Aziraphale615 Reviews

Father Brown (2013– )

Not Chesterton's Father Brown, but the early seasons were good

[6/10 · 17 June 2023]

Even though this is definitely not G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, I liked the series when I first started watching. The first few seasons were pretty good, and even kind of dark at times, and there were some well-written episodes here and there after that, but things became a little too goofy once Inspector Mallory (whose wife, incidentally, is named Valerie Mallory) came on board. Several good character actors also appear to have left and the series appears to have gone on for longer than it should. I like Mark Williams as Father Brown, and am sort of shocked that the show is continuing without Sorcha Cusack as Mrs. McCarthy.

Jonathan Creek (1997–2016)

First 3 seasons are great, then starts to slide downwards...

[8/10 · 24 March 2020]

Starting watching this after being gifted a Britbox subscription, and the first three seasons are excellent. Well-thought out problems/plots, interesting, 3 dimensional characters with an odd but palpable chemistry between the main 2, great acting, humor, etc. Season 4, not only is the chemistry between the 2 leads odd, but the mysteries are further out there. What I liked about the first 3 seasons is that you could actually figure out the mysteries - you might not know the why, but you could sometimes figure out the how. Fair mysteries, where the viewer really was given most of the pertinent information. This starts to ebb as we hit season 4. I just watched the first episode of season 5, and yeah, so far, it's the worst. I guess it just jumped the shark.

A Picture of You (2013)

Learning your mother was someone other than just your mother

[8/10 · 22 April 2014]

I saw this film at a festival, and it's one of those films that really can make you laugh and cry. Jen and Kyle are siblings with differences - Kyle stayed by his mother's side while she was dying, Jen did not. They drive together to their mother's rural home to clear it out. Shortly after they arrive, while going through their mother's computer files, they stumble across three "interesting" pictures. What follows is a comic farce, in which they're joined by Jen's boyfriend Doug and friend Mika, to track down the answer to the question that the pictures raise. It's a well-written, well-directed film, beautifully photographed and scored, with solid performances across the board.

Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story (2008 TV Movie)

Love the three-dimensionality of the characters

[9/10 · 17 November 2010]

"Filth" just happen to come on after another show - I didn't intend to watch it, but the opening song contrasting with the prim-looking lady on the bicycle so intrigued me that I ended up watching, and I'm glad I did.

This is a story about Mary Whitehouse, a mother, wife and school teacher, who is outraged by the Director General of the BBC's (Sir Hugh Carleton Greene)new programming. It's the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, and the "new morality," is making its way onto TV during teatime, and Mary Whitehouse will have none of it.

This is a very successful television movie in that every main character was three-dimensional. Mary starts out as a sympathetic character who eventually turns into a Master Censor as she sends letters to the beleaguered Sir Hugh complaining about two unkind characters in a children's television program.

Sir Hugh also takes a turn, as he starts out an arrogant elitist who won't even meet with Mary (a "nutter") to a defender of free speech who simply can't withstand her repeated assaults.

Beautifully told, acted and cleverly directed, "Filth" is well worth a watch.

Marple: The Secret of Chimneys (2010) Season 5, Episode 2

A must NOT see for Agatha Christie readers

[2/10 · 23 June 2010]

Once again, the producers have royally messed with a decent Agatha Christie novel. Instead of saying "Based on the novel by Agatha Christie," the credits should read "Loosely adapted from the novel by Agatha Christie." One of the previous reviewers covered the plot well enough, so I'll just say that the only similarities between the book and this adaptation are the names of the characters (even their relationships aren't the same) and the name of the home where the story takes place. The writers have written an entirely different plot that is very much NOT an improvement on the Agatha Christie story or her characters AND they throw Miss Marple into it. I gave this two stars rather than 1 because the acting's decent.

Novels and films (and television series) are obviously all very different animals. In the past, when the Christie adaptations were good, the writer(s) would take some small liberties to help elucidate back story, or because they wanted to include Hastings, or Miss Marple's nephew Raymond or some other character they thought would help with the plot. Now the trend seems to be to completely rewrite Christie's plots to appeal to a modern audience. I don't know about you, but part of the reason I enjoy reading Christie and watching the good adaptations (not this dreck)is because I enjoy the time/place-specific plots of the stories. PLEASE STOP MESSING WITH THEM.

BBC Play of the Month: On Approval (1982) Season 15, Episode 2

Oh, how the quips fly!

[9/10 · 29 December 2009]

This is one of the wittiest things I've seen in a long time. Maria, a selfish, spoiled, wealthy widow, knows that Richard has silently loved her for a long time, but, as she tells her friend Helen, it's so difficult to know what a man will be like as a husband. Her solution? To take the potential husband "on approval," that is, to live with him (not in the modern day sense but in the stay-at-someone's-house-in-the-country sense)for a month and then decide. When Richard brings himself to tell Maria how he feels, she tells him that she'll only consider marriage if he agrees to go to Scotland with her and stay there for a month. He does, much to the chagrin of his friend George, Duke of Bristol, who can't stand Maria (she can't stand him either - they're too much alike). George, in the hopes of convincing his friend otherwise, also goes to Scotland. Maria's friend Helen, a pickle heiress who is smitten with George, goes along in the hopes that she may be the next Duchess of Bristol. After three weeks, scales fall from eyes and plans are hatched to make the good-hearted but spoiled widow and Duke into more lovable people.

The dialogue flies fast and furious - I'd give you a sampling but there are simply too many brilliant quotes to keep track of (the scene where George and Maria call a five-minute truce makes me laugh out loud every time). All the actors do brilliantly - I think this is one of Jeremy Brett's best roles. A throwback to the comedies of manners, where dialogue really sparkled and sizzled.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor (1993) Season 3, Episode 2

So. Not. Doyle.

[1/10 · 23 December 2009]

One of the things that supposedly led Jeremy Brett to take on the mantle of Holmes was the fact that Granada wanted to do something that no other film or television producer had done before, namely, do the Doyle stories as they were written. And for the most part, they did. It seems that towards the end of Brett's life, when he was at his weakest, they gave him the weirdest, melodramatic and nonsensical adaptations to showcase his talents. Even if I didn't know the story The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, "The Eligible Bachelor" would've had me confused, since it is just all over the place. We start out with the upcoming nuptials of Hattie Doran and Lord Robert St. Simon (along the lines of the original story). Then we veer into a very strange subplot with Sherlock Holmes being unable to sleep because he's having a recurring nightmare (which he sketches). Throw in an old estate with jungle animals, a maimed veiled lady (possibly borrowed from The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger)a murderous husband, a wife driven mad and all other sorts of wackiness that not only was never in the original story, but which just makes the whole piece unwieldy and a mess. I've appreciated other episodes where the writers were able to dramatize some elements of "backstory" but in this case, they just added in all sorts of things that made for an over-the-top piece of melodrama that probably has Conan Doyle spinning.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: The Mazarin Stone (1994) Season 1, Episode 5

A Very Odd Adaptation

[4/10 · 1 December 2009]

I'm not sure how the episode plays to people unfamiliar with the actual stories, but anyone who has read the stories "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" probably finds this episode incredibly peculiar. I completely understand that Jeremy Brett was ill and therefore unable to participate much in the episode, but I really don't get why the producers felt the need to mash two stories together and make a frankenstein-like product. It's even stranger when you consider how faithful these producers were to the original source material with most of the other Tales (I believe Jeremy Brett himself remarked on it once). If you're something of a Holmes purist, I wouldn't recommend this episode. Basically, the villain of the Three Garridebs becomes an associate of the villain of The Mazarin Stone and the two stories get linked together. Instead of Sherlock solving the case, we get Mycroft (again, highly improbable, if you're a purist, since Mycroft was never one to move around energetically) and Watson. The actors were fine, though I found both the script and direction to be somewhat over the top, especially towards the end.

Marple: Murder Is Easy (2008) Season 4, Episode 2

Huh?

[2/10 · 12 July 2009]

I don't get it - the majority of the audience watching these series are folks who have read and enjoyed the books. Why oh why must the producers screw them up so badly? They've taken a book that was *never* a Miss Marple book to begin with, inserted her in it and then twisted the plot around to make it almost unrecognizable. The only thing that's stayed the same are the character names. Oh, and who done it (but the reasons why she did everything she did are completely different from the book - why?). I really don't get it. I understand that TV series and books are two different animals - one can't be exactly the same as the other. But throwing in big plot points (illegitimate pregnancies, adoptions, "simple" siblings) that were never there to begin with and skipping over actual plot points from the book is ridiculous and makes a real mockery of the line "Based on the novel by Agatha Christie." The previous Miss Marple series (the Joan Hickson one) hewed pretty closely to the books and was quite enjoyable. I'm giving it two stars because there are some really fine actors in it (would've given it one star otherwise). I guess the producers wanted the story to be modernized for today's audience, but I think that even an audience ignorant of the book (and again, probably NOT the majority) would've found the plot overdone. Dame Agatha must be spinning in her grave.

Last Chance Harvey (2008)

A gentle film showcasing great work

[8/10 · 10 January 2009]

I can see why other reviewers have called this movie boring: there are no chases, crashes, plot twists, sex scenes, or gut-busting laughs. What there is: a gentle movie featuring two wonderful actors doing superb work. Dustin Hoffman is Harvey, an old-school jingle writer who is refusing to read the writing on the wall, where his job is concerned. He flies to London where his American daughter and her American fiancé live and work, to attend the wedding. The trip starts out as something of a bust (he is somewhat cut-off from the rest of the family, for various reasons) until he meets Kate, a Heathrow Airport survey representative. Kate's life consists of her job, her writing class, her clinging mother and avoiding relationships (she is terrified of being hurt). Watching these two slowly yet quickly (it all takes place during the course of a couple of days) do the courtship dance is to see some very, very fine acting. This is a gentle, somewhat formulaic movie that would probably have not been made without these two leads. While all the actors are good, Thompson and Hoffman are what make this film.

The film does have its faults (I believe someone else mentioned the dress montage, and yes, I think Emma Thompson should have been exempted from this cliché)and can be formulaic, but overall, it was a pleasant experience.

Tanghi argentini (2006)

A brilliant short

[9/10 · 29 October 2008]

A brilliant little short that you have to watch carefully from the beginning, or you might miss the twists that come. Andre, an office drone, is carrying on a romance via the internet with a dancer (he has taken on the cybername of "Bing Crosby"). When he sets up a date with her to dance the tango in public in two weeks, he pleads with his dour co-worker, Frans, to teach him how to dance. After much cajoling, Frans finally agrees. I'd love to tell you more, but that would give away the great plot twists that make this a gem of a movie - so simple, yet so elegant. On a side note: This film had fantastic production values. Watch the end credits and see how large a crew they used, and the big name sponsors they had. Impressive that a short was able to have so many resources.

Towelhead (2007)

A dark movie w/ moments of humor, NOT a dark comedy

[6/10 · 14 September 2008]

The commercials for this film will make you think it's a coming of age/fish-out-water type of comedy. It's not. It's a dark and fairly disturbing portrayal of a young girl of mixed heritage who both receives and gives very mixed sexual messages. She is sent away from her mother's home in Syracuse to live with her father in Texas because, according to her mother (in a creepy foreshadowing), she "needs to learn how to behave around men." There are definitely moments of humor in this film - I went to a screening where Alan Ball did a Q&A afterward, and he spoke of how his sense of humor saves him from a sense of despair, and I think that this illustrates the role of humor in the film.

There are also disturbing, graphic scenes of sexual abuse in this film that make me never want to read the book it's based on (according to Ball, the scenes are more graphic in the book). I was mentioning this film to a co-worker who was very surprised - she said her daughter (in high school) wanted to see "Towelhead" because she thought, based on the commercials, it would be something like the movie Juno - SO not.

All that being said, the acting is superb across the board.