A Not-So-Mini Mini-Reviews

Right, this has sat unfinished in my blog-writing-bit for far too long! I've added in the two recent films from History of Cinema, just so I don't fall too behind with my blogging.

Twilight - I didn't know what to expect with this. I had heard there were complaints about it from people who adore the books, just as there were complaints that the book sucked, therefore the film will also suck. But, for what it's worth, there was little that sucked - apart from the vampires. In fairness to the team behind the film, it was quite a sweet romance. I did find that I hated the two main characters for the first two minutes of their respective introductions, but then I really liked them: perhaps a statement about books and covers? Oh, and there was clever use of dramatic-irony, playing on the fact that we know he's a vampire, so they needn't explain it to us. Again, a film which felt very non-commercial for all the franchise-exploitation that accompanies it.

LOTR Extended - Okay, so I did need to give this another chance. So much happens in the films and I wasn't even a teenager when the first came out: there was quite a lot that flew over my head! Even now, there's a lot of Kings, rings and things to make sense of. But with the confusion removed, and the extra footage added, I can really appreciate this trilogy properly now. I watched it in 6-parts, as that is how the film is split onto discs (with a change in the middle of each), and I think that worked out for the best. I know I would get bored if I watched any of them all in one go.

Merlin - I really, really enjoyed this series. Okay, argue that Guienivere isn't meant to be black; argue that the castle is from the from century; argue that Merlin should be much older than Arthur; but two things: (1) It's fiction. (2) There's a dragon. A talking dragon. Colin Morgan stands out as a very gifted young actor, but the rest of the cast is strong too. I did find that the plots became very formulaic in the middle of the series, and the CGI was often mis-used. I look forward to the Second Series, though, because it became quite good in its final episodes (excluding the slight cop-out in the last episode, which annoyed me greatly).

Survivors - For a show that royally pee'd me off with it's first episode (by killing off two characters played by actors I like when I was led to believe they would be in the entire series) it actually turned itself around. For a start, I really disliked the main character - Aby Grant. Over time, however, I did become attached to her. I also really like Nikki Amuka-Bird who played Samantha Willis. I've seen her in Torchwood and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (which is coming back as a series!) and I've been really impressed with her. Not so much in Survivors, but hopefully she can shine in the Second Series.

The Diary of Anne Frank - Not the sort of show I normally watch, but the casting of Tasmin Greig and Lesley Sharp intrigued me enough. I really enjoyed the series. I've read the play before - in fact, I remember reading in as Peter Van Daan - but this version made Anne less of a hero and more of the teenager she actually was. What made this version particularly touching was the very distanced relationship between Anne and her mother. Her mother tried so hard, and yet Anne still treated her appallingly. A very visual show, and it was a wise choice to play it out over a single week.

The Battleship Potemkin - I enjoyed seeing this from a film-maker viewpoint, but not so much as an audience member. It was very unique, and it did establish some brilliant things for Cinema. The construction of scenes was very impressive, but occasionally things didn't feel right to me. But it's unfair to look at this film in the same way one look's at the latest Oscar contenders. It would have been a very powerful film at its time, and I can see its importance.

Nosferatu - This I did enjoy. Whilst I'm not a big fan of scary movies (not because I'm scared of them, but because they often fail to scare me) I did find moments in this creepy, which is impressive. Count Orlok was rather intimidating, particularly when he just stood still, watching. I found this harder to deconstruct as we went along because I was more involved with watching it. I look forward to the discussion that will no doubt ensue this week.