morgana-31 Reviews

Words and Music (1948)

All singing, all dancing, all star cast of thousands

[10/10 · 20 February 2007]

I first saw this movie on TV in 1963. I was only 13 years old. What caused me to sit down and watch was the mention of Mel Torme in the opening credits. I had only just become favorably aware of this man's music but had never seen as much as a photo of him.

This was my first experience of 'The Musical' genre of film and I was enchanted from beginning to end. Well apart from the Mel Torme bit. I think we got more of Larry Hart looking miserable, and his mother looking out of the window (no doubt wondering when this party was going to end. It's 4am and she probably needed her beauty sleep) than we did of Mel.

I was stunned by the brilliant 'Slaughter On 10th Avenue' sequence. There was stuff like this available and yet kids my age were listening to the Beatles? What on earth was wrong with the world? And Lena Horne's out-standing performance of The Lady Is A Tramp just blew me away.

Plot? OK it was sanitized but I didn't know that at the time. Homosexuality was never mentioned back then. I just figured that anyone who would write a song like 'My Funny Valentine' would never score with the ladies.

"Your looks are laughable - unphotographable" Come on. You can't be serious?

I finally found this on DVD a few days ago and couldn't believe my luck. I had wanted to see it again ever since reading in Mel Torme's autobiography that he and Richard Rodgers had had a falling out over how to handle the vocals on 'Blue Moon'. Mel had wanted to go with the meaning of the lyrics, example 'you heard me saying a prayer... (pause) for someone I really could care for.

Rodgers had insisted that he stick with the rhyme, example you heard me saying a prayer for (pause) someone I really could care for.

Sorry, Dick, but I'm with Mel on that one.

Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)

Read the BOOK - forget about the movie

[1/10 · 19 February 2007]

This really was terrible. I have seen a lot of Biblical epics and of course they get a lot of it wrong. But this didn't get anything right!

First of all we have Lot moving his family and goods away from his Uncle Abraham, because the land couldn't support them all. In the Bible we are told that Lot picked the lush, fertile land; leaving the arid land to his uncle. In this film Lot gets an arid place as well but builds a dam.

Then there is the battle. Lot does valiantly, although he has to destroy his dam in order to attain victory. Could have sworn he was taken captive in Genesis and Abraham had to come and sort it.

Sodom had a king - not a queen.

Only 4 people left the city after the angel of Lord informed Lot that it would be destroyed. In the film the 'exodus' would have done Moses proud. With the number of people willing to leave, it's a wonder God destroyed it at all.

I could go on but you get the idea.

But I'm really amazed that several of the other comments I've read about this film state that the Bible doesn't specifically mention homosexuality as the sin that displeased God. It does, loud and clear. Perhaps these contributers are not aware that the King James Version "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them." does not refer to going out for a game of darts and a pint of lager at the pub. The word "know" in the Biblical sense, means to have sexual intercourse.

I had to give this a 1 because zero wasn't an option.

Epic Movie (2007)

Christians need not (necessarily) avoid this film.

[8/10 · 27 January 2007]

Epic Movie has only been screening here for a few days and I had planned on seeing it eventually. What caused me to go see it sooner was a thread in the IMDb discussion forums which pretty much accused the film of being an attack on Christianity.

Well that settled it. I HAD to go see it because I work for a Christian ministry that is forever fielding calls from worried parents, afraid of the effects the media might have on their children.

Admittedly Epic Movie primarily spoofs The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, a story that has a strong Christian parallel; but I don't see it an attack on our faith, simply because very few non-Christians are aware of that parallel. If anyone takes exception to the Also character (and he WAS pretty objectionable) I don't think the writers intended it as a blatant attempt to offend us.

Taken on its own merits, don't go see the film if you want some intellectual stimulation. It is in the same genre as the Scary Movie series so if you liked them then you will probably like this. If you didn't then go see something else. I personally enjoyed the opportunity to sit in a cold cinema for an hour or two, out of the harsh Australian 41 degree heat.

Wuthering Heights (1998 TV Movie)

One of the better versions

[9/10 · 15 January 2007]

I came across this on DVD last weekend. I had been looking for the mini-series I had seen on TV a good 25 years or so earlier and mistook this one for it. (I had no idea who was in the mini-series; and bad eyesight prevented me from reading the small print on the box.)

Well I had no regrets. As a hater of the half told stories of a couple of previous versions I had seen, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'll agree with everyone else that Cathy and Heathcliff aged faster than in the book and that Nelly Dean should have been younger, but that did not detract from the story.

And Heathcliff was depicted as a rogue, not a romantic hero; and Cathy was a twit. I felt no sympathy for her because she made her choice and got what she deserved.

I do wish they had done more with Cathy 2 and Linton though. Their rather grating personalities were all but lost in this version. But at least they were IN this version.

I had to watch it on a portable mini DVD player because my big telly is in for repairs, but this will be the first thing I watch when I get it back.

Wuthering Heights (1970)

Another half told story

[3/10 · 15 January 2007]

I read Wuthering Heights as a teenager. I just loved it so, after being sadly let-down by the Merle Oberon film version - it seemed to make Heathcliff into some sort of romantic hero rather than the totally unpleasant type that he was - I was overjoyed that it was finally being remade.

I had great expectations for this film. What a pity I went to see it. It was just a rehash of the first part of the book. If I'd wanted that I'd have sat through the original another time.

And an apology to all of you who find Timothy Dalton soooo sexy. He reminds me too much of a ferret to get my pulses racing.

Well at least someone did a pretty good mini-series for TV in 1978 but my advice is READ THE BOOK!

28 Days Later (2002)

Day of the triffids meets the Omega Man

[8/10 · 16 December 2006]

This is the second time I've watched this. The first time round I wasn't really paying attention, but this time I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But I couldn't help thinking I'd seen this plot before. A young man wakes up in a London hospital and finds himself in a different world from that in which he fell asleep. Somewhere along the line he picks up a random (adult) female and later acquires a young girl. And off they go in search of other survivors. Of course, when they find them, all is not as they hoped. Never did trust military types.

The enemy which needed to be fought off in this film was a bunch of 'rage' infected humans, rather than killer plants, but you get the general idea.

And the moral? Animal activists, please mind your own business. Those furry little creatures you are setting free might just bite the hand that rescued them.

When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Suspense - snooze - suspense

[6/10 · 26 November 2006]

One of my house mates bought this months ago and today I decided to watch it.

I had heard it was based on the Urban Legend meant to show parents what they deserve for going out and leaving their kids with irresponsible teenagers.

The film started out just great. Jill the babysitter, alone with a couple of small kids, starts to get menacing phone calls. It's the stuff thrillers are made of. But then the crime is resolved in the first 20 minutes, and there is still more than an hour left to go.

But then the action jumps ahead 7 years to where the convicted psycho has escaped from the asylum; and the cop who was on the first case is hired to track him down. I found this bit so slow and drawn out that I was repeatedly checking the 'Time Remaining' function on my DVD player and wondering whether my time could be better employed weeding the back garden instead.

And then suddenly it got exciting again. We see Jill - remember her? - all grown up and with kids of her own, about to go out to dinner with her husband. OK, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what is coming next, but it was well handled and there was quite a scary surprise bit.

But I can't help wondering what would have happened if Jill had checked the kids when the creep phoned in the first place. "Yeah, they're fine, so just shove off."

Scary Movie 4 (2006)

A fun outing that wasn't meant to be anything else.

[9/10 · 26 November 2006]

I saw this film at the cinema at the time of its release with my adult son. I had already seen parts 1 and 3 so I wasn't expecting to be blown away by some masterpiece of cinematography. I just expected a good laugh. And I wasn't disappointed. My son and I both agreed it was the best of the lot - having picked up part 2 shortly afterwards.

I was only familiar with Saw and War Of The Worlds at the time, although I was aware of The Village and it was on my 'must see' list. After seeing it, and then watching SM4 again, I found it even funnier. Of course the toilet scene was in bad taste, but isn't it what you'd expect from this genre anyway?

I was a bit surprised when brash, loudmouthed, over-sexed, Brenda turned up - hadn't she been stabbed to death in a cinema scene in an earlier film - but what would a Scary Movie be without her?

Not for the high brow-ed, but if you just want a bit of fun, see it for sure.

Daybreak (1993 TV Movie)

It's all been done before

[2/10 · 26 November 2006]

I watched this last night, as it was on a DVD with something else I could have survived without seeing. The first thing that came to mind was 1984. Bleak and miserable settings; people doing manual labor that you'd suspect they wouldn't be doing if they had a choice; and being urged to report on one another - all for their own good of course. And then, for some strange reason, the old Gregory Harrison TV series, Logan's Run, popped up - what they told you you'd get and what you actually got were two different things. Add just a tiny pinch of Brave New World, and WELCOME TO YOUR FUTURE.

Of course, having not seen this until 2006, it all seems a bit far fetched now. When AIDS first appeared on the scene in the early 80s, far from introducing strict quarantine, there were calls for homosexuality to be legalized. And Political Correctness has now determined that illness - instead of making you a candidate for extermination - will more likely ensure that you'll never be found guilty of committing a crime. My illness made me do it! So a conceivable future? NOT IN MY LIFETIME.

But love still was able to bloom, in this unlikely nightmare world, between a young freedom fighter and a new recruit to the cause. Perhaps the total abandon with which Blue conducted her sex life is indicative of how the disease got to be so rampant in the first place? Be warned, kiddies! Get it on before you get it off. Add a betrayal and then assistance from an unexpected source......

Well at least it was something to do while I was waiting for my cat to come home.

David Tench Tonight (2006)

Do we really need this show?

[1/10 · 29 September 2006]

David Tench Tonight was promoted on Australian TV for many weeks before it finally hit the small screen. It began with a number of tantalizing and Politically Incorrect witticisms, shown in a print form, and attributed to this person. Then we were treated to views of his desk. Still a few weeks before going to air, we finally discover that he is not a real person at all but a badly proportioned puppet thing. Well after all that lengthy build up it turned out to be a major let down. Only two of Tench's comments in the pilot episode brought a faint smile to my lips and, before the episode had finished, I couldn't even remember what one of them was. This is an extremely unfunny show. I'm not sure what age group it was intended to attract, but I think it will fail to impress anybody. I'm just amazed that it has lasted as long as it has without someone pulling the plug.

Jericho: Pilot (2006) Season 1, Episode 1

Wasn't bad

[5/10 · 21 September 2006]

Someone finally drops the 'big' one - or was it a couple of smaller ones?

I decided to give this pilot a shot, for the sake of having nothing better to do last night. It wasn't bad for a first episode but I can see the novelty wearing off pretty quickly. It's all been done before anyway, hasn't it?

I found most of it pretty predictable, and the characters seemed rather one dimensional. But I suppose (well HOPE) they'll develop as the weeks go by.

It doesn't seem, at this point at least, as though I am likely to be hanging on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happens next. Well I'll watch it next week and, who knows, it might develop a twist and I'll be forced to eat my words.

The Day of the Triffids (1963)

I wasn't impressed

[3/10 · 16 September 2006]

I studied the book in high school in 1966, so of course I made an effort to see the film. The only similarities I could discern between the book and movie were the blind people and the killer plants. The rest of the plot seemed to be up for grabs. Where was Josella? And who on earth was Karen?

I came across the DVD recently, going extremely cheap, so I bought it for a laugh. That laugh came in the form of Janette Scott pretending she can act.

The moral to be learned, kiddies, is when you are given a book to study in school, make sure you read it - because if you'd settled for this movie version you'd have failed your exam for sure.