theeyeshaveit469 Reviews

Mama, There's a Man in Your Bed (1989)

Different and delightful rom com

[27 June 2008]

This movie is a gem! It is the story of Juliette, a perfectly ordinary cleaning woman who works in the large corporate office of a yogurt company, and Romuald, the president of same. He takes no notice of her, he takes no notice of anyone until several plots to wrest his company away from him all hit at the same time. He is lost, no one to turn to and no one to trust when he discovers Juliette. As the cleaning woman, no one pays any attention to her, so they say and do incriminating things in front of her that she is smart enough to catch on to and use to help her helpless and hapless boss.

I was very happy when I finally managed to get the DVD and a second viewing was no less enjoyable than the first, many years before. One of my favorite rom coms ever.

Robin Hood (2006–2009)

mixed feelings

[4 February 2008]

I have mixed feelings about this. I don't have any problems with being mucked around with historically or any other way, and to those who are asking 'is this a spoof', I think the use of Two Ronnies gags is a dead giveaway that this is just a fun adventure tale and largely played for laughs. The scripts were variable and I would have liked to have seen some story strands followed up on, but scripts improved in general as the series went on.

I appreciate the bonuses like some stunning scenery and cinematography and I like Marian who is the center of the whole thing, with Lucy's performance getting consistently better as the series progressed.

My biggest disappointment is with the gang who seem rather a nondescript lot, led by a Robin who behaves with the maturity of a child in the school ground a lot of the time. Much annoyed me at first but for all his jokes and getting picked on, he seemed the most substantial hoodie by the end.

I have to say thank heavens for the baddies though, both are dressed and sometimes behave like panto baddies, but the Sheriff gets all the good lines so who cares, and Sir Guy is by far the most complex and interesting character in it.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

The Benny Hill version of P&P which should be called 'Shy and Miserable'

[13 February 2006]

I really hated this - it is OK to modify scenes from the book, but to change the spirit of it completely is too much. And to change Jane Austen's witty dialogue for some of the dross, especially early on in the piece was definitely not an improvement.

This loud, grubby group were not my idea of the Bennetts or their friends. The Bennetts may have been poor and may well have lived in a shabby house, but they had more class than this lot.

As for the proposition that Darcy's aloofness was because he shy and not confident, he just seemed pathetic to me and Darcy should certainly not be pathetic.

Except for the scene where he gave a lovely smile - Mathew MacFadyen wore the same expression pretty much throughout, (which was not surprising as this Darcy was such a boring character), and Kiera Knightly just seemed much to flighty for Lizzy, she seemed more like Lydia.

To me - it is the Benny Hill version of P&P - no subtlety, little wit, almost just slapstick.

Thank God for the BBC.

Between the Sheets (2003– )

Richard Armitage, a quality ensemble cast , and Kay Mellor make for and interesting series.

[13 February 2006]

I would never have purchased this if not for the presence of Richard Armitage in the cast - but I quite enjoyed it and his story line in particular because it was a complex role.

It was another excellent performance by Richard, playing a completely different character to his character in North and South and there is a quality ensemble cast which makes it worthwhile even if the material may not particularly appeal to you.

For anyone interested in Richard Armitage's work, it is well worth it in my opinion. It's not for you however if frank sexual discussion and nudity will trouble you. The fact that it has a multi genre description is fairly accurate - it is a slice of (not quite average) life with its comedy, drama and romance.

North & South (2004)

What would I compare it to?

[9 December 2005]

North and South is my favorite book because I like the basic story and I really love the characters, and this feeling carried over to the series. Even though the BBC Wives and Daughters series was excellent and stuck more strictly to the book than North and South - I still enjoyed North and South more because of the reasons I love the book. I also thought the acting of the whole cast was as good as anything I have seen. North and South is often compared with Pride and Prejudice and while there is a good reason for that, I actually feel it has as much in common with a Dickens tale. The book was actually first published by Dickens in his weekly paper/magazine and was viewed favorably by him. If I was to try and describe the tone of the piece I would describe it as a cross between a slightly less complicated Dickens tale and Jane Austen. I never thought I would find a series I like better than Pride and Prejudice but I have. While it came to a resolved ending as most drama series do, whether tragic or happy, - there were several relationships in this that I wanted to follow further and I was wishing it would continue.