Change Your Image
dave88-2
Reviews
The Old Curiosity Shop (1979)
An oldie but goodie from the BBC
Despite the poor reviews here, I find this series holds up very well on a repeat viewing, I first saw it aged 12 on it's original broadcast. Now, as then, Trevor Peacock's Quilp was what kept me watching. Evil yet gleeful, drinking and smoking and quiping nastily at all within range.
The production's weakness are the story's really, which cannot be helped. It is hard to work up much sympathy for the weak-willed grandfather, but Nell is easy to root for, as is Dick Swiveller, whose scatterbrained asides and meanderings are very good fun.
It feels dark and dirty and oppressive, yet there is good in the world, and Dickens keeps you wondering which will emerge victorious. (Dis)honourable mention to Sampson Brass too, his snivelling obedience and toadying is very well done.
Life on Mars (2008)
Life on Mars, seek out the original
Oh dear. Come on then Phylis, give us the benefit of your wit and wisdom, why is this a good idea then?
It isn't.
In the 60s stuff like The Avengers and The Prisoner were shown in the US without being remade and in that less cosmopolitan era the audience still somehow got it. And now we have this pointless remake. Anyone who saw the original on BBC America, thanks to ad breaks you did not see a lot of footage on Sam and Annie's relationship, among other things. Masterpiece Theatre did it to the BBC adaption of David Copperfield too, even the DVD!
Worse still, the English original Life On Mars series(not "version" thank you) will probably never get a DVD release in the US now. And a lot of people here will also simply think that we copied this rubbish.
Thank goodness for DVD imports and all region players is all I have to say. If you really want to see something from England, import it. That way it won't be cut, remade or dubbed like Thomas and Bob the Builder. Leave our telly alone!
Rambo (2008)
A good send off for another favourite character
Well he did an admirable job on Rocky, and now he does it again. He's not a one-man army this time and that's all to the good. The English soldiers are great in this, they cracked me up. The only real hole in proceedings is the church guy turning up and bankrolling the mercenaries, I didn't believe that really. But it does not spoil things, and even very serious films have the odd plot hole without ruining the whole.
This made me want to know more about the real situation in Burma, so for me its not just a bullet-fest, though its obviously an excellent example of that. Rambo doesn't say much but he's not ridiculously taciturn either. He weighs his words and he speaks when he has something to say, fair enough.
As some others have said there is some strong stuff in this, though I would say the editing helps a bit by not lingering too much on any particular act too long. Most horror films make me feel sicker than this did, and I don't think anything here is sick-for-the-sake-of-it. You are meant to be horrified by what people do to others, its a good test of your desensitization to violence. If you're not shocked or at least dismayed then yes there is something wrong.
Despite what many critics will probably say of this, this is not a turn your brain off, violent load of crap. It's a good fast pacy action film, and in many surprising ways it may make you think a little.
Action films are not my absolute favourite but this is simply very good. I hope things change one day in Burma, at least Stallone shines a light on it before we all forget.
The Golden Compass (2007)
a good try
This was a good try, though it did zip along at a ferocious rate at times. If you haven't read the books first you will be utterly lost. The lead actress is excellent and carries the film. I would still unreservedly recommend this, despite some fans being disappointed.
As to the anti religion accusations, where was the controversy? I saw this with my wife, who is very Catholic, and she found nothing to make her wince or get up and leave.
The real worry now is that with the atrocious box office the other two won't get made. Its a moot point now whether the bigots have won or whether the general public just did not like it.
Just be grateful they can't ban the books I guess.
Okay, slight update to the above. As of 10th January 2008, the atrocious American take at the box office has been somewhat alleviated by the rest of the world not caring about it allegedly being anti-God. Plus many would argue that anything really controversial has been left out or massively sanitized anyway. Owing to that, its now standing at $300 million, not brilliant but perhaps enough to make the sequels get made. Hasn't opened in Japan yet so cross your fingers that it does the business there too.
With it taking nearly as much in England as America I'm tempted to say it was the bigots that did kill it and that it wasn't that the public just simply did not like it. I mean you can argue the books are bigger in England but even then it is so rare for the box office in England to almost match the American take for the same film.
Either way here's to the sequels.
You can make a violent film, a sexy film, a film with bags of swearing, but if you question the man upstairs (or even whether there IS a man upstairs) its beyond the pale.
Americans bang on about the First Amendment all the time but how free a country is it if you can't even make a film without getting boycotted? Answers on a postcard.