Films we’ve watched recently:
Wrong Turn… verdict: okay. I think I appreciated it being fairly WYSIWG, no hidden twists or ‘clever’ variations. There were some moments of genuine tension and suspense. Not an original bone in its body, and if you’ve seen Hills Have Eyes et al, why bother? Along similar(ish) lines, Cabin Fever seems to have had good reviews, so I’ll probably check it out whenever.
We watched Dreamcatcher last night. Was it worth the entry fee? Well, unsurprisingly, not really. But it was okay.
The main criticism going around seems to be, if you’ve not read the book, it might be awfully confusing due to how various elements are condensed. This is largely true: the ‘memory warehouse’ idea, for instance, doesn’t play as important a role here as in the book—in fact, it seems like merely a gimmick—so it probably should’ve been left out completely… and the way in which the gang of four’s history with Duddits is skimmed over quickly lessens his significance overall.
Well, much to my surprise, mom did finally decide to give Lord of the Rings a fair hearing. We watched the first two episodes recently. Not on the same night, okay! 🙂 She hates this kind of thing normally, but all the hype and good reviews weakened her resolve. Of course, she ended up thinking they were terrific, and we plan to see the final part at the cinema soon. (Not right now; we’re both suffering from yet another cold virus at the moment. Lovely.)
Watching The Two Towers a second time helped resolve some of my own reservations about it. I’m told the extended version has better editing, but on the whole, I enjoyed it better than the first viewing. Look, I won’t forgive Jackson for the Christopher Lee thing in a hurry, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire this work on many levels. It’s a genuine achievement.
Read More »Convert to the Ring
Bob Monkhouse has sadly died. I heard it on a radio playing in the background this morning while I was out and about. Immediate thought: ‘Shit.’ It wasn’t a great surprise, but I was hoping his treatment would give him a bit longer.
Read More »Bob Monkhouse, R.I.P.
Well, I guess Christmas is almost over for another year. The Day Itself is done with. It seems like our television schedulers have given up any pretence of making any real effort this year… I wonder if that reflects an overall feeling of growing apathy?
Christmas day was just like a weekend day, really. Only with decorations and turkey. We ended up watching My Fair Lady in the afternoon, which I hadn’t seen for years. I’m not a musical fan, but this one’s a sentimental favourite for unknown reasons. I like it. Rex Harrison was great.
Read More »Good Riddance
My most recent DVD purchase was the director’s cut of The Wicker Man. It’s an almost-but-not-quite complete print that restores most of the footage hacked from the theatrical cut, which you also get on a second disk. This film has a reputation as being amongst the best British entries in the horror genre, along with Witchfinder General (one of Vincent Price’s finest moments). The packaging unsurprisingly emphasises the presence of Christopher Lee, in light of his recent Indian Summer.
And it is a great performance by Lee, who should seem comical and ridiculous in his fright wig and kilt, but doesn’t. Casual menace defines his screen time. Okay, so seeing him at the end in a long wig and a dress is quite funny! Otherwise, he’s just plain creepy, in a weirdly seductive way.
Read More »The Wicker Man (1973)
This is slightly old news, but I wanted to comment on the exclusion of Christopher Lee’s footage of Saruman in The Return of the King.
It seems amazing that they would go to the trouble of having Christopher fly out to film extra footage (his last day of shooting was back in July) only to not use it in the theatrical release—sure, it’ll show up on the extended DVD eventually, but it seems to me these things ought to have been planned out long ago. Such last-minute decisions doesn’t create an awfully good impression. Mr. Lee will not be attending the premiere, and I can’t say I blame him. He deserves more respect.
Terrible, rainy weather today. I’m not really stuck in the house, but I had a couple of non-urgent errands that this wretched downpour has dissuaded me from doing today. (Okay, I’m a wuss. Sue me.)
I had plans for last Wednesday. Saruman himself, Christopher Lee, was signing his autobiography, Lord of Misrule, in London at Forbidden Planet on Saturday and Borders on Wednesday. I thought I’d go for Wednesday. Alas, irrevocable transport problems put the kibosh on my plans… I did finally make it into Brum, but too late to get an affordable train that would’ve been on time. My only choice was a Virgin train for £30. I was forced to admit defeat.
So, Lord of the Rings. The first episode, that is. It’s funny to think back, because two years ago I was really hot to see this at the cinema. I even re-read the books in anticipation of it. But it never happened, and my interest sort of waned.
Since getting a DVD player—we were probably at least two years behind most people there—my interest revived. (My interest in buying films on the whole has revived; I’d become entirely disillusioned with the horrors of VHS.) Last Thursday, I spotted a copy at Asda for a little under eight pounds. That clinched it.
I had planned to talk about some DVD purchases, so why not. It’s been a couple of weeks since I bought this one, and I’m sure mentioning it will have most people stifling yawns, but that’s just tough! It has to rate a mention: Orson Welles’ 1952 adaptation of Othello.
Out of the ‘official’ Welles directorial canon (all twelve of ’em), the ones I’d never seen were Chimes at Midnight, scattered clips aside, Immortal Story, and Othello. The latter’s the most ironic, as it’s my second-favourite Shakespeare play. (My favourite is Hamlet, unoriginally enough.)
Read More »Othello (1952)
