Book, Film & TV Reviews
Originally published in 1843, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean, miserable, bitter old man with no friends. One cold Christmas Eve, three ghosts take him on a scary journey to show him the error of his nasty ways. By visiting his past, present and future, Scrooge learns to love Christmas and the people all around him.
Continue reading “Book Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens”
Every year, I document every film that I’ve watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd, and I record and review every book that I’ve read with Goodreads. So, I thought I would start doing the same with what TV series I watch in an attempt to encourage me to start reviewing them more, too.
I haven’t included any competition shows or reality TV shows that I watch, including things like The Apprentice, Masterchef, I’m A Celebrity, Strictly Come Dancing, or Made In Chelsea, but I have included series that I have watched this year to catch up with, which may have been released in a different year.
Here’s a list of the series that I watched in 2019:
Told through Joe’s narration, You is a satire of popular romantic comedies, seeing the typical story of a man trying to win over the girl of his dreams from his point view, as Joe shows that he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that nothing gets in his way.
Taking invasive and extreme measures to get the girl, Joe shouldn’t be a likeable character. But as disturbing as he is down inside, you can’t help but feel an attraction towards him. It’s wrong, but that’s what makes it oh so exciting.
You can read my full review here.
In the midst of dark thrillers and documentaries about serial killers, Sex Education is a refreshing comedy about a group of 21st-century teenagers.
Secondary school is a testing time, but Sex Education uses these obstacles and challenges in a comedic and sincere way. Things have changed a lot since I was in school, a time when I was outcasted for wearing more black than most and listening to different music, but younger people are a lot more accepting of people’s differing tastes in music, fashion, and sexual partners nowadays.
You can read my full review here.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for most of it but, despite the mind-boggling circumstances that sees this poor girl taken from her home – twice! – it is still a true story about child kidnapping and sexual abuse. Fair play to this family for admitting to their absolute idiocy for a lot of this, because they do open up to many of their failings that could have prevented much of this from happening, but it is so difficult to get your head around a lot of what happens to feel any pity towards them. However, I do really sympathise with Jan’s naivety, as you really can be forced to believe anything at that age, which I don’t think is something that all viewers will understand.
You can read my full review here.
It didn’t focus on some of the worst things that Bundy did – I was looking for details about the decapitated heads apparently found in his house, comments on him sleeping with bodies long after he had killed them, questions about how he admitted to 30 murders but that they thought it was a lot more. Instead, what we saw was Bundy’s charming persona, his escapes from jail, the way he made police officers believe that he was somebody else entirely – all the kinds of things that you would normally congratulate a man for if he wasn’t brutally killing women in the meantime.
But I suppose that’s what’s so shocking about Bundy, the reasons why not even his wife believed that he had killed anybody. I just think the balance was a little off with this documentary, and it’s no wonder people are coming away from it going “Well, yeah, he was hot!” because it doesn’t leave you with the impact of just how much of a cruel, disgusting monster he was underneath it all.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
Although Madeleine went missing over 12 years ago now, her case is still one of the UK’s biggest mysteries, with new suspects still being questioned even today. It’s such a huge case that we all seemed to make our minds up about a long time ago, so I think it’s a very relevant series to remind us of the life of a young girl who may or may not still be out there.
It is an incredibly insightful documentary seen from many different perspectives, showing interviews with many of the people involved, including the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, the British businessman who supported the McCanns financially, the McCanns’ former spokesperson, and the former head of the PJ investigation, as well as many other journalists and investigators.
You can read my full review here.
Feeling much closer to the Watchmen series in that these superheroes are a bunch of misfits who haven’t had the best starts in life, who are still messed up and making mistakes, who often act selfishly rather than for the good of others, the series is a lot darker in tone and is more about a family being brought back together than a save the world epidemic. Although, they do have to come together to save the world, in a way.
You can read my full review here.
Based on truth, Dirty John is a thrilling story that combines a crime heightened with abuse, manipulation, and betrayal, with a central family drama about courage, trust, and the strength of a family bond. The family relationships are explored remarkably well as the series explores how one’s desires can cause you to act in the strangest ways and of how easy it is to be blind-sighted by someone so seemingly caring.
You can read my full review here.
Full of his outspoken and often blunt sense of humour, the series is also full of heart. The comedy is certainly dark at times, but the emotion behind it all is just as present. It definitely shows a different side to Gervais, one of aged experience as his character learns to see the positives in the mundane and tedious rituals of the everyday. You will awkwardly laugh and maybe even shed a tear as you watch a character pivot between life and death, who you hope will come out better on the other side.
You can read my full review here.
With a series like Black Mirror, you expect to be thrown in at the deep end with a warning of how technology is advancing, but this is definitely a much more stripped back series. Technology and advances aren’t pushed in your face to make you fearful of the future. Instead, this series uses concepts which we already have – social media platforms, VR gaming, and simple AIs – to show you their everyday dangers (or possible benefits).
You can read my full review here.
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Released 12 years after Grisham’s 2006 book, the 2018 series gives more up to date information on the case and also focuses more on Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, who are still in prison despite their innocent pleas. Even more so, the story works so well on-screen because it puts faces and voices to the names of those involved. The book is quite difficult to get into because there are so many names to try and place that it does get confusing, so it is the perfect book to be adapted. This allows the audience to get to know the men that Grisham detailed in his book much more personally, and as you start to realise that there is no real case or any evidence against them, you can’t help but sympathise with the men involved.
You can read my full review here.
This latest season of Stranger Things is much of what we love about the series as a whole: horror, monsters, a group of young characters on a terrifying adventure but loving every minute of it, adult comedy, plenty of interrogations, battles of wit and nerdiness. Only this time, there’s a whole lot more hormones involved.
Beginning with a great return to the series, the first episode is set a year later as we are reintroduced to the gang after they have all moved on from the events of season two. They’re happy with their less-chaotic lives as, instead of facing supernatural terrors, they begin to experience the emotional rollercoaster of first-time relationships, as we get to see the group soak up all the fun of finally being allowed to act their age for once. Friendships may be tested, but it’s great to get to know the characters better. Especially Eleven, as we are able to see her in a new light, acting like a normal teenager for once.
You can read my full review here.
This season definitely tackles the issue of sexual assault on a much bigger level, exploring the issue of sexual assault in relation to players of college sports much more widely, as it is still a very relevant and widespread topic. It is this issue, after all, what this series stemmed from.
It’s the exploration of this issue that is what’s best about this season. Characters such as Jessica, as well as other victims of sexual abuse, are seen trying to rebuild themselves, trying to not let their pasts define them. And it’s great that this season has allowed time for us to see this development, to not just end on these characters remaining victims, but to see them come out on the other side.
You can read my full review here.
It’s a wonderfully staged documentary as director Ed Perkins allows the two men to share their stories, providing Marcus with a platform to finally tell Alex the truth. Knowing that something harrowing is going to be revealed from the start, its set-up is suspenseful and full of mystery, but at its core is a profoundly moving and thought-provoking story. It’s definitely one that I would struggle to sit through again, but it’s one that I admire Marcus for sharing.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
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Whilst I agree with some of the negative points made, I’ve remained very open-minded about the season in that I knew that there were so many ways for the season to conclude, that not every character I liked was going to get the outcome I had hoped for them, and that the over-complicated theories that we’ve been discussing for the past two years were probably too extreme.
The final series does leave a lot left unanswered and some early franchise suggestions are made redundant, but I feel like we, as an audience, pushed for Benioff and Weiss to give us a final season and for them not to drag out it out, to prevent us from growing bored of the series like we have with others. So I don’t hold it against the writers for the season feeling rushed and for it not being as well written as previous seasons. I understand people’s frustrations that it could have been better developed, but it was the viewers who called for a quick wrap up, so it was obvious that everything was going to move at a much quicker pace.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
This may not have been the series that we all thought it was going to be; Season Two isn’t a simple drama set in a police station as The Montgomery Five are investigated about their involvement in Perry’s death. Instead, it is a brilliantly well-written exploration into the consequences of keeping secrets. Exploring how one person’s actions can affect relationships between husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, children and their grandparents, and how these behaviours ripple throughout generations, Big Little Lies is a well-rounded series that looks deeply into the effects that Season One had on all of these characters and their families.
You can read my full review here.
A masterfully created series with stunning cinematography, a haunting score, and phenomenal performances from an ensemble cast, Chernobyl is a brilliant dramatisation of a harrowing historical event. It’s a gripping series that largely benefits from its brilliant pacing, not letting the sense of danger and dread fade away as it builds up to a final episode that has a lot to say. Most of all, it’s incredibly insightful that’s polished with historical accuracy, giving tonnes of in-depth detail about a catastrophe that we all know something about. It’s truly eye-opening, relaying the events on the day and the months that followed, all the while exploring the very human side to the story and, subsequently, the cost of ignorance that allowed such an error to occur.
You can read my full review here.
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Season Five of Line of Duty may not be as gritty or gripping as its previous seasons, but it’s what they’ve been leading up to. Who is H? And can we trust Hastings?
Becoming the highest-rated drama of the year so far, this season enables us to see an AC-12 investigation from the side of the criminals. With even more twists and turns, undercover cops, bent coppers and shock revelations than ever before, it’s no wonder that this has become one of the UK’s best series.
You can read my full review here.
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You start off watching this thinking, “It’s great to see a documentary looking at a rape case from the other point of view for a change,” because false allegations do happen a lot and they can ruin people’s lives, just as much as a proven case can.
But both sides of the case open up the same issues. It becomes a test of personality as to whether you believe and trust somebody since there is often nothing else to rely on. And that’s the problem with Saif Khan. I wanted to trust him and to believe in his courageous honesty. But, innocent until proven guilty and all that, you know that there’s something dodgy about him. He’s cocky and completely unsympathetic, so it’s no surprise that it doesn’t all add up about his recollection of the date when it all comes down to the facts.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
Set in a dystopian near-future, it is an incredibly relevant series. We’re worried about the leaders who are currently in charge of the world, we’re worried about the UK’s place within it, and we’re worried about a future that seems all too inevitable – politically, environmentally, and self-destructively. What Years and Years does is to speculate on how bad things could get when we elect people who put their egos first. It presents us with plausible insights into a state that we are heading towards, with more advanced and intrusive technologies, outspoken and reckless leaders with ulterior motives, and stricter laws on immigration.
You can read my full review here.
A great follow-up to an impressive first season with just as many twists and turns and an equal measure of shocking violence balanced perfectly with comedy and a prominent seductive tension in the air. Although Phoebe Waller-Bridge, head writer on the first season, has taken a step back, there’s still some great writing in this series with many standout lines of dialogue. Eve and Villanelle’s chemistry is what will keep you engaged in this tense cat and mouse chase, but it’s certainly a culture-filled adventure worth keeping up with.
You can read my full review here.
The Capture is one of those series where you know that something much bigger and complex is going on from the very beginning, so you’re constantly waiting for something to catch you out as soon as something seemingly straightforward starts to unravel. With The Capture, the premise around military equipment and technology also means that it’s not going to be an easy plot to follow or predict, so it is a series that you have to take your time with and allow yourself to feel overcome with information before it starts to piece together in your head.
You can read my full review here.
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The story of Stephen Fulcher is a remarkable one. He is the kind of detective that we would all want to be leading a case if it involved somebody that we personally knew. Yet to see the way that Fulcher’s actions were criticised and used against him is incredibly eye-opening.
This is not only a great series because it gives us an insight into a deeply saddening true story, but also because it brings to light the changes that need to be made in the judicial system and the profound questions that need to be asked when the police are found at such a life or death crossroad.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
Combining archival footage, re-enacted scenes, and present-day interviews, I love the way this story played out and how the documentary was edited together. It really got you interested in this story and makes it look fun. And then BAM! The constant revelations about a story that’s almost impossible to believe start rolling in.
The real deal-breaker is how poorly the scientific study was put together and that nothing has come off it. It’s said that the study was done as part of an undisclosed scientific “nature versus nurture” twin study, to track the development of genetically identical siblings raised in differing circumstances. But the documentary questions some doubts about the subject and asks whether the scientists were actually looking into how mental illnesses can run in a family.
You can read my full review here.
This documentary hits hard with me but I will try to hold back my anger and disgust and justify my opinions a little. I also know that many people still believe that he is an innocent man and that there’s a lot of controversy around these men’s testimonies, so it’s a difficult documentary to review when there’s still so much discussion going on about the credibility of it.
So all I was say is this: Whether you believe that these men were sexually abused or not, Michael Jackson’s behaviour – the behaviour is proven and not in any doubt – was completely inappropriate as it was. I can’t understand why it wasn’t questioned why he had a new little boy to hang around with every year or so and that he was allowed to stay with them unsupervised. Whether things went any further than them only sleeping in his bed or not, Michael Jackson definitely had a lot of issues.
You can read my full review here.
Exploring themes of violence, abuse, addiction, exploitation and revenge, The Virtues is a hard-hitting but compassionate drama that you will be thinking about long after watching.
A real slow burner, it takes a while to get into as there are many scenes of Graham drinking, burping, and just generally struggling through the day, so it’s difficult to get invested straight away. But you know that the series is building up to a big revelation, and you know that Joseph has buried something that is absolutely going to rip him apart when he finally confronts it.
You can read my full review here.
The latest season of The Handmaid’s Tale really emphasises the fear of living in a totalitarian society and shows hope of June fighting at the forefront of a revolution, but it goes back and forth too often to really show any progression. By the end of this third season, her efforts have barely made a dent. That is until the final episode when the series really gets back to its roots, but is it all too late?
On a whole, I feel like the season is lost in its direction, especially with its relationship to Margaret Atwood’s novel which the series has long surpassed. There are certainly many moments of greatness weaved in and out, but any time that the season shows any glimpse of hope, the next episode unwrites any development that it has built up to.
You can read my full review here.
Review to come.
Heavily influenced by classic horror films such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, AHS 1984 begins as a homage to the slasher genre and relies on the cliche horror tropes and stereotypes that we are used to seeing to brings together their best qualities and build on them with a fresh approach.
It does move away from this basic premise eventually, giving more twists than probably all of the previous seasons combined. But with so much going on, it’s hard to appreciate the depth to it at the time of watching. When you look back on the series, the quality of the writing and complexity is definitely all there, it’s just not so obvious when there are so many characters and timelines to piece together
Following on from my 25 Days Of Christmas Advent For Families, I also wanted to make a list of Christmas films that are more suitable for toddlers. My boy is 22 months old and is starting to get an idea of what Christmas is about, so I’m planning on watching a Christmas film with him every day so that I can teach him more about Santa and the festive season.
Sadly, if you’re avoiding TV specials of Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol because you watch enough of them already, there really aren’t that many films out there that are made especially for younger audiences. So here’s a short list of what’s available on TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky Cinema and NowTV over the following month (December 2018), showcasing the best Christmas films for toddlers for those who are looking for simpler animations to teach your little ones about the magic of Christmas.
Continue reading “12 Days of Christmas 2018 – Advent For Toddlers”
Now that it’s December, we’re finally allowed to start watching some Christmas films! Hooray! So to help you decide what festive classic to stick on over the next 25 days, here’s my guide of what films are on TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky Cinema and NowTV, over the different streaming services this month (December 2018).
I’ve tried to keep this guide family friendly, but there just aren’t enough decent Christmas films out there (let alone being aired on TV or available to stream online), so I have also made a separate guide for toddlers and younger families as some of the films below have some adult comedy. But here’s the best of the bunch, from children’s animations to family comedies and a few Christmas classics, all aimed to get you in the festive mood with your loved ones.
Continue reading “25 Days of Christmas 2018 – Advent For Families”
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