Black Doves: Season 1 Review – TV Review

TL;DR – This was a series that was full of equal parts fun and suspense, and it shows that one of your best strengths is just letting your cast do what they do best.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Helen looks down at a church service.

Black Doves Review

I love a good spy mystery with betrayals, twists and turns, and some good quality suspense. A lot of countries can make this work, but few do it as good as the Brits. So, when I heard there was a new series coming out and then that it was headlined by Keira Knightley & Ben Whishaw. Well, I had to check it out.

So, to set the scene, it is Christmas time at an English pub, and the vibe is cheerful, with people singing along to the carols and ignoring the death of the Chinese ambassador on the news. However, there is one person, Jason Davis (Andrew Koji), who is not having an enjoyable time. He is moving at speed because he thinks someone is following him. It turns out he was right, as all of his friends are murdered, and he is shot making one last call. That last call was to Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), the wife of the now Defence Secretary, Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan). It is odd that someone would spend their last moments calling another person’s wife, but even odder when Reed (Sarah Lancashire) shows up to the Christmas party and we discover that Helen is not what she seems. We will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Candyman (2021) – Movie Review

TL;DR – A film that is haunting, captivating, terrifying, but also a bit frustrating.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene/sequence.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Candyman (2021). Image Credit: Universal Studios.

Candyman Review

When the first Candyman arrived on screens, I was a bit too young to watch horror films, with my introduction coming a little later with movies like Scream. But when I talk to people a bit older than me, they speak in almost hushed tones about the film. That it made them fear reflections, indeed one friend suggested that I pre-emptively leave a couple of lights on for when I got home after seeing it. I thought it was all a bit silly, but now I am kind of glad that I did.

So to set the scene, we open in the 1970s in the Cabrini Green neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. Billy (Rodney L Jones III) is taking his family’s washing to the laundry room in the basement while cops ask everyone if they have seen a man with a hook for a hand. Ignoring them, Billy goes down into the basement, where a piece of candy comes from nowhere and lands on the floor. Within moments a figure appears from a hole in the wall, candy in one hand, a hook in the other. The boy’s screams could be heard for miles around. In the present, the Cabrini Green neighbourhood has been gentrified, and Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), an artist, lives with his girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris) in a new apartment. Anthony is trying to find inspiration for his next artwork when Brianna’s brother Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) lets slip about the Candyman urban legend, and Anthony goes off to explore if it was true.

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