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WilliamG-2
Reviews
The Knowledge (1979)
Universal appeal, not just Londoners
Just to correct something in a previous review here, I don't believe this film is only for people who know London, it's a case of a very specific situation being used to make universal comments. Jack Rosenthal says in an introduction to the published script that it was meant to be about characters who, by going though this gruelling Knowledge test, gain some measure of self-knowledge.
I think it's one of the most perfectly-written dramas I've seen: technically it's supremely adept at conveying quite complex details but it's also joyous in how it involves you. At the start you know no more about this London Knowledge test than the main characters but you get scooped up right along with them until it's vitally important to you. You become tremendously proud of those characters who succeed, and you are crushed for those who don't. Especially one whose downfall, without giving anything anyway, will make your hands fly to your face.
Also just as a point of fact, Nigel Hawthorne's character, Mr Burgess, is called the Vampire, not Dracula. You don't need to know this, I'm not saying it's crucial, but it's a measure of the drama: once you've seen this, you will want everyone to and you will evangelise about its every detail.
I hope you get to see it.
William
Trevor's World of Sport (2003)
This is where it went
To answer the previous person, Trevor's World of Sport was cancelled after just one run.
It suffered very badly indeed from its scheduling. That's an easy thing to say but in this case the show was preceded by Eyes Down, an especially poor Paul O'Grady bingo comedy. After a couple of episodes, Trevor's World was pulled and then a fortnight or so later it resurfaced in a late night Monday slot where ratings would never trouble it.
As a result, creator Andy Hamilton said at the time that he would never work for BBC1 again but there has been a change at the top since so hopefully he will reconsider.
And one good piece of news is that Trevor's World of Sport got a further lease of life with a new run of episodes that aired on BBC Radio 4. Mind you, one startling piece of news is that having canned Trevor's World, BBC1 recommissioned Eyes Down for a second series.
William
Cherry Falls (1999)
Mildly scary but very silly
It's a scary movie and I was scared - just less so as the film went on and I became inured to the violence. There's a lot of very ominous sound effects such as knife steel on steel and horrible ripping noises but the film has gone for gore rather than terror.
Fortunately for my weak stomach but unfortunately for the film, the makers have realised that it's perhaps too difficult now to have a straight teenage horror. After the various Screams and so on, there has to be horror and something else, something knowing or self-referencing like humour or out and out comedy. Cherry Falls - with a title obvious yet pointedly explained anyway - was never going to be witty or subtle, but it perhaps didn't have to be this silly.
In the screening I went to the most gruesome moments were punctured by audience laughter and it was not laughing on the side of the film.
Brittany Murphy is good in the lead while some characters, her father played by Michael Biehn especially, sometimes feel as if they would rather be acting in Twin Peaks.
If you like horror movies, there's nothing new here at all. If you're a bit squeamish, as I'm afraid I am, you'll find this easier to get through than you expect.
Notting Hill (1999)
Screenplay is excellent, though Americanisms jar
The first review on this page put me off seeing Notting Hill, but also made me flick through the published screenplay for the reportedly distracting Americanisms. I still can't comment on the film per se, but I ended up laughing in a bookshop over the first fifty pages of the script. If an assistant hadn't begun staring I'd have finished it there and lost Richard Curtis a sale.
I do agree that there are jarring Americanisms - I'm not concerned about that generally but while most seemed picked to work for both US and UK audiences, a couple were really obscure. That aside, it's a warmly smart and at times extremely funny script.
There are parallels to Four Weddings and a Funeral but they're style rather than content: if you've seen Four Weddings you will hear Hugh Grant's voice as you read his dialogue, for instance.
I'd like to see Richard Curtis trying something other than romantic comedy on the big screen (he's already done much on television) but refreshingly so would he: right at the end of the published screenplay he mentions that he hopes this is the last one he writes.
PS. I paid up and bought the book.
Merlin (1998)
Unbearable.
It has an all-star cast, some superb effects - though also some weak ones - yet Merlin is upsettingly poor. Forgive what sounds like a childish exaggeration, but while I had looked forward to this very much, I came away from it feeling despair. The cast lives up to its reputation for technical quality but there's no feeling of character, no involvement. Everyone says exactly what they're thinking - sometimes even when there's no one around to hear them - and in case you should happen to miss the obvious, it's said to you in speech, underlined with pantomime gestures and then repeated in a voiceover narration. It feels strongly as though the cast were hired, the effects planned and the network broadcast slot arranged before someone realised that there should be a story. They didn't think of it in time. In the UK this show is being screened in two parts but there is just no possibility that I will ever stomach sitting down for part 2.