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Reviews
Flood (2007)
What a waste of time, money and an excellent cast
You would have thought, given how much this overblown pile of rubbish must have cost, that the budget could have stretched to a decent scriptwriter. Instead, they seemed to have opted for a bog standard Hollywood 'Paint by Numbers' disaster movie plot and dialog. The only cliché they seem to have missed was the Cute Kid. But every other one is there. There's the sullen hero, flung together by fate with both his ex wife and estranged father. There's the doting Dad and the rebellious teenager.There's the 'Professor that everyone thought was wrong until it turned out he wasn't'(Played appallingly by the normally excellent Tom Courtney seemingly in the grip of some powerful drugs), plus the comic duo wandering about in the deserted underground railway.
I sat down to watch this full of anticipation. The cast is, as noted, amazing. Yet within minutes it became clear how bad this was going to be. Stuff this useless should come with a warning. Something along the lines of;
'This film may have been made in Britain but was aimed at the American market. It therefore contains tired clichés, stock characters, stilted dialogue and a plot so lame brained and simplistic that even George W Bush could understand it.'
Avoid.
Extras (2005)
Loss of credibility
Damn,damn,Damn. He was doing so well up to this point. The brilliant Ricky Gervaise really hadn't put a foot wrong up until this episode. As a forty something wannabe actor with an expanding waistline myself I have seldom related to a character like I did to Andy Milman as he struggles to make it in film and TV. It's not that this episode is short on laughs and brilliant performances. Sir Ian McKellern is nothing short of hysterical. But does the disastrous opening night of the play ring even remotely true? Is there really a single actor anywhere who would balk at a simple gay scene the way Andy does here? Enough to not only bring down the play but his own hopes and dreams with it? I very much doubt it. I mean come on. It's the 21st century. A scene like that is practically a rite of passage for any actor these days, (Especially if you get a role on Torchwood)and I can't believe that Andy Milman would not realize that. Also, what possessed him to bring in the dismally untalented Jonathon Cake in the clichéd role of the old school acquaintance? And why would Andy let this ludicrous, thuggish character anywhere near him when offered the choice? Luckily, the series does pick up again in the last episode and by the end of the series I found I could just about believe Andy Milman again.
Play for Today: Kate the Good Neighbour (1980)
A masterpiece
Twenty five years on, and this play/film still sticks in my mind. The BBC's 'Play for Today' series ran for many years, but seldom achieved this level of skill and believability. The wartime flashbacks were expertly done and the performances were superb.
However, the thing which stood out for me was that this was one of the first scripts I ever saw that manages the excellent trick of setting up predictable situations, then veering off in a different direction. Given the general sloppiness of the BBC in preserving it's finer moments, the chances are this wonderful work will never be seen again. What a crying shame.