Michael_Jonathan_Dowswell Reviews

Egypt: The Search for Tutankhamun (2005) Season 1, Episode 1

Still great after six years.

[8/10 · 5 May 2011]

I've just tonight watched this for the second time...the first time was when it premiered in 2005...I really liked it a lot then and always wanted to see it again....six years later and I can safely report that it's still great.

Ferdinand Fairfax is one of these great directors who I can definitely say is one of my favorites. He understands about shots...about how to stay wide and stay back...and also about shot length...ASL...Average Shot Length...(which is incredibly important to me). This is a man who also directed some meticulously detailed stuff...Danger UXB, Jeeves and Wooster and The Last Place on Earth. He gets the detail spot on again here in this Egypt series, of which he directed all six parts!

My only criticisms about it are that 1) The American was clearly a brit actor playing a American. 2) The flash backs looking like 50% of of the colour has been taken out.

But anyway...this is great and I believe it to be one of the last great BBC productions.

This Island Earth (1955)

A Real Treat

[10/10 · 7 July 2010]

It was a great surprise to be sat there in front of the TV and have no memory of about forty five percent of this film...I mean completely no memory at all...so this was like a first screening in a way. Maybe I've never actually seen the first 45% I remember the rest very well though. It goes straight into my all time favourite sci-fi films...which are Forbidden Planet, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, John Carpenter's The Thing, The Time Machine (1960), Westworld, Predator and Planet of the Apes (1968).

CONS: On the DVD they have done what they ought not to have done...they have cropped this film into a 16:9 shape...It's a horrible thing to do that to somebody's work...the director Joseph M. Newman died at age ninety seven in 2006, and I think this DVD was released in 2008. But this is just wrong and any film deserves respect...and this is not respectful treatment to a classic….yes, a classic.

PROS: Beautifully made, I mean seriously beautifully made. Very meticulous film-making going on here. The choice of colours and the design work for all the props, interiors is neurotic perfectionist flawless. It's also a talky film which I love....but balanced with just the right amount of talking so we have great structure and great pacing going on too...some genuine great intelligent writing lines like "the truth is never flattering" and lots of genuinely funny lines like "My mind is my own, and nobody's going to change it! I'm not going into that room!"

Exeter played by Jeff Morrow is of course a great character and is really entertaining to watch...he has a cheeky face and honestly looks a LOT like Robin Williams.

V: The Final Battle (1984)

A Problematic Sequel

[6/10 · 4 April 2010]

V: The Final Battle is in three parts.

Part one is about the mission to pull the face off the Visitor leader and the girl facing the fact that her babies father is a lizard. I really like this part one a lot...the build up on the mission to expose the Visitor leader on live television is really well paced and the structure is really very good...in fact, it is excellent. The girl having to go to the hospital is also really suspenseful. I think they did a very, very good job of this part one.

Now, when you get onto part two...I feel that it is unfortunately really baggy in places...the momentum at times is really lost...the torturing for example is quite lengthy and not all that gripping. It's like extra padding to make sure you increase the runtime...bulking it up. Don't get me wrong I love bits of it a lot...I love the giant water pipe sequence where they arrive to take a look at it.

The skydiving scene near the start of part three is a lot of fun...and the two babies story (to a point) I really like too...but I don't think I like what they eventually did with the girl sparkling / glittering at the end. I don't think that was necessary. The gun battles onboard the mothership are terrific and really well made / edited.

Ultimately, this is a extremely problematic mini series...but it's one that gets off to a great start (I highly recommend part one)...once you get into part two and three this is where I have some major problems but still feel it has great bits sprinkled into it throughout.

Mission to Mir (1997)

Love These Movies

[9/10 · 29 March 2010]

Another great one. Some truly beautiful shots of Mir in this...a extremely nice shot that's hand held with some reflections of people moving around at the very end (well actually, a whole bunch of nice hand held shots)...

...it was really interesting to see a Russian launch and the story of the American lady going up there was also special. Anything where somebody is told they cant do a thing and then they go off and do it is always wonderful.

See these in high definition and sit up closely to your television set...it's quite something.

Lost and Found (2008 TV Movie)

The Animation Company That Is As Good As Pixar

[9/10 · 29 March 2010]

Only two reviews???...oh, my, god!!! There really isn't a lot to be said here other than the company is one of the very best in the world and should be doing feature films...they did an amazing job here on this (remember this is only about 16 individuals)… The soundtrack is wonderful...the design work and lighting is wonderful...the STORY is great (most important part) and they have a lot of kudos from me.

It was a very special Christmas that they put this film on because we had this and also the return of Wallace and Gromit. It may sound silly but this film really made the Christmas because it was so very good...when you see something of very high quality you tend to get a real buzz off it and this one had that.

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag (2004)

I Enjoyed It

[8/10 · 28 March 2010]

I read a couple of very damning review of this film saying that it was completely dumbed down (simplified) and that some bits are completely fake. You could see watching it that this was indeed the case...

...but, I still think, that it's wonderful to see 70mm films in high definition (especially if your new to it too) the quality on the footage is so very clear and detailed….again its very nicely edited with long takes. There's a wonderful sense of being up there flying...its really quite scary actually! It's a problematic film definitely, but I still have to recommend it because of the detail in it that the 70mm cameras get...there is after all not many films made in this format too...so they are rare things.

I can completely understand people being upset about it...being a expert in something and *then* seeing a film about your specialist subject and that film missing the mark completely is very, very annoying...so I do understand it.

THE BAD: the person doing the narration is very monotone and that was very unfortunate.

THE GOOD: It's a heck of a experience with the detail this high.

Roving Mars (2005)

A Feel Good Film

[8/10 · 27 March 2010]

I do love these IMAX movies. It's very nice to see films that are EDITED properly and it's a real joy to see EDITING like this. This one has music that seems to be identical to Fog of War! It's good music though.

THE BAD: for something that is meant to be 100% real...why have they put sound on the outer space stuff? THE GOOD: There's never a dull moment in this documentary. It's really fascinating seeing how the rover unfolds itself and moves around the terrain. Plus the elaborate way in which they got it onto the martian surface in the first place! These films have a way of brightening up your day because they are so positive and exciting. You leave the film feeling good...and that HAS to be a good thing.

Space Station 3D (2002)

The Way Documentary Film-making Should Be (sort of)

[8/10 · 26 March 2010]

Incredible film...I can't recommend this one enough. But see it in high definition and sit close up to your TV. I was worried at the start of the film because there's a brief tiny bit of 3D stuff and I was starting to get uneasy in my chair about it because it ran for about three minutes I think...but once you get past that it doesn't go near 3D again and is simply amazing quality wise with real shots of what goes on inside (and outside) the space station. You get to see two launches in beautiful detail and sound. This film gains momentum at exactly the right pace.

This is very much like the five star documentaries I love from the late 70s / early 80s. It also reminds me of Kubrick (I think he would have loved this movie) My only criticism is that it's pretty dumbed down (simplified) and there is also no section on the space station toilet although we do get to see sleeping and eating. 2001 A Space Odyssey has a funny shot of the man looking at the toilet instructions and I think they could have included this in the movie (it would have been good) This is only my second ever IMAX film I've seen...the first one was called Everest and I saw that in the actual IMAX cinema...it was really amazing I remember....a experience everybody should have.

Arena: Making 'The Shining' (1980) Season 6, Episode 1

One of the greatest

[10/10 · 27 February 2008]

I'm so glad people are in here writing about this one. It's for me, one of the greatest documentaries showing true behind the scenes footage of a film. And I think it needs to be said time and time again really how great this film is. I wish that more stuff like this was shot on other films, where we got to see other directors working away...it's the oddest thing really but we hardly ever seem to see casual conversations between two people (on the set of a film) being shot very often, they're fascinating things to watch...Michael Palin does it on his documentaries.

What I have to mention here too is, what I think is a very good companion piece for Vivian Kubricks film, The Fred Dibnah Story which was shot at round about the same time...it goes from 1979 to early 90s and is in six episodes, thirty minutes per episode. It has the same style to it, a truly wonderful style I have to say.

The Fred Dibnah Story (1996– )

A real pleasure to view

[10/10 · 27 February 2008]

It is without a doubt, one of the finest documentary series I've ever seen. Don Haworth has done a incredible job here. If you're a fan of Vivian Kubrick's (the uncut version) Making 'The Shining' made in 1980, which is the closest thing I can compare this to, then I think you'll love this too. I have to say that it's a extremely nice style, we see people casually having conversation, eating, early eighties England (which was when I was born, which I think maybe adds to the interest for me) and it's all properly edited, plus no intrusive music. I cant recommend it enough really.

Shot on film and could easily hold its weight in a cinema, it's a excellent example of how to go about these things (in my opinion). It's a very personal film too, as it shows genuine emotional changes in the man its focuing on over the years that its shot. For more similarities I'll mention the cinematography style of American Movie, another great documentary made in 1999 about a struggling independent filmmaker.