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Reviews
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
SHOCK-HORROR: Yank out-acts Brit in Dickens pot-boiler!
How does one pass the time with family over the xmas holidays? If you wish to retain your sanity and maintain the pretence of a convivial social gathering then the traditional combination is of course alcohol and the telly. Glass of wine in hand: CHECK! Mum on sofa: CHECK! Nicholas Nickelby on the Beeb: CHECK! And...ACTION! Well, hardly.
Two things before I begin. First a confession: I've not read the book nor anything else written by Dickens, so this is only about this film. Second a recommendation: read the three previous most recent comments about this film by trimmerb1234, TrevorAclea and tedg - all very insightful and made me think again.
On to my prejudices. Top of the list this week is the fact that Charlie Hunnam cannot act. This didn't seem to matter too much in Queer As Folk, perhaps because the character he played was just discovering his inner drama queen. Then I watched Green Street (Hooligan for you Yanks) the other week and, being Home Counties white trash myself, I suffered internal injuries listening to his appalling attempt at a white working-class London accent. So I was a little sceptical when I saw pretty-boy Hunnam saunter onto the set and I was not disappointed. Perhaps it's unfair to put him beside the likes of Christopher Plummer, Juliet Stevenson and Timothy Spall. No. He was also put in the shade in the scenes he shared with (Yank) Anne Hathaway, indeed her accent was impeccable whereas Mr Pretty-Boy Wobbly-Gob...
Then there is Mr Dickens' storyline. Good meets Bad, Bad is in the ascendancy and makes Good suffer. Good is shocked and tries to reason with Bad. Bad points out Good's inadequacies and demonstrates by making others suffer. Good fills others with hope only to have hopes dashed by Bad. Good strikes back at Bad in anger. Bad plots lingering final revenge on Good. Bad is on the brink of final triumph and all seems hopeless for Good. At the last second Bad's plan is found to be a house of cards and this is directly caused by Bad's evil past acts thus Good triumphs and rightly so. Here endeth the lesson. There's more moral ambiguity in Star Wars! In fairness tedg convincingly (as I said I've not read the original) points out that the text is not quite as bad as the film in this respect.
So why watch it? Bar Mr Hunnam the acting is excellent and there is some very entertaining dialogue. As trimmerb1234 says this gives parts of the film the feel of a quality panto so enjoy it for what it is!
King Arthur (2004)
A failed attempt at "Gladiator"esque epic
My love of this kind of quasi-historical epic (Gladiator, Braveheart...) and the fact that one of my favourite films is John's Boorman's fabulous Excalibur led me to ignore the critics and shell out my hard earned cash to see this film at the cinema. We all make mistakes...
I like to give a film a good chance by suspending my disbelief and not passing too critical an eye over it the first time I watch it mainly so that I can enjoy it for what it is and get my money's worth. Unfortunately this was impossible with King Arthur.
In summary an almost workable story is let down by an uninspired script which in turn is not given any extra life by generally one-dimensional acting. Even if you came for the action the battle scenes are distinctly below average as are the effects.
The film has none of the epic feel and gut-wrenching realism of Gladiator and only a pale shadow of the humour and romance (not to mention self-parody) of Braveheart. Clive Owen as Arthur plays himself well...unfortunately Clive Owen doesn't really cut it in the self-acting mould in the way that, say, Clint Eastwood does. Keira Knightly's Guinevere is creditable but has too few decent lines to lift the film from rock bottom.
Most scandalous for me was Ray Winstone's almost "Carry On..."-style performance as Bors, one of Arthur's knights. Perhaps he wasn't being paid enough to make it look like he cared about this film or then again maybe he read the script and had enough self-respect not to dignify it with any serious acting.
Most of the rest of Arthur's knights (Lancelot, Tristan, Gawain & Dagonet played respectively by Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton & Ray Stevenson) along with the Saxon warlord and his son (Stellan Skarsgård & Til Schweiger) added a little character and interest but again, nothing they could do could rescue the film. And as for Galahad (Hugh Dancy), well he really should go back to doing his paper round or assistant third barrow boy in an episode of East Enders.
Finally an appeal: make the people who made this film pay for robbing me of the money I spent to sit through this turgid rubbish - don't go and see it at the cinema, don't rent or buy the DVD and when it comes out on TV hold your nose and sit with your back to the screen in protest!
Prospero's Books (1991)
Magical rendition of The Tempest, Peter Greenaway at his best
Give Peter Greenaway an excellent story and he produces marvels like Prospero's Books. Instead of putting his energy into rather poinltess psycho-analytical sub-texts he concentrates on delicately lifting the words of the bard from the page and creating a sumptuous, menacing dreamworld and bringing it to magical life.
Suspend your disbelief and forget that this was written by Shakespeare, just enjoy this thoroughly modern telling of a very old tale.
Small Faces (1995)
Unsentimental, bleak, funny, brutal and life-affirming
Small Faces stands out as an unsentimental and unpatronising glimpse of the life of 1960s working class youth in Glasgow. The film is directed with a light touch and brilliantly conveys the experience of growing up in the slums with the stereotypical escape-routes of gangs, drink and education. In refusing to romanticise its subject matter the film is bleak, funny, brutal and life-affirming all at the same time.