Filmography
Apr. 7th, 2010 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyDoctor Who - the Horror of Fang Rock
What I didn't know when we started watching this is that it is based upon a real life historical incident where three lighthouse keepers disappeared from a lighthouse in the Flannan Isles; the only hint that this is their story is that the Doctor quotes a line from a contemporary poem about the incident at the story arc's close, which obviously I had to Google at once. This does at least explain the story's decision to kill off ALL the secondary characters, which actually came as quite a shock to us - we figured that at least one was going to be safe!
Anyway. Short version - alien life force lands near lighthouse, scopes out humanity, decides it can taken them, attempts to, fails. Invading war fleet also blown up thanks to diamonds and lighthouse beam reflector. In the middle, some shipwrecked politician-types turn up, including a lady secretary who is so wimpy and weak at the knees it's positively a relief to see her get her just desserts, if just because it stops her flailing. On the plus side, we also get Leela, who stalks around and thinks how best to kill things, so I guess that the portrayal of women probably just about balances out. The introduction of the political-types also does a good job of giving the story a bit more narrative thrust just when it needs it; the pacing is very good, and with the exception of the hysterical secretary, the acting's not bad either. This definitely gets five stars from us; the story is good, the action keeps moving, and it's a very interesting play with history.
Alice in Wonderland
Obv we had to go and see this. I'd read plenty of rotten reviews so was prepared for - well, not much. But, in fairness, if you reset your brain and think 'this is a DISNEY film designed for CHILDREN', then it feels so much less bad. The 3D kit is quite fun, and Johnny Depp is kept under control; I was quite pleased not to see the unfortunate slide back into Cap'n Jack mannerisms that characterised his cameo in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He also doesn't try to take over the show; Alice (Mia Wasikowska) gets to stay center stage. I can't quite make out what I think of her, though - on the one hand, she is very pale and wet; on the other, she does manage to develop some get up and go when required. Not entirely convincing characterisation, but I have seen worse, and I suspect that the vulnerability she insists on exuding probably appeals to the teenage girl market.
Alright, so the plot is a fairly standard coming-of-age facing-up-to-scary-things dealing-with-marriage construction. It's a bloody Disney film, their target audience likes that sort of thing, and those of us who went along in a vaguely curious way to see what Tim Burton had done are not their target audience. I read someone somewhere saying that the original Alice had been completely episodic, and wouldn't it have been nice if Burton had gone the same way. Maybe. But honestly, the kind of direction this was going in, well-trodden and archetypal as it is, did the job just fine. And the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) were brilliant; I particularly liked the way the White Queen was all elegant drifting and posturing which got dropped the second nobody was looking. We are all human, after all. I'm going with three and a half stars - perfectly good entertainmnet, but nothing amazing.
Unconscious
We were recommended this by the Netflix recommendation rubric and it is AMAZING. Loved, loved, loved it. It is a Spanish film (original title Inconscientes), and basically it is all about Freud! An important Freudian psychoanalyst goes missing, his heavily pregnant wife tries to get her brother-in-law (also an analyst though not a trendy one) to find out what's going on, said brother-in-law reveals under hypnosis that he loves her passionately, his own wife is... well, let us say not that into her husband or indeed chaps in general, and the wifes' father (head of prestigious psych institute) is dying of some kind of tumour and thus throwing all kinds of social propriety to the winds. As Alma tries to discover where her husband Leon has vanished to, her relationship with Salvador becomes more and more intense and the things they turn up become weirder and weirder, and eventually you end up with poor Salvador struggling down the stairs of a high-class brothel whilst tied to an eagle bedhead, a member of the Spanish royal family looking at him in mild disbelief, while a member of his security team warns him 'careful, your highness, he could be an anarchist'.
Well, quite.
This was an absolute joy to watch. The filming is impeccable, the colours are beautiful, the script is absurb and joyful in that very Spanish way, the acting was brilliant, the plot is insane but in a good and intelligent and clever way. I am full of adoring this film. G was not so impressed, so we're with the four and a half stars, but if you feel like something very funny with a bit of a brain behind it, this is definitely the way to go.
Blue Murder at St Trinian's
Why yes, I am making G watch all the St. Trinian's films. Three down, one to go (and that's not counting the two new ones). The plot driver for this one, the second in the series, is that Flash Harry is running a marriage agency and needs to get the nubile sixth form out to Italy in time for the Italian... king? Prince? Important member of Italian royalty, anyway, to meet them and decide which one takes his fancy. Problem is, they have a new head coming and need an excuse to take the whole school to the continent before term ends. Solution - cheat in a Ministry of Education competition to win a trip to Europe, and substitute the father of one of the girls (who chose to be on the run in the school at just the wrong moment) to pretend to be the headmistress and thus take the school on said tour.
Of course, the local constabulary get wind of this chap's presence with the school, and thus poor old Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell) gets planted with them as an interpreter, despite her utter failure at languages. I have to say that I was quite glad she was reprised, not only because her finance Sammy (Lloyd Lamble) is such an utter [insert rude word of choice here], but because she gets to have a travelling romance with the coach hire gentleman, Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts, played superbly by Terry-Thomas. I love Terry-Thomas. He's just of that period of film that feels very much emblematic of part of my childhood and growing up process. Also, he is not allowed to take over the film, which he has been known to do. Mind you, him and George Cole as Flash Harry are good value in combination.
Anyway! It's not great theatre, and I don't think it's as strong as the other two, but it's not bad, and the sixth form get good play. I'm in four stars, myself.
Metropolis
No, not the Fritz Lang masterpiece, but the 2001 anime reworking. I know. I was curious. And I don't watch that much anime, and I liked the Fritz Lang one and I got curious and we all know what that leads to. The story has obviously been reworked (less sex, more filial piety); now we're looking at a man who has built a Ziggurat in the middle of a massive industrialised city with an underground level, and who has commissioned a top-of-the-range life-like robot to sit on the top of it and thus take over the world (hem). Problem is, he is also the head of the anti-robot party which stages a coup and takes over government, so he might have a bit of a clash of ideals going on. Anyway, the scientist building said robot, who is going to end up being called Tima, is being hunted by a detective from Japan and his young handsome nephew Ken-ichi; you can probably guess where the love plot which stops the word from being destroyed comes in at this point.
G pointed out that the concerns this film plays with are very Japanese; for instance, there's a strong emphasis on the coziness of government with big business, the military industrial complex, can we trust robots, that kind of thing. The underclass can revolt for themselves rather than needing to be boldly rescued by the heroic representatives of the upperclass (as in Lang's version), although the revolt goes badly and everyone ends up DEAD, which isn't a terribly positive social message. That said, the chaps trying to take over the world end up dead too, so at least there's some justice. But this is an interesting reworking if you liked the Lang and can put up with a bit of anime; the desexualisation of the female robot is very interesting although obviously well within the conventions of anime, and the animation and script are also nicely done. Three stars - no great shakes, but I can think of far worse things to spend an evening in front of.
As Time Goes By, series 9
Again, more of a placeholder to say I've seen it than anything else; this series only lasts four episodes and its sole purpose seems to be to marry Judy off to Alastair (finally) and send Sandy off to Canada with the dim but loveable Harry. I have to say that personally I don't find the sudden bursting of love between Sandy and Harry at all believable, but getting the nest empty was clearly the aim of the writers, so now Lionel and Jean are left on their own. I can definitely believe the Judy/Alastair story, mind - they've been at each other so long that it's rather a blessing that they finally get to have their happy ending.
So, time called when it needed to be called, I think; although I suspect Jean will be driving Lionel mad without the girls to distract her. There is a reunion special, which I am looking forward to seeing. Eventually.
What I didn't know when we started watching this is that it is based upon a real life historical incident where three lighthouse keepers disappeared from a lighthouse in the Flannan Isles; the only hint that this is their story is that the Doctor quotes a line from a contemporary poem about the incident at the story arc's close, which obviously I had to Google at once. This does at least explain the story's decision to kill off ALL the secondary characters, which actually came as quite a shock to us - we figured that at least one was going to be safe!
Anyway. Short version - alien life force lands near lighthouse, scopes out humanity, decides it can taken them, attempts to, fails. Invading war fleet also blown up thanks to diamonds and lighthouse beam reflector. In the middle, some shipwrecked politician-types turn up, including a lady secretary who is so wimpy and weak at the knees it's positively a relief to see her get her just desserts, if just because it stops her flailing. On the plus side, we also get Leela, who stalks around and thinks how best to kill things, so I guess that the portrayal of women probably just about balances out. The introduction of the political-types also does a good job of giving the story a bit more narrative thrust just when it needs it; the pacing is very good, and with the exception of the hysterical secretary, the acting's not bad either. This definitely gets five stars from us; the story is good, the action keeps moving, and it's a very interesting play with history.
Alice in Wonderland
Obv we had to go and see this. I'd read plenty of rotten reviews so was prepared for - well, not much. But, in fairness, if you reset your brain and think 'this is a DISNEY film designed for CHILDREN', then it feels so much less bad. The 3D kit is quite fun, and Johnny Depp is kept under control; I was quite pleased not to see the unfortunate slide back into Cap'n Jack mannerisms that characterised his cameo in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He also doesn't try to take over the show; Alice (Mia Wasikowska) gets to stay center stage. I can't quite make out what I think of her, though - on the one hand, she is very pale and wet; on the other, she does manage to develop some get up and go when required. Not entirely convincing characterisation, but I have seen worse, and I suspect that the vulnerability she insists on exuding probably appeals to the teenage girl market.
Alright, so the plot is a fairly standard coming-of-age facing-up-to-scary-things dealing-with-marriage construction. It's a bloody Disney film, their target audience likes that sort of thing, and those of us who went along in a vaguely curious way to see what Tim Burton had done are not their target audience. I read someone somewhere saying that the original Alice had been completely episodic, and wouldn't it have been nice if Burton had gone the same way. Maybe. But honestly, the kind of direction this was going in, well-trodden and archetypal as it is, did the job just fine. And the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) were brilliant; I particularly liked the way the White Queen was all elegant drifting and posturing which got dropped the second nobody was looking. We are all human, after all. I'm going with three and a half stars - perfectly good entertainmnet, but nothing amazing.
Unconscious
We were recommended this by the Netflix recommendation rubric and it is AMAZING. Loved, loved, loved it. It is a Spanish film (original title Inconscientes), and basically it is all about Freud! An important Freudian psychoanalyst goes missing, his heavily pregnant wife tries to get her brother-in-law (also an analyst though not a trendy one) to find out what's going on, said brother-in-law reveals under hypnosis that he loves her passionately, his own wife is... well, let us say not that into her husband or indeed chaps in general, and the wifes' father (head of prestigious psych institute) is dying of some kind of tumour and thus throwing all kinds of social propriety to the winds. As Alma tries to discover where her husband Leon has vanished to, her relationship with Salvador becomes more and more intense and the things they turn up become weirder and weirder, and eventually you end up with poor Salvador struggling down the stairs of a high-class brothel whilst tied to an eagle bedhead, a member of the Spanish royal family looking at him in mild disbelief, while a member of his security team warns him 'careful, your highness, he could be an anarchist'.
Well, quite.
This was an absolute joy to watch. The filming is impeccable, the colours are beautiful, the script is absurb and joyful in that very Spanish way, the acting was brilliant, the plot is insane but in a good and intelligent and clever way. I am full of adoring this film. G was not so impressed, so we're with the four and a half stars, but if you feel like something very funny with a bit of a brain behind it, this is definitely the way to go.
Blue Murder at St Trinian's
Why yes, I am making G watch all the St. Trinian's films. Three down, one to go (and that's not counting the two new ones). The plot driver for this one, the second in the series, is that Flash Harry is running a marriage agency and needs to get the nubile sixth form out to Italy in time for the Italian... king? Prince? Important member of Italian royalty, anyway, to meet them and decide which one takes his fancy. Problem is, they have a new head coming and need an excuse to take the whole school to the continent before term ends. Solution - cheat in a Ministry of Education competition to win a trip to Europe, and substitute the father of one of the girls (who chose to be on the run in the school at just the wrong moment) to pretend to be the headmistress and thus take the school on said tour.
Of course, the local constabulary get wind of this chap's presence with the school, and thus poor old Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell) gets planted with them as an interpreter, despite her utter failure at languages. I have to say that I was quite glad she was reprised, not only because her finance Sammy (Lloyd Lamble) is such an utter [insert rude word of choice here], but because she gets to have a travelling romance with the coach hire gentleman, Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts, played superbly by Terry-Thomas. I love Terry-Thomas. He's just of that period of film that feels very much emblematic of part of my childhood and growing up process. Also, he is not allowed to take over the film, which he has been known to do. Mind you, him and George Cole as Flash Harry are good value in combination.
Anyway! It's not great theatre, and I don't think it's as strong as the other two, but it's not bad, and the sixth form get good play. I'm in four stars, myself.
Metropolis
No, not the Fritz Lang masterpiece, but the 2001 anime reworking. I know. I was curious. And I don't watch that much anime, and I liked the Fritz Lang one and I got curious and we all know what that leads to. The story has obviously been reworked (less sex, more filial piety); now we're looking at a man who has built a Ziggurat in the middle of a massive industrialised city with an underground level, and who has commissioned a top-of-the-range life-like robot to sit on the top of it and thus take over the world (hem). Problem is, he is also the head of the anti-robot party which stages a coup and takes over government, so he might have a bit of a clash of ideals going on. Anyway, the scientist building said robot, who is going to end up being called Tima, is being hunted by a detective from Japan and his young handsome nephew Ken-ichi; you can probably guess where the love plot which stops the word from being destroyed comes in at this point.
G pointed out that the concerns this film plays with are very Japanese; for instance, there's a strong emphasis on the coziness of government with big business, the military industrial complex, can we trust robots, that kind of thing. The underclass can revolt for themselves rather than needing to be boldly rescued by the heroic representatives of the upperclass (as in Lang's version), although the revolt goes badly and everyone ends up DEAD, which isn't a terribly positive social message. That said, the chaps trying to take over the world end up dead too, so at least there's some justice. But this is an interesting reworking if you liked the Lang and can put up with a bit of anime; the desexualisation of the female robot is very interesting although obviously well within the conventions of anime, and the animation and script are also nicely done. Three stars - no great shakes, but I can think of far worse things to spend an evening in front of.
As Time Goes By, series 9
Again, more of a placeholder to say I've seen it than anything else; this series only lasts four episodes and its sole purpose seems to be to marry Judy off to Alastair (finally) and send Sandy off to Canada with the dim but loveable Harry. I have to say that personally I don't find the sudden bursting of love between Sandy and Harry at all believable, but getting the nest empty was clearly the aim of the writers, so now Lionel and Jean are left on their own. I can definitely believe the Judy/Alastair story, mind - they've been at each other so long that it's rather a blessing that they finally get to have their happy ending.
So, time called when it needed to be called, I think; although I suspect Jean will be driving Lionel mad without the girls to distract her. There is a reunion special, which I am looking forward to seeing. Eventually.
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