I don't know if it's just the vast wasteland of American TV that makes my opinion so different from the last two reviewers, but I thought this was pretty gently funny and fairly clever. The cgi effects were lovely, the actors may be old hat to the Brits, but are delightful for those of us across the pond to watch. And I just love Stephen Fry. I found it family entertainment for anyone whose kids have passed 9th grade English. It was a lot like the recent Terry Pratchett specials (Color of Magic and Hogfather). Not hilarious, not award- winning writing, but an enjoyable effort, and well worth a cup of hot chocolate and a few laughs.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Cowboys & Aliens
(2011)
Not awful, not good either
8 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The cowboy parts were OK, filmed beautifully. The plot rules change every 15 minutes, which is unsurprising, because there were about 8 different writers, so figure on a complete huh? with every change of writer. Characters who knew nothing the first third of the movie turn out to be experts on the situation. The aliens are silly. Their motivation for being here is pretty bland, and given how powerful they are, there's no reason for their human research hobby. Took itself much too seriously to have so much inconsistency. Made me miss Firefly, where at least the world worked in an internally consistent way, and where the enemy was us, which is a lot more believable. Craig is pretty good, but underused, Ford plays a guy that he apparently (and obviously) changed the character of midstream, Favreau has done much better, but the dog is just great.
Tron: Legacy
(2010)
gorgeous but lame
26 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Granted, the original wasn't Shakespeare. But surely for a tiny fraction of the budget, they could afford a decent writer. Or maybe just one. It feels like it was written by a committee of people who all hated each other. The two teens I saw it with rewrote it with about 6 variations on the drive home, all of which were superior to the movie.
Absolutely beautiful, but it felt like postcards, filled with dropped story lines and utterly inconsistent internal logic. What happened to the people at Encom? Were they evil? Why didn't they expect the yearly prank by now? Why hasn't Allen been working on his own avatar? How did Clu manage a page? The list goes on and on.
Absolutely beautiful, but it felt like postcards, filled with dropped story lines and utterly inconsistent internal logic. What happened to the people at Encom? Were they evil? Why didn't they expect the yearly prank by now? Why hasn't Allen been working on his own avatar? How did Clu manage a page? The list goes on and on.
Going Postal
(2010)
Only OK, awful casting on leads
3 June 2010
Production values are top notch with one, terrible exception: Mr Pump is utterly awful. His costume was taken out of the lower-school foam art class. They did Grile fine, so why such a bad job of the golems? I was surprised at the casting, actually, especially as the production seemed so opulent. Besides the costume, Mr Pump is too short, and rarely golem-like. Only the moment when he held Lipwig by his ankle was recognizable. Richard Coyle could not con his way out of a damp paper bag. Not glib, not clever, not quick, not joyful. Lipwig has an incredible way with words. Coyle, sadly, does not. David Suchet was completely ridiculous--Reacher Gilt is like a smart pirate, also a conman--not simply a sociopath.
On the plus side, unlike another reviewer, I wasn't too fussed by Charles Dance. The hair color was wrong, but he was true to Ventinari's demeanor and self-control. He was miles better than Jeremy Irons camping it up in The Colour of Magic. Claire Foy was fine, as was Andrew Sachs. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal was great in the small part of Angua, though she acted out of character. And last but absolutely not least, Ian Bonar was a complete pleasure to watch from beginning to last--a perfect Stanley. Intense, slightly wrong; he even leaned to the side ("he was raised by peas") even though it wasn't mentioned in the script.
The treatment was OK. I could live with most of the narrative changes. It's just that if you're going to condense it this much, the actors, especially the leads, should really be inhabiting the characters, who are all so fully formed to begin with. I wish they had all been Ian Bonor's caliber.
On the plus side, unlike another reviewer, I wasn't too fussed by Charles Dance. The hair color was wrong, but he was true to Ventinari's demeanor and self-control. He was miles better than Jeremy Irons camping it up in The Colour of Magic. Claire Foy was fine, as was Andrew Sachs. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal was great in the small part of Angua, though she acted out of character. And last but absolutely not least, Ian Bonar was a complete pleasure to watch from beginning to last--a perfect Stanley. Intense, slightly wrong; he even leaned to the side ("he was raised by peas") even though it wasn't mentioned in the script.
The treatment was OK. I could live with most of the narrative changes. It's just that if you're going to condense it this much, the actors, especially the leads, should really be inhabiting the characters, who are all so fully formed to begin with. I wish they had all been Ian Bonor's caliber.
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