Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 8 “Let’s kill Hitler” - Review

Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 8 “Let’s kill Hitler” first episode of Series 6 Part 2

Cast: Matt Smith, Alex Kingston, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill

Review - SPOILER ALERT!
Okay first thing I need to say….Doctor Who is Back!! Yes!! Ahaha as a huge Doctor Who I’m very excited for this part of the series to be back, their still a lot questions from Part 1 to be answered, by the look of things there’s more on top. Now Steven Moffat’s name was on the title, and as usual narrative sense and logic were immediately thrown out of the window. “Let’s Kill Hitler” went down the predictably unpredictable route, and not long after the Tardis crashed into Hitler’s office in the centre of Berlin (alerting absolutely nobody), Addy was locked in a cupboard and forgotten about. I felt a bit cheated, for something that’s got the title “Let’s kill Hitler” the guy only appear for about 5 mins of the episode mmmm but saying that, he did get punched by Rory so it makes up for that fact lol.

Now I really liked the speed of the episode, within the first 10 minutes, we get a funny opening with Amy and Roy and a mystery new character named “Mels” which turned out to be River song’s younger self ahahaha I’m really like a lot of the regenerations within this series first being the Doctor’s death, then the little girl (River Song) and now River Song again….it’s very surprising to see but very cool at the same time and I did like the Teselecta, the little people piloting the human-shaped robots from inside. There was one thing that didn’t make sense, is that there were very little guards Surely if somebody had gone in, shot up the place and forced the clientele to run outside in their underwear, someone in authority might just have – you know – popped his head around the door to see what was going on?

Overall it was a good episode for the opening series, some hit and miss plots….it’s great to have the Doctor back again on are TV’s screens and I can’t wait for the next episode.

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The Ref (aka Hostile Hostages) - Review

Release Year: 1994
Country: USA
Cert (UK): 15
Running Time: 93 mins

Director: Ted Demme

Cast: Denis Leary (Ice Age), Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives) and Kevin Spacey (Horrible Bosses)

Review
Brief storyline of the film, the plot idea is relatively simple; Denis Leary plays Gus a professional burglar who after a foiled robbery seeks to make good his escape by taking married couple Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur hostage. Lloyd (played by Kevin Spacey) and Caroline (played by Judy Davis) are however going through something of a marriage crisis and poor old Gus ends up playing referee between the two warring factions of this married couple. Add in a delinquent son, a mother-in-law of humongous bitchy proportions and a drunken Santa Claus and let the mayhem begin!

I have to say that the interplay between Learn, Spacey and Davis is simply fantastic with the machinegun like dialogue whizzing back and forth between them, my favourite quote from the film is Leary’s character and he said “From now on, the only person who gets to yell is me. Why? Because I have a gun. People with guns get to do whatever they want. Married people without guns - for instance - you - DO NOT get to yell. Why? NO GUNS! No guns, no yelling. See? Simple little equation.” ahahaha just brilliant and so funny, black comedy as always been a favourite of my and this as delivers.  

With likewise the stingingly cruel comments from the mother-in-law from hell are a real hoot, as is the bumbling capers of the town's less than competent police force. What makes the film work on another level though is that the arguments and disagreements that have the family at each other's throats are not contrived or unbelievable. Both husband and wife put forward extremely credible points of view that I'm sure having cropped up in the minds of most viewers. This gives the film a lovely poignancy and all that more enjoyable.

Overall, I found this a very funny movie. Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey bounce off each other hilariously, and I found Denis Leary’s character just brilliant (and is now one of my favourite comedian lol) The script is original, the humour is dry, sarcastic and 'laugh out loud' good for a black-comedy so Great stuff!

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Millennium Season 2 - Review

Release Year: 1997 to 1998

Country: USA
Cert (UK): 18
Running Time:45 Minutes each episode.

Director: Chris Carter (Creator of Millennium & The X-Files)

Cast: Lance Henriksen (Aliens) Megan Gallagher, Terry O'Quinn (Lost & the X-Files) Brittany Tiplady and Klea Scott.

Review
Brief storyline of the season, continues right after the events of Season 2 with Frank Black tracking down serial killer who took he’s wife, this season is more overtly supernatural occurrences into the show's mythology, with Frank often coming into conflict with forces that appeared to be apocalyptic or even demonic in nature.

Millennium Season 2 is more dark and unsettling, was notably different in tone, in style and in thematic content when compared to the first season. Whereas the first season looked at the evil acts committed by man usually in the form of criminal investigations into serial murderers, the second had a more spiritual and supernatural feel to it. This was a purposeful move made by the show's new commanders, Glen Morgan & James Wong (creators of Space: Above & Beyond), and on initial viewing of these episodes after watching the first season, the changes are a little jarring.However, once you've grown accustomed to the marginally lighter mood and the sporadic shifts in tone (as good as the comedy episodes are, they simply feel out of place), this is a highly commendable season. More time is taken to explore the shadowy motives of the Millennium Group that Frank Black consults for, Terry O'Quinn's character Peter Watts takes a more prominent role, and the edition of Kristen Cloke as Lara Means is welcome. Though Megan Gallagher is still on the opening credits for every episode, her appearances are few and far between this season.

The highlights in Millennium's middle season for me are "The Mikado" a deeply suspenseful and nerve-shredding tale of how the internet can be abused, "A Room With No View" the chilling return of evil-incarnate Lucy Butler (From Season 1), the "Owls" / "Roosters" two-part story (which explores a divide within the Millennium Group) and my personal favourite two-parter of the season "The Fourth Horseman" / "The Time Is Now" with shows one of the most shocking scene, I have ever seen on a TV series in which a lethal plague looks set to trigger the apocalypse.

Don't get me wrong, Season 1 is powerful viewing, but Season 2 simply builds on the themes the show originally presented and creates a signature series that leaves you utterly stunned by its quality. Whatever your feelings on Season 1, it is surely obvious that it began recycling the same formula in each episode and the serial-killer-of-the-week format started becoming redundant by the middle part of the series. I honestly don't think the show could have continued in this vein as it would have become rather stale. Morgan and Wong introduced a story arc, which the show needed, developed the existing characters, built on the supernatural suggestiveness (think 'Force Majeur' from 1) and focused more attentively to the shady Millennium Group; all of which served to create a more exciting and urgent atmosphere as the countdown to the Millennium itself begins.

Overall this season is a bold and brave development of an exisiting format that builds to a nail-biting apocalyptic conclusion, so if you’re looking for something new then give a watch.

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Exam - Review

Release Year: 2007

Country: British U.K
Cert (UK): 15
Running Time: 101 mins

Director: Stuart Hazeldine

Cast: Colin Salmon (Resident Evil & Doctor Who), Jimi Mistry (2012), Luke Mably (28 Days Later) and Nathalie Cox (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)

Review
Brief storyline of the film, eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, an Invigilator gives those eighty minutes to answer one simple question. He outlines three rules they must obey or be disqualified: don't talk to him or the armed guard by the door, don't spoil their papers and don't leave the room.

Well one thing I really like about this film, Is that it’s a well-made British Psychological thriller and the director/writer as chosen 9 brilliant actors and actress to deliver tension, exciting film. Exam is a dialogue-heavy piece, so if you like you’re thriller films with some action you wouldn’t find it here but don’t let that put you off at the end of the day, it’s still an exciting and interesting piece from start to finish and work brilliantly as a play. It's very intriguing but I can't go into more detail about the film because it would give it all away and the whole point of watching is seeing how the candidates deal with their situation. And how! Most of the cast get a fair crack of the whip in the script and there are dark times ahead as the work through every possible permutation to get to the answer.

One of the most impressive things about this…is how the Director Stuart Hazeldine as given us the audience more information on the each character with lots of detail, which I think would hard to do given that theirs 9 main characters in the film, so great job! lol also I really like the fact,  there was a  “reservoir dogs” type moment with Luke Mably’s character giving out codenames like blonde, brunette, white, black, brown, Chinese, Dark and deaf….just basic around their descriptors. And top marks goes to writer/director Stuart Hazeldine for his directorial debut, since this is the type of film where anyone could easily paint themselves into a corner and not know how to get out of it, but not only does he manage that, he also comes up with, what I can only describe as, the perfect ending.

Overall the film is a great Psychological thriller, which given us some brilliant actors/actress also had one of my favourite ending to a film.  so give it a watch lol

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