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thel2k
Reviews
Happy Feet (2006)
All the fish you can eat - as long as you dance to our music........
What a disappointment - and boring to boot. We were really looking forward to this, and it was a complete let down. It has all the signs of a movie that has been hacked about, and ended up a total mess. One only wonders what was lost in the year since its delayed release. Any film heavily sold for children that considers it a Good Thing when a penguin gets put in a zoo, then has a radio control device surgically implanted in its back in order to lead the 'aliens' (i.e. humans) back to the rest of its tribe, is making a Big Mistake in my book. I also think the music was inappropriate, and the whole movie would frankly scare the pants off any really young children, despite the U Cert. It also has a lot of suspect moral preaching. Considering the available technology, and what could have been done with this story, it just seems a huge shame. Penguins, CGI, music - surely one Busby Berkely-style number just waiting to happen?
The Suckling (1990)
The best way to see this film voluntarily is drunk
A young girl has an illegal abortion in a house of ill-repute. The foetus is flushed down the toilet and into the sewer where, nurtured by pollution and goodness-knows-what, it survives, harbouring a grudge and glowing greenly. It then sets about popping up out of the toilets and picking off one-by-one all those responsible for its sorry fate. It is aided by the fact that all those involved are the kind of people who - on being told that there is something in the bathroom making a noise like the devil incarnate - proceed to shove their heads down the pan for a really good look.
Well, I first saw this on video in the early 90's when it was on release in the UK as "Sewage Baby", and it was so awful that I have never forgotten it. There was a kernel of a good idea here, but it was made with such technical ineptitude that even the folks at MST3K would only have been able to watch in gob-smacked silence. The photography is dire. The sound appalling- there are silent gun shots, footsteps that suddenly disappear halfway down a flight of stairs and then suddenly start again. Some of the cast are obviously actors, some are just as obviously not. The special effects are of the "let's have a Halloween party in the garage" school, with lots of atmospheric net curtains. After my sides stopped aching with laughter and my jaw returned to its normal position, I was left with many unanswered questions, like; Who ARE these people? How ever did they manage to get the money and film stock to make this movie? And how on earth did they manage to get it released? If anyone knows the answers - please tell me.....
Oklahoma! (1999)
Loved the stage show, not so keen on film adaptation, but still enjoyed it.
This is a made-for-TV/video film adaptation of the deservedly highly praised UK National Theatre production. The stage show was outstanding not only for the talent of the entire cast - the stars were Hugh Jackman (Curly), Josefina Gabrielle(Laurie), and Maureen Lipman(Aunt Eller)- but for the inventive scenery and staging which conjured up the wide open spaces of the American West in a theatre setting. While this filmed version allows those of us who saw the show from the circle/gallery seats to get a closer view of the actors faces and see nuances of expression etc. that we missed before, it is a pity that the film makers have tried to give the impression that this is still an actual "stage" show by inserting overlong, jarring and frankly amateurish shots of an audience applauding. They could have kept some of the original magical production values by shooting more of the stage and clever scenery - given that this is how the show was designed to be seen - and fewer big close-ups of the actors and smart camera angles. Filming a musical is an art form in itself (see the MGM/Arthur Freed productions), and few directors now have studied that expertise. But still, with all that said- nothing can take away from the wonderful performances of Hugh Jackman (he must be the best Curly since Howard Keel) Maureen Lipman, Shuler Hensley (as a really scary and psychotic Judd Fry) and Jimmy Johnson as Will. Wonderful music and singing, slick dance numbers, and at least indoors with a video you can sing along.