I love a tightly written, heavily plotted series that digs deep into murky waters. The Honorable Woman is just that with a story about Palestinian/Israeli relationships that is just as complicated as the real thing.
Maggie Gyllenhaal stars and she’s just as good as ever. I don’t remember the details but my review is making me want to give it another watch.
I randomly started watching Line of Duty again the other day. It remains an incredibly solid bit of crime television. It isn’t quite up to Prestige TV (whatever that means) standards, but it is a really good procedural.
I don’t remember watching Series Two back in the day, but I guess I did as I wrote a review. Not sure where in its many seasons I actually did stop watching. Keeley Hawes is in Series Two so I definitely got to get through my rewatch of Series One so I can catch her in action again. I loved her in Ashes to Ashes.
My review can be read here.
Now this is a series I remember fondly. It is a dark, violent, hilarious, short series about a doctor’s life in a remote section of Russia. Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe star. You can read my review here (and then I might just rewatch it).
The thing about being an amateur reviewer is that you gotta take the good with the bad. Since I don’t really get paid, I do get to choose what I review, but I’m always taking chances. Sometimes they pay out and I find something amazing, sometimes they don’t and I’m stuck watching (and then talking about) something awful.
Chiller was apparently awful. I don’t remember anything about it, actually, but you can read my thoughts here.
Sadly, I only received a few of these marvelous Poirot sets to review. I wish I was able to get them all. I guess I’ll have to buy them now.
But I’m thankful for the ones I do have. You can read my full review of Series 12 here.
As part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations for Doctor Who, the BBC made this film about the beginnings of the series. It is a lovely, well-made thing that will likely only appeal to fans, but I am one and I quite loved it.
You can read my full review of it here.
I’ve been enjoying reading all my old reviews, and I hope you have too. Part of the enjoyment for me is thinking about how my writing style has changed – sometimes that embarrasses me, but mostly I enjoy reading my old stuff (does that make me a narcissist?). But I also enjoy seeing what I thought about something many years ago. Sometimes I’ve revisited the stuff and my opinion has changed.
Sometimes, as is the case with Jack Taylor I barely remember watching it in the first place. I have only the vaguest memories of watching this show, mostly I remember Iain Glen who was starring in the immensely popular at the time Game of Thrones. He’s probably the reason I agreed to review this set in the first place.
In my review, I made a crack about how I’d probably sell this DVD set as I didn’t enjoy it all that much. But I didn’t sell it as it is still sitting on my shelves. I kind of want to watch it again as I’ve softened quite a bit on these old mystery shows. I wonder if I’d enjoy it now.
Anyway, you can read my review here.
Classic Doctor Who ran from 1963 to 1989. It included some 311 stories told over 695 episodes of television. The Doctor was portrayed by seven different actors. While I have watched every episode of the New Doctor Who series, I’ve not yet made it through all the classic stories.
I have seen at least a few stories from each Doctor, but I’ve always watched it fairly randomly – watching one story from this era and then another one from a different era with a different Doctor, etc.
They are now releasing complete seasons of the classic series on Blu-ray but for ages they released single stories on DVD. I reviewed a few of them for Cinema Sentries including this one starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor (and in this case the story’s central enemy).
I’ve come to love Troughton’s version of the Doctor, but this was the first time I’d seen him in the role and my opinion of him was not yet solidified. Anyway, you can read the review here.
Maverick, the television series, ran for several seasons in the late 1950s to the early 1960s. It starred James Garner (amongst others) as a wise-cracking, woman-chasing gambler in the old west who gets in lots of trouble every episode. In 1994 they made a movie out of it starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner. I’ve seen the movie multiple times. Every few years I put it on thinking that I like it. Every time I’m disappointed. The cast is charming and the story isn’t bad, but something about it just annoys me.
I probably ordered this DVD set misremembering how much I liked the movie. The series isn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t for me. You can read my full thoughts here.
One of the many reasons Doctor Who has had such a fantastically long run time as a series is that The Doctor regenerates. That wasn’t always supposed to be true but when the First Doctor (William Hartnell) got sick the show was such a huge success the producers came upon this idea to keep it running.
The Doctor is an alien, who says when he dies, he doesn’t really die, but becomes someone else? Well, he’ll always be The Doctor, but he can be played by a different actor and have a different personality. Patrick Troughton took on the role of The Second Doctor and the rest is history.
It was a genius idea. Whenever an actor gets tired of playing the role someone else will take his (or her) place. A new Doctor is born with an updated personality. This also allows the series to change with the times.
It also allows fans to constantly argue over which Doctor is the best.
A Doctor’s regeneration is always a big deal. Matt Smith was one of the most popular Doctors ever and so when he decided to leave the character you just knew his departure would be huge.
It was. So huge in fact they tied it into a Christmas Episode (an annual tradition). The Time of the Doctor wrapped up several storylines and more. And then some more. As you can read in my review it is a lot of fun, but also an overstuffed mess.
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