‘Good Omens’ – Amazon

It’s no secret that it’s hard work to adapt a beloved book for the screen. Hard. Frickin. Work. And quite often a totally thankless task. Everyone has a uniquely personal idea about what a character looks like and sounds like – that’s the beauty and the curse of reading. You’re never, ever going to please everyone as a quick search on Twitter about any film/ TV show/ book/ art exhibition/ literally insert anything here. You’ve just got to be content with your version of the story and give it your all. As Ms T Swift put it so eloquently, haters are invariably going to hate.

Things that certainly will help please the masses are oodles of lovely money to make your production look lush and expensive (thanks Amazon), legendary casting, and having one of the original writer on your team. So the omens for Good Omens are… good. Neil Gaiman and the much missed Terry Pratchett wanted to adapt their much loved novel for the big screen for many years. Neil wasn’t willing to go ahead after Terry died but in classic authorial style received a letter with Terry’s blessing post mortem. with the project. And with him at the helm it’s got to be a tempting prospect for any actor. The cast list is enviable – Nick Offerman, Jack Whitehall, Miranda Richardson, Jon Hamm, all the League of Gentlemen, Frances McDormand and Benedict Cumberbatch to name but a few.

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'Ronja the Robber's Daughter'

A Studio Ghibli tv series on Amazon?! Yes please, says I! Most people who love the silver screen are familiar with the masterful Japanese animation house, behind such beloved international classics as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. 
Film School Rejects say “The studio is respected the world over for its lush animation, attention to detail, and the way its movies can soak its audiences in a mood without any effort at all”. So it’s easy to see that expectations were set high for their first ever tv series, which debuted in Japan in 2014. I won’t drag out the suspense – Ronja the Robber’s Daughter is a huge disappointment.
Ronja is a cute little girl, born to a robber king and his wife. They lead a band of ne’er-do-wells who patrol the forest paths robbing from the rich who travel through in their horse-drawn carriages. The merry band live in a secluded castle surrounded by a forest full of enormous creepy birds with women’s faces.
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