Steal River Kin

Three TV series related to crime!

Steal

This short, six episode British crime series stars Sophie Turner who plays an office clerk at a financial company that is hit by an armed robbery. Good editing keeps it moving at a decent clip, and the protagonist is quite likable - unlike some of her "friends"! Getting invested enough to like or not like characters is a good thing! Recommended, and as it's a complete story I don't think it will be getting a season two.

River

This six episode British crime series stars Stellan Skarsgård who plays Detective River, who as far as I can tell really shouldn't be a police man because he talks to dead people. Well not really, because they're just in his head and they only tell him what he already knows or how he is already feeling. When you randomly talk and shout to people that aren't there well... lets just say you're not at the top of the list for being someone to defend the community. Anyway, the story and acting is ok but that whole overarching premise is quite strange (in a bad way).

Kin

This two season Irish crime drama stars Charlie Cox who plays a member of the Kinsela crime family who seem to be "middle men" when if comes to the drug trade. The first season has a few slow bits but it certainly picks up as it goes along, and its funny that despite them being somewhat infamous they also are lacking in power when compared to shows that have other crime families in that they have a healthy fear of the law and are often bullied as they're never the biggest fish in their pond. That scripted "weakness" makes it interesting! I'll definitely be watching a season three if it comes out.

Dark Phoenix

An accident during a space rescue sees X-Men member Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) gain a power surge which also leaves her quite unstable. It is up to the fractured X-Men to try save her, while others try to kill her. While this sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse certainly feels like a retreading of X-Men: the Last Stand, it is quite an enjoyable flick.

Effects, sets and action pieces are all good but the idea to make Xavier (James McAvoy) fill the role of semi-villain is an intriguing one, and we know the actor can certainly play villains. I was also quite impressed with Nicholas Hoult (Beast) as well.

Bend the knee?

As usual there are gaps in logic required in superhero shows to create drama and the "main" adversaries (because Xavier can't be fully bad) are rather wooden and not well defined but if you enjoy the X-Men franchise or just want an easy, turn off your brain superhero film (or just have the hots for Sansa Stark) you'll probably enjoy this. I give it 2.5 pieces of sharp wooden debris out of five, but wouldn't watch it again.

Game of Thrones (TV Series)

You win or you die.

Eight years ago I posted about this, and that write up of this book based TV series is still quite valid now that it is finished. The story, production, writing, acting, music... you name it, have all been top notch throughout.

Inspiring everyone to sit on uncomfortable chairs!

As with all things though, even this had minor dips during the course of the show, most likely stemming from the "getting ahead of the source material" problem which frequently happens in anime.

Many fans are particularly unhappy with the last season and personally, I would have preferred a different order of bad guys at the end but am quite ok with how it played out. Don't let that stop you from watching this magnificent production if you haven't already. It's fantastic!