Colditz film/tv productions usually have an all male cast. This one brought welcome respite from the usual restricted diet of bed sheet ropes and Red Cross parcels, introducing female cast members. Ignore all those 1 star reviews quibbling about the unrealistic metal content of German uniform buttons or door hinge authenticity. This is a story of love and a classic wartime moral dilemma, with a side helping of betrayal. It may not be Oscar winning material but Sophia Myles is a delight (as usual), Damien does what he does best and the dual setting adds to the overall feel of life during WWII. Well worth a watch if you're not going to quibble about historical accuracy......after all, Harry Potter isn't exactly true to life, is it!
Reviews
3 Reviews
Bohemian Rhapsody
(2018)
A stand out experience
25 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It has been a long time since I was utterly absorbed in a film.........those 3 or 4 occasions in your life when you come away from the cinema flooded with emotions and thoughts and a euphoria. This was one of those moments. Freddie has to be one of the most testing roles for an actor to play, complex, iconic, loved. Rami did a superb job when he could have so easily made a right bollocks of it. The 'supporting' cast were excellent too. All too often with period pieces you get the impression that they are shoving set decoration at you to try and make you believe you are in the 60's or 70's or whenever. This film had a much subtler approach, but you still came away with a real feel for the time. Music - fantastic as you would expect......it's Queen after all - however I loved how they crafted the performances so they didn't sound like karaoke night at the local pub! My one real issue was with the unrealistic filmed crowd shots at Wembley - the front row close-ups of the audience and the press photographer box just sucked.......it was almost as if they had grabbed a few people from the production crew and shoved them in while they were standing idle, to avoid casting realistic concert goers. But that was a minor gripe in what was a wonderfully moving and evocative film the memory of which I will treasure for may years.
Oh dear
18 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I can't really usefully add much to what has already been said in these (excellent) reviews, other than to fully endorse the broad thrust of the comments being made. I felt that the end to the original series was one of the best I have seen (for a long-running 'much beloved' series).......striking a balance between an over the top sugary sweet 'and they all lived happily ever after' and an equally over the top 'oh my god the car is going over a cliff' tragic ending - Gilmore Girls is a nice series for nice people and you can't realistically pen a 'black' ending. Just enough intrigue, just enough hint at things being good - great balance. In the mini- series it felt to me almost as if this was political comment on how silver spoon prep school/ivy league kids end up coming to nothing (but the thirty-somethings were comically over the top even for that premise!) except that Paris seemed to be thriving in a role totally unsuited for her, which sort of harpoons that argument and serves to point to the overall confused state of affairs (cue for a lengthy musical number?!!!) we find in this 'wrapping-up'. All in all I wish I hadn't watched it.......I was happy and content at the end of the original series and now I am losing sleep worrying about Rory's decline (yes I know she isn't real!) because - despite all the envious comments about her being entitled - she was a lovely girl and someone who I would be proud to have as my daughter, to have her living out of boxes with no actual job showed a callous disregard for her as a 'person' and the loyal viewers who had devoted such a large chunk of their recreation time to following 'the girls'.
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