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Reviews
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Has this film been subject to ratings tampering?
Has this film been subject to ratings tampering? I ask because as a fair minded armchair critic, I did NOT see an 8.2 star movie.
I saw a retread of the original Top Gun, not that I was inclined to mind that, but the former had a great visual appeal about that this movie singularly failed to replicate.
The Scott brothers were giants of the advertising industry and they often surpassed the biggest movie productions in a golden age where the TV critics hailed the commercials as being better than the programmes. So, when one thinks of Top Gun and of the signature shots - the bike racing the F14, the jet flying over the burning field and the aircraft finale - none of which are matched in this lacklustre revival.
As for the plot, or rather, the lack of it. C'mon, at some point you have to identify the baddies. Yet all we got was 'ooh ooh, so scary ... fifth dimension technology'.
I'll unpack no more than that, but I will repeat my contention ... this movie has had a ratings bump by third party hands.
Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (2020)
What a cheap, daft let down.
The far-fetched is a fact of life in the land of Korean TV's romantic dramas but this time a lovely series was ruined by an insane storyline which I doubt would have pleased a single viewer with Jun springing up, the very picture of life, five years after his reported death. Such was his love for Ra-Ra, we were told, he wanted to protect her from the great pain of his suffering leukaemia and his possible death, that he concocted a plan with his rather deranged mother for her to be told he had died anyway. Ra Ra, then, and all the other gang went through all the pain and cycles of great loss and grief, apparently to protect Ra Ra from going through all the pain and cycles of great loss and grief. Oh, pull the other one, it's got bells on.
What a cheap, daft let down.
Dancing Queens (2021)
GREAT ENTERTAINMENT WITH A LOT OF HEART
Ok, so, it's got every cliche in the book, but this is a movie made with a terrific cast and with so much heart. I was thoroughly entertained and moved especially by the very unaffected performance of Molly Nutley and. That heartbreaking scene when she pours her heart out to her landlady and her tears come so easily and convincingly. The rating so far really deserves much better and I'm sure as it gets more widely seen it will rise.
Law School (2021)
POOR NETFLIX SCHEDULING
Netflix has pretty well single-handedly zombiefied us with binge programming. They have lured us into a huge dependency, so now they expect us to settle for a show that comes slow drip after slow drip.
It's a killer and makes a very good series a chore.
Give it up, N'Fix. It's not big and it's not clever!!!
Extracurricular (2020)
WHY ALL THE SWEARING?
Just starting out with this series and the English subtitling is laced with swearing. Korea strikes me as a very correct society and I really wonder if young people would be so coarse in their language. Perhaps a Korean viewer who is familiar with the English subtitling might care to comment. I suspect, as with so much Netflix subtitling the only market they aim for is America and the subtitles unnecessarily ape the American teen patois. I'm not being censorious, but to hear it some much is a distortion and a distraction.
Salir del ropero (2019)
Imperfect, but fun, comedy of manners
A charming if imperfect comedy of manners. Performed with a little too much gusto at times, but it still came across as sincere.
Major error with the Scots storyline though. Firstly, who knows what they wearing, but they'd not make it into Scotland wearing that get up. Secondly, Scotland voted firmly against BREXIT. Scots are very anti British/English.
WISH YOU: Your Melody from My Heart (2020)
Superficial BoyLove
Me: London, middle-aged viewer and gay man
This review won't take long because there's not a great deal to discuss ... there were the makings of a genuine and tender portrait of same-sex love as it emerges from the shadows, but I found it token and superficial. There was very little by way of background to the two main characters and has already been pointed out, it traded in not much more than two pretty guys holding glances with each other. There was a lack of dilemma, a lack of bite. By the end of it also, I was bothered that the would be pop-star was not a gay actor. I don't mean for a minute that only gay people can play gay roles, but if a straight actor is going to play gay, then he needs to do it convincingly and with commitment. The ultimate 'I love you too' kiss left me feeling totally cheated. Kissing, and it's invariably coy depiction in Korean dramas I am well used to, but the boy-singer looked like he was terrified of catching Covid. It was a film without heart and without any frisson. Basically, a quick two-reeler to cash in on the 'pink pound'.
Stove League (2019)
BASEBALL DRAMA WITH AN EXCELLENT GRIP
Stove League (Hot Stove League on Netflix) is a drama that grips the viewer from the start. In part, this is because one knows the story already, it being a heavy lift from the Brad Pitt film, Moneyball.
Unknown, maverick manager is greeted by a wall of despondency and scepticism then makes matters work by throwing out some of the rotten eggs, but eventually gets people onside by revealing he knows his stats and he's got a plan that can work. Meanwhile, it doesn't need a spoiler alert to say, he's got the top brass against him, nor that he's in with a chance of winning, but at what cost.
Different from other dramas, for once there isn't a gangster element, other than the parent company, anyway, and not one single funeral scene. OMG! I know, we thought the funeral scene was compulsory in K-dramas.
Predictable, at times, but I was held in every episode. There are good sub-plots also with intriguing backstories.
The cast is tremendous and the use of real baseball stars adds an air of authenticity. Sure, they're hardly the most natural of actors but they're each right for their characters, so it works.
It gets over an 8 on IMDB and that's well deserved.
Ps. Of course, the product placement is as bad as ever. I suspect if I were to visit Korea I'd be surprised that everyone is not dressed like a supermodel with wardrobes for daily change of outfits.
Seulgiroun Euisasaenghal (2020)
Daily Lessons in Life - Powerful Drama
This is a very classy Korean drama. That much is evident in the cast and the writing. It's a skillful weave combining the mundane in a medic's life with the challenges. We see strong, invincible characters save a life but then something else in their narrative has them dying on the inside.
None of the characters are successfully married. Either their relationships didn't work out, never matured, or were never realised but the details of such are incidental to the storyline rather the principal angst. This adds to the perception, perhaps, that not much occurs and yet each episode has a distinct dilemma. The doctor who yearns to be a priest, the romeo who may have found a true love too late, the doting single father who knows the unattainable one that would make his family complete.
Personally, as a middle-aged London viewer I don't care for the 'Patridge Family' musical element which is pretty cheesy and surprising given that the drama works hard NOT to be cheesy, but I appreciate this is maybe something to tide over the k-pop teen viewers.
Overall, I'd give an 8 but at times for writing and performances it really does hit a ten.
Monarch (2000)
'Monarch' Lives Again
The late T.P. McKenna will soon be making a comeback of sorts with the re-release of 'Monarch' on blu-ray.
This was a film feature he made in 1996 for John Walsh making his drama debut. The enterprising young graduate of the London Film School aimed high with a part-fact/part-fiction account of an isolated King Henry VIII in the last year of his life who, after he is injured on a hunting trip, is forced to take refuge in a strange manor house, well away from the protection of his palaces and his court.
There are fears of enemies within and without the walls as the king glowers in a virtual state of persecution. In his delirium a conflation of his wives attends his bedside (all played by Jean Marsh). Even Ebenezer Scrooge only had to cope with three ghosts in the one night.
Cinematographer, Ray Andrew (noted for his camera work on The Shining, Das Boot and An American Werewolf In London) enhances the film's tension with a subdued, almost Stygian lighting plot providing each frame with a painterly quality.
This is an assured feature film debut by John Walsh, however, it might be said to be a matter of regret that his notable successes as an award-winning documentary film maker have kept him from following up on his success with Monarch. Perhaps, with the restoration of the original negative for its blu-Ray release, Walsh will be inspired to return to the dramatic form.
For now, a distinct gem of a movie has been remounted and will soon be ready for a whole new audience.