Pasckie Pascua's Nerdy Squirrel Reviews: TV Series.

“The Long Shadow” (Sundance Now) British true crime , details the five-year manhunt for the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe (1946 – 2020). Also known as The Yorkshire Ripper, an allusion to the Victorian serial killer, Mr Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder 7 others between 1975 and 1980.        Difference with other serial killer movies, “The Long Shadow” didn't focus on the perpetrator thus inadvertently humanizing him and his evil, but the emphasis is on the women, or the 7-episode series tries to. Meanwhile, misogyny and racism were all over the place, especially from the investigators, but those were the years.        Still, the series keeps you on the couch as it issued an almost documentary-style, journalistic narrative of the situation. Credit to writer George Kay and director Lewis Arnold. “The Long Shadow” offered no statement but a review of the cold facts, cold and cadaver...

“Django” (1966, Plex) spaghetti Western film directed, produced and co-written by Sergio Corbucci . Stars Franco Nero in his breakthrough role as the title character . Do you remember him? I do. But only when we talk about Django.        The film follows Django, a Union soldier -turned- drifter and his companion, a mixed-race prostitute , who become embroiled in a bitter, destructive feud between a gang of Confederate Red Shirts and a band of Mexican revolutionaries .         Like Sergio Leone 's “ A Fistful of Dollars ,” Signor Corbucci's “Django” is considered to be a loose, unofficial adaptation of Akira Kurosawa 's “ Yojimbo .”         Are you still wondering what was inside the coffin that Django drags around? Corpse? Guitar? Assortment of pasta dishes? Go watch Django. Reminds me as well of old Filipino action movies, especially the cartoonish laughter of those ...

<>“In the Land of Saints and Sinners” (2023, Amazon Prime) Irish action thriller film directed by Robert Lorenz o. This is Mr Neeson's second collaboration with Mr Lorenz after 2021's “ The Marksman .”         As producer, Robert Lorenz has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture three times, for “ Mystic River ” (2003), “ Letters from Iwo Jima ” (2006), and “ American Sniper ” (2014). So his unfailing touch in choosing the right material is magical. “...Saints and Sinners” is a clear example.        Story: In 1974, during the Troubles , four members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army carried out a bombing in Belfast that killed six people, including (by accident) three children. The four then come to the Irish coastal town of Glencolmcille , County Donegal , to lie low. Easily, they get entangled with Liam Neeson's Finbar Murphy, a former hitman trying to lead a quiet life in the v...

“Three Girls” (Amazon Prime) British true crime drama. The series is a dramatized version of the events surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring , and describes how the police and the local authorities failed to investigate allegations of child abuse and rape because the victims were perceived as unreliable witnesses and through fear of being accused of racism because of the ethnicity of the perpetrators.       The Rochdale child sex abuse ring targeted underage teenage girls in Rochdale , Greater Manchester , England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet and other operations to investigate further claims of abuse. As of January 2024 a total of 42 men had been convicted resulting in jail sentences totalling 432 years. (You may google more in...

“Happy Face” (Amazon Prime) crime drama , adapted from the 2018 podcast “Happy Face” by Melissa Moore, and her 2009 autobiography “Shattered Silence,” co-written with M. Bridget Cook. Plot centers on Melissa Reed, the daughter of serial killer Keith Jesperson, known as the Happy Face killer.         First off, most U.S.-made true crime series, in contrast with British versions, are painstakingly long. Minimum of 8 episodes, compared with the Brits’ 3 or 5. It'd be fine if the back stories offer (investigative) clarity to the eventual commitment of crime or if the added navigation of the criminal mind gives us ample childhood or societal background.         “Happy Face” didn't really present those. Sure, British shows don't do either but since these are true crimes, google helps. Yet to fit all these in 4 episodes is brilliant. Eight episodes become soap operatic, redundant, and mushy. As in “Happy Face.” ...