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Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 6 Tywysog Cymru

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 6 Tywysog Cymru

In this episode the government puts forward the idea of sending Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) to a Welsh school for a term in Aberystwyth, to learn Welsh so he could fulfil his duties of the Prince of Wales in the future, being able to address the people in their own native language.

Prince Charles finds himself learning from a Welsh Nationalist one of many who don’t see the point of his future role, while not being against Charles himself, but being against the Crown’s vision of Wales.

As Prince Charles spends his time in the school he shows the position he is facing with no experience or no knowledge of Wales, while the teacher learns that he is just a young man that is being thrown into this position. After Charles learns more about what the problems are between the Welsh and the Royals, he starts to adapt his speech to make a difference to show he will be there to support and represent the people correctly.

This is the first Prince Charles episode of the series, we barely get a look at the rest of the characters, with Josh O’Connor doing an excellent job as the royal, this does show that the royal family can learn to adapt and that they will do anything to learn about a culture they believe they have distant from. It might not be as slow as the previous episodes, but it shows the import royal duties the family has.

Rating 7/10

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Movie Review

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 5 Coup

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 5 Coup

In this episode Harold Wilson is facing pressure from the media about how he has been running the economy, which sees him turning to the defence sectary Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance) to be relieved of his duties, only the highly-respected man is only seen as a sacrifice in the media.

The Queen is seeing her horses not perform to the levels they once would and is encouraged to travel to learn more about the evolution of the horse racing industry, while the pound is struggling to compete on the worldwide market needing to be devalued, with great embarrassment to Harold Wilson.

With The Queen away, Lord Mountbatten has been offered a chance to lead a coup against Harold Wilson, one he isn’t 100% but he would like to see a change, performing his research we see just how much he will support this big idea.

With the idea in place Queen Elizabeth II is the only person that could make the coup happen and being cousin to Lord Mountbatten makes it a difficult personal decision, she must decide on whether she wants to back a plan which could change England forever or continue to support Harold Wilson.

This is another episode which isn’t as interesting as the first couple, it is more about what is happening with the government, rather than focusing on the Crown, there is a small side story that shows the Queen and her passion for horse racing which is the highlight of the episode. We do get the reflection of a life that Queen Elizabeth II would have like to do and one where she is left to make the hard decisions, which is always compelling to see.

Charles Dance is the welcome addition to the new cast and you know he will give excellent speech moments, which he does save from being just another scheming scene too, but the lack of Helena Bonham Carter and Tobias Menzies is noticeable in this episode.

Rating 5/10

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Movie Review

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 4 Bubbikins

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 4 Bubbikins

In this episode we start in Athens in 1967 with the closure of an Order, Prince Philip is touring America being interviewed on the finically side of the royal family running, while an ambitious Scotish reporter is planning an article which states the problem with royal family, which the Labour Party wants to jump on.

Harold Wilson must confront the Queen about the alarming misworded quote about the pay rise the royal family has never asked for, while already living a life of luxury compared to the rest of the country, which sees Philip wanting to increase the funds available to the royal family.

Prince Philip’s plan is to invite the BBC to shot a documentary following the Royal Family around to show the hard work they are doing behind the doors of Buckingham Palace, while Princess Alice of Greece (Jane Lapotaire) is the in the middle of the coup happening in Greece, she gets an open invitation to stay with the Royal Family.

While the documentary gets to show the behind the doors look at the Royal Family, it becomes one of the most watched shows on television and the same journalist John Armstrong rips the show to shreds continuing his branding of the royal family a waste of taxpayer’s money.

This is one slow episode, it is focused on the divide between the people and the royal family and how they will do something outside the normal in a documentary, which doesn’t help their case, with only Harold Wilson being honest enough to the Queen. The performances are again flawless without dropping in any case, it just isn’t the most interesting chapter of the royal life.

Rating 6/10

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Movie Review

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 3 Aberfan

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 3 Aberfan

In this latest episode we start in October 20th 1966 in a small Welsh town of Aberfan in what is a quiet school day in the pouring rain with the echoing song of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ being sung by the school kids around the town as the coal workers return home to help learn the words.

The next day with school starting, the workers returning to work and the sun shining, Aberfan is going about a normal day, only the mining area is collapsing unlike anything seen before. This leads to disaster in this small mining town, when a landslide buries the town killing 144 people including 116 school children who were right in the path of the disaster.

Harold Wilson heads to the site to visit learning about all the safety risks that had been broken, demanding people of authority visit the location to address why the disaster happened, demanding changes an investigation into what happened and dealing with the parents who have been calling for help for years.

While Harold Wilson reports the tragedy to Queen Elizabeth II suggesting she visits the site to comfort people, to show how she a mother would have been affected by the tragic loss of life of over 100 children, in a community that would be broken.

Harold is facing his biggest problem, with the problem being a Conservative mistake, which the Labour are facing the consequences needing to push the Queen to do the unthinkable for her to face a tragedy head on, only she has been waiting too long to face the tragedy, even after her husband Prince Philp’s visit attending the memorial service.

The whole episode is focused on whether the Queen is doing the right thing by not visiting the disaster, reflecting her public image, almost needing to be forced to visit the tragedy, rather than showing her human side, by just doing the right thing an attending, however difficult it will be for her to break the traditions of the crown, to try and save face in the public light.

This is one of the hardest episodes of television you will ever watch, it is reflected in how the positive song the true tragedy that finally bought around change for the mining community that the law hadn’t ever considered. It showed one of the biggest changes in the Queen’s mentality and somehow it became a political problem. This will leave you emotionally broken when watching any of the disaster side of the episode.

Rating 10/10

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Movie Review

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 2 Margaretology

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 2 Margaretology

Starting off with Queen Elizabeth II looking back to her childhood, where she has her royal title thrown on her where she is prepared to one day become Queen, despite Margaret being more interested in the lifestyle thrown on her. Margaret is heading to America with Lord Snowdon doing the visits around on behalf of the royal family.

We see how President Johnson (Clancy Brown) has a dislike towards the Prime Minster Harold Wilson due to his stance on the Vietnam War, which sees Harold Wilson turning to the Queen to help keep the relationship between the two countries strong, like the royals always have.

Princess Margaret’s trip being a complete success with the Americans giving her fans their own name ‘Margaretology’ which sees her enjoying being in the spotlight even if it does cause problems with her own marriage, even if it highlights a jealously she has been holding in for years as this trip is more for her husband’s book, than her own entertainment.

Queen Elizabeth II accepts the idea of trying to keep the relationship together, while President Johnson is playing firm of not going disrespecting the crown by not accepting, using his own counteroffer of inviting Princess Margaret to the White House because of the success of her trip in America. The problem is this diner goes horribly wrong for the public relations point of view, when Margaret brings her own opinions of being like President Johnson, being in the shadow of the more famous superior in the Queen of JFK.

This episode is focused on Margaret and her constant struggle of being in the Shadow of the Queen, it gets reflected in President Johnson, who was always in JFK’s shadow, showing how she can be used for the edgy social occasions and not everything has to be calm and official, the highlight of this episode comes from seeing Prime Minister Harold Wilson relating the crude lines to the Queen.

Helena Bonham Carter takes the centre stage in this film, she shines throughout, while Olivia Colman is still flawless, Clancy Brown is a welcome addition showing how stubborn the Americans can come off as, while Jason Watkins is slowly becoming the MVP of the series.

Rating 10/10

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Movie Review

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 1 Olding

Recap & Review – The Crown Season 3 – Episode 1 Olding

In the first episode of this new season sees Olivia Colman replace Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, Helena Bonham Carter replace Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret and Tobias Menzies replace Matt Smith as Philip the Duke of Edinburgh. Showing us the time has jumped to 1964.

We start with the true reflection of aging for Queen Elizabeth II, where she has accepted she is getting older, which changes her image in the public eye. We have a new prime minister in Labour party’s Harold Wilson (Jason Watkins) who has a rumoured past with the Soviet Union.

The Queen is getting ready for a big gallery display, while still finding time to see her rock Sir Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) on his death bed, while Princess Margaret still enjoys the party lifestyle socialising and entertaining people all the time.

Harold Wilson becomes the new Prime Minister and must go through the typical procedure that any Prime Minister throwing out his new ideas, despite the Queen having spent her whole time supporting the opposition, seeing the work thrown away because of the changes Labour want to bring into play.

With the death of Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II must face one of her darkest days, seeing her mentor and strongest support being around no more, all as the man hunt for the KGB agent in England goes across the pond to America, where a man claims to be a sleeper, with information of an agent in the British hierarchy. Outside of the Queen’s problems, Philip finds himself at the wrong end of a blackmail which could see his reputation dragged through the dirty once again.

This episode puts a clear spotlight on aging, it shows of Queen Elizabeth II first came to losing two of her closest members of her inner circle, facing a government leader that wants to see her out of Buckingham Palace, needing to make big decisions which wouldn’t be as morally correct, but would keep the country together in the eyes of the rest of the world. We also see how Queen Elizabeth II must learn to trust people she never thought she would, continuing to learn to evolve like society unlike any royal before her.

The new cast shines, with Olivia Colman taking centre stage looking like she has been performing this role since the start, we don’t get as much time focusing on Tobias Menzies or Helena Bonham Carter yet, while they show glimpses of what we are going to get later and John Lithgow was a welcome appearance as always.

Rating 9/10

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Movie Review

Wounds (2019) Movie Review

Director: Babak Anvari

Writer: Babak Anvari (Screenplay)

Starring: Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz, Karl Glusman, Christin Rankins, Brad William Henke

Plot: Disturbing and mysterious things begin to happen to a bartender in New Orleans after he picks up a phone left behind at his bar.


Tagline – Don’t call it in.

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Wait What?

Story: Wounds starts like most nights in Rosie’s bar, bartender Will (Hammer) has the locals including Alicia (Beetz) her boyfriend Jeffrey (Glusman) and rig worker Eric (Henke) who isn’t afraid to get a little bit rough at times, when a fight gets out of hand, the college students there, left leaving a phone behind, which Will tries to let them know about, only to get a strange string of messages.

What Will discovers on the phone will leave him shocked and needing to find the truth about what he finds on the phone, with his partner Carrie (Johnson) not trusting a single thing he is doing.

Thoughts on Wounds

Characters – Will is a bartender who is generally quite relaxed about what happens in the bar, he knows tricks which will keep people happy, he tries to give himself the cool persona in the bar, outside the bar he is cheating on his girlfriend, which has made his relationship toxic. Will discovers a phone left behind at the bar, which sees him dive into the rabbit hole trying to learn about what the message being sent is really about, which soon sees him start to lose his mind with what he is seeing. Carrie is the girlfriend of Will’s, she is studying at the moment and doesn’t trust Will’s behaviour even before the phone appears. Alicia is one of the locals in the bar, she does have a thing with Will on the side, which does make it difficult when she is around with her boyfriend. Jeffrey is the new boyfriend of Alicia’s that does have a similar path as Will, when it comes to the education side of things, trying to be a tougher man than he is.

Performances – Armie Hammer is the strongest of the performers in this film, he does handle the calmer sides with ease, only when it comes to losing his mind, it seems safe over stronger, Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz both feel mostly wasted in their roles where they do the best they can without getting much out of their characters. Most of the rest of the cast struggle to get much more out of their characters.

Story – The story here follows a bartender that finds a phone left behind at the bar which sees him starting to get strange message and experiencing unusually events, which sees his life spiralling out of control. This does start strongly because seeing the cool bartender that finds a horror video on the phone adds plenty of mystery to what is going on. The problems with the story comes from how it ends, because I don’t think it really ended in anyway, we do get to see a couple of looks at serious issues in life, but we don’t follow through with them on a strong enough level. This story will end up leaving you feel flat without anything seeming to finish.

Horror/Mystery – The horror does have a lot of dread through the film, but it just doesn’t get to the levels where it follows through, with the mystery being interesting to see, only never feeling like it got solved.

Settings – The film uses the New Orleans backdrop which is one of best horror locations, only it doesn’t seems to use this to the full levels.

Special Effects – The effects used are mostly to bring the number of bugs to the scenes, which don’t always look that good to see in the film.


Scene of the Movie – The video clip does give us a shock.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is really hard to read the text messages.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that seems to miss the vital part of the film, the conclusion which just seems to just end without wrapping anything up, despite giving us an interesting mystery to start with.

Overall: Falls Flat.

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Movie Review

Eli (2019) Movie Review

Director: Ciaran Foy

Writer: David Chirchirillo, Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing (Screenplay)

Starring: Charlie Shotwell, Kelly Reilly, Sadie Sink, Lili Taylor, Parker Lovein, Max Martini

Plot: A boy receiving treatment for his auto-immune disorder discovers that the house he’s living in isn’t as safe as he thought.

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Excellent Horror

Story: Eli starts as we meet young boy Eli (Shotwell) who has an auto-immune disorder which leaves him living in a bubble like world, not being able to go outside, along with his parents Rose (Reilly) and Paul (Martini) are taking him across country to see Dr Isabella Horn (Taylor) that is offering an experimental treatment.

In the hospital like house that the family are staying in, Eli starts his treatment and starts suffering the hallucinations that are meant to be a side effect of the treatment, which get increasingly worse for the young boy as he believes he is being haunted by a ghostly figure.

Thoughts on Eli

Characters – Eli is the young boy with the auto-immune disease, he does suffer nightmares about what would happen if he was outside, he lives in a bubble, which is his only safety in life. He is going through an experimental procedure which is meant to cure him, only for him to start suffering haunting visions and attacks by ghosts, he must figure out if they are trying to harm him or help him before he reaches the latest procedure. Rose and Paul are the religious parents that have given up nearly everything to make their son’s life better, trying to remain strong for him throughout the events of the film. Dr Isabella Horn is the doctor that is trying to help Eli, only her methods don’t seem to get explained to the family, while they are left to just believe anything she says. Haley is a girl from the neighbourhood that visits Eli, hoping to find friendship, though she does know the fate of most of the people in the house.

Performances – Charlie Shotwell does a wonderful job in the leading role, suffering through medical procedures, hauntings and emotional problems with ease through the film. Kelly Reilly, Max Martini and Lili Taylor are all strong through the film, which we don’t see much away from Charlie from any of them. Sadie Sink is solid without having much to do, other than being a friend to talk too.

Story – The story here follows a young boy with a medical condition who gets taken to an experimental hospital for treatment, when he starts getting visits from ghosts, where he might learn the truth about the hospital. This is a story which does keep you on your toes, you will constantly be thrown through different sub-genres of horror and it is excellent to see how the film can keep you guessing and leave you surprised by the ending, because if anybody saw this coming, they would be a liar. This is a story where not learning too much going in is even better because it does start with what could be a routine horror, but will leave you shocked by the end.

Horror – The horror here does seem to jump through so many sub-genres of horror it is a joy to watch, because the transition is seamless throughout.

Settings – The film keeps most of the film inside the hospital, this is an excellent location for the film to be set, which sees everything unfold down the dark filled hallways.

Special Effects – The effects do come off well too with how everything happens, be it the ghostly figures or the more practical ones too.


Scene of the Movie – The ghosts in the mirror.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The abusive people at the start of the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that does truly keep you on your toes, it is great to see this too, we will get scares and surprises and you won’t believe how everything unfolds.

Overall: Surprising Throughout.

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Movie Review

A.M.I. (2019) Netflix Movie Review

Director: Rusty Nixon

Writer: James Clayton, Rusty Nixon (Screenplay) Evan Tylor (Story)

Starring: Debs Howard, Philip Granger, Sam Robert Muik, Havana Guppy, Donnie Hay, Veronica Hampson

Plot: A seventeen year old girl forms a co-dependent relationship with an artificial intelligence on her phone and goes on a murderous rampage.


Tagline – Evil has a new friend

Runtime: 1 Hour 17 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Very Odd Slasher

Story: A.M.I. starts as we meet school student Cassie (Howard) who is still grieving the loss of her mother, while her boyfriend Liam (Muik) doesn’t make too much time for her. Her father hasn’t taken long before trying to find somebody else, taking advantage of younger women, while Cassie’s friends seem to enjoy her house over her company.

When Cassie starts feeling lonelier than ever, she turns to an artificial intelligence on her phone called AMEE for comfort, even sounding like her mother. When the AMEE starts learning about Cassie’s life, she starts to make her fight back against the people that have wronged her, turning this quiet young lady into a killing machine.

Thoughts on A.M.I.

Characters – Cassie is a high school student that has been through a traumatic experience, being involved in a car crash that killed her mother, while others in her life have moved on, she still suffers daily, her boyfriend doesn’t give her time and always makes excuses, while her closest friends are more interested in her lifestyle and boyfriend than her. Cassie turns to an AI system on her phone, that starts guiding her on a killing spree against everyone that has done her wrong. Greg is Cassie’s father that has neglected her after her mother’s death drinking and trying to seduce younger women including one of Cassie’s friends. Liam is the asshole boyfriend that is more interested in a career in American football and sleeping around over being caring towards his own girlfriend, he is one of the most unsupportive people you will ever see in a film. Ruby and Sarah are the best friends that are not supportive in any way more interested in her boyfriend than her friendship.

Performances – Debs Howard in the leading role is very interesting to watch, she has the image of a popular student, only holds the psychotic side back. Sam Robert Muik does give us one of the most unlikable characters of the year. Nobody else really gets any screen time to do much.

Story – The story here follows a teenager girl that is struggling with her mother’s death only to turn to her phone artificial intelligence for a friend, which only turns her into a psychotic killer, taking out revenge on the people that are wronging her in life. This story could easily be one that could have addressed the real life problems Cassie would be experiencing with loss, but instead it just decides to show us that she has no friends or family that want to help her in anyway, despite the fact they should be stood next to her helping her. The speed of which she turns to the phone for friendship is worrying quick and how quickly she starts to kill, though it does have a glancing reference to her head injury, which could have been made more of a point about.

Horror – The horror side of the film does follow Cassie on her slasher style killing spree, it isn’t scary and the kills happen way to quickly to have any tension.

Settings – The film does use the everyday settings which shows how somebody could go lose it and go on a spree.

Special Effects – The effects are used to show injuries, while mostly are off camera too, they don’t need to show us anything if we are honesty.


Scene of the Movie – The slip and slide.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – In one scene Sarah is asked if she wants to call her mother, less than 10 minutes later, she talks about living alone in an apartment.

Final Thoughts – This is an odd little slasher that does everything to make you support the killer over anybody in their life and does almost hit comical with the kills.

Overall: Fun little slasher.