Reviews

All I can say is, wow that was an hour and 20 or so minutes well spent! As a big fan of "Psycho" and in particular "Les Diaboliques", I was really taken aback as to how well this film holds up. A genuine suspenseful and creepy film. The only gripe I had was Ronald Lewis' character, which (to avoid any spoilers) could have been written better. One scene involving a discovery and later a confrontation, I personally thought was a tad clumsy and gave away an incline as what was to follow. However I didn't let that spoil the rollercoaster ride that this film is. Not knowing anything about it beforehand was a wise decision too!

As a lifelong fan of L&H, naturally I was over the moon to hear that this film was being made, though I must admit I was hesitant when I heard of the casting choices. Thankfully I was proven wrong and both Steve Coogan and John C Reilly do an amazing job in the roles. I had heard Steve do an impression of Stan in BBC's "The Trip" series and he has it off to a tee. He's not a dead ringer for him, but the performance really makes up for that. John C Reilly is uncanny as Oliver Hardy and I actually forgot it was him under prosthetic makeup appliances! The film details the duo's final years, when they toured Britain in the early 50's and the troubles they faced with their drop in popularity. The context of the film was first brought to my attention through AJ Marriott's fantastic book, "L&H: The British Tours", which chronicles the four separate trips they made to the UK. I read this before the film was released, so it was nice to see the text being adapted into the film (And very proud to see my Glasgow home town make an appearance!). The film is a mixed bag of emotions, with nods and flashbacks to the duo's early days reminiscing the viewer of the scale of their work as a team. Having seen the film twice now (the first included a great interview with director, John S Baird), I must say that I found it even more emotional second time round, even though some of these scenes upped the dramatisation. I've heard fans say that they won't watch it as it may ruin the funny/happy connotations that L&H have, but you have to realise that they were real people too and I can agree it may not be everyone's bag, but I found it to be very ensightful without altering the image of this iconic duo. The final scene is a very emotional watch, accompanied with a final title that explains what happened in the final years, along with a slideshow and clip from "Way Out West" (I never thought I'd get watery eyes watching the "At the Ball" dance sequence!) Overall this film is just fantastic and I hope it picks up a good number of awards as it definitely deserves it. A fantastic screenplay by Jeff Pope, along with great direction by Baird, the film is a must see for fans young and old. Now let's get them back on mainstream television!

Just been to the midnight showing, which was great! Just before I give my thoughts, it is worth pointing out that I am only a quarter of the way through the book, which I was aiming to finish before seeing this 😕 I have also yet to watch the 90's TV version (which I was to watch after finishing the book), so I can't really draw any comparisons. From the initial reviews, I was expecting to be seeing a terrifying film, which "It" is - if you have a clown phobia. Unfortunately I don't so it wasn't as scary as I expected, but definitely creepy and suspenseful in some parts. Another point that the reviews brought up was that the film was low on the jump-scares which isn't true really as most of the scares seemed to be generated in this way. Also some effects sequences looked a little fake, particularly when Pennywise is moving about, which seems to using CG (quite pointless if you ask me). Onto some positive points. For a film rated 15 though, this film does have a fair amount of blood/gore which I found quite surprising. The cast are great and provide some great drama (as well as some laughs) to the story. The actor playing Pennywise is great, and it'd be interesting to compare with Tim Curry's approach. The film overall was beautifully shot, with great set pieces and a score that fits the tone of the film. However it did seem to go on longer than expected - I honestly thought I'd been sitting for 3 hours (the run time is 2hrs, 15mins). That said, at no point did I ever lose interest in what was happening. Not really a spoiler, but this is the first of two chapters so the ending is really a cliffhanger of sorts, which I was expecting and I do look forward to viewing the next film. Overall the moral of the story here is not to get caught up in the hype of a film. I think people want to be scared by this film, which is fine, it just didn't deliver what was being said in the initial reviews. I'll give it an 8/10 for just now, as it may change after I've finished the book.