Category: Reviews

TV Review-Mongels Series 2:Episode 4

We start off at Vince’s wedding reception. Nelson is the best man. Vince only wants to be portrayed in a positive way, which means Nelson had to throw his original speech out, so Nelson turns to his friends for stories about Vince.

Nelson isn’t overly impressed when Marion brings up Vince’s weekends with his son and recounting the plot to various films, such as Twilight, Tron Legacy, and Freaky Friday with himself and Vince as the main characters. It worked quite well, but the joke wore a little thin after the second joke.
Nelson tells the story of when he and Vince were stranded on an island, a traffic island in the middle of a duel carriageway.  Vince tries to cook him. Nelson manages to talk him out of it.  Nelson then stops his story, after remembering he and Vince had sex.  This section is genuinely funny, with Nelson quoting “what happens on the Island, stays on the Island”.

Eventually, the truth about Vince comes out, which leads to a brilliant musical number called, Vince Is A Massive C***. After the song, the bride tells Vince that she loves him and says, “Kiss me you c***”. Vince kills her and is now widowed.



This was a great episode, let down only by the Kali flashback. Kali had a period in her life, where she thought she was Will Smith, this consisted of her just saying the titles to Will Smith movies. Frankly, it felt beneath Mongrels the joke suited a canned laugher sitcom.

Mongrels has truly hit the ground running, I await the announcement of the inevitable third series.

Mongrels airs on BBC3, on Mondays at 10:30 pm

TV Review-This Is England 88:Episode one

When we last saw Woody and the gang last year, it was 1986; their lives had turned upside down. Lol had just killed her father, after he raped her best friend and was pregnant by Woody’s best mate, Milky.

As you may have guessed from the title, it’s now two years later. Lol is a single mum battling guilt and depression, whilst Woody is in a self-imposed exile from the group, spending his days at work and his evenings playing charades with his parents and new, posh girlfriend. Milky has just returned from a three-month trip away. Shaun is now a budding actor and has fallen for the middle-class leading lady, of his play. The social awkwardness between the working-class character of Shaun and his middle-class love interest feels authentic, the encounter at her parent’s house, when he thinks the olives are grapes, is funny, yet touching.

If there’s one thing Shane Meadow’s does well, it’s drama. The characters are so well written, that you’re completely captivated by them. You sympathise with them. I can’t wait for tonight’s episode

This is England is a 3-part drama airing on Channel 4.

Catch up on 4OD



Book Review- The Brilliant Book 2012

The Brilliant Book 2012 is an outstanding read for any Doctor Who fan. With its encyclopedia-style format, it offers a plethora of mini-synopses on each episode, deleted scenes, interviews with the writers, cast, and directors, and even an explanation about the missing pirate.

The book’s attention to detail is impeccable, and readers will find themselves poring over every page. From a list of every hat ever worn by the Doctor to scripts from deleted scenes, Charles Dickens’ Twitter feed, George’s school report, and a behind-the-scenes look at the CGI and effects, this book has it all.

One of the book’s highlights is the inclusion of loads of little in-jokes and references. For example, Henry Gordon Jago presents the section on Madame Vastra, and there’s a fascinating history of the Corsair and the storyboard for the original opening of The Doctor’s Wife.

This is a book for the whole family to enjoy. Dads, kids, and even mums will love exploring the intricacies of the Doctor Who universe.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Film Review-Another Earth

Another Earth is a great little gem of a movie, written by Mark Cahill and Brit Marling. Marling also stars as the main character of the film, Rhoda Williams.
Rhoda has recently been accepted to MIT and she goes out to celebrate with friends and drives home drunk. On the drive home she listens to a news broadcast on the radio about an approaching planet that looks just like Earth, she looks out her car window and crashes into another car, putting John Burroughs (William Mapother) in a coma and killing his wife and son.

Rhoda is sent to prison and after serving her sentence she tracks John down and decides to take care of him. Rhoda learns that there is a lottery to win a trip to the mirror Earth. She hopes that her other self didn’t make the same mistake and applies for a place.

Although the title and premise make this sound like a sci-fi movie, it is far from it. Another Earth is clearly a metaphor for a second chance, something we all desire. The only misstep this movie took, was having Rhoda and John become romantically involved. The relationship could have been a lot more touching if it hadn’t been romantic.

This is easily the best movie I have seen this year and shows indie cinema at its best. Had this been a blockbuster the mirror Earth inhabitants would have been evil versions, with goatee beards and WMD’s. I can’t recommend this film enough, this deserves a lot of praise. I would love a mini-series follow up exploring the consequences of another Earth being so close to ours and also to see what was happening to the inhabitants on mirror Earth.

Another Earth is in cinemas, nationwide.



Book Review-Elisabeth Sladen’s autobiography

I can’t be critical about this book. Lis was a lovely, affectionate person who touched the heart of everyone she met and, everyone she didn’t. I remember hearing that she was going to be in the series 2 episode, school reunion. Despite never having seen an episode with Sarah Jane in, I knew who she was. Sarah Jane is the definitive companion.

Sadly, Elisabeth died in April 2011. Even now, a few months away from the anniversary, it still feels fresh and somehow unreal. It isn’t just the older viewer who has lost someone; it’s also the millions of younger viewers that knew her from The Sarah Jane Adventures.



The role of Sarah-Jane Smith is arguably her most famous. The book charts her early life in Liverpool, as well as her career on the stage, her break into TV and radio, her marriage and motherhood, and her return to the Doctor Who family, in 2006. Every tale is recounted in glorious detail. It’s easy to see how children have always been spellbound by Lis.

She is also warm and praising about her Doctor’s, although Tom Baker comes across slightly better than Jon Pertwee. She then praises her later Doctor’s, David Tennant and Matt Smith, as well as the young cast of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
This is a brilliant book, with a lovely message from her daughter and a foreword by David Tennant.
Russell T Davis summed it up best when he said, “The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis.”

Elisabeth Sladen: the autobiography, is published by Aurum Press and costs £18.99

Listen to our review of the final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures

Film Review-Puss In Boots

A Puss in Boots spin-off has been in development since he made his first appearance in Shrek 2 way back in 2004. Now that DreamWorks have milked the Shrek franchise for all its worth, it is finally time for the cat to have his day.

This is essentially an origin story. It’s set way before Puss met Shrek, Fiona and Donkey. Since Puss is the main character, he needs wacky, funny characters around him. The love interest is a feline named Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) is Puss’ best friend from childhood. Puss and Humpty Dumpty were once as close as brothers until Puss became famous. Humpty soon became jealous of Puss and betrayed him by tricking him into a bank robbery. Years later, Humpty tracks him down seeking forgiveness, as well as help with a new scheme. The scheme involves stealing some magic beans from an out-law couple, Jack and Jill. The magic beans will send them up the famous beanstalk to the golden-egg laying goose.



The first half of the movie is better than the second half. I think this is due to it being such a busy story, the ending is little anti-climatic, but strangely unlike most children’s CGI movies, it isn’t bogged down by the over-preachy moral of the tale. The performances are all solid, but special mention must go to Antonio Banderas, he manages a performance that is consistently amusing as well as moving. The moment he sees his heartbroken mother staring at him is gut-wrenching. Visually the film is a treat. The 3D works well but adds little to the overall experience. The film would still be funny, enjoyable and moving in 2D. Puss in Boots is not a great film, but it is an extremely good film.

Puss In Boots opens in the UK on December 9th 2011.

Life’s Too Short: Episode 3

Warwick launches a new website in an effort to get himself more work, but it only ends up getting 12 hits and some nasty online comments. His clients at Dwarves For Hire believe that Warwick always takes the best roles for himself and he attempts to appease them by creating showreels re-enacting famous film scenes. I feel that this episode is where Life’s Too Short finally found its feet. This is what I’ve been waiting for, some quality time with Warwick. The celebrity cameo is in the last few minutes and the episode works so much better because of it. Helena Bonham-Carter doesn’t overshadow the episode, in the way the Neeson and Depp did. 

We were left with Warwick and Cheryl and this is when the show is at it’s strongest. For series 2 I’d rather they toned down the celebrity cameos, maybe go an episode or two without them.

The critic’s main problem with Life’s Too Short, is that it features an adult male dwarf playing an adult male dwarf, as opposed to a leprechaun or a goblin. It’s worth a pretty penny nowadays when dwarves want to play something other than an Oompa Loompa. This is almost the same problem Jon Watkins had with The Fosters, back in 1976. I thought we had moved on.

Life’s Too Short airs on Thursday’s at 9:30 pm, on BBC2



DVD REVIEW-Cars 2

I didn’t care much for the first Disney Cars film when it came out in 2006, however, since then I’ve had a son. He adores Cars and has just about every piece of merchandise with Lightning McQueen on it. He has watched the DVD so many times that the disc now sticks and requires replacing. Over the multiple viewings, it’s grown on me and I’ve even learnt to love Mater.

We went to see Cars 2 in 3D full of enthusiasm and excited to see the latest instalment. It was a letdown, my son got bored and wanted to run around and I wanted to go back and see the far superior Rio.

The story this time involves Mater being mistaken for a super-intelligent spy. Visually it is up to the high quality you’d expect from Pixar, but plot and story-wise it’s extremely poor. It’s a parody on a Bond film that we’ve seen done a thousand times. To me this movie was Pixar apologising to Disney for making Up, a film they couldn’t sell toys about. The best thing on this disc is the Toy Story short that is on the extra features.

A third instalment is inevitable, due to it being a huge cash-cow. Let’s just hope they actually have a story instead of a toy commercial.

DVD extras:

  • Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation
  • Air Mater

Cars 2 is available on DVD and Blu Ray



DVD REVIEW-An Idiot Abroad 2:The Bucket List

I have been a fan of Karl Pilkington for a long time and used to tune into Ricky Gervais’ Saturday Xfm radio show religiously to hear Karl’s ramblings. I have been a fan of the podcasts since they started them and I have read Karl’s books. Yes, he is a published author and I have enjoyed spotting Karl’s cameos in all of Gervais’ and Merchant’s work. Safe to say, I was always going to watch An Idiot Abroad.

Now, if you did not like An Idiot Abroad first time round, this series will do little to win you over. Karl had such a rough experience filming the first series that he vowed he wouldn’t make a second. However, An Idiot Abroad was the most-watched programme in the history of Sky 1, so a second series was always going to happen.



This time around Karl got to pick things he wanted to do from the bucket list. A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die. Swim with dolphins, drive along Route 66, etc. Ricky and Steve still pull out all the stops to make Karl’s experience as hellish as possible, from sending him to a hug-party, to getting him dressed up by Thai ladyboys and the result is hilarious. Karl is constantly out of his comfort zone and being pushed beyond his limits.

In typical Gervais/Merchant style there won’t be a third series of An Idiot Abroad, but there are plans for a 2012 Christmas special called An Idiot Abroad: The Short Way Round, where Pilkington travels the world on a bicycle with Warwick Davis sat in a basket on the front. Forget the Olympics, this will be the event of 2012.

An Idiot Abroad is available on DVD and Blu Ray



Review-Life’s Too Short: Episode 2

For some reason, critics haven’t been that keen on this new venture from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. I think that’s due to this being Gervais’ year, every year the media seem to pick a celebrity they’ve always liked, then tarnish them. Quite why this is happening is still a mystery to me and that’s probably why I’ll never be taken seriously as a critic.

This series is really starting to take shape, Warwick again puts in an amazing comic performance, everyone involved is perfectly suited for comedy.

My personal highlight happened when Warwick and his assistant, Cheryl (Rosamund Hanson) are discussing ways to expand and bring in new business, she suggests he should dress up as a little girl and wait in the woods, as paedophile bait. In fact, the best parts of this episode were the parts that just featured Warwick and Cheryl. The convention scene was genuinely funny. You felt sympathy for the young boy with the brain tumour, but also for Warwick as everyone in the line then used the tumour excuse to avoid paying the £25 for his autograph.



The only criticism I have about Life’s Too Short is the celebrity cameos, with Warwick and Cheryl I don’t think you need them. It’s almost as if they’re making extras, without making extras. The post-credit scene made me realise, how much I miss extras.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Johnny Depp’s part in this episode, the confrontation between him and Gervais felt authentic, but if you had taken Depp out, it wouldn’t have affected the episode.
Another time you feel for Warwick is when he turns up at the couples, Star Wars-themed wedding and they expect him to be dressed as Wickett the Ewok. This reflects a real-life experience Warwick had when he was asked to open a garden centre at Christmas and told by the owner “bring your elf costume”. The speech Warwick gave at the wedding was the brilliant cringe-worthy comedy that Gervais writes so well.
Overall I’m enjoying this series and I look forward to episode 3

Life’s Too Short airs on Thursdays, at 9:30 pm on BBC2