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armittj
Reviews
Captain Scarlett (1952)
Worse than bad
I just could not watch more than first 20 minutes or so. The colours are so oversaturated they make your eyes bleed. The sound as if it is coming from a tin can. This is probably one of the worst film transfers to DVD I have ever seen. Even the opening titles are tilted and misaligned. Its a shame because I like this kind of Sunday afternoon matinée film but it must be watchable and have reasonable sound quality. Richard Green of the very old series of Robin Hood is the star of this technical debaccle and doubt if he would have wished to have been associated with this. I certainly could not recommend this DVD to anyone - the thing is painful to watch and listen to.
The Beatles Anthology (1995)
Probably the most complete history of a most remarkable era
I have watched this Anthology on DVD several times now. Each time I watch it, I cannot help but feel the incredible sense of belonging to that era, the Beatles era. I cannot watch it without being emotional, that sense of not just belonging to the Beatle era but the unmistakable feeling that they were such a big part of my growing up that the loss of John and then George was like losing close and dear family members. The series itself gives terrific insight to the Beatles prolific musical output as a group and then as extremely talented solo, group artists and performers as well as nice people. The ensemble interviews of the then three remaining Beatles, Paul, George and Ringo showed a bonding of friendship and respect which is seldom seen amongst superstar groupings of 30 odd years. I concur that "I am blessed" to have witnessed the story first hand and am eternally grateful to the produces for providing much early work and bits never seen or rarely discussed. I know many of the younger generation who have adopted the music of the Beatles as "their" music. Just proves what a magnificent legacy the Beatles have left the world. 10/10 because we cant give more!
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
A very enjoyable and well made film but not sure about the accent!
The film which starts in 1939 with an Austrian expedition to the Himalayas. Brad Pitt plays the role of a most obnoxious Heinrich Harrer, who wrote the book that the film is based on. In the film, Heinrich is on a journey of inner discovery from the obnoxious, egotistical Heinrich the celebrity to a Heinrich caring for his fellow man and a realisation of how important the wife and the then unborn son he left behind in 1939 German controlled Austria were to be to him as he went on his boys outing to the Himalayas. The filming locations included Argentina, Canada and Austria with the high mountain scenes being filmed in the Himalaya themselves. Locations, photography and acting are all of the highest quality. The soundtrack is simply fantastic with original music by the seemingly inexhaustible John Williams and other music from some of the worlds finest classical composers. Brad Pitt sounds more Dutch than Austrian to me and became slightly irritating in places but his acting cannot be faulted. It looks as though he performed a lot (if not all) of the stunt work himself. The film is long at over 2 hours but that is the nature of the beast which covers the seven year passage of self of Heinrich. There are certain historical inaccuracies which do not detract from the enjoyment of the film as the film was not made as a documentary or historical document. I don't know how this compares to the book as I have not read it. As far as film is concerned, just sit back and enjoy.
The Vicar of Dibley (1994)
Make sure you are wearing rubber pants - you'll wet yourself laughing
What can I say that has not already be said, except that I stupidly sat down and watched all of series I in a single sitting and had serious laughter pains in my stomach and tears rolling down my cheeks. Oh the sheer joy. Just started on series 2 with series 3 in the mail from the US. The standard doesn't seem to have dropped, incredibly, it just rises. Dawn French and company (lets not forget the writers) manage to entertain at an incredibly high level - every single line is a gem - the end of episode joke after the credits should not be missed - it is so bad it creases you up with laughter.
The show is a blast - a perfect 10/10.
Primeval (2007)
This TV series is in a different class to the film of the same name
With a good cast and modern special effects, ITV have produced a TV series which is not in their usual field of expertise. Sci-Fi has not been a strong ITV genre in the past but this series has changed all that. The concept behind the story is far from original, but the execution of it in this TV series is very good indeed. The concept of time portals opening and enabling time travel, is far from new even for TV series - think of the Time Tunnel etc.. but combining this story with good acting, excellent casting, state of the art computer generated dinosaurs and a mixture of straight action, drama and comedy gives us a most entertaining result. A most worthy addition to viewing choices from UK TV on DVD. I have series 1 and 2 on DVD and cant wait for series 3 to be screened and made available on DVD.
Cutthroat Island (1995)
Tongue in cheek action/adventure fun
I bought this on DVD not having heard of it or read any reviews so I watched it with an open mind. It is for me a good, fun to watch, action movie which entertained me - so I don't care if it wasn't (or ever will be) Oscar material - it just entertained me and that is why I watch films. The locations used in the film are first class as are the costumes. The fact that many of the stunts in the film were performed by the actors and not stunt doubles seems to add an immediacy and credibility to the film. There is what I would call "non-nasty" violence in the film (think of the A-Team) and occasional language which although again not really nasty, could deter parents from allowing the younger members of the family from sitting down and watching this as a kind of family matinée film.