bbewnylorac Reviews

Shakespeare, Rise of a Genius (2023)

Has so much potential, but falls short

[6/10 · 9 April 2024]

This series tries to cram in Shakespeare's entire life and art, and so thus comes across as over-wrought, rushed and a bit flashy. It is made with passion, and I love the actors and experts helping narrate the story. The re-enactments try hard, but again are too rushed and earnest. The music is too intrusive, as if it wants to ratchet up the tension. I understood what the story were saying, and I did learn quite a bit. But I feel the script could have done with more work. The lighting is dank and drab - yes I know it was a plague era, but I can't believe Queen Elizabeth's court would be so poorly lit. Still, you realise how terrified Shakespeare and his actors must have been to perform for the Queen, in an era where she could have sent them for punishment for their subversive and semi-political, if historical, plays.

A Murder in the Family: Jennifer Cronin (2023) Season 1, Episode 2

Well made piece about domestic violence

[7/10 · 19 February 2024]

True crime documentaries can be over-wrought and repetitive but this one tells a terrible story in a very clear and concise way. A happy, loving father and husband started abusing drugs and alcohol, and his life spiralled out of control. He became a mean, nasty person. His wife left him for the safety of herself and their two daughters, and the husband started getting jealous and angry. He started stalking them, and ended up murdering his wife's mother. And taking his own life Sadly not unheard of. We didn't hear about his upbringing, or his early life, and it would have been good to maybe look at ways to handle stalkers. But generally a very good program.

McCartney 3,2,1 (2021)

Pure pleasure to catch up with those songs

[8/10 · 23 January 2024]

If anyone else boasted and name-dropped like Paul McCartney does, and said things like 'yeah I think it's pretty good' when listening to his own songs, you would think he was conceited.

But in his case, he is right. This show gets McCartney in a rather ridiculously dark studio to go through hit after hit, chatting about who played what instrument in which Beatles song, and how he got the idea for the song.

In many cases, I had heard the story before, but it is still a lot of fun to stroll down memory lane. And McCartney, for all his cocky self-confidence, has an infectious positivity and enthusiasm. And he is a good story teller.

Unlike many other rock gods, he is not neurotic or twisted. He has childlike qualities and he tells his stories, such as how he met Little Richard and Roy Orbison, without embellishment.

Rick Rubin, the interviewer, is really great. He lets McCartney have the spotlight, interrupting to clarify something or to ask questions as if he has always been curious about it.

So this is a good series.

One Life (2023)

Quite a good movie

[6/10 · 6 January 2024]

The true story of Nicholas Winton's efforts to save over 650 children from the Nazis in Prague, by ensuring they were transported to England and adopted by British families, is remarkable and deserves to be told. The movie is self-assured and clear in its story-telling. The actors are all great. I had quite a few reservations, however. The movie lacks a bit of passion, action and drama. It kind of ticks off the plot points but does not take any risks with deviating from the straight narrative. The families and personalities of the children are not gone into enough. I felt the writers could have shown more imagination in profiling the lives of two or three families in Prague and how they got there, then what happened to the parents staying behind after their kids were sent to London, and what happened to the kids in London. It would have evoked more emotional investment from viewers when the children reunite with Nicky Winters. The scenes with Anthony Hopkins at home can be quite plodding. I am glad the other refugee workers in Prague are shown but it still seems like Nicky gets the bulk of the credit. What about the bravery of the adults that stayed in Prague as war loomed, and those who accompanied the children on the trains? Also at times the film seems to hold back on showing the true violence of the Nazis. It comes across as a little sanitised, although I am sure it is not deliberate. I think that showing the families left in Prague going to the concentration camps may have brought home the dire danger the kids were in. And the scenes with the kids on the ninth train that never made it to London do not have enough tension.

Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017)

Interesting doco but not great

[6/10 · 27 December 2023]

There is a lot of backstage footage here, maybe too much, but it portrays Whitney Houston as a lot more sassy and intelligent and complex than her public image. She was publicly marketed as a perfect pop princess, so it is not surprising that she rebelled against that. One theory is that drugs were a way of dealing with the pressure and also the film talks about how she wanted to stay with husband Bobby Brown under any circumstances. The doco is much kinder than the McDonald doco on Brown. The passages about her best friend Robin Crawford try hard to grasp the nature of their relationship, but fail. I lost interest in the film about two-thirds of the way through. So it is not that great.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Camper than a row of tents

[6/10 · 8 December 2023]

Look, the actors here are not great and the script has a lot of corn. You suspect the audience are meant to laugh, to see it as a parody of a teen horror matinee. I mean, the two chicks go to a big old house alone. The hot guy showers alone in the school gym at night. I mean, really? I guess the plot is interesting,, about four teenagers who run over someone and instead of reporting it they get rid of the body. Then someone or something starts trying to kill them. They really should do something just about everyone else would do, like go to the police, or at least a psychiatrist. But I guess that would mean it was a short movie. Oh well, the scenery is pretty and there are some genuinely suspenseful bits.

Stock Aitken Waterman: Legends of Pop (2023)

Not bad but not deep

[7/10 · 28 November 2023]

I was a teenager in the 1980s and so I found this doco interesting. Yes, it's a love-in of the type that's popular in music docos. I.e. There is nothing really negative, and little downside is presented. Which is hard to believe. The criticism that record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman were too much of a business and were a bit of a soulless hit factory is valid. The trio of producers are not so much artists as they are producers in their approach. But that is just what people wanted, right? Some diversion from everyday life? The story of Mel from Mel and Kim getting cancer was shocking. I hadn't known that. I liked the story about Rick Astley being the nonchalant office boy before the trio recorded him.

SAW did write and craft some really average songs. However a handful of their songs were great, and were deservedly big hits. Rick Astley was never a complex artist, and was not that successful but I guess there is nothing wrong with just being a teen idol. And he can sing.

In the end of part one of the doco I felt a bit flat. But I guess SAW at least got people dancing so that's a positive.

Highclere: Behind the Scenes (2022– )

It's missing something

[6/10 · 25 November 2023]

I like the drama series Downton Abbey and it is nice to see this doco showing us the real It is based on, Highclere Castle. The interviewees all come across as very nice.

Maybe what is missing is a little drama Yes we are shown the luxurious exterior, rooms, gardens and farm but in a way it comes across as a promotional video.

I would have liked to have learned some stories about the real life characters over the years, or about how cooking and cleaning has changed. There were too many interviews with staff saying 'yes I really like my job and this is what I do'.

To engage the audience you need a bit more substance. Or maybe I am expecting too much. Maybe other fans will like this.

Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (2021–2022)

Don't be cynical, just enjoy!

[7/10 · 13 November 2023]

A lovely series that allows viewers to sit back and enjoy the people and places that actor Stanley Tucci visits, all over Italy.

The fact that Tucci is of Italian background and speaks the language well is a huge bonus. He is naturally charming and funny but other bonuses are his curiosity, and passion.

The producers try to seek out local stories, beyond the tourist attractions.

I guess they do focus on happy stories, but I also saw them interview a couple in Rome whose cafe had been firebombed twice, possibly due to the Mob or anti- gentrification campaigners.

I loved the segment on Rome's Jewish quarter, and on foods such as artichokes and offal.

Overall, it is a very good series. Well done.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)

Very good retrospective

[7/10 · 12 November 2023]

While very much a sanctioned documentary, this film about the Bee Gees is well paced and directed. I learned some things I didn't know, like how Eric Clapton urged the Bee Gees to record in Miami in the mid-1970s, and how the band had a bad falling out in the years leading up to that. As several commentators point out, if they weren't brothers, they would have split up early on. Although Barry was bigger and older than his twin brothers Robin and Maurice, which for many people would mean not hanging out, he seemed to really love working with them.

Also the doco highlights just how many amazing songs they wrote. And how dramatically they reinvented themselves from 60s soul band to funk and disco stars. Few bands would have had the talent or determination to do that. I'm not sure everything here happened aa smoothly and happily as it sounds. But it's a hugely entertaining film. And I love the comments from Justin Timberlake, Noel Gallagher, Chris Martin from Coldplay, Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees band members. There is even a chat with Maurice Gibb's ex wife Lulu.

They always had huge family and industry support. But mainly they had more than a little luck, passion and amazing talent.

The Young Victoria (2009)

Accomplished retelling of an interesting story

[7/10 · 15 October 2023]

A great script, lovely cinematography and excellent casting are among the many positives about this quality film. The writer is Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and director Jean-Marc Vallee, both very good operators. Emily Blunt is excellent as Queen Victoria - portraying her as a young human being and not some lofty deity. If anything, Blunt could have made her a little more posh. I don't think Blunt's accent is quite as correct as it should be. As Prince Albert, Rupert Friend is fantastic, too, although it is a somewhat straightforward role with little expressive room. Miranda Richardson is a great support as the meddling, attention seeking mother of Victoria, the Duchess of Kent, as is Paul Bettany as Lord Melbourne, the initial prime minister. Bettany tries to play Melbourne as a person not used to working with a young woman as his sovereign, or as someone in authority, which must have been strange for him. Best of all, the movie tells the tale clearly and entertainingly, and the pomp and ceremony and the music do not overwhelm the human side of the story. For example, the coronation is just a few scenes and does not drag on.

Erin Brockovich (2000)

Great script and cinematography

[7/10 · 7 October 2023]

I'm no Julia Roberta fan and I don't think this role suits her. She doesn't look the part of a dirt poor single Mom of three. Instead of being under stress, she looks like she stubbed her toe. However, the real- life story of a fledgling law clerk who stumbles on a huge corporate water pollution scheme, is a cracker. Director Steven Soderbergh gives a confident structure and pace. As the law firm chief Ed Masry, the chronically under- recognised British actor Albert Finney is amazing. It's great to see a lead lawyer so is a bit easily led but who also knows the law and who comes to pay attention to Erin's project.

Sheryl (2022)

Well produced, but could be much better

[6/10 · 2 October 2023]

This doco has a lot going for it. It is beautifully edited and filmed, and obviously Sheryl Crow opened her life up for it. Her parents in Missouri are adorably normal. She has some amazing friends - musicians, engineers, agents. She is incredibly musically talented - accomplished in guitar, bass, piano, singing and performing. And song writing. She left a simpler life in the Midwest and toiled for years as a musician in Los Angeles before she was famous. Keith Richards, who respects her, points out that she's both sensitive and tough. The celebrity duets are mind-blowing - Mick Jagger, Prince, Michael Jackson, and a fantastic song with Stevie Nicks, who obviously admires her.

It's just that the doco leaves me a bit flat. It's a bit too fawning and slick. It has too much of Sheryl! It's like she approved everything. And so the doco comes across a bit like a promotional piece.

Complete with a montage sequence with her kids.

I still like Sheryl and she seems to be a lovely person. Unfortunately, I don't think this is quite the documentary she deserves.

The Lost King (2022)

An amazing story, well told

[7/10 · 21 August 2023]

The unlikely but astonishing true story of how an amateur historian led the campaign to unearth the body of King Richard III from a car park 500 years after he died in battle is told beautifully here. Stephen Frears is a great director, and the script is engaging, funny, crystal clear and well edited. Sally Hawkins is a gem - her acting is heartfelt but tinged with humour. Her character Phillippa shows how a passion in life, even being obsessed by a historic figure, can give us so much. Such as a purpose and a social life. It is reassuring that even in an age of technology and experts, an ordinary woman can achieve the extraordinary. In some respects she happened to be the one who brought the disparate threads of evidence, which had somehow been lost over time, together to locate the body. And crowd funding for the dig played a huge part, too. As her ex-husband John, Steve Coogan shows understated intelligence and love. For once an ex is portrayed positively. It is a great performance by Coogan. I loved the presence of the ghost of King Richard. Instead of being silly, it added more meaning to the film. The ghost is a silent reminder that Richard was human. The movie is quite pro-Richard but it does not convince me that he did not murder his nephews. But this is a story about Phillipoa, and that is what she believes.

The Dish (2000)

A lovingly made film

[7/10 · 12 August 2023]

It's really great to see an Australian story told on the big screen. Based on a true event. The cinematography is stunning, starring the spectacular real Parkes satellite dish in rural New South Wales, while the lovely town of Forbes stands in for nearby Parkes. Perhaps due to the dry subject matter, the humour is sometimes laid on too thickly, and I suspect more drama was added to the plot than what happened in real life. The actors' eye- rolling and eccentricities are also over-done. The costumes are beautiful, and the soundtrack is a reminder of why 1969 was a fantastic one for pop music. There are enough technical references for the technicians' dialogue to be plausible without being boring. I.e. I felt I could follow the dialogue. We can't really comprehend what it must have been like for the public to absorb that man could walk on the moon, and that technicians in Parkes could talk with astronauts and Mission Control in Houston. The dish would have seemed light years ahead of what most Australians knew. The film largely succeeds in being a light-hearted look at an overlooked event in our history.

Coyote Ugly (2000)

What is the point of this movie?

[3/10 · 29 July 2023]

I avoided this movie when it came out because the trailers for it looked awful. Women, or 'girls', in tight, skimpy clothing serving drinks to lecherous crowds in a bar. It sounded rather sexist and, well, plotless. Twenty years later, while waiting for another movie to come on, on TV, I finally had the chance to see some of it. And what I saw was pretty bad. It has the feel, in that 1980s and 1990s style, of parading scantily clad 'girls', and just adding a flimsy story and sexy soundtrack. What else do ya need, is the mentality. I guess the idea of a young person moving to New York City and being thrown in the deep end in a job is a good idea, but there are so many more intelligent, worthwhile avenues you could go down, using that plot, than go for the eye candy route. It comes across as a bit cheap. And the portayal of women is the poorer for it.

Paris Can Wait (2016)

Fantastically languid movie that's too slow for some

[7/10 · 24 July 2023]

Brava to Eleanor Coppola, directing her first movie, for daring to make a film that's about enjoying life. That's basically the plot. Diane Lane plays a woman, married to a successful Hollywood producer (Alec Baldwin), who is unable to fly to Paris due to an ear complaint. And so, instead, a French associate of her husband, played by Arnaud Viard, drives her across France to Paris. What ensues is a few days of beautiful scenery, food, wine and above all two people enjoying each other's company. It shows how we sometimes forget how just talking and taking in the good things in life can be wonderful. Albeit that these characters are affluent, can afford to go gallivanting around the French countryside and don't have to work. I can imagine that viewers who like a lot of action, and indeed who like a good plot, in their movies, will be infuriated by this film. This is a very European style Hollywood film and pays tribute to the French style of relationship films, as opposed to the more blustery American style, in which the woman would undoubtedly be more angst-ridden than Lane's character here, who is quite amused and laidback. Viard's character lays on the charm in order to romance the Lane character, but he's also entertaining and funny. This would be a good movie to watch on a plane or on a rainy afternoon or if you were sick. You just sit back and enjoy it.

Ben Is Back (2018)

Interesting and well acted movie

[7/10 · 8 July 2023]

It is a shame that the family depicted in this film is so well off. If they had been more urban and struggling with more complex issues, it could have been a better film. It does allude to how poor people cannot afford the rehab this family can. On the other hand, it shows that drug addiction can reach anyone, even the middle class. I am not a Julia Roberts fan but she is great here as a mother whose estranged drug addicted son Ben returns to her happy home just before Christmas, causing utter chaos. There are so many very believable issues to explore, about the limits of trust and love, and as Ben, Lucas Hedges is great. If anything his character is a little understated and reserved. The frigid New England winter is a great metaphor for the harsh emotional territory. The night mother and son go looking for the dog is quite suspenseful. I do not think there was a doubt about how the film would turn out, but it is a very watchable journey.

Tina (I) (2021)

Fantastic documentary of a star

[8/10 · 27 May 2023]

This doco is a well made and timely look back at the spectacular comeback of the energetic 1960s R and B star, who left her violent marriage and started again, from scratch. Vivid stage footage, candid interviews and snappy pacing are characteristics of this film. Turner is a warm, intelligent and honest person. When asked what she thought of the film about her, instead of lying, she said she hadn't seen it because she didn't want to relive the bad times with her husband Ike. She admits she never felt love, even from her parents. She was a star before Madonna, Whitney Houston and Beyoncé. She chased her dreams and worked hard. And she won the fight. She comes across as incredibly strong. It's a fairytale and no doubt her life was a lot tougher than it comes across here. But she deserved her success, and this film shows this, without coming across as too sycophantic.

What a Girl Wants (2003)

Bynes has real talent

[7/10 · 13 May 2023]

It's now 2023 - years since Amanda Bynes, who starred in this movie, withdrew from acting due to personal issues. That is incredibly sad. While this is a typical teen movie, Bynes is charming and warm while maintaining enough spontaneity to be interesting. She is good at appearing like she's never heard the other actors' dialogue before - she reacts like it's new, and each bit of information makes her think. The plot - about a British politician (Colin Firth) who discovers he has 17-year-old daughter Daphne (Bynes) is solid and also plausible. The writers and director lean heavily on the kooky approach and satirising British eccentricity and snobbery, but it's OK. It's not meant to be an award winning drama. Firth and Bynes have good chemistry as father and daughter. Anyway, here's hoping Bynes can return to acting one day because she is very talented.

A Man Called Otto (2022)

A gem: Tom Hanks's best film.

[9/10 · 11 April 2023]

I cried bucketloads of tears at this lovely story of a terrible neighbourhood grump, Otto Anderson, who slowly gets to know the Latino immigrant family who move in across the road. Tom Hanks is utterly perfect as the cold-hearted, nasty and lonely old man who likes to point out everyone else's trivial parking and rubbish infractions and who doesn't have a nice word to say to anyone. Enter bubbly Mexican immigrant Marisol (a radiant Mariana Trevino) who worms her way into his life through food and by being bossy. It's hinted that her own father was the same, so she refuses to be cowed by Otto's emotional games. Gradually we learn why Otto keeps attempting suicide, and it's a horrible tale. Itto's present woes are beautifully combined with flashbacks to Otto's life with his late wife (a young Otto played by Hanks's son). While it's predictable what will happen in the end, there are interesting points made about how you need other people and how you can help others, and how curmudgeons often have past traumas.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

Funny, sharp and perceptive series

[8/10 · 10 April 2023]

Excellent casting, interesting characters and locations so gorgeous you could eat them are hallmarks of this great drama from Mike White.

Yes, it's about rich white people on holiday but it lampoons their petty concerns. But they're not caricatures. Valentina, the hotel manager in Sicily, is hilariously strict but grapples with what she will tolerate from guests' requests. Young wife Harper, played by the intelligent Aubrey Plaza, struggles with keeping her cynicism of her husband's wealthy friends in check. It's not a high action series. It's partly a travel show looking at lifestyles of the rich and famous. But it's more subtle.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Lovely escapist film

[8/10 · 17 March 2023]

I watched this film on a plane and really enjoyed it. It's a stylist's dream movie with every costume, including the working class ones, a treat. Lesley Manville is incredibly perfect for the role of Ada Harris. It feels like she is a real person. Yes it's a treacly fantasy of a movie but the "suspension of reality' tone is very consistent and that helps you enter that world. Tellingly, at the start of the film we learn Ada has been hoping her husband, who went missing in WWII, is still alive, 10 years after the war. But while there may be a bit of mental illness in that, the movie makes the point that challenging your reality can be useful. Sometimes, there is nothing wrong with having big dreams and with refusing to accept your allotted place in life. Also that perhaps it didn't matter her dress was destroyed - it was the journey of making friends in Paris and getting to see the Dior fashion house up close that mattered more.

Hilary and Jackie (1998)

Good but could be better

[6/10 · 19 January 2023]

This is an amazing true story. Eccentric, beautiful and gifted cellist Jacqueline du Pre is just becoming a renowned worldwide musician and has found a great love with a pianist when she comes down with a terrible incurable disease that means she can no longer play. Her sister Hilary (Rachel Griffiths), to whom she is very close, watches her decline. Griffiths isn't given much to do except look worried. It's an interesting movie but I feel Emily Mortimer is the wrong person for the Du Pre role. Her accent isn't always clear.. Isn't Jacqueline English? The cinematography is lush but unrestrained. Every scene is like an opera piece with lingering looks, sweeping, arty landscapes and (perhaps understandably) melodramatic music. It left me a bit unmoved - it may have benefited from a more laidback, down to earth style.

Brian Johnson: A Life on the Road (2017– )

Near perfect rock interview series

[9/10 · 7 December 2022]

Brian Johnson interviews the top musicians of our time, but it's he who emerges as the real star.

Cheeky, charming, energetic, well-researched, curious - he is an excellent presenter.

And while some of the stars are advertising their latest tour or album, he manages to extract intimate tidbits about their lives, and great stories.

Because he listens and mostly because, as the frontman for AC/DC, he has seen it all himself in terms of life on the road. It really removes the normal barrier and mistrust between a journalist and musician. Johnson adds just enough of his own recollections to get the subject talking and feel he empathises with him or her.

He loves a laugh - often at his own expense - and talks about real feelings and experiences rather than celebrity or wealth.

And he visits the stars in places where they feel at home, so they're relaxed.

One reviewer here said they didn't like the Dolly Parton interview, but I thought it was among Johnson's best. It showed how Dolly turns on the charm but is genuinely sweet, and Johnson was also disarming - "you're like a bottle of champagne, so bubbly", he said, but it actually describes Parton well.

I hope there are many more episodes of this program.