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Showing posts from May, 2024

NEVER WALK ALONE (THE RESPONDER, SERIES TWO)

© BBC & Dancing Ledge Productions Hot on the heels of a second series of 'Blue Lights ' comes the return of another hugely admired BBC1 cop series. Former cop Tony Schumacher's 'The Responder' earned critical acclaim and an International Emmy Award for its star Martin Freeman for its no holds barred portrayal of policing in Liverpool. The Merseyside drama showed the realities of officers policing an English city riddled with drug dealing and drug related crime. Like some of the best crime dramas of recent times, it showed the toll it exacted on officers who feel like they are fighting a losing battle. © BBC & Dancing Ledge Productions It also showed the toll on the addicts, dealers and their neighbours. What made it really compelling, though, was the way it depicted people struggling to keep their necks above water. Martin Freeman's lead character Chris Carson was a morally compromised police officer - a Scouse version of Harvey Keitel's 'Bad Li

TARTED UP (UNFROSTED)

© Netflix Over the past year we've had movies about Nike , Beanie Babies , Flamin' Hot Cheetos and, of course, Barbie . So is it really all that surprising that we now have one about Pop Tarts? Jerry Seinfeld's directorial debut 'Unfrosted' is a starry affair that plants its tongue in its cheek as it celebrates the Kellogg's breakfast pastry. Working from a screenplay Seinfeld wrote alongside Spike Feresten, Andy Robin and Barry Marder, the director also plays Bob Cabana, a Kellogg's executive who comes across Isaac Bae's young boy George who has stopped off in a diner while preparing to run away from home. © Netflix Engaging George in conversation after he orders a pop tart at the counter, Bob starts to recount the story of how the delicacy were invented and his role in it. The year is 1963. Bill Burr's JFK is in the White House, Kyle Dunnigan's Walter Kronkite is America's most trusted news anchor and Kellogg's is ruling the roost in t

ARMY DREAMERS (BLUE LIGHTS, SERIES TWO)

© BBC Studios, Gallagher Films, Hot Sauce Pictures & Two Cities Television And so here we are again. Having impressed audiences and critics last year with its debut series , BBC1's Belfast police drama 'Blue Lights' is back with a new set of challenges for the officers of Blackthorn Police Station. (SPOILERS ALERT!) The last series ended with John Lynch's dissident republican criminal gang leader James McIntyre being put behind bars , as he was abandoned by his military intelligence handler. Jonathan Harden's Inspector David 'Jonty' Johnson was left disgraced after it was revealed he had put the activities of the same handler above the welfare of his own officers. © BBC Studios, Gallagher Films, Hot Sauce Pictures & Two Cities Television Jonty's extramarital affair with Hannah McClean's Constable Jen Robinson also came to light as she quit the force. Even more devastatingly, the officers of 'Blue Lights' had to contend with the killin

PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS)

© Netflix Liam Neeson is no stranger to a Western. In 2006, he starred in the tense David Von Ancken revisionist Western ' Seraphim Falls ' opposite Pierce Brosnan. He took on the role of the villain in Seth McFarlane's 2014 comedy western ' A Milion Ways To Die In The West ' alongside the director Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried.  Finally there was a brief appearance as a travelling theatre impresario in the Coen Brothers' 2018 Western anthology movie ' The Ballad of Buster Scuggs '. © Netflix Now he's at it again, making a Western of sorts but this time one that masqueraded as a movie set during Northern Ireland's Troubles. Teaming up once more with Robert Lorenz, who directed him in the hitman thriller ' The Marksman ', he takes his action schtick to Donegal, the notoriously picaresque, rugged county in the northwest corner of Ireland. 'In The Land of Saints and Sinners' is not a typical Troubles film but an attempt to make