cadwallon1969

The scenes in the hospital during and following the hurricane were compelling - but the witch-hunt and blame shifting afterwards was frustrating.

I had NO sympathy for the investigators who were plainly directed by Louisiana authorities to try and shift blame somewhere. Anywhere.

The constantly "thanking God" by Dr Pou - despite god being equally responsible for the hurricane! The corruption and stupidity of a privatised health system which has profits as it's major motive.

But the question about the final acts of medical staff? Was it euthanasia or just "making them comfortable"?

Who cares?

They had a broader responsibility to stopping the suffering of patients who couldn't and WOULDN'T be evacuated in time. Dying alone from thirst, starvation, heat and lack of medical care.

A damning appraisal of a broken system with mind blowing failures of authorities.

You couldn't really go wrong with actors of the calibre of Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. A marvellous and beautifully told story encompassing 3000 years of history, love, and longing.

Far from being a malevolent trickster our Djinn is a true creature of fire, passion and love.

I'm as straight as they come but Idris as a passionate genie telling his story of love and obsession? From the Queen of Sheba to the Ottoman sultans - just gorgeous and incredibly sexy.

It's also kind. Which in this day and age is in short supply.

Beautifully shot in some incredible locations, it really does tick all the boxes.

Terribly inferior to Line of Duty and Luther - this is run of the mill stuff.

It's also jarring to see both Warren Brown and Vicky McClure in yet another police thriller/drama.

Both had little to play with in the script. But let's get some new actors in the shall we? The UK is a big place with plenty of actors.

This is a perfectly put together story of love, loss, pain and forgiveness all wrapped up in a very meta and very "now" post apocalyptic story.

Yes there aren't any zombies, or cannibals or anything really dystopian. Even the bad guys aren't really bad, just misunderstood. And perhaps that's true in all things.

To me it has a very real feeling - people are fundamentally good - and even post devastating plague we're all just trying to get along and find love and belonging.

Have been a fan of Irvine Welsh's stuff since Trainspotting, but this? There are so many other British crime dramas that do "crime" better than this.

I get the tortured lead - but I don't get how anyone would allow him to continue to be involved in the case given his obvious mental health and substance abuse issues.

The very first episode where the victim is found - Lennox's reaction to finding her would/should have had him odf the case for PTSD!

Apart from Dougray Scott who was well fleshed out (perhaps too much!) - the other characters are caricatures and cardboard cut outs whose character arcs lead no where.

And then we come to the villain (John Simm) - his treatment once captured is so strange, and he's allowed to effectively manage his own interrogation and set the rules. I love him as an actor but there's only so much he can do with such a cliche.

Shows like "Wire in the Blood" and "Luther" just do "crime" so much better.

Really enjoyed this low budget... horror? Thriller? Hard to pigeonhole it! Joe Azzopardi gives an excellent one-hander performance, as a man who discovers an abandoned yacht - in the very picturesque Mediterranean around Malta.

What happens then is disconcerting and strange - not gruesome, but tense.

Sometimes European movies will just do things that little bit different to your average Anglo-American horror to make it worth your while.

Good premise, excellent performance by the lead actress. Claustrophobic action aboard a plane - plucky kid, heroic Arab-German supporting character- well worth a look.

So much potential - but it's just so incredibly dull! The PTSD from Clarice and the other survivor is dull. They've even made Buffalo Bill's backstory dull.

Everyone seems so incredibly flat affect - as if something has sucked out all their personality.

A well written and clever thriller, which plays on your assumptions and prejudices before dishing out a very satisfying and unexpected ending.

Spoiler: Was Ok...up until the "twist". A standard slasher fest, with suitable buildup and personable characters - but with a sexy French flavour. But yeah, nuh. No indication of the pending plot twist. In the beginning, who was (ahem) having relations with the head in the truck? Alex was in the car asleep! Where did the truck come from? Where did the weapons come from? Who did the farm belong too? Where were all the pictures of girls from? If he was obsessed with her girlfriend - why all the pictures? And why kill her family? Even psychos need a (sort of) motive! Why was "Alex" so beaten up? Was she fighting herself? It lost me completely with the circular saw - I, as a 186cm 100kg man couldn't wield that thing. And she used it like it was a Dremel. I laughed and deeply disturbed my wife.

As a fan of the books, this movie perfectly distils the essence of the O'Brians works. The life aboard a man o'war during the Napoleonic Wars was hard and often brutal, and the battle scenes are violent and life often short.

However it is in the relationships aboard the ship - where women are a vague, lusted for concept - where this movie shines. The very different characters in Aubrey (Crowe) and Maturin (Bettany) are the best of friends, and it is their relationship that provides the balance in the books and movie. The friendships and yes, passion that the men have for each other in the face of war and weather is so well teased out without being overt of maudlin. The acting is perfect and the cast well suited to their various roles.

Soundtrack and cinematography are sublime and create the world that seems so similar to ours, but worked on very different ideas.

One my favourite movies of all time. Long may the HMS Surprise sail.

A very moving and personal film, set on the windswept coast of South Australia. In many respects it could be anywhere in the world - as the cold and the wind and isolation are far from the public image of Australia. I first saw this film when I was seven with school at the cinema - and bawled my eyes out. The alienation from his father than Storm Boy feels is ameliorated by the connection to the land and the the animals via a local Aboriginal man Fingerbone - thereby making it a very spiritual film for many. I've since showed it to my own son who enjoyed it but then...inconsolable - said "why did you show this to me?!" Think Ring of Bright Water, or Old Yeller by way of animals bringing out the best in us...