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wendystowesmith
Reviews
Father Christmas Is Back (2021)
Good cast wasted
One wonders why these actors took this on. Mildly funny in a cliched way but mostly clumsy, ridiculous and predictable. Caroline Quentin and John Cleese rather wonderful in a scene heavy with innuendo in a cow shed...
Falling for Figaro (2020)
Antidote to blockbusters!
Wonderful Scottish scenery, straightforward plot, slightly stereotypical locals. Joanna Lumley is memorable if only for her dragged through a hedge look. I'm enjoying heroines who are not stereotypical in appearance and personality. A couple of twists along the way, not too predictable, beautiful music. Comfort food.
The Starling (2021)
Unexpectedly joyful
This is a movie about bereavement treated with a light touch! Husband in psychiatric care, wife struggling with her own heartbreak. It could all be miserable but it isn't. It's gentle and funny and tragic all at once. The characters are great - the shop staff where Lillie works, the shrink turned vet. And a good soundtrack too. Unexpectedly joyful.
Letters to Juliet (2010)
Beautiful to look at, satisfying love story
The Tuscan landscape is the star of the show! It's simply beautiful. The story is simple. Sophie is engaged to Victor who does not have time for her. Sophie meets Charlie who dislikes her even before they meet and it's reciprocated. Clare is looking for her love of fifty years earlier. You know how it's all going to end and it does. A satisfyingly romantic story where not only the young people find true love and happy endings. However the climb up the wisteria is just a bit daft!
Life on Mars (2006)
Quality stuff!
I've been watching this on Netflix long after it first aired. It is violent, funny, intriguing and addictive. The characters are varied and believable, the standard of policing horrifying. Beat the information out of them seems to be the method! Then just when you think you know what's happening and how it is all going to end it twists out of your grip! This is just brilliant tv that keeps you watching, is intelligent and thoughtful and very clever. I loved it. Ashes to ashes next!
The Secret Garden (2020)
Not a film of the book!
This is an enjoyable film but if you are expecting a film of the book you won't get it. It begins accurately enough but segues into pure fantasy. The secret garden, which should be a walled garden of ordinary size becomes a massive acreage. The whole point is that the garden is neglected and Mary's story is about rescuing the garden, tending it with Dickon, learning to sow and grow plants and through the garden saving Colin and herself. That was all lost here with the garden some sort of Eden that would be most unlikely in Yorkshire and totally unrealistic. Why make a film of a book and then completely ignore the book? Disappointing.