Tessa-4 Reviews

The Amazing Adventure (1936)

As close to time travel as we'll ever come...

[8/10 · 23 July 2005]

I love movies like this because they are as close to time travel as we'll ever come. I've just read Cary Grant: A Biography by Marc Eliot, and to be able to see this movie after reading about it and what was going on in his life at the time is just wonderful.

The movie itself--well, it's tough to judge objectively when movies have changed so much in the intervening years. No car chases, no explosions, no body count--there aren't even any sound effects in the big fist-fight scene, just quiet little thuds instead of the "crack" "pow" "bam" noises we're used to hearing as fist hits chin. A quiet movie. A simple Aesop's fable of human values and the importance of meaningful work, starring an astonishingly beautiful man. Definitely worth watching.

A Christmas Carol (1999 TV Movie)

A whole new vision of Scrooge

[10/10 · 6 December 1999]

I've loved Dickens' A Christmas Carol for as long as I can remember, and I've never been totally satisfied by any movie version. This one comes the closest. Patrick Stewart presents Scrooge in an entirely new light. Not a decrepit old fogey with one foot in the grave, but a strong, beautiful and elegant man who is only ugly, twisted and bent on the inside. In past versions, I've always felt rather sad that the reformed Scrooge would only be able to perform a limited amount of good, since he was so obviously on his last legs. But Stewart's Scrooge could truly be a force for good for many, many years--a nice idea!

The biggest complaint I have about the movie was that much of the original wording (which we Christmas Carol lovers have virtually memorized) was modernized to allow for the lack of education of the average viewer. "Situation" was changed to "job", for example. Scrooge's sister's name was mysteriously changed from Fan to Fran. Just little details that most people wouldn't notice, I suppose, but since Patrick Stewart is an executive producer and, according to all the publicity, loves the story as much as I do, I was surprised that the dialog strayed from the original as much as it did. I did notice, late in the movie, a discussion of the relative deadness of various types of nails, which was a nice nod to the original, although Dickens' discussed this in the introduction to his book. "Dead as a doornail"--why not dead as a coffin-nail? Wouldn't you think that was the deadest type of nail?

Pleasantville (1998)

I laughed, I cried, I goosebumped

[19 October 1998]

I just got home from attending the premiere of Pleasantville, held in Ann Arbor, Michigan and hosted by Jeff Daniels. It is the best movie I've seen in ages. It rocks along at light speed, keeping you laughing while making you think. (Yes, those two activities are compatible.) Visually, it is a delight, using color to comment on the human condition in a way that could never be captured in any other medium. This is the movie that movies were invented for. Do you get goosebumps in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy leaves her drab black and white world and emerges into the dazzling technicolor of Oz? I still do, after seeing it at least 40 times. If you do, too, then you're going to love Pleasantville!

It is a fable, a fairy tale for the TV generation. (That would be me.) It is the answer I've always wanted to give to the young'uns now who seem to think that life was sweeter in the 50s than it is today. I could never manage to put into words in any coherent way just how wrong they are, but this movie says everything I wanted to say and makes it fun to watch. I hope everyone under 21 sees this movie and gets the message! (And has a hell of a good time doing it.)

Diagnosis Murder (1993–2001)

The most misunderstood show in prime time

[19 September 1998]

"Diagnosis Murder? That's just Murder She Wrote with Dick Van Dyke instead of Angela Lansbury, isn't it? A show for old people, right?"

NOT! If you are one of the many who have fallen into this fallacy, I'm here to set the record straight. Diagnosis Murder is an action-packed, laugh-packed roller coaster ride of a series. At its heart is its wonderful company, Dick Van Dyke, Barry Van Dyke, Victoria Rowell and Charlie Schlatter. The chemistry among these four is what I love about the show. (Well,okay, that and watching Barry Van Dyke do anything, anything at all.) The show has revealed in wonderful writers over the years who know the characters, are true to the characters, and give them situations which allow their relationships to grow, develop, and shine through to the audience.

Best of all, each year the show gets better. It's incredible. Like salmon swimming upstream--you don't know how they do it, you just stand back in awe and watch. The characters are becoming more and more real rather than turning into caricatures of themselves, the way so many series characters do. And the stories are getting more exciting, suspenseful and inventive every year.

If you haven't seen Diagnosis Murder lately--you don't know this show. Give it a watch.