ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
marshallbrown-43375
Another superb British police "procedural," with DCI George Bently (Martin Shaw)the eponymic self-effacing righteous cop bent on seeing justice done, not infrequently at the expense of poor or corrupt police work by others. With his less-righteous Detective Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), the pair play very well off of each other amid England's north end in the Newcastle and Durham areas -- great accents! -- where Gently moved after being fed up with corruption he saw at London Met... a storyline woven in and out throughout the series. Few are the episodes merely "catch the killer"; there usually is one or another social issue involved; as said, Gently is a moral cop.
schell-7
I've just finished Series 6 (2014), after thinking each prior season couldn't be topped. "Blue for Bluebird" cuts so deeply in a viewer's psyche, that anyone who is a child of a parent or parent of a child can't afford to pass it up. I'm at once John Bacchus' Cordelia to Gently's Lear and Bachus's Lear toward his own Cordelia. I'm done with all American series--NCIS, Law and Order, Bones, Criminal Minds--all of it pretentious, exploitive, escapist. The formulas soon becoming numbing--people viewing screens (that never require rebooting); scenes always ending with the central character rushing off (as if he had more important things to do); ghoulish fixation on dead bodies and body parts; hot babes and cool hunks for the groupies; repetitious lightweight musical scores. But "George Gently" rises above even its British rivals--Hustle, Morse, Endeavor. It's the importance of every detail, the willingness to have everything in place for a microsecond shot of ordinary citizens in their harsh environments; the characters of Gently and Bacchus and their relationship over time (we witness it through physical as well as emotional changes). Initially Inglespy is an overachieving kid who seems in over his head; Martin Shaw is a placid, stone-like, solid investigator. By the time of the last episode of Season 6 (a masterpiece of writing), Shaw has emerged as a actor of unsurpassed believability, the heart and soul of a production that rarely veers from its driving theme and purpose: the dissection of the thin line that separates love from hate, evil and irremediable pain and suffering. This series would be unthinkable on the big American networks (even PBS). I couldn't recommend it more highly-- from production values, to casting and acting, to the edification of the viewer's mind and soul.
aceellaway2010
I only recently discovered this little unsung gem on PBS. I am English and am always attracted by British shows. This is a truly excellent series, the stories are always different and well thought out. The 90 minute time allows for more developments than those of 60 minutes shows which often lack details of characters and plot. It's interesting the way the 60's setting allows prejudices at that time to pop up and impact the stories. As a Gay man one scripting nugget I truly appreciated was when the younger detective voiced his homophobic opinions, Gently mildly pointed out that electroshock treatment could be considered, when the younger guy responded with that "it doesn't work, their still queer" Gently reproved with the witty response "I meant for you.'I have happily endorsed this show to many people, well worth anybody's time.
msellis5
I love British detective shows, and I get that most of them are dark, but this one is a black hole: it sucks any humanity into nonexistence. There is not one likable character:Bacchus is a jerk who goes into every situation with his mind made up. a terrible quality for a good detective. He bullies other cops and treats women like objects. I know understand the impetus for the 1960's women's movement. Inspector Gently isn't gentle, he's simply passive: he watches Bacchus' bullying and lecherous behavior and says next to nothing. I feel sorry for the 30 something actresses who are supposed to look into his 50 something world weary eyes and melt. i hope they get hazard pay.
