Lady Judiva

This is by far, one of the most important, gripping, shocking and deeply angering and tragic documentaries to watch. It is heart-breaking and sensitive viewers need to be warned that this story will crack you open and leave you wanting to be in the story to take matters into your own hands. Susan Lorincz can only be described self-centred, psychopathic, and downright evil and her sentence was a joke. Everyone needs to see this movie to remind themselves that tolerance, patience and kindness are virtues. Everyone was an ‘annoying’ kid once, but like the one sheriff said - he’d rather them playing that stealing. If my neighbourhood there are loud kids but they’re kids - and I would rather hear them playing and having fun , knowing they’re safe, enjoying being children, than otherwise. And that’s community living. Susan Lorincz played the victim card and yet she was hateful towards those children - calling them racist names and saying the most vile things to them showed her true heart. ‘Stand your ground’ was her opportunity to unleash her vitriolic anger and ‘be right’. Because the police were not doing her bidding, and yet for the first time in 2.5 years, she DIDN’T call the police, rather, she exploited a law to end the life of a woman who was rightfully standing up for her child after 1.5 years of harassment. A woman who loved her children and who worked a honest job to provide for them. Ajike Owens was her name. A mother who had finally had enough of the harassment her children endured by the White neighbour who hated Blacks and Black children. Susan Lorenz further minimised what she had done and did not take responsibility for her role in her unending dispute with the children who she hated annd wanted to silence. She lied about so many things (a Dr??) to elevate herself above people she hated because she is a racist and entitled . She could’ve been kind, and maybe win them over and stuck a deal to have some quiet periods. She could’ve moved into an aged care facility or to the middle of the desert but people like Susan Lorincz thrive off of making others’ lives miserable and standing their ground no matter what. To what end? Now she has done irreparable damage and caused trauma that will haunt those poor children forever. The video footage of her being questioned and then refusing to get up is so infuriating. She learns she just murdered a woman - a mother - in front of her young children and all she can do is think about herself, and claim ‘I was raised to believe that using the ‘n’ word’ was blah blah rubbish! She allegedly couldn’t find her phone but she had her firearm. And she sure had her phone every time she called the police unnecessarily to attempt To get them to bow down and obey her as wel. When they wouldn’t, she hatched a plan. Get your tissues and watch this with a friend because you will sob with those children and be enraged at the lack of justice (escorting her back to her house where she murdered the mother of the children who remained in the. Neighbourhood - in the infancy of processing their grief). And remember her name: Ajike Owens. Remember her name. 5 stars hot because it was Enjoyable to watch, but because it was brilliantly compiled and one of the most important documentaries of this century.

I binge watched the entire series of 6 episodes and found this to be a typical Jed Mercurio offering - slick, suspenseful, clever, brilliantly acted and directed and with enough twists and turns to keep the audience guessing from the beginning to the end. But let’s talk about the end… the diabolical end..: Like Line of Duty the last episode is slapped together, and confuses everything you’ve been lead to believe from actual villains to what you thought was good police work and bad police work… it seems that Jed Mercurio has a problem with his story endings. Perhaps he gets too carried away in the beginning and middle and then gets ahead of himself, unsure how to tie up the loose ends and bring his otherwise exceptional storytelling to a triumphant and satisfying ending. Yes… the journey is important, but movies and tv series are like romance…. They need to end well and the climax needs to be memorable. For all the right reasons…

Each series and even episodes within the series deserve their own reviews, because they can vary from 2.5 stars to 5 stars. But as an overall, this series is utterly binge-worthy, the acting is exceptional, the pace face, the script (mostly) intelligent and although there are some episodes which are insulting and too far-fetched for a series which mostly holds its integrity intact as far as writing, storyline, and believability are concerned, overall, this series is deliciously brilliant. O unfortunately, the final episode is a train wreck, it’s an insult to viewers and it’s as though Jed Mercurio just got bored but wanted to be as outlandish as possible. He also doesn’t take criticism well, and defended the ending which hints at a grandiose view of himself - he can do no wrong and can’t improve. On the upside, there is another season to look forward to in 2026!

If a movie or tv series has too many flaws in the first 10-15 minutes then there’s nothing that can salvage it. No spoilers here if you watch the trailer. The lead character and her daughter have been in Spain for 5 years, yet the daughter’s accent sounds as though she never left the UK and the mother hasn’t learned any Spanish. Considering Erin/Kate has a history of violence, you expect her to immediately notice the empty convenience store bar the turned over trolleys…. Miraculously, she manages to hide her daughter and flee back straight across the aisle where the one gun man is headed; without being noticed. When she engages in a scuffle with one of the masked gunman, who managed to pin her down and is able to see her face, he still only recognised her once she’s successfully fought him off and removed his mask. Despite the traumatic events, with injuries to her hip, ribs and concussions (more than 1?) she is dismissed from Hospital with painkillers… no remaining in hospital for observation and seemingly, her daughter isn’t treated - not for shock nor anything else. Counselling isn’t offered until later when the Nurse boyfriend, who is credited with delivering cheesy soap-opera-esque lines ‘are you ok?’ ‘Are you sure you’re ok?’ After he’s helped her sneak into the masked gunman’s room. But prior to leaving the hospital, any trauma the daughter has experienced is dealt with with the offer of a fizzy drink and snack. Yippee! Sorted! The same daughter has just been suspended from the school musical for viciously attacking a boy… not suspended from school, but just from the school musical. No red flags whatsoever that perhaps she needs counselling prior to the traumatic event at the supermarket. But even prior to arriving in Spain where the main character somehow gets a job as a teacher, she and her young disguise flee the UK by paying cash to people smugglers and boarding a small boat To make their escape. It’s dull, badly acted and the writers must’ve been on laughing gas when they wrote it, because it’s so bad it’s comedic. The 15 minutes I bothered investing, plus extra minutes with the trailer, were enough to rate this show: I refuse to waste valuable time when it’s sloppy from the word go. Who is Erin Carter? Who cares?

I’m usually incredibly picky and highly scathing of movies which might be given great reviews by others, so what an absolute thrill to be utterly engrossed in all 2 hours of this high action, brilliantly acted and directed, intelligent film. The story is original and the pace is fast where it needs to be and steady where required, although the slower 2nd part could’ve done with some more fleshing out. It could easily be a mini series and fleshed out even more because of its cleverly written and mapped out storyline, nevertheless, the viewer is treated to a binge of the entire story with sufficient detail to know exactly what’s going down in Shelby Springs. The acting is superb and the Western-type car chases and shoot-outs are balanced with slower nail-biting scenes which provide enough source for the adrenaline junkie, whilst maintaining the integrity of its lead character - Terry, played by the highly talented Aaron Pierre. This film could quite easily have been a self-indulgent from the film makers perspective as it had plenty opportunity to go full throttle with gratuitous, over-the-top, nonsensical violence, blood and gore like one of the Angel/Olympus/London has Fallen movies. However, it didn’t need to. The action and violence were brilliantly choreographed and skillfully executed and justice, rather than revenge, was the underlying aim of Terry and Vicky (AnnaSophia Robb). Don Johnson was perfectly cast and the rest of the cast supported the main characters with easy and believability. I didn’t want it to end, but the story ended where it needed to. I sincerely hope we get to see more of (the very easy-on-the-eye) Aaron Pierre whose calm, military-trained demeanour and integrity remained throughout the movie and whose use of Martial Arts was a tribute to its philosophy. There are plenty of action-packed movies on Netflix but to keep the audience on their seat, entertained and enthralled for 2 hours, whilst providing an original storyline which unfolds at the right pace, is rare. This movie deserves a watch and a re-watch.

Urgh. I’m utterly sick of investing ANY time into the rubbish Britbox insists on insulting viewers with. 25 minutes in and I’d seen the nipples of 2 women, 2 sex scenes with what’s his face and Odessa Young’s character l, what’s his face’s butt, and listened to a scratched record of cello music in the background as though something might make this gratuitous female nudity, orgasms, a carton of ciggies and glibness between Colin Firth and what’s her face start to move as fast as the bicycles that Odessa’s character and the only interesting one - Lily - were riding. When a rebel daughter driving to somewhere, shoved the family car into a lower gear in order to speed and protest her parents’ displeasure at her driving, I suddenly regained consciousness. It was the fastest pace of this sleep fest brief interjection becfore Jane and Hair buttt weren’t it again. I’m relieved I didn’t get to see the worst of it which I only learned about when coming to vent my review! No, the story did not even remotely HINT at being deep and moving. Please. Maybe for audiences trying to find the first straw in a bunch to hold, let alone clutch.!It was a ruse. I didn’t need to sit through another moment that made root canal treatment without anaesthesia feel like a more interesting past-time. Epic fail. How embarrassing. Olivia Coleman must be cast in roles where that same frozen, disturbed, disagreeable and indignant expression is required. It’s like her call card. She reminds me of Erin Patterson.. Kudos only to the costume designer and that’s all.And it has to be said that the tea that Coleman’s character poured as very UNBritish. About as weak as embarrassing attempt at being artsy when it was just fartsy. Nobody outside of ‘Not so) Great (at every piece of cinema they produce)!Britain knows much about these actors (apart from Firth, whose best days are behind him, it would seem). So bad. Miffed I paid for a year of (Sh)Br(it)Box

1 star per 10 minutes that I’ve watched of this diatribe. The oinky voices, the studio set looking like a spruced up ‘Home Improvement’ set (which was fitting… for THAT series… in the 80s…), Aja Naomi King channeling Jennifer Love Hewett in ‘Party of Five’ (intolerable then, worse as a pastiche re-take almost 30 years later…and the shallowness and over-the-top characters (nobody is funny nor likeable - unlike the characters in Desperate Housewives (also ancient) where at least the acting and humour were well executioned… and that’s just in the first 20 minutes…. If that… not helped by Geranium’s mother’s response to her not wanting children which was the cringey clincher: ‘the thing is… Dreamers don't get far. They just get hurt.’ How deep. Oh my word. Fortunately for me I have brain cells in storage to replace the ones I lost watching this bunkum. Perhaps this is one for the (late) 30 somethings who are still getting over the fact that their life isn’t S** (of which there’s plenty in this tripe) and the City. Type-casting and ‘yay, I’ve landed a role’ might’ve been in the actors’ minds when they took these roles and perhaps there may be some snippets of acting training evident in this series but anyone with an IQ of over 80 who has laundry to do …. it’ll be more entertaining that this B-grade rubbish. The reviews by film critics are correct. And although there isn’t a 2nd series… (what a surprise…), I wouldn’t know either way.

UK ‘drama’ is clutching at straws. 24 minutes in and I felt like I was watching an amateur high school film. Acting is so bad, script is so copied, and the gags are worse than dad jokes. Yawn.

It’s important to consider that Melissa McCarthy wrote this narcissistic diatribe. And a such, she ensured that she had the majority of the processed pork pie. Like Clint Eastwood in The Mule, who ensured he had young women adoring him in Ghe Mule, Melissa wrote her character, and cast herself, (then 46) as the love interest of a student, Jack, played by the then 22 year old Luke Benward, who Deena admits to her daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon) is ‘less than half her age’. A one-night stand would’ve been believable - the older woman wet dream and the mid life dumped divorcee is believable but falling in love with her was a stretch of the imagination that nobody has. At least Jack was ‘only’ 24 years her junior, unlike the ever womanising Clint Eastwood who would need viagra to rise to the occasion with the character-less women in The Mule who are young enough to be his great grandchildren. But… The Mule was a good movie, despite the weak female characters.. Moving on with The Life of the Party, whose characters are mostly like weak tea, or just mute, and who barely have any dialogue compared to Melissa’s character. It’s all about Deena, and it’s all about Melissa. This movie showed promise at the start, but the opportunity to further explore themes relating to unskilled women who’ve been dumped h their husbands and reclaim what’s been lost, it just goes downhill with a particularly b grade scene where she and her dim adorers, trash her husband’s wedding reception. It’s just so bad, and boring, that you can’t help wondering what the point was other than to ensure Melissa was the centre of attention. The. Entire. Time. Poor Luke Benward - in the same year he was (type?) cast in the brilliant movie Dumpling, but also as someone who falls in love with the fat girl. 7 years after Life of the Party was realised in May, 2018, it’s still on ‘free to air.. go figure) tv. Don’t waste your time. It’s a heap of rubbish. A bit like ALDI ads, except ALDI still delivers, unlike this slap-stick, unfunny, waste of time.

I suppose I shouldn’t be writing a review only half half way through this drivel, but I can’t bring myself to watching the rest of this tripe. Good story or not, the acting is mostly very mediocre - some of the accents are a mishmash of attempted Scottish, and a particular misophonic nightmare is Ellie Kendrick’s English/Russian/French accent. George’s mother, (the late) Anne Louise Ross was 8o or 81 when this film was shot which makes the casting questionable considering she played the mother of the then 30/31 year old (mentioned in a now hushed voice) Kevin Guthrie who looked 20. The music is more Irish than Scottish and the whole show is rather like an amateur pantomime with poor attempts at humour. Yawn Galore! More like. The movie sinks like the Whiskey ship and at this point I refuse to give any more time to this B-grade rubbish unless I have whiskey galore to help me forget.