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A Very Peculiar Practice (1986)
Subversive and deeply funny 1980s satire
A young idealistic socially awkward doctor Stephen Daker takes a job in the health centre serving Lowlands university.
A Very Peculiar Practice is a truly subversive and hysterically funny satire of Thatcher's Britain of the 1980s.
From his first sight of two nuns rummaging in garbage bins upon his arrival, poor Dr Daker finds himself entering The Twilight Zone.
Written by Andrew Davies, the characters are truly memorable from David Troughton's manic Dr Bob Buzzard, and Jock, the alcoholic boss of the practice who dictates his cynical memoirs "The Sick University" throughout. It's a black comedy par excellence. See it, and enjoy the 1980s for all it's miserable charm.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Oppenheimers Victims are barely acknowledged
For every minute that passes during the 3-hour run time of the movie Oppenheimer, 1200 citizens in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki died. If you haven't got to see the movie it's worth pointing out that Oppenheimer - is not an anti nuclear movie. Nor is it a dramatic reconstruction of the devastating consequences of the use of the first nuclear bombs against the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For this, you would be better advised to seek out the superior acclaimed BBC drama documentary Hiroshima (2005.)
That film graphically dramatised what it is like to live through a Nuclear attack, millisecond by horror filled millisecond.
The Oppenheimer movie pretty much sidled past that part of the horror story.
Oppenheimer is a well made biopic of a man, or to be more accurate - a ghoul. A man who wilfully, along with his Los Alamos buddies, messed round with plutonium, mined from thousands of uranium mines to build a weapon that would annihilate the civilian populations of two cities and possibly one day humanity.
What's good: A fast paced immersive movie into the allegedly tortured mind of the director of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer. His team delivered a fission bomb to the US airforce at the cost of $2 billion dollars. The lead up to and the culmination of the Trinity Test contains the movie's strongest moments.
What's bad: The story of the creation of the worst imaginable weapon and the consequences of its use is virtually skimmed over in favour of the McCarthy era security hearing of Oppenheimer in 1954, which resulted in his losing his 'security clearance.'
The hearing, the movie shows, was secretly instigated by Levi Strauss, the director of the post war Atomic Energy Commission. Strauss who had taken over the Manhattan project in 1946, never got on with Oppenheimer, who apposed the development of the hydrogen bomb.
While it's an interesting story, it decidedly distracts from the real horror of what happened to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and descends - somewhat - into yet another attempt to justify the actions and subsequent hegemony of the United States. They even manage to name check JFK near the end for a little old fashioned jingoism.
It's a good movie. But it would be timely for Netflix to stream When the Wind Blows (1986) and The Day After (1983) as well as the aforementioned BBC Hiroshima (2005)
The Vast of Night (2019)
Orson Welles has returned from Space
Loved this gem. If you have a vague memory of having watched an old Twilight Zone that made your hair stand on end but you can't quite remember the name , just watch this movie.
Set in a rural American town, in the 1950s. Think of Peter Bogdonovich's town in The Last Picture Show, only this time being visited one dark night by aliens. While everyone is at the local basketball game, a local DJ and a telephone switchboard operator share strange recordings of sounds emanating from - above!
Some folks are seeing lights in the sky but we're not seeing anything.
Shot in real time we follow them as they try and track down the source, and suffice to say they do. An unforgettable little movie .
Badehotellet (2013)
Seaside Hotel: PG Wodehouse meets Frasier
This slow burner comedy drama from Denmark will steal your heart. Set in the idyllic north coast, Anderson's Seaside Hotel, like it's eclectic summer guests who return year after year, is as much of a character as are the actors. The series begins in the Roaring 20s ( gorgeous fashions) and carries on to darker days of WW2 and the Nazi occupation. The cast is superb featuring among others Jen Jacob Tychsen as the hilariously
neurotic stage and screen star Edward Weyse. Tychsen steals the show in many episodes. Weyse keeps us entertained throughout the years with his ever evolving songbook of American songs, which he belts out on the piano much to the annoyance of the hotel's stuffier residents.
In the early series, the drama revolves around Fie, played by Rosalinde Minster but over time, it's the sum of its parts which makes up the enduring charm of Seaside Hotel, (or Badehotellet.)
Already streaming on PBS and UK channel ALL4, it's sad it doesn't have more exposure. Unlike so many of the trending dystopian dramas we see today, this stands out like a life affirming gem. It's no War and Peace but the backdrop of the shows many little comedy of errors, is a growing awareness of the rise of fascism in Europe.
You'll grow to love the characters.
Watch it and be hooked.
The IT Crowd: The Speech (2008)
Great comedy but lose this episode
Loved the IT Crowd. Even the side theme of poor Jen and the internet box.' is hysterical. But yeah, that whole trans story really stinks. Making a transgender woman the butt of a tired phobic trope is just not nice, no matter what one's sensitivities are. Even Matt Berry has said on mature reflection it was pretty nasty and he regrets doing it. But Linehan, who now hides behind women and children's rights to justify his transphobic opinions , could not and will not own up to being a bit of a bigot. Nobody cancelled Graham Linehan but his own insufferable ego. This episode, just like numerous misogynistic, homophobic and racist 1970s comedies, should be consigned to a dustbin. But that's just another opinion.
Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
Scott the man vs the myth
My father saw it in Dublin in the summer of 1949. He caught himself turning his collar up as he walked out into a warm afternoon after the movie. Such was the effect of the soundtrack. Scott of the Antarctic remains a beautiful movie. A bit British at times but oddly moving. The final harrowing scenes in that cold death tent with the relentless wind flapping remain etched in my brain. Years of revisionist books helped cement the idea of Scott being an arrogant idiot compared to Shackleton. Polar explorer Sir Ranulph Feinnes brilliant Captain Scott finally set the record forensically straight. Both men first went to Antarctica together and though relations sadly soured between them, they remain heroes to anyone interested in exploration. Scott of the Antarctic is as good a movie as could be made about this story. I doubt it will be bettered.
Rocky Road to Dublin (1968)
Forgotten masterpiece
Peter Lennon's 1968 screen capture documentary is a rare time capsule of Ireland.
Still under a repressive church's social morals and a patriarchal elitist society. One poignant interview of a young woman ( you only hear her voice) where she recounts her experience of sex as a woman in a world dominated by men.
There are Interviews with earnest Trinity students, director John Huston, and a weird performance by priest Michael Cleary. A fantastic session in Donohue's pub and a hurling match.
The cameraman Raoul Coutard was Jean-luc Godards cinematographer. It's grainy black and white hand held style adds to the atmosphere.
You see a nation of two states. One firmly in the 19th century and the other courting the swinging sixties.
It's both hilarious, awfully sad and oddly prescient of the decades long struggle to evolve since. A must see.
The Midwich Cuckoos (2022)
A Worthy adaptation of the Novel.
I loved John Wyndhams book. The original movie adaptation The Village of the Damned though a little dated also delivers for it's time.
(Those little blond kids scared the hell out of me.)
Now brought forward into 21st Century Britain, The Midwich Cuckoos finally gets the treatment it deserves. A really thoughtful adaptation of the book with a stellar adult and young cast. A beautiful haunting theme tune too. Who needs Nordic horror when you can settle down to a proper juicy English gothic tale. It's a slow moving story. Stick with it. You'll be glad you did.
Stan (2006)
Worth watching for the End scene
It may be no masterpiece, but this poignant biopic is quite moving. In the recent wake of the Stan & Ollie movie, this take on the story of these two extraordinary gentlemen stands up pretty well. The final scene had me in stitches and tears. Watch it and then stick on some Laurel & Hardy.
8 Days: To the Moon and Back (2019)
It's like going to the moon with them
By a long long way, this is the best dramatized version of the Apollo 11 journey yet made. Much more inclusive to the viewer than the introspective First Man. Not giving anything away but every word spoken by the actors are from actual recordings, many when out of earshot of NASA. The special effects are truly mesmerizing. I couldn't recommend this more highly
Designated Survivor (2016)
Designated Survivor Season 3 the best yet
After a wishy washy second season, Netflix has helped propel, what began as a diverting but somewhat over earnest hybrid of the West Wing and Homeland, into an all out polemic against populism.
The original cast characters have matured and have more depth.
In the land of the so called free, now gone potty under Trump, this show has taken off the gloves and declared war on the entire political and economic system of the USA and the worrying slide the country is taking into fascism. It takes no prisoners.
If it is to end here, then it is a glorious end.
Long may Designated Survivor 'survive'.
Black '47 (2018)
An Irish Outlaw Josey Wales
I loved every blood splattered red coat moment of this brilliant revenge drama. The merciless unstoppable Feeney played by James Frecheville, draws from characters from classic westerns such as Unforgiven and even more obviously The Outlaw Josey Wales. The famine, now at it's tragic and horrible peak in 1847 provides an apocalyptic backdrop reminiscent of Cormac McCarthys The Road. Hugo Weaving as his English hunter and one time brother in arms ( you see the Josey Wales connection !) has never been better. Jim Broadbent as the overfed aristocrat and a welcome return to the big screen of Stephen Rea all pretty much filled my cup.
I did feel a tad guilty munching my popcorn through this film though.
Death by China (2012)
Utter balderdash
The guy who wrote the book this codswollop is based on is now Donald Trumps advisor on his crazy trade tariff war. Can't believe Martin Sheen loaned his name to this war mongering nonsense. Starting with the opening graphic of a bloody knife stabbing the heartland of America and continuing with frequent military allusions to Chinas overpowering of the USA.
Northern Exposure (1990)
Life Affirming Masterpiece
Once you visit Cicely Alaska, you'll find yourself returning again and again to this little gem of television drama. You first arrive in the company of a very unhappy Dr Joel, who finds himself 'sentenced' to this wilderness very much against his will as part of his contract with the State of Alaska for putting him through medical college. Through long hot summers and long dark polar winters, guided by the philosophical meanderings of local KBHR radio host and ex con Chris Stevens, you gradually fall, as Joel does, under the spell of this little town and it's eclectic people, which was founded by lesbian couple Roslyn and Cicely in the early 1900s. It has no equal in television either before or since.
So what are you waiting for? Move to Cicely Alaska, the Riviera of the North and start your life all over again
Forever Green (1989)
Livin' in a home in the heart of the country
I remember this lovely little drama so well, from a time before we became embedded in smartphones and technology. Forever Green is unashamedly eco and forward thinking, capturing the majesty of the English countryside, it's people, it's wildlife, and the magic of nature. From night owls to wind rustling trees, it breathes fresh air through your lungs. Produced by the incomparable Brian Eastman and starring the perfect pairing of John Alderton and Pauline Collins as the Boult family, who leave behind the rat race and the city noise and lights for an old farm in Gloucestershire. They have a son, and a daughter who suffers from asthma whose lives are transformed by the change of air. A fine supporting cast includes Daisy Bates, Wendy Alison van der Plank and Paola Dionisotti.
It's reappearance on network tv is long overdue. It's on YouTube. See it and you'll feel those healing vibes wash over you!
Ben-Hur (2016)
Loses to it's 1959 predecessor
Ben Hur 2016 Where do I start? Leaving aside the standard washy post production special effects present on all movies these days,the plot ( yes most movies need one ) departs totally in places from Lew Wallace's book. While following the 1959 epic was no doubt a daunting prospect, it appears that this version was aimed at viewers with a very short span of attention as well as poor memory retention, if the frequent corny flashbacks are anything to go by. The mighty Balthasar is dropped from the story, Simonides ( Esther's father ) hovers pointlessly in the background and most astonishingly, the pivotal character of Quintus Arrius is reduced to a one dimensional brute as in fact are all of the Roman characters, and he is quickly dispatched by Judah with his oar, along with the entire back story of Judah and Arrius's father son relationship in Rome which was essential to the tale. Consequently his time in Rome learning to be a charioteer is gone too. This is left to a dread locked Morgan Freeman in the Ilderim role, shouting out instructions to him during the chariot race, ( I kid you not ). This pairing down of Lew Wallace's characters seriously mars the story and I'm sorry but no long beard and hair was going to convince me that Judah had spent five years chained to an oar living off his thirst for revenge. To be fair Timur Bekmambetov had a hard act to follow in William Wyler. But what is missing from this version is depth. From Lew Wallace during the American civil war, to almost the entire cast and crew of the 1959 version ( Wyler and Heston in particular ) many experienced the horrors of war and death first hand and it shows in their work. As maligned as Charlton Heston has been these past years, unfairly in my opinion, his performance as the tortured Judah hell bent on revenge is a truly unforgettable performance, in a film which is a masterpiece of cinema with an outstanding script of emotional depth by Gore Vidal that sets it apart and above all the other turgid biblical epics of that time. Long .. yes, religious ..somewhat, but Ben Hur is a tale about the road from hate and revenge to forgiveness and redemption that the 1959 version admirably succeeded in conveying. Even the over the top melodramatic ending of Wylers 1959 film ( angel choirs included ) doesn't mar the impact of the stunning crucifixion. The Calvary scene in the 2016 version I'm sad to say would be almost as funny as Monty Python's depiction, if it weren't trying to be serious. Christ's exit in Ben Hur 2016 is as under whelming as was his entrance. This is then topped off by a post chariot race Messala hopping game-fully along on one leg with the Hur family, all friends again. In the Heston version, Messala played by Irish actor Stephen Boyd spits his last words of dying hate to Judah by informing his one time friend of the true fate of his mother and sister. Now that's hatred! The excellent actor Jack Huston who has yet to land a role as memorable as the WW1 veteran Richard Harrow in Boardwalk Empire, really deserved better. Along with his fellow actors in Ben Hur 2016 he cannot be blamed for this stinker of a film. They all gave it a good shot, and given a better script that adhered to the book, I believe they would have fared better.