Anne Morgan – Google

Jeez this is bad, Very bad. For some reason this is billed as season one (!). We're 'treated' to two episodes back-to-back, Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord. Space Babies is a sugar overload in cringy cuteness. But is watchable, if not exactly engaging. The Devil’s Chord is dire tedium. Almost impossible to watch to the end. Russell T Davies is there, hammering home the woke message, with all the subtly of a gorilla with a baseball bat. Simplified to the level of a Jack and Jill children's book, so us dense plebs can understand. Yes, have a message if you want, but the thing has to be watchable in the first place. No wonder the ratings are taking a nosedive.

Anyone hoping that The Walking Dead would get back on track with this new series is in for disappointment. The over earnest pretentious dialogue, the morose, boring, nothing happens episodes, and generally taking itself far too seriously path that made the last few seasons of TWD almost unwatchable, is not only continued, but stepped up a few notches. The only relief is that being only 6 episodes, we don't have the frustration and disappointment of seeing a good series ruined by the destruction of character development and the terrible static plots that defined the tailend of TWD.

Self contained (although there is a fugitive background story) one hour murder mystery in the fashion of '70s American detective shows watched on a Saturday night, eg Quincy, The Rockford Files, and Columbo. Natasha Lyonne, playing kooky Charlie Cale, channels her inner Columbo for a 21st century audience. That's it really, it's a reboot of Columbo. But with the addition that Charlie Cale has some sixth sense that allows her to detect a lie (hence the title), which gets a bit absurd and annoying after a while. The uneven tone doesn't help. I believe each episode is done with different people, writers etc. So the first episode has a dark edge, which works. But then subsequent episodes become more schmaltzy and corny. Although it does have a certain charm and some nice touches, and Natasha Lyonne is good.

If you're familiar with the style of Terrence Malick or Ben Wheatley you'll have some idea of what you're getting here. An avant-garde, irritating, self-indulgent student film. Kelly played as a child by Orlando Schwerdt is very good. Russell Crowe appears in a couple of scenes, which briefly lifts it to a cinematic experience. But this ultimately only serves to make you realize just how bad the rest of the film is. Unable to watch it all in one sitting (due to fallng into a coma). Watched the second half the next day, and it gets even worse.

Smug superior A-listers use satire (I use that word loosely) to explain how the rest of us are just so stupid. The allegory (the film is really about climate change, wink wink) doesn't really work on any level. The central theme is that our politicial masters and the media are playing down the threat of climate change. When clearly, if anything they are doing the exact opposite, they never stop bloody banging on about it.

Brilliant Hammer Studios film. Not a gothic horror. It's quite unlike any other Hammer film. The plot, based on a Denis Wheatley novel, is bizarre. It's far too complicated and crazy to explain in detail, but basically a small passenger/cargo ship, with a dodgy captain and cargo, and an equally motley collection of half dozen passengers leaves Africa in a hurry. Ends up in a floating 'lost continent' ship graveyard of seaweed, populated by sea monsters, vikings, and Conquistadors. Truly nuts, but great fun.

Pretty run-of-the-mill fish-out-of-water whodunit detective series, e.g. 'Death in Paradise', etc. With all the associated bad acting and ridiculous scenarios that go with it. Although I have to say Haluk Bilginer as Inspector Cetin Ikmen is pretty good. What lifts it above the multitude, is of course the Turkish, Istanbul setting. Plenty of shots of the Bosphorus, bustling street scenes, Turkish tea, street food, and the ubiquitous stray semi-feral cats of Istanbul. The cats have a bigger part than some of cast (and are arguably better actors), and no opportunity is missed to place them in a scene.