Dec 2015

Justified. S5. Excellent. 4/5
A Cavalcade of Variety. Arthur Brough. Billy Cotton. People flying around a stage with a motorbike. Brilliant clown. 3.5/5
Fargo. S02. V good. Ted Danson and Kirsten Dunst in particular. 4/5
Looper Joseph Gordon Levitt. Sci-fi thriller. Not bad. 3.5/5
Luther S04? Not bad. Benefited from being just two episodes.
Homeland. S0? Excellent. 4.5/5
Death goes to School. Gordon Jackson. Made at Merton Park Studios. Recognised Canizzaro House as the girls' school! good old fashioned murder mystery 3/5
Bourne Identity/Supremacy - exciting stuff. Ultimatum to come. 4/5 each but probably not worth watching again. So 3/5.
Keith Richards: Under the Influence. 3.5/5 Just showed what a better guitarist than singer (or writer when MJ not involved.) But worth watching. If only for the archive footage of muddy waters, howling wolf, chuck berry etc etc While watching, drinking JD and Coke!!!!

Oct-Nov 2015

Deadly Hunt. Made for TV movie with Tony Franciosa. Pretty good. Forest fires. Two assassins. Evil husband trying to kill rich wife. 60s jazzy score. Guitar and harpsichord in different tempos like they do in Butch and Sundance. 3/5
Imagine.... Beware of Mr Baker. BBC doc about Ginger Baker. Thoroughly nasty man but Jesus could he play drums. Quite well put together. 3.5/5
Dr Foster. Crap. 1/5 earned purely by Suranne Jones. Plot and characters totally unbelievable.
Jigsaw. Brighton. Jack Warner. 3/5 but I need to watch the last half hour again.
The Party's Over. Ollie Reed. 60s beatnicks. Weird. 2.5/5
The Dick Powell Show. Crazy Sunday. Dana Andrews, Rip Torn, Vera Miles etc based on F Scott F short story about a Hollywood scriptwriter. Excellent. 4/5 (last week watched one about the early days of the FDA - w/ William Bendix and Bert Freed also v good)
Three cases of murder. 3/5. Pretty good anthology. Alan Badel in each film.
Bronson. Tom Hardy - a genius. 3.5/5.
Beat Girl. Adam Faith. 3/5. Sort of interesting.
Back to the Future. 4/5. Great fun. It was BTTF day this week.
Dateline Diamonds. 2/5. Small Faces. Conrad Phillips. Kiki Dee. Apart from the safe-blowing scene it was pretty contrived.
Dance Hall. Everybody in it even Harry Fowler. Bit with Petula Clark's parents buying her a dres was moving. 3.5/5
The Gorbals Story. Made at Merton. Based on a stage play. Not bad. 3/5
Doc Martin. 4/5. Season 7. Really enjoyed it. Think there was an in joke with a signpost to Labilla Manor. And a heart-warming ending.
Watched Unforgotten (ugly bird) Nicola
Watching Justified Season ?
Watching Castle Season ?
Harry Brown. Michael Caine. Better than Gran Turino. Because British! 4/5.
Calvary. 3.5/5. Interesting... Catholic priest threatened (during confession) to be killed by parishioner who was raped by priest as a child. Beautifully shot.

August-Sept 2015

The Quatermass Xperiment. Hammer produced at Bray. Excellent. Worth watching to see the garage at Bray, London Zoo prices at 2/- for adults, 1/3 for children, and a working Battersea Power Station. 4/5
The Lair of the White Worm. Oh dear. Ken Russell. Lots of sex and stuff but oh dear. Peter Capaldi. Etc. but oh dear. 2/5. Worth watching for the guy with the lazy eye as a PC.
Taken. Liam Neeson. Luc Besson co-wrote it! Gripping stuff until,the finale asked you to suspend a little too much disbelief. 3/5
Witnesses. TV. French. Atmospheric but sort of not properly worked out. Good sense of place. Well acted. 3.5/5
Blade Runner. Director's cut. 1997. Enough said. 5/5
Line of Duty. Season one. All five episodes. Great stuff. Well plotted. Gritty. Exciting. Good acting. Etc etc 4.5/5
Odyssey. I enjoyed it. Marg stopped watching halfway through. Worth sticking with. 3.5/5
Doctor Who. Season 1. 4.5/5. My favourite companion.
Doctor Who. Season ? has begun. OK.
Castle S04 - all except first half dozen or so episodes. Excellent ending. Then watched first of season 5.
Doctor Foster - half way through 5 episodes. Suranne Jones the only good thing about it.
Hunger Games: Mockinjay pt1 Bit of a let down after first two - prob cos they've extended it over two parts. So there wasn't a b, m and end. 3/5?
Lawrence of Arabia. Awesome. Watched over two nights. Fewer credited than hairdressers on Mockingjay. Full of 'moments' 5.5/5
Nightcrawler. JG. Disturbing. (Eliot's word) Really well acted.
Frances Ha. Mono. Brilliant lead actress who co-wrote. 4/5

April-August 2015

Luther. S01 - first 3 of 6 so far. Pretty good.
Frozen Ground. Alaska. Serial killer. Nic Cage and John Cusack. Both v good. Vanessa Hudgens good too 3/5
Rest of Luther. 3.5/5. Lot of sod, but OK. (Suspension of disbelief)
Suspect Zero. 3/5. Bit complicated. Serial killer. Quantico. Foresight. Ben Kingsley.
Super 8. 4.5/5. JJAbrams. Spielberg. Great fun.
Oceans Eleven. Not my idea
Inside no 9. Series two. Four episodes so far. Excellent.
Up in the Air. George Clooney - slick script. 4/5
Carnage. Roman Polanski. Superb - esp Jodie Foster and Kate Winslett. Lots of shouting. Lots of changing dynamics. 4/5
Luther - only four episodes. Got better as it went along. But still too much sod for its own good. Exciting stuff. And British! 3.5/5
Chef's Table. Netflix documentary series. Episode 1. Excellent.
The Music Lovers (DVD) - as wonderful as I remembered it to be. 5/5, but only because I am biased towards anything by Ken Russell - Glenda Jackson was brilliant - the scratching carpet stuff, the twins, the fireworks. And written by Melvyn Bragg! Who knew? I had forgotten the committing suicide by jumping into a canal bit. Up to his knees. V funny. I wonder if the scratching carpet bit was improvised. And Bruce Robinson!
Jindabyne. Australian but with Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne. Bit tedious. 2.5/5
Locke. Excellent. Tom Hardy drives to london and has phone conversations with people and his life is turned upside down. Olivia Coleman, Andrew Scott and Ruth Wilson among the voices. Admittedly it could have just as well been a radio play, but v clever the way the story is told. And quite poetic in its use of concrete farming. (Although I understand they got a few bits wrong) In the same way that Glengarry Glen Ross used real estate. 4/5
The American. George Clooney. We believed the RT etc that it was a crime thriller. So would give it 1/5. I'm going to wait a few months and watch it again because it appears it might be an art house film that is worth a higher score - and indeed would be less disappointing
Your Starter For Ten. Rom com with James McAvoy Rebecca Hall (v good) and Alice Eve. Sort of about a young man's obsession with University Challenge. 3.5/5. Tres amusant.
Manhattan 3/5. Bit dated? Bit self-absorbed. (Woody Allen)
Luther S03. Still excellent.
American Sniper. 4/5. Not going to get into the politics. Exciting stuff.
Marvels's Agents of Shield. S02. Still don't know what's going on. 3/5
The Big Bang Theory. S0? Still brilliant. 5/5
The Carson City Kid. Roy Rogers. 4/5. Western B movie. Excellent, esp Gabby Hayes, Noah Beery Jr and Trigger
King of the Cowboys. Not quite as good but still not bad. 3/5
Sunset Serenade. RR. 3.5/5. About dodgy land dealing. Gabby in it again.
Jesse James at Bay. RR. 3/5. Overly complicated tale. But Gabby was good.
Shakespeare in Love. 4.5/5. Script. Cast. Etc.
Black Work. Three part TV series. Sheridan Smith. Dirty cop thriller. OK. 3/5
Odyssey. First three episodes. Anna Friel. Promising.
The Family. Luc Besson film. 3.5/5. Maybe 4. Slept occasionally. Prob need to watch again. Worth it. De Niro. Pfeiffer. TLJ. Fuck. Set in France.
American Hustle. Acting great. Not sure whether it really worked. Brad Cooper. J-law. Etc 3.5/5
The Conversation. Kept me awake. The reveal didn't work as well as it used to. 3.75/5
Rampart. Woody Harrelson (in every scene in the film) 3/5 atmospheric in an LA way. Really nasty racist with no redeeming qualities. But he's great.
Inside Out 3.5/5 Pixar (poss slightly dodgy Vuze d/l) v clever but a bit lacking in humans for me. Best bit was the cat walking across the console during the credits...
Castle. S03 - last ten episodes. 5/5.
Despicable Me 2. (Watched most of DM last week on TV). This was on Netflix. Not quite as good as 1. But 4/5. The kids are still the best bit.

March 2015

Prometheus. Like it more each time. 4/5. Whether I understand it or not...
Silver Linings Playbook. 3/5. Brad Cooper, RdNiro, Jennifer Lawrence - who was of course superb. But otherwise it was a bit too shouty for me.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 4/5 Great fun. Boy's acting not so hot but Arnie is superb
Runaway Jury. Dustin H, Gene H, John Cusack etc. 3/5. Good yarn. (John Grisham)
Storyville: Panto mayhem, make up and magic. TV doc bbc4 about amdram Nottingham panto show. Made me want to go back to amdram 4/5
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma To Calamity. TV doc bbc4 about reunion tour (cancelled) interesting 3/5
The Enigma Of Nic Jones. TV doc about Nic Jones, his accident and his reappearance last year(?) at Warwick. Brilliant stuff with lots of footage and good interviews. 4/5
You've got a friend: The Carol King story. TV doc about CK. Superb. 4/5

Feb 2015

Coogan's Bluff. Dir Don Siegel. Clint Eastwood. New York sans skyscrapers, almost. Can't believe I hadn't seen it. 3.5/5.
The Good Wife is back. mfl
Alien 3. 2.5/5. Interesting cast and set. Too much swearing (saved them writing a script?) Not enough aliens.
The Last Detail. Jack Nicholson. 3/5. Sometimes interesting, sometimes boring or self-indulgent.
The Frightened Lady. 1940. 3.5/5. Marius Goring. Excellent. Worth rewatching. Made at Beaconsfield.
Alien Resurrection. 3.5/5. Pretty good. Better than 3. Written by Joss Whedon.
The Abominable Snowman. Found it at last... 3.5/5. Hammer.
Broadchurch finished. So many characters I didn't like. 2/5
Wolf Hall finished. Really good Tudor-paced drama. 3/5

January 2015

When Harry Met Sally. 4/5. For the writing.
Tim's Vermeer. 3.5/5. Documentary about an inventor who developed a gadget that used with a camera obscura helped him paint like Vermeer. More interesting than it sounds. By Penn & Teller.
That Song We Sang. By Victoria Wood with Michael Ball & Imelda Staunton. Beautiful. 4/5
Hostel. Blimey. 3.5/5 because a bit gratuitous...
A Kind of Loving. 4/5. John Schlesinger. Alan Bates, Thora Hird and a zillion northern character actors inc James Bolam & Leonard Rossiter. Written by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall Great sense of place and time (Manchester in the 60s)
Proud to be British. Ungraded. Short made by Nick Broomfield while at the N F S. Great bit of social history.
Paris, je t'aime 3.5/5. 18 diff directors with 5mins each. V Parisienne.
Argo 4/5. Exciting stuff
The Following. S01. TV series with Kevin Bacon. 4/5. FBI v serial killer (James Purefoy). V exciting.
Behind the Candelabra. Michael Douglas biopic about Liberace. V mucky. Unnatural. But quite well-made. (dir Steven Soderbergh) 3.5/5
Premium Rush. 4/5 cos of the bike stunts. Jo Gordon Levitt. Dir David Koepp (Hack)
Alien 4.75/5 birthday treat! Stands the test of time. watched the theatrical feature on DVD
Battle for Haditha. 4/5. Nick Broomfield. Cinema verite. Both sides are as bad as each other...
Mysterious Skin. 2.5/5. Bit gross. Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
I knew it was you. John Cazale documentary 4/5
The Secret Weapon (Sherlock Holmes). Quite involved, with Moriarty, trap doors and stuff. And very pro-England, even had an ad for war bonds 3/5.
Aliens. 4.75/5. The birthday programme continues. Newt was fantastic.
Harbour Lights S01 - episode 1&2 so far - superb. Much better than Broadchurch S02. Trawler race, torchlight procession and Seatown beach seen so far.

Dec 2014

Hunger Games 2. Girl on Fire (?). 3.5/5. Woody H and Jen Law were both great. Breaking Bad S01. 4.5/5. Awesome. Esp support from Aaron Paul(sp?). And the son with cerebral palsy. And Michael Chicklis! (sp?) Silent Night, Deadly Night. 2/5. Gore fest. Guess who's got a month free with Netflix. American Horror Story. 3/5. Pilot episode only. Tried to hard to be weird. Homeland S04 - two episodes left. Excellent. BBT. Still superb. ??? Remember Me. Michael Palin. Not sure if it's brilliant or just OK. Stylish. Good use of Yorkshire Moors and cast are good. The Fall. Gillian Anderson. S02. One episode left. Excellent. Zombieland. 3/5. Prob worth more but dozed off during last half hour. WH is great. All four in the lead are. Deathproof. 3/5. QT. excellent though a bit gorefesty. Scratchy film. Twangy guitars. Great dialogue. The Woodsman. Kevin Bacon. Excellent. 3.5/5. Maybe 4. The bit where the bird spotter girl hugs him. Wow. And Mos Def. Remember Me. 1/5. 3hrs we won't get back. Miniseries on BBC. Supernatural but apart from use of p, s, r & t and especially the vocal performance by Martin Carthy over the closing credits a complete pile of shite. Good use of locations inc Scarborough. Homeland. S04. 4/5. Most episodes 4.5/5. Sort of anticlimax but continued the theme of just who can you trust. Gran Turino. Clint E. 4/5. Superb. V clever ending too. Puss In Boots. Shrek spin-off. Antonio Banderas. V funny. Especially if you like cats. 3.5/5 Inside Llewyn Davies. (Sp?) Cohn brothers. Fantastique. 4/5 (finished watching in 2015)

Nov 2014

Scott & Bailey finished, 4/5. As reliable as ever. The villain in the two-part finale was good. Secrets & Lies finished. 4/5. Went on a bit but the little girl who played the daughter was excellent throughout and particularly chilling in the denouement. The Limping Man. 3.5/5. Lloyd Bridges. Alan Wheatley. Leslie Phillips. Plus loads of others and made at Merton Park Studios. From the Internet Archive. Bride of Chucky. Great fun. Especially the lovely Meg Tilly. 2.5/5 Shock. 3/5. A young Vincent Price hovering between being evil and trying to be good. Blackout. AKA Murder by Proxy.1954. Alfie Bass in small part and Eleanor Summerfield. Hammer? Not bad. A bit changeable. 2.5/5 Inbetweeners seasons 1&2 Still hilarious. 4/5 Frankenstein. Still brilliant. So full of 'moments' 5/5

Oct 2014

Gone Girl (@HMV Curzon W'don 10/10!) 4/5 v well constructed. And as if they'd stolen our Kristy notes!) El Mariachi 4/5 Desperado 4/5 (having a little RR fest after seeing Eliot's short with Patricia Vonnegut Rodriguez) The Driver 3/5 was a bit of a disappointment in the last of three episodes. Finish was too contrived.
Marvellous. Toby Jones. Excellent. (What does all this mean?)

Sept 2014

Blue Bloods S03. Finished. Went a little off the boil but the last few episodes of the series became increasingly exciting. Still good stuff. Still 4.5/5 Watching Scott & Bailey S03?.
Secrets & Lies (Australian thriller set in Brisbane). Doctor Who (has Stephen Moffatt lost the plot? Only a couple of good episodes so far - inc Robot of Sherwood - and we are half way through). The Driver. (David Morrisey). Some good dialogue. The Culpepper Cattle Co. Still superb. The dust. The sunsets/rises. The cattle. The actors. The shootings. 4.5/5
The Border. Jack Nicholson. 4/5. More shootings. Didn't remember any if it from first seeing it c.1981. Buffalo Bill In Tomahawk Territory. Clayton Moore. 3/5. Bulldog Drummond's Perils (about synthetic diamonds) no mark yet. Have to watch it again. Slept for a bit. Halliwell Hobbes was in it!

Watched July/Aug 2014

Bulldog Drummond Escapes. Of its time but good fun. Particularly like the dialogue esp between Ray Milland and E E Clive. 'Does it portend, sir.' 'It portends. It portends.' 3/5 Alias Smith & Jones. (Watching). Great fun. Shame about Pete Duel. 4.5/5
The Honourable Woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal) half way through and haven't got a clue what's going on. Don't really care.
Couple of Robin Williams stand-up shows... (Weapons of Mass Destruction and a v old one) Heat. Dir Michael Mann. Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, etc etc. Superb but v long. Great scene between AP & RDN in a coffee shop. And Natalie Portman! And Amy Brennerman from NYPD Blue! And in one of the ad breaks, one of Scales twins! 4.5/5 The Departed. Dir Martin Scorsese. LdC, MD, JN, MS, AB etc. v good but too many shootings!!! To the head!!!!! 4/5 Winter's Bone. J-Law's first film. Excellent. 3.5/5 An Honourable Woman. TV series. Maggie G. Complete bolleaux. Style over substance. 1.5/5 Blue Bloods. S03. Started watching. Excellent. Still v exciting. 4.5/5

Watched June 2014

Castle S05 (watching) Happy Valley - written by Sally Wainwright - starring Sarah Lancashire. Superb. 5/5 Straight On Till Morning (Hammer) 1972 - low budget - Rita Tushingham - dir by Peter Collinson - weird! Lots of cross-cutting - 3.5/5 Fear In The Night - also Hammer 1972 - with Peter Cushing, Judy Geeson, Ralph Bates and Joan Collins. Think I've actually watched this already but didn't remember anything other than it wasn't really a school... 3.5/5 Castle S05 has had a couple excellent double episodes... esp Target/Hurt Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton). Weird. 3.5/5 Hunger Games. 3/5 Jennifer Lawrence quite good Castle S05 was good though I dozed quite a bit - might watch last three again

Watched May 2014

Criminal Minds S08 (watching) The Long Good Friday (RIP Bob Hoskins) 4.5/5 really stood up well My Week With Marilyn 3/5 Walkabout. Stunning. Need to watch it again. 6/5 They Shoot Horses, Don't They - yowsah, yowsah, yowsah - 4/5 Star Trek - 4/5 - except 6/5 for the Leonard Nimoy bits - or Eric Bana (That'll Be The Day - didn't know it was on so missed start, missed a bit in the middle, but watched it anyway - I like the actors and musicians involved but Jim McLaine appears to have no redeeming features. But want to watch it again... And Stardust. 4/5!) Criminal Minds S08 finale - OMG! - and the superbaddy for the past half season turned out to be Luke Skywalker! Not forgetting the SB in S01 E01 was Luke Haas... Is there a reference there?

Watched Feb/March/April 2014

Criminal Minds S07 - rewatched in readiness for S08 - 4/5 Inside No 9 - Pemberton/Sheersmith TV series - v good The Raging Moon 5/5 If... 5/5 Z Cars - first episode. wow. RIP James Ellis (and Davy Jones) 3.5/5 Blue Jasmine 4/5 (writing this 12-10-14 - can't remember a thing about it) Line of Duty S02 - Keeley Hawes - 4/5 until the last episode... Vicky Christina Barcelona 3/5 courtesy of YouTube Castle S03 completed - got so good I had to continue into S04 Castle S04 - marvellous

Watched in January 2014

Drive 3/5 - reduced to 2.5 on account of the gratuitous(?) violence Convict 99 (Will Hay) 3/5 The Lone Ranger 3/5 (original TV pilot) Zero Hour (TV series - Anthony Edwards & Michael Nyqvist, superb) Whisky Galore 3.5/5 - Glorious!

And after a considerable break...

This is what I watched in December 2013:

British Intelligence 4/5 The Bat 2/5 Berberian Sound Studio 5/5 Reservation Road 3/5 Manhattan Murder Mystery 3.5/5 Five Minutes to Live 2.5/5

Sometimes there will be a rough scoring system, sometimes there will be info and/or notes...

Spider-Man 3

Watched it at last. Good blend of comedy and excitement - though perhaps a tad OTT on the action. You start to wonder how many times a guy can get thrown against a wall before he gets fed up with the whole thing and goes home. Good to see Stan Lee again. And I preferred this version's Goblin uniform than Willem Dafoe's. Admittedly the film could have had a good 15 minutes cut out of it, but we couldn't quite see where from. At least he didn't lose his aunt's engagement ring.

Flying Down To Rio, Sleepless In Seattle and Casablanca

Another film night chez Peter and Maggie - the theme was cities. Flying Down To Rio was bizarre - in terms of the somewhat naive acting, direction, effects etc (it was 1933 after all) but when Fred and Ginger danced together, wow! Sleepless In Seattle was a bit of a struggle, especially if you don't like Tom Hanks (but probably great if you don't like Bill Pullman!) Casablanca was - Casablanca. Funnily enough I watched a lot of the early part of the film not remembering it, so finding it interesting - and then slept through the last half hour. Mea culpa etc.

Oh! What A Lovely War

Watched it on DVD the night before Remembrance Day because I thought I should watch something meaningful and pertinent. Wasn't disappointed. A bit slow to start with but interesting use of the old Brighton Pier and once the songs began I was swept away. Couldn't remember anything of the stage show we put on at Tiffins - just after the Falklands War broke out, causing the audience, sadly, to stay away.

Miscellany

Have been enjoying Jamie Oliver's and Gordon Ramsey's series. Stopped watching Nigella Lawson's after the first programme. More on that another time.

Watched the first hour of Children Of The Damned the other night before falling asleep. Life is too short to have another go. Afraid all it taught me was that Ian Hendry (a genius - God rest his soul) couldn't do a Welsh accent.

On a more positive note, watched the best ever Criminal Minds the other night - guest starring Jeannetta Arnette, whose scenes opposite Mandy Patinkin were phenomenal. And I got to cry again! The plot - unlike any other CM I have watched - and the way it unravelled really made you think. About marrying the wrong man, about motherhood, about police work... Special mention also for her husband (Michael Massee) and for the warden (Roger Aaron Brown). Excellent. It was Series One Episode 14 and it is going on my letter to Santa.

ET

Watched this a couple of weeks ago - at 4 in the morning because I couldn't sleep! Brilliant! I'd forgotten just how good it is. Watched the original theatrical release with the intention of watching the recut version soon. Stunning the way Spielberg tells it all from the kids' perspective. Until an hour and ten minutes into the movie, the only adult you see the face of is Dee Stone's. High spot - crying at the end of the movie. How does he do that?

Spider-Man 2

Watched it on DVD and have bought S3. Much more enjoyable than S1 - largely due to the excellent effects and acting going on every time Alfred Molina is on screen. His character really makes you think. And the relationship between Peter and MJ moves on nicely. Looking forward to S3.

Night of the Demon

Almost forgot - watched this recently having recorded it off one of the main TV channels. Appalling stuff view-wise - both left and right sides of the screen were chopped off so didn't bother to keep it. Must look for it on DVD. Apart from that it was of course fantastic. Highlight - the medium speaking with Maurice Denham's voice and saying "It's in the trees. It's coming!" which was of course used by Kate Bush in Hounds of Love. Lowlight - the ambulance bell ringing when all they were doing was to take Rand Hobart from his secure institution to a paranormal science convention. Moves nicely into a telephone ringing I believe but I don't think an ambulance is supposed to ring its bell unless it's an emergency.

Miscellany

Forgot to mention - the other week, while painting the living room, having the DVD player in the same room, I watched (v loud) Garth Brooks Too, Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live. Mmm.

Spider-Man

Watched this last week on DVD. Really don't like the design of the Green Goblin. It just seems out of place - almost amateurish. But Willem Dafoe as excellent as ever, and otherwise v enjoyable, and lots of nice touches, especially the performances of Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris as Peter Parker's parents and the "will they/won't they" between Peter and MJ.