The Leverton Review

  This series was quite unexpected. I was expecting something a little more mystical, but this drama was rooted quite firmly in reality. A young artistic man and his father run a trauma cleaning service. This kind of company might lead to the production to stray into some graphic and salacious details, but it is handled with tact, both by the production, and the characters within the drama. The young man's father dies quite unexpectedly at the age of 45, leaving him to bond with an uncle he had never known up until that point, and to run the business. Quite honestly I was shocked by the death of the father, even though the story makes it clear that he will die. I guess I am not used to characters who are exactly my age dying. The main plot of the story revolves around the uncle and the son gaining knowledge about each other's characters and histories, and being bonded by the connection they share with the dead man. But each episode also tells the story of their dead clients. So...

  This reboot was disappointing. The actors who returned from the original series unfortunately demonstrate the lack of talent of the actors who are portraying the younger generation have. I was especially disappointed because Leia, the protagonist, is said to be 15 years old at the time these events happen in 1992. I also was around the same age as she was during that year of 1992, and this feels more like a Disney Channel series that is out of, and beyond time. It didn't feel familiar at all. Another disturbing aspect of this series, is the young age at which these characters are promiscuous, and exposed to drug use. Now, I think the great thing about the original series is that the ages of the teenagers are never mentioned. And the actors portraying the characters were clearly adults. So you never had any moral qualms about them doing drugs or having sex. Whereas in this incarnation, the characters are clearly played by actors who are of a similar age to their characters. So, wa...

  While I enjoyed this serious, unfortunately, I had already seen most of the very funny bits before watching this. Some of the sentences that Philomena comes up with are brilliant, and it makes you wonder if this is all improvisation, or if the actress and writers had to work very, very hard to come up with lines that a person both incredibly stupid and yet smart would come up with. So if you don't have TikTok or you don't use YouTube shorts, you'll love this. If you've already seen Philomena Cunk on TikTok or YouTube, you don't need to bother.  Leverton Review: 4/5.

We often think of biases as connected to our political experiences, or preferences. But it is equally true to think of biases as being connected to our culture, our nationality and our language. This documentary tells a convoluted story of kidnapping, revenge and corruption. It is the reason that for a time, the French and the Mexican governments absolutely hated each other. And I had no idea that even happened because I get my news from English language sources. So that aspect of the documentary was a little surprising for me. About the case itself, it seems really strange. The documentary is presenting it as if three people weren't kidnapped. But I think if three people were kidnapped, it would be easy to prove by asking their friends and neighbors if they had seen them during that time period. The other aspect of the case that is a little disturbing, or rather very disturbing, is that it is mentioned in one of the episodes that the man who is accused of the kidnapping is still i...

This is the story of a man with deep-seated psychological problems who became a meme and ultimately a convicted murderer. So the story of this man is not hidden from the audience as they view this documentary. He was a hitch-hiker, and he was being driven by someone who then had an accident and in what appeared to be a fit of murderous racist rage decided to kill the other participant in the accident. Caleb, the protagonist of the story, then decided to hop out of the truck and rescue the victim of this attack by attacking the man with an axe. He then gave an interview with a local news station, which then went viral. Then he got a lot of offers to become rich and famous, including having his own reality TV show. But ultimately he was unwell, and this was apparent to anyone who spent any time with him. I think the documentary wants us to ask ourselves what happens if you make a person a meme. However, the brutal murder that Caleb was convicted of was not caused by him being a meme, nor...

This is for the most part an interesting examination of what are the motivations behind the actions of people who have been condemned to death. Not all of the prisoners have been condemned to death in this series and in one particular instance a man is punished merely because he decided to go to trial. He got twice as much time as his accomplice who actually pulled the trigger. This shows the hypocrisy of the American justice system where a very rich judge sits in his cottage and says it's okay that he sentenced a boy to 40 years because that boy didn't think about the feelings of the victim. He was just in the same car, and even if you wanted to punish him he should have got the same time as the one who pulled the trigger, not more. Most of these criminals have mental issues, most of them are poor or black or immigrants. It is a quiet indictment of the justice system itself-an interesting watch.

This is a bizarre story of a man working through some psychological issues while being absolutely wealthy. The documentary does a very good job of telling you the story he told the world over the years, and then, bit by bit, unravelling the true story.  The heart of this story is a scam artist, who unlike others in his profession has the virtue of sometimes telling the truth.  Because of this, he does end up being somewhat sympathetic. There is tax evasion on a massive scale, which the Italian government seems to have forgiven him for, and there is also a question of animal abuse, but it is unclear how much he knew of what was going on.  There's also a quasi-sex cult shrouded in the veneer of a science experiment.  It is definitely worth a watch.  Leverton Review 5/5

Sexify is a Polish production on Netflix. Before I start this review, there are things about the series and moments that are genuinely funny. However, it ultimately fails on the message it tries to deliver. It follows three young women who are in university-Natalia, Paulina and Monika. Through various circumstances they end up creating an app to optimize the female orgasm.   It tries to be the voice of liberal Poland, making reference to the fact that sex exists, that homosexuality exists and that it is normal, and that foreigners do in fact live in Poland. While this is admirable, the way that the main character is handled is jarring. It is clear in the beginning episode that she is asexual. She doesn't have the interest in sex that other's have, and she's surprised when she discovers that others have it. She's told that her project to make an app to maximize people's sleep isn't 'sexy' enough (although I think very many people have sleep problems), and...

This Netflix documentary is narrated by Sean Bean who does an excellent job, and the acting is excellent. It seems to be relatively accurate, but some things are exaggerated for effect. Commodus didn’t usually kill gladiators in the arena, but he killed many while practising. The actors swear during stressful moments, which is something I have never seen in similar productions, but which does give it a sense of realism.  Informative, but a bit of a waste of time. Leverton Review: 2/5

  This is a controversial series, but it shows in an informative, and moving way, the life of a woman who hasn’t changed history, but nudged it along. It is easy to get frustrated with some aspects of the series, sometimes the actors feel like caricatures of real people...but sometimes it is quite moving. The scenes between Phillip and Charles are often telling. I like that they used a different cast for different parts of Elizabeth’s life, rather than putting people in make-up. The series doesn’t shy away from the pathos and absurdity of the most powerful women in the world who is also trapped in her position and values. Leverton Review ⅘