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Reviews
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: He's a Little Bit Country: John B (2003)
John B
This show made me cry! I mean me, come on, I don't do that! Fantastic TV, and this team went on to show it isn't a one off 'reality' format. I was wary of the whole idea to begin with and wasn't taken that much with the early episodes - I was forced to watch them along with my sister her grand-daughter and her boyfriend. Some of it was just cringe-making (it was meant to be - though I wasn't in on that at the time). On my own it wasn't the sort of show I'd watch. Then, by chance, I tuned in to the John B episode and I was kind of taken into the story, transfixed by the fab five's manner, and then bowled over by the marvellous way these guys help a sap really put on a show. An incredible hour's viewing. I know I really like a programme if I'd watch it again - I've watched this one again, and it still moves me. That is class.
A Summer Place (1959)
Summer Place - Paradise
A woman's movie of the very best calibre. The joy of Troy Donohue embracing Sandra Dee is enough to give this film 10 points. However, the scenery, the music and the whole drift-off into a world of fantasy make it pure Hollywood bliss - made the more telling by the real shock/fascination its story gave us at the time. The problem of underage sex, pregnancy and problematic parent/child relationships weren't invented in the 1980s, of course. I guess this is a good piece of easy watching social history, but most of all its just a joy to melt into. I put this movie up there with The Imitation Of Life, Breakfast At Tiffany's and Sunday In New York for a snap shot of how tearjerkers and comedies could capture the spirit of an age. Line these up with The Apartment, Victim, A Taste Of Honey and The Days Of Wine And Roses and you'll have the bittersweet early 1960s to a T. Throw in a few Doris Day and John Wayne movies and you'll know why your granny and grandad had so much fun with little more than toffees, popcorn, a choc-ice and a fizzy drink to make 'a date' out of an evening at the cinema.