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simonsaysmaybe
Reviews
Better (2023)
Worse
This show is nicely shot and has a reasonable starting point for a good story. However, the direction and acting are pretty shaky, the plot is laughably unbelievable and the scriptwriting is just terrible. There are some embarrassing and nearly unwatchable scenes (one featuring a gun pointed at someone's head that turned into two people screaming at each other made me want to hide behind the sofa). The main husband / wife relationship is completely unbelievable and most supporting characters are weak and undeveloped. The series seems to get worse and more confused with every episode and the ending is truly ridiculous. When it finished, I wanted to throw a brick at my television.
After Life (2019)
I would probably recommend this if someone asked.
Cheesy, fairly basic in its concept and certainly not as profound as it would like to be, but, thanks to decent acting and production values, this series will probably keep you hooked. Ricky Gervais has mastered the art of creating shows that deviate from the normal output, whilst still keeping them mainstream, easy to understand and enjoyable for the masses.
I laughed and was moved at times (but then I almost cry watching the Waltons). By the third series, the general concept had started to feel a little exhausted and some episodes tended to drift a bit in places, but the simple, symbolic final scene scooped the whole show up into a whole and left me feeling it had been worth watching.
Crossfire (2022)
Misfire 😂
This was the worst 'BBC quality drama' I have ever seen. Who chose the story?
Episode 1 started off fairly implausibly, but was relatively entertaining (as another reviewer described it... Benidorm with guns). Episode 2 flogged the dying horse of the basically one-trick plot, killing off various characters who we didn't care about, because they had been had been shallowly and disjointedly developed. Finally, Episode 3 saw the main characters (who weren't already dead) relentlessly analysing what had happened in the bore-fest of the last 2 episodes. I didn't check my watch, but I believe that the last instalment was about 10 hours long. It simply refused to end. The only upside is I am now totally up to date with the Ukraine war, as I spent most of my time looking at the news on my mobile. Give it a miss.
The Responder (2022)
Watchable but nonsense
Would this have been better with Stephen Graham as the main character? Maybe that would have been too obvious and he is a little over-exposed at the minute, so probably good to give him a break.
This aside, The Responder seemed to be a typical, humdrum BBC drama and you can't help feeling that in pre-production there were a whole load of middle-class, polytechnic graduate researchers brainstorming about grittiness and Googling about the lives of bad people in Liverpool.
However, like most TV viewers in the UK, I have been conditioned to accept this level of mediocrity, so it was completely watchable and actually fairly enjoyable. To be honest though, the plot is nonsense, the finale is grossly unrealistic and the acting, whilst decent enough, certainly isn't at an Oscar winning level.
There are probably worse mini series out there, but, equally, there are a whole load that are a damn sight better. Recommended for a binge, but only on your last day of Covid isolation, when you have watched all the really good stuff.
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Married at First Sight Australia (2015)
Perfect trash TV
Season 6 of MAFS Australia is perfect brainless, trash reality TV and for this reason it has to be awarded the full 10 stars.
All the ingredients are present - tears, laughter, love, anger, resentment, extreme humiliation and sexy, scantily clad bodies, edited for maximum effect and set against the beautiful backdrop of Australia.
The clearly generally emotionally dysfunctional 'contestants' are expertly exploited and often matched with completely incompatible partners, to provoke maximum tension and drama.
This is the modern, digital equivalent of an Victorian freak show. It's like that car crash that you drive past that you can't help slowing down to look at. It's absolutely fantastic.
Dunkirk (2017)
Dunkirk teaches us that Brexit is the worst moment in modern British History
It's Boxing Day, the pubs are closed and the TV is terrible, so I found myself watching Dunkirk.
Yes, the acting is pretty decent and yes, the cinematography is dramatic, but I couldn't help but find myself being angered by this patriotic borefest.
In a few days Brexit will happen and last week, our government was threatening to put warships in the channel to guard our fishing boats.
How did we end up being so at odds with our neighbours again?
How? Because of the sort of jingoistic nonsense in films like Dunkirk.
Scroll forwards to 2020 and more people work in Tescos than are employed by the British Army.
Time to move on...
Life (2020)
A watchable but fairly bland offering, with some moments of Life.
Let's face it, we're all stuck in far more than usual at the moment and you probably could do worse than watching this mini series to soak up some of that downtime.
Once again, the fairly unexceptional staff at the BBC have unleashed yet another mini series about the emotional trials and tribulations of a group of uptight and generally depressed middle class, English people. This tired but safe formula is rolled out rather awkwardly, thanks to the plot having to link the lives of the inhabitants of four separate flats in one big, gravel-drived, predictably Farrow and Ball painted Victoria Villa. It does this with varying degrees of success.
The quality of acting is high - there are some big names here - and for me at least, there were some fairly touching moments. Then again, I'm the sort of person who cries watching the Waltons. There are some twists and turns in the story but most you either find yourself laughing at incredulously or you have already guessed (but maybe that's the fun of it). I did like the ease in including a level of diversity in the cast though - something which is sadly omitted in many of these type of dramas.
Call me a shallow sexist, but I was kept interested by the fact I did rather fancy Victoria Hamilton (and her new hair cut) . Her performance was certainly up there with the best of the cast too.
If you like things like Cold Feet, etc. then open a bottle of red wine you bought in Waitrose, or whatever it is middle class people do, and give this a try. It will probably beat going down the pub in a group of six or less and having to download Serco's track and trace app.
Get Out (2017)
Very amusing.
This is an enjoyable enough, 7 out of 10 movie that gets elevated to 9/10 after I read the reviews from the triggered, white, casual racists who suddenly found themselves feeling very insecure, uncomfortable and angry after watching this film.
Guys... it's just a movie. I think you'll find black people have had to put up with negative, racially biased imagery in the name of entertainment on the big screen for decades.
Very amusing.