srm-1 Reviews

Convicting a Murderer (2023– )

Not all "True Crime" documentaries are true.

[10/10 · 31 October 2023]

If you were one of the many millions who watched Making a Murderer (MaM) back in 2015 and became interested in the Avery case, then you owe it to yourself to take a look at Convicting a Murderer (CaM) and compare the two before reaching any conclusions.

For me, after watching CaM, it would seem that the producers of MaM have some serious questions to answer. The Manitowoc Police Department are right to be angry for their deliberate misrepresentations in the Avery case, simply to garner more viewers and pocket a few extra bucks at the expense of the reputation of local law enforcement. Their defense always seems to be, "We are storytellers, not journalists", and that is exactly what they do: they tell a story. The only problem is, it is not an entirely true one, and CaM does an excellent good job of filling in the blanks that its predecessor chose to ignore.

As CaM reveals over the course of 10 comprehensive episodes, rather than simply tell the whole story of the case, the makers of MaM instead chose to leave many important details out, and flat out manipulated many of the actual courtroom interactions to fit their own agenda. Sure, the police did make some mistakes, and none of them will be rivalling Sherlock Holmes for plaudits, but it really isn't a very complicated case - though MaM made it seem so.

As someone who made up their mind about Avery years ago, I didn't need any further revelations from CaM to support my original position. But what CaM does reveal is just how easy it is for the media to manipulate people. Of course, there have always been such people in society. Rest assured, those protesting on the streets outside the courtroom are exactly the same kind of people who stood in the crowd 2,000 years ago pleading for another murderer to be set free.

Nobody likes to see anybody wrongfully convicted of any crime that they did not do. But, in this case, I am sure that the family of Teresa Halbach regret every day that Avery's original 1985 conviction was overturned.

And that is the sad, sad truth of the real story.

The Reckoning (2023)

Coogan is great, but nothing new here and some things just plain wrong.

[5/10 · 11 October 2023]

Reviewing the acting in The Reckoning is easy - Steve Coogan is excellent. But reviewing the presentation of the subject matter is not so straightforward.

As someone born in the 60's, I grew up in what might be called, "The Savile Era" and have always been slightly irritated by the notion that Savile was somehow hiding in plain sight and that what happened was another manifestation of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' when, in actual fact, pretty much everyone that I grew up with considered him a weirdo many, many years before anything appeared in the newspapers. There were, in fact, kids up and down the land who were pointing and making fun of him on a daily basis right from the get-go. If anyone was starstruck by Savile, and is mainly to blame, it is the adults and not the children.

I have not read the book by Dan Davies, but assume that it must cover a lot more than was shown in this docudrama. To be honest, I was expecting more disclosures in this series than I already knew, but there didn't seem to be anything else to add.

There is no mention at all on his relationship with his father, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Savile was an only child as his six older siblings are suspicious by their absence and barely get a mention - did they really all abandon their mother?

The BBC's/ITV's completely unnecessary decision to change the real suicide of (Samantha) Claire McAlpine into the story of an entirely fictional British Asian girl called Sara is not only disrespectful, but utterly unforgiveable. As a viewer, you know that the bar has been set pretty low when the writers have to resort to inventing conversations that took place in a church confessional.

Savile himself reveals nothing, despite the claims made in the final episode that he was going to - and then he died (see review by DC1977 for the veracity of this claim).

Savile comes across not as some mastermind groomer but as a chancer: a pathetic, hapless groper with a sense of misguided entitlement. There were lots like him around in the 70's & 80's and, I'm sure, there still are today.

A strange, creepy, evil man who exploited his celebrity status on vulnerable young people, but though he may have pulled the wool over the eyes of The Establishment, there were plenty of us (like Beryl Hullighan) who made up our minds about him very early on.

We thought he was a weirdo, and we were right.

The Darkness within La Luz del Mundo (2023)

Blessed are the meek, for they are the most easy to manipulate.

[10/10 · 30 September 2023]

It really is amazing, even in the 21st century, just how easy it still is to brainwash people and make them believe all manner of made-up nonsense. Here then is another story of a ridiculous church and its congregation of halfwits who follow along like mindless sheep in the grand tradition of Joseph Smith, Jim Jones, L. Ron Hubbard, Marshall Applewhite, Warren Jeffs, Keith Raniere, et al.

The Light of the World Church is really no different to any of the others: led by the customary male con artists who, as always, have had their own special chat with God and are willing to share the divine gossip - for a price.

No doubt you will have heard about similar organisations before, so rest-assured The Light of the World story is nothing new. It contains all the same sordid ingredients we have seen countless times before. And while it is always hard to feel sorry for its gullible followers it is, nonetheless, another valuable insight into just how easy it is for cults and their leaders to manipulate and control so many people.

For the rest of us, it's painful enough being tricked with a sleight of hand, or having ones good nature taken advantage of on rare occasions, but imagine being scammed for your entire life - ouch!

It is little wonder that so many find it difficult to stand up and muster the courage to look past their own reflection into the truth, and the light.

Vigil (2021– )

The captain has a fishtank in his cabin

[1/10 · 23 August 2023]

Oh well, there is lots to say about how dreadful this show is, but most of it has already been said so I'll try and keep it short.

Some people really don't mind all the inaccuracies (many) in Vigil, and try to make the point that this is fiction so we should suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the ride. I generally go along with that way of thinking but, at the same time, you are watching a TV drama that is deliberately doing its best to make you believe that what you are watching is real - that it could happen - and it has intentionally been written & directed that way, presumably with a great deal of effort and hard work. But so much in Vigil is just plain lazy, which is precisely why this show is so disappointing and fails so miserably in allowing us to suspend our disbelief.

The captain of a submarine has a fishtank on a desk in his cabin. A submarine that routinely goes up and down at acute angles and rocks violently from side to side. It is a thriller set primarily on a nuclear submarine with all the complicated details that such a situation would involve, and the captain has a fishtank in his cabin.

That is all you need to know.

Love Suranne Jones, but this was rubbish.

Dalgliesh (2021– )

Carvel takes pole position

[9/10 · 14 May 2023]

Just finished the second season and I have to say that I loved it every bit as much as the first.

Bertie Carvel is impressive as Dalgliesh. He has a darker presence and demanour befitting a very intelligent, shrewd detective and a gravitas that neither Roy Marsden nor Martin Shaw can rival.

My only complaint is in the second story of the second series, 'A Certain Justice'. The original ending is much better and, of course, the very reason that P. D. James gave her book that title in the first place: A "Certain" Justice as in, "a certain kind of" justice and not, "a definite" justice.

It was wrong to change that ending for no discernable reason other than to tie everything up neatly at the end. As P. D. James well knew, this is not always the case with criminal matters.

That gripe aside, Channel 5 are to be commended for putting so much effort into this fine series.

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

Something just not quite right with this movie.

[4/10 · 22 January 2023]

Hmmm....other reviewers here have mentioned this, and it resonates with me, that for one reason or another this movie is just not as good as it should have been.

It has a great cast and a half-decent story, but it just doesn't hang together in a satisfying way. At times it evokes the cold, dark, dank mood and atmosphere of The Name of The Rose (Landor & Poe vs Baskerville & Adso) but then, somewhat schizophrenically, it repeatedly takes on the guise of a cheap Hallmark Made-for-TV movie. It doesn't help that everyone in the military academy would not look out of place guarding Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, or in an episode of Camberwick Green.

As a suspensful, spooky thriller it is all just a bit...meh.

Worth watching for Bale, and Timothy Spall going full on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - but little else.

Five Days at Memorial (2022)

Emotional roller-coaster for idiots

[2/10 · 17 September 2022]

It's dreadful - really dreadful.

A bit like watching a group of halfwits pretending to be doctors and nurses with a script written by a 10-year old who has no idea how adults actually speak or interact. That's about it.

The irony is, this sloppy ham fisted drama with few redeeming qualities reflects perfectly the sham American health system and a wider society that sees natural disasters as an excuse to loot and an opportunity to kill. Flashy trailer and glossy hospital brochures merge perfectly - everything is about how something appears at first glance, but don't look too close because the facade is paper thin.

Explorer (2022)

Great Fiennes biopic - but his books are better.

[9/10 · 4 September 2022]

I am a huge fan of Ran, having followed his life and adventures through his books from the '70s until now, so I was really looking forward to this biopic. It is a fine film (especially to those not familiar with the man) and does a good job of retelling some of his adventures. I say "some" because, for me at least, his unsupported crossing of Antarctica in 1993 (with Mike Stroud) was his greatest feat of physical endurance, yet that epic journey gets barely a mention here.

My main criticism of the film though, is that I was hoping Ran might share some illuminating insights on what he had actually learned through his amazing life. One might have thought that having been lucky enough to visit most of the incredible and inaccessible places on this planet, and having spent prolonged periods in so many, and in rare isolation, that he might be able to share a few nuggets of spiritual wisdom gleaned along the way. Unfortunately the film doesn't extend further than Ran's simple belief that we live, we do some things, and we die. Of course, he may be right, but I was hoping that his innate desire to explore had more purpose and depth than the film reveals.

It is a shame that on the greatest and most mysterious journey of all, Ran appears no closer to enlightenment now than he did when he began.

Q: Into the Storm (2021)

Ever get the feeling you've been had?

[10/10 · 23 September 2021]

This is an excellent, well-crafted documentary series, and a fascinating insight into the QAnon phenomenon but, above all, it is an important warning to us all. Some reviews on here have complained about the length but, like so much of the story, the truth is in the details so it needed a full 6 hrs to tease them all out in chronological order.

That so many people were so easily conned by QAnon is not new news - history is full of similar examples of mass manipulation. That we no longer live in the time of Joseph Smith makes no difference at all when the world is still populated by so many gullible people - the game remains the same. The difference now, of course, is the wide reach of the internet, and a world where a hybrid of Cousin Eddie Johnson and Ron Jeremy with all the charisma of a bus driver's sock, and his wapanese son, get to yank the chain of millions of idiots in the USA.

The real hero of the series is Fredrick Brennan. He made a few mistakes along the way, but get the feeling things will yet pan out for him. It's just a shame that he wasted his time trying to get Jim kicked out of The Philippines when attempting to have Ron deported from Japan would have been a more sensible option - the Japanese government generally don't take kindly to guest residents taking advantage of their hospitality and waste little time in deporting undesirables, especially if their presence makes them look bad.

It is usual under such circumstances to hate the scammers and have sympathy with the scammed. But ignorance these days walks hand in hand with arrogance, so it is difficult to feel sorry for either of them. The documentary illustrates perfectly how, even in the 21st century, pride still comes before a fall.

And, of course, the irony is not lost in the ongoing free speech debate that it is precisely because of half-wits such as these that we are forced to have laws in the first place.

Money Heist (2017–2021)

What's Spanish for "yawn"?

[2/10 · 24 March 2018]

This show wants so much to be taken as a serious crime caper, but lacks any kind of believable hard edge in its execution, so much so that that were the sex (needless) & violence (comic book) removed, it could easily be rebroadcast as children's TV.

The "heist" itself could be (and should have been) whittled down from 19 episodes (13 in Series 1 + 6 in Series 2) to about 3. There is more filler in this than in your local DIY store, so much so that what little drama actually remains is diluted and left to drown in an ocean of ponderous navel-gazing, tedious monologues and largely irrelevant side stories. The lesson seems to be that if you are ever invited on a job with a group of Spanish robbers, along with your M16 and explosives don't forget to pack some Belgian chocolates, a dozen red roses and a box of condoms. Just in case.

But, of course, the real elephant in the room: even non-criminals these days know that a large amount of unaccounted for cash is basically worthless. Didn't the phrase "money laundering" ring any bells with The Professor or, more importantly, the writers? Try buying something relatively small like a new car with cash and see how far you get without having to first prove where the money came from.

Modern professional thieves are more interested in precious stones, rare metals or untraceable bonds and steer clear of large amounts of paper money. Yet here we are in 2017 and a gang of dimwits think they are committing the crime of the century running off with nearly a billion Euros in freshly minted paper currency, 963 million of which is in the same denomination.

It's the crime of the century all right, but the last century - not this one. Years of planning and they'd all be caught and banged up within a matter of weeks.

The Turn of the Screw (2009 TV Movie)

A major disappointment for Christmas 2009

[2/10 · 11 January 2010]

Of all the programmes in this year's Christmas TV schedule, 'A Turn of the Screw' was the one that I was looking forward to most of all. Although not explicitly advertised as a "BBC Ghost Story for Christmas" that is exactly what it was: a BBC - ghost story - at Christmas. And with top director Tim Fywell at the helm, how could it possibly go wrong? Well, it did.

Others might like to list all of the myriad small problems with this production but, for me, there were two major faults which rendered it almost unwatchable: firstly, the two child protagonists were neither enchanting nor engaging which made it impossible to sympathise, or care, about their situation. Secondly, the way that the governess either thought that she heard things, or thought that she saw things, almost every second of every scene of her time on screen meant that there was absolutely no build-up of tension or foreboding throughout the whole production. Ultimately, and disappointingly, it ended up being just a very boring and completely unsatisfying ninety minutes.

Once again the true winter chills were to be found on BBC Four this year, with a re-run of the excellent 'Crooked House' and welcome screenings from the real master ghost storyteller - the other Mr. James.

Survivors (I) (2008–2010)

Media Studies graduates' flailing attempt at classic SF remake.

[1/10 · 19 January 2009]

The people who made this series are quite clearly incapable of creating any kind of engaging story arc, of imagining and then realising genuinely exciting, dramatic situations or of developing believable, meaningful central characters with any depth or colour. A bit strange, really, as all of this was accomplished with flair back in 1975 with relative ease.

We just have to accept that Abby Grant is a natural, born leader - even though she demonstrates no such qualities at all, and that it is a good idea in a survival situation to follow her to a house with no gates on the driveway, an Aga (or Rayburn) that apparently does not work and no private water supply or drainage.

Please, please, please can we have lots more things exploding in Season 2 and a whole lot more of that excellent music?

Trial & Retribution: The Rules of the Game: Part 1 (2008) Season 11, Episode 1

When heavyweight is sometimes better than lightweight

[4/10 · 30 October 2008]

For entry number XV in this much-acclaimed series, the episodes are trimmed down somewhat and squeezed into the more common 90-minute format. Unfortunately, this newer lightweight 'Trial & Retribution' is exactly that - lightweight and suffers greatly for the change when compared to the previous fourteen stories.

It all feels much more like an outing of 'Midsomer Murders' or 'A Touch of Frost'; there is simply no time to develop anything meaningful and much of the wonderful character depth of Mike and Roisin that we have gotten used to over the years, is lost.

Subsequent outings also follow this new format and, to my mind at least, the producers of this show made a huge mistake in choosing to do so. The longer 140 minute style is what made 'Trial & Retribution' special, different from most of the other crime series out there; epic and enthralling. From XV onwards everything feels formulaic, rushed and a poor comparison to its former days of glory.

Trial & Retribution: Closure: Part 1 (2007) Season 10, Episode 3

Engaging episode, but flawed

[6/10 · 31 August 2008]

'Closure' is an engaging entry in the 'Trial & Retribution' series, but the suspect is a little too obvious for my tastes and the hurried conclusion is, ultimately, unsatisfying.

La Plante, who is usually excellent in regard to all aspects of correct police procedure drops an enormous clanger in this episode when neither DCI Connor nor DS Satchell are routinely questioned following a murder in the very hotel that they are staying.

On the plus side, we are thankfully spared another tedious installment on the trials and tribulations of Mike Walkers's personal life.

As with all all great British crime series there are the inevitable highs and lows; 'Closure' is one of the best but sadly falls short of being great.

The Street (2006–2009)

Priceless

[10/10 · 23 May 2008]

Just when it seems that almost the entire world is churning out small-screen drama the televisual equivalent of Danielle Steel's finest, or buying in formulaic, standardised American drivel, thank God for the likes of Jimmy McGovern and the BBC for producing something so classy and original as 'The Street'.

Beautifully written, superbly acted and tightly directed - a glimpse into a real world, populated by real people, that just about any cogent Brit will empathise with.

Yes it aims high, but that is no bad thing: real quality, in anything, is never destined for either mass consumption, or appreciation.

The bar has been raised again; by the only ones who seem to know how.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Who cares what the Academy thinks!

[10/10 · 16 January 2002]

As far as I am concerned, the last thing on my mind is whether or not the American Academy recognises LOTR as a "great" film. Let them keep their mediocre 'Star Wars','Titanic' and 'Pearl Harbour' - they are welcome to them.

For all Tolkien fans, this is our Precious, not theirs; a lasting testimony to the great man's ambivalence to Disney-like dumbing down in all of its manifestations. 10 out of 10 Mr. Jackson for bringing the greatest dream ever written to the big screen.