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redlopa
Reviews
Large (2001)
Worth watching but nothing seminal.
So, I watched this film tonight actually on the strength of Morwenna Banks' presence. I had no presuppositions or expectations of the movie and was reasonably fulfilled by it. Most of the other reviewers are right - it is a gross out movie but seems to hover in a weird "cannot decide" world between a full on pop film and a stylised highly crafted piece. I liked: The performances - lots of people I never heard of giving a good show for the camera. The casting was great, apart from Les Dennis, who is just irritating in general. I liked the production values which were very high. I liked Melinda Gutteridge. I didn't like the pacing - the story just didn't really get going and though I was happy when everything inevitably resolved itself for good (not logging this as a spoiler, it's so obvious and in fact is implicit as part of the genre!) I still didn't feel there was enough flavour in what is a pretty run of the mill storyline. I actually found myself thinking nostalgically about the (superior) film Weird Science, whose plot is similar. God, and the actual cinematography was irritating. Scenes went from blue to yellow to orange... really VERY unsubtle to the point of interrupting the flow of the film. Casting: 8/10 Acting: 8/10 Pictures: 4/10 Story: 2/10 Execution: 6/10 Let's stick with an overall 5/10. Worth seeing but don't miss a good film in the cinema for it. PS partly in response to another reviewer, I don't think this film is remembered NOW, never mind in ten or twenty years time.
Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987)
Totally underrated observational comedy
This is one of the premier comedy shows of the 80s, and certainly one of Elton's best. He uses every comedy technique in his repertoire for this series and it's clear his writing had matured considerably at this point in his career.
When I first got to university in 1989, a friend there was a staunch Filthy fan. He and I would argue the toss over whether Filthy or the Young Ones was the "best" comedy series (bloody students, nothing better to do). It took a few years but I'm now convinced - Filthy is "grown up" Young Ones. The writing is better, the characters are stronger, the jokes are funnier, and there are still surreal moments. There are even real plots for goodness' sake!
I honestly can't recommend watching this series highly enough. Even if you just do it once and decide you hate it, you will have seen some of Ben Elton's "Rik and Ade" masterwork.