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Reviews
Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998)
Not as good as the book, but still excellent.
Children - if you know any adults who don't read enough, please sit them down in front of this film and then give them the book by Michelle Magorian.
It may seem like a paradox, but Goodnight Mister Tom, which is a wonderfully written, mature and complex book for children, is here turned into a more simplistic film for grown-ups.
It is, I might add, a very good film. The book, as I recall, was loved by children at my old school - in a survey my friend did of the 11-12 year olds it was rated as the favourite book of a significant percentage. The film was recommended to me by at least two different adults. The difference being that the main character of the book is definitely William, a young evacuee, whereas in the film it seems more as if the main character is Tom Oakley, the man who takes William in. It therefore lacks the "coming of age" feel of the book, making the overall plot less subtle.
But it is certainly beautifully made. Recently I saw my 80 year old aunty watching the film and reminiscing about the second world war - she felt the blitz was depicted brilliantly. The darkness of this story is captured well, being neither sentimental nor depressing. It instead seems simply truthful - war is terrible, and people can do terrible things, but there are also good people in this world. Magorian's plot pulls no punches, and this film is the same. I suspect the end of being deliberately tear-jerking... but I cried anyway (I won't give away the plot, but it is a happy ending!)
Masterpiece Theatre: The Ruby in the Smoke (2006)
A bit disappointing
I haven't read "The Ruby in the Smoke" which probably explains my reaction to this film. Anyway, for the other uninitiated amongst you, this is the basic plot - young Sally Lockhart (Billie Piper) is living with her aunt after her father's ship sank. It turns out there is more to this death than it seems, as Sally receives a cryptic note, eventually leading her to a man named Marchbanks who gives her a notebook and tells her she has an enemy called Mrs Holland (Julie Walters, at her villainous best). This leads Sally through a maze of clues and memories, finding out the fate of her father and the truth of her own origins, and the truth of the elusive eponymous ruby.
I feel this would have done very well as a television series, but as a film it merely felt rushed. The characters introduced promised to be interesting, but weren't really properly developed, and I had trouble keeping up with all the twists in the plot, which were rushed by in seconds. Sally seemed like a fascinating character, but her character development was left to a few scenes of her standing up to her aunt and demonstrating her ability for dealing with figures. This left the film feeling somewhat sterile - more of a puzzle than a story.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
I'm supporting the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is actually wonderfully done.
The special effects are really quite beautiful, especially for 1950s standards, and aliens' pseudo-science is imaginative and even semi-believable.
And by 1950s standards, Carol Marvin qualifies as a strong female character. She even gets to drive the car for a bit and express an opinion occasionally. Of course after their first saucer sighting, she has to allow Russell to drive - still, it was a very brave attempt at challenging gender stereotyping...
The thing that intrigued me most about the film was the attitude taken towards the aliens. In many later alien films, and of course in science fiction series like Star Trek, there is an emphasis on communication with aliens, finding out what they want and why they're here. The characters of this movie have no such concern. They simply assume the aliens are hostile as soon as they land, and open fire.
The aliens understandably are annoyed by this and shoot back.
This pattern continues throughout the movie to the climax. The human characters simply assume might makes right, and ignore any chances for negotiation, preferring to use firepower. It's almost like a fable for our age. I spent the movie cheering on the flying saucers.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Pleasantly Surprised
I didn't expect to like this movie, but I did. Granted, the humour wasn't as anarchic as Douglas Adams's is in the books/radio show, and there were bits that weren't in the books, and the ending seemed rather uncharacteristically optimistic...
But what can I say? Forgive me for not being a purist, but to be honest I found the unexpected 'sweetness' of this movie rather welcome, as the doom and gloom humour in Hitchhikers always slightly depressed me, even if it is hilarious. (Paradoxical, but true). I also enjoyed the 'additional', non-canon scenes. Consider the movie as 'variations on a theme' rather than a strict re-telling. There was a very funny scene, for example, in which our friends land on the Vogon home planet. It wasn't Douglas Adams strictly, but was still funny and in the spirit of the man.
I was also pleasantly surprised by all the cast. Had my doubts about Mos Def - I was worried that Ford Prefect would be made 'cool' but he wasn't at all. He portrayed Ford Prefect faithfully - the Ford Prefect I know and love even though he looks a bit different to how he did in the television series! All the other actors do a good job too - Alan Rickman is fantastic as the voice of Marvin, and I just love Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast.
This movie also has some great visuals. I love the Vogons... Jim Henson's Creature Shop should be used much more often! So you may not like this if you are a die-hard Douglas Adams fan. I seem to have read a lot of reviews by such people who really don't like this adaptation. However I did like it - it's funny and enjoyable, with a lot of great moments and good portrayal of all the characters. It's a bit different, but definitely related.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
The perfect example of a bad movie
This movie is so bad it passes through into brilliance. Its extreme ineptness is overwhelming - the script is bad, the sets are bad, the acting is bad, the direction is terrible and, holy-moly, is the plot bad!
For example, Bela Lugosi died during the making of this film. So instead of remaking it, they simply replaced him in later scenes with an actor who barely resembled him. Example 2 - the eponymous 'plan 9' involves aliens raising corpses to get Humanity's attention. It makes you wonder what idiocy was used during the other 8 plans.
You'd almost feel cruel mocking such a pathetically made movie. But who cares? Its badness is in a league of its own. It's utterly hilarious, and a well worth a look.
(I haven't given it a rating, because 'so bad it's good' can't really be marked out of ten)
She's All That (1999)
So, so bad
I actually love this film for its badness. It's always engaging to see a well-made yet truly bad film, and this is one of them - some nice cinematography, a few funny moments, but overall a badly-scripted gag-worthy cliché fest.
The script is clunky and not particularly believable, and the scenes feel like simple plot devices, as if the scriptwriter was ticking off a little chart: "This will make him love her... this will make her love him... this will make her prettier... this will make her love him more... this will make her hate him and this will make her love him again..." It also contains some fairly disturbing messages. Rachel Leigh Cook's character begins as an albeit introverted, but interesting character - arty and concerned about the state of the world. This is apparently wrong. What is right is that you're pretty and you have fun and you don't care about anything important. Freddie Prinze Jnr's character is a shallow selfish moron with no chivalrous aspects whatsoever. This is apparently good. He is the reformer, she is the reformee. Entirely the wrong way around!
On the plus side, Matthew Lillard's character is a lot of fun, if only because he is paired with the extremely hateable Taylor. In fact, she's so hateable you can't work out why anyone would be friends with her in the first place, let alone want to vote her Prom Queen.
There are a few cute moments, but most of it makes me want to gag. On the other hand, it's so bad that it's a fun movie to sit through and insult (why do you think I saw it?). If you like bad movies, you'll love this.