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Reviews
The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
My Beautiful Laundrette ll
I really love this series which has the same off-kilter humour as 'Last Tango in Halifax'. The acting was superb, not a wrong note from anyone, especially Naveen Andrews as the amiable young man with a foot in both camps but belonging to neither, trying to please everyone at the same time. But I have two problems: It is virtually the same story as 'My Beautiful Laundrette'; the dysfunctional Pakistani family in Britain unwilling to give up their traditions while happily availing themselves of the opportunities Britain has to offer; the English born son with no connection to Pakistan, who considers himself English, even though his English compatriots consider him a Pakistani and his family expects him to follow their tradition; the father's/uncle's English mistress; Roshann Seth playing the father in both films, in one a former successful writer/politician back home now gone to seed, in the other a phony new age guru; the English childhood friend; the feminist daughter determined to reject and resist her family's traditions. The only difference is that rather than opening a laundrette, one of the young men becomes a punk rock star, and the other an actor in a soap opera. It was as though Hanif Khoureshi was trying to cash in on the success of My Beautiful Laundrette. Some authors have built entire careers from writing the same novel over and over, but I would prefer something different from a gifted writer. As it is, when trying to remember parts of 'Laundrette' and 'Buddha', I am mixing the two in my mind.
The other problem was that either Naveen Andrews, with parents from in Kerala the far south of India, excellent actor that he is, was miscast as a half English youth, or Roshann Seth, a much lighter skinned Indian actor from northern India was miscast as his father. I found Naveen's dark complexion made his character too hard to believe. As both actors were superb, perhaps I am just being picky.
The overall theme, of the immigrant family trying to fit into English life while clinging to their cultural traditions was something every immigrant family goes through for at least two generations, whether they are from another country to Britain, or vice versa. Despite the engaging storyline and the brilliant casting, I have deducted two stars for the reasons discussed above.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Terrible acting by Susan Hayward in death bed scenes
I am not sure how far along she was in her career, but Susan Haywards's acting at her husband's deathbed scenes just made me cringe. Lay your head against this side, look up, lay your head down again on the opposite side, look up, look horrified, lay your head down again on the first side, look up, toss your head in despair from side to side, lay your head down again on the opposite side, over and over. That combined with endless talking could all have been trimmed to shorten this tedious melodrama. At least Ava Gardner, playing the part she would play five years later in 'The Sun Aso Rises' put some spark into it. Hildegard Kneff's brief interlude could also have been cut as her introduction added nothing to the story. Overall, I found the film tedious, and was irritated by the similarity of Hemingway's stories. The Snows of Kilimanjaro was practically interchangeable with The Sun Also Rises: Paris after WW1, rich expats trying to escape the past through booze, moving from country to country and hard partying. Throw in a bullfight and a matador for Ava, a spell in the Spanish Civil War, killing a few animals to show what a 'he man' Hemingway liked to think he was, and you have virtually the same old plot. I read that Gregory Peck was considered for the lead role in 'The Sun Also Rises', if so, then they needn't have bothered as they already had 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'. At least the actors were not 20 years too old for their characters as they were in 'the Sun ..".
The Peacock Spring (1996)
A must see for Naveen Andrews fans
Viewers who have only seen Naveen Andrews in LOST, should check out this film which was made about 10 years earlier. Naveen steals the show as he plays a young Indian poet, a promising student from an affluent background who 'drops out' of college after getting in with a radical crowd. He now works as an under gardener at the home of a UN official in Delhi, and forms a relationship with the 15-year old daughter who has been pulled out of her school in England to act as a cover for her father's relationship with a Eurasian married woman. Ravi, the poet has a close friend studying medicine who helps the young girl with her math studies. Tension erupts between the 'governess'/mistress and the young girl until she runs away with the young people, who begins to show his self absorption on the journey to his family home in Benares as their mad passionate first love begins to wear off, and no one, either family or friends, support the relationship. Without giving away too much of the story the reference to peacock in the title becomes apparent at the end. Overall, a very well acted piece set in fascinating newly independent India.
Wedding in White (1972)
Relentlessly grim tale of real horror
WEDDING IN WHITE
I caught this movie on TV, which I had last seen in 1972 - 52 years ago and never forgotten, mainly for the superb performance of the 19-year - old Carol Kane as Jeannie, a young naive girl who becomes pregnant as a result of her brother's friend forcing himself upon her, and her not knowing how to reject him. Set in the early 1940's Jennie lives with her overbearing Scottish father and submissive mother in a hopelessly dreary small eastern Canadian town where there is literally nothing to do but go to the veterans club and get drunk. Despite WW2 shortages, beer and Scotch seem plentiful. When her brother and his friend arrive home for a quick one night visit, they are treated as heroes and taken down to the club to get sozzled.
Jeannie's friend, Dolly, is a narcissistic bully of the kind who seeks out a submissive admirer to impress, push around, do her bidding and take the blame. Jeannie is the doormat willing to allow Dolly to wipe her feet on her. Dolly says "jump", Jeannie asks "how high". One reviewer asked why on earth were these two best friends, but these types attract each other as if by magnetism. They need each other. Dolly has an impressive collection of tat shoplifted from Kresges on her behalf by Jeannie. After the boozy night at the club, the young soldier hits on the more wordly Dolly who has the smarts to reject him, so he grabs poor Jeannie, who has probably never been told the facts of life. When her parents find out she is 'in trouble' they blame her - not the brave young soldier defending his country. Sixteen-year-old Jeannie who probably doesn't now how babies are conceived is a fallen woman and worse, and trying to put the blame
on a brave young man. The father's rigid code of honor having been affronted he wants to throw her out in the street, but her mother pleas fall on deaf ears despite his being reminded that theirs was a shotgun wedding. On her behalf a plan is cooked up to marry her to one of his veteran friends, an elderly drunk, which eventually takes place.
The film is depressing, hard to watch, and shows its stage origins, which could be why it failed at the box office. The main problem is the lack of any humor to lighten the gloom and doom. Why watch it at all? It is an interesting view of the rigid moral code of the time, especially in our more enlightened times where unmarried couples move in together and frequently change partners before eventually settling down with one for a few years. I was reminded of 'Falling for a Dancer' an Irish mini series based on a book where a naive young woman found she was pregnant after being dazzled by a fifth-rate actor in a travelling tent theater group. She is faced with being packed off to the Magdalen Home, until the local priest comes up with a widowed man with young children who needs a wife, and to save the family honor she is hastily married to a middle aged drunk and packed off to a remote farm on the west coast of Ireland. Despite the lack of any kind of humor, Wedding in White saved by Carol Kane's mesmerizing performance as the tragic Jeannie, with the fragile look of a renaissance maiden and masses of lovely hair cascading to the waist. Since seeing the film, I have tried to see everything Ms. Kane has appeared in. Three years later she was to win the academy award for 'Hester Street', and while working steadily in TV and films, sometimes with big name superstars: Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson to name two, never became the household name she deserved to be. Instead she seems to have been relegated to quirky odd balls and misfit cameos.
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Polanski did it better
This film appears to be a remake of Polanski's Repulshion, in color, with added violence, gore and buckets of books splashed all over the screen. The 60's vibe; clothes, music, inclusion of three iconic 60's stars . The story line followed the same set up, young sexually naive young woman moves to London only to slip further and further into schizophrenic delusions as seedy men proposition her She moves fron her shared student lodging to a room rented by a firm no nonsense landlady, whom she begins to see in a more sinister light, as she does with coworkers and others she meets. Every friendly overture is interpreted by her as am unpleasant sexual proposition. Whether they were really as sinister as she fears, or whether it is her schizophrenia taking hold, I could not decide. Before long, demonic men are coming out of the walls and there are several attempts on her life, or so she believes. Unfortunately, she slow omimous build up of dread leading to the final act was not there. The actress playing Eloise was lovely to look at and I gave the film 3 stars as I stayed with it to the end, while wondering if it could get any worse. How do filmmakers find people to finance these turkeys?
These Foolish Things (2006)
All about Eve in Downton Abbey goes Upstairs and Downstairs and has Tea with Mussolini
This film entertained me as a lighthearted 'spot the veteran star and guess where the borrowed plot twists came from' . Terence Stamp's entertaining performance as the former WW1 soldier, down on his luck, who had saved his Lordship's life in the trenches, and when his Lordship found and hired him for life, was able to get away with pithy comments without fear of being sacked (Downton Abbey). Angelica Huston as the Peggy Guggenheim of the theater (Cher's part In Tea with Mussolini). His Lordship's ne-er do well son ( Upstairs Downstairs). Aspiring actress meets older actress (All about Eve/42nd Street. The inconsequential romantic triangles from 30's romance, the girl in trouble, the inspipid play - none of it mattered as we know it was a fantasy piece. My only gripe was that WW2 began on a Sunday, were theaters were definitely NOT open.
Trautmann (2018)
Spoiled by inappropriate language for the period
Once again what could have been an excellent film was ruined for me by a script written by people who were not born until decades later. I was growing up in the North of England at that time, and the period covered my childhood and teens. I cannot speak for the men but the F___ word was NEVER used by women or in mixed company at that time NEVER, EVER! The first time I heard used at all I was in my 20's and the user got a severe reprimand. Nor did women at that time discuss sexual matters as freely as the young women in the film. It just wasn't done, was considered 'dirty talk' and the women were considered 'fast'. Otherwise the film was very enjoyable, if a little too manipulative. One encounter left out when Trautmann broke his neck he was being congratulated by Prince Philip after the game, who remarked on the injury as Trautmann was holdng his neck. One thing the filmmakers did get right was the way they showed the football scenes and the way it was back then, when players kept their day jobs, and spectators at local pitches stood to watch the match. There may have been seats, but we could never afford them. When I see the way football has become a huge business today, with astromical salaries, prima donna players, luxury stadiums and changing rooms, somehow I think we lost out and the simple game was better. To summarise, I really would like to see film makers cut down on the use of offensive language, particularly in flims set before the 21st century.
Band of Gold (1995)
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert arrives in Bradford.
Having grown up in the Bradford area in the 40s and 50's, when I found this series on a streaming channel in Florida this year (2024) I couldn't resist it. Ee bah gum! Bradford's changed from what I remember. From the series one gets the impression that it is a vast red light district, with women in skimpy clothing cheerfuly lining the streets selling their bodies as if it was a balmy 70F. I remember Bradford as freezing cold and wet and windy 360 days a year. This was 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queeen of the Desert', in Bradford, with Geraldine James playing Bernadette. There was so much black humor I might be forgiven for thinking it was a comedy. The casting is beyond superb and one can see why Samantha Morton became a star as she dominates every scene she is in. Cathy Tyson was excellent, although I have never seen her before or since, and Geraldine James, who normally plays upper class women, was a revelation as the aging streetwalker approaching the end of her shelf life and knowing that unless she found another occupation, it was downhill all the way "until I'm doing blow jobs for a lager and packet of crisps". My only complainit, and one star locked off, was the almost comic killing spree in series 2, though I was glad to see Dez get what he deserved. The men did not come off well, especially Gina's feckless husband and the corrupt policeman played by David Scholfield. Overall, despite the gallows humor, the lives of the women was shown to be sordid and desperate. Sunday night Masterpiece Theatre it is not.
Happy Valley: Episode #3.6 (2023)
There needed to be one last episode
As many posters have pointed out, the ending of the sub plots was too rushd, and almost an epilog. There was enough material for a proper closure - how did the net finally clamp down on Faisal, how did his wife and daughters react? Why was the veil of suspicion no longer on the gym teacher, but he was nailed for blackmail and pedophilia instead? The episode was needed to clear up the loose ends dramatically, could have shown Tommy Lee Royce's funeral or memorial service, and ended with Catherine's farewell party and a few jokes over her trip to the Himalayas. Otherwise the acting was perfect, but I would like to have seen more of Susan Lynch.
Wings of Fame (1990)
No one is really dead until the last person who remembers them has passed away.
I came across this film on YouTube last night, and although I had never heard of it, I had nothing better to do so I gave it a try. From the first few minutes, which set up the plot, I couldn't stop watching it. I was reminded of the saying that no one is really dead until the last person who remembers them has died, and this film takes that theory as the plot structure. Peter O'Toole is brilliant as a conceited, self-absorbed famous actor, oblivious to all but his fame, who has passed off the work of an unknown writer as his own autobiography. After one snub too many, the enraged writer shoots dead the posturing actor, and is himself killed by a large spotlight falling from the theater roof. That happens in the first few minutes to set the scene. Next, they are both in a boat crossing a river (The Styx?) to land at a flight of stairs resembling the Odessa Steps, leading them to a comfortable purgatory where they will stay until they are forgotten. What follows is a witty comedy as the residents try to understand where they are and why they are there, what it all means, and the longevity of fame and infamy. Some once great are forgotten within years, such as the artist who was greatly in demand, but a few years later his works fetch nothing and his name has passed into obscurity. Others,through acts involving a famous person, usually murder, go down in history and are never forgotten.
Broadchurch (2013)
People unable to control their tempers
I had a big problem with the over emotional inhabitants of Broadchurch, especially Beth, the mother of the murdered boy. Jodie Whittaker got on my last nerve, as did Olivia Coleman as Ellie, a totally unprofessional woman who should never have been allowed within a mile of a police station, lre alone wokring as a detective. The adults spent so much time yelling at each other, throwing plates and anything which came to hand, that it wasn't surprising that their children were mouthy brats. A young boy who yelled OUT when his father dared enter HIS room. A 15 year-old girl sleeping with her boyfriend. Whatever happened to parental discipline? "This is my house and while you live here you live by my rules!" The only actor making this series bearable for me was the wonderful Charlotte Rampling. Olivia Colman needs to take a few lessons on how it is done. Overall, the writing seemed like an AI generated story. Plug in a few names and a location, and a formulaic police drama pops out. Policeman with issues: lost his last case, marriage broke up, estranged from his daughter, instead of hitting the bottle, he had a bad heart. Assistant a loud mouthy woman with stay at home husband. Defence Attorney (season 2) with a son doing time for murder. Prosecuting attorney in lesbian affair with newspaper publisher. Where have we seen all this before?
Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017)
A vanity project for Elisabeth Moss?
There were just too many bloopers and stretches of credibility for this season to suceed. Monving from New Zealand to Australia; the appalling character of 'Puss'; and casting Nichole Kidman alongside Elisabeth Moss were all big mistakes. The tall attractive Kidman steals every scene, and wipes the floor with the short unsmiling Moss. OK, Robin Griffin, (Moss) is supposed to be a loser when it comes to men, but to ask us to believe that she is the object of every man's is desire, even if it is only for one night stands, is too much.
Asking us to believe that the assertive mouthy Mary would fall blindly in love with a sleazy 47-year-old Charles Manson type in need of a good wash was just ridiculous. Had Mary been a shy introvert, and Puss being a handsome older man, perhaps, but Mary was a girl who ruled the roost at home with her grovelling parents as slaves. Perhaps parents in Australia are no longer allowed to slap their unruly children, but had I ever spoken to my parents with the disrespect she showed, they would have laid me out cold, as would the parents of every other child I grew up with.
The plot of China Girl was almost identical to 'Goldstone', the second of the Mystery Road films - Asian girls trafficked to Australia on the pretext of going to college or getting good jobs, then fored to work in a brothel. In this case, they were also surrogate mothers. In the episode where the fetus of the dead girl was found to have differing DNA from the mother, I immediately shouted 'surrogate mother' at the screen, but it took Robin and the pathologist half the the episode before the penny dropped.
Another problem I found was when a man was shown buried in the sand with a cardboard box over his head on Bondi Beach in a temperture we were told was 35C (it was actually 38C during the filming). As he had been there several hours before the box was apprehended, there is no way he would have survived in the hot sand.
I did like Gwendoline Christie, though I think a softer hairstyle would have been better. However, the office romance with her character, her boss, was a definite no no. At least Nichole Kidman is almost as tall, but she and Elisabeth Moss (5'3") should not be shown onscreen together.
Overall, this season seemed like a lazy attempt to cash in on the first season, a starring role for Jane Campion's daughter, and a vanity project for Elisabeth Moss, made in Australia so they didn't have to leave home. At least it had the right ending, where the parents using the Asian girls as surrogates had no claims on the babies as commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia. Tying it up with the aircraft being recalled and the girls being arrested would have been a totally false happy ending. Otherwise, too much bad language and sex.
No need to bother with a third season.
Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms (2012)
Weekend bikers? Mad Max lite?
I found this series excellent, with only a minor quibble or two. In the 90's I rode a Harley Davidson and belonged to a group who worked during the week, but spent their weekends hanging out at a bar run by one of the group, and taking rides together to wherever there was a barbecue or party on a Sunday. The rides had many stops at favorite bars. We lived in Florida and never missed Daytona bike week and Octoberfest. All wore black leather and patches, but no club colors as those in clubs stayed apart. In my opinion, the riders liked to dress up and imagine they were big bad tough guys living the life, but few would have seriously considered joining a violent outlaw club. Never once did I see a party were they got naked or indulged in the antics shown in the series. I saw lots of drinking, but no drugs.
As no mention was made of how these supposed outlaw bikers earned their living, and some of them appeared to have jobs, they seemed more like weekend bikers to me rather than the full time hard core 1% criminal bikers. Australia in the early 80's may have been different for all I know, as the criminal outlaw gangs were alleged to be into the drug trade.
I particularly liked the fact that the actors appeared to be riding the motor cycles - no stuntmen other than the one time a rider wore a helmet and was thrown from his bike. I had thought several of the mullet cuts were wigs, but as none of them flew off while riding (unless it was very good green screen work) I guess Damien Walshe-Howling isn't really bald after all.
The lead actor did an excellent job and handled a very good Scottish accent throughout. Not sure if it would convince a Glaswegian, but at least we could understand what he was saying, something I cannot do with Billy Connelly. Jock struck me as the kind of power drunk ex-military man said to wear his stripes on his pyjamas and drills his children like raw recruits. The military was likely the best time of his life and time stopped there for him. His ambition is to build the largest club in Australia, for no real reason other than ego, and anything getting in the way of his dream triggers his dark side.
I wish there had been more seasons, but of course, it would have to be fiction as the reason story ended when the bad guys faced justice.
Autobiography of a Princess (1975)
Reminiscent of Rashomon, as each remembered the same events in their own way
A delightful short film in which an exiled Indian Princess meets her father's old tutor for an annual birthday tea in her London flat. They share reminicences of the glory days of India before the Mahrahjas and Rajahs were stripped of their power and wealth, but it becomes quietly apparent that each remembers the same events differently. The Princess shows films and talks about her wonderful papa and life at his court, the hunts, pig sticking, and his kindly concern for his servants and people. The former British tutor, played to perfection by James Mason, remembers a clueless selfish man with no idea of how the other classes lived, whose kindness and 'enlightened' disposition masked a sense of entitlement, condescension, and total indifference to the feelings of others. The tutor, Cyril, had been kept prisoner to the Maharajah's whims by being showered with luxury and a very comfortable lifestyle to the effect that he abandoned all his goals and could not break away. The Maharajah likely had no idea of his indifference as he had never known anything else. His western educated daughter should have known, but chose not to, preferring to live in her fantasy world. The final scene, of an aged singing girl now living in a tiny 'hole in the wall' space in a former stable, happy that she had not died of the pox in the bazaar as the Maharajah had said most of them did, and singing as if she was still a court singer, was eerily similar to the Princess living alone in exile on her past memories.
Detectorists (2014)
Thankfully no laugh track or wisecracks
A gentle comedy about ethusiastic hobbyists living with their like-minded peers in their own little world. Calling them enthusists hobbyists, fanatics, or cranks, whether they be train spotters, stamp collectors, bird watchers, amateur drama or opera groups, gardeners or in this case amateur historians doesn't matter - they love what they do and live for what they do to the exclusion of anything else. Their jobs are simply the means of makimg their passionate hobby possible.
The main characters are amateur metal detectorists living in the hope of finding a Saxon/Danish burial ground, Viking burial ship, Roman Villa or treasure buried during tumultous times in Southern Britain, and spending all their time i some farmer's field listing for the ping which reveals something worthwhile. Although discovery is quite possible, they are up against restrictive authority, getting permission to dig on private propery, other detectorists, magpies, and the local wildlife. Rather than ancient artifacts, they mostly uncover ring pulls from soda cans and rusty nails.
The dialog is as normal as if a microphone had been secreted wherever people talk to each other, and at times hilarious. "What's that a porcupine?" "No, an 'edge'og." "I thought 'edge'ogs were flat" "They are when they have been run over and squashed."
I would have rated this family viewing, except for the constant use of F___, which has cost it one star, perhaps it should have been 2. Judging by the costumes, vehicles and interior design, the show is set in the 80s or 90s, when the use of such language in Britain was not used in front of or by women, and even today is uncessary.
Kin (2021)
Slow, spare dialog and hard to tell the characters apart. Needs a second viewing
The first time around It took until episode 5 befere we discovered the big secret which characters kept hinting at in this ponderously slow drama. I like slow burn stories, but this one was confusing. The whole family seemed to live together in one absolutely stunning home. Three of the men had identical spade beards and I had trouble telling them apart or who was related to and/or married to whom. One brother, Jimmy, had a toreador bun, so he did stand out in profile, and appeared to be to be either the brother of the other two or their cousin. Later on a Turk, also with a beard and toreador bun appeared, then the father, who was in jail appeared, with guess what, a beard. Doesn't anyone in Ireland shave?
There was a mixed race child who was the daughter of one of the bearded men who had just spent 10 years in jail, I don't know what for, but he was not allowed to get in touch with his daughter. The occasional youth entered the story, only to be conveniently killed, and a foul mouthed woman popped up who was said to be the widow of a victim.
Aidan Gillen played a gay character named Frank, involved in the family's illegal business, who appeared to be living with Maria Kennedy Doyle's character, Birdy, who I found out later was his sister. Frank and Birdy were the siblings of Brendan, the father who was in jail. Several people were murdered in a tit-for-tat vendetta begun by a silly teenagers showing off. The final epsode ended in a Godfather style bloodbath intercut with the instigator at holy mass, leaving the way open for series 2, which I will not be watching unless I hear that they have hired scriptwriters to clarify the plot.
Update. After my unkind review I discovered the family tree in the Irish Mirror which explained who was who, and I watched the series over again and everything fell to place to the point where I upgraded my rating. Aiden Gillen, Maria Kennedy Doyle and Ciaran Hinds gave their usual strong performances. After the slow start, the series really ramped up by episode 6 and ended with an explosive finale.
The Black Swan (1942)
What went wrong with the color?
This film won an Oscar for its Technicolor photography (I did't did see the credits list Technicolor, but everyone else is claiming that's what it was). As gaudy Technicolor had the reputation of never fading, thanks to the oversight of Natalie Kalmus, why did it suddenly revert to the red/green/brown of the two strip process for some outdoor scenes about two thirds of the way through the film? I guess an 82 year old film just couldn't last the course.
There seem to have been many pirate films during WW2, I guess a bit of color and spectacle was needed to keep spirits up. This film was spoiled by Maureen O'Hara's 40's look - pompadour hairstyle and heavy crimson lipstick, not to mention her feisty demeanor right off a recruiting poster for women to do the jobs of men away in the forces. Ms. O'Hara's costume was 100 years before its time, and as for Tyrone Power's Zorro costume, clothes must have been rationed. George Sanders was unrecognizable under that red wig, whiskers and 2' thick eyebrows, although his distinctive voice had me wondering where I had heard it before.
At least mouthy Ms. O'Hara, playing a predecessor of 'the Quiet Man's' Mary Kate Danahagh got smacked around and dumped on the floor a couple of times. I would love to hear the feminist reaction today.
Sharpe: Sharpe's Challenge (2006)
Time and tide wait for no man
I bought the Region 2 box set of Sharpe while in England and loved it, so much that I finally bought a multi region DVD player so I didn't have to watch it on my computer. I recently bought the blu ray discs to complete the series and while I enjoyed more Sharpe, I have to admit that 11 years of time and Tennant's Lager have not been kind to Sean Bean, who has aged noticeably. While I give him credit for returning to make Sharpe's Challenge for TV, when he had become a huge film and TV star, at 46, he was no longer as agile as previously: no leaping over the ramparts, no athletic dazzling duels, no looking as if he was born to ride a horse. The duels appeared to have been filmed in slow motion with Sharpe ready for a walker. This might also have been due to insurance companies restricting what a very valuable star was allowed to do.
If so many of the Chosen Ones had not been killed off at Waterloo in an attempt to wrap up the series, they could have fleshed out the cast, but it is what it is. Despite heroic efforts I think the Sharpe legend would have been better with several episodes from the books preceding the series with a much younger look-alike playing Sharpe. This way a few more episodes could have been made from Bernard Cornwell's novels, rather having painted themselves into a corner with an aging Sharpe and fictional events.
The episode was entertaining and splendid to watch, but where was the sardonic humor? The only time I laughed was at the very beginning when Sharpe told the little boy that "it's not thieving when you're hungry". Overall, the episode was "same old same old" and should have been better.
Da Vinci's Demons (2013)
McGyver meets Indiana Jones in the Game of Thrones as told by H.Ryder Haggard.
This began as an enjoyable historial fantasy romp reminiscent of the Saturday rnoring children's matinee serial, then sadly in Season two it became silly and by Season three had completely run out of steam so that I was desperate for it to end. In fact, I still haven't got all the way through the last episode. It didn't bother me that they played fast and loose with history, nor the modern dialog and swearing, and Leonardo apparently having invented everything but the atomic bomb, nor that he ended up in cliff hanger peril and got out of if it in every episode only to fall headlong into another cliff hanger, but the eternal darkness and the characters sloshing about in mud and pouring rain got tiresome after a while. I was even prepared to ignore the very loose ends in the plot, such as how they arrived on the east coast of South America, and after a day or so hacking through the jungle, arrived in the high Andes at what appeared to be Machu Pichu, but it just became silly. Good actors, such as Richard Sammell were wasted in brief cameos. At least Greg Chillingirian was a treat to watch, especially with the open to the waist shirt which never got dirty, displaying his manly chest. I would have given Season One a rating of 10, but the latter Seasons barely rated a 2, so I evened it out.
The Mad Axeman (2019)
Held my attention throughout
Although taking place in a small house or flat 95% of the time, with only three characters, this claustophobic account of the last days of Frank Mitchell held my attention and i could not turn it off.
John and Lisa were hired (or coerced) by the Kray twins to keep escapee Frank under wraps, presumably until they had decided what to do with him after springing him from Dartmoor. The escape was most likely giving the finger to the authorities to show how much power the Kray twins held. After making their point by getting him out of jail, what were they to do with him? For the time being, with Christmas days away, he was installed in a small residence with two Kray employees, John and Lisa, to take care of his needs, neither of whom seem too happy about it.
Elen Rhys gives an excellent performance as the working girl from one of the twins' clubs, approaching the end of her shelf life, who lays on the false professional charm at the beginning, but later begins to have sympathetic feelings for deluded Frank as she realises what is lkely to happen to him, and possibly to her and John once they have served their purpose, if the heat gets too intense. We never know why John and Lisa have been sent to take care of Frank, but they do as they are told. No one crosses the Kray twins - people have been known to disppear. In one scene Lisa, who initally thought it was for only one night, goes home, but returns after a day with a change of clothes and the look of having been set straight by the twins - she was there for the duration.
Not a fast moving action movie with car chases and punchups, but a quietly building study of fear.
Hernán (2019)
More Apocalypto than A Captain from Castile, but better than nothing to set the record straigt.
As a child I was dazzled by the film 'A Captain from Castile' with Tyrone Power. Later I read Samuel Shellabarger's book, on which the film was based, but only Part One was filmed. Apparently 20th Century Fox did not want to spend the money on a sequel; therefore, the conquest stopped when Cortez and the victorious conquistadores rode into the Valley of Mexico to the accompaniment of an erupting volcano and the Conquistadores March. For decades, I have wanted to see the film remade with Part 2 of the book included, where the indigenous people fought back, and fought back hard. Samuel Shellabarger was a Professor of Medieval European history and based his book on the writings of chroniclers of the conquest with a small number of fictional characters thrown in to explain why men left Spain for the New World. History as written by the victors and the clergy who wrote of the conquest were as biased as those who wrote of the savaery of the Vikings 'the Great Heathen Army'. In truth, the Conquistadors did not have it all their own way. Several chapters were devoted to the flight from Tenochtitlan over the causeways where the booty laden Spaniards drowned. I guess 'Hernàn' is about as near as we will get to a remake. More Apocalypto than A Captain form Castile, it nevertheless focuses on the indigenous people and their tragic conquest by a better armed bunch of opportunist thugs claiming to be God's army and with the blessing of the Spanish crown. Their only true creed being 'Greed is good'. I definitely agree with the other posters who disliked the flash back and flash forward storyline as it is hard to follow, but I particularly liked the use of Maya, Nahuatle and Spanish, and the costumes were excellent. Without the flash forwarding and back, it could have been a really memorable series.
Manhattan (2014)
Real Housewives of Los Alamos
I loved this show so much that I stayed up all night watching Season one on ROKU, and would have watched the rest of Season two if it had not switched to a paid show. I guess the first day was free to get you back for more. My reason for 8 stars is that the show was cancelled as it did not attract enough viewers. When will the producers begin to realise that an audience which enjoys a serious program about science or medicine, is not interested in the shenanigans of the bored wives, and an audience which enjoys the soapy drama of extra marital affairs, marriages in trouble, unwanted pregnancies, teenage romances and such, is bored to tears with the serious part? The poducers need to make up their minds which kind of audience they are aiming for and stop trying to wear two or more hats. The ramped up fictional drama was unnecessary, as the story of the development of the atomic bomb was dramatic enough without team leaders disappearing into psychcological torture prisons, and last minute confrontations in the tower before the first test. Perhaps eminent mathemeticians were shot by trigger happy privates who only saw an Asian face. Perhaps the team leader disappeared and his wife managed to get out of Los Alamos and go all the way to Princeton to request Albert Einstein's help in finding where he was being held, and get back to Los Alamos before anyone realised she had sneaked out. Perhaps, but the drama did not ring true. Nor did the spy killer private who could not keep his mouth shut. Because the series was dragged out, we never got to see the aftermath of the first test, as the scientists had been kidding themselves that it would not be used on innocent civilans, then a few days later two cities were obliterated. The first explosion showed three main characters facing the blast out in the open without their protective black goggles, and even opening their eyes! Give me a break. One thing the series did convey very well was the claustrophobic atmosphere of the hastily built compound in the desert where families were located thousands of miles from their homes and family, and subjected a military discipline by a military police who seemed to think they were running a detention camp for enemy aliens. No one could enter or leave without a pass, and the scentists and families were not allowed to leave at all, although some seemed to managed clandestinely. Any infringment of military orders was considered treason. Telephones lines were tapped and switchboard operators listened in on every call. Mail was censored and may not be forwarded. Some homes were bugged in case anyone spoke of what they were working on. It is a great piity that the series was cancelled, as the aftermath of the first test would have made a great series.
Queen of the Amazon (2021)
They left Agatha Christie out of the credits.
Despite other unenthusiastic reviews, I enjoyed this film. I know it was an OK time waster, but how many films are made on the Amazon Rver and centered on Manaus. I think Fitzcarraldo was the last and that was not set on the actual Amazon, but on a tributary. The stunning scenery alone made the film worth watching. The plot was 'Death on the Nile'. A disparate tour group of travellers are introduced, and the first part of the film is dedicated to who's who, most of whom are running away from something. Then the two bad guys arrive paying cash for their tickets. All that was missing was Hercules Porfirio, the detective who would wrap up the case after lining up the surviors on deck. I thought the crooks went to a lot of trouble for a measly million dollars which might have been a big deal in the twenties, but 100 years later is chicken fee. .
The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019)
The past as written by those who were not born at the time.
Once again, a retelling of events in the past is viewed and skewed by a production team who were not around at the time, and how they got so much of it so wrong. I was in my 20's at the time and remember the details of the affair clearly. Crowds of reporters outside the courts, their homes, everywhere they went reporting on what they were wearing, who had done their hair, nails, make up down to the last detail - just as the Daily Mail still does with celebrities today. There are enough old newsreels and newspaper articles in the archives for the writers and wardrobe people to have done their homework and got it right.
The Profumo affair was a major, major event which dominated the tabloid press for a couple of years in the early 60's. Everyone and his brother was selling their story to the press. The similarity between Stephen Ward and Jeffrey Epstein is striking, especially given the different attitudes of the time and the treatment of the girls. Ward became the fall guy due to his embarrassing the establishment, and after his suicide, Christine Keeler became the scapegoat because SOMEONE had to be punished. Just as Ghislaine Maxwell became the target after Espstein gave justice the slip.
My problems were not just with the constant confusing flashbacks, but with the miscasting of Sophie Cookson as Christine. The physical appearance and in particular the voice were all wrong. Christine was tall and slender, well groomed with a very low voice, not the shrill piping of a short rather dumpty actress with either a bad wig or messy hair, looking as if she had just got out of bed. It might have been the script, but Ms. Cookson played her as a none-too-bright low class girl totally out of her depth - an uneducated girl with aspirations of being a model or showgirl but drawn to the seamy world of Notting Hill, and criminals like slumloard Peter Rachman - her own worst enemy. There were many small details where a bit of research would have helped. The affair and notoriety ruined Christine's life and she eked out the rest of her life in a council flat, living on welfare at times.
The current 'woke' sensibility just couldn't be left out with a speech by Valerie Profumo on how men treated women badly. Cue the violins. The depiction of London as a dark seedy underworld rather than conveying the optimistic city of bright lights was probably intentional as 'swinging London' was still just around the corner, and the world of Ward's girls was on the fringes of the underworld - showgirls and hostesses in drinking clubs catering to men with money looking for a taste of the forbidden. Theirs was the world of Ruth Ellis. While Christine, and Mandy may not have been prostitutes, their friends Paula Hamilton Marshall and Ronnie Ricardo certainly were and it would only take a snap of the fingers and running out of rent money to tip them into the life.
God's Own Country (2017)
A superb drama which did not need unecessary graphic sex and bodily functions
I watched the film yesterday because it was set on a farm in 'north Yorkshire', and because the critics were raving about it. It turned out that it was set in the West Riding area between Keithly and Bradford - my childhood home turf. The performances of Ian Hart as a cloth capped sour-tempered 'Dad' and Gemma Jones as the long suffering grandma were absolutely perfect, but the film was ruined for me because of the very graphic gay sex leaving nothing to the imagination. What really annoyed me was that they did not have to show ANYTHING graphic to get the message across - the drama was enough. It could all have been done with a mere suggestion, like when a couple go into a bedroom and the scene fades out on a closing door. So we had a gay couple - holding hands and eye contact was all we needed. The dramatic story was extremely good, a lonely young man, who had been forced to leave school early, trapped into hard labor on a small family farm which he really wasn't interested in but his grumpy old father was incapacitated by a stroke and someone had to take care of things. His school friends had gone on to university leaving him behind, but he had no education to do anything else and was managing the farm alone. He spent his nights in the pub getting very drunk, and picking up strange men, until he hired a young and capable Romanian to help with the lambing season. As a physiological drama, rather like 'the Servant' as the more assured hired help began to show him how to care for the lambs and other livestock and became the dominant partner, it was very excellent drama, and I particularly liked hearing the Bradford area colloquialisms which I have not heard for decades, but we don't need to see someone vomiting into the toilet, urinating, or having gay sex in a toilet or rolling around naked in a field with another man. If I had been the editor, it would have been a very different film. I don't know what they are trying to do these days. It certainly isn't entertaining. I loved the way Ian Hart played the father, with never a word of praise or thanks for his son, just sour negative comments, until a grudging thank you at the end. When the son had sold off a bull (or cow) at the local auction, he gave his dad £700, but instead of a thank you the father told him off because the dry stone wall need repairing. It was one complaint after another, putting the lad down. I have known many like him. The scenery was beautiful though. I gave the film 5 stars due to the superb acting and the way the bleakness of the location and Johnny's life were conveyed, but I thought the drama could have stood alone without being so graphic.