acting and music.