I was planning to watch the second episode of the annoyingly-titled The Amazing Mrs Pritchard this evening to see what all the fuss was about, but now I see that More 4 is starting to show flaccid American drama Commander in Chief tonight at exactly the same time. Having caught an episode before (in the way one catches a cold, which coincidentally I had at the time) I’m not expecting great things, but I’m tempted to take a look at the first episode to see if it started any better. (Oh – they appear to be making a TV movie.)

In a similar vein to Mrs Pritchard, opening this Friday in the US and appealing to those who think that Jon Stewart should become President with Stephen Colbert as his running mate (look at the comment on Daily Show clips on YouTube – these people do exist) is Man of the Year , a film about a non-politician who runs for President. Except rather than being a female supermarket manager he’s a male Daily Show style comedian. No idea when the film will open in the UK – not for a while at least, so you’ll have to settle for Jane Horrocks and Geena Davis for the moment.

Well, I had all sorts of plans for last week, scuppered by a cold that left me without the energy for blogging (all that typing, it’s hard). I caught an episode of Commander in Chief on one of my days off – oh dear, oh dear. It’s not exactly The West Wing, is it? Or, more precisely, it absolutely isn’t. Everything that’s great about the latter – rounded, interesting characters, top notch dialogue, excellent direction, thoughtful stories – was notable by it’s absence. Commander in Chief – now axed, I believe – seemed more like a soap in which the lead happened to be a female president than a serious drama.

On Saturday, as my cold was finally waving goodbye, I went to the cinema to see Severance. Its writer, James Moran, has a blog, which I mention only to add that I don’t usually like to criticise other bloggers.

Severance pitches itself as a comedy horror film, but is neither funnier enough to class as a comedy, scary enough to be horror, nor surprising enough to be a decent thriller. There’s plenty of violence, most of which seems to be about grossing out the audience – not gratuitious exactly, but it lends little to the story, such that it is. This involves a group of (fairly unlikeable) characters becoming stranded in a forest in Eastern Europe and getting butchered – not exactly the most original concept in the canon of modern horror. The cast – which include Tim McInnerny off of Blackadder and Toby Stephens – are little more than OK, with the overpromoted Danny Dyer being a particularly noticeable detraction.

There are one or two good moments (an escort girl with a machine gun; a small twist just when you think the leads have won the day), but nothing that was worth the admission price and the expensive popcorn (and having to put up with a handful of idiots in the audience). The use of the pre-titles sequence was a little innovative, but really this was the most disappointing film I’ve seen at the cinema for some time (although there’s always The Wicker Man to look forward to).

I like to offer you a different view, so here’s an alternative take from David Bishop.

Update: Here’s another review, from Alan.