HillstreetBunz Reviews

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023)

Jim cant save this meandering 'road' movie from a lack of directorial perspective.

[6/10 · 20 March 2024]

Even the extraordinary talents of Jim Broadbent and his screen wife Penelope Wilton aren't quite enough to make this meandering 'road' movie worth the effort.

Curiosity is piqued enough to engage us at the beginning, because the 'why' of the protagonists actions is withheld from us. The slow, episodic and meandering narrative journey is occasionally interesting, sometimes believable, sometimes not, but JB can and does hold our interest with that rare gift of the genius actor, a glimpse at a 'real' human.

When we do finally learn of the 'why' it's a sort of confused thing that requires us to understand and care about the various weaknesses and failures of our hero and to a lesser extent his wife. This is easy because they have endured something terrible, however they then did or didn't cope and whatever they did or didn't do as a consequence. But then as the denouement appears and we might expect some emotional pay off, there is none. Or at least none that justifies all that investment. Did the pilgrimage make a difference to anyone? Did Harold really learn anything? Is forgiveness required, does forgiveness matter, does it need to be articulated to count, who knows, and it feels like the director doesnt care to show us her view. In what is for me a failure in much modern storytelling, we are again it seems to make up our own minds. Fine, I'll decide what i believe or not, but at least show me what you feel and what the characters believe, right or wrong. Tell the end of the story and ion your bloody flag to the mast. Personally I can't not enjoy Jim Broadbent on the big screen in almost every scene. But i Can feel flat at the end when it all ends with a Phfft. One more thing...why cast Linda Bassett ands then give her nothing to do? What a waste. I hope she was well paid.

Allelujah (2022)

A confusing and wrongheaded muddle of a very British political polemic.

[5/10 · 19 March 2024]

Bennet, whose writing I have loved for decades, seems here to be decades out of time and place. This feels like it belongs in the 1970s. Up until the denouement and epilogue it seems to be making the case to maintain cottage hospitals, which all disappeared 50 years ago.

Some good acting from those British stalwarts who never miss, and some ropey uneven performances and clashes of style with other performers (especially in the early scenes).

The bluntness of the caricatures was embarrassing, and unbelievable. I suppose it was what is called these days a 'Dramedy' but for me it was all over the place. Well meaning but often wrongheaded because of a prejudiced view of various parties (all players except the nurses and drs are villains trying to make money out of the NHS) is just puerile and wrong. There are thousands of other workers trying to do good work with the less appealing (idolised) roles that include managing budgets and suppliers and so on. Perhaps a life in theatre (at the creative end) simply allows one to have such a myopic muddleheaded view, but when such a mind turns to political polemic it needs a collaborator or this mess is what comes out.

And (and I am shocked that I m saying this) its often poorly written, clumsy, cliched, hackneyed, predictable lines are everywhere. It feels like a parody at times, Bennett or Victoria Wood (only she would have parodied Bennett a million times better...indeed she did).

If you want to get a real sense of the issues this movie attempts to raise...look at Getting On' by Jo Brand. The UK and US versions are both funnier, darker and way superior to this.

Jennifer Saunders tackles a rare serious role, and she does well though her northern accent, whilst not too bad, is distracting (I'm a Northerner) because we are so familiar with her own voice. It meant you were always aware it was a performance.

Its 'in your face' direct emotional plea treats the NHS as if it were a person, and challenges anyone who might dare to think it could-and should be improved. This mindset is what keeps it an underwhelming institution in 2024 and beyond. It was indeed a grand idea, but it's 100 years old. The idea that it is sacrilegious to challenge it in any way, and that all problems can be solved with more money and faith in the institution is a sort of feudal totalitarianism writ for Britain in the 21stc.

Country Matters: The Watercress Girl (1972) Season 1, Episode 5

Dour anthology series best viewed one at a time

[7/10 · 28 February 2024]

Another reviewer has dismissed this anthology series because of its apparently miserable, mean spirited and hopeless view of life and people.

I am watching in 2024 (on Dutch TV channel ONS) fifty two years after it was first shown. I have seen four episodes and I can understand that reviewers perspective. The series is well produced, some great actors in early roles, slow paced by modern standards (which i like) and some of the source material is very strong. The prints i am watching have lost much of their colour which adds to the generally depressing theme. Some of the music is quite charming echoing a sort of romantic folk music which suits the sometimes rural settings. But the subjects are indeed often rather depressing, sad stories that speak only to the worst aspects of human nature, jealousy, cruelty, revenge etc. Individually very good, but too much of the one note as a series.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

What's the point? Unless it's anti drugs propaganda?

[7/10 · 8 January 2024]

I had t see this film when it came out (not did many people I understand). But I'd heard so often about how Ellen Burstyn was robbed of an academy award (Julia Robert's won that year for Erin Brokovich), so I dived in when I saw it on prime.

It's a daring film, well crafted, and all the cast are terrific, though indeed Burstyn is something else and certainly Oscar worthy. But what's the point of films like this. It's an unremittingly bleak tale of drug use and abide. Is it an anti drugs polemic? Do we need one? What's the point? I suspected I might be wasting my time and despite it being a clever and intelligent film, I fee I did. It offers nothing in the way of entertainment, perhaps some people will see this and it will teach them something. I already knew these lives existed and I don't want to spend time with these people, it doesn't do any good or serve any purpose, indeed it might just be depressing enough to damage some peoples mental health. I wish these talents could find some joy in life and let their art show it to us.

Designing Woman (1957)

Stylish comedy that has timed-out culturally

[6/10 · 1 November 2023]

I was born in 64 and grew up watching all those great (and not so great) old movies from the 30s onwards on TV. My love of cinema continued and I've been an avid moviegoer ever since. I am sad that as most of these movies are no longer shown on TV, audiences are not exposed to them and therefore don't see their value. Many young people couldn't contemplate watching a B&W movie under any circumstances. Amongst my own world I often encourage them to watch a rare appearance of an old 'classic' in the streaming schedules. That said, I watched this film today (2023) and whilst I recognised it as a film I enjoyed 40 years ago, its polite sexism undermines any enjoyment today. It makes the leading man seem narrow and shows a fragile ego (and if you can do that to Peck, there's no hope for any other chap). And it makes the leading lady seem silly and childish (which because Bacall could never be that, makes her character a bit unbelievable). It occurs to me that this is a problem with many American movies of the 50s, and that it strangely doesn't apply to the output of the 30s and 40s. I suspect its because of the post war desire to put women back in their place (the home etc). These mainstream 50s movies despite their amazing design and production values and the charismatic stars of the day, really are becoming anachronistic in ways that 'suspension of disbelief' cant overcome (at least not at this distance). I recently watched Pillow Talk, the Doris Day/Rock Hudson vehicle that is probably the best example of this genre. I must say it stands up well. I think the script and the direction there are pacier and funnier, and maybe precisely because it is the most extreme example of this genre (virginal almost 40 years old Doris and closeted Gay icon Rock) it stands outside it now, we enjoy the game knowingly. The same can't work here, and doesn't. Pity, there are still things to enjoy, but it has too many cringe inducing cliches even for a sixty year old white male like me, so god knows what the young would say, with their intolerance of other spheres etc.

Paris Underground (1945)

Effective if uneven wartime resistance thriller

[7/10 · 13 October 2023]

The film has what would later come to be regarded as the workmanlike but sometimes 'cheap' characteristics of TV films, in that its 'look' (tight camera shots for supposedly outdoor scenes etc) is often borne of budgetary necessity. In other ways it reflects the two leading ladies very different professional personas, and because of this it hovers between the styles of American and British films of the time. That said, the leading ladies both bring their specific charms to their roles and there is an awkward but believable fondness between their characters.

Before too long the true stories of many real heroines would emerge and be filmed ('Odette', 'Carve her name with Pride' etc) and this film would be forgotten. It's tone is at odds with those very reverential films, it has the feel of fiction often, because it uses so many existing film conventions (scene setting etc) which were eschewed by the filmakers who later transferred the true stories to celluloid (creating new cliches along the way).

All that aside, it has some charm, pathos, tension, shock and genuine feeling in it, and I enjoyed it. Both ladies worked very hard for the war effort in real life, though Gracie had to prove it at home in the UK being married to an Italian at the outbreak of hostilities. And you can still feel their star power for all the 'fish out of Hollywood comedy' feel that Bennett sometimes has, or the humdrumness of Fields' character. Worth viewing. Note especially Fields in the last scenes, who really does a lovely job in a very difficult scene.

The Boys in the Band (2020)

Turn the light on or accept the audience will drift away

[6/10 · 31 July 2023]

The material is 'dark' enough, without diluting it in the actual dark. It's ridiculous. It's like a bloody radio play. It is literally impossible to watch. A wasted of every one of the actors talents for that reason alone. The play is in many ways a time capsule, but it is a glimpse at a sub culture that many of us were glad to have revisited. Such a shame that he while thing seems to have been filmed without lighting. It makes it boring and impossible to engage with.

The characters are often criticized for being unlikeable (as if like ability is the only reason for fictional Characters to exist!!!!). And they are, but try to wonder why? The world they are in is against them and always has been. They live an underground guerrilla existence, bitter humour is a defence and a relief. I guess we will get another remake in thirty or forty years, perhaps then the director will have the good sense to light the action such that we can see it!

The Queen of Spades (1949)

Unfairly neglected gem, Dame Edith shows why she was so revered.

[8/10 · 29 June 2023]

This is a genuinely successful adaptation of a Pushkin story, which works hard to create the atmosphere of the novella and generate an atmosphere of suspense and otherworldly goings on. Not the sort of fantasy we accept nowadays based on comic book escapism, but the sort that most cultures have acknowledged since time immemorial. The spiritual, the magical, the ghostly, the morality story.

This sort of film is simply never made nowadays (2023) and I'm not sure it could be. The art direction seems rooted in a sort of faded reality, early scenes with peasant / gypsy singers may wel have used the real thing. The actors are mostly English stock actors of the movies of the time, including a couple of wonderful character actors such as Athene Seyler and Miles Mathieson, but the leads, Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans and Yvonne Mitchell in particular are outstanding (all of them had long and distinguished careers).

Evans is extraordinary in a full blown 'stage' performance which nonetheless works brilliantly on film. Full of ticks and movements, specific to the character, her class, her age, her experience and her psyche. A sort of Miss Havisham writ larger and with more layers. Where Miss H is just the other side of madness, the Countess seems to be clearly this side but struggling at times to hold on.

It is played in a mannered style that needs to be accepted quickly, it is melodrama, but after ting and real nonetheless. There's a menace at play which we feel almost immediately and throughout. Leslie Howard's son.l Ronald is an effective leading man, unable to shake memories of his father just because of his likeness. Though never a star or indeed, able to evince the heights of talent that his celebrated father did, his career lasted until he stepped away in his fifties.

The film is well paced and the short scenes may make it easier for a modern audience to engage with.

It's lack of Polish in various technical areas (when compared with the greatest of American movies of the period) May work in its favour, giving it a sort of scratchy reality and stopping its period setting seem like a 'Ruritanian style operetta gone rogue'.

Definitely an unfairly neglected gem, with an outstanding performance by Dame Edith, which was recognised as such at the time by the New York Film Critics.

Highly recommended to anyone with an appetite for interesting stories wel told takt err on the mystical and perhaps melodramatic with a touch of Grand Guignol!

Ten Pound Poms (2023– )

A woke window on the birth of modern Australia

[7/10 · 20 June 2023]

I figured this would be one of those nice Sunday evening dramas that provide a warm Nostalgic glow and a stream of drama, but always a happy l, or at least moving ending.

Not so, this 'woke' drama let's us know that pretty much everyone in 'those days' was a nasty piece of work, racist, wife beater, bully, snob, etc... oh, except of course for the individual person, who floats around on a cloud of handsome integrity and restrained physical power.

The leading characters may not be wholly nasty, but they are nonetheless deeply flawed, even if apparently justifiably (alcoholism, grief leading to mental illness) etc It's a decent show and we'll acted, and a special shout must go to the cinematography, the colours are rich and sun drenched, but the constant diet of misery is hard to take without anyone but the alcoholic to root for.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023)

Ruined by lousy lighting

[9/10 · 23 May 2023]

I have loved this show for all of its run. Its sharp, witty, interesting and unusual.

The sets and costumes are extraordinary. The recreation of the 60s TWA terminal at JFK was worth my streaming fees alone.

It conjures a certain time and space (whether or not it ever really existed) that feels like America in the mid 20thc optimistic and shiny, even as the inequalities start to break through the apathy of middle america.

Now that I am on episode 8 of season 5, some nitwit has decided it needs to be so bloody dark (i mean literally) that i have to treat it like radio. This fashion for stupid 'real' lighting is an annoying fad that ruins my enjoyment.

Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017)

The show is a 7, Ricci as Zelda is a 10

[7/10 · 21 March 2023]

This show was apparently developed by Ricci after a book that really focused more wholly on Zelda.

The writers here have opened it up to be more about Zelda and Scott, as emblematic of their moment etc. While the show is beautiful and well paced, and Hoflin is pretty good as FSG, it is at its best when it focuses on Ricci who really gives a brilliant performance and manages to assume the moment and it's obvious touchpoints (cigarette holders, champagne glasses, insouciance etc) without apparent cliche.

She is well supported by the more senior players, but some of the actors playing the coterie of friends and hangers on have been unable to see the wood for the trees and just give arch performances that lean too heavily on stereotypes and the aforementioned props. The writers too are to blame: ultimately it is not quite what we hope for, but it's still a bit mean spirited that Ricci wasn't lauded for this performance. She carry's it as far as it goes, and it goes pretty far.

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Complex and believable. Great drama.

[9/10 · 19 March 2023]

I remember thinking this was a great movie when it was released, now after almost thirty years I have watched it again, and it's still great: and never more relevant in these days of trial by media. Bad people do good things and good people do bad things. I'm often appalled at the way US media expects and demands that those on trial 'act the perfect of an innocent'. Meaning they must show the appropriate emotion in the right way at the right time. Utter rubbish. Real experiences are way more complex than the media would have us believe. The movie really does handle the complexity of legality vs morality very well.

Finally I would add that Judy Parfitt as Vera is amazing and I remember thinking at the time she should have got an Oscar nod at least. Now I'm Convinced it was one of the most egregious oversights in academy history.

Will & Grace: Whatever Happened to Baby Gin? (2006) Season 8, Episode 22

The show really ended here - harshly but brilliantly

[10/10 · 15 March 2023]

This episode was brilliantly written. It deals with the reality of the situation that the comedy stems from. I.e. As Vince says to Will 'When are you gonna stop playing house with this woman (and commit to me)?' Seen from twenty years distance it's of it's time. Nowadays, gay men may feel less inclined to attempt to create such a family because the possibility of a family as described by Vince (two guys raising a child that doesn't look like them) seems more possible. The fundamental truth of the relationship between will & Grace is that it was always substitutional. She was always gonna flee if a straight man beckoned her, and Will would always have lacked the courage to break free from her. I loved the show, and Debra Messing is a brilliant actress, but as a Gay man, I knew she was Wills problem not his solution (the writers knew it too and showed us that here). I enjoyed the reboots etc. But this was the real ending of the original convent from a narrative pov.

Blinded by the Light (2019)

Cliche upon cliche and an obviously fake world

[3/10 · 24 February 2023]

I love the Boss, so thought I'd give this a try. It feels like it was written by a twelve year old. And not one who was around in the 80s (when the film is set). A great soundtrack of the pop songs of that time doesn't make up for the predictable, cliched, hackneyed characters, storylines, etc.

One of the weirdest things was the description of high school as one of cliques defined by musical tastes. This is a trope of American schools from a thousand American movies. It is t and wasn't a real picture of British school life. So fake.

The protagonists friend looks like he was dressed and made up by teens trying to do 80s for Halloween. Utterly unreal.

The trite and one sided references to Mrs Thatcher and unemployment are typical of TV and Filmamkwrs in the Uk who always refer to that time with a myopia that is breathtaking and false. Gave up after half an hour.

I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

Ahead of it's time, and still worth the price of admission in 2022

[8/10 · 6 October 2022]

The conceits behind this romantic movie relate to the mental health issues of an active soldier in WW2 (PTSD) and the criminal (prison) record of a woman convicted of manslaughter when a man who was sexually assaulting her fell to his death as a result of her defending herself (#MeToo).

Both resonate strongly in 2022. What might be surprising to some is the nuanced and sensitive way the issues are treated. The film is really not about those issues it's just about the secrets that we keep and how they can get in the way of true love etc.

But it does mean the film holds up very well. It's inteligent and warm and it's leads have great chemistry. Two of hollywoods most underrated actors in my book (Rogers incredible dancing obscures her talent as an actress in hindsight). Cotton had a solid career as both leading man and character actor. And pops up in some great movies and in a variety of roles.

His strength here is that he underplays the melodrama of the characters issues and the potential for cloying in scripts of this kind. Rogers always managed to be real even in a time when actresses were often encouraged not to be so (by script, hair, clothes etc) but she exudes an inner life and that makes her a modern type without other flashing signs.

Here they are supported by the ever wonderful Spring Byington, and there is a sweet turn from a maturing Shirley Temple who is spot on as a girl on the cusp of adulthood and switching between the two sometimes in one conversation. It's escapist and old fashioned filmmaking, couldn't be more out of fashion style wise, but I enjoyed it immensely and I think many people will too.

Ideal Home (2018)

Real, sharp, moving and low on cliches

[8/10 · 30 September 2022]

Not sure why this film wasn't better recieved. Perhaps because the homos here aren't playing up to be liked abd filling some woke expectation of triumphing over their rough coming out experience.

I found the two leads to be truthful and nuanced in their portrayals, so kudos to them and the scriptwriter (you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear)!

The central conceit 'unexpected parenthood changes self absorbed adults for the better', is an old trope, but this time round it's updated not just for the sake of it, but to bring new light through old windows as it were.

I'm sure some will be shocked that straight actors are playing gay, personally I want good actors and these two are both excellent. Much to enjoy for an intelligent audience.

Coffy (1973)

I felt dirty just watching it

[4/10 · 29 September 2022]

It's September 2022 and I just went to see this on the big screen. I love Pam Grier and the 70s vibe I thought I could expect from this movie.

There are elements of it that work pretty well, but it has an amateurish feel that haunts the actors and the script. I'm not the wokest reviewer (it is something that took hold a generation after mine) but the glaring sexism and crass exploitation of even the talented Pam Grier made it unwatchable for me. I am aware that it told a story of its time even at the time, but it reveals even more now about the men who made it. It says little about racism and lots about a debased sub culture that it presents as the black experience. If that were all, it might be watchable if not enjoyable, but to watch the absurd soft porn (girls fighting where all their breast keep escaping) is execrable. It was making headway with some I terating 'types' and I could see where Tarantino got the inspiration for hianjnfjnately superior Jackie Brown from, but after 1.15 I had to leave. Ashamed of sitting there with or without my overcoat! I enjoyed aspects of it, but like the possibly apocraphyl snuff movie audience, I felt if I stayed I would be complicit and have teh #MeToo generation to answer to (and rightly). Thank God Ms Grier was rescued by QT and given a real opportunity to make a lasting mark on cinema. Maybe this was a stage we had to go through, but it's not one we should revisit.

Holy Matrimony (1943)

A glimpse into the legends that was Gracie Fields

[8/10 · 28 September 2022]

Gracie Fields was star of the very earliest part of the 20c, her light shine brightest on the Music Hall stages of the U. K. and on live radio. Though she made occasional ventures into film at home and in the US (and was indeed the highest paid film actress in the word in 1937) her recorded legacy (vinyl apart) is intermittent. The word that 'Our Gracie' came from is gone now, her singing style is so out of fashion as to make her recordings almost wholly obsolete, her humorous stage characters now likewise beyond living memory. But this film does give some insight into the real warmth that she possessed, and some of her real acting talent. Like Gracie, the playwright Arnold Bennett has fallen out of fashion and on the basis of this offering, that's a real shame. The film has charm in abundance, and the leads are excellent. But for me, it's an opportunity to connect with a superstar of her time that is the films biggest treasure. She only worked occasionally in the second half of her life (having busted a gut in her younger years) and it's a shame we have so little to remind us why she was such a star. For me the film has a Capraesque feel, and though it's an old fashioned conceit, it still works. In the mate 60s the play was updated into a stage musical with moderate success. Perhaps it's due for a revamp, the bones of the play are strong. A bit of a forgotten gem all round.

West 11 (1963)

Decent entry in its genre. Dors shines again.

[7/10 · 25 September 2022]

Clearly a lesser known entry in the 'Angry Young Man" brit flick drams of the early 60s. Like This Sporting Life, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, Look Back in Anger et al, its all generational conflict and post war miserabilism. This new realism wore itself out as the 60s really took hold and for many, things did change and improve. Perhaps the young lead Alfred Lynch didnt make it as Harris or Finley did, but he sustained a career over decades. Here he is supported by some stalwarts of British cinema (Kathleen Harrison, Eric Portman and Finlay Currie) and even the poor young actress (Kathleen Breck) saddled with the role of 'tart' which says everything about the double standard of the time and nothing about the character herself. But as is so often the case, the standout for talent and charisma is the much missed Diana Dors. Despite her Rank charm school beginnings, her natural acting talent easily makes the most of the ever so slightly ageing good time girl role she has. Her charisma makes her the most compelling of all the players. Star quality that never left her.

Its not great, but its worth a watch, if only as a reasonably authentic period piece. The Director Michael Winner had more commercial success, but this may be as a good a film as he ever made.

Xanadu (1980)

Treat it as a video compilation and it's fantastic

[7/10 · 9 August 2022]

I am a huge fan of Olivia, and of ELO and of Gene Kelly. The production values are night, the musical sequences are wonderful, there are some great songs and the 40s/80s blend really works between Olivia & Gene. But as much as I love Olivia, the 'straight' bits are very weak. It actually improves, but the early scenes are so dreadfully scripted (like scenes from a kids tv show of the era) that the cringe factor is hard to shake off even if you try to 'get into it'.hot off Warriors Michael Beck is sincere but lost, Olivia is brittle but the director knew it, using her to her best advantage in a series of musical sequences where she is unsurprisingly strong. Gene gives us his last turn as a song and dance man with Olivi and it's a lovely scene. Sadly Beck and Olivia don't click at all. Pity Gene was too old to have that part! It looks great and the music is great and wonderfully staged. But even a fan like me looks the other way when the linking scenes are on and the music dies down.

The Apartment (1960)

Time has made this movie more important and less enjoyable

[7/10 · 14 May 2022]

I remember seeing this movie thirty years ago and recognising how good it was in so many ways. Indeed in many ways much of what made it so back then, is still good. The script, the performances, the atmosphere, the maturity of the scenario etc. But, and here's the thing, I really didn't 'enjoy' it this time. So much of the culture that was reflected in this movie is so obviously appalling, that As a man I felt like a voyeur, a participant in the degradation of the young women. When it was made it took a moral view, it showed us a reality that was distasteful. But at this distance and with #MeToo having enlightened us perhaps even more, even Lemmons character must be seen as a big part of the problem. Th whole situation is so sordid, not because of the 'bad guy' but because it points to the much broader and bigger problem of how men treat women routinely in this culture. Truly shocking and disgusting. It's a brilliant and honest film, and I believe it was mean to shock at the time. But it feels different now, like a glimpse through a window onto a horrible crime scene.

All or Nothing (2002)

Underclass fetishism. Brilliant actors, but what's the point?

[7/10 · 11 April 2022]

Plenty of other reviewers have captured this movie, describing it as a hard to watch dose of poverty realism about some of the British underclass, brilliantly acted grimness, with a long time coming break from the apparently unrelenting nastiness (yes the people are not just miserable, many are often nasty) only towards the end, supposedly this brings a dose hopefulness to this group of people that could sustain them in the future, potentially improving their lives. Ah, if only. I know these people, I worked with them for years. Of course they have hearts and emotions and feel love etc, as well as anger, depression, envy, bitterness, etc....but in reality. These people don't learn from experiences as routine as this. They make the same dumb ass decisions, big and small all day long and eternally once adult. This realisation would be real but short lived, and wouldn't lead to permanent sustainable change in behaviours. So it's fake hopefulness. I love Mike Leigh, but there's a sort of underclass fetish aspect to films like this that is born of his empathy, but has a large dose of naïveté in it too. So bleak, what's the point?

The Goldbergs (2013–2023)

Started brilliantly but it's past it's peak now

[8/10 · 28 February 2022]

This show started well and grew in confidence (getting funnier and funnier) thanks to a barn storming performance from Wendy Mckendon Covey as the insane Beverley Goldberg, and a truly talented cast. Troy Gentile is so good as Barry, in a role that in many hands would make him just an annoying side character.

But, and it's a big but, by S.7 the writers seemed to be overly conscious tht their naarrating character was growing up, and started to continually thrust him into supposedly intense romantic situations (seemingly from the age of 11) which, quite apart from the constant reworking of tired tropes about first love and movie fan references (Say Anything is drawn upon like citizen Kane) borders on creepy as romance is code for sex in teen sitcoms, and neither are usually a high concern for tweens!

This and an over-reliance on once funny device of saying things out loud that we were thinking, really wore me out.

Sian Giambrone, who was an extraordinary young actor, seems forever required to be heartbroken over nothing, and these storylines are like a bad Disney show for ten year olds.

Adam and Barry, are made to spout every thought and half thought in the declarative style and it makes them too knowing and loses the funny.

When the show moves away from Adam and his silly romantic fetishes it can be sharp and funny. But it's later seasons are being undone.

The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

Quintessentially English and somewhat eccentric slice of mid 20c rural life.

[8/10 · 5 February 2022]

I hesitate to call this a 'gentle comedy' because it seems almost patronising. I would not wish to be so about this interesting, quirky and very English film. No doubt some will say me that because there are only straight white people in it, it shouldn't even be accorded viewing time, but for those of us who appreciate films that focus on humanity, community and all its peculiarities, This slice of mid-century English village life is peopled with characters (including the architecture of the village) that I recognise from my own youth. Before we were exposed to the larger world and the worst of it, so unremittingly, and without balance. So many wonderful English character actors who bring flavour to a few lines. One thing to note is the beautifully vivid technicolour which gives real vibrancy to the location filming, heightening the greens as it does. There are people like this all over the world still, people who help their communities, who have local passions and quarrels but who live within a framework of respect and trust. We just don't make films (or TV) about them anymore. Sigh.

Silent Hours (2021 TV Movie)

Frankenstein of a movie with a few saving graces that make it a cult classic contender.

[4/10 · 28 January 2022]

I just watched this film on Netflix. They must be scouring the earth for content as this curio feels like the Frankenstein it obviously is. Elsewhere I read it was shown as a three part tv series in 2017, but it feels as if it was made at least twenty years ago. There are no mobile phones, the cameras are ancient, the detective has a paper roadmap in his car...and the cars themselves are all twenty years old. In itself nothing wrong with an old movie, but this is marketed as a new movie starring Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey star) whereas in fact he has two scenes in the movie. The lead actor is someone I had never heard of, clearly a working actor but not a star name and too old and miscast as this 'irresistible to women sex god' 😂 it has all the hallmarks of a vanity project funded by the leading man to give him a belated crack at James Bond like stardom. It has some incredibly dated attitudes to women,an I don't mean dated 2017 or even 2001, I mean like an episode of The Sweeney in 1975! The serial killers victims are seen as jacked up body parts, something I don't ever need to see in a movie, but here they clearly aren't real, so as gross as it was, it was bearable. The acting isn't bad, but the script is uneven at best, and ridiculous, hackneyed and cliched at worst. Mostly when the leading man's cheroot chewing poor man's Clint Eastwood is speaking. I have a feeling it was filmed years ago and then lay somewhere on a shelf before someone found the cash to finish it off, requiring some odd choices to be made in the editing room, and even possibly the recall of at least one actor for some scenes (Vicky Michelle's scenes look as if they were filmed recently knowing her age etc, Dervla Kirwen's look like Dervla filmed them twenty years ago)! It truly is a bizarre Frankenstein mess in many ways...and yet. The direction is solid, it rips along, the pacing is good, the use of music is great, and dramatic tension really is built up. Some of the actors manage to rise above the script, some do not (I'm speaking to you here the actress playing the shrink). But it actually manages to engage and there's a curious likability to our ageing deviant lothario of a private dick, exposing his saggy buttocks as he bangs yet another grateful beauty. God help me I know it is rubbish, but I think it could become a cult classic. Watch when stoned with friends and don't be afraid to laugh out loud. Making movies ain't easy, but decent actors and excellent direction, music and even plot, can't save a crass, out of date script riddled with cliche.