Foyle’s War

Christpher Foyle(Michael Kitchen) is a Detective Chief Superintendant in Hastings, Sussex, England during World War Two. As such he fights against crime that frequently takes advantage of the war-time condition such as pilfering, the black market, profiteering and murder. Foyle is assisted by Detective Sergeant Paul Milner(Anthony Howell) and a driver named Samantha Stuart(Honeysuckle Weeks).

I really enjoy Foyle’s War. It must be quite a challenge to make films about the past when it comes to sets, props, wardrobe and slang used at the time(or banter for you Monty Python fans). I am impressed by the job these folks have done making season after season always maintaining a high level of attention to details even when it comes to the background of shots, especially when shooting outdoors. That is representative of the overall quality of Foyle’s War.

The Official Foyle’s War Fan Site

Cast includes: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell

Available on: Hulu Plus, Google Play, Yidio, Netflix

Doc Martin (TV Series)

Doc Martin Ellingham(Martin Clunes) is a General Practitioner doctor with a practice in the Cornish village of Portwenn. He is quite a good doctor in most respects, but is ill tempered, rude, lacking in social graces and to top it off can’t stand the sight of blood! Yet inside…perhaps deep inside there is a caring and brave person. The villagers of Portwenn and environs offer Dr. Martin quite a variety of challenges.

Doc Martin is good clean family fun. The show has loads of humor and well acted characters you may identify with especially if you live or have lived in a small community. Sets are wonderful, camera work is superb, and scripts well done and fun. This is a show I have used after a difficult day to improve my attitude, watching grumpy Doc Martin seems to take the grumpy out of me. Have fun.

Cast includes: Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, Ian McNeice, Joe Absolom, Selina Cadell, Jessica Ransom, Annabelle Apsion, Stephanie Cole, Katherine Parkinson, Louise Jameson, Eileen Atkins

Doc Martin fan site click here!

Available on: Hulu, Netflix, ITV

Red Dwarf

Craig Charles plays David Lister who gets lost in space and time with a computer generated holographic companion, Arnold Rimmer played by Chris Barrie and a cat that has evolved into a biped played by Danny John-Jules and later in the series a robot named Kryten played by Robert Llewellyn. In their efforts to get back to Earth they have all manner of hilarious obstacles.

Laughing as I watch Red Dwarf is the one of the easiest abdominal workouts I ever do and I have been laughing for over 20 years(absolutely incredible abs!). The characters personalities clash with outrageously funny results. Truly, our heroes are not the most intellectual of crews but they seem to flounder through challenges in their own way…blundering and panicking seem to be their first actions followed by applying truly remarkable problem solving skills(though I’m not sure what the remark would be!).

Importantly though, they don’t swear, there is no nudity, and no overtly adult subject matter. This is good clean fun family safe, kid safe, clean fun…well cleanish as Lister is a slob and they use the swear word ‘smeg’ a lot!

Cast includes: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn, Chloë Annett, Norman Lovett, Hattie Hayridge

Available on: Amazon, Google Play, ShareTV, Netflix

Primeval TV Series

Holes in time begin opening and the wildlife and atmosphere from those times are being released into the present. Few people know about the situation and protect our world from the dangers from the past and the future. When the holes open the heroic group races to evaluate the situation and eliminate any danger and to try to keep people from finding out and panicking or going through. The group also searches for a reason for the problem and a way of controlling or eliminating the threat.

Primeval is a BBC science fiction series. This show has a lot of special effects that do a great job of telling the story. The effects are as good as those on the Jurassic Park movies in my opinion. I appreciate the level of character development that allows the viewer to know the characters. This show is on my list of all time favorites! Check it out!

Cast includes: Douglas Henshall, James Murray, Andrew-Lee Potts, Lucy Brown, Hannah Spearritt, Juliet Aubrey, Ben Miller, Laila Rouass, Jason Flemyng, Ben Mansfield, Ciarán McMenamin, Ruth Kearney, Alexander Siddig

Available on: Netflix, VUDU, Amazon, Google Play

Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots is a British film based on a true story, about the inheritor of a small family-owned shoe factory trying desperately to save the company from an unfortunate demise which would cost the workers their jobs. The boots were as symbol of the struggle to keep the workers in their jobs, and the merging of vanilla society with the less conventional culture of crossdressing.

The company is able to discover a new group of people that they are able to advertise their products towards, and the company is able to stay afloat with their new line of ‘kinky’ boots. They become a very popular company with crossdressers across the world. The company still exists today selling products online. To visit the ‘Kinky Boots’ website please click here.

This is an amazing film and I would suggest it to about anyone. Great fun! There is also a Broadway show based on the companies’ story that is supposed to be fabulous as well as other live performances nationwide.

Cast includes: Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah-Jane Potts, Nick Frost

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, VUDU, Netflix

Broadchurch Season 1

Detective Ellie Miller(Olivia Coleman) returns from vacationing to the town of Broadchurch expecting to move directly into a promised promotion just to find that her promised promotion has been given to a detective from out of town named Alec Hardy(David Tennent). Soon after meeting they respond to the suspicious death of an 11 year old boy on a beach below a cliff. The childs’ death is soon found to be murder and the whole town and the media, local and national, get involved in the investigation.

The Power of Nightmares

How do they get most people to except such top-heavy government? How do they get to spend well over half a trillion dollars at the U.S. Department of defense? How do you get to watch you own people like Big Brother in George Orwell’s book ‘1984’.

Wolfblood

Wolfblood is a young teen werewolf television series. The main character is a girl in her low teens. She and her family are werewolves but as the series begins she hasn’t gone through her first transformation yet and the anticipation is causing her stress. As in most werewolf stories, werewolves in Wolfblood need to keep their condition secret, even from their normal friends and this is stressful for her. Soon she meets a new schoolmate and her situation complicates.

Wolfblood is a pleasant program with good acting, very basic but effective special effects, and good writers.

Available on: Hulu Plus, Amazon, Netflix, Youtube

Ripper Street

Ripper Street is a detective drama based on 1889 London’s Whitechapel district (east London). The story begins 6 months after the horrible Jack the Ripper murders. The main character Detective Inspector Edmund Reid(Mathew Macfadyen) along with Detective Sargent Bennet Drake(Jerome Flynn) do their best to fight crime and corruption which is rampant in their city.

When Aliens Attack

When Aliens Attack is a  National Geographic movie that outlines what might happen if Aliens arrived and decided they wanted to take ownership of the Earth or plunder the Earth for resources. Actual scientists theorize what might happen and the steps mankind might have to take to ensure survival.

Although at first glance this topic seems pretty silly they make a reasonable case for the possibility this could happen. I suppose it is reasonable to think the topic through even if you only do so for mental exercise.

This movie was actually well done and I enjoyed it. I found it thought provoking and informative too.

Available on Netflix, YouTube, National Geographic Website, Amazon Instant Video, Discovery Channel UK,