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mymainbox08
Reviews
Doctor Zhivago (2002)
Worthwhile Viewing
DR ZHIVAGO is definitely worthwhile viewing for TV fans without the patience or interest to sit through the original film epic on the small screen. Yes, of course the film is a 'classic', however its style and production values are now very old fashioned for a modern audience who expect a fresher feel to what they view on TV, so that's why this new adaptation can sit quite happily in the schedule, because it caters for a different type of market who can't be bothered to watch 'old' films on TV no matter how 'classic' they are. I think it's quite pointless trying to make comparisons between the two works, and this offering should be critiqued on its own merits.
This adaptation has a lot of plus points. The location photography is picturesque and handles the snow scenes admirably. The performance of Hans Matheson playing 'Yury' is compelling - in many ways reminding me of the style of Christian Bale; with that ability to act beneath the skin and to project powerfully through the eyes. He has a strong screen presence. The refined and understated performance of Keira Knightley playing 'Lara' was very pleasing and reminded me of the style of Kate Winslett, in that her acting portrays a very easy grace and gentleness in her delivery and personification of the character; it's a level of subtle sophistication in acting skill that's easy for people not to fully appreciate. The most astounding performance for me, and I'm sure for any British viewer, came from Kris Marshall - in the UK we're very familiar with him on TV as a 'foolish idiot goof' character in a much repeated sitcom and long-running advert spokesman, and he's very much typecast himself in our consciousness via these choices in his career, so to see him in this adaptation barely recognisable playing 'Pasha Antipov/Strelnikov' was very surprising; more surprising still is the fact that he REALLY can act! Kris Marshall turns in a stellar performance, truly suspending disbelief and losing himself in the role to deliver solid convincing work. It would be marvellous now to see him in further challenging roles. Not all the acting was good however. Sam Neill disappoints big time as 'Victor' in a very lacklustre jobbing-actor performance that lacked heart and conviction. My biggest criticism of the production has to be the interior sound recording, which is unforgivably and astonishingly amateur - the echo on the voices was bearable, however many scenes were in rooms with bare wooden floors and even the tiniest foot movement crashed like the clattering hooves of a horse in its trailer - DREADFUL! And surely so EASY for the Director to rectify - if I'd had this problem I'd have glued soft soles, such as a thin piece of foam to the actors' shoes to help silence them if the sound tech couldn't rectify the issue on location . It was the worst interior sound recording of any professional TV production that I can remember and why it was acceptable to the Director I cannot imagine.
Overall, I would certainly recommend this adaptation as worthwhile viewing, especially over the Christmas TV schedule when it was shown in the UK where it fits very appropriately with the season and people have the time to sit back for three hours and watch the full serial epic.
Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)
An Absolute Delight!
Gerry Anderson is one of the very few stellar heroes of British TV production, and this classic THUNDERBIRDS offering is an absolute delight. Such a shame that folks in the USA and other countries didn't have the opportunity to grow up with Gerry Anderson's weekly TV shows the way two decades of children throughout the 1960s and 70s did in the UK - we were so privileged. His production values and characterisations are always consistently exceptional, and his work has surely influenced the creativity of virtually everyone above the age of 35 working in the British film and TV industry. THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO like all his other work is so much more than just a puppet show - the characters and their interactions have depth, the action, the angles, the voice acting talents, the tension are all filmic and it's so easy to imagine these are real people not plastic toys. Please watch it and anything else he's done. For me one of the greatest things about THUNDERBIRDS and most other Gerry Anderson shows is the MUSIC, which is simply thrilling. The THUNDERBIRDS theme tune is an absolute undeniable classic, and the greatest joy of this particular production is that it concludes with an actual outdoor performance of the theme tune by Her Majesty's Royal Marine Band playing their chops while marching on the parade ground - UTTERLY FABULOUS - made my scalp go all tingly to hear it! Watch THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO for the music alone, but also enjoy the story, which I'm not going to spoil for you. This is great fun TV viewing for all the family.
Stingray: The Reunion Party (2008)
Simply Delightful
This is essential TV viewing for all fans of Gerry Anderson; especially for fans of STINGRAY, in which case this show is unmissable. Unlike episodes of THUNDERBIRDS and some of Mr. Anderson's other works STINGRAY is very rarely repeated on terrestrial UK TV, so to see this recently constructed offering was an absolute delight. It contains clips from previous episodes that are being watched by the male STINGRAY team as they wait for the girls to get ready for a party, so we get to revisit some of the show's popular villains and how Troy first met Marina. I utterly LOVE and adore STINGRAY - it massively influenced my creative development as a child and I was glued to the TV set for every episode growing up, so it was wonderful to see this special 'Reunion Party' one-off. The characters, their relationships, and their interactions, together with the fantastic voice acting talents are simply amazing on STINGRAY, and we get a second look in this stand-alone production to remind us of how good they were. The memories come flooding back watching this of the quality that was STINGRAY. It would be fantastic if STINGRAY could be made into a live action film that genuinely did it justice - unlike the travesty of the 'Thunderbirds' film that bore scant resemblance to Mr. Anderson's creation. Of course the highlight to all STINGRAY episodes was the music, plus opening and closing themes, and the awesome 'tribal' drumming alarm signal as the HQ is lowered into the ground to protect it from attack - we get all this again the 'The Reunion Party' - and THANKFULLY for one very rare occasion on UK TV the inter-programme announcer didn't speak all over the end credits, nor were they shrunk into a tiny box or a strip for the purpose of showing us what was up next in the schedule - HALLELUIAH - this meant we had the full treat of listening to STINGRAY'S famous beautiful closing song, and seeing the wonderful closing images that always accompanied it. I love STINGRAY. Please watch this one-off special when it's repeated again on UK TV as you won't be disappointed - as long as you get to see/hear the full closing credits.
Blackbeard: Terror at Sea (2006)
Surprisingly Enjoyable
Watching this much-repeated UK TV docu-drama serial about the infamous life and times of BLACKBEARD is a very rewarding experience. Factual accuracy can't be guaranteed as so little genuine information survives about this man, but what it does do very successfully is to deliver a new perspective about him that other programmes/films have not; and for this alone it's a very worthwhile production. It's also very competently shot and directed, which is a big bonus. Watching this you definitely get a different insight into the man that recreated himself as BLACKBEARD and went on to market his own persona with great success - unlike the mad savage he's usually portrayed as, we get the impression he must have actually been a very cunning and intelligent man who was perhaps a maverick well beyond his time in terms of understanding how to develop a brand image and how to promote that for best effect. JAMES PUREFOY is absolutely stunning in the role, and personally I find this his best performance to date, simply because he loses himself in it, which I've not seen him do successfully in his other roles. Perhaps it's due to the costume and big beard, and that there's no reliance on his good looks for the role, so he's able to project his performance beyond the facade of his own features. For sure his portrayal of BLACKBEARD is the best I've ever seen from any actor, and it's a real credit to him. As for the pirate accents; definitely they're accurate if any non-UK viewers see this drama - most English pirates of the time (inc. Blackbeard) were from the Bristol area of the English south coast - they did indeed speak this way, and to a lesser degree it's still the local accent today.
Demons (2009)
Junk. Terrible Junk.
DEMONS follows hot on the heels of our current (and longstanding) UK obsession for TV drama that focuses on anything supernatural. I'm a fan of all things SF and horror, but even I'm tired of the endless parade of poor quality UK produced genre programming that's been churned out for the past few years - we used to be SO GOOD at it, but these days we stink, and DEMONS is the worst smell to date! Unfortunately it also follows the UK TV trend of the past few years for casting bland uncharismatic actors in roles that need way more interest to sustain the viewer. The plot is simply based on the MIB premise of "smiting inhumans" (yes, "smiting") to protect us from them; only instead of aliens these are supposedly various forms of 'demons' - actually very unscary very cheap CGI and sad make-up miscreants that verge on the laughable. And guess what - the dull teenaged central protagonist is related to Van Helsing (yawn!). The script is painful. The story ponderous. The characters so dreadfully lacklustre. Philip Glenister plays the Helsing boy's mentor 'Rupert' and he's cringingly achingly bad in the role, so much so that I won't be watching the show again. He uses a dreadful fake Sam Spade type accent (why, oh why?), has zero dynamism, and his delivery is completely tired and wooden - almost as though he's hating everything about the role and wants out. He was GREAT playing Gene Hunt in UK TV's hit series 'Life on Mars', but in DEMONS he's terrible. This first episode was immediately forgettable; therefore it has failed - the purpose being to build audience attention from the get go - even though it has its own ITV website, online game, forums, and the usual obligatory interactive junk set up for it, surely this won't be enough to save it for a second series? Perhaps the show will improve as the characters develop, but with the clunking miscast weight of Glenister dragging it down it's going to be a very hard uphill struggle! Such a shame the UK has failed yet again to deliver the quality of genre TV programming produced by the USA, Australia, and Canada.
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor (2008)
David Morrissey Astoundingly Good!
The Next Doctor as a whole was "okay". The script was very dull. The saving grace was David Morrissey playing the said 'Next Doctor'. His performance was astoundingly good - really exceptional - he gave it all he had; but definitely wasn't OTT (like his counterpart). Mr Morrissey exhibited a quality well above this production, and it blew me away. I shall certainly be looking out for him in future. The stand-out factor of the show was the giant robot at the end rising from the Thames and stomping on Olde Worlde London; it really did look fantastic and the CGI dept did a very fine job indeed. The big aspect of the show that genuinely upset me was their use of a REAL graveyard to shoot a Cyberman group attack scene; it was covered with paper snow and the actors were running/falling all over the graves, which for me personally isn't acceptable for any production. The graveyard could easily have been constructed in a studio, thus negating this most disrespectful behaviour. Overall, not a bad show; however it was just the talent of David Morrissey and the giant robot that saved it, otherwise it would have been totally forgettable.
Merlin's Apprentice (2006)
Very Enjoyable and Captivating TV Fantasy
Being a viewer with a short attention span who bores very easily watching TV I was amazed that Merlin's Apprentice captured me so much that it caused me to sit watching avidly for the full three hour epic on the British Christmas TV schedule. I wanted to break away, but I couldn't; for me this testifies to its excellence. Negative criticism of the Director David Wu is unjustified; he's been nominated for Outstanding Direction for another of his works, and in this there was nothing to barrack him about. The production values for a TV drama were engaging. The cast were not "wasted" as David Mayer claims, though it would have been more satisfying if Miranda Richardson had more screen time. I admit I did find some of the editing cuts rather odd, and some of the flashback sequences didn't quite work, but overall it was a very enjoyable fantasy drama. I very much disagree with David Mayer's comment that the script was "flaccid and slow" - personally I thought the vocabulary used was charming and thoroughly in the time/mood of the piece. What is David Mayer's problem about using many different accents? It makes a drama so much more interesting and gives it way more flavour than a piece which only contains a bland monotone of generic American accents - personally I love to hear more than 'one voice' for distinctive characters; especially in fantasy. Drama isn't ALL about SFX - this fantasy didn't really need them, because the story, the cast, the acting, the direction were good enough to hold the attention and keep the viewer watching - and that's ALL a production aims for. How cruel and unjustified for David Mayer to say this should be dubbed for comedy and that it didn't work - this smacks of bitterness to me, as though this reviewer has an axe to grind regarding this production. The truth is that it DOES definitely WORK and it's certainly not a comedy. Merlin's Apprentice is an enchanting, exciting, and captivating tale well acted, well produced, and well directed that all ages can enjoy viewing, with many "Oh my goodness" moments in it that keep you glued to the set until the end. Watch it if you can, and find out!