g-hbe
Joined Jun 2006
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g-hbe's rating
I happened to come across this on Sky Arts a few nights ago and enjoyed it so much I've ordered the DVD. What a joy to behold! Even though most of the talking heads are quite elderly now, their enthusiasm and energy seems not to have diminished at all despite the passing of the years. Their music was the soundtrack to my youth and I often wondered how they got that unique sound that made everyone else sound so dull and pedestrian. I can see I'll be watching and enjoying this for years to come. The only reason I've given it nine points rather than ten is because I wanted more! I must have more!
Calling this a sitcom seems to downgrade it, as it was more of a comedy drama. We've just watched it for the second time in 40 years and wow, what a fantastic thing it is. Everything and everybody is right. The actors are right for their characters, with special mention going to Michael Williams as 'Mike', the decent, hesitant, reserved Landscape Gardener who can never seem to find the words he needs so remains quiet.
The situations and embarrassments grow naturally out of the couple's awkward relationship without any seeming encouragement from the writer, the excellent Bob Larby. By the last three episodes I was on the verge of tears as I inwardly urged Mike to get his proposal done and Laura to stop being so darn contrary. This has to be THE best sitcom ever.
The situations and embarrassments grow naturally out of the couple's awkward relationship without any seeming encouragement from the writer, the excellent Bob Larby. By the last three episodes I was on the verge of tears as I inwardly urged Mike to get his proposal done and Laura to stop being so darn contrary. This has to be THE best sitcom ever.
As we trawled the vast Prime crops of films, we kept stopping at this then moving on. But it was Wes Anderson, that sometimes genius, that sometimes out-there story-teller who works wonders with minuscule budgets, that often infuriating writer-director, so we should surely at least drop it in our watchlist? Yup.
Come the next weekend, the wine was chilled and the snacks were ready, and we hesitantly clicked on 'Asteroid City'.
How we wished we hadn't. When was this film going to start? All we had for the first hour were irritating people talking too fast in adenoidal murmurings about stuff that seemed to make little sense, that is when we could actually hear what they said. What Tom Hanks thought he was doing, God only knows. At our first 'wine break', we turned to each other and asked 'WTF?' By then it was too late to abandon it and start something else so we hung on until the end, and how relieved we were when the final credits began to roll. Wes, this was a good looking film with some fine actors on board, but the story was incomprehensible, maddening trash. I've given it three, but that's only because of the visually striking photography.
Come the next weekend, the wine was chilled and the snacks were ready, and we hesitantly clicked on 'Asteroid City'.
How we wished we hadn't. When was this film going to start? All we had for the first hour were irritating people talking too fast in adenoidal murmurings about stuff that seemed to make little sense, that is when we could actually hear what they said. What Tom Hanks thought he was doing, God only knows. At our first 'wine break', we turned to each other and asked 'WTF?' By then it was too late to abandon it and start something else so we hung on until the end, and how relieved we were when the final credits began to roll. Wes, this was a good looking film with some fine actors on board, but the story was incomprehensible, maddening trash. I've given it three, but that's only because of the visually striking photography.