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Reviews
Marple: The Sittaford Mystery (2006)
McEwan terrible
McEwan is simply awful as Miss Marple. She seems almost catatonic. So far below Joan Hickson there is no comparison possible. I think this must have been the general assessment since she was dropped pretty soon, right? Next they got what's her name who is somewhat better than McEwan but still not right. She is too plump and intrusive. In addition the stories are so complex with characters you can't keep track so that you have little idea of what is going on. The Hickson versions may have not made perfect sense, but that was due to the Christie story not the dramatization. One longs for Hickson with her poise and reserve and her impeccable Britishness. McEwan can't come near and the most recent one is not acceptable either. Best just rerun the Hickson versions.
My Boy Jack (2007)
Radcliffe very good; Haig less so
I found Haig's performance over the top...too intense and aggressive. Clearly he wanted to show Kipling's zest for empire and war, but he overdid it. Radcliffe on the other hand gives a controlled performance that reaches its climax in his death scene. He was masterful there, even jerking some tears, I bet, from the most hard hearted. The kid (he's only 18) really can act given the right material. He also can be terribly funny as he was in Extras. It would be nice to see him in some good comic material. I find his acting in the Potter series okay but it is subordinate to the special effects and doesn't really give him a chance to show the range of what he can do. I think his best performances have been in David Copperfield (where his genuine innocence was perfect for the part), in Extras (real comic tour de force that), and now in My Boy Jack.
December Boys (2007)
unintelligible dialog
For Americans the dialog was next to unintelligible. The British accent overlaid with an Australian accent made most of the dialog sound like gibberish. I would say only 30% would be understood by Americans. Then the movie doesn't have much direction or point. As a result the movie BOMBED in the USA. I think it took in only about $50,000. Pitiful, just pitiful. And it wasn't from lack of advertising. Radcliffe came to the US and made the rounds of talk shows to publicize it before it came out. I am sure he expected it to be a winner. Instead it was a disaster. But Dan has recovered somewhat with My Boy Jack. This is not a big thing in the US since it is a TV drama and not a movie, but he did fine in that. He needs to make a non-Potter movie with an American accent (he can do it if he tries) so that Americans can understand him easily. He is awfully short though to be a real star. You see this when he stands beside a 6' person. He look sorta midgety.
Murder at the Gallop (1963)
actors playing Miss Marple
When I first saw Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, I was vastly impressed. But later, when Joan Hixon played her in the TV series I could see how vastly superior Hixon was. Rutherford in retrospect seemed interested in appearing "eccentric" in a fashion to please the US public's distorted notion of what an English countrywoman was like. She was far too fat, far too "chipper", and far too full of mannerisms to be a really good Miss Marple. Hixson's understated portrayal was a thousand times better. Utterly perfect in all respects. The definitive performance for all time. And far far better than the new Miss Marple who seems to me to be a complete disaster. Why on earth anyone would try to best Hixson so soon after her death is a mystery to me.
The Good Girl (2002)
endorse the comments of juliejuliette
Juliejuliette has it right. Aniston plays a girl who is weak and selfish, without any real character. She first seduces an unhappy and introverted young man well played by Gyllenhaal (who is not as disturbed as some viewers think) who is looking for love and when he falls hopelessly in love with her she then finds him a danger to her marriage and betrays him, getting rid of him and driving him to suicide. She doesn't seem to feel very guilty about what she has done and only minimally sad. She is an opportunist who runs away from responsibility for what she does. At the end she is lying to her husband to preserve a marriage she doesn't like. In all she is the opposite of a good girl, and I suppose the title is meant ironically. The movie does present her and her dubious morality in a realistic way. There is nothing sentimental about it.