The Arthur Askey Collection - Back Room Boy/Band Waggon/Bees In Paradise/King Arthur Was A Gentleman/Miss London Ltd/I Thank You (Box Set)

Advantages: Good costumes; Stunning scenery; It eventually finished
Disadvantages: Poor historical research; Predictable plots; Clumsy scripting

...possible in the era portrayed), and the cast look potentially promising, even given the surprise of the lead being handed to the permanently on-the-edge-of-stardom Clive Owen. So, after a week of ignoring all the reviews warning me to run the other way, I went to see it for myself. “King Arthur” is set in Northumbria in the early 400s AD. For those of you unfamiliar with the Arthur myth, there are basically two strains of it – the medieval Arthur with all the accompanying chivalry and Holy Grail stories that I suspect a lot of you will be most familiar with, and the earlier 5th/6th century AD version that usually features Arthur fighting against Saxon invaders to Britain. It is generally agreed by historians that the chivalrous Arthur is a later embellishment on the earlier stories, and the thinking is that any real Arthur was likely to have... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: None

..., take that away, and what would have been left? A story about a bunch of soldiers doing one more mission for the Romans to gain their freedom. Not much is it? In the end, there was nothing wrong with King Arthur, apart from the fact there was nothing new about it. It offered us nothing we hadn't seen many times before. Ok, maybe the fight on the frozen lake, I had never seen that done before, but that was all. Most of the film followed the rescue of the boy, and the groups detours back to Southern England. If you are a fan of Braveheart or Gladiator, you will surely like this, but if the traditional Arthur legend is what you like, then this probably won't be for you. This film tries to deal with the 'real' Arthur, not the legend. The only 'real history' here, at the end of the day, is the legend is too deeply buried to ever give us a clear... Read review

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Advantages: some good one-liners, ongoing entertainment, definitely "re-watchable"
Disadvantages: lack of good bonus features, price since it was only released a few days ago

...experience for you… ~Pilot~ I didn't actually see the pilot until I bought the DVD box and I have to say I was quite disappointed at first. Certainly the quality of the acting and the characters themselves evolve a lot during the next 24 episodes. The first episode mainly sets the scene - you're introduced to Doug & Carrie and see Arthur moving in. But he's not the only one… ~2 - Fat City~ Doug sees a not very flattering picture of Carrie's (fat) mother and tries to convince Carrie to diet. ~3 - Cello, Goodbye~ Carrie accepts a new job in a Manhattan law firm and Doug is intimidated by her boss. ~4 - Richie's Song~ Doug needs to confront his friend Richie with the fact that his wife is cheating on him and has considerable problems with that… ~5 - Paternal Affairs~ Arthur wants to propose to Doug's aunt who's visiting from Florida. ~6 - Head... Read review

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