Review: Peterloo

Weighing in at well over two hours, there should have plenty of time to tell this important milestone in the history of suffrage in a engaging way. Instead, director Leigh chooses to extend too many scenes beyond their natural length to fill out the running time and populate it with two dimensional, often declamatory, caricatures. There's one positive in all of the speechifying - it does serve to illustrate just how much biblical language influenced the timbre and content of the written and spoken word at the time.

Verdict: Overlong and strangely lacking historical drama

Review: Top Gun

The recent release of the trailer for the sequel to this 80s piece of nostalgia reminded me that I couldn't recall seeing the original.  Putting his weird beliefs and private life aside, I also find Cruise a very watchable screen presence so I thought it was time to remedy this gap in my knowledge of his filmography.

In Top Gun, the jets and other military hardware compete with the star qualities of Cruise, Kilmer and McGillis and the humans only just about come out ahead.  Director Scott certainly knows how to get the most out of both which in combination with an iconic soundtrack crystallises into a perfect drop of 80s filmmaking.

Verdict:   Breathtaking planes and 80s manes do battle.

Review: What we left behind: Looking back at Deep Space Nine

I was tidying my office last night and thought I'd have this on in the background while I did so. It was a bit of an odd choice as I count myself as nothing more than a casual Star Trek fan. I've watched most of the Next Generation, up to half of Enterprise, a dozen or so episodes of the original series and erm...just a smattering of episodes of Deep Space Nine.

Led by showrunner, Behr, this is a good overview and review of the series covering production elements such as casting and recasting, script writing (including a rather wonderful realisation of what an opening episode of a notional series 8 might look like), on-set dynamics etc.   It does occasionally get repetitive (we get that makeup was lengthy), but remains interesting rather than fascinating and revelatory throughout.

Has it persuaded me to actually revisit series myself? Yes, perhaps - I still have the boxset sitting on top of bookcase...

Verdict: Respectful review of somewhat sidelined Trek. 

Review: An Angel for May

Charming kid's time-travelling film which is very reminiscent of the output of the Children's Foundation.  Naturalistic performances, gentle plotting and strong characterisation help anchor the fantasy.

Be warned, the Prime video copy looks pretty dreadful with burned in "This is the property of..." messages occasionally appearing which makes you wonder where on Earth Amazon sourced it.

Verdict:   Can't fault this British made-for-TV fantasy film. 

Review: This book could help:The Men's Head space manual

No-nonsense and useful guide for blokes to take some early steps to improve their mental health and resilience. It's unlikely to turn around a deep depression, but there's plenty of useful tips and tools to help prevent negative thoughts spiralling down.

It helps from a credibility point of view that the book is produced with the blessing of Mind.

Verdict: A good introduction to getting a little mind space. 

Review: Captain Marvel

For the nth entry in the Marvel film universe, yet another origin story for an eccentrically costumed character shouldn't be this involving - but this tale of amnesia,  loyalty switching and beginnings (in more way than one) is surprisingly good.  The nuggets of 90s nostalgia help as does being given a first person view of the sheer bafflement of the titular character as they try to piece together their past.

Jackson provides great support as a younger pre-Avengers Nick Fury.  Both are upstaged by Goose the cat who doesn't get much screen time, but has some memorable appearances.

Now her backstory is established, I hope Larson's Captain Marvel is given a bit more depth in subsequent outings. She's undoubtably a woman of action with a touch of snark, but I'm hoping for more in future films.

Verdict: Be warned, you may never look at your cat in the same way again!

Review: How to train your dragon: The hidden world

How to train your dragon has always had a problem in that the entries in the film series have always been a little too far apart for me to be able to rely on my memory of what happened before.  It hasn't proved to be too much of a problem because the charm and story has swiftly pulled me back into the world of Toothless and Hiccup.

Unfortunately, How to train your dragon 3 somehow failed to draw me in this time. It looks absolutely gorgeous and the story of Toothless finding love should have carried real emotional weight - but the plot is weak and the antagonist never really adds sufficient jeopardy.  The whole film is the equivalent of strolling around familiar streets with an old friend as an adult rather than going on a childhood adventure.

I hadn't expect to enjoy the first movie in the series, but was completely enchanted by it. Here the reverse is true; I did expect to love this return to the world of dragons and humans - but I was bored by it.

Verdict: Beautiful looking finale which lacks something.