davidcarmon4 Reviews

Bundy and the Green River Killer (2019)

It's not great

[4/10 · 21 October 2022]

I spent the first twenty minutes thinking "he looks like Tony from EastEnders" had a Google and found that it was "Tony from EastEnders" AKA Mark Homer.

He was probably the best actor in it. The accents were all over the place, no consistency in dialect. There was even the odd slip into an English accent. The interior scenes were full of UK items and fittings, even the exterior scenes were obviously the UK.

It's not all bad, just the majority.

Would have been better to have a story based on the real events but set in the UK. Not much better, but it would have been an improvement on this mess.

Neighbours (1985– )

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

[10/10 · 17 April 2022]

I've often thought that each decades viewers have looked back on the previous decade of Neighbours with disdain.

People who watched in the 1980s look back to those early years with characters such as Helen Daniels, Scott and Charlene, Henry Ramsey and Jim Robinson and are mostly remembering it through nostalgic eyes. Forgetting some of the hammy acting and storylines (Bouncers dream wedding anyone? Yes I know, that wasn't quite the 80s but near enough!).

Roll on to people who watched it in the 1990s with legendary characters including Cody Willis, Karl and Susan Kennedy, Toadie, Cheryl Stark, Tad and his double act with Paul McClain.

Those viewers from the 80's and 90's went into the 2000s complaining that the current cast (Scullys, Timmins) were nothing compared to the earlier bunch.

Get into the 2010s and people complain that that cast are inferior to the 2000s cast and so on it goes until we reach 2022. In 2032 people will look back on characters such as Levi Canning, Hendrix Grayson, Freya, Mackenzie with the same fondness.

It has transcended the decades. Each decade defining a generation and each as good, sometimes better than the last. It would seem that most of the naysayers have never watched the show, watched a few episodes or haven't watched it since their particular era.

As someone who has watched Neighbours for 35 years it has gone through a lot of cast changes and weird and wonderful storylines. But, for the most part, it has stayed oddly familiar. It did have a bit of a quality dip between 2011-2015 but most soaps and long runners do, it's inevitable. A four year blip out of 37 isn't bad going at all.

The current cast are a mix of returnees and newer faces. The cast turnover isn't high and the older characters don't feel like they've been shoehorned in for no reason, they all have a purpose.

Characters such as Mackenzie, played by the excellent Georgie Stone and Hendrix (Ben Turland) have given us some of the most thought provoking subjects in years. What did Helen Daniels ever do that was so progressive? (I'm not hating on Helen Daniels, she was the OG matriarch).

It's sad that it is coming to an end in 2022 as in the last six months it really had started to find itself again, featuring more location shooting around Melbourne compared to the previous ten years when it seemed to focus on set based filming which gave it a bit of an insular feel. Getting out and about has breathed some new life into it, a little too late unfortunately.

Personally I can't remember Neighbours never being there through my life. It is one of, if not the last link to my early years. It has been the one constant, reliable, familiar thing that I have taken through everything. It hasn't always been perfect, nothing ever is. But all in all it managed to create the perfect blend between light and dark.

The First Team (2020)

Expectations Set Too High

[10/10 · 1 June 2020]

I viewed this with an open mind. It does seem that most people are comparing it unfavourably with The Inbetweeners. This is unfair as it a different style of show. Where The Inbetweeners was below the belt crude at times, The First Team is more gentle humour with a splash of the crude thrown in.

The three main characters are likeable and really work well together. The supporting cast are also excellent. The storylines and jokes are decent enough, some are more slight chuckle then belly laughs but there are some really funny moments. Jack McMullen pulls of shy and awkward brilliantly.

If you only watched the first episode or even a few minutes then I would suggest giving it a real chance as it gets better over the 6 episodes. It isn't easy to launch a new comedy. Even The Inbetweeners wasn't an immediate hit.

I hope it gets a second series.

Next of Kin (1995–1997)

Can't You See How Happy We Could Be?

[10/10 · 26 July 2009]

DOES CONTAIN SOME DETAILS OF EPISODES AND Story lines FEATURED.

Starting in 1995 Next of Kin joined a long list of hit BBC sitcoms.

Like 2 Point 4 Children it was based around a family, 2 grandparents (Penelope Keith and William Gaunt) Maggie and Andrew Prentice who after their estranged Son Graham and his Wife (They call her 'Bootface') are killed in a car crash, are left with their grandchildren, Georgia (Ann Gosling), Philip (Matthew Clarke) and Jake (Jamie Lucraft) not to mention their collection of animals.

To make life more difficult for Maggie and Andrew the children come with their own different needs, not only is Georgia an environmentalist, she is also a vegetarian and comes with her own special dry sense of humour. Philip only eats Spam, nothing else. He also discovers girls, one in particular, Roxanne who owns a very large dog called Die Hard (you can sense the jokes that this brings). He is more reserved than Georgia but can more than speak up for himself. Jake won't eat anything that is round. He loves stick insects, pigeons, hamsters, rabbits, parrots and almost all animals. He is also sick if he stands on his head for too long.

Series 1 sees the initial fallout after the death of the children's parents and Maggie & Andrews realisation that they will not be retiring to France. Their cleaner Liz is also on hand to help out but gets rather distracted by Tom, a builder, hired to add another bedroom to the house.

Series 2 sees Liz and Toms relationship develop further and Liz becomes pregnant. The children's relationship with their grandparents is still being put to the test on a daily basis with party's, puppies, sports days and even a spot of camping, which is not to Maggies liking at all.

Series 3 - The Last, sees Georgia believing that nobody likes her and starves herself for 3 days in an attempt to get attention. Philips interest in Roxanne grows and is put to the test when she invites him over to stay - when her parents are out! Philip flees home and confesses to Andrew about where he has been.

Next door want to move as they want their peace and quiet back, only to sell their house to a family of Hells Angels. Jake tries to shave and starts to use deodorant(too much). Philip goes to Swan Lake, with another girl, much to Roxannes annoyance. Georgia goes on a demonstration and hugs a tree

They all have a canal boat holiday , which turns into one of the best episodes along with the final episode 'The Bully' which sees Philip being blackmailed by a boy from his school.

The last scene, rather fittingly is of Maggie pulling an envelope from Philips coat pocket (thinking it is yet another school letter she is never destined to read) and opening it to find it is in fact a Mothers Day card.

Overall i think this series deserved at least another series to wrap it up. The story could have easily developed even further as the children got older. The ratings weren't dreadful, the show held it's own in its time slot, but the BBC decided to drop it, much to the dismay of Penelope Keith who did a fine job in the role of Maggie. All the actors did an excellent job.

Yes it wasn't always 'Laugh Out Loud' comedy, it was more like 'As Time Goes By' with its gentle humour and slower pace than some of its contemporaries. But it was GOOD!

The premise of the show was repeated, in a slightly altered version (Mans wife leaves and dumps the kids on him AND his Mother In-Law!) in another BBC1 sitcom 'After You've Gone' which coincidentally, also only lasted for 3 series despite getting decent viewing figures. How the mind boggles.