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matt-1382
Reviews
Fantastic Four (2005)
Good fun - underrated
A highly enjoyable comic book adaption with brilliant special effects and some nice touches. I particularly like the pre-transformation in-jokes such as Richards "always stretching" and Grimm "solid as a rock".
Good performances from the cast, and the appearance of the characters, and their temperaments, are true to the comic book (although to be fair, it's been several years since I've read it!)
In short, deserved to be better reviewed. OK, it's not a deep and moody psychological drama, and there are one or two plot inconsistencies, but that's because it's a COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION, get over it. I think some of these critics have forgotten how awful superhero movies were in the past (anyone remember those 70's Spider-man films?) and need to re-assess their expectations of this genre. Not quite up there with the very best modern adaptations, but a pretty damned good movie all the same.
The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
Awful
We watched this the other night because of the reputation of the cast - particularly Mark Gatiss and David Tennant - not to mention the "iconic" nature of the name Quatermass. At the time we didn't know that it had been recorded live. Hence we had no idea why there were no special effects, strange Apprentice-style flyover shots of London, not to mention some bizarre prop choices (what *was* that thing that fell on the floor in the art gallery?!). Of course these were either caused by, or designed to overcome, the technical limitations of a live broadcast.
However I still don't understand the anachronisms. If it wasn't for the Tate Modern and the BBC news bulletins, there would be no reason to think this wasn't a 1950's period drama. The dialogue was in the post-imperial stiff upper lip tradition and the newspaper reporter was, bizarrely, a teddy boy. The saddest thing is the complete failure of the programme to create any tension, fear or even intellectual curiosity on the viewer's part.
A wasted opportunity. They should have given this to the Doctor Who production team and done it properly - i.e., not live.
The Producers (1967)
Just possibly the most over-rated comedy of all time
The Producers has very much made its mark on popular culture... the successful Broadway show, West End show and recent remake would all go to suggest that this is some kind of comedy masterpiece. I'm afraid to say it is not.
The plot contains some good ideas and a couple of brilliant ones. But the script is juvenile, crude and generally silly without being funny. The two central performances are way over the top and there is a real problem with the comic timing.
The highlight is the opening song of the musical and the petrified audience reaction. The rest of the movie, frankly, sucks. Carry On Nurse is funnier.
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
A wonderfully made film without a plot
A superbly scripted, acted and produced account of the Gilbert and Sullivan creative partnership. Jim Broadbent gives us a compelling portrait of Gilbert, a seemingly dour and unhappy man, who nonetheless produced some of the best comic writing of his day. Allan Corduner also shines as the brilliant but hedonistic and slightly erratic Sullivan.
The costumes and sets are all evocative of the age and the script teems with often hilarious observations from the very strong support cast - notable among whom are Timothy Spall and the inappropriately named Martin Savage.
However, there is a big problem with Topsy-Turvy - a lack of credible narrative flow. Situations emerge in the plot which need resolution, but are subsequently ignored. An example occurs early on in the film, when Gilbert witnesses the mental breakdown of his own father (a stunning piece of acting from Charles Simon). After the scene has taken place, no mention is again made of the event - or the effect it would have had on Gilbert or his family.
More seriously, during the first third of the film, we are led to believe that its central theme will be how the G&S partnership solves a fundamental problem: Sullivan's refusal to write music for any more comic operas. He states quite emphatically that he is not interested in the script that Gilbert has written, nor will he be in any similar work. The partnership appears to be at an end.
Gilbert then writes another comic libretto which Sullivan promptly gets to work on without complaint or even comment! The tension is unresolved, are we are left feeling confused, our questions unanswered.
In summary, Topsy-Turvy works brilliantly at the detailed level, but the "big picture" is incomplete. To sit for two and half hours through a film without a plot is, in the end, somewhat tiresome.