john-kenney55 Reviews

Monsieur Spade (2024)

The ending let the whole series down

[5/10 · 4 June 2024]

I looked forward to watching this as I am a fan of Clive Owen and a lover of Sam Spade and The Great Bogart. The cinematography is stunning and the Spade dialogue sharp & witty, everything I hoped it would be. Even the regular flash backs worked is telling the complicated story. It started to wane around episode 3 & 4 but I hung in there looking forward to a Spade-like ending.

My mistake.

Episode 6 was such a let down. It looks like they ran out of money or time or both and came up with the ridiculous UN/CIA or whomever character in the last 20 minutes. All of a sudden we are in an Agatha Christie scene..."I have gathered you all here....". No credibility. A French policeman and a French Special Ops officer in a room answering to a UN person with no explanation as to how or why they are in the room. As I said, they ran out of time or money and stuffed up the ending big time.

Payback (I) (2023)

Excellent script, acting & direction

[10/10 · 13 April 2024]

I watched this primarily as I love Morven Christie's work after seeing her in The Bay. Well it blew me away. The script is fantastic with original twists and turns with none of it predictable as can be the case with some crime thrillers. Congrats to the script writer/s.

Then there is the casting and acting, again a triumph. Morven was absolutely outstanding and is now my favorite actor. Stunning. When I saw Stephen Macintosh was in the cast I was concerned as he works so often its sometimes hard to get into his character, but he nailed it with one of his very best performances.

The entire cast was excellent and that has to be due to the great direction.

All I can say is watch this series, it is a 10 in every way.

Hope Gap (2019)

Brilliant Casting

[9/10 · 4 May 2023]

I have just watched Hope Gap for the second time and enjoyed it even more this time around. The second viewing allowed me to enjoy the author's (and the director's) nuances and development of the story even more. The setting is visually spectacular and plays its own role in the story. But the standout to me are the performances of Benning & Nighy - they are stunning. At various stages of the story, I felt for both characters. Whoever cast these two in these roles knew the story/characters so well. An inspired piece of casting.

This film is a beautifully made, realistic portrait of life and relationships. Well done to all.

Signora Volpe (2022– )

Sensational

[10/10 · 21 August 2022]

This series is top class in screen play, location, directing and acting. I have just watched the second episode and was blown away by the storyline. It was better than most films I have watched in the last few years. This series is sensational! Well done to all involved, and please keep them coming.

Chloe (2022)

Brilliant and original

[10/10 · 1 May 2022]

This series is the best show I have watched for years. Brilliant story and screenplay, acting is first class and direction & suspense sensational. Well done to all involved. First class (and I loved the ending).

Buckley's Chance (2021)

Fundamental errors spoil what could have been

[2/10 · 30 January 2022]

The first alarm bell went off during the credits when I saw that the writer, the producer and the director were the one person. This lack of normal creative filters that a group approach provides can often lead to problems, and this film suffered some clangers. The film's biggest attraction (Bill Nighy) became its biggest problem. His rich upper class English accent was there in all it's glory. I love Bill, but he should never have been cast in this role. I bailed when he met his fellow outback farmers in a café and they all had appropriate broad Aussie accents making the whole thing farcical.

The other clanger was making him a sheep farmer. The property was set in marginal cattle country in the "deep outback". Who was checking these fundamentals?

The Last Bus (2021)

Great story poorly directed

[5/10 · 20 October 2021]

I love Phyliss Logan and looked forward to the film given the interesting plot, but was very disappointed. The Director allowed the emotional scenes to be too long, over acted and too much music directing us how to feel. I felt the audience were treated like emotional morons, with nothing left to our interpretation, but instead all force fed and in the end, predictable.

Rosehaven (2016–2021)

Best Australian comedy EVER!

[10/10 · 10 October 2021]

I have watched every episode (Series 1-4 three times) since the start and have just watched the final episode of Series 5. This is my favorite Australian show of all time. I waited with baited breathe to see how Luke & Celia would conclude the show and laughed & cried. A brilliant piece of work - thank you and congratulations.

Three Summers (2017)

A Cliched look at Australia and NO laughs

[2/10 · 28 April 2021]

I started watching this with great anticipation due to the cast and Ben Elton as script writer, but ended up extremely disappointed. I like most of Ben's work, especially the recent Upstart Crow, but this script is poor. You could see every attempt at humour coming a mile away, and all so cliched. Even (my favorite Australian actor) Kate Box had to deliver rubbish lines that appeared poorly directed (Ben again). Great idea for a movie, great cast but just poorly written and directed.

A Simple Favor (2018)

Sensational movie making

[10/10 · 14 July 2020]

Great cast, especially Blake Lively, great story & screenplay. This movie has been made the way entertaining movies used to be made and maybe Hollywood's not done yet.

I recently watched the Age Of Adeline starring Blake Lively and just had to see more of her work, and was duly rewarded by this film.

Upright (2019– )

Highest Quality

[9/10 · 7 February 2020]

I rarely write reviews but simply must for this great series. Screenplay was funny. interesting and very moving. Direction was fantastic and more of movie quality. But it is the acting that got me typing. Tim Minchin nailed his character from first scene to last. Milly Alcock - wow what a great new talent and she made the comedy/drama fusion work big time. And Kate Box as Esme - I watched & re watched every scene she was in and she stole every one of those scenes - one of Oz's best actors ever, in full flight, magic.

Thirteen (2016)

Interesting start that just fades to predictable

[1/10 · 9 May 2017]

This series started with the great promise of a new story line and the first two episodes were good. But it all ground to a predicable mess. The romance between the two detectives was the first warning shot - poorly written and appallingly acted, and irrelevant to the story line. Most of the side stories (mother & old flame, father & girlfriend, old boyfriend etc) either went nowhere or looked like they belonged to another show! The plot of the final episode was not credible and I found myself calling out what was going to happen next it was so predicable. In the recent batch of UK police related dramas this is a real low water mark.

Hope Springs (2012)

Screenplay lets down great cast

[6/10 · 15 June 2013]

Being a huge Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell fan I looked forward to seeing this film, but was ultimately disappointed. The story looked interesting, but the screenplay did not deliver, despite great acting performances from the three leads. I just kept waiting for the humor and it didn't arrive - most of it was in the 'Extras' especially the gas station scene with Steve Carell - so funny and would have enhanced the main story but it was inexplicably cut from the movie by the director.

Would love to see Steep and Jones together again with a better screenplay.

The movie was somewhat saved by the brilliant use of the Annie Lennox song which was sensational.