Reviews

I almost didn't watch this because of the torrent of bad ratings, but I'm glad I did. The first episode has a pretty exciting shootout involving two Citadel agents and a small army of bad guys on a high-speed train which crashes and, apparently, causes to the male agent to lose his memory.

Flash forward 8 years and the agent is happily married but gets reactivated by his old boss.

Yes, I understand the criticisms: the plotting is weak, the dialogue is not the best and the technology is ridiculous; but it's really no worse than the later "Mission Impossible" films on any of those points. Just switch your brain to the "mindless entertainment" setting, sit back and enjoy.

After the shock ending of the first episode I had hoped this would shift gear and we would start to get some real drama. Instead, they hit the brakes and we got an episode in which not very much happens in terms of plot development and instead we're treated to a few slapstick comedy routines which would be more at home on BBC3.

The ending reveals the real focus of D. I. Clinton's investigations and I'm still mildly interested as to how it's all going to get sorted out (although I suspect we got a pointer in the cafe scene). One to binge watch with judicious use of fast-forward perhaps. Very much missable TV though.

Two deadbeat community support staff (Dom and Kay) are given the opportunity to go under cover by a maverick D. I. After going on a rampage in order to get fired from their jobs the two start selling drugs (stolen from police evidence) in order to draw the attention of the local gang. The gang then take them in as members and the two find themselves getting deeper and deeper into gang business without really knowing why they are there.

Suddenly they find themselves way out of their depth with no backup.

As a thriller this is a promising start. Unfortunately it's meant to be a comedy and here (for me anyway) it fails completely. Hopefully it will improve.

Slow-paced and casually violent this is a film that stayed with me long after I finished watching it.

John C Reilly is brilliant as the laconic bounty hunter who just wants to settle down and open a general store and Joaquin Phoenix is his usual excellent self as the violence-loving brother who needs protecting from himself.

I can understand the lower ratings - I admit I was close to switching off after the first half hour - but stick with it and you get slowly drawn into the relationship between the two brothers. When they walk down the midle of the street, guns drawn, towards the final shootout it's a genuinely moving moment and recalls the final minutes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (for me anyway).

The first series got so much comic mileage from the fact that the US had a moron for a president that I wondered how it would fare in the post-Trump era. The answer is - just great. Several laugh out loud moments for me.

No more to say really, except I have to write 150 words. Full of humour, pathos, jeopardy - and finally we get a bit more insight into Beard. I couldn't fault it and I really don't care if it's not "canon" - it stands on it's own.

A tad too heavy on the CGI and a bit too much wire work, making it more like "crouching tiger" in some of the fight scenes, but definitely one I'll enjoy re-watching.

... would be suitable comments if these were scripts presented at a creative writing course, but for a program on prime time TV then "amateurish bordering on juvenile" would be nearer the mark.

Mrs White (nobody actually calls her Mme Blanc) arrives in a sleepy French village to sort out the affairs of her recently deceased antiques-dealer husband. To the amazement of the local police, she fairly quickly determines that her husband was poisoned by a serial-killing art thief on the hunt for a valuable ring that her husband had found in a local flea market.

Impressed by her sleuthing skills and encyclopaedic knowledge of antiques, the local police captain puts her on the payroll to help solve the many art-related crimes in the area (and, of course, find the serial killer).

Mrs White doesn't speak French but that's ok because everybody in the village is either an ex-pat or speaks English with an "Allo, allo" accent (with the notable exception of the female police constable whose dialogue has to be subtitled to remind us that we are indeed in France and not Bexhill-on-sea).

Notable among the ex-pats are Robin Asquith (playing his usual role as a dimwit in French farces) and Susan Holderness playing "Marlene" to Asquith's "Boycie".

Each episode follows a similar format: 1. A cattle-prod reminder that the killer is still out there 2. A ludicrous mystery involving a missing or misidentified masterpiece 3. "Character development" of one of the locals 4. The burgeoning romance between the local ex-pat taxi driver and Mrs White (who seems to have gone through the 5 stages of grief before titles have finished rolling)

In order to cram all this into the 40-minute run time, the mystery has to be solved pretty sharpish and so the clues are dropped like bricks with luggage labels attached (or 1 clue, several bricks).

I couldn't decide between a 3 (awful) and a 7 (but a cheery alternative to the relentlessly downbeat dramas that fill the other channels) so I settled on a 5.

When this book was televised back in 1984 (starring the excellent Roy Marsden) it was spread over 6x 50-minute episodes. Channel 5 have tried to squeeze it into 2x 45-minute episodes and the whole thing felt rushed, lacking development of both plot and characters. Well-acted, well-produced but ultimately disappointing.

There's really not much happening in this film: a man digs a hole and finds a boat. In fact, so little happens that a completely superfluous, and entirely fictitious, subplot involving Lily James committing infidelity takes up pretty much the last third of the film. The film ends with Ralph Fiennes burying the boat. I shall probably bury the memory of watching it.

I don't understand why the ratings are so low - maybe it's the jokes about a moronic POTUS and his equally dumb wife - but set those aside and you have a great comedy with funny and, occasionally, touching characters with some great acting.

The dialogue is simply awful. Really, it sounds like it was written by a 14 year old. The plot twists are so heavily signposted you can see them coming a mile off. The only thing that makes this film barely watchable is seeing the usual Tom Cruise stunts and knowing that he broke his ankle doing one of them. Apparently, the "long line" stunt took 2 years to prepare. But why was the "long line" there in the first place? Oh yes, so Ethan could ...

In 1979 a young woman, obviously not on the pill, has unprotected sex with three men in the space of a week. She lands up pregnant on a greek island and gets taken in by a kindly woman who lets her live rent-free in a run-down house that, over the years, she turns into a hotel. Fast forward 25 years and she's popped her clogs leaving her daughter to run the hotel. A grand re-opening is spoiled by a storm but with the help of the three men she calls "father", her mother's old school chums, several boat loads of greek extras, Andy Garcia and Cher (playing the grandmother) it all turns out for the best. The film only really comes alive with the arrival of Cher, but as this only happens in the last 20 minutes it's a long slog. Most of the good songs must have been used up in the first film (I really can't remember) because there's quite a few I've never heard before. Oh, and if you thought Pierce Brosnan's singing set a new low in musicals, wait till you hear Andy Garcia duetting with Cher on "Fernando" - no wonder they cut him from the album version!

What a waste of $177M. The acting is awful, the plot is hackneyed, the dialogue sounds like it's been through Google translate a few times and the chemistry between the lead characters is non-existent. Highlights of the film are the CGI and a sexy dance routine by Rhianna but ultimately this is a mess of a film which, given the source material, could have been so much better. I can't think of a single reason to recommend watching it.

Liam Neeson destroys a multi-storey car park, shoots a lot of people, assaults numerous police officers, causes umpteen car crashes - seriously injuring, or possibly even killing innocent civilians - while chasing down the person he believes committed a murder (of which Liam himself is suspected). However, as he eventually catches the killer and proves to the police that he didn't commit the murder, he gets to walk away without a single charge being brought against him. So, plenty of action but frankly everyone in this franchise is starting to show their age and it's all a bit tired .

I'm a great fan of the Marvel films but this one is a dud. There are moments of humour in the film (mainly involving a cloak) but overall it lacks the snap of others and I found some of the action sequences nearly impossible to follow. The prospect of seeing Dr Strange again is not one I look forward to.

I don't understand what all the fuss is about this film. Maybe it appeals to a generation that has never seen a decent musical before. It has one good song (the one that keeps playing on the radio here) and that's it. Emma Stone is not a particularly strong singer and Ryan Gosling is in the same league as Rex Harrison. Although they can both dance pretty well, every extra on the screen dances better. The choreography is mundane and the transitions into song and dance often feel completely forced. However, if this marks the start of a new golden age of musicals, with a new generation of stars who can actually sing and dance, then bring it on.