Caps Fan Reviews

Station Eleven (2021–2022)

One of the biggest disappointments ever

[2/10 · 10 March 2022]

The book of Station Eleven was one of the best I've read, so maybe my expectations of the TV series were too high.

And they were dashed in comprehensive fashion. The story resembles the book only in broad outline and one positive point is mostly good casting. Otherwise, so much is changed - characters added or taken out, thrust of the story, what people do and why - that they should have given it a different title and have done with it.

A friend of mine said that he was glad he'd read the book first as the series would certainly not have made him want to read it. I couldn't agree more.

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Hail and Hearty

[7/10 · 13 February 2017]

George Clooney isn't an actor I rate particularly high, but, when he puts his mind to it, he really can act. His great performance in "Good Night and Good Luck" was one example. And here we have another.

The movie is set in the 1950s when, of course, the US was in the grip of McCarthyism. Clooney plays Baird Whitlock, an empty headed star of epic films. He is kidnapped by radicals who demand a ransom of $100,000. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the studio heavy who has to sort this out, while handling pretty boy cowboy star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) who has been cast (OK, miscast) in a costume drama, fending off gossip columnists, considering a lucrative job offer, dealing with a pregnant starlet, and so on. On top of all that he's trying to quit smoking.

I wonder whether it's easier for actors to play actors playing a part than it is to just play the part. The performances are, in fact, a real strength of this movie. Clooney is engagingly irritating and Brolin turns in a surprisingly sympathetic performance for such a heavy character. I also liked Tilda Swinton in a dual role as two sisters who are rival gossip columnists!

The film captures the magic of 50s movies rather well. Scenes from the various movies being made as the story progresses are shown, including a rousing song & dance number called "No Dames" featuring Channing Tatum. When Whitlock is able to return to work, we get a scene that is set at the Crucifixion and gives Whitlock a chance to deliver a monologue that carries real power – until he forgets his lines!

The music is excellent too.

So, all in all, a pleasant, undemanding film experience.

Rating: 7/10.

Prometheus (I) (2012)

Not Quite A Great Film

[7/10 · 22 October 2016]

The camera pans across a primeval landscape and over wild water as portentous music plays. Then we see a spacecraft hovering over that landscape. Sort of human-looking beings, dressed in cowled garments (like monks) trek across the landscape to the water. One of them drinks something and it clearly doesn't agree with him since he dissolves, and the residue falls into the water. It was this, we subsequently learn, that kicked off that part of evolution on Earth that produced the human race.

Now, in the year 2089, an expedition is crossing space to investigate a barren planet that is, it seems, where these beings came from. They left behind artifacts and cave paintings on Earth so that we would know they wanted us to come. Of course, things turn out not to be as simple as that!

Though that quick introduction might make this film sound rather clichéd, it isn't really. There are exciting sequences, awe inspiring ones, amusing ones – everything, in fact, you'd need for great entertainment. Unfortunately, it's stretched over too much time so that the third quarter of the film loses its footing a bit, degenerating into the kind of chase and shoot'em up that was all there was to the third Alien film.

It does find its way again though, to give as a thrilling and thought-provoking conclusion.

The acting is a definite strength of this film. Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, and Idris Elba tackle their parts with gusto, but what really anchors it is a startlingly good performance from Michael Fassbender as the android David. Though he seems friendly and courteous, there is an air of somewhat chilly reserve about him that means we can never quite trust him. Should we? Watch and see!

The music is excellent, matching the mostly convincing, even stirring, special effects, and the great camera-work.

Rating: 7/10 (15 minutes shorter and it would have been 8/10)

Nightmares (1983)

Amicus

[7/10 · 29 April 2016]

I first saw this film back in the good old days of VHS. It wasn't easy to find on DVD, but I got it in the end, hence this review.

A feature of British horror movies in the 60s and 70s were the compendiums brought out by producers like Amicus, where a frame story formed the background for three or four short films. Nightmares looks like something similar, but without the framework. The four short stories were actually intended for television, but were deemed too intense for that medium, so were sewn together as a film.

So what do we have? In the first story, a nicotine-addicted woman braves a dark night with a serial killer on the loose to get some cigarettes. In the second, a video game addict meets his match. The third sees a priest who has lost his faith confronted by a dark enemy, while the fourth has a suburban family attracting the attention of a giant rodent.

For me, the first two stories were the ones that worked the best. Maybe the conclusion of the first (Terror in Topanga) is predictable, but it works. The second (The Bishop of Battle) has probably the most memorable quote – "I am the Bishop of Battle, master of all I survey" – and its conclusion satisfies in context. However, the third one (The Benediction) is absorbing enough for a while, but seems to lose interest in its story and the ending is rather abrupt. The fourth one (Night of the Rat) suffers a severe case of cute kid syndrome and just can't resist the temptation to sink into mawkish sentimentality that spoils so many films for me.

Given the time it was made and what looks like a modest budget, production values, including special effects, are satisfactory and performances aren't bad. The music isn't up to much though.

This was a favorite of mine as a teenager and remains so now. It won't be long before I watch it again.

Rating: 7/10.

A View from a Hill (2005 TV Movie)

Take care of your binoculars

[8/10 · 9 January 2016]

In the 1960s and 1970s, the BBC used to include a ghost story, usually by Dickens or M.R. James, in their Christmas schedules. They rather got out of the habit later on, but since about 2000 have, thankfully, begun doing it again. This is one of the better examples.

It tells the story of Dr Fanshawe (Mark Letheren) a specialist who comes down to the moribund country estate of Squire Richards (Pip Torrens) to evaluate some archaeological material. When he breaks his own binoculars, he is given an old pair that somehow enable him to see the local abbey, though it has been a ruin since the time of Henry VIII. He ends up in trouble in a most unexpected way, an experience that, as we see at the end, leaves a lasting impression on him.

It's a fairly simple story and the film is only 40 minutes long, but it is surprisingly substantial and gives a rewarding television experience. Good acting helps – Letheren and Torrens are both well cast, and ably supported by David Burke as the Squire's pleasingly dour manservant. The music is good too and there's a kind of dream sequence in the abbey that really carries you along.

If this one is anything to go by, the BBC would be well advised to keep up their Christmas ghost story habit.

Rating: 8/10

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

I'd join this club.

[7/10 · 11 September 2015]

I read the book of this before seeing the film (AND when I had read some, but not all, all of Jane Austen's novels). This can work to the detriment of a film, but it doesn't in this case. Both book and film are highly enjoyable.

There are a number of reasons for this. The film is, for one thing, well cast. Each part is acted well and convincingly.

In addition, despite some adjustments, the film sticks to the broad outline of the book. In it, a group of six people – one man and five women – meet over a period of six months to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They find that their lives are mirroring certain aspects of the novels' events in ways both surprising and interesting.

I thought this worked best in the dynamic between the affected French teacher Prudie and her rather bovine husband Dean. Their marriage is in trouble and Prudie is in serious danger of doing something she shouldn't with one of her male pupils. Luckily, Austen's "Persuasion" comes galloping to the rescue.

The film's last scene, set a year after the main events of the film, does wrap things up well, but is maybe a bit too packaged. Would Dean, for example, really take to reading Austen so easily?

So a nice story, excellent acting, good camera work and music. They all make for good, undemanding entertainment.

Rating: 7/10

The Monuments Men (2014)

Men Seeking Monuments

[7/10 · 30 August 2015]

This is an interesting little film, telling the story of a team of artists, art historians, and so on, sent to try to rescue works of art pillaged by the Nazis in the European part of World War 2.

As is often the case with Hollywood films, the role played by non- Americans is downplayed. A token Brit and Frenchman are included, but when the time comes to kill someone off, guess which two bite the dust.

That said, the film is well cast and the main actors (all men apart from Cate Blanchett) work well together. A nice casting touch is putting George Clooney's father, Nick, as an older version of the same character as George Clooney himself plays, but in a codicil set in the 1970s, long after the main business of the film is over.

The script has its moments and the music is excellent. The whole thing ends on a pleasing note of triumph. Yes, much that was fine and good was indeed lost. But so much that might have been lost was not, thanks to the effort made by people like the ones we see here. In the film, President Truman is shown asking whether it was worth it – a very pertinent question. The Clooney character gives an equally pertinent answer – yes, it was.

So, to sum up, this is an unexpectedly charming and absorbing piece of entertainment – maybe a bit light for its subject matter, but a mostly enjoyable couple of hours.

Rating: 7/10

Argo (2012)

Overrated

[6/10 · 28 July 2013]

I finally got to see this film when it came out on DVD. And my question, having done so, is: just what is all the fuss about?

I was still a callow youth when the actual events on which the movie is supposedly based happened, but I remember feeling really sorry for those taken hostage. But that's the problem with this film. I really didn't feel any connection at all with the 6 people shown being hidden in Iran by the Canadians, before being taken out under fake identities. The scene on the Swissair flight when it becomes clear they have actually got out is nice, but no more.

Most objectionable is the politics, with American heroism and ingenuity being talked up, the role of the Canadians being reduced to a supporting act, and the British, who also helped, not being mentioned at all.

There are some plus points. The acting is mostly good. The climactic scene as the Iranian authorities chase a jumbo jet along the runway at Tehran airport is fictitious and implausible, but exciting all the same. The music is effective.

When all's said and done, though, the film just doesn't deserve the awards it won– but, to be fair, I wouldn't give it any Razzies either.

Rating: 6/10

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Not really a Star Trek film

[6/10 · 11 May 2013]

As a Star Trek fan of long standing, I went to see the 2009 reboot of the film franchise with some trepidation. But in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it, partly because it held a surprise and had the guts to stick with it.

And so, to this year's effort. There are many things to like about it. The performances are mostly good. Benedict Cumberbatch is a striking villain, while Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto do a good job of the reversed Spock/Kirk death scene. It is not slow or boring, and the script has some fun moments.

Special effects were good, but that's a given these days. I saw it in 3D, but that didn't seem to add much.

I don't remember much about the music, so it was presumably neither good nor bad.

But the film just isn't Star Trek, when all is said and done. It is, rather, an action film a la Total Recall with some Star Trek characters and overtones bolted on. It would have been just as possible to make this film with a wholly non-ST cast and a different spaceship.

I enjoyed it on that action-film level, but, as a Star Trek film, it is a disappointment.

Rating: 6/10.

Psycho (1998)

Psycho as Psycho

[4/10 · 30 November 2012]

Some consider remakes to be the most unnecessary of film projects. Very rarely does a new version of an old favorite result in an improvement on it. An exception, it seemed, was the 1991 version of Cape Fear, which the world at large considered an improvement on the 1962 original. I actually thought it was one of the most ridiculous films I'd ever seen, but there you go.

Maybe it was the widely held view of that film that prompted Gus Van Sant to come up with his 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho (1960). Actually, it's not so much a remake as pretty well a carbon copy with color painted on. Each scene is reproduced and even the music is the same.

As for the performances, well, there is little to say. None of the performers, and there are some good ones here, really comes off well. The most obvious example is Vince Vaughn, who does not seem so much to be acting the part of Norman Bates as to be imitating Anthony Perkins acting the part of Norman Bates. Anne Heche is even worse as Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, and the rest are not much better.

Why did they bother then? To make money, I suppose. The film is otherwise interesting only as a curiosity, designed to prove, if you like, that some films were only ever meant to be made once.

Rating: 4/10.

The Woman in Black (2012)

A Pale Ghost

[6/10 · 26 November 2012]

I don't think there is any medium now that this remarkable work by Susan Hill has not covered. The first version I saw was the very good 1989 TV film starring Adrian Rawlins. Since then, I have seen the excellent, genuinely scary stage play in London and read the book.

Now we have a film version, with Daniel Radcliffe venturing outside the world of Harry Potter to play Arthur Kipps, a young, widowed lawyer sent to the wilds of rural England by his employer to break up the estate of Mrs Drablow, a recently deceased client.

She, of course, lived in a spooky old house out on an isolated island. And it is here that two quite long, eerily effective passages take place as our hero sees the titular character and experiences various other weird phenomena while alone in the house.

Meanwhile, all is not well on the mainland either, with children dying right and left and Kipps given a distinctly chilly reception.

The problem with material like this is that, in our materialistic, rational, cynical age, to many it will seem rather silly. When I first saw it, I really wasn't sure what to make of it, in part because the very last scene succumbs to the film industry's eternal weakness – maudlin sentimentality.

The acting, however, is mostly good. Daniel Radcliffe isn't bad at all, though his performance is so restrained that at times I wanted to shout at him to wake up.

Atmosphere is well created and handled, supported by agreeably creepy music that is never overdone. The locations work too and the camera work is great.

But, despite all this, the overall effect is oddly pallid. It was definitely worth trying and nobody is really at fault, but the stage version is still the one that works best for me.

Rating: 6/10.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Something Different

[6/10 · 31 October 2012]

Though I am a fan of the Halloween franchise, I am not one of those who thinks that Michael Myers is all there is to the series. Which is why I didn't share in the general disapproval of this film when it came out and – horrors! - Michael was not in it.

The story begins with a man running in terror from some unknown menace. That menace, an oddly emotionless man, catches up with him and kills him in hospital. Doctor Dan Challis (Tom Atkins), who was treating him, looks into the background and discovers the truth - a strangely elaborate scheme by an Irish American businessman to use the Halloween masks he manufactures to massacre large numbers of children.

The why of what's happening is not gone into in as much depth as we might like, but the story is mildly diverting nonetheless. The first victim's daughter turns up and becomes the doctor's sidekick. They encounter a small businesswoman who has come to complain about the masks and a family who have come to be rewarded for selling lots of them. All of them suffer unfortunate demises.

Some of the trimmings are quite interesting. A background story about the theft of part of Stonehenge turns out to be more significant than we initially suspect. And who would have thought that TV commercials could be wielded to such deadly effect?

The music isn't bad and the cliffhanger ending is actually rather good. Our journey to that cliffhanger, however, is too long. The film meanders all over the place telling a story that just doesn't need that much time.

Some critics complained about excessive gore, but what did they expect in a "Halloween" film? In any event, they got a lot more. Halloween 4 returned to the tried and trusted Michael Myers format.

Rating: 6/10

Where Have All the People Gone (1974 TV Movie)

Good, disturbing TV movie

[7/10 · 12 July 2012]

Another TV movie that has stayed with me ever since I first saw it, aged about 12, resurfaced recently, prompting this review.

Peter Graves, complete with gray hair – I bet he was born with it that color - plays Steve Anders who, as the movie starts, is on vacation with his family in some unspecified California mountains. His daughter (a young Kathleen Quinlan) and son stay with him, along with Clancy (Noble Willingham), a friend, digging for fossils in a cave, while his wife leaves them to return to LA. Not long after, the sun brightens dramatically for a few seconds, which phenomenon is followed by an earthquake.

In short order, Clancy, who was the only one of the four on the surface when the sun flared up and told the others about it, falls ill. The family thinks it is radiation poisoning and he dies as they try to get him back to civilization. When they themselves get there, they find towns that are empty, apart from clothes full of a strange powder, mad dogs, and a very few survivors who tell of a disease that wiped out most of humanity within hours.

There isn't actually much more to it than that, but I found the story oddly absorbing and the whole treatment pleasingly creepy.

Peter Graves turns in a solid performance and the two kids aren't too nauseating, though a little shrill at times. It was also fun to see Noble Willingham, whom I otherwise only know from "The Royale", a better-than-average episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", in something else.

Camera work and effects are fine considering when the film was made, the music is adequate, and it doesn't go on too long. All in all, then, well worth seeing.

Rating: 7/10.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Surprisingly good

[8/10 · 16 May 2012]

I must admit that, when I heard they were making a "Hollywood" version of the Swedish film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I groaned. Another original ruined. Though the trailer looked promising and Daniel Craig struck me as ideal for the male lead, I settled down to watch it with some reserve.

No need. In many respects, it is a substantial improvement. The acting is better, the sets somehow work better, and the soundtrack is appropriate. Best of all, however, is that they stick closely to the original plot, including the very end, which, for some reason, the Swedish version missed off.

Those who have read the book and seen the original film will know that they both include some rather graphic scenes of sexual violence. Since the English-speaking peoples tend to be a bit more prudish about these things than the Swedes, I had been curious to see how they would be handled. The answer is, not badly. Though the worst of the violence is not shown, we are left in no doubt about what's happening. Even better, one crucial scene, where Lisbeth turns the tables on her tormentor, is shown more or less in full.

Daniel Craig's performance as Blomqvist is excellent, but he is not alone. Rooney Mara is a revelation as Lisbeth. Both are given sterling support by Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, and an array of other performers. They handle the well-scripted dialog with conviction; I particularly enjoyed the exchange between Blomqvist and Lisbeth about the string of Bible-related murders, which shows the girl whose disappearance Blomqvist was called in to investigate is just part of a much bigger, nastier picture.

Such trimming as was made was mostly well judged. In the original, the disappeared girl is found in Australia, but here they settle for London, merging her fate with her sister's. The legal case Blomqvist was involved with when we first see him is not omitted, but its importance is reduced, removing something I felt was a bit of a distraction in the book and the Swedish film.

A very creditable job all round then. Having seen all three Swedish films, I'm now actually looking forward to the remaining English-language remakes.

Rating: A pleased 8/10.

Avatar (2009)

Not bad, but should have been a lot better

[7/10 · 24 January 2012]

I haven't seen many films in 3-D since it became newly fashionable. This was the first, and best.

The film's technical credentials are so awesome that I'll begin with them. Visually, the film is simply stunning (in 2-D and on Blu-Ray too). Our hero, Jake Sully, is linked to an avatar so that he can penetrate and explore pristine forest on the alien world of Pandora and persuade the native people to move, thus allowing mineral companies in to exploit the planet, some of which is, of course, sacred.

He ends up lost in the forest and it is from that moment that the film's stunning visuals really take hold. The light is haunting and the forest's animal and insect inhabitants look truly alive.

Accompanying the visuals is some of the loveliest film music I have heard in a long time – maybe since "Gladiator". It is haunting when it needs to be, uplifting when it needs to be, sad when it needs to be – at all times, adding to the magic of what we're seeing. I don't buy film music much these days, but this CD was playing in my car the same day I saw the film.

Unfortunately, the story has nothing much to recommend it. As I was watching it, I thought "'Dances With Wolves' in Outer Space", a description that seems to have occurred to others too. "Avatar" contains every cliché and ill-informed prejudice – primitives good, civilization bad – that Kevin Costner's earlier film contained and is just as crass in showing the effect they have on each other. To that extent, it might as well have been made in monochrome. A correspondingly average script doesn't give the actors much to work with and their performances are no better than satisfactory.

But it's worth seeing AND hearing all the same. Think I'll watch it again this weekend…

Rating: 7/10.

Curse of the Black Widow (1977 TV Movie)

Absurd, but fun

[7/10 · 20 January 2012]

This one is an old favorite of mine, which I first saw as a teenager when I was starting to get into horror movies. Nice to see it resurface on late night TV recently.

The outline of the story is that a number of men are found dead, drained of blood and encased in what looks like spider silk. Evidence points to one of a pair of rich twin sisters as the culprit, but what's with the spider silk? Tony Franciosa, as the urbane private detective Mark Higbie, investigates and finds the truth.

Taken on its own terms, the story is a lot of fun and does hang together, more or less, building up to a conclusion that works in context, even if it's predictable. The music is fit for purpose.

But there are some delicious absurdities. Patty Duke Astin (as she was then called) can't do a German accent to save her life. Near the end of the film, her character, or rather one of her characters, having been warned to leave home fast to avoid a terrible fate, is seen sedately packing a case as if she were heading off to the beach for the weekend. AND later, when a female character is tossed out of a top floor window by the eponymous black widow, it is clearly a stunt MAN who is taking the fall!

Tony Franciosa turns in a sympathetic performance as Mark Higbie. Even better is his sassy sidekick, who rejoices in the label Flaps and is played with gusto by Roz Kelly.

Better than average for this kind of thing then. Rating: 7/10.

Space: 1999 (1975–1977)

Likable Nonsense

[5/10 · 19 December 2011]

The UK critic Leslie Halliwell called this "'Star Trek' in all but name" and it's not hard to see why. As with the iconic 60s show, the rank or function of the various characters is indicated by the color of part of their clothing and much of the action takes place in a room dominated by a large screen. The lead characters are the sturdy commander, a scientist, the doctor, and a manly type, just as before.

By 1975, "Star Trek" was long gone from our screens, except in syndication, and no quality sci-fi show had yet taken its place on TV. The time must have seemed propitious for another show of the kind.

So ITC came up with this. In 1999, as portrayed in the show, the moon is being used as a dump for the waste generated by the nuclear power stations that keep Earth going. Problems arise, resulting in the biggest of those dumps exploding in such a way that the moon is sent flying off into deep space. Along for the ride are 300 or so people on Moonbase Alpha who must now fend for themselves against anything that space throws at them.

I am told that such an explosion would shatter the moon rather than send it out of orbit, but I think I could swallow that goof if it were the only one and the show were otherwise acceptable.

Unfortunately, there are so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start. Sticking with the physics for a moment, the moon is shown moving between solar systems and even galaxies in a matter of days. OK, the USS Enterprise did this, but at least it had engines. How does the moon manage it?

Some of the individual episodes work (my personal favorite is "War Games", where Alpha is seemingly devastated by an alien attack), but most don't, having resort to things like séances and crew members being taken over by the spirits of stars or long dead ancestors! Most episodes involve Alphans being killed, yet the base never seems short on people, although replacements are impossible to come by. And, just as with Star Trek's red shirts (the security personnel whose main role was to act as cannon fodder – four of them bite the dust in the episode "The Apple"), it is the purple-sleeved security guards who make up a disproportionate share of the victims.

Meanwhile, the attempt to recreate the charming interplay between Star Trek's main characters falls flat on its face, a fact all the more remarkable when you consider that two of the leads , Martin Landau (Commander Koenig) and Barbara Bain (Doctor Russell), were married to each other at the time the show was made. Meanwhile, the "scientist" (Victor Bergman, played by Barry Morse) rarely seems to know anything and is reduced to spouting generalities. Only the "manly type", pilot Alan Carter, played by the ever reliable Nick Tate, gets it more or less right.

Perhaps the worst mistake of all was the revamp carried out between seasons 1 and 2. Moonbase Alpha is scarcely recognizable as the same place. Some of the characters we know from the first season - Victor Bergman is one - have gone, without our being told why, while new ones appear with equally little attempt at explanation. The episodes, however, remain just as silly. Did nobody look at the title of "The Rules of Luton" and realize it just wouldn't work?

On the plus side, the sets and model work are mostly good as is the music. Some of the guest appearances are striking too, notably that of Jeremy Kemp in the better-than-average episode "Voyager's Return".

Despite everything, I have an odd affection for the show, especially the first season. But someone once said that it takes good science fact to make good science fiction. By breaking that, and other, rules way too often, this effort proves that sage individual right.

Rating: 5/10

Buried (2010)

Stunning

[7/10 · 30 November 2011]

When I heard that they were making a film about an American trucker who wakes up to find himself kidnapped, buried, alone, and having only 90 minutes to live, with (Canadian) Ryan Reynolds cast as the trucker, I must admit that both eyebrows went up. Isn't he too lightweight for this sort of thing?

Well, as it turns out, no, he isn't. Reynolds turns in a strong, convincing, sympathetic performance as Paul Conroy, "just a guy" caught up in the chaotic mess of Iraq and being held for ransom. He knows this because his kidnappers tell him so over the BlackBerry they have thoughtfully provided. They also use it to show Conroy the "execution" of a female friend of his. He is told he will be left to die unless a ransom of $5 million, later reduced to a mere $1 million, is paid.

Paul Conroy is the only character we see in person, but he uses the phone to interact with others as he urgently tries to reach someone who can save him. This puts him in touch with phone company employees ("No need to be rude, sir", says one, mistaking Conroy's desperation for ill manners) the State Department (his contact there has a British accent - go figure!), and, in a memorably harsh and nauseatingly plausible exchange, with the HR Director of the company he worked for. Conroy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer (witness his repeated use of a lighter, which will, of course, use up the oxygen he is short of), but he didn't deserve that.

As for the ending, well, what can I say? I thought they were doing one thing, hoped they were doing another, and they actually did a third thing, which was utterly and savagely effective. The last few seconds, and the pathetic last line, are stunning.

The camera-work is surprisingly varied, given the small area we are watching. Music is fit for purpose.

Recommended, unless you're claustrophobic or squeamish.

Rating: 7/10

The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007)

Almost Works

[6/10 · 17 September 2011]

Ian Stone (Mike Vogel) is a sympathetic young American who we see die a variety of gruesome deaths, mostly in or near London. Often, a pretty English girl is, or has just been, present when he dies. As time goes on, the memories of his various deaths start to accumulate and he realizes what is going on and why.

That's the basic premise and it almost works. The first half, with the demises and the hinted-at explanations, is intriguing and I found the conclusion, where Stone prevails, oddly gratifying. The bit in between, however, is a problem as the action grinds to halt so that an older guy we've also seen die at least once (Michael Feast) and the girl Medea (Jaime Murray) we've seen kill Ian for one of his deaths can explain why it's all happening. Not only does this deaden the films's horror impact, but the reason for it all - Ian, like those who keep killing him, is a "Harvester" and he stands between the others and the aforementioned English girl, Jenny (Christina Cole), who will provide them with a rich harvest of the fear they thrive on - was lame as hell.

The lead performances are fine. Mike Vogel is good at dying. He didn't make it all the way through "Cloverfield" and he gets several chances to hone his death scene skills here. Jaime Murray proves she is just as good at "doing" evil as she was in "Dexter".

Production standards are good and the music is adequate. A shame the story doesn't really hold up, but this one is just about worth seeing. Have a glass of wine to help you along.

Rating: 6/10.

The Walking Dead (2010–2022)

Maybe TV CAN do this sort of thing

[3 August 2011]

These comments are based only on the first season, with the second about to air. It's possible some of these comments will soon be out of date. Never mind.

In my recent review of the BBC's new version of "Survivors", I complained that "Films do this sort of thing better". Then along comes "The Walking Dead", an excellent show from AMC that goes a long way toward proving me wrong.

The basic scenario is the same as "Survivors" and other films or TV shows of the genre. The world is devastated by a plague, leaving only few survivors to pick up the pieces and try to start again.

I think the reason this show works better than "Survivors" did is that it always keeps the main focus firmly on the plague. Personal issues crop up – of course they do – but they take second billing, with the plague and its effects firmly at the top of the bill.

Performances were mostly good. I was amused to see an Englishman, Andrew Lincoln, cast as a southern deputy named Rick Grimes, but he pulled it off. Jon Bernthal was also good as his sidekick and I even had a sneaking liking for the redneck Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus.

One gripe, however. The plague in question is a zombie plague and the main business of the plot opens with the hero waking from a coma in a deserted hospital that bears clear marks of recent chaos. Can anyone say "28 Days Later"? On the whole, though, a great effort. I hope the second season will keep up the good work.

Rating: 8/10.

Survivors (I) (2008–2010)

Films do this sort of thing better

[4/10 · 1 July 2011]

If you're old enough, you might remember the BBC's original series "Survivors", broadcast in the 1970s. The world is devastated by an artificial plague released in an accident memorably portrayed in the opening credits. A handful are left behind to find each other and try to start again.

So, in 2008, the BBC gave us a re-imagining of the scenario. This time, a flu-like illness does much the same as its counterpart did in the 1970s.

Some have quibbled about the "politically correct" nature of the new series. One of the protagonists, named Greg Preston (Paterson Joseph) is black, which a character of the same name was not in the earlier version. Two more are Muslims, one of them a lapsed one. Another might be a lesbian. And why shouldn't they be? The demographics and attitudes of British society have changed in the last 30 years. There is nothing wrong with that being reflected in a television series.

But there are problems with the series, as there were with the 1970s one. The scenario is chillingly set up in the first episode, but then what? As time goes on, the script falls back on the bickering, backstabbing, having sex with each other, and so on, that are the staple of any soap opera. Once the disease has done its worst, there is nothing here you couldn't see on Lifetime.

Worse, in the second season, Greg Preston, supposedly one of the heroes, seems to delight in getting the group he is with into trouble. He pompously insists that Tom Price (Max Beesley), who has a violent criminal background but a firm handle on how to survive in the new conditions, leaves the group. He then twice lands some members of the group in the clutches of former-government-minister-turned-local-megalomaniac Samantha Willis (Nikki Amuka-Bird) when he has the means to prevent it. At times, I was just screaming at the screen.

The performances are much better than the material deserves and the production values, as you'd expect of the BBC, are excellent. But there's no getting around the plot flaws and I was not surprised when it was announced there would be no third season.

Rating: 4/10.

The King's Speech (2010)

Unaccustomed as I am...

[9/10 · 12 January 2011]

King George VI had a stammer. In the days before broadcast media, this wouldn't have mattered much since kings were rarely heard by more than a small number of their subjects. Once radio, and, later, newsreels with sound and (horrors!) television came on the scene, a monarch's ability to inspire confidence by speaking clearly and authoritatively became paramount.

Step forward, then, Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, approached by George's wife, the woman we all now know as the Queen Mum. She is desperate, almost ready to give up – George already has – and he is a last resort, but he it is who helps the Duke, who in time becomes King, get a handle on that stammer.

The difference he makes is aptly illustrated here with two speeches at either end of this splendid film. At the beginning, as Prince Albert, Duke of York, "George" has to give a speech to close the 1925 British Empire Exhibition that is an ordeal for him as speaker and for the crowd as listeners. But at the end, after an uneven, even stormy, set of meetings with Logue, he makes a thoroughly creditable job, as King and Emperor, of addressing the Empire now at war with Germany. Hokey to end on a note like that? Perhaps – but, in a film of this quality, who cares?

The film wins hands down on its performances. Colin Firth as Albert/George is mesmerizing; in the scene where he is telling Logue about the death of his afflicted brother, Prince John, I could not have looked away if someone had held a gun to my head and ordered me to.

Colin Firth is, however, merely the first among equals. Geoffrey Rush is nearly as good with a quirky performance as Lionel Logue and Helena Bonham-Carter as Elizabeth, first Duchess of York, then Queen Consort to George VI, is both irritating and excellent. The supporting cast is well up to standard, particularly Michael Gambon who has a minor role as George V; the scene where, with his death looming, that King is too confused to understand what his advisers are telling him is another that stays with the viewer long after it is shown.

Less good are Guy Pearce as a rather forced Edward VIII (his "British" accent is dreadful, but fortunately we don't hear much of it) and Timothy Spall, whose effort at Winston Churchill seems strained at times.

Production values are sound. There isn't much music – appropriate in a film where how one of the characters speaks is the main business of the plot – but what there is is well used. The proceedings, sometimes amusing and sometimes moving, rarely drag. I came out at the end both uplifted and moved.

Rating: 9/10 - a truly excellent piece of work.

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

Ho-Hum Sequel

[5/10 · 13 November 2010]

The first "Paranormal Activity" was genuinely scary because it was something of a novelty. It had few characters and kept the audience waiting for its thrills, building up slowly, but inexorably, towards a horrifying conclusion. Much of its impact comes from the suspense generated by having most of its events take place, slowly, at night.

The sequel provides some of the background, and a brief codicil, to those events and uses the same approach - it was even filmed in the same house. However, it really takes things too far. or maybe not far enough. The shocks are fine when they come, but we are kept waiting WAY too long for them. Along the way, we are treated to too many shots of the same things, particularly that wretched pool cleaner. These people must have the cleanest pool in San Diego.

The real problem, though, is with the characters. Worst is the main male character, Daniel (Brian Boland), who is basically a jerk. His skepticism comes to seem pigheaded rather than rational. At a crucial point, when his family is dissolving into chaos, he chooses to leave the house to go to a business meeting. Most reprehensibly, when the truth of the situation is clear even to him, he resolves it by foisting the whole problem onto someone else.

The consequences are fatal for them, but Daniel does get his comeuppance in no uncertain terms just afterward, At that point, I actually cheered.

Rating: A disappointed 5/10

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

A Very Nice Film

[6/10 · 29 September 2010]

This movie has so much going for it that I'm almost ashamed I didn't like it more.

As is nearly always the case these days, the animation is splendid. Add to that, mostly plausible, if rather routine, characters, good voice acting, and excellent music and you're on to a winner.

Well, almost. Unfortunately, the story, while very pleasant, is pure template (boy befriends cute animal he should be killing and wins over skeptical father and friends - puh-lease!) and the climactic battle scene goes on way too long.

But I'm smiling as I write this, which can't be bad - can it?

Rating: 6/10.

The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

Worth Watching

[6/10 · 6 September 2010]

Ken Follett's graphic, brutal, but compelling portrayal of life in 12th-century England during the chaotic reign of King Stephen has long been a favorite of mine. I even had a sneaking liking for the villains! So I was looking forward to this ambitious television version. It is a true international effort - produced jointly by Germany and Canada, shot mostly in Hungary with a mostly British cast – and weighs in at 480 minutes of TV time.

In broad outline, this version remains faithful to the book as we watch Kingsbridge Cathedral being built by our heroes, led by Prior Philip and Tom Builder, against the background of civil war. Meanwhile, the villains will stop at nothing to prevent its completion, using trickery, blackmail, torture, and even murder to get their way. Guess who prevails in the end!

Adjustments are made to the story, usually upping the violence from that shown in the book. Most striking, however, is the complete omission of the murder of Thomas Beckett, Prior Philip's presence to witness it, his role in bringing the perpetrators to justice, and the subsequent public repentance of King Henry II, which brings the book to such a satisfying conclusion.

Some changes are made with regard to characters too. For example, Regan Hamleigh is shown murdering her husband and displaying an incestuous attraction to her odious son William, neither of which figures in the book. Meanwhile, King Stephen is much more prominent than in the book and Waleran Bigod (a remarkable performance from Ian McShane) is much more graphically evil.

The cast is mostly fine. Rufus Sewell, however, seems oddly disengaged as Tom Builder, sometimes giving the impression that he'd rather not be there. Nor was I too sure about the sets; they often looked cramped, even false. Shades of the 1980 TV production of "The Martian Chronicles"…

It would probably have been easier to make a bad job of this than a good job. In the end, this production tips more to the good than the bad and is certainly worth watching. I don't think I'll be buying the DVD though…

Rating: 6/10.