saintetiennelee Reviews

Line of Duty: Episode #6.7 (2021) Season 6, Episode 7

Episode deserves a reg 15

[6/10 · 3 May 2021]

I love Line of Duty but this was a disappointing rushed ending.

One of the issues is they killed off so many interesting characters they had few options to wrap the series up with. There was hardly anyone left to finger!

A series of this quality needed a more satisfying ending than Buckells and two prison officers being arrested.

One or two plot holes in tonight's episode didn't help either.

Being it back for another series and a new storyline.

The Kenny Everett Television Show (1981–1988)

Brilliant ......but not all the time.

[8/10 · 5 March 2021]

Revisited every episode of this show recently after also viewing all of the Videos Show/Cassette too.

I think overall I prefer the Thames series that seemed to have more emphasis on music and weekly guests. It definitely has a more DIY and zippy feel to it.

That's not to be critical of the BBC Television show. It's brilliant at times. Viewing it for the first time in approximately 35 years certainly brought back fond memories of a well loved entertainer. In my youth this really was unmissable TV.

I have no doubt it has zero chance of being repeated on TV because in today's woke / snowflake generations it will be seen as badly dated and even a tad racist and most definitely sexist. I do not have an issue with this as it's mostly harmless fun but some will be no doubt be shocked that this was mainstream TV in the late 70's to late 80's.

I am currently up to the end of series four and the quality does dip with each series in my opinion, the first two series are definitely of superior quality.

All said this is a great piece of nostalgia that has been a very enjoyable lockdown companion.

Grass (2003– )

Forgotten Comedy deserves a repeat!

[8/10 · 11 July 2020]

Finally tracked down the DVD of this excellent comedy. Can't recommend this highly enough. Simon Day is a fantastic character comedy performer and it's great to see Billy Bleach in his own series. Has some really classic one liners, some comedy elements lost a little as they got the story line / drama into 8 episodes but every single episode is a classic for me. Brilliant writing, a clever story for a comedy show the supporting cast are just excellent. Beautifully shot in Norfolk (Great Massingham) the whole production deserved a second series. It's a tragedy the BBC are no longer commissioning stuff like this.

Brimstone & Treacle (1982)

Not as good as the BBC TV play but....

[7/10 · 10 June 2020]

I really enjoyed Denholm Elliott's performance in this film. He's so bitter and gnarled up that his outbursts are brilliant and quite funny. Obviously the sick manner of the story is the same as the Play for Today, it's delivered well if not as successful as the TV version, although I've not seen that version for a long time so maybe the memory cheats a little.

Nothing wrong with Stings performance in this film but he he just didn't have the screen presence for me to completely convince.

I enjoyed this film more than I expected and it's good to see it get a repeat here in the UK on London Live channel. 7/10.

Tales of the Unexpected: Sauce for the Goose (1984) Season 7, Episode 9

$2.50 budget?

[7/10 · 25 April 2020]

The US episodes of Tales are hard to recognise to the far superior earlier UK shows. This one is particularly low budget. It's hard to imagine any money being thrown at it at all. I liked the ending though and is the best US episode of this season so far.

All in the Game (2006 TV Movie)

All in the money.....

[7/10 · 28 March 2020]

This well worth a watch. I think we can all think of a couple of names Winstones character is based on! Especially the agent son... I like Ray Winstone but I found his performance in this a little bit OTT at times. Interesting to see Dyer in a more supporting understated role. I'm not sure whether this has been repeated since its original viewing. It's certainly worth another outing.7/10.

The Captain (2017)

Interesting take on WWII

[7/10 · 24 July 2019]

Recommended, it's sometimes a little slow - at the beginning, sometimes harrowing, sometimes even light hearted but always interesting. Beautifully shot in Germany and the lead is icily menacing. Definitely worth a watch for a very different view than usual war films.

The Orchard End Murder (1981)

Peculiar but enjoyable early 80's film

[8/10 · 13 August 2018]

Watched this when it was released on the excellent BFI Flipside range and a worthy addition to the range it is. Some of the early scenes in an idyllic village have an almost ethereal quality to them. It's really good to see Tracey Hyde again as not seen her anything other than Melody, albeit a very different role. Things quickly change from an English village cricket match to a brutal murder. Some of the scenes with Tracey are quite disturbing. It is low budget, has some clunky dialogue and farcical policemen, I actually thought it had the look and feel of a CFF (Children's Film Foundation) film up until the first scene with Clive Mantle. After that it's clear it isn't suitable for children! I read it was Rik Mayalls first film but I didn't spot him. The BFI release comes with a nice recent interview with Tracey Hyde.

Hang Ups (2018)

Some good parts but needs more laughs

[6/10 · 8 August 2018]

Story of Richard Pitt trying to make a success of his online therapy business from home while chaos ensues all around him. All star cast with some funny parts but just not enough laughs in the first episode. I'm guessing the therapy parts are improvised. It seemed that way. Sarah Hadlands character was the best bit of the first episode for me, very funny and nothing like her character in Miranda, which is a good thing!

Toni Erdmann (2016)

Not as bad as the reviews on here...

[7/10 · 8 July 2018]

But it is hard going. Ultimately I'm glad I stayed with it but it tests your patience to the limit at times. It's not a 1 rating like some reviewers are saying. But it's certainly not a 10 either. It's far too long to enable it to get anywhere that kind of rating. There seems to be so many meaningless scenes that could have been trimmed. There are certain moments that for me were laugh out loud. Ines played by Sandra Huller is fantastic. It's made me want to see more of her work. Talk of an Hollywood remake on here. I can only assume it will be a very very different film. There is no way ever a scene for scene remake would make it out of Hollywood. Give the original a go first, it's different!!