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The Staircase (2022)
You Think You've Seen It All? Watch THIS.
In 1985 the last person to see Elizabeth Ratliff alive was her friend Mike Peterson. She was found the next day at the bottom of her staircase. German autopsy claimed it was an aneurysm. But when exhumed in 2002 it was claimed a homicide.
In 2001 the last person to see Kathleen Peterson alive was her husband Mike Peterson. This brilliant TV series lays bare the cracks in the marriage & in the so-called perfect blended family. MP is a liar & a difficult father. I believe he is guilty of murder though he never planned it. This series exposes the secrets that were alluded to in the original documentary but were never shown.
The murders of these two women remain unsolved and scary. Exemplary filmmaking.
The Bling Ring (2022)
The toxicity of stardom
After watching this Netflix mini-series can anyone actually separate the 'bad' from the 'good' guys? Appalling parenting, greedy extravagance, stars rewarded for very little, producers who will film family breakdowns just for ratings, police & lawyers with steel hearts. If you or I leave our doors open, neither the cops nor insurance companies would care. But celebrities are afforded compassion that is not available to you & I. What this shows is the toxicity of genuflecting at the feet of fame, stardom & excessive wealth. It sickened me to watch this. & I feel sad for the youth of today & the lack of great guidance and love.
Workin' Moms (2017)
Accomplished writing but it has some flaws
I really loved getting to know each character in this series and the subject matter is handled truthfully & sensitively. However, I am disappointed to see the common tropes that stay-at-home Moms who breastfeed are not very nice people. Why not have a character who is a full time Mom and yet is also close to the working mothers in ethos and mothering? This is an area that has been neglected and as a stay at home mother I received much more criticism for my parenting choice than any of my working friends. That said, I can't wait to see Season 7. Reitman cleverly gives us flawed but lovable characters rather than the usual cyphers.
Young Adult (2011)
A searing gaze into everyone's rose-tinted youth
This film hits the right note due to the fantastic writing, direction and lead actor, Charlize Theron. Her portrayal is both cutting & sad. And she exquisitely manages to give her performance depth and a realism. The film explores many levels of peering into the past but the scene that is heartbreaking comes close to the finale when we hear the heartbreak about the miscarriage. Arrested development & a protracted youth are common in modern society. (E.g. Look at the way so many of today's parents want to act & look just like their kids.) YA is great film-making which resists wandering into 'Happy Ever After' terrain.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
The ultimate horror story about everyday folk
I first saw Rosemary's Baby in London when it premiered in 1969 and I was 18 and I have not since then been captivated by a horror movie of this calibre. In any other director's hands this film could have come off as completely unbelievable, yet Polanski is able to use subtlety to the point that he makes the audience work hard. I like that. Take the opening credits. He begins with A LIE as the titles are all in dreamy pink (the baby turns out to be a boy) and Rosemary is singing a sweet lullaby (the ending makes a mockery of this.) In addition, he SHOWS you without TELLING just how duplicitous Guy Woodhouse is. He lies to the real estate manager when he does not have to lie at all about being an actor (he says he's a doctor.) So Polanski cleverly sets the scene for the bad people against the innocent good person who is Rosemary. The nightmare sequences have never been emulated (apart from Hitchcock's Psycho shower scene) in their intensity; the soundtrack is so jarring & haunting I am surprised nobody has ever commented on this when they praise other film soundtracks that are not even its equal. You don't get many horror stories written with a proper narrative and plot like this one by Ira Levin. This stands out as a classic and always will be for me.
The Assistant (2019)
This movie feels so resonant
In the mid 1960s to 1972 I was a teenage assistant in TV casting for an American ad agency in London. Watching The Assistant is so painful for me because although it is filled with technology that never existed when I was an assistant, and although it was filmed in USA and I worked in London, everything to a T that Jane experiences was my experience too. I saw things that upset me in casting sessions but when I looked to my elders who had seniority over me (I was only aged 16-20 during this period) they just went along with all the abuse. The Assistant, made in 2019, is obviously about the famous movie mogul Mr Weinstein but clearly he was able to get away with his behaviour for decades because those around him never spoke out. There are some very particular moments in this film that made me crawl but perhaps one of the most sinister chilling characters (& scenes) is the individual played by Matthew MacFadyen. Imagine if he had had integrity how much different Jane's life would have turned out. The Assistant is beautifully shot and is spartan in its script. It SHOWS rather than TELLS. What more can you ask from a movie that is aimed at adults?
Dark Places, Deadly Illusions (2021)
In someone else's hands it could have been so much better
The story, had it been executed by an accomplished director, could have been amazing. My take on this is that Mary has an alter ego. All the books she has written before are violent and this perhaps is her outlet to remain *normal* on the outside. But since we are seeing everything from Mary's POV we have to ultimately conclude that there IS NO GRACE. Mary is Grace. Through creating this character, a younger version of Mary who possibly was abused as a child herself, she is able to break free from her writer's block and function as a person. The end scene is confusing. She is wearing the same headscarf and coat that was seen on footage of the woman who slashed the throat of Mary's best friend, Elaine. So who is that person leaving the hospital after visiting Grace? I am not sure why the director left us guessing like this. I am also uncomfortable when mental illness is used as a vector to spread disinformation about people who suffer mentally. In the 1960s there was a film TWISTED NERVE that had an insane man commit gross murders. But he happened to have a younger brother with Downs Syndrome. The film alluded to the fact that this murderer had a damaged gene in his family. And Downs Syndrome was the connection. This is lazy and sloppy. I think Deadly Illusions fell into the same trap. I would have liked to have seen an intelligent portrayal of a deeply disturbed woman.
The Operative (2019)
Appropriation of roles & biased pro Iranian plot
I was shocked to see this story is written by an Israeli as this is what I would call an anti Israel radical Leftist view of Israel and the Mossad. It is strange that nobody complains that Jewish characters are played by non-Jewish actors. God helps us if it's the other way around, but I digress. This is a very simplistic and poor story. If you know anything at all about MOSSAD (or MI5 & other similar institutions) you will know how thoroughly an operative is vetted; how professional they are; women in MOSSAD are extremely capable and brave. The operative in this film has conflicted feelings towards her Jewish father and deifies her dead Christian mother. Do you think that MOSSAD would view her as psychologically balanced? Also the Iranian lover she takes is used to make a swipe against Israel defending itself. Iran is poised every day to destroy Israel. It funds Hezbollah in the north of Israel and Hamas in the south. Israelis are murdered regularly in terrorist attacks, and Iran's fatwa on Israel has never ended. Any sovereign state would choose to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities so why does this movie make that seem sinister? Israel has never threatened to destroy Iran and her people, but Iran threatens Israel every day. The proper ending should have been the handler arranging for his operative to die. A handler would not have developed feelings for this woman who did not love Israel and even if he had, he would never have allowed that to overtake the protection of the Jewish state. I did not like the politicization of this film as it was biased towards Iran which violates human rights records and hangs gay people from cranes in its town squares. Poor story, poor depiction, terrible casting. There are ample numbers of amazing Jewish and Israeli actors who should have played the roles.
Accident (1967)
Makes for uncomfortable viewing
After watching this film many times I am surprised that no reviewer has made comparisons to two other British films that seem so similar. The first OUT OF SEASON (1975) & the second DAMAGE (1992). The similarity to ACCIDENT (1967) is the very cold unfeeling mother in OUT OF SEASON & the very distant unloving father in DAMAGE. For me the central character, Stephen, in ACCIDENT is a combination of these two unfeeling protagonists of later films. He is an unfaithful husband, disinterested father & seems oblivious to the emotional physical needs of his wife. As I was a teenager in 1967 it makes really nostalgic viewing for me to see the English countryside of my teens. I spotted several now-defunct items in the movie house & it brought home to me how the Swinging Sixties did not translate to everyday marriage & sexual partnerships if you were not part of the pop music scene. It is beautifully filmed & Pinter's enigmatic script feels very authentic. People in real life actually DO speak in this way: unfinished sentence & double meanings obscure the emotions of every single character in this tragic tale. I wish they made films like ACCIDENT, OUT OF SEASON &N DAMAGE in 2019 but sadly political correctness has removed all sense of freedom. There is no mirroring of the reality of people's lives in modern film-making. It is all about preaching to the audience about how we must think politically and live fairly. Movies of the 1960s,70s,80s & 90s were able to stand back coolly rather than make the uncomfortable warm and fuzzy. Highly recommend if you want to see authentic academic lives in 1967.
Midsommar (2019)
Plagiarizing of a familiar story.
I feel quite upset that Ari Aster, the director, did not once mention in his interview in the DVD that his story was inspired by THE WICKER MAN. There are so many similarities to this movie (filmed in the UK in 1970s) that it's difficult for me to watch Midsommar without referring to the original film on which Aster surely must have based his story? Even the final scene of the burning construction is straight out of the 1970s film yet Aster makes absolutely no mention of this brilliant far more scary film when discussing his own. Because I saw The Wicker Man when I was a teenager in the 70s it made a huge impact upon me. Therefore Midsommar just does not cut it. It lacks the suprises, the twists, the horror. Midsommar is far too gory and visual to be truly scary. There are so many clues along the way. The name of the Swedish village Halsingland sounds like Hell's Land. I mean, who could not have put two and two together when watching this? Although I very much enjoyed Florence Pugh's chilling performance in LADY MACBETH I found she was far too intense and over-reaching in this role. Nothing seems to connect: what happened to her parents and sister? And why? It does not make any sense to randomly have Pugh experience this trauma if it does not relate to the film. I am sure this will become a cult but not for any of the reasons why it should be.
Lizzie (2018)
An axe murderess's story should be scary - this film is NOT
In spite of great performances from Sevigny and Stewart nothing can save this abysmal rendition of a very spooky murder mystery. It is slow with a very poor script. And the murder scenes are really ordinary. What a disappointment...
Telford's Change (1979)
British 1970s drama at its best.
I was in my late 20s when I first watched this series on TV (I am now in my late 60s) yet Barkworth's performance in the final 15 minute scene of the finale episode has never left me. Never have I seen an emotional performance like this one. There is hardly any script but Barkworth is able to convey so much desperation, fight and tension through his eyes and his whole body language. I can only compare this performance with Jack Lemmon who had the same uncanny ability. Of course re-watching it today (2018) I recognise how outdated some of the male-female relationships are but none of this detracts from what is essentially a love story for our modern times.
I used to live in Hampstead, north London, from 1978-1982 and whilst walking past a row of lovely houses along the Heath I saw Peter Barkworth tending to his front lawn. This was only a few years since TELFORD'S CHANGE aired in the UK (January-February 1979) and it was a thrill receive a friendly smile from this unassuming actor. I wanted to praise his work but I did not want to be intrusive so I am left with this memory.
It is absolutely wonderful to see TV drama of this calibre and I miss all these fine actors.
Flying Blind (2012)
Pretty anti-Western values
The slant of this film is extremely anti-British. Why does the film promote the notion that it is wrong & 'inhumane' & racist for anti- terror police to question someone coming from a Muslim country who is an illegal immigrant?
The tone of this movie is to "prove" how prejudiced our police and the British people are when in actuality the aeronautics professor was working in a very sensitive industry and naturally should be vetted and investigated and monitored for her social connections. It's not like she was working in a chocolate factory, is it? I doubt very much that MI5 would have been interested in her dating some young Arab Muslim if they were both working in Sainsburys.
I wish that anti- terror police had been proactive in being able to spot, vet and stop the Islamist jihadist that murdered 22 young people in Manchester last May. Seen in that context this film jars with me, though the lead performances are wonderful. My beef is with the writer and director, both of whom have an anti-West agenda and decided to frame their prejudices within this 'human rights' drama.
There is absolutely no evidence that backs up claims that jihadists blow people up because of "Western foreign policy." That is a lie. Countries not engaged in any Arab wars are also prey to Islamist terror because the entire West is seen as something to be conquered to create the Caliphate.
The writer of this film has not understood this at all. Be warned when you watch this pro-Islamist propaganda masquerading as a drama. It pretends that it is presenting both sides to a complex situation. Instead it completely erases the fact that Islam is in a war against the West.
Bethlehem (2013)
Compelling and poignant
The story of this sensitive movie is simultaneously symbolised by the fact that the auteurs of the film itself, Adler (Israeli Jew) and Waked (Palestinian), are brave symbols of two men from opposite sides of the spectrum wishing to offer a balanced view rather than the usual generic binary framing of Israel = bad; Palestine = good.
There are, as in life, no 'goodies' or 'baddies' in this film, just people on both sides desperate for a solution and trying to make the best out of their lives that they can. This is demonstrated in the depiction of the Israeli Intelligence staff being as bigoted and untrustworthy as the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Al-Aqsa terrorists.
I applaud Adler and Waked for having created not just a memorable and poignant movie, but a film that represents all of the differing and insurmountable issues in Israel today.
My one regret is that it is ONLY Israeli movies that depict Israel and the Jewish protagonists in their films as being human and neither innocent nor evil (see, for example, Waltz with Bashir; Lebanon; Room 514; The Hill.) Every Palestinian / Arabic film that I have viewed, without exception, has not been able to offer this balance. The Jews are always depicted in Arabic movies as violent oppressors and the Palestinians always shown as innocent resistance fighters without blemish.
I hope that Adler and Waked will be given the opportunity to continue to collaborate and make movies that give truthful as opposed to cartoon insights into desperate situations facing Jews and Arabs in Israel. Films like this are powerful enough to transform the dialogue that we have to create understanding rather than judgement.
Hebburn (2012)
How did this get commissioned?
With all of the young writing talent out there that gets rejected by the BBC and thrown on to some slush pile, how in God's name did this piece of rubbish get commissioned and then screened on TV? There is nothing funny at all about Hebburn. The same old insulting stereotypical characters (be they Geordies or Jews)and nothing original or remotely creative in any of the story lines. Am amazed at the good reviews on here! I must be on a different planet.
Now, if you really want to see amazingly fresh and pushing-the-boundaries comedy, switch on to the third series of Him & Her (BBC3 ?) which I think is coming soon. This is astoundingly brilliant and what I believe is fantastic comedy sitcom where the characters and plot lines surprise you at every turn!
Everyday (2012)
Emperor's Clothing ?
Take one art-house director, use non-actors in the most emotionally engaging roles (the children) and film it over five years. There you have it! A piece of work that receives amazing reviews and attention. Yet this drama has left me feeling strangely unmoved and disengaged. I wasn't interested in the adults and didn't care one iota about them, perhaps through the fault of the director? The only people that mattered to me were the kids but even their amazingly sensitive and natural performances struggled to keep my interest. Simm and Henderson were good, as they always are in their work, but no better than many other dramatic actors in far superior dramas. The scenes in Everyday were slow, and I found the accompanying music sounded like the film score from a Hallmark movie. Winterbottom's final shot was something that I have seen in endless films before... So why is everyone applauding this film? IS IT ME? Or is this truly a case of the Emperor's Clothing?
The Limey (1999)
Stamp embodies the 1960s in a modern Who Dunnit movie
I am a British 60 yr old woman and am amazed at the criticism on here about Stamp's "poor" cockney accent! What are you people talking about?? Stamp is a born and bred Londoner and his accent is exactly spot on for the age and place of that character (I should know, my Mum is a Cockney!) This film demands the viewer to think and watch and ponder the complexities of time, memory,perception and character. If you're not up for an intelligent slow-moving thriller then obviously you will be disappointed. As for me, I play this DVD much like I re-listen to my early Beatles albums: with pleasure,sadness for the irretrievable past, and an admiration for the artists of that time. It's regrettable that Stamp is not employed more often. It takes a visionary director like Soderbergh to understand the subtleties of this kind of actor that sadly no longer inhabits our modern screens.
The Ghost Writer (2010)
shame about inaccurate London buses
As an avid fan of all Polanski's work I loved The Ghost. Gripping. Stylish. Pacy. However, I was disappointed that Polanski's usually unnerving accuracy came unstuck when I saw the double-decker buses on the so-called London streets (filmed in Berlin.) These buses were taken out of action in 2005 and nowhere does the film state it is pre-2005. I know this may seem trivial, but it's such a shame when errors are made in a film by a director of this calibre. Especially when Polanski is known to be a perfectionist about the smallest of details: example, in Rosemary's Baby he repainted Rosemary's apartment in a series of different shades of paint till he got the colour exactly right. This attention to detail was missing for me in The Ghost. Perhaps Polanski had other more pressing matters on his mind...