spellbindingcrashed Reviews

Changing Ends (2023– )

Sitcom that understands comedic situations

[8/10 · 8 July 2023]

Even if you don't like Alan Carr, it's likely you will like this very funny, on point sitcom with the stand up comedian taking us through semi-autobiographical moments in his life.

We see young Alan on his first day at school, being unexpectedly put on the football team (hilarious) faking sickness to avoid an injection (which leads to awkward but very believable bonding with dad) and all manor of japes that keep the audience hooked.

Carr's relationship with his family and few friends are nicely explored without being heavy handed and the humour is kept at an even pace, carefully balanced with tender / low moments but not too many to descend into melodrama.

Co-written by Carr, this show knows how to keep your attention with ideal casting all round, but Oliver Savell as the young Alan deserves particular praise for his stand out, star making performance. It would have been very easy for him to fall into caricature but somehow Savell manages to blend Carr's friendly campness and mix it with the real fears of a young boy as he tries to navigate the impending, uncharted teen years without going over the top and keeping the comedy this side of believable and engaging.

Well done to everyone involved.

Now, when is the second season coming out?

American Exit (2019)

Average father and son road movie

[5/10 · 15 April 2023]

If you've got a brain tumor and you're dying, you'd want to reconnect with your estranged kid, right? Of course you would. So, why not take him on a road trip after you've stolen some art knowing the shady art dealer and his henchman will come after you, therefore endangering your son's life in the process?!

Sounds legit.

The cast? Oh, they do try. But only Levi Miller (Leo) and the charismatic Udo Kier (Anton) really stand out even though Dane Cook (Charlie) does give it his best shot.

This is a very average road movie in which the father and son sort of bond, l guess. The writing is OK, the scenery with that ghastly yellow tint is OK. Everything is just... OK.

You might like this but you might also feel like you've wasted nearly 2 hours of your life depending on your mood. Ho hum.

Lad: A Yorkshire Story (2013)

Monotonous nonsense (se xual assault BEWARE!)

[1/10 · 24 December 2022]

Wow, l can't believe all the positive reviews on here. Are they paid, by any chance?

This movie suffers from an uninspired script which concerns a 13 yr old boy called Tom (Bretten Lord) who bonds with a park ranger after his dad dies and is se xually assaulted by a 16 yr old girl who kisses him even though he says NO!

How sad that the director / writer (Dan Hartley) just brushed over this like it was nothing. No one would dare do that if it was a story about a girl, but, hey, that's the world of equality we live in!

The lead actor - Bretten Lord - had apparently never acted before. And it shows. He gives a woefully inadequate performance and is way out of his depth when he is called upon to be sad or anguished. He simply doesn't have the acting chops to muster up any sort of realism to make us, the viewers, side with him. This is the actor's one and only credit. I can see why.

The other actors are slow and turgid in their performances and delivery. Nancy Clarkson as Tom's mum veers between shrieking about having to pay her mortgage whilst trying to show her son that she loves him but is unconvincing and shakey in her characterisation. It's as if she dropped out of drama school early and is now just winging it. Sigh.

This is, apparently, based on the writer / director's own life so maybe he, too, had an inept mother and was assaulted in a barn by a randy older girl, who knows?

This film disappeared into obscurity when it was released in 2011 but found an audience during covid lockdown in 2020. This 100,% proves that when people are desperate, they'll watch anything!

Dirkie (1969)

An unforgettable shocker!

[10/10 · 21 December 2022]

You really have to watch this film to believe it. I will not go into plot details as you can read other reviews for that. But let me just say, l don't think a director has ever wrung so much tension and horrific situations from something as simple as a boy wandering around. Not to mention his poor dog!

This is a highly memorable film that, unfortunately, suffers from age as it doesn't "look" great - the print has faded in time. But maybe that's partly what makes the film so gripping? The harsh, barren landscape of the desert kind of works with the gritty looking print of the movie better than a glossy, HD version would (maybe?)

Dirkie, (played brilliantly by Wynand Uys), truly gives his all in the one and only film he ever made. He could have gone onto an acting career if he wished because he wipes the floor with most seasoned actors. You really do get the feeling he has gone to hell and back as you suffer with him on this torturous journey.

And as for the end of the movie? What actually happened, there?? Watch and find out. Highly recommended.

Somewhere Boy (2022)

Nonsense show that fails to engage on most levels

[4/10 · 29 October 2022]

Somewhere Boy?

Where, exactly?

In a rambling, daft old tale, that's where.

With such a silly storyline that meanders so much it loses its way into a ditch, one cannot forgive the half baked script and sheer dullness of the entire proceedings. And yet professional (paid!) TV critics loved this. Intriguing... Don't forget, they were paid. By the show's production company, perhaps??

Yes, the plot is mildly intriguing if totally asinine. Yes, the acting is decent, but no better than your standard drama school student couldn't knock out after an afternoons rehearsal. This show is simply too dull overall to maintain a steady interest, particularly over 8 episodes. The writer should have taken the best parts of his script and combined them into 4 episodes and ramped up the tension in the areas where it was needed.

No spoilers for you because, really, whatever plotlines l give away really wouldn't spoil anything. Go outside and kick a football around; you'd enjoy it more, even if you don't like football.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Marilyn Monroe dominates in a charming movie

[10/10 · 25 October 2022]

Marilyn Monroe is much more than a pretty face. Here, she displays her wonderful gift for comedy as she plays Lorelei Lee, a show girl working on a cruise ship with her friend, Dorothy (Jane Russell), as they are spied on by Lee's curious, rich boyfriend. Monroe sings and dances her way into movie history with her show stopping number, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.

The supporting cast, particularly George "Foghorn" Winslow are on winning form too, as they develop meaningful characterizations without getting swallowed up by the plot. But, make no mistake, this is Monroe's show. Her beauty and talent are truly something to behold. Highly recommended.

Wreck (2022– )

An utter shambles

[1/10 · 25 October 2022]

What is worse in this mess of a comedy (what??) / horror (yer jokin', right??) / disaster of a TV show? The juvenile, undeveloped script? Bad acting or hideous plot lines? It's hard to say, they were all bottom of the barrel. This felt like the writer just graduated from a writing course and this was his first, professional assignment so he became too excited and decided to throw everything he could at his hackneyed story, scared he'd never get commissioned again. If only.

Here's the "story":

A man / teenager / boy (l don't know what he is) called Jamie, (played by the perpetually startled Oscar Kennedy), fakes his identity (zzzz) to gain employment on a cruise ship where his sister was working but suddenly disappeared from (she jumped over board, or was she pushed?)

Because, you know, the police don't exist for such matters.

Jamie somehow bypasses obligatory police / identity checks and starts working on the ship, meeting an array of dull characters dressed up (literally in the duck's case!) as secretly exciting with dark tales to tell. Except, they're not exciting and they have nothing worth telling. You've seen this all before - twists in the tale that don't actually twist, boring dialogue that doesn't go anywhere, constant murders of the staff that their families on shore don't seem to question, hidden passages in the ship for the rich guests to kill people - because when you contract a company to build your cruise ship, you have to specify for these things, you know.

Sigh.

Again, nothing new to see here, all shabbily thrown together by the looks of things at the last minute as everything feels rushed with a script seemingly in limbo. I wouldn't be surprised to find out they had daily script changes as the writer has no confidence in his own story. So why should we? And was that Jamie's sister at the end on another boat? I thought she drowned? Do you know what that means? The writer is pitching for a 2nd season! Oh, God, no.

There is so much content to choose from these days, literally thousands of films and shows, so if you waste your time on this, you've only got yourself to blame. Yes, l watched every episode and l blame myself.