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johnhextall
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Billie (2019)
Great documentary
I really enjoyed this film - lots of clips of Billie singing that I'd not seen before and many sympathetic interviews with other great musicians. Well worth watching whether you're a fan or new to the music of the woman who pretty much defined popular singing.
Horizon: The Secret of El Dorado (2002)
Terra preta
Great documentary about how the Amazon rainforest was cultivated using terra preta, a form of bio char, by the areas pre-Colombian native inhabitants. Well made and relevant to today's climate emergency, should be essential viewing for anyone interested in Permaculture or, indeed, our future on this planet.
Rebecca (2020)
Good version
There is a lot of criticism of this film which I enjoyed very much. It's a great story, of course, with lots of previous versions and the 1940 Hitchcock has long been regarded as a masterpiece of gothic horror although it now looks a very old-fashioned and more than a little bit hammy. This new version is well made, beautiful to look at with stunning locations around Hartland in North Devon (probably the only part of the Southwest coast unchanged since the 30s). Kristin Scott Thomas is wonderfully evil and the two leads do a grand job. Don't listen to the nay-sayers!
The Children Act (2017)
Curate's egg
An intelligent, well acted film that may provoke some serious discussion afterwards. Emma Thompson and Stanley are good, as is usual, and Fionn Whitehead is excellent in a very difficult role. Ultimately, it was disappointing for two reasons. Ian McEwan is very good at setting up interesting, thought-provoking situations but they often fall flat in the third act. Allied with this, it was hard to form an emotional connection with any of the characters. The Judge turns out to be a bitch, her husband a wimp and the boy a prat. None of it was uplifting.