Al Fore Reviews

Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012)

Oh, one other thing...

[15 December 2001]

...who on Earth had the idea of using a Bob Dylan song as the theme of this show? Hm, Bob Dylan used to write about the evils of materialism and excess, and this show is about two women who worship materialism and excess. How sacrilegious, and how perfectly in keeping with the theme of total sacrilege that runs throughout the show.

One wonders, however, if the theme of the show would not have been better served by a different Dylan song, perhaps "Mixed Up Confusion"?

Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012)

Questions, ideas and comments

[15 December 2001]

Is the character of Patsy based on David Bowie's "Thin White Duke" in any way?

Has Tommy Chong ever appeared on the show? I get the general idea that Chong smoking a massive spliff would be a fitting sight in Edina's kitchen/dining room...

The biggest disbelief in the show that I can't seem to suspend is that Saffron is such an intelligent, studious, level-headed character who was raised by Edina and largely abandoned by her father. Where on Earth did she get her maturity and studiousness from?

Despite this, the most appealing character in the show is Saffron, made old by the tiresome burden of keeping things in order as far as she can. Her emotions range from pathos to venom, usually directed at the equally venomous Patsy but often at her mother as well.

Jennifer Saunders is an amazing writer; she is as skillful as Edina is inept. (I can almost hear Edina bellowing: "INEPT! I am NOT inept!") Any fan of "Fawlty Towers", "Three's Company" or The Three Stooges will like AbFab.

An American Tail (1986)

A celebration of the American Dream

[16 March 2001]

As a non-American who has heard so often of The American Dream, I saw this movie as a celebration of that dream. The flight of the poor and oppressed (and Jewish?) from Europe to the proposed Land of Freedom and Wealth (There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese?) to find more poverty and oppression (workhouses, cats and workhouse tout Warren T. Rat), but with the opportunity to do something about it that they did not have in the old country.

The song "Somewhere Out There" is quite perfectly matched with Fyvel and his family searching for each other, and the version heard in the movie is rather more expressive than the released single.

It is not necessarily fun for the whole family. Children will find it fun. Adults will find it interesting, not so much in fun as in pride and awareness, at least if they are Americans .

Robin Hood (1973)

"Not In Nottingham" - tough song

[16 March 2001]

When one thinks of Disney songs, one generally thinks along the vein of "Someday My Prince Will Come" or "Once Upon A Dream". Disney songs are usually silly love songs, villain's expressions of their villainy, or some generally upbeat nonsense. Disney songs are generally not hard and gritty.

Which is why "Not In Nottingham" is my favourite Disney song ever. It is a hard and emotional song, blues like an icepick to the soul, the loudest and harshest cry of pain I have ever heard in a Disney film. Where else in Disney-land would you hear a line like "Don't you know there's nothing left for me?".

Combined as it is with the jail scene, it is melancholia at its depths, and a refreshing change from the general froth one expects, and generally gets, from Disney movies and songs.

Lady and the Tramp (1955)

A comparison of dog shows

[16 March 2001]

I have recently seen "Lady And The Tramp" again and it is illustrative of why I prefer Bluth's films to Disney's. The Bluth film in this instance is "Balto", another dog romance but with a harder edge.

"Lady And The Tramp" is set in suburbia in the Teens, a favourite time and place for Disney. Everything is safe and sane in Disney's suburbia of the Teens, and the streets and alleyways are clean even on the wrong side of the tracks. The Tramp is a nice guy despite his vagabond ways; in fact, so are all the pound dogs. The only real villains are the Aunt and her cats (and the rat, of course).

"Balto", conversely, is set on the last American frontier. Balto is also a nice guy, but is set under much harsher conditions. Unlike Tramp, who is a dog amongst dogs despite being a mongrel, Balto is a pariah even among the street dogs because he is not merely a mongrel, but half-wolf.

The crisis in "Lady and the Tramp" revolves around an "anti-dog" babysitting aunt and her two cats, and is generally quite light, of little consequence compared to an epidemic amongst children. Tramp's moment of heroism is to save a baby from a rat (which the cats could have done just as well, if not better...). Balto, however, must save the sled team sent to get the medicine to save the children, and face society's scorn, the dangers of the wild, Steel's treachery, and his own self-doubt, to do so.

Lady is also a quite vapid creature compared to Jenna. Jenna is also a middle-class dog, but is not quite the innocent that Lady was (Nome, Alaska, is a harder place than middle-American suburbia of the teens) and is rather stronger than Lady, to the point of saving Balto from a bear attack.

In short, "Lady and the Tramp" is a nice enough children's tale. Balto is an epic. I prefer epics.

What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)

Interesting casting choice.

[17 October 1999]

I have not seen this film as such, but from the clips I've seen from it and from documentaries I've seen on Tina Turner, what strikes me is how much Angela Bassett looks like Tina Turner from the Ike & Tina days, and how LITTLE Laurence Fishburne looks like the real Ike Turner!

Maybe Fishburne's usual powerful performance convinced the powers that be to cast him, or maybe the producers didn't think people would believe that a small, thin, scrawny man like the real Ike Turner could intimidate Tina, much less physically abuse her. In any case, I wonder if Don Cheadle tried out for the role. He's a reasonable actor (although maybe not in Fishburne's league) and he looks a lot more like Ike that Fishburne does.

Ronin (1998)

I liked it.

[3 October 1999]

To all of those saying that Ronin has no plot, watch "Universal Soldier", "Street Fighter" or even "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and talk to me again.

Those who repeatedly ask, "Who were the good guys?" or "What's in the case?" are probably not fans of the spaghetti western, where there was often no such thing as a good guy. Yes, the whole movie is a complicated, expensive and deadly game of American football with all of France as the field and where no one knows either who's really on their team or the true nature of the ball. But the bonds and multiple betrayals within the team remind me greatly of LeCarre's work, and one would not have been too surprised if Smiley was somewhere lurking in the background, observing the whole thing.

The characters make this movie great, just as Teasle and Trautman made "First Blood" great and the "terrorists" made "Die Hard" great. Every member of the team is memorable, and ultimately the quietest (Vincent) is the most memorable.

Spaghetti western fans rejoice: There's "Ronin", there's "Legends of the Fall", and I'll have to see "Three Kings" before I judge it...

White Man's Burden (1995)

Powerful film, got the message across to me at least...

[17 July 1999]

"White Man's Burden" only makes sense if you are willing to see yourself as others see you and maybe see others as they see themselves. It is by no means a flawless movie. One would expect a black ruling class, in the absence of white aristocracy to mimic, to be a bit more Afrocentric. Also, one stereotype they missed was the white equivalent of a self-hating black cop, like the one in "Boyz 'n the Hood". However, the sledgehammer approach certainly served to drive the point home.

The question is: are we, the viewers, ready to put on the other guy's shoes and start walking?

Falling Down (1993)

L. A. Tapestry.

[9 June 1999]

The main character of "Falling Down" is not D-Fens, nor is it the cop who tracks him down. The main character of "Falling Down" is the dark side of the city of Los Angeles. D-Fens' mad journey is the backdrop; the extras and the locations are the real story. From the traffic jam in the beginning to the hawkish shopkeepers, the obnoxious fast-food store attendants, the gang-bangers, the beggars in the park, the miserable failure of a drive-by shooting, the protester who can't undersatnd why he's Not Economically Viable, the Aryan Supremacist surplus store owner, the callous old man on the golf course, the little boy who shows D-Fens how to fire the rocket launcher; the movie is an ongoing tapestry of the dark, foul underbelly of daily life in the big city.

"I'm the bad guy." said D-Fens. "How did that happen?" How did anywhere in the Land of Opportunity become the place described in "Falling Down?" This is not a movie to watch if you want light entertainment. This will disturb you. This will haunt you for a long time.

Legends of the Fall (1994)

War movie, frontier movie, gangster movie, ROUGH MOVIE!

[13 May 1999]

In the middle of watching this movie, I wished my brother had been alive to see it. He liked spaghetti westerns, and Tristan certainly resembled a spaghetti western "hero". The Colonel was a typical Anthony Hopkins character right up to a crucial point and then became a typical "grizzled old coot" western character.

Is it a war movie? A western? A gangster movie? It is all, it is none. It is just ROUGH, as Tristan's character is rough, as the Colonel is rough; nothing can abrade them, nothing can break them, nothing can tame them; the Colonel was somewhat civilized from the beginning, but never tame; and the final showdown is all one could hope for.

Bakersfield P.D. (1993– )

Fun and a bit foolish

[24 April 1999]

Paul Gigante, a successful D.C. police detective, has to leave town with his son for the middle of nowhere, i.e. Bakersfield. He joins the Bakersfield P.D., a loose organization of weirdos & imbeciles. His partner, Wade Preston, is a TV cop show fanatic and tries to act like the TV cops; the desk sergeant actually runs the department because the captain can't make any decisions; and a macho cop is teamed with a mildly effeminate partner.

Like "Frank's Place", another great TV comedy that bombed in one season, "Bakersfield P.D." had no laugh track; you have to find the jokes yourself. This misfit comedy was at least as funny as "WKRP in Cincinnati"! Why do so many really funny comedies bomb?