boughrood Reviews

Keeping Mum (2005)

Drivel

[2/10 · 20 November 2008]

I fell asleep after about 30 minutes waiting for something to interest me. The script, the photography, the acting, the plot, the direction even a joke that was funny, anything at all. Believe me I am Maggie Smiths greatest fan and think very highly of Rowan Atkinson as a comedian but this was excruciating. An interesting phenomenon is that the early reviews in IMDb are all giving it a high mark when in fact it is clearly dross but in my half of the field the pendulum is settling down to record its true worth round about the "pretty poor" mark. Jean Brodie would find this stuff pretty tedious and Blackadder should find a more deserving object for his contempt than Baldrick.

The Shout (1978)

Nice to look at

[8/10 · 19 September 2006]

I saw this last night (19th Sept 2006) on DVD and would agree with the earlier comments. The cast is strong, the atmosphere of the film is tensely exciting and scenes are often like an animated painting - eg the cricket match. There was a scene I noticed early on, while I was in that phase, 'Shall I continue to watch this or go and play chess on the computer', of Alan Bates riding a motorbike and passing a car in which travelled Sarah Miles and the thought occurred to me after seeing it that it was technically very good and must have required some working out but I know little of these things. Any way I found that I had to watch the film all the way though and not to see how the plot worked out either but because it looked good and it looked different.

Thirty-Minute Theatre: Is That Your Body, Boy? (1970) Season 5, Episode 27

excellent comedy if a trifle Fatist

[6 July 2003]

I saw this 33 years ago and thought it very good although all I can remember is a vicious Physical Education Master (Presumably Ron Moody) who's catchphrase was of course " Is that your body boy?" delivered with maximum sarcasm. Probably a little too fatist for todays sensitive souls but I would like to see it again. This seems to be the only reference to it on the web.

The Roads to Freedom (1970)

excellent version will we ever see it again?

[7 September 2001]

This film seemed to me to be very close to the atmosphere of the books. The film characters of Mathieu, Daniel, Lola etc all seem practically perfect renditions of the book characters. The wretched TV company says it has no plans to repeat it.