Off Topic The Review Thread

[sb_73]

Webuyanycar.com

Sold a couple of cars through them years ago, quick and easy compared to private sales, haggling with the dealers etc, but not a particularly pleasant experience as the old blokes checking nit picked and sneered a bit.

Decided to downsize to make one car for the two of us which meant moving the 14 reg Polo GT on, sadly as its huge fun to drive. We buy didn’t offer the best price but it was good enough, and the car has developed a few issues - air con gone (no amount of regassing would help) tyre pressure warning permanently on - either reset or one of the sensors bust, and the electric windows doing eccentric up and down dances, satnav tragically out of date, digital radio essentially knackered. We thought they’d knock at least another few hundred off on inspection but this proved so cursory that only £100 reduction, the very pleasant young lad doing the check said ‘l didn’t see that’ for the warning light, all done in 15 minutes. He had another 3 or 4 checks to do waiting.

Conclusion - if you use them choose a busy place with a youngster running it.

Downside - wife has already spent the cash on furniture.

 

[sb_73]

The Godfather on BBC4 now.

I thought ‘I don’t need to see this again’, but am of course hooked almost instantly. It’s hypnotic.

 

[Stroller]

The Godfather on BBC4 now.

I thought ‘I don’t need to see this again’, but am of course hooked almost instantly. It’s hypnotic.

I had the same thing the other night with Godfather 2. Just about to go to bed, next thing it's 1am.

A better film, by the way.

 

[sb_73]

I had the same thing the other night with Godfather 2. Just about to go to bed, next thing it's 1am.

A better film, by the way.

I look at them as one film, can’t have part two without part one.

Less said about part three the better. There was a short documentary on before the film started, both Coppola and Pacino said they made part 3 as they were short of money.

Hadn’t really noticed how big a part food has to play in Part One. They are eating all the time and it looks like great nosh too.

 

[Wherever]

Isn’t it good when to go to something not knowing what to expect and enjoy the experience.
The life of Chuck, an uplifting film about many tragic deaths, oh and the end of the world.
Reminded me of a Wes Anderson film without having WA shoved down your throat.
Good performances from Tom Hiddleston who I don’t normally like and Mark Hamill, who doesn’t mention star wars once. Plus the various people who play Chuck.
A story in three parts played backwards (of course) could so easily have lost itself but didn’t as it is a well made film, I would recommend it.
Should mention it was a Stephen King short story, he really can write good stuff and not always horror.
A Strong 7 1/2 out of 10

 

[Steelmonkey]

Isn’t it good when to go to something not knowing what to expect and enjoy the experience.
The life of Chuck, an uplifting film about many tragic deaths, oh and the end of the world.
Reminded me of a Wes Anderson film without having WA shoved down your throat.
Good performances from Tom Hiddleston who I don’t normally like and Mark Hamill, who doesn’t mention star wars once. Plus the various people who play Chuck.
A story in three parts played backwards (of course) could so easily have lost itself but didn’t as it is a well made film, I would recommend it.
Should mention it was a Stephen King short story, he really can write good stuff and not always horror.
A Strong 7 1/2 out of 10

Cheers - just watched this, a great Sunday afternoon film. King does write some good stuff. Looking forward to The Long Walk coming out soon, another of his short stories I read years ago.

 

[sb_73]

Pet Shop Boys at Warwick Castle last night.

Odd one. Because of the football I was in a good mood plus the company was good, so I coped with the rain, 10-12,000 people in a field (my least favourite gig format, give me a sweaty club any day), and £6.30 for a tiny can of Estrella.

PSB were much as expected. I’m not a real fan but quite respect them and like the 7 or 8 witty and intelligent electro pop classics from the Eighties. Very slick and polished show, costume changes, big lighting but no dancers. They had three musicians with them but I suspect quite a lot of the sound was machine generated at the push of a button. Fair enough with this kind of music (although Faithless have shown you can do great versions of electro music with traditional bands live). I’m certain Neil Tennant’s voice was both live and somehow enhanced.

They played all the early hits, the ones we know and remember, and they sounded very much like the records ie good. Problem is that they didn’t take up much of a two hour set, being largely 3/4 minute pop songs, and the rest was taken up with stuff which might have been hits but not familiar ones to me or the vast majority of the crowd (let’s say even my advanced age didn’t change the demographic). More dance oriented I think, repetitive and it just didn’t work in a field. I could imagine enjoying it in a club 35 years ago with perhaps some chemical enhancement. They lost the crowd big time, lot of wandering around, very little dancing. Of course, when you have a tightly organised and choreographed set, with lots of it possibly prerecorded, it’s impossible to switch things up. Not sure they cared, it was the last gig of their tour and perhaps the folk at the front were giving it large.

Biggest problem was that IT WASN’T LOUD ENOUGH. Very easy to carry on conversations without raising your voice, and indeed overhear your neighbours’ conversations (nothing interesting). For this type of music I expect to feel the thump of the beat in my chest.

Final irritation was that they changed one of my favourite lines in pop music - ‘from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station’ (points awarded for what it’s about, not you Beth) in West End Girls to ‘from Mariupol to Kyiv Station’.

A shorter and louder set would have seen a better score than 6/10.

 

[Steelmonkey]

Started to watch the new BBC series King and Conqueror last night (something I'd been looking forward to) about 1066, Hatold and William. Some good actors in it, but I've found the script quite clunky and some of the acting is fairly wooden. I do wonder if some of this is down to being produced by CBS in conjunction with BBC, dumbing it down for an American audience....the Earl of Wessex sounds like he's straight out of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie, not what you'd expect from an 11th century lord! Guess we've been spoiled by Vikings, and Vikings.Valhalla, two shows with big budgets that were really well done.

So I stuck with this and finished it off....it's not bad, but it's so full of historical inaccuracies that it had me confused with what I thought I knew about the lead up to the Battle of Hastings. Timelines completely wrong, people alive when they should be dead, people dead when then should be alive, random murders of high profile characters who weren't murdered. Why divert so far away from the truth, there's so much life in the real story it doesn't need fluffing up for tv. If they were shy on time, they could've gone for hour long episodes instead of 45 minutes - maybe a 6/10

 

[sb_73]

So I stuck with this and finished it off....it's not bad, but it's so full of historical inaccuracies that it had me confused with what I thought I knew about the lead up to the Battle of Hastings. Timelines completely wrong, people alive when they should be dead, people dead when then should be alive, random murders of high profile characters who weren't murdered. Why divert so far away from the truth, there's so much life in the real story it doesn't need fluffing up for tv. If they were shy on time, they could've gone for hour long episodes instead of 45 minutes - maybe a 6/10

Haven’t seen it but heard Norton talking about it and admitting that it drifted quite a bit from history. Also that it took 8 years to make, which strikes me as a colossal amount of time.

 

[Kilburn]

On on our recent visit to Mavillette Beach in Nova Scotia on the Acadian shore, back at the motel, located right on the beach, we really enjoyed watching on TV the older version of the movie "Hook" starring Robin Williams and Vanessa Redgrave.

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We stayed for 2 nights at very reasonable price in the older fashioned white motel block that you see at the far end of the cove.

 

[Stroller]

The Hostage on Netflix.

This drivel is so staggeringly awful, so very poorly written it’s actually magnificent. For anyone on here, I warn you, Coventry vs QPR would be a more entertaining watch.

A totally, shockingly dire plot which if not so outrageously unbelievable is finalised by someone calling 999 and getting an armed police response (as it’s a silent 999 call) and that’s what happens.

This is up there with The Room as regards pi55poor TV/Film. If this is the standard of what the general public find realistic or entertaining, we are doomed.

Beyond dreadful.

Had to watch this based on your recommendation. An utterly preposterours plot, but the acting was good and I rather enjoyed the whole thing. I've seen much worse.

Your scathing review seems a little over the top to me. Try suspending disbelief. If you found it that bad, why did you watch it to the end?

 

[sb_73]

I haven’t listened to the Today programme on Radio 4 for months, because it’s **** and makes me angry. It was turned on this morning by mistake and I had the misfortune to be exposed to the worst ‘journalist/presenter’ in the world, Emma Barnett. Two huge segments devoted to Martha’s Law, where you can demand a second opinion in hospital. Barnett always covers this kind of stuff, never the hard news stories about wars or economics. It gives her full rein for her huge sense of grievance especially against the medical profession and she really let rip this morning, moaning on about God complexes etc. Not what I thought the job of a radio news presenter was, but clearly I’m very old fashioned.

I used to think the BBC was an important part of our social fabric, something distinctive about this country. Now I think we’d be better off without it, someone else will make nature programmes if there’s money in them.

 

[Steelmonkey]

Patience on C4 is very watchable. I've watched the first three episodes of six and is a great series to go along with. It's about an autistic young lady who works in the police records department of York police and has a grab on picking up on crime patterns. The police officer picks up on this and takes her on board to her crime team and picks up on stuff that the regular police don't see.

Just got round to watching this, very enjoyable

 

[IwasanotherwatfordR]

Had to watch this based on your recommendation. An utterly preposterours plot, but the acting was good and I rather enjoyed the whole thing. I've seen much worse.

Your scathing review seems a little over the top to me. Try suspending disbelief. If you found it that bad, why did you watch it to the end?

Reviewed it as I felt it deserved and stand by my review. If anything, I think I was a tad tame.

Why did I stick with it? It could have been that the various plots were so throughly ridiculous maybe it was the wonder of just what terrible circumstance could possibly next befall poor old Mrs PM. I was half expecting the program to climax with an alien invasion.

 

[IwasanotherwatfordR]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yvpx20le2o

Just in the news. He has the perfect name!

 

[kiwiqpr]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yvpx20le2o

Just in the news. He has the perfect name!

2 legs or half a million
think i might just keep the legs

 

[Steelmonkey]

2 legs or half a million
think i might just keep the legs

Rumour has it that a night out with Wherever will leave you legless, and cost you a fortune too!

 

[Wherever]

Rumour has it that a night out with Wherever will leave you legless, and cost you a fortune too!

You are coming next time

 

[Steelmonkey]

Heretic. I like a good psychological thriller/horror, and this was great. Two young Mormon girls knock on the door of a theologist played by Hugh Grant, and he invites them in, ostensibly to discuss faith and religion, but then snares them in a game to find out how deep their belief really is. Great tension, good disection of moderm day religion, and a wee bit of gore....nice Saturday evening viewing.

 

[IwasanotherwatfordR]

Heretic. I like a good psychological thriller/horror, and this was great. Two young Mormon girls knock on the door of a theologist played by Hugh Grant, and he invites them in, ostensibly to discuss faith and religion, but then snares them in a game to find out how deep their belief really is. Great tension, good disection of moderm day religion, and a wee bit of gore....nice Saturday evening viewing.

I saw that at the cinema. I’m not Hugh Grant’s biggest fan but thought he was fantastic in that role
and enjoyed the film too. Weapons, which is out now, I liked too. A sort of psychological thriller/horror, that I would imagine would be enjoyed by anyone who liked Heretic.