Zero Effect is a desperately quirky 90's detective thriller starring Bill Pullman as a Holmes-inspired sleuth and Ben Stiller as his long suffering Watson type. It isn't nearly as funny or as clever as it thinks it is so most of the antics of Zero came across as just plain annoying and the blackmail case he's working on is little more than a device to stitch the romantic plot together ~ though apparently it's based on a story by Conan Doyle ~ anyways I'm not surprised that they tried in 2002 to make a TV series out of it as it reeked of the Tellybox.Went the Day Well? was mentioned in the Guardian the other day so thought I'd give it a go and it's pretty good, certainly more than just a bit of wartime propaganda. A small town falls to a platoon of dastardly Nazis and the locals, notably the women, decide to fight back with some gusto. Based on a story by Graham Greene the script sparkles with wit and British understatement and it's bolstered by some excellent performances throughout. Had it focused on the men folk uprising I don't think it would have had the same impact - the sight of Thora Hird hacking up a Jerry with an axe was really quite shocking.
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