331. Web-series Reviews – 154

More web-series reviews…

Shetland – The 8th season came out in 2023 with a new protagonist. Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing. Set against a hauntingly beautiful landscape, Shetland is based on the best selling books such as Red Bones, Raven Black, Dead Water and Blue Lightning.

A review from IMDB...

Loved Seasons 1 - 7 of Shetland that had it all -- a great lead/character; excellent supporting cast/characters; interesting storylines; along with natural character development woven into the stories.

But cut to Season 8, and not only did the series lose its central character, but much of the supporting elements that made the previous 7 seasons so compelling.

Doug Henshall's character of Jimmy Perez gave the series an admirable hero -- honest; committed to doing the right thing; realistic, with wisdom gained through experience; committed to his work; smart; caring; and purposeful. You wanted to see Jimmy and his team overcome challenges and succeed in solving not only their cases, but also their personal struggles.

In contrast, the Ruth Calder character is dishonest; manipulative; selfish; reckless; incompetent; and irrational/emotional. As likeable as Jimmy Perez was, is how unlikeable the Ruth Calder character is. If DI Ruth is intended as a Jimmy Perez stand-in/replacement ... it simply doesn't work ... plus she lies to Tosh! Because the DI Ruth character is so problematic, she also doesn't bond with the existing Perez team and the team dynamic that used to be so strong is gone. Ashley Jensen is receiving a lot of criticism for her portrayal, but that may be misplaced, as the DI Ruth character is truly awful and as such, she doesn't have much to work with.

Another miss was in not developing the Tosh character, who would have been the worthy and natural successor to Perez. Tosh shares the same character traits that made Perez a hero. Up to this season, the audience has watched Tosh grow under Perez's direction and it would have been interesting to watch her continued journey in taking over the team and seeing how she would develop her skills in solving complex cases.

Another miss -- the absence of Julie Graham -- although her role was generally limited, her Rhona Kelly, procurator fiscal character was smart and professional -- a memorable foil for Perez. The Harry Lamont character now fulfilling this role was in contrast, silly and annoying.

If there is a Season 9, I hope the writers return to the core characters/cast and develop them -- nurturing the seeds planted by Jimmy Perez.

My Take – Worth a watch!

A Murder at the End of the World – Came out in 2023.  In Retreat, which puts a new spin on the classic whodunit, Darby and 11 other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must fight to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.

A review from IMDB...

This is a modern version of a classic Agatha Christie set up, so similar to the original Death on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express. No, I have not yet watched the recent remakes, but I am planning to, so I can't compare.

A small group of distinct people, some of whom you would never expect to be in the same place at the same time, are all invited to a secluded location in scenic Iceland - which the sweeping camera does a fantastic job capturing the natural beauty of. They are there at the request of a tech billionaire. Then there's a murder, and it must be solved.

It brings up various extremely important hot button issues, very current, including misogyny, technoethics and climate change. Unfortunately, it doesn't always have a resolution to what it explores. Comparatively, if you sit down to watch a Christopher Nolan movie, it's definitely going to have that - even if not everyone will like it, at least it's there.

It does definitely have things to say about these subjects. It expresses them quite well. You get a real sense that the two creators, who also wrote and directed several episodes, have their finger on the pulse and deeply care about these things. Brit Marling evidently acts in all of them, no wonder, she's very talented as seen here. I have not yet watched anything else by them, but I would definitely like to. Based on the reception this got, it may get another season, past these first seven episodes. I love that they did the same thing here as with Blade Runner 2049, where you could easily see how they could follow up the story, but the ending does provide a conclusion to everything that was set up so you're satisfied if it's the last time you see these characters. Honestly, today, I really don't think there's any excuse to leave a story on a cliffhanger ending if you don't feel confident that you'll get to follow up on it.

Over the course of this, there are a lot of clues, some red herrings. I tried my best but I could not figure out who the killer was. Let me assure you, the answer is satisfying. They manage to make it plausible that it could be basically any of these people. The show is honest about men's emotional needs and does not treat that as a weakness, which I really appreciate, after most of film history downplaying or even ignoring them.

Our lead is gen Z amateur sleuth Darby Hart. This is the first thing I see Emma Corrin in, but they deliver an excellent performance here. I've seen clips of them as princess Diana and while both can be pensive, here there are a lot of little tics and quirks that feel very real for someone who's grown up in a world where there was always a screen in front of them. Not to mention the fact that her coroner father took her along on crime scenes from when she was quite young. Though I would argue that what I've just mentioned perfectly accounts for her trouble with social interaction, it is also possible that she is somewhere on the spectrum.

There are a number of flashbacks to her working the Silver Doe case with Bill Farrah, who later became a Luddite. We're told at the very start that they did find and stop the serial killer, so each time we see more of this, it's not about whether or not it will work out - we already know the result. So instead we can focus on how it sets up what we're seeing in the present day, and the way that she responds to certain situations. She's obsessed with preventing more women from dying, their killers still out there. This is of course a noble goal; however, it sometimes has her taking risks she really shouldn't.

This does a great job examining the power that the very richest have, and how difficult it can be to go against them. Their warped views on the world. How even when they might have good intentions, they can spread a lot of evil; how important it is that that much wealth is not in the hands of so few, especially while others are dying of things that are easy to prevent from happening with that money. All that is lacking is the political will.

The running time varies. Sometimes it is almost 80 minutes sometimes it's closer to 40. Overall, it doesn't quite come to seven hours but it's fairly close. There isn't a single scene that I would just tell you to skip. With that said there are definitely times where it's not making a lot of progress. When it was being written they should probably have eliminated about 30% of material. I do completely disagree with those who say that it should just have been a movie. Not even Martin Scorsese or James Cameron would try to put a film of this length in theaters. There's definitely a bit that you couldn't remove without losing a lot.

Special effects are always completely convincing. This does that trick the original Jurassic Park did, where they were aware that the CG would not stand up to close scrutiny, so they have stuff at a distance and not lit quite well enough that you can examine carefully every nook and cranny. Which is not to say that it's at all difficult to see what we're looking at or frustratingly dark. It's crucial that we believe what we see because while it can be kind of amusing to watch something where we know it's definitely fake, some of it is stuff that we in real life have not quite invented yet, if close.

This features a dozen or so f-words. The violence is about PG-13 level and not extremely frequent. There is some nudity and sexuality. I recommend this to every fan of the sub genre. 8/10.

My Take – Worth a watch!

 

Periloor Premier League – Came out in 2024. Malavika, who comes to the village of Perilloor to find love with her boyfriend Sreekuttan, unexpectedly ends up becoming the village Panchayat President against her will.

A review from IMDB...

It is a webseries with seven episodes and the main casts are Sunny Wayne, Vijayaraghavan, Ashokan and Nikhila Vimal. It is totally a fun film and you will get many moments to sit and laugh.

The plot of the movie is very simple and easy to understand. If you like movies Kunjiramayanam, Vellimoonga, etc you will like this too. Vijayaraghavan as a fake politician, Ashokan as an opposition leader, Nikhila as the Panchayat President, did their job nicely. However as per my personal opinion Nikhila is not upto the mark for performing comedy roles.

The Thiruvanam Babu is a another laughing elements😂. The story of some innocent people in a village is clearly portrayed in the screen very efficiently and neatly.

Cameraman did a good job, Director and music is also nice. I am sure the production will not cost more as it is a simple set.

You will like this and I recommend you to watch it.

My Take – Worth a watch! 

Cheers till next time😊!