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A Man in Full (2024)
Not Tom Wolfe, but still good
One of those tv adaptions where it's important to keep in mind good tv is not the same as a good book. It largely follows the plot of the book until the last episode, but "modernises" Tom Wolfe's perspective.
The book and film are both about what it means to be a "man in full" in modern America. Tom Wolfe carefully disentangles class and racial oppression in the US by having Tom Croker contrasted with a white working class man, and lumps the new black middle class in with the white middle class.
The tv series dispenses with the white working class and adds a female perspective that is missing from the book. That second bit works well. It's got to be a gap that Wolfe ignores what being a "man in full" means for the women who have to endure this.
In honesty, the first is more mixed. The black lawyer works well, the black working class guy less so because the perspective the script takes on race distracts from the main theme.
Wolfe is all about messy reality, ambiguous people in ambiguous situations, some sometimes doing good. Everyone is in the gutter, but some are looking at the stars. The black characters are not given the chance to be that ambiguous.
Watch it, and then read the book!
Scoop (2024)
Good drama, well acted
Most people watching this will know the main events of the Prince's relationships, the interview and it's consequences. The film itself focuses on what we don't know: the build up and what was going on in the BBC at the time. Piper, Anderson, Hawes and Sewell are good actors, playing their roles to perfection. The writers create what drama they can from events the viewer knows. I understood more about why the interview happened, and why it was so successful (from an interviewer perspective). There is not much on the victims, but that's not the point. It was the sense of invulnerability that was cracked, not the crimes revealed.
Juliet, Naked (2018)
Excellent under-rated film
Loved the film. Usual Nick Hornby themes: boys trapped in infantile obsession, girls with them tolerating and suffering; catharsis through one character growing out of this dynamic. The novel is a "good in parts" rewrite of About a Boy and High Fidelity with a stronger female role.
What makes this film better than the book is the casting of Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke. The scenes between them feel natural. Hawke has the charisma gone to seed required, while Byrne lets her character be the right level of ambivalent. O'Dowd does okay as the Hornby character a few years older than previous books.
Film rushed a little at the end, and some of the minor characters were not so well acted. Overall, don't understand why this film did not do better.
La dernière vague (2019)
Excellent slow burner
Excellent slow burner sci-fi thriller. A series of family dramas are interupted, then driven by the appearance of the mysterious cloud. The people's reactions are a highly plausible mix of small heroic and ordinary failure. There are twists, and the the drama is heartfelt without melodrama.
What I particularly liked was the lack of preaching. There were undertones of allegory on the environment, but they were left realistically implied. The series grips you and will leave you with that wonderful sense of having watched something you will think about for weeks after it's finished. Hope it doesn't get an American version to spoil it.
Dexter: New Blood: Sins of the Father (2022)
Decent, but not amazing
Overall the series was decent, and carried the theme well, but had too few of the great moments that made the first few series of the original so good. (Did Hannah really die of cancer? Both Harrison and Caldwell were a bit predictable). This ending would have worked for the original series, if Dexter's sister had been allowed to shoot him. Harrison shooting him was a bit of an anti-climax .
The Serpent (2021)
Great series
Exactly the right level of sinister by Tahir Rahim and the others play their mix of forceful, inept and, sometimes tragically, confused.
Anyone who has backpacked will have a little sense of "there but for the grace of God go I..."
Sexify: Episode #1.6 (2021)
Just briliant
Title says it all. I know nothing about Poland, but i want to go to a country that crats this kind of popular art.
The Brink (2015)
Prescient satire
An update of the Whoops Apocalypse! film/series from the 1980s, but far, far cleverer. Very funny. The chaos of Trump's foreign policy done for laughs. Should be on the school curriculum.
The Tudors (2007)
first series a ten and then it declines
Great idea that is not followed through. The first series brings the gore and sex that is the essence of all the Tudors after Henry VII, but then gets stuck in its portrayal of Henry VIII. Not helped by the leading man who does arrogance very well, but not the subtleties of Henry VIII who, with his father and second daughter, revolutionised Britain's role in the world. By the last few series it just has the sex and none of the class.
The Dish (2000)
a gem of a film
This is a small film in the best sense of that term. It's about small town people, playing a small role in big events. The best scene is a dinner that the mayor and his wife hold for those running the dish of the title. It is beautifully, and hilariously, observed so the characters are understood in all their understated glory.
World on Fire (2019)
Great personal drama
This is for people who want to know about confusion and pain, not the shoot them up pastiche of war that is typical. It's sibjective approach means it has nine of the grand narative, but that's exactly right for the humane film it is
Damned (2016)
Great show, why was it cancelled?
Set in a social services office around 2 of the social workers. Both funny and sad. Poingnant on occasions. Well worth watching, particularly Alan Davies' low key, but exactly right, performance.
Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019)
Excellent movie
Both me and (my 11 year old) daughter loved this movie. Translated well to the longer form, with great story, funny and well characterised. They kept the historical accuracy (more accurate than Charlton Heston and Russel Crowe films), but did not let that drag thae plot down. I suspect some low scores are because production values eete not US standard. My advice: sit back and enjoy it.
Cloak & Dagger (2018)
Superheroes for grown ups (even though its about teenagers)
I first watched this because I couldn't sleep at 2am and thought it would bore me back to bed. Got completely hooked by the characters and the story telling. Bad for my next day, but a great series. Looking at the reviews I think this series is for grown ups, not those who normally watch Marvel stories.