I struggle to see the audience for this, a feel-good movie about loss and reconciliation in a retirement home for singers and musicians starring every geriatric English actor who's never been on "Last of the Summer Wine". The question of course is whether the new arrival at Beecham House Jean Horton joins her former colleagues or not. Well the most dramatic thing that happens is a bunch of flowers is thrown over a railing, and you don't get to hear them sing or lipsynch. I could imagine an ageing audience falling for this but for the foul language, and for anyone else the plodding sentimentality makes it feel as well as look like death warmed up. With such graceful, witty and touching films available as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I really can't see this getting an encore.
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Book of Daniel
(2006)
Soul food
30 August 2010
"Book of Daniel" struck me as a morally interesting work, concerning a man with both human foibles and Christian principles who tries to follow the latter in a world that pays lip service to godliness but in reality exercises corruption, hypocrisy, racism, homophobia, and self deception. Some of the characterisation was derivative, the gay son and the artistic daughter owing rather a lot to their counterparts in "Six Feet Under" and the mafiosi and catholics owing so much to so many bad stereotypes, and there was a tendency to end scenes prematurely, or to retreat into humour or sentimentality, but the series was characterised by engaging (and rather attractive) people facing moral dilemmas that one could relate to. As well as star turns by Aiden Quinn and Ellen Burstyn with support from "Kings" stalwarts Susanna Thompson and Dylan Baker as well as touching turns from the likes of James Webhorn and Fran Bennett. I was sad to see the series end so prematurely, and to know that only UK viewers who have multi-regional DVD players are ever likely to see it.
Kings
(2009)
Princely, if not a royal flush
9 August 2010
The 12 hour long episodes of "Kings" make a complex and satisfying little series even if all the major characters are largely left intact at the end for the second series that never was in this tribal Middle Eastern monarchy meets media-savvy Middle American democracy melange. Viewers not well versed in the biblical source material will miss little and those who have OD-ed on their OT will still face the occasional surprise. The narrative of power and passion is well told, at times decently written and with some class acts, notably the standout Ian McShane as King Silas (read Saul), not quite up to his "Deadwood" standard but impressive none the less. The younger actors have less material to play with and tend to rely on facial expressions more than acting but as the pace quickens half way through the series after a lot of scene setting and some longeurs it does become an exciting story. In about 20 minutes on screen Brian Cox gives a masterclass on how a great actor can excel in a small role by extracting everything it has to offer, while Eamonn Walker and Susanna Thompson give solid support. Chris Egan as David Shepherd (geddit?) gets better as the series goes on and he loses his naivete and starts taking some initiatives though Alison Miller is a lacklustre love interest. Jason Antoon and Joel Garland play two security guards commenting on the action but the device isn't well sustained. All in all worth seeing through and savouring.
A Dance to the Music of Time
(1997– )
a quick canter through the music of time
4 August 2010
Though nothing can compare with the books this is quite a fine stab, studded with the finest English talent of its period sensitively cast, and moderately faithful to significant portions of the books. The narrator's voice and perspective are well maintained though oddly James Purefoy is replaced by an excellent but jarring John Standing in the last episode while most of the other actors are cosmetically aged with varying degrees of success. Simon Russell Beale excels but does not dominate as the repulsive Widmerpool and the female characters live as they don't always in the books where they are seen through men's eyes. The music is well chosen and used from Coward's "Twentieth Century Blues" onwards and the use of visual art, including the eponymous Dance is apt.
Nightwatching
(2007)
Clockwatching at Nightwatching
4 August 2010
A good film but long, and one has to be something of an aficionado of Greenaway to enjoy this one. Beautifully lit and visually composed with an insistent Nymanesque score and a witty script this not only benefits from but demands several viewings from the Stoppard of cinema. I warmed to Martin Freeman as Rembrandt, a new actor to me, as the film went on for his combination of high art, low sex and comfortable domesticity. He was no more moral than those whose foibles he sought to expose, but he was certainly more likable. It is not really possible to follow the 33 people (and dog) in the eponymous painting and the mysteries tat Greenaway seeks to solve, which make more sense in his documentary "Rembrandt's J'Accuse" than they do in this film – both are packaged together in the DVD. I would not say this is less demanding than his recent films, though it is certainly more accessible, and his best since the scandalously unavailable "Drowning by Numbers".
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