davejessop-87535 Reviews

Zulu (1964)

How times have changed

[9/10 · 21 March 2024]

Brilliant visual spectacle of a film but reading other reviews shows how times have changed and how it's now cool to say bad things about the British and British Colonialism. Anyway - back to the film - a cast of greats showing absolute bravery in defending a nothing outpost in Southern Africa. Maybe Michael Caine was slightly mis-cast as the upper class officer but does a great job. Stanley Baker great as usual. Nigel Green with the role of his life and, one of my favourites, Patrick Magee as the surgeon. Jack Hawkins as the manic preacher too. Maybe it's not 100% historically accurate but it's a very entertaining film and we should never forget the bravery of this small company of men - it's really a shame that people have to get political in the hope of being trendy in giving this 1* - you should be ashamed of yourselves!

David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

Loved it

[8/10 · 7 December 2023]

The magic of Ricky Gervais is that every single character is real and has something to say and contribute - The Office, Extras, Derek, Afterlife - the characters were all brilliantly written and must have been very easy to play for the actors. Brent is back - pursuing his dream of being a performer and to make it big. We all know he's rubbish, so does everyone around him - the only person that doesn't know is himself and the pathos is brilliant. Ricky may not be everyone's cup of tea but in Brent he's created one of the greatest characters on TV and there are very few of those about these days - maybe in another 15 years there will be another installment - I really hope so.

The Woman in the Wall (2023–2024)

Excellent drama.

[8/10 · 10 November 2023]

On a par with Peter Mullen's The Magdalene Sisters this is a great story of yet another disgraceful episode in the history of the Catholic church. The two leads are both excellent and a lot of great support. Have we found an actor in Daryl McCormack who could finally play Phil Lynott in a biopic? Ruth Wilson's accent is very impressive. My only criticism is the actual plot of the series isn't properly revealed until episode five. This could have been condensed into three episodes or a three hour film to be honest and a lot of the scenes are a little superfluous. All in all very good and it's a story that needed to be told again (it's been 20 years since Mullen's masterpiece). 8.5/10.

Blood & Gold (2023)

It's not Tarantino-like reviewers!

[7/10 · 27 May 2023]

Tarantino stole everything he's done from Japanese, Italian and even Dutch cinema so cannot be viewed as original anyway. This is more like Sergio Leone (often copied too) - gives me a Fistful of Dollars vibe with some Indiana Jones thrown in. The main character acts and even looks like Eastwood too. Very good acting from all concerned and the story (even though copied) is done well. The action is a bit Rambo-esque and is a little slapstick at times. Cinematography is impressive and the music is very good. All-in-all a pretty good entertaining film. Loved the Walter Hill reference on the gravestone - a man who directed his own remake of Fistful of Dollars in Last Man Standing - subtle tribute or a huge coincidence?

The Prisoner (1967–1968)

Not as good as I've got older.

[7/10 · 2 May 2023]

I'm old enough to have watch this series on it's first run and have also watched it several times over the years - the thing is that the older I get the more childish it has seemed, the last 4 or 5 episodes in particular. The best episodes were early on where he was messing with the minds of his captors, a new battle of wits every week but they must have run out of ideas and the quality of the stories declined rapidly. Good to see some of my favourite character actors like Leo McKern, Ronald Radd, Michael Balfour and of course Peter Wingarde though.

On a trivial note, Christopher Benjamin plays a character called Potter in The Girl Who Was Death and also played the same character in the Danger Man film Koroshi (actually two episodes cobbled together) therefore confirming that "The Prisoner" was indeed John Drake.

Gracepoint (2014)

Hard one to give a score to

[7/10 · 25 April 2023]

As a standalone show it was pretty good but here's the problem - it was pretty much lifted from the original Broadchurch - shot for shot and identical dialogue so writing the screenplay would have been a virtual copy and paste. So obviously you have to rate this a little lower. Tennant was excellent as always but the accent did slip a few times. The female lead is not a patch on Olivia Colman (but who is?). The big advantages were the lovely Alisen Down (I just want to give her a hug every time I see her) and obviously the absence of Lenny Henry is a massive plus. It was a shame that everyone who has seen Broadchurch would be dismissing all the red herrings straight away and - maybe if they changed the killer from the original would have got it a 9 rating.

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

All been done before

[4/10 · 1 March 2023]

I love "end of the world" films but the remote cabin and home invasion themes were done to death years ago. It's a bad combination in my opinion (and probably a lot of others too). Throw in the obligatory (for the twenty-twenties) homophobia trope and the whole thing is a bit of a mess. Way too talky as well and the Four Horsemen twist was very obvious too.

The one good thing (which gets the four stars on it's own) is the performance of Dave Bautista. Menacing, sensitive and guilt-ridden all rolled up in a huge meat suit. Impressive.

It's about time Shyamalan got his mojo back - his early films were excellent but I haven't liked anything much since Signs. How many more chances does he deserve?

M3GAN (2022)

Seen it all before

[6/10 · 4 February 2023]

Pretty much a mash-up of Chucky, Small Soldiers and Annabelle with an Aliens and Terminator inspired ending and then watered down for young teens. Well worn tropes all over the place. Just your typical "ghost in the machine" film done several times before and probably better. Lead actress was good even with her annoyingly lank hair. The little girl was fine although an obvious stage school type. Probably the worst thing James Wan has written TBH. This should never have been a PG-13. I bet there will be a sequel after all the over-hyped PR this film has had. I'll probably avoid it anyway to be honest.

Anne (2018)

I'm sure the 1* ratings are people who didn't get it.

[4/10 · 31 August 2022]

OK - so it was slow. Not a problem - The Shining was a slow burner until halfway (not comparing them otherwise). Although I only gave it 4* I thought it was a good story about loneliness and mental degradation. How the chat show host appeared to be the only one she could relate to and the obsession with the dolls that led to self mutilation. One thing did confuse me though. It seemed that the son was seeing her ghost when he visited but why the live-in nurse? Was he hallucinating her?

Anyway - not all horror films needs jump scares or gore - sometimes you just have to think about a film for a moment and see things from a character's (or another persons) point of view - something that a lot of people seem incapable of now we've reached the 2020s and a have a culture of hate for anything you don't like or agree with.

Decent low budget thinking persons film 4/10.

First Wave: The Decision (1999) Season 1, Episode 22

Filler episode

[4/10 · 25 June 2022]

Most series have one sooner or later - did the budget run out or did everyone go on holiday a week early?

Very similar to the ReGenesis episode where they were all on trial in the future - that was their worst episode too.

Not needed IMO - the wraparound story could be incorporated in a proper episode.

Beyond Reality (1991–1993)

Episodes too short

[7/10 · 23 June 2022]

Decent show but at 23 minutes (21 without opening and closing credits) is just way to short to tell the story properly. No character development at all and no back story of the two main protagonists - what motivates them? What is their background or personal life?

Usual collection of Canadian stock actors (Kenneth Welsh, John Tench, Nicholas Campbell, Kate Trotter etc)

Mysterious Ways is a similar show but double the length and had everything and you actually cared about the three main characters because their pasts were revealed

I really don't get why writers and producers would agree to try and tell a story in 20 minutes.

Werewolf (1987–1988)

Well worn trope

[6/10 · 14 June 2022]

Yet another of those "Innocent man roams the country while pursued by a man who believes he's doing good, helping people and making friends along the way on a quest to clear (or cure) himself. No name cast (apart from Chuck Connors who was hardly top of the tree) and it seems all the money was paid to Rick Baker for the effects.

The 22-23 minute episodes were what really killed it - no character development for those in any episode was possible in such a short time and everything just seemed very rushed, no real story either (or attempt at a back story). Seen it all before - The Fugitive, Bixby's Hulk. Logan's Run, The Hitchhiker and dozens of other shows.

Nightflyers (2018)

Too long

[6/10 · 11 June 2022]

An overly diverse cast and a few Irish actors made a pretty boring series - would probably have worked as a 3 hour mini-series because most of it seemed like filler.

Yet again with all modern SciFi shows there is a gay sub plot - WHY? What is the point of alienating most of your audience just to be trendy? - especially as it's the first few episodes - I'm sure a lot of people gave up hence the low rating.

If you want to make gay SciFi then make it but market it as such. After all, 90%+ of the planet is straight! We just want a good story without woke gimmicks.