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Matthew Tantony
Reviews
The Vicar of Dibley (1994)
Shamelessly derivative, but still great.
British comedy in the nineties was mostly execrable, but this is a shining exception. It had an exceptional cast of great comedy actors, and although it only ran for a handful of episodes it still made enough of an impression to warrant endless repeats on UK Gold. It also boasts an exceptional range of celebrity guest stars to rival The Simpsons: Kylie Minogue, Clive Mantle, Richard Griffiths, Johnny Depp, Sean Bean, the Duchess of York, to name a few.
However, it is my sad duty to report that The Vicar of Dibley is a rather derivative show. The other great clerical sitcom, Father Ted, boasts much the same situation: a sensible priest who rarely thinks about God works in a rural parish filled with eccentric idiots. Hell, both shows even featured cameos by Steven Tomkinson and Dervla Kirwan in their Ballykissangel characters! Ultimately, Father Ted is the better show, but it's definitely not one the whole family can watch.
Richard Curtis co-wrote this series, and it contains many similarities with his classic Blackadder: Geraldine is similar to Edmund in that she is a sensible, but ruthless personality. Alice can be seen as a female Baldrick in that she is the stupid sidekick who stays with the main character despite the constant mistreatment she is given. David Horton can be seen as Queen Elizabeth because he's the essential villain of the piece, always trying to have Geraldine removed from her post, only to become (SPOILER ALERT) the eventual romantic interest in the last few episodes. Also some of the comedy situations and lines are reminiscent of Blackadder. (END OF SPOILERS, FOR NOW...)
This is still a very funny show, frequently outrageously rude. It also has that rare thing in comedy: a genuine feel-good factor. (SPOILERS AHOY) My favourite moment came when the extremely boring Frank started his own radio show, which everyone expected to be incredibly tedious. Little did the audience expect him to begin the show by saying "I first discovered I was gay when I was eighteen..." He later confessed that he only felt able to come out on the radio because it was so much easier talking to a microphone than to his friends directly. The next morning he was overcome with emotion when everyone congratulates him on a superb show, only it transpired later that no-one bothered to tune in at all.. The whole thing was surprisingly touching.
You really ought to see this, although it's perhaps too rude for the little ones. Espewcially worth seeing are the final four episodes - "Autumn", "Winter", "Spring" and "Summer" - which cover a year in the life of the village and tie up various storylines that have been running since the show started.
Play (2001)
Breathtaking
This, being cutting-edge modern drama, I approached with not a little trepidation when Channel Four started its "Becket on Film" season. I'd already watched the five-minute short "Catastrophe" with John Gielgud and I didn't know what the hell that was on about.
For the newcomer, "Play" is bizarre and difficult to get to grips with. Three disembodied heads gabble away incessantly in monotone voices, each relating their own versions of a love triangle while a frantic CCTV camera cuts between them. I applaud Becket's decision to play the story twice, as otherwise I would not have fully appreciated this complex tale.
Essentially, "Play" is "Rashomon" at Warp 9. The shaky, noisy camera cuts between the three heads (Kristin Scott Thomas, Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson) as they fulfill their punishment to talk about their sins for eternity. It gets more and more frantic,cutting away first in mid-speech, then in mid-sentence, then in mid-word. Then Stevenson starts laughing hysterically. At times the film itself breaks down, as if it has been retrieved from hell itself.
At the end of 15 frantic minutes I was left a little confused by the three-layer dialogue. I shall need to watch this a few times, preferably with a script, to pick out the separate narrative strands. However, Minghella's direction was nothing short of sensational. He may have taken liberties with Becket's original text, but the rapid cross-cutting, repetition and the intrusive whir or the camera as it selected its target, made for one of the most breathtaking fifteen minutes of film I have ever had the privilege to see. This will not appeal to everyone, but I recommend it to the more adventurous viewer.
Suspicion (1941)
A neglected gem
The ridiculous ending for this film is probably the reason why it hasn't been as popular as Notorious or other 40s Hitchcock films. 'Tis pity indeed, for this is otherwise a very good film. The use of light and dark, continued in Strangers on a Train, Rope and Vertigo, is displayed here to great effect, with the famous sequence with the glass of milk and the light from the window a standout. The performances are all brilliant, and Nigel Bruce is as likeable as ever as the ill-fated friend. The tension builds well, and it reaches breaking point at a dinner party where Cary Grant asks some pretty incriminating questions about poisons to a pathologist and a crime writer.
One thing about this film bothers me. On the wall by the front door of the house is a Cubist painting. It looks like a still life of fruit on a table. In the scene where the two detectives visit the house, whenever anyone looks at the painting a bizarre little piano "sting" plays, indicating it is of some significance. However the picture is never mentioned again. Is this a red herring, or was it of some significance to the original ending? Whatever, it's a weird little detail that you ought to look out for.
When the film started off as a rather dated love story I was doubtful, but the compelling performances and the nice touches of humour made it surprisingly enjoyable. 8.5 out of 10.
The World Is Not Enough (2000)
Great fun, with a real authentic edge.
This video game has a hard act to follow, leading the way after Rare's brilliant GoldenEye. Since the Rare title is one of the all-time great shoot'emups, TWINE has to be good. And it is. The plot of the game closely follows the film, which helps as you can often work your way out of tricky situations by asking yourself "What did he do in the film?" However, in some cases this means that the action is a little predictable. It's nice to see that there is a fine edge of "realism" here - you regularly run out of ammo, it takes a lot of hits to kill people, and you can't shoot civilians or you fail. There's also a wide range of levels, including one where you have to creep around a villa, crawling with guards and security cameras, but you CAN'T let anyone see you, and you CAN'T SHOOT ANYONE AT ALL! The cutscenes are nicely done, as much of the dialogue is lifted straight out of the film so it feels as if you're really in the film. It's nice to hear John Cleese providing the voice of R. The negative points? There are longish loading times between levels and cutscenes, the multiplayer robots are way too hard to play against, and you can't re-enact the boat chase on the Thames. Otherwise, it's great! 10/10