Short Reviews 26Q1

Being a list of brief notes on other culture consumed over the this quarter of the year that I either abandoned or don’t feel needs a longer discussion.

Friendship- Paramount+.Paul Rudd 'comedy' that does a fantastic job of making me feel quite uncomfortable through cringe - but honestly that's not how I want to spend 90 minutes so abandoned after 10.

Shell- Paramount+.Paramount don't give much away in their listings, describing this as 'comedy' but really it wants to be horror comedy, not one of my preferred genres. Competent enough and builds a sense of menace very well but too gory for me, skipped the nasty bits!

Pole to Pole with Jane McDonald- ITV.Completely undemanding but quite pleasant travelogue that stays just the right side of being an advertorial for the sponsoring cruise line - but only just!

The Rip- Amazon Prime.Initially confusing as everyone seems to be working against each other and never in their own best interests but by the end results in a satisfying story of uncovering bent Miami cops during a raid on a cartel stash house.

Kidnapped - Elizabeth Smart- Netflix.Documentary of an extraordinary story of kidnap rape and abuse. Hard to watch at times, well constructed to keep up the tension. Astonishing that the kidnappers encampment was never found, the police and local community didn't do a great job there, but some facts (e.g. the actual distance to the camp) would have been useful.

Mr. Mercedes- Netflix.It's OK to be slow moving and moody if the premise is interesting and we care about things, but this is just TOO slow, unpleasantly graphic and frankly not very interesting. At least that's now 28 1/2 episodes I'll not have to sit through.

I Swear- Sky Cinema.This was excellent and well deserving of its BAFTA and Oscar successes. It wasn't sentimental or uncomfortable too much and it held off on the emotional payoffs right until the end. We so much wanted the relief of the diagnosis but it was skipped over to focus on other things. Nicely paced, well acted and very moving