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AmandaAdams
Reviews
Mamma Mia! (2008)
A Great, Big Budget Home Movie.
OK, so this film is unlikely to win any awards for direction - not even from a partisan British Academy - but I suspect that is part of what makes it work. Mama Mia is a great big home movie with a cast, sound track and location to die for. Adding to the home movie feel, and I suspect to the charm of the film for many,is seeing superstars stripped of the Hollywood trappings and at times looking more than a touch vulnerable. On this showing, perhaps we could all do it! Certainly my husband can sing better than Pierce Brosnan - though he may be lacking in other areas! If Julie Walters' performance had been her first, surely it would also have been her last, and why producers go on casting Colin Firth is beyond me. But who cares, this movie is fun, totally harmless fun and such a pleasant change to the social comment dirges or gratuitously violent bloodbaths that fill our screens. Go and see it not to be moved, not to be shocked, not to be scared, just to be wonderfully entertained.
The Fixer (2008)
An example of what is wrong with British TV and perhaps British society.
Poorly written, poorly directed and with a mediocre cast, The Fixer caps this by its message of 'the only way to fix things is through violence'. And the Brits wonder why their youth are killing each other.
The idea for The Fixer is as old as the hills a righter of wrongs. It was brilliantly done back in the heyday of British television by series such as The Saint, The Avengers and many others. But while the Saint, Steed and Purdy were aspirational figures, would anyone want their son or daughter to grow up to be like anyone in The Fixer? I hope not. Nothing about The Fixer is aspirational, and that also applies to its production values. Set in a series of dingy apartments in dingy parts of London where the sun never shines, the production adopts the hand held camera documentary approach much of the time, succeeding in giving the impression that this is real life rather than fiction. Perhaps much of London and Londoners are like that, but couldn't it be done with a bit more style? American series manage it. Couldn't we have a couple of characters to root for?
According to Wikipedia, the viewing figures for The Fixer had halved by the end of the first six episodes, suggesting that thankfully the viewers have had their fill of this irresponsible glorification of violence. Let's hope the viewers have disappeared altogether by the end of the next six. That way the network bosses might just get the message.