If you’re anything like me a good TV or film recommendation is a handy thing to have. Here are my watches in October….
by Darren Caveney
One of these months I’ll review all of the films and TV shows I switched off in under 15 minutes. There’s a lot of very average stuff out there isn’t there. And frankly life really is too short. But here’s what I did watch…
Cinema
Saltburn
So, I went to see the premiere of this at a local arts centre without knowing too much about it. It’s fun sometime to walk into the cinema not knowing what to expect. I knew it starred Barry Keoghan, and he doesn’t ever seem to make bad movies. Wow it’s good. Half an hour in I was thinking this was a possible leftfield choice for screening at the UnAwards. Then the first of two somewhat unusual scenes blew that idea out of the water. The film is described as a wicked tale of privilege and desire and I can’t top that. It’s directed by Emerald Fennell and is set amongst the ‘haves’ of Oxford University one hot summer in the mid-2000s. It’s quirky, dark but fun, cheeky but spikey and overall is a delight. Watch this movie. 8.75/10
A Haunting in Venice
Visually stunning – what an incredible city Venice is - this looked an entertaining watch. But, that’s about as much as I can say about this one as I nodded off an missed about 40 minutes of the film – oops! You know how it is, you’ve had a long day and it’s all warm and comfy in the Everyman Birmingham and away I went. Let me know your rating if you stayed awake.
Film
Kill List (Amazon Prime)
A Tuesday evening kind of a watch this one which was interesting in that it began feeling like The Firm and ended up going all Wicker Man. 7/10
Rose: A Love Story (Amazon Prime)
An interesting folk horror set in secluded Cumbria. It has a slight dystopian feel to it too, and has you asking questions from the very opening scenes. Better than the ratings I saw for it. 7/10
Reptile (Netflix)
A crime thriller with a nice hint of noir about it and starring the charismatic Benicio Del Toro as the grizzled detective trying to solve a small town murder. A good who done it. 7/10
TV
Mr Mercedes Season 2 (Disney+)
I enjoyed season 1 and watching Brendon Gleeson as the retired cop on the trail of a demented serial killer. This season really didn’t live up to the novel. I’m probably going to skip the third and final season. 6/10
Partygate (Channel 4)
Well I was beyond late to this. My watching pleasure was tempered with 90 minutes worth of simmering anger at the disgraceful goings on at No 10. It was really well done I thought and interspersed with insights and quotes from the Sue Gray report. 7.5/10
The Reckoning (iPlayer)
This was never going to be an easy watch and certainly not one to binge on. I thought it added to what we already knew about the despicable Saville with the victim testimonies really adding to the unbelievable blind eyes shown by various authorities. Steve Coogan was brave but brilliant in depicting Saville and in interviews he talked about the difficulties and techniques needed to flip in and out of character – as he said, you certainly couldn’t method act this one. Very well done. 7.5/10
Darren Caveney is creator and owner of comms2point0 and creative communicators ltd
*Sign up for the comms2point0 eMag*
The comms2point0 eMag features exclusive new content, free give-aways, special offers, first dibs on new events and much, much more.
Sound good? Join over 3.4k other comms people who have subscribed. You can sign up to it right here
