Movie madness

A few thoughts on three films I've seen recently (and one I will be seeing
soon):

TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE

Superb stop-motion animation, as you'd expect from the man behind the
wonderful NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but this one seemed to lack much of
the heart that lay behind the first film. Still, a feast for the eyes, and
superb voice characterisation throughout (Albert Finney a treat as the
down-at-heels aristocratic father, and Richard E. Grant doing his patented
oily villain to perfection, are just two of the standouts; Johnny Depp is
also very good, if a bit low-key, and his British accent is just British
enough to convince; a lot of American actors doing British accents seem to
think they have to speak in either a plummy Home Counties/BBC accent, or
else do Cockney, and end up sounding wrong; think Dick Van Dyke in MARY
POPPINS, although once you get past the dreadful accent he turns in a
performance full of charm and wit).

LEAGUE OF GENTLEMAN'S APOCALYPSE

The DVD arrived this morning and we lost no time in getting stuck in; laugh
out loud funny, although there were some truly touching moments, most of
which, oddly, seemed to involve Herr Lipp, who made the rare leap (in broad
comedy) from caricature to real person. The 'Overlooked Hotel' was a nice
touch, and David Warner was great. It seems obligatory for British comedy
series to be turned into a movie at some point, with (shall we say) mainly
indifferent success, but the League men seem to have beaten the curse.
Another unusual feature are the deleted scenes; usually you can tell why the
scenes have been left on the cutting-room floor, but there were several that
it seems a pity to have lost, notably Warner's character's insistence on
clearing up misconceptions about how his last name is spelled ('That's "Pea"
with an "a"), and Mark Gatiss trying to jog Reece Shearsmith's memory about
what films Warner has been in (helpfully: 'He had his head sliced off in THE
OMEN. . . ').

THE NINTH GATE

Haven't yet read the Perez Reverte novel THE CLUB DUMAS, on which the film
is based, but have to hope it makes more sense than the film (having read a
few of the author's other books I suspect it will). It felt like a film that
had a lot of key bits left out; before it was over I was only really
half-watching, being more engrossed in a crossword puzzle, which can be
taken as an indication that I wasn't exactly gripped. And I'm afraid my
inner nit-picker began to kick in, as I watched all these supposedly
knowledgeable book people treating pricelessly rare volumes as if they were
mass-market paperbacks; I half expected someone to fold down a corner of a
page to mark their place. The horror, the horror. . . .

WALLACE AND GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

'Something wicked this way hops' - says it all, really. It opened in North
America today, and I see from the Rotten Tomatoes film review site that of
the 77 reviews included thus far, only 3 are rotten; the other 74 are fresh,
giving the film an incredible 96% approval rating. Apparently Nick Park
wanted to make a Wallace and Gromit horror film, and he seems to have made a
movie at least as good as the sublime CHICKEN RUN, thus beating the
sophomore jinx. Can't wait to see it!

Barbara

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 21:12:01 GMT, "Barbara Roden" <nebuly RemoveThis @telus.net>
wrote:
>
>LEAGUE OF GENTLEMAN'S APOCALYPSE
>
>The DVD arrived this morning and we lost no time in getting stuck in; laugh
>out loud funny, although there were some truly touching moments, most of
>which, oddly, seemed to involve Herr Lipp, who made the rare leap (in broad
>comedy) from caricature to real person. The 'Overlooked Hotel' was a nice
>touch, and David Warner was great. It seems obligatory for British comedy
>series to be turned into a movie at some point, with (shall we say) mainly
>indifferent success, but the League men seem to have beaten the curse.
>Another unusual feature are the deleted scenes; usually you can tell why the
>scenes have been left on the cutting-room floor, but there were several that
>it seems a pity to have lost, notably Warner's character's insistence on
>clearing up misconceptions about how his last name is spelled ('That's "Pea"
>with an "a"), and Mark Gatiss trying to jog Reece Shearsmith's memory about
>what films Warner has been in (helpfully: 'He had his head sliced off in THE
>OMEN. . . ').
>

This was great fun, though there was not the depth of opportunity that
the LOG had with their TV series. As a result, characters like Auntie
Val and Uncle Harvey don't appear, there is no Farmer Tinsel, Pop, or
Judee. This gives other possibilities, of course: Dr Chinnery is given
one opportunity for a disastrous veterinary scene (no spoilers, but it
involves a giraffe), Herr Lipp is developed a little more, Bernice is
given more attention, and, naturally, Tubbs and Edward are in and out
of the picture the whole time. If there was a slight disappointment,
it was that Papa Lazarou was far less threatening that he could have
been; and poor old Pauline seemed a shadow of her former pen-wielding
self. No complaints, however: this was fun entertainment. Royston
Vasey, RIP.

We found a couple of 'Easter Eggs', and from what I've been able to
find, that's all there are. The commentary by the LOG was also pretty
well done, and, as usual with these things, filled in a fair bit of
background.

Christopher