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Reviews
Life's Too Short (2011)
I won't keep you long with this
There are definitely laughs going on here but I can't help thinking most of them are in-house with Messrs G and M sharing them behind the scenes at the viewers' expense.
If the deliberate intention was to present this series as a skewed rehash / reworking of situations, lines and characters from what's gone before it (The Office and Extras) then I think it succeeded on that particular level.
With this and a second series in the pipeline some might say that perhaps it's a clever way to wrap up a trilogy?
Perhaps.
Overall though a disappointment for me.
The series lacked that writing masterclass spark that I have come to expect from two of Britain's greatest ever comic writers.
All is not lost: I didn't like the first series of Extras too much but now consider it a classic.
Here's hoping the second series of "Life's Too Short" moves up a gear and that I'm not left with the feeling that Messrs G & M wrote this in a hurry because they had other things to do with their valuable time.
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Where did the Time go?
Has he been here before? He is smiling as he sings out of tune in church.
All that jewellery. Aliens have family too. Shooting blanks. Was that a government official looking on? A nose bleed. Does he hallucinate when drinking gin? Candy Clark's reaction.
Excellent cinematography.
All those channels on all those TVs. The guy watching him at the beginning? The long train crossing the road. Fantastic use of music. The stillness of the landscape. All that money. Another traveller looking on? Power and corruption and trust and betrayal.
Where he comes from the word for Earth means planet of water. Did he rob all the jewellery? "Try to remember the kind of September." Did Roeg et al run out of budget or was it a deliberate ploy to use cheap looking props? The bouncy castle funfair attraction is called a Moonwalk. Unreal, people inhabiting surreal worlds. A tramp looking on? 30mph.
Nic Roeg's cut and paste allegorical tour de force has similarities to the way Bowie writes his songs.
A jigsaw. A jumble. A tapestry. A kaleidoscope. Call it what you will.
Thirty Five years on The Man Who Fell To Earth remains a masterpiece of film making that was most definitely ahead of its time.
No.
Scratch that.
Thirty Five years on The Man Who Fell To Earth remains a masterpiece of film making that was most definitely of its time.