Film Reviews by PV

More brilliant drama on The Tudors.

Forget absolute authenticity - yes, Henry VIII had eye-catching ginger hair in real life. BUT his mercurial nature is well depicted here, and the coiled spring of his character is ready to strike at anyone at any time in his court. The world of the Tudor court is a slippery place, where someone in favour one day can be taken to the Tower the next to put their head on the block.

Anne Boleyn's character and fate are brilliantly portrayed.

All actors shine here and the writing is superb.

5 stars

Enjoyable but very violent drama portraying the super-rich Russian mafia who have gravitated towards London-o-grad in recent years.

Not sure it's all believable, but the mafia and the super-rich have long held a fasciation over people - lots of mafia violence here too.

4 stars

This movie is just awful - one of a new crop of socalled black-centric movies where all or almost all cast members are black. That is within the US segregationist tradition but I find it extremely distasteful at best, racist at worst, and also deep hypocrisy as no white only movies are allowed.

If you want to watch a decent time-slip drama where people message each other through time then watch FREQUENCY (2000) a seriously slick and clever US time travel drama set amongst US firefighters and a cross-time radio link. This movie just changes it to mobile phones. People phoning each other through time first appeared in a 1961 short story but time travel has been a theme in stories since 1880s, via The Time Machine to many MANY more TV series and films. This is one of the very worst.

I dislike the aggressive in-your-face culture here and sympathise with none of the characters, most of whom and 2d cartoon cutouts.

This is dross, with a teenage girl actor doing the worst over-acting I have seen for quite some time. Dare I say it, but if this were not black-centric with an all-black cast it would be called trash by critics too.

A shame to see Brit actor Alfred Molina - a decent actor and the token white face here (though he has Spanish-Italian parentage) - fall so low. No stars.

I enjoyed this despite the flaws - a meandering plot, dragged out perhaps too long; too much wallowing in the theatrics and dancing of the nightlife as with series 1 and 2. Probably being too loyal to the crime novels this is based on maybe?

Not sure it's all quite believable but it's certainly theatrically eye-catching and watchable, with some interesting three-dimensional characters such as the chaotic Jewish journalist and the various underworld characters, and the crime investigators complete with drag queens!

The subtitles are sometimes really bad - obviously written by someone German whose first language is not English, though with translation one is always meant to translate into one's first language. Some really clunky phrases and wrong tenses. One example: "The girl hasn;'t invented the deep dish". WHA? Anyone got any idea what that means> Literal translation from a German idiom, I presume. Very sloppy - get the subtitles checked by a native English speaker maybe?

But then the subtitles are as bad sometimes as the villainous facial scars are good. It's set after WWI but it seems a great many German survivors of that conflict suffered facial scars as there is quite a collection on display here. Also rather Shakespearean, as with Richard III deformity showing his evil, so the baddies here all tend to have scars or birthmarks on their faces. Very 16th Century! Not pc and all the better for it!

SO glad there is no colourblind casting ruining this - (can anyone imagine the rise of the Nazis with BAME actors playing Hitler youth, for example?) - for 1929 Berlin the actors all look the part, even though some actors are familiar (Gereon is played by the main actor from Generation War and the landlady actress (a very good one) was in Deutschland 83/83/89). Good actors though! And the 1929 technology is fascinating - audio and crime investigator stuff, with focus on the 'man machine' and robots etc. This is the age of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

SO not brilliant but watchable. if you liked this, watch VIENNA BLOOD. Also watch the Liza Minelli musical CABERET maybe or read Christopher Isherwood to get a taste of 1929 Berlin. Crime novels need 3 things - 1) plot as they are by nature focused on that; 2) strong characters; 3) a sense of place in a specific location. All top crime writers achieve this, and this TV series and no doubt the books do too.

Sometimes a bit drawn out and wobbly, but 4 stars.

The massive irony of this metoo movie, deliberately written and directed by women, and focused on attractive young women in a beauty contest is 1) a man steals the show - Rhys Ifans as the Miss World Mecca boss is brilliant, and the man who plays Bob Hope is great too; 2) it's deeply ironic when actresses who owe their careers largely to their looks (looking at you Keira Knightley) then star in well-paid roles in movies moaning about how women are judged by their looks! I couldn';t help but smile wryly at all that irony overload.

Anyway, it's so-so, but does feel it;s written by numbers, ticking off issues one by one as so many of these metoo movies or BLM ones too - and that is boring, not a story well told. It';s like being lectured of preached at. This film, too, tries to ride too many hobby horses arguably, and falls off, resorting to crude stereotypes esp of men. The most interesting story was not told - the hinted-at corruption of the corrupt president Sir Eric Gairey of Grenada to get himself on the judging panel. It's obvious from the first act who will win even if you do not know the true story. However, in real life the woman who won was a token who was scored 2nd,3rd, 4th by most judges. Miss S was robbed!

And of course, all men are paperthin 2-D misandrist stereotypes of bigoted sexism. The only woman condemned is the mother who is shown to 'think correctly' eventually - where in fact women tend to be way more socially conservative than men, and in the 20th C and before it was an aspiration for women to be middle class and NOT work. Working class women always worked! Most men who worked for next to nothing in dirty dangerous jobs, if not killed in wars, maybe wished they didn't. Middle/upper class women had it easy compared to the vast majority of men. And for a film to condemn half the world's population is rather, errr, sexist too.

There are so many movies mocking traditional societies and socalled 1950s values; However, back then most kids grew up with two married parents and were not disturbed and anxious as so many seem to be now. I bet they do not feel very liberated by their misery.

I remember Miss World of late 70s - watched on black and white TV with my sister. Just cheesy fun. But then feminism has always been pofaced and puritan, not to mention massively hypocritical - see The Chippendales, for women leering over male stripped and The Girlie Show, Naked Attraction etc. Compared to now, the 1970s seem an ideal age of restraint and good taste!

Miss World still happens in less puritan parts of the world and is massive - run by founder Eric Morley's wife (who no doubt also inherited his wealth). It started in 1951 and is still one of the big 4 beauty pageants which are more popular than ever, even if banned by mainstream TV and, of course, the BBC (AKA the BB-She).

Having heard a radio documentary on this, I know the protest only momentarily alarmed the host Bob Hope and it really was not the massive disruption it is depicted as here. The documentary is better than this mediocre movie which is largely fiction.

1.5 star rounded up.

I read a couple of the reviews here who hated it and suspect the reviewers are too pofaced snowflake wokie to GET Jewish humour. It is NOT racist; it is caricature WHICH IS NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL.

Unlike most Hollywood comedies, esp the awful black-centric 'comedies' and the metoo ones, this film REALLY made me laugh. Yes, it's silly - but so what? Silly is good when you're in the mood. The ending's a bit weak BUT compared to the usual unfunny Hollywood movie 'comedies; this is great.

A happy fantasy which some lines that mane me laugh out loud! Seth Rogan is great as the 1920 immigrant from fictional East European country too (could be Ukraine or Moldova or anywhere like that).

Good simple fun. Great caricature. I HATED 'Knocked up' and some other Seth Rogan films BUT this is one of his best. IF you are not a po-faced puritan wokie who sees caricature and satirical comedy as racism, that is.

A great MARMALADE song in there too. REFLECTIONS.

This late 80s film is very dated but was when it was released too - compare to Back to the Future which was made a couple of years earlier. This is like a 70s movie with 80s mullet hairstyles! It';s simple incredible plot reminds me of a Star Trek episode from the late 60s or even Twilight Zone from 1950s,

Having said that, the central concept is great and well done in most part - pre-CGI effects work just fine too. The sunglasses 'reveal' moments of the characters in the early 2nd act work well, as sci-fi and satire on our consumerist society.

Nor so effective is a ludicrous rehearsed fight scene which drags on so long I actually started laughing during it. Then there are all the plot holes - eg the supposedly advanced aliens with superior intelligence who have a transmission station which is so vulnerable.

This is a B-Movie. Take it for one, and you'll be happy; expect more and you'll feel cheated.

And I still think the best thing John Carpenter ever created was the Halloween soundtrack.

3 stars - just

OK so I dislike historical novels usually - I find them a real cheat, to be honest. Authors of such tomes spent 6 months or more researching, then the next few months writing it up. They do not invent new characters or stories as authors of completely original novels do. Having said that, the familiarity makes them popular as do many socalled 'real life' stories. It's pre-branded content - we've all heard of King Alfred and the Vikings, after all.

Having said that, this series is watchable - though I know from my knowledge of history it plays fast and loose with the historical fact (watch Neil Oliver's brilliant 3 part VIKINGS TV documentary from BBC4 for background). Canute was actually king of all England in the early years of 11th C.

The main issue with this series is trying to remember what happened many months ago when I watched the previous series - it's all so complicated with so many characters and tribes/clans of kingdoms or Vikings, with switching allegiances, that sometimes I just it wash over me, and for the confusion to pass...

It';s not up to the sheer brazen class of the TV series VIKINGS but it's watchable. Does drag a bit at times and can be baffling at other times, especially when actors who look similar play roles!

The usual pc tropes with ' strong independent women behaving like men' as with most TV drama now - very 21st C attitudes and behaviours, and they all have clear skin and regular teeth which is pure fantasy. BUT we should be grateful for small mercies - at least now clunky colourblind casting here thank goodness. If there had been, I would have ejected the DVD. Vikings were not black; Zulus were not white. What's called a FACT really.

This historical drama could go on forever through the decades of the 10th then 11th Century AD, but maybe it shouldn't.

Anyway, 3.5 stars rounded up.

This drama is based on historical novels and a lot owes more to fiction than fact.

It's also hard to follow sometimes with the vast cast of characters and convoluted plot - it is fatal to leave months between series or you may be baffled!

I'd recommend watching VIKINGS TV doc by Neil Oliver first for historical background.

Not bad though, but I prefer VIKINGS.

(I think Weby may be the director as there is just one review - for this, the Last Kingdom).

I thoroughly enjoyed series 1 of this and series 2 as well. This, however, is where the series declines.

It is almost 2 series in one. The first half is better, set in Florence, a beautiful city I know well and have visited 3 times, so I sightsee as I watch! Of course, this has already been covered in the movie Hannibal (2001) and there is thus a strange overlap.

In the movie, Pazzi ends his days at the old town hall - in this, the building is not that. The Pazzi police inspector is allegedly a descendant of the real family annihilated by the Medici after a late 15th plot, though the Pazzi chapel is still by Santa Croce, the black and white shed-like church where Michaelangelo has his tomb and overlooked by Hannibal's apartment in this series). No idea which is loyal to the novel. But this half is fun with the usual deceptions and grand guignol.

tbh Anthony Hopkins in the movie Hannibal was better, more dangerous and threatening, with evil and malice. Mads Mikkelson's Hannibal is all dandy charm. A great cook though!

The second half tried my patience. It reverts to the Red Dragon book and movie, and rewrites it. No idea again which is loyal to the books. I found this half really weak, silly and actually dull and boring - which is quite an achievement when one is dealing with gruesome serial killers. It plays psychological games - as it has to, as Hannibal is otherwise engaged so cannot kill himself - much... All about mind control. And the bit with the blind woman of colour and a tiger...I mean, why? Yes yes blake wrote a poem called The Tyger, but...

The final part made me wince - it is actually very silly. JUMPS THE SHARK - esp in the final episode. No spoilers but I just do not buy it AND again, it is different from the films. There is an epilogue at the end of the final episode too so watch the credits - it's a taster for series 4 which was planned but never happened. Falling ratings for series 3 meant the TV company cancelled it. I am not surprised looking at this.

Having said that, GREAT acting as ever from everyone; very clever decent brooding dialogue too, esp how the writers incorporate lines from the movies into what various characters say (eg 'tick tock'... and many more)., Great attention to detail in all series of this and I love the advert-like interludes too.

Very bizarre how they all pronounce Jac-OH-bi though. Derek JAC-obi will be baffled.

So 3.5 stars rounded up. Enjoy series 1 and 2 especially, and the great movies.

I really enjoyed this. True, when one has seen The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon it takes some adjustment to the new characters esp Hannibal Lecter, the devil or Mephistopheles figure, played in movies by Brian Cox then Oscar-winning Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins.

But Mads Mikkelson is a class act as an actor (see THE HUNT a great Danish film) and so we are in safe hands - he plays Hannibal as a Dandy, and does so to perfection. The food prep and shots are wonderful, filmed by a TV advert guy.

Other actors and great and the ingeniously gory and gruesome murders.

Filmed in Toronto. A great cast, superb writing with a dark brooding tone, lost of flashbacks and dream sequences. Atmospheric creepy music in the soundtrack tooo. Proper adult drama - but just a shame re the very puritan coy US TV restrictions on human nakedness which sometimes makes things absurd.

I loved it. 5 stars.

I enjoyed series 1 of this enormously and series 2 continues, with really elegant episodes and brooding characters engaged in psychological warfare.

New characters like Mason Verger tie in with the movie HANNIBAL with the pigs etc.

Not sure about Beverly Katz - such a Jewish name and in the book the character is Jewish, but here a Chinese/Oriental actress is cast. Nothing against her, but the name is a mismatch!

Of course, one has to suspend one's disbelief - any mass murderer like this arranging body parts would be caught by DNA despite precaations, CCTV of all shops and houses nearby, satellite tracking, NPR and passers-by. But hey ho, this is all fantasy.

Watch to the VERY end of episode 13 to see how it continues AFTER the credits. The 3 short featurettes on the last DVD are fine, but on disc 2 there is one over an hour long which is superb.

I really enjoy this series. Maybe because it is elegant, intelligent and classy - like me! lol

I had no idea what to expect of this BUT have long admired Mads Mikkelsen as an actor (eg The Hunt) so know he would nail it, and he does, with other characters. He plays Hannibal Lecter as a dandy, and the cooking skills are admirable! References to future films of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon make me want to watch them again, esp the latter.

The story is complex and all very moody in tone, with the sort of long pauses and time taken for emotions to register which may try the patience of youngsters with short attention spans. This then is really not for those with puppy brains.

However, I revelled in the psychological complexity here, the mind games, though of course suspension of disbelief is needed - in reality DNA, CCTV, and NPR would catch a killer pretty quickly.

This is highly enjoyable 'grand guignol' drama - to the reviewer who called it 'icky', OH PURLEASE? It;s Hannibal Lecter. So what were you expecting then? Unicorns, rainbows and group hugs with teletubbies?

Loved it. 3 series apparently all filmed in Toronto. Then TV company cancelled it because of lower ratings. Maybe not a bad thing - some of these US box set series go on way too long.

Loving it for now! 5 stars.

I hated this and have NO idea how anyone can give it 4 or 5 stars.

To be honest, I have hated all Wes Anderson movies I have seen. I have no idea what people see in them. They are dreadful! I just do not get it.

I turned this off half way through. It's a weird and boring Japanese-set animation - not pretty at all. No fun. Not profound though no doubt it thinks it is. Maybe inspired by Japanese Manga animation and comics which hold NO interest for me.

One star, if that.

There are so many lovely animal animations out there. Watch the original 101 DALMATIANS if you like dogs, Not this barking twaddle.

This could have been good. It could have been accurate. It could have focused on HIV/AIDS in the 80s as many remember it.

Instead it chooses, like most UK TV drama now, to go full woke. SO it's all about race here with a diverse multiculti cast which is simply NOT realistic for 1981 - or now, with very few black/Asian out gay men.

Worse, but typical of TV drama now, every single white male - straight white males - is presented as a thick ignorant buffoon at best, and quite often as nasty, evil, bigoted monsters. SO that racism and sexism is OK then? It is pure bigotry - unpleasant, unnecessary and deeply hypocritical (because the drama purports to want tolerance and no racism/sexism and prejudice against people because of their sexuality). This modern trend is vile yet present in so much TV drama, many movies and sadly too many books including children's books. It really is vile.

The lazy Welsh stereotypes irked too. Yes, because in the 1980s all Welsh people were ignorant bumpkins who lived on eating faggots and peas and Welsh cakes. For goodness sake. Watch the movie 'Pride' so see how it should be done - though that falls back on lazy valleys stereotypes.

It's all very cartoony and shriek-y and drama school flamboyant (believe it or not there are many gay men who do not behave like this). That's fine, as it goes, but I find it increasingly tiresome - like watching a local stage school musical with all those keen moisturised young faces yell-scream-singing at you, in the business of SHOW.

There's a great TV drama to be made about the 1980s HIV/AIDS issue and the life of gay men then. This is not it.

Two stars because it is 'good in parts'. In fact one and a half stars rounded up. The ever-irritating Stephen Fry loses another half point.