Friedrich Stuart

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Err 20 mins in, and I'm a tad confused...is this a Ridley Scott film? The same Ridley Scott that directed 'Alien' and 'Bladerunner'? Because, I'm certainly not getting that winning vibe...This is pretty awful so far, very clunky beginnings, seems like one has come in somewhere in the middle, the storyline seemspat and boring and nothing has been set up to allow me to engage with these characters...all the more so since I do not know who they are, Paul Mescal??, Peter Mensah??, Yuval Gonen???, errr who are they when there at home???...Terrible CGI, clunky handheld, and I suspect inaccucurate battle techniques and weapons for 200AD...So far I have no empathy for the characters, no avenue into the story, no liking for the camerawork or computer imagery...and, let's face it, no interest in going any further...There's a reason why Senior Citizens have to sit driving tests every year after the age of 85...and I suspect the old Riddles has recently failed his,,,hardly a last Hurrah

That this series is eminently watchable is basically down to the casting of Sharon D. Clarke, and the real lack of any viable new genre specific alternatives...Clarke is the delightfully understated elephant in the room and must cherish the role where a nod is equally as good as a wink, or indeed as several lines of dialogue that might trip up the unsuspecting actor, and it is indeed our focus on this strong and thoughtful character, that allows us to forgive what is basically a pretty flimsy premise of super-police oversight, fairly ordinary cases and in truth, fairly half-drawn characters, that, at least on the police side are almost caricatures. In fact, based on their portrayal, one could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that the majority of English coppers, are lazy, racist, mysoginistic, and basically lacking in the little grey cell department...To this end I wonder at the choice of Andrew Gower's DS Harper over Charlotte McCurry's DC Trent as off-sider, when(as portrayed in Ep. 1.) the latter was clearly the more capable and rational choice...hmmmm...anyway, unless the excellent "Endeavour" or like is unlikely revived, "Ellis" will do for now...3 stars for Sharon Clarke

Well, 2 episodes in and I'm a tad underwhelmed, although I have to say, that I don't think that this material has ever been translated from the books themselves in an effective way, and this includes the recent films...All screen presentations have seemed too slow in transmitting limited information, and this effort appears no different...the visuals are fine , but the pacing is just a tad tedious, as is the dialogue...a sort of failed melodrama, a bit like sands through the hourglass, where your counting every grain...The acting despite questionable casting, is okay, so the fault lies in the writing, the screenplay, which seems a little house of dragony rather than game of thronesy, and I mean that not in a good way, not sure about the terminator subtext either...I'll hang in there, though mainly because of the limitations of current offerings...

Absolute garbage...and the ripoff continues. This work like others in this post solo Lee Child "Reacher" universe is clearly for the most part written by franchisee Andrew Child, the less talented member of the family...and I mean barely readaible, the quality of the writing, plot design etcetera would be hard pressd to garner a C in High School English Lit...but his well known, at least in the penny dreadful stakes, brother keeps propping him up with 'maybe' a paragraph here or there, and more importantly, a highly recognisble and marketable name, in what can only be called a cynical and mercenary campaign to extort money from vapid coattailers in an unadventurous and captive market who think that 'Name' dog-poop is anything more than well, exactly what it smells like...The true worry here is that literary stakes have sunk so low that making serious coin from this kind of fugazi is even possible...I mean Lee himself is no Agatha Christie, nor even John le Carre...Gotta say that if this is the modern measure of good crime fiction you can forget the shades, because the future just ain't that bright...

Like Redmayne, so far so good with regard to the storyline(Episode 1.) with a few caveats in regard to believability, although suspension of dis-belief engaged...Buuut...Really, I mean Reeeaaalllyyy detest the soundtrack...someone's rather niche, and got to say pretty awful playlist....I mean...if yer gonna...at least choose instrumental... These gaggingly awful tunes, ruined things for me, re-engaged disbelief and generally dispelled all enjoyment...and if you don't think the music is important...try watching the first three "Star Wars " films without the John Williams sound track...

An absolute travesty, given perfectly good feed material. I've been a fan for some time of Jean Cristophe Grange's work, and I extend that praise to the several well-made films of his novels including the two "Crimson Rivers" movies starring Jean Reno. Honestly, I wonder how he could agree to have his name attached to the now 4 x T.V. Series, bearing the name. Not only are the scenarios themselves not up to the standard of the books mysteries, but the entire raison d'etre, the motivations and the bearing of the two lead characters is significantly off. Niemans, "The dark and mysterious Veteran police officer, called in to assist with the most difficult and unsavoury crimes, due to his own criminal connections, and scapegoat qualities, is played by Olivier Marchal, as a kind of grubby prima donna, an arrogant and aging Harry Callahan, completely lacking in insight or empathy with the criminal mind. The character, as depicted, is so absurdly obtuse as to be caricature, more akin to the comedic "Bookman(library investigator) in Sienfeld than any serious or ("celebrated" sleuth, in itself anachronistic). As for the absurd "Lieutenant Delauney", played by Erika Sainte as a feckless, though equally arrogant ingenue...the question is how this pouting and, by equal measures harmless and useless little girl ever made it into the police force to begin with, let alone to the rank she bears with all the aplomb of a Shirley Temple...Incredible shame and one solitary star

Utterly absurd...This universe continues to degenerate...Black Adam is not even a worthwhile parody of the wholly regrettable comic book movie genre...One can only posit why mindless violence, and endless revenge are tropes that are seemingly so strongly identified with by Western populations, perhaps the continued withering of valuable public institutions, and culture before the infinite rapaciousness of the almighty buck holds the key...Whatever, the true answer, the popularity of these movies does not bode well for a Renaissance of true human commerce and art, anytime in the foreseeable future...more's the pity...

At times both interesting and annoying, poignant and cloyingly hackneyed, Amsterdam is ultimately a hodge-podge of a film, undermined by lack of direction, vision and clarity. It suffers most through the warring factions of artistry and sentiment, and can't seem to decide on the best vehicle for expression, meaning that if MCLuhan is right "The Message" itself is some sort of garbled mix of fad-ism, (ironic)social engineering, consumerism and self-congratulatory(again, ironically redundant) moral proselytizing...These problems aside, the film is buoyed by a "Mostly", very strong cast, with many players having nice little cameos or character moments. Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Zoe Saldana and Taylor Swift to name a few .. Margot Robbie and Christian Bale are in form, although I thought Bale was a bit gratingly overstated in the role..and then we come to "John David Washington", one of the 3 main players and unfortunately a man who could not act to save his own life...He seems devoid of all, including the most basic emotional/physical responses a real deadpan( and not in a good, Bud Abbott type of way) and his tag team is Christian Bale??? whose entire career is based on living the role... think of the chalkiest chalk and the cheesiest cheese...Hello!...casting 101...there is no on screen simpatico, no empathy between these characters, and this drives what could have been a misjudged though pleasantly entertaining effort farther south than might have been the case...oh, and by the way...To the reviewer, who made glowing and ebullient, comparisons between this film and "Naked Lunch".....hmmmmmm...ya think?????

Utterly uninspired "comic-who-dun-it" set in the 1950's and foregrounding a series of murders during the run of Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap. Given that the mix of players include Adrian Brodie, Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan, one might have expected more than the dull as dishwater result, that is completely lacking in both humor Or suspense. For that I suspect Tom George "Director" and Mark Chappel "Writer" are the chief culprits. The characters are effectively mere cardboard cutouts, relying either on the players names or the thinnest of bio's, and this together with a complete lack of rhythmic dialogue or actor simpatico, make the whole too light on, not tragic enough for comic relief, nor comic enough on its own. Yet casting, may also have played a part here...As good as the name actors are, comedy really requires great timing and empathy between the players, and that was not evident here...Rockwell probably played it too straight in response to Ronan's over-the-top bumbler...a closer study of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello might have made a difference,,,as for who-dunnit, I'd rather ponder who's on first...2 stars