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At the age of twenty I Undertook a Diploma in Film Production and Stage Management. During this period, I was involved in a various stage production including working with The Northern Ballet Theatre on Swan Lake. It was apparent to me, that the production / directing area of filming was where my main interests lay.
During my time with Dark Form Productions, I worked with solo music artist The Lost Highway, to produce 2 music videos Coastline (2006) and It’s A Boy (2011).
Between these projects, I produced a 35 webisode internet reality spoof Circle (2009), working with talented actors Jason Harvey and Ilaria Nardini.
Later I directed Innocent Violation (2012) a disturbing and controversial script written by Craig McEwan, which was ultimately banned from film festivals. Further in the year I was able to work with BAFTA nominee Alia E. Torrie on To Make Me Feel Your Love (2012).
My final film with Dark Form Productions was Reflections (2013), which saw me working again with Jason Harvey.
In 2017 I created Stable Mind Productions Ltd and have just released out latest short Anderson, working with industry talents Barry Gunning, Steve Johnson, John Mackey and Barry Frame.
The films I have Produced/Directed have reach film festivals in the U.K., Mexico, Japan, Germany and Spain.
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Virtues (2019)
Dreadful!
Possibly the worst piece of television I have seen in a long time. There are so many high rating reviews on this programme, that I can only think we are becoming immune to poor drama's being made.
The acting is not great, and I blame this on a terrible script and pacing which would make you think time had been slowed to a crawl! The editor should have been replaced, and direction is lacking.
Most of the drama felt like it had been improvised (badly!), with each moment lingering so long that in the end I really couldn't care less about any of the characters.
There is poor attention to detail with a hardcore alcoholic walking away so easily from drink etc.
Please, no more of this dreadful nonsense!
Lost in Space (2018)
The drink is more palletable
The visual effects are amazing, but that's where the amazingness stops. There is the question of the elephant in the room which no-one seems to address, should we address it in the 21st century? Yes I think we should I want to know where the characters are from, but to be fair I couldn't care less with these characters.
Amazing effects. poor acting, poor direction, Dire writing.
Go and pour yourself some nice Robinsons cordial, it leaves a much better taste in your mouth.
Bancroft (2017)
Oh dear.
It's difficult to know where to start with this mini series as there is so much wrong with it.
It is poorly cast and sadly lacks any direction. Either there was little or no rehearsal or the actors were not seasoned enough to tackle the poorly written script, but I presume the director John Hayes has a lot of blame on his shoulders.
The script is very poorly written, with cringeworthy dialogue, no character continuity (the characters are paper thin!) and Micro storylines which sole purpose is to push the story along. This being a 4 episode mini series, there would be more than enough time to develop the characters and let them push the story.
The cinematography is at time laughable and I can only presume that Richard Stoddard was not on set most of the time (this is the best case scenario), but again a lack of talent from him leaves you wondering where the budget was spent.
When the main character decides to rob the police evidence room they do so by running about the place with their face is plain sight, really no CCTV? In a police station?
The editing is no better, however I do blame Richard Stoddard for providing such poor footage to work with.
Are we in such need of dramas that production companies feel they can just churn them out with no real planning? I long for a cleverly written suspense/drama which is character driven and has a slightly stylish look, after all style does not outweigh substance!
Hidden Figures (2016)
Some History Forgotten
There are a few areas to this review, so please let me start of with the technical aspect.
There is a good look to the film and Mandy Walker makes good use of symmetrical frame in most of the shots which helps to create a good bond with the viewer. At times there is a lack of consistency with relation to different shot angles being used in the edit, and poor judgement during the rehearsal and filming phase of the project leaves you wondering if there was a continuity department on set at all.
D.C. Cardinali and Ray Ruotolo, did a wonderful job to make the film look good, with some fantastic vignette effects to draw the viewer in, although there is a scene when the entire family is sitting at the table and Colonel Jim asks Katherine to marry him, sadly his shirt has several shades of red and at times pink throughout the scene. I can only presume this was bad judgement during discussions with wardrobe, but this should have been addressed during the scene itself.
As for the film:
There is no denying that Henson, Spencer and Monae, along with Costner gave some outstanding stellar performances, this is not in question, but there are some areas of the film which must be highlighted and not for any good reason.
Janelle Monae, has just been assigned to Engineering when she gets stuck as one of the tests regarding the Freedom capsule is about to take place, she finally frees herself and after a failed test, the head of engineering advised her that she should become an engineer due to the methodical mind. This was said by the Jewish WWII POW who had been brought over to the USA after the war. Throughout there was no mention to the large number of Nazi's brought over to help on the space programme, many of which included scientists who carried out horrific experiments on other humans to see how far the extremities could be pushed. I can only presume this was not mentioned due to this being a feel good film, however it loses marks for this.
It is sad to think that the segregation of humans with different coloured skin to such a barbaric extent was just over 50 years ago, and in some instances still continues. In one scene we see Costner knock down a sign over a bathroom which read 'Colored Ladies Toilets' due to Taraji taking 40 minutes to go to a bathroom halfway across the NASA grounds. Yes it felt nice, but there was little explanation and it did feel like this was done more to ensure time wasn't wasted so USA could been USSR to the Moon, rather than for any kind of anti racist motion.
The end of the film saw titles explaining what each person did throughout their life, but Taraji, who played Katherine Johnson had titles which explained NASA has awarded her in 2016 for all her commitment, all to wonderful music being played in the background. I'm sorry, are we making light of ignoring someone for nearly 50 years, but hey it's on the big screen now, so it's all good? I thought this was in poor taste and should have been thought through in more detail.
Is this a good film? Yes, it's okay, it is a bit fluffy in areas and lacks any real conviction of that era - especially relating to racism. Don't expect to be bowled over, but do expect to leave feeling there are a few good human beings out there.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
A Difficult transition made to look easy.
When an Alien prequel was mentioned all those years ago I don't think anyone expected it to look like Prometheus. We all expected romping aliens (as per the original HR Giger design) throughout with Face-huggers flying through the air. What we were given was an unexpected story, a VERY different alien and a Space Jockey which did not live up to the expectations of the original 1970's film. Prometheus, was very much a dull affair desperately trying to tell a story which just wasn't there. Or so I thought...
Alien Covenant is a wonderful sequel to Prometheus which expertly starts to explain and bridge the gap to the original Alien. The first act is well paced, very relaxing (after the initial encounter with a space storm), getting us used to the crew and laying the ground work for where the film was to go, in many ways this did mirror the original Alien - which I believe to be a very clever idea, as this makes us think of the original while still holding on to the story of Prometheus and hoping for a better future. As you will see, the main theme throughout is how this film links to not only the prequels but also to the original Alien movie.
During the trailer we see a scene in the shower with two of the cast (I was very worried at this, as it reminded me of Creepozoids! Gratuitous breast shot etc), and my fears of a bad scene were alleviated early on. The ship is a colonisation ship, full of 1,000's of humans in stasis, and 100's of human embryos. We then learn the crew are also married or in a relationship with each other - which would make sense, when colonising a world it would obviously be a one way trip and for mental and social ability it would make sense. So in short, the shower scene would be understandable.
When a prequel comes along, the most difficult transition is to make the equipment look older than the 'what we thought was modern' back in the 1970's, this is where many prequels fall short. Alien Covenant had the same issue, an although there is some modern looking equipment/technology etc, Ridley Scott had the foresight to use the sounds from the original Alien and Aliens to compensate for the more modern looking set. This also worked to yet again link this film to the original Alien.
The crew initially became infected by the alien virus though the ear and noise cavities, by a very similar organism to that of Prometheus. What about the Face-hugger? You will find out! Although there is a new way for the Alien to be born, the first is violently ejected from the back of a crew member - you may have seen the trailer - at this point one of the crew are covered in a spray of blood, I would presume they were not aware of this just like the original Alien movie, Ridley taking a dark approach to method acting. The second is violently vomited up. Very different ways of emerging and very different to Prometheus, however this is expertly explained, which goes to show there was a lot of thought given to the story and also to link from Prometheus through to the original Alien.
We do see a chest burster and a face-hugger, yet again this is very well considered in the film which again provides a great link from Prometheus to Alien.
The first aliens we see (yes there are two!) are reminiscent of the one from Prometheus, a far cry from the menacing Alien that Giger thrust upon us in the 1970's, but thankfully this is yet again explained very well, and David (he has survived) has continued Weyland's mission to become the human is just wasn't made to be. Through modification and gene splicing David, has created the first face-hugger in an egg, resulting in the terrifying alien we all have come to love and fear at the same time.
Towards the end, we all know David is David and not Walter, but there is compelling evidence that it really is David, as he helps to kill off the one true genetically modified alien. As Daniels goes in to hyper sleep, we sense the concern about Walter, but why would it not be him? He helped her kill of the alien and protect everyone. Only as the hyper sleep pod closes, Daniels gets a glimpse of David behind Walters' eyes, and there is nothing Daniels can do but go to sleep.
David regurgitates 2 alien embryos which are promptly put in to stasis, ready for the waking colonists in 7 years time.
The attention to original sound effects and the original alien for linking purposes is outstanding, and this deserves far more credit that it has actually received. It does prove how much of a forward thinking visionary Ridley really is.
The cinematography is outstanding and Katherine Waterston, provides a Ripley style character, to yet again easy our transition in to the next prequel.
Broadchurch: Episode #3.1 (2017)
Cast struggle with lazy writing
Season 1 of this show was brilliant. It was the edge of your seat writing and direction which made this one of the best series in 2013. Skip to Season 2 and it was poor, trying to stretch out an already dead story, I felt it should have ended in 2013.
Fast forward to Season 3 - We have a new story, with the same detectives, but sadly the great cast really struggle with a poorly written script.
The rape victim is lead away to a sealed room, and the person explains to the victim why it is sealed, just in case we were wondering.
The car journey with both detectives to the scene of the crime also suffered with David Tenant explaining how many hours we have lost, and how angry he is with the victim, again for the benefit of the story.
The discovery of the corner from a condom wrapper was ludicrous, especially as there were over 5 acres of land, but they happened to find this, along with a blood smear on a stone.
During a debriefing with the officers brought forth more lazy writing, when a female officer points out the time of the rape, to the report of it, only for Olivia Coleman to point out that it will be clear why this happened when she completes her rape training.
This authorial intrusion throughout, highlights lazy writing and a lack of imagination which completely ruins the viewing, coupled with the worst nonsensical - lets push the story forward - ending make this a more than generous 5/10
Goliath (2016)
Good Dialogue, poor story and character re-writes.
This is the kind of series that looks like the same old formula of the guy who lost everything taking on the big corporation and at the same time having a showdown with the company that he built, but is no longer a part of. Well that is pretty much it, with disappointing writing and sometimes spectacular poor filming.
Somewhere in all of this there was a great idea with a slow methodical story line and a compelling unexpected twist at the end, but instead we end up with not too bad dialogue and a really poor story. Characters are thrown together with little backstory apart from the bits the crop up now and again only to yet again disappear as soon as the story has moved on. Along with this poor writing there is a major pet hate, character rewriting. Almost every character was at some point rewritten to drive the poorly written story forward.
Yes the small guys win in the end, but how I have no idea. A closing speech which had little substance and actually had me rooting for the bad guys because their closing speech was great! William Hurts character had a stroke and what can only be discounted as the worst acting and directing was thrust in to the final episode.
At times it would be easy to think there was more style over substance, but yet again it falls down even in this area, will the obligatory slo-mo and collage scenes straight from directing/editing film school.
Some good performances let down by a really poor story. If this what Amazon Prime are spending their money on, then brace yourself for more toe curling series to blaze across your screens.
Mr. Robot (2015)
Nothing New - Stolen ideas.
I was told to watch this due to it being quite quirky and dark, even the reviews (8.5 a while ago) built this up to be something amazing.
First episode in and yes it' quirky and yes it could be quite dark, however the character Mr. Robot played by Christian Slater was OBVIOUS from the very start that he was not real and just a manifestation of his own mind, which I found quite annoying.
As the series progressed the slow paced story was very grinding. I like a slow burner as they can really pull the viewer in to the world, but this is just poorly paced in almost every scene.
This combined with the fact that almost EVERY scene and filming technique has been stolen from so many different films is depressing. The story is about bringing down the financial institutions to reset everything to zero - sound familiar? The main character has a friend manifested from his own imagination - sounding more familiar? - The main character narrates through the series about the story and his own personal thoughts - yes you've guessed it - Fight Club in a series!
It is filmed in dark lighting with bleak colours almost verging on a pale sepia, just as Fight Club was. It also pulls from Existenz, 24 and The Matrix to name but a few.
It's difficult to understand why something so unoriginal and poorly paced can have such a good rating. Maybe Hollywood and the public are looking for a hero in the proliferation of badly scripted and poorly produced series on the TV just now.
Eddie the Eagle (2015)
Jump For Joy!
I put off watching this film as I didn't think there could be anything interesting about ski jumping, or the life of Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards. How wrong I was.
I grew up watching Eddie at the Olympics, but didn't quite remember the impact he actually had on the sport.
The film is well paced, there are a few cringe moments, but I think the casting was excellent with great chemistry between all of the cast. The film draws you in from the outset and at one point you know it's going to end, this is when you want to start watching it from the beginning again!
Taron Egerton was fantastic as Eddie, capturing all his mannerisms and in my opinion it was one of Hugh Jackman's best performances.
It's a wonderful music score which picks up the best of the '80s and '90s. Dexter Fletcher touches on some wonderful John Hughes moments and I have to say there was a tear in my ear several times throughout the film. With a modest budget of $23m the film was well constructed and didn't lack vision throughout. Only taking $46m at the box office I think you will see the film achieve cult status in the coming years.
A wonderful feel good film that has you rooting for the underdog from the very beginning and leaving you with a sense of anything is achievable at the end.
From Darkness (2015)
Lessons in what not to do
When I heard about this series I was all ready for some good drama and great cinematography as the BBC tends to get these kinds of series so right. How wrong I was.
From the terrible dialogue which seems to have been adapted from a story with completely different characters, to actors struggling with a director who is way out of their depth.
The cinematography is something to be laughed at, even a first year student in drama school would have a much better eye than this. The shots range from capturing the vista with only the actors head at the bottom of the frame (they were the funniest scenes I have EVER seen!) to the foreground being filled with a wall or ketchup bottle!
Reading about the main crew it all became clear, these guys had been the main driving force behind Coronation Street and Emerdale, shows which carry no weight at all.
The BBC should be ashamed of such poor, poor film-making and how Dominic Leclerc and Polly Morgan sleep at night I have no idea. If I could have selected 0 out of 10 I would have.
Avoid at ALL costs!