JANUARY 2020 - FILMS + TV (HOME VIEWING)

Clock rewind for a couple of months and a dredging of the memory banks......

A couple of cracking films, some excellent TV dramas, a so-so series and a half watched marathon.

A Confession (2019) - ITV drama

A dramatisation of a real life case - a missing girl morphing into two missing girls and murder - one which subsequently ruined the career of the lead detective. Well worth a watch if you can catch up with it. 6 episodes in all and I was gripped for pretty much every minute of them. Martin Freeman is excellent as Detective Fulcher. Joe Absolom is chilling as Christopher Halliwell. Imelda Staunton breaks your heart.

From IMDB.....

Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher intends on catching a killer of a missing woman, even if that may cost him his career and reputation.

Let it Snow (2019) - Netflix

A Christmas film watched post-Christmas after an article in The Guardian rated it as one of last year's best films. I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but I did enjoy it. One to warm the cockles of your heart, without being overly saccharine sweet.

From Google......

A snowstorm hits a small midwestern town on Christmas Eve, bringing together a group of highschool students. They soon find their friendships and love lives colliding, and and Christmas morning, nothing will be the same.

White House Farm (2020) - ITV drama

Another dramatisation of a real life case and one which I can dimly remember. Watched over January and February. I like Stephen Graham as an actor. Here he plays an absolute bell-end of a lead detective, one who having made his mind up early on as to the murderer, is staunch in his denial of any alternative possibility. Mark Addy is brilliant, as the detective who refuses to be cowed and bullied by Graham and keeps on digging.

From Google....

The true story of one night in August 1985, when five members of the same family were murdered at an Essex farmhouse. Extensive research, interviews and published accounts provide fresh insight into the tragic events and the following investigation.

A Christmas Carol (2019) - BBC drama

Three episodes in all, and a very dark re-telling of the classic Dickens tale. Probably one to outrage purists, I really liked it as we went where Dickens very probably wasn't going to take us. Stephen Graham features again, but Guy Pearce steals it as Ebenezer.

From Wikipedia...

A Christmas Carol is a British fantasy miniseries based on the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens. It began airing on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2019, and concluded two days later on 24 December 2019.

Dracula (2020) - BBC drama

Another modern adaptation of an old classic. I quite liked it, but wouldn't say I was annoyed with myself when I dozed off for about half an hour of the second episode. It didn't put me to sleep, but while it was a fresh take on the story, I wasn't amazed. Neither loved nor loathed.

From Wikipedia.....

Dracula is a television series developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, based on the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. The series was broadcast and released on BBC One and Netflix and consists of three episodes. Claes Bang stars as the title character.

The Sting (1973) - film

Spotted and recorded and watched one afternoon with my wife. I've seen it before, but it never gets old. I love Paul Newman and Robert Redford. They were a couple of handsome dudes back in the day. You can't beat a film about a con. I'd happily watch it again in another year or two.

From Wikipedia.....

The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Criminal (2019) - Netflix drama

Another interesting drama - three different episodes. Gripping throughout. David Tennant features in the first. We are exposed to the claustrophobic surrounds of the interview room and the two-way mirror where the rest of the police team watch on. Lee Ingleby is superb as one of the cops. Do the police get their man/men/woman? Do they hang themselves doing so?

From Google....

Taking place exclusively within the confines of a police interview suite, police officers and suspects engage in intense mental conflict as they both wrangle for the psychological upper hand. 

The Irishman (2019) - film

Interesting if maybe a bit pedestrian. Based on a true story, I believe. I have the book of the Paint Houses title on the TBR pile.  I'm halfway through this 3 and a half hour long film. I love Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and Stephen Graham also feature. Mr Graham? He's in bloody everything at the minute. When I pull back the bed sheets at night I half expect the little bugger to be laying there laughing at me.

From Google.....

The Irishman (subtitled onscreen as I Heard You Paint Houses) is a 2019 American epic crime film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt.