Letting them entertain me
Jan. 4th, 2012 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nineveh_ukI was going to say that I didn’t engage with much media entertainment over Christmas, but in listing it I discovered that I did. So here follow a few highlights of film, television, a musical, but just the one book.
1222 Recommended to me bybookwormsarah, when I said that surely there ought to be a murder mystery set in a Norwegian mountain hotel. When the Oslo to Bergen train comes off the rails in the middle of a winter storm, the passengers find themselves stranded in the hotel. Inevitably next morning one of them is found dead. There is an element of Christie homage, as much as anything can be a Christie homage when the detective is an anti-social Norwegian lesbian ex-policewoman in a wheelchair as a result of being shot, though it isn’t really a puzzle mystery. There’s the usual Dark Underbelly of Scandinavian Society (TM) stuff, and a mysterious heavily guarded extra carriage on the train which proved that I have spent too much time on the internet, because I thought that it really ought to contain zombies, and one or two bits I wasn’t convinced about, but the detective and supporting cast are very enjoyable and it does a good job of revealing people’s personalities more as the book goes on.
Downton Abbey. A return to at least being vaguely coherent tosh, greatly enlivened by the fact that my youngest sister had never seen an episode, so we had to brief her in advance and explain things in the advert breaks. And, of course, by the large amounts of Dead Turk references, though the point where my father and I really lost it completely was when Robert Bathurst said that he couldn’t marry Sybil because he had a war wound... Even the pernicious political viewpoint (you can tell that Julian Fellowes has never had a real job if he thinks that the way most people get a pay rise is by just talking sensibly and unemotionally to the boss who has exploited them and done everything they can to avoid giving them any credit, and the boss will obviously recognise the justice of their words and agree, and anyone who suggests that taking your undoubted talents somewhere they will be recognised is evil) gave us excellent material for discussion during a hike the next day. The plotting remains ridiculous, and the Bates trial makes me suspect that Gosford Park was heavily edited by someone who knew a bit about how murder mysteries work. I have decided that Bates did it; the script certainly gives us no reason to believe otherwise, even if the entire prosecution case was based on information that Bates had apparently told them.
Great Expectations was fantastic. It actually made me want to read the books, and I can give a Dickens adaptation no higher accolade.
A Scandal in Belgravia, the latest Sherlock, was infinitely better than the second and third episodes of the first series, hung together pretty well dramatically, and was really good fun. I was a bit irritated by aspects of Adler’s presentation (I really hope the final scene was Sherlock’s fantasy), but I felt the handling of Sherlock’s sexuality was done with considerable sensitivity.
Meet Me in St Louis (in the cinema) despite having the worst hairstyles in any film, a love interest in a brown cardigan, and the women’s dresses apparently being entirely modelled on fringed lampshades, is really very good indeed, though the Garland/O’Brien song Under the Bamboo Tree understandably had the audience visibly cringing. Peter Bradshaw’s brief Grauniad review pointed out the importance of its being a war film, something I hadn’t previously realised. One would not at first glance associate it with the black-and-white Brief Encounter, but what is Have yourself a merry little Christmas about, if not the importance and cost of keeping a stiff upper lip? It’s tremendously camp, has completely random nuns at the end, and is a brilliant example of why you don’t have to spell out explicitly that something is Wrong. Leon Ames’ sympathetic, loving, humorous, kind, and absolutely autocratic father, prepared to uproot his whole family not simply from their present, but their futures, for the sake of his professional advancement (which we are explicitly told will bring in fact a lower standard of living for them, and is clearly signalled as affecting the women more than his son), finally understanding what he is doing to them and changing his mind is a much better illustration of how a patriarchy works (and incidentally Hurts Men Too) than someone coming onscreen to give him a lecture about how he is Wrong followed by political enlightenment.
Annie at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Very well staged, well-performed, full of energy, children excellent and non-nauseating, all in all a really strong production deservedly playing to a packed house and excellent reviews. Unfortunately, I can’t stand the play. But I am still humming the songs.
1222 Recommended to me by
bookwormsarah, when I said that surely there ought to be a murder mystery set in a Norwegian mountain hotel. When the Oslo to Bergen train comes off the rails in the middle of a winter storm, the passengers find themselves stranded in the hotel. Inevitably next morning one of them is found dead. There is an element of Christie homage, as much as anything can be a Christie homage when the detective is an anti-social Norwegian lesbian ex-policewoman in a wheelchair as a result of being shot, though it isn’t really a puzzle mystery. There’s the usual Dark Underbelly of Scandinavian Society (TM) stuff, and a mysterious heavily guarded extra carriage on the train which proved that I have spent too much time on the internet, because I thought that it really ought to contain zombies, and one or two bits I wasn’t convinced about, but the detective and supporting cast are very enjoyable and it does a good job of revealing people’s personalities more as the book goes on.Downton Abbey. A return to at least being vaguely coherent tosh, greatly enlivened by the fact that my youngest sister had never seen an episode, so we had to brief her in advance and explain things in the advert breaks. And, of course, by the large amounts of Dead Turk references, though the point where my father and I really lost it completely was when Robert Bathurst said that he couldn’t marry Sybil because he had a war wound... Even the pernicious political viewpoint (you can tell that Julian Fellowes has never had a real job if he thinks that the way most people get a pay rise is by just talking sensibly and unemotionally to the boss who has exploited them and done everything they can to avoid giving them any credit, and the boss will obviously recognise the justice of their words and agree, and anyone who suggests that taking your undoubted talents somewhere they will be recognised is evil) gave us excellent material for discussion during a hike the next day. The plotting remains ridiculous, and the Bates trial makes me suspect that Gosford Park was heavily edited by someone who knew a bit about how murder mysteries work. I have decided that Bates did it; the script certainly gives us no reason to believe otherwise, even if the entire prosecution case was based on information that Bates had apparently told them.
Great Expectations was fantastic. It actually made me want to read the books, and I can give a Dickens adaptation no higher accolade.
A Scandal in Belgravia, the latest Sherlock, was infinitely better than the second and third episodes of the first series, hung together pretty well dramatically, and was really good fun. I was a bit irritated by aspects of Adler’s presentation (I really hope the final scene was Sherlock’s fantasy), but I felt the handling of Sherlock’s sexuality was done with considerable sensitivity.
Meet Me in St Louis (in the cinema) despite having the worst hairstyles in any film, a love interest in a brown cardigan, and the women’s dresses apparently being entirely modelled on fringed lampshades, is really very good indeed, though the Garland/O’Brien song Under the Bamboo Tree understandably had the audience visibly cringing. Peter Bradshaw’s brief Grauniad review pointed out the importance of its being a war film, something I hadn’t previously realised. One would not at first glance associate it with the black-and-white Brief Encounter, but what is Have yourself a merry little Christmas about, if not the importance and cost of keeping a stiff upper lip? It’s tremendously camp, has completely random nuns at the end, and is a brilliant example of why you don’t have to spell out explicitly that something is Wrong. Leon Ames’ sympathetic, loving, humorous, kind, and absolutely autocratic father, prepared to uproot his whole family not simply from their present, but their futures, for the sake of his professional advancement (which we are explicitly told will bring in fact a lower standard of living for them, and is clearly signalled as affecting the women more than his son), finally understanding what he is doing to them and changing his mind is a much better illustration of how a patriarchy works (and incidentally Hurts Men Too) than someone coming onscreen to give him a lecture about how he is Wrong followed by political enlightenment.
Annie at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Very well staged, well-performed, full of energy, children excellent and non-nauseating, all in all a really strong production deservedly playing to a packed house and excellent reviews. Unfortunately, I can’t stand the play. But I am still humming the songs.
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Trivia of the day
Date: 2012-01-04 04:18 pm (UTC)Re: Trivia of the day
Date: 2012-01-04 06:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 05:26 pm (UTC)I haven't seen Downton Abbey but it is still on itvplayer* so I might now.
*which unlike the bloody BBC version has a big box next to it saying "20 days left". No, I didn't get to the missing middle episodes of The Killing II before they self-destructed. How did you guess? Never mind, I now have a magic recording box for when they repeat it.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 07:07 pm (UTC)Oh dear. But at least you are safe for the future. There's a new DAnish detective thing starting on Saturday, so you can practice on that.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 07:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 04:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 07:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 04:26 pm (UTC)I can also think of no higher accolade for a Dickens adaptation. I saw the film they made a few years ago and that certainly didn't inspire me to go anywhere near the book with a bargepole! The Boy keeps telling me I'll like A Tale of Two Cities though.
Downton was enjoyable as usual but I thought the trail was a bit crap and I missed Sybil and her Irish beau, I hope they're back for the next one.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 07:13 pm (UTC)The adaptation was infinitely better than that GE film. I really liked Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham - the fact that she was obviously younger than she's sometimes been portrayed underlined the poignancy of her wasting her life now.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 12:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-08 07:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 06:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-08 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-04 09:44 pm (UTC)I really liked the latest Sherlock. The ending was OTT and I thought Irene's femme fatale qualities were a little over-done, but it was good fun. Plus, a lesbian dominatrix has an ambiguous relationship (perhaps based on attraction, perhaps not) with an asexual/aromantic virgin? You don't see that on television every day. Sherlock could definitely improve with regard to its female characters, but I do appreciate the way other sexual orientations are explored in a fairly respectful way.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-08 08:30 pm (UTC)I think that's pretty much the Julian Fellowes definition of a good character. See also the Earl, who never actually seems to do anything to maintain his position (because that would open space to question it?).
I liked the way that the question of Sherlock's sexuality was left pretty open - is he gay/bisexual/straight/confused/asexual/just stunned by someone being sexually agressive towards him, and the extent to which he was just embarrassed that suddenly he found himself on display in a way that he was used to doing to other people (see Molly. Oh Molly, just leap on him, you'll have a much better chance). I await this evening's episode with interest.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-08 11:34 pm (UTC)I think the portrayal of Sherlock's sexuality, his relationship with Irene, his relationship with John, and the intersections between those three was really well-done. I hope the next two episodes keep up the quality; the Moffat to Gatiss to Thompson (The Blind Banker *shiver*) progression would seem to promise diminishing returns. But I'll try to stay open-minded.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 08:47 am (UTC)That sounds as if it was spelled out pretty explicitly that it was Wrong, even without an authorial self-insert to provide a lecture.
I must say that one of my guilty pleasures about Foyle's War is the sheer joy of watching Foyle deliver self-righteous lectures to the villains about the evils of eg profiteering. It's such a pleasure when he gets judgemental on someone's ass (though he doesn't really need the lectures to do it - he has the most judgmental eyes I ever saw. He only has to look at someone and you know at once that even though they have a post accent and the might of the establishment behind them, they are the most algae-ridden piece of scum that ever crawled from the bottom of a pond).
BTW, I saw the germ warfare one last night, by the way, and cringed all the way through it. I think there must be a law somewhere which states that for any TV series, the episode dealing with the epidemic will be the most melodramtic, cliche-ridden, badly-written and cringeworthy of the lot. I barely noticed the implausibility of the farming communitx failing to recognise anthrax because I was too busy covering my eyes so I didn't have to watch poor Sam be The Team Member Who Succumbs And Nearly Dies But Pulls Through In the End.
And now that I have derailed your discussion and made it All.About. Foyle's War, I shall endeavour to hide my sekrit agenda by saying that you are the second person to say that the new series of Sherlock started out really well (but is this really well compared with A Study in Pink or compared with the dross that was the other two episodes?), and how come you were watching Meet Me in St Louis in a cinema rather than n TV?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 12:18 pm (UTC)Whereas with my farmer's daughter hat on, I shout "The calves are dying!" throughout the episode until someone finally notices.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 12:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 01:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-06 10:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-06 11:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-07 07:40 am (UTC)I think this may be the common factor behind all plague episodes. It would account for their dreadfulness without having to multiply the entities.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-06 10:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-05 12:48 pm (UTC)We could call it Azdak's Law. Curiously, it doesn't seem to apply to books, as there are quite a few good plague books, but no good plague episodes. But I suppose books have the advantage that they can kill all the characters at the end, which you can't do if they need to come back next week.
Oh, St Louis father was clearly Wrong. But he was allowed to gain the understanding himself, by observing what his actions were doing to the family he loved, not through the intervention of an external agency. And he is still an autocrat, but that this particular intervention is benign. We were at the cinema because it has been re-released, and my Dad is a fan of camp musicals and Judy Garland.
The new Sherlock was actually good television - infinitely better than the other two, and certainly up there with ASiP. There were a few things that weren't as clear as they might be, and it didn't escape plot holes, but it was pacy, well-acted, and had good characterisation (driving the plot!) and a lot of humour. Well worth watching.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-06 10:29 am (UTC)I suppose books have the advantage that they can kill all the characters at the end, which you can't do if they need to come back next week.
I think you're right that it's partly because you can't avoid melodrama when characters are angsting away over someone the audience knows can't possibly die. I would have hated the ep a lot less if it hadn't been begging me to angst over Sam, when what I was actually feeling was profound annoyance that she'd been shoehorned yet again into the passive damsel-in-distress role.
my Dad is a fan of camp musicals and Judy Garland.
The more I hear about your father, the more I like him.
Keep me posted on the next eps of sherlock - if they keep up the standard I might buy the DVDs at some point.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-08 07:51 pm (UTC)My father is presently writing Downton Abbey metafic for his creative writing class and trying to argue that it isn't really fanfic. No, it's so much fanfic that there's a whole subgenre...
Hound of the Baskervilles tonight, I shall report.
ETA: Oh dear, Hound of the Baskervilles really not impressive. No Mysterious Chinamen, but no plot that hung together, either. Whoever it was who said that Moffat leaps from scene to scene with no actual plot was all too accurate tonight. Not a patch on the 2002 BBC version with Ian Hart and Richard Roxburgh.