Malcolm Brooks

This is a major disappointment.It starts at a decent pace but very quickly becomes bogged down in a narrative that is a tedious meandering slog.All this with the addition of The Borg Queen and Q who should have livened up proceedings but don't despite excellent performances from Alice Wersching and John de Lancie.The writing is poor and the time travel scenario over familiar.

I thought this one of the best dramas of 2021.Exceptionally well acted particularly by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jessica Plummer the latter being particularly moving.David Oyelowo was equally good intensely composed suggesting something volcanic beneath.The interweaving of two storylines three years apart was done with great dexterity and flair.I didn't find it slow at all and thought the pacing just right.Of course there are holes in the narrative but the drama's strengths nullified these for me. The ending as the truth was unveiled was somewhat predictable but overall a good powerful psychological drama.

A major,major disappointment.Turgid,dull and interminable simply far,far too long.Good roles for the leads but I had given up caring long before the end.A mesmerisingly boring slog not even relieved when after an eternity Jimmy Hoffa finally meets his end.Weak script and flat direction.It pains me to say it but a huge let down.

After a promising start with an intriguing and gripping premise Freaks fails to deliver.The narrative becomes confusing and repetitive and one starts to lose any interest in the story or characters.Bruce Dern typecast as an ageing pain in the neck is very tiresome.Lexy Kolker as Chloe is however excellent.

This is a film that promises much and delivers very little.It is well acted and photographed but the narrative is always slightly out of focus and remains frustratingly elusive.It doesn't help that it is directed as if this was holy writ coming down from Mt Sinai with a stifling, thudding solemnity.This film needs what it promises in it's title,violence.Not necessarily physical although a real sense of threat would help.The violence of passion,spirit, life .Sadly the script and direction are unable to provide anything so gripping.

I can honestly say this is one of the most turgid films I have ever seen.The central narrative is a difficult one to deliver and here is done in so laborious a fashion that the movie is like wading through treacle.The futuristic feel and cinematography are the only plusses.Othetwise this is an incoherent and times thoroughly unpleasant mess.

Problem with this film is its complete and utter predictability.There are no surprises,shocks or indeed one hint of originality.The game is given away in practically the opening scene and after that despite the best efforts of the cast this film is on a ride to nowheresville.This thus leaves time to ponder the fundamental ludicrousness of the narrative that a better film would conceal.A major disappointment.

For a series like this to work with a depth and bite that the script occasionally promises the balance between comedy,satire and authenticity needs to be better.This tips too far towards the comedic end of the spectrum and ends up being so ludicrous that I can invest little care for the characters.Surely it cannot be right that Nicholas Hoult ostensibly playing a dim witted tyrant should be more sympathetic than Elle Fanning's Catherine.Shorn of sufficient historical accuracy this series ends up pointless and lame.Never as funny or gripping as it promised initially to be.

Somehow for me The Shape of Water doesn't quite come together.Visually stunning and with moments of touching tenderness it is nevertheless lacking.The narrative teeters at times on the edge of absurdity and repugnance and there is so little dramatic tension and memorable dialogue that it never grips or enchants as it should.Whimsy and sentiment are just not enough.For me Del Toro's masterpiece remains Pan's Labyrinth a more fully realised work than The Shape of Water.

Michael Keaton gives a barnstorming performance as the man who made McDonald's for good or bad what it is today.Driven to the point of psychopathy Keaton's playing of Ray Kroc is subtle and nuanced never wholly likeable but never wholly unlikeable bringing out the many sides to his personality.The McDonald brothers are poignantly played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch.An informative, fascinating and very entertaining film.