Change Your Image
sarahcalver
Reviews
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)
Beautiful but massively over-eggs the therapy speak
A gorgeous production, and if it had only been silent and/or set to music (eg The Snowman) I would have utterly fallen in love with it. But the script is truly dreadful: every line is a contrived, cloying piece of therapy-speak. I'm all for an artfully written, subtle life lesson but this lays it on far too thick: we learn it's important to 'be kind' and that 'we are enough', among a hundred other maxims. I was braced to be told I must 'live my truth', though fortunately it didn't get that far. Maybe I'm a dreadful cynic, but rather than feeling enlightened and cheered I found the overall effect relentless preachy. Shame.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)
Tediously drawn out
This is a fascinating story which deserves to be grippingly told, but between all the pointless youtuber opinions and the overly drawn-out narrative of the hotel's past I lost interest quickly. Classic Netflix doc - it would have been a riveting 2 hour tale but it felt very diluted across 4 episodes.
Death to 2020 (2020)
Disappointing
Love Charlie Brooker and there are some funny moments here, but overall this feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. It's just not that funny or witty. It feels much more heavily political than the usual end of year Screenwipes, and in quite a predictable, not very entertaining way. Shame.
A Christmas Carol (2019)
Superb.
I wasn't expecting to get into this, but I was hooked and have just watched all 3 episodes in one go on Christmas Eve. What a treat! Great, brave storytelling which was genuinely thought-provoking. Superb acting all round, and I absolutely love Guy Pearce in this role - he really breathes new life into it. The production is beautifully atmospheric. One of the best things I've seen on TV in ages.