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andrewzwalters
Reviews
The Enfield Poltergeist (2023)
Compelling and agnostic dramatisation
Worth a watch but no answers, well done using many hours of recordings, superimposed with fresh witness testimony and actors in period settings. Very well done re-examination. For the subject material it feels like something is missing. I was not convinced by the supernatural case despite some compelling testimony, The family circumstances, mental health questions, safeguarding issues we would raise these days are probably lost to history. The production itself is solid and earnest,
I felt a more acquisitory and sceptical approach would be warranted, but likely would not get cooperation of the witnesses.
I would hope these days it would be treated as child mental health and family support investigation not a paranormal one, I am sure it would have better outcomes for the individuals involved.
Slow Horses (2022)
Bingeable brit Spy drama
Very good spy drama with echos of John le Carré, The Smiley role is taken by Gary Oldman's character played as foul slob rather than english gent, he is very good in the role, and whilst it never gets to the cerebral challenge of the John le Carré novels, its far easier to join the dots, its still quite good drama, where it does fail a bit for me is that it goes a bit A team in the end, with ineffectual automatic weapons fire and explosions with characters wearing plot armour. Lambs seeming omnipotence sometimes stretches credibility, Looking forward to S4 though and hoping its not going to be doing any shark jumping.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Really quite good, but not exceptional action movie
No big spoilers but fate of some characters can be inferred.
An exhilarating, pretty much non stop action Movie, but you might want to save it for a flight, Characters are relatable and plot and script push along generally keeping you engaged, although I skipped through some action sequences. I'm not fond of prequels as predictably there is no jeopardy for some of the characters.
The actor struggles to have the gravitas of Harrison Ford and there is a little of squeaky american stereotypical idealistic kid about him. This grates a little with the measured moral ambivalence of Solo as we meet him in Star Wars.
I liked the feminist robot social justice warrior, the scene with "her" freeing other droids in one of the heists is one of my favorites in the Movie, Emilia Clark is magnetic, Glover and Harrelson too compensating for slightly wet Solo. the villain could be stronger as well, Nicely set up for sequel particularly with Emilia Clarke developing the range of her character and Alden Ehrenreich just about keeping up in the end. It won't happen due to significant fandom who have taken against it mainly on political grounds
A good Movie, not a great movie, but history will be kinder about it I think than the some of the fandom.