That’s it, really. I can’t think of anything else of note.
Bye for now.
The past year in a photo.
Author Archives: Ben Gould
I personally find First Knight (1995) rather wondrous.
This is another vintage example of good cheese, which I define as cheese done good/well/correct. It is ludicrous at times but I respect its sincerity even if it’s accidentally pish. It’s very hard to make a movie from Arthurian legend that even registers into the realm of ‘realism’, and this bad boy completely jettisons all elements of magic which propel those fables into the otherworldly. They made an attempt. They failed, but it’s still wildly entertaining.
Firstly, I would like to confess that I think Richard Gere is a very good actor but only if he’s allotted a specific archetype, which conversely means he’s not much of an actor at all. He excels at playing himself. Here, he’s drowning. His ‘character’ is so ridiculous and flippant, I can’t think of a reason for Guinevere to even sniff him aside from his looks (which are considerable). It doesn’t make sense because she’s clearly above that kind of thing. It makes even less sense when you have Sean Connery as the love rival and he is by all accounts a universal fanny magnet. His Arthur is also sagacious, wise, humane, merciful. I could honestly write a better script than this.
It’s still great. You have an obstacle course straight out of the British TV show Gladiators (AWOOGA!), the casual appearance of Chris Finch from The Office, wonderfully choreographed swordplay, a plastic castle, and the ersatz Caesar haircut of Ben Cross. The weird thing is that you believe in the world on display. It somehow works in its insanity, a bit like Waterworld (1995), but less good.
I love a scintillating accidental shitter with good intentions.
This:
Rome (2005-2007) really should have been given another season.
It’s your classic HBO series that deals with the upper echelons and the gutter, the senate and the Aventine, Caesar, Pompey, Mark Anthony, Octavian – Roman Republic to Empire and buttressed perfectly by the characters Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, these based on two centurions mentioned in Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War. James Purefoy especially excels here as the dashing and charismatic Anthony. He’s Bond material (he did actually audition twice for the role and almost got it).
Rome doesn’t skirt from the depravity, the rituals and religious sacrifices of the era, and the creative use of naughty language is funny as hell. It succeeds so well at building a world and bringing that period to life, but these people also talk like we do; there’s none of this long-winded theatricality to the wordplay. The spectacle and ambition of the show is unrivalled for its time. The first season is nigh on perfection yet the second so very rushed; they were clearly tying everything together and trying to end the story in a satisfying way.
Apparently they just didn’t have the money to make any more of them which is a shame because it’s rather great.
And what an opening title sequence:
Further reading/viewing:
https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/rome-season-1-review/
The Eagle Has Landed (1976) is a middling affair.
You standard old-fashioned wartime thriller which acts as a serviceable but inferior companion piece to The Day of the Jackal (1973), you’re aware of the outcome but the suspense is in getting there. Unfortunately, the exposition in this one is intriguing enough but by the halfway point it’s a snore. And then Larry Hagman appears as an inexperienced American colonel and it descends into silly comedy which I suspect today wouldn’t survive a pre-production script cull; we all know assassination attempts are no laughing matter.
Thank the heavens for Donald Sutherland. This is another case of Donald Sutherland being hired because only he can play a Donald Sutherland type. He’s fabulously nuts in everything and his career appears to be a personal mission in walking off with the movie. His supporting roles always suppose a spin-off picture with him at the fore. He even made the stinker that is Virus (1999) almost bearable.
The 1998 remake of Psycho (1960) might just be the most pathetic thing ever to have unfortunately been shat into the historical record.
Hated this. HATED IT.
Even when I was watching it I was consumed with 100% hatred.
Why does it exist? Like, what? I was lost for words at times. A near scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot remake of a movie that set a new benchmark for cinema. Psycho (1960) isn’t about horror; it’s an exercise in film syntax and narrative. The shower scene is a joke. I find the whole thing totally hilarious. It’s the most ‘self-aware’ film of all time.
This Gus Van Sant bloke doesn’t get it. I cannot stand his films – they are weak, preachy, stylistically anonymous – and I don’t wish to see one of his hideous endeavours ever again. I had a wee look at some of the contemporary reviews and this one had me howling: ‘Literary critic Camille Paglia commented that the only reason to watch it was “to see Anne Heche being assassinated”.’
She is just terrible. I mind she came out as a lesbian or something and then years later said she didn’t get roles because she ‘came out’ as a lesbian.
No one cares about your private life, pal. You just CAN’T ACT!
Fucking hell.
Flash Gordon (1980) is bonkers! And shockingly great.
I can barely remember even seeing this before but I’m sure I would have remembered how great it is … so I suppose I hadn’t seen it before.
What a hoot! It’s a pastiche of cheese so well put together it transcends cheese and elevates itself way into the spheres above cheese. It’s what one deems a self-aware movie – it knows exactly what it is and that’s the foundation. The visuals and set design could have been absolute gash but for some reason they are not. The cartoon-like quality to them serves to amplify the admittedly silly story, but that’s what it’s all about. Not many films today have a sense of ‘world’ about them, as in a universe onscreen in which the environment and the backdrop actually means something and has a relationship, and vice-versa, with the characters. This is how fantasy should be done.
Some cast graces this bonanza – a young Timothy Dalton, Max von Sydow, a raving Brian Blessed, and Topol! And what happened to Sam J. Jones? He popped up in Ted (2012) but this aside I am without a reference. Oh, here we are: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenlopez/2019/02/23/life-after-flash-acts-as-a-dual-celebration-and-redemption-of-flash-gordons-leading-man/
It has the psychedelic feel of a Pink Floyd music video, and for almost the entire duration I thought it was Roger Waters and chums on soundtrack duties. It turned out to be Queen. I don’t like Queen at all. But I liked them here. And Mike Hodges directed this cracker and Get Carter (1970)? I did not know this.
Versatile.
Further reading/viewing:
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/flash-gordon-film-review-a4520191.html
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/31/flash-gordon-review-mike-hodges-superhero
The Sopranos’ greatest guest star was Kevin McAllister’s pops.
John Heard is something else in this show; he imbues corrupt cop Vin Makazian with so many layers you wish he was a regular. We are introduced to him pissing in a bush outside of a nursing home. That’s how you do it. He was nominated for an Emmy for this. He should have won it. He never really got the best career considering his talents. It’s another case of what might have been.
Cheers for the roles, John.
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 