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Vegas (725 KP) rated Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) in Movies
Mar 28, 2020
A family film that still has a feel good feel to it...
A trainee witch is looking after a group of children in wartime Britain when her final lesson in witchcraft doesn't arrive... What follows is a search for the final spell on a magical bed... Trying to stop a German invasion and a fair bit of singing and dancing...
Angela Lansbury stars, in a role far removed from the character that she would later become famous for and puts in a great performance as the novice witch...
A live action and cartoon film that works really well when the two bend together, and is just the sort of film to bring a smile when things are getting you down...
Angela Lansbury stars, in a role far removed from the character that she would later become famous for and puts in a great performance as the novice witch...
A live action and cartoon film that works really well when the two bend together, and is just the sort of film to bring a smile when things are getting you down...
Colin Newman recommended Boredom Is Deep and Mysterious by Various in Music (curated)
Lenard (726 KP) rated Downton Abbey (2019) in Movies
Sep 23, 2019
A highly entertaining distraction that continues the story of Grantham Manor seen on PBS. A cast of dozens take turns in the spotlight, but mostly Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, and Allen Leech get the screen time. The King and Queen of Great Britain are visiting the Yorkshire countryside and send word that they will be staying at Downton Abbey. This sends the manor house into a frenzy as preparations must be made and old conflicts get settled. Similar to Gosford Park, Julian Fellowes's earlier film on the happennings of the upstairs, downstairs crowds, a secret affair is revealed in time. A quality waste of time, but some of the plots are settled too quickly and some plots linger so long that a sequel may be written already.
David McK (3233 KP) rated Dragon's Child (King Arthur, #1) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
First in a trilogy of novels based on the legend of King Arthur, this is a fictional retelling of the early years of the life of the man behind the legend, from his early years as a foster son to the one of last of the Romans in Britain, up to his coronation as High King.
By taking the tack of telling the story of the man behind the legend, the novel loses much of the splendour and grandeur of that legend, replacing it instead with more mundane events that would become exagerrated over time.
While I may read the next two novels out of curiosity, I'm afraid to say that, based on this work, I wouldn't be going out of my way to look for any further of MK Hume's novels.
By taking the tack of telling the story of the man behind the legend, the novel loses much of the splendour and grandeur of that legend, replacing it instead with more mundane events that would become exagerrated over time.
While I may read the next two novels out of curiosity, I'm afraid to say that, based on this work, I wouldn't be going out of my way to look for any further of MK Hume's novels.
Widowland is a really atmospheric thriller, set in an alternate timeline - one where the German National Socialists and the British reach a compromise in 1940 and become the Grand Alliance. This alliance reads more like occupation though. Britain doesn’t have it’s own government, all laws come from Germany, and Britain is ruled by a German, the Protector, Alfred Rosenberg.
Even though there’s a huge shortage of young men (they’ve been ‘shipped off’ to the rest of occupied Europe to ‘work’) and women greatly outnumber men, women are divided into categories, or castes. These depend on their age, heritage, reproductive status and physical characteristics, and each category is named after a significant woman in Hitlers life. Rose is a Geli, one of the elite. Young, beautiful, and most importantly, fertile.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it far too quickly. It had a black and white, 1950’s movie atmosphere about it, and I could easily picture the people and scenes in my head. It brought to mind The Man in the High Castle with regards to Occupation, and 1984 with regards to feeling as though you’re constantly watched - as well as the people being told how to react, think and live. This was especially evident in Rose’s job: she rewrites classics so that they’re in line with the regimes ideals: so no independent, strong females, and all the male leads are changed to Sturmbannführer (at least!).
The drudgery of everyday life made me think of how I envisaged life in the GDR - as well as only allowing state sanctioned literature, there was only one radio channel in Grand Alliance Britain, with some brave people listening to illegal foreign radio stations, knowing that this could result in extreme punishment.
When Rose goes to Widowland near Oxford (there are a few throughout the country) to find the source of a potential rebellion, she’s shocked to see older women living in abject poverty, only permitted to eat a subsistence diet and work menial jobs. But these women are intelligent, and they’re not happy in their state regulated lives. Between her reading of classic books and meeting these women, Rose begins to see what’s wrong with the world she has been living in, and this dawning realisation is so well described. We see how reading ‘subversive’ classics seems to get under her skin, and how she realises that the treatment of women is wrong in this Grand Alliance.
I could go on and on. I raced through this book, and I loved the ending, which came far too quickly!
Many thanks to Quercus for my copy of this book through NetGalley.
Even though there’s a huge shortage of young men (they’ve been ‘shipped off’ to the rest of occupied Europe to ‘work’) and women greatly outnumber men, women are divided into categories, or castes. These depend on their age, heritage, reproductive status and physical characteristics, and each category is named after a significant woman in Hitlers life. Rose is a Geli, one of the elite. Young, beautiful, and most importantly, fertile.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it far too quickly. It had a black and white, 1950’s movie atmosphere about it, and I could easily picture the people and scenes in my head. It brought to mind The Man in the High Castle with regards to Occupation, and 1984 with regards to feeling as though you’re constantly watched - as well as the people being told how to react, think and live. This was especially evident in Rose’s job: she rewrites classics so that they’re in line with the regimes ideals: so no independent, strong females, and all the male leads are changed to Sturmbannführer (at least!).
The drudgery of everyday life made me think of how I envisaged life in the GDR - as well as only allowing state sanctioned literature, there was only one radio channel in Grand Alliance Britain, with some brave people listening to illegal foreign radio stations, knowing that this could result in extreme punishment.
When Rose goes to Widowland near Oxford (there are a few throughout the country) to find the source of a potential rebellion, she’s shocked to see older women living in abject poverty, only permitted to eat a subsistence diet and work menial jobs. But these women are intelligent, and they’re not happy in their state regulated lives. Between her reading of classic books and meeting these women, Rose begins to see what’s wrong with the world she has been living in, and this dawning realisation is so well described. We see how reading ‘subversive’ classics seems to get under her skin, and how she realises that the treatment of women is wrong in this Grand Alliance.
I could go on and on. I raced through this book, and I loved the ending, which came far too quickly!
Many thanks to Quercus for my copy of this book through NetGalley.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Alan Partridge: Nomad in Books
Oct 17, 2017
What you'd expect from the hilarious Alan Partridge
This is as hilarious as you'd expect if you're an Alan Partridge fan. The audiobook, however, is so much better as Alan reads it in his own dulcet tones. While I've heard it's not as good as "I, Partridge", if you're reading this first, it matters less.
In this episode of his life, Alan is intent on rambling through parts of Britain in the form of a "journey journal", where he details the people and places he encounters. And mostly complain about his aching feet. Obviously things go horribly wrong.
Alan's rather blunt feelings and tendency to state the obvious comes through in all of the random footnotes. I had to suppress a few laughs on the bus due to some rather amusing moments. A great laid back read.
In this episode of his life, Alan is intent on rambling through parts of Britain in the form of a "journey journal", where he details the people and places he encounters. And mostly complain about his aching feet. Obviously things go horribly wrong.
Alan's rather blunt feelings and tendency to state the obvious comes through in all of the random footnotes. I had to suppress a few laughs on the bus due to some rather amusing moments. A great laid back read.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Viking Queen (1967) in Movies
Mar 1, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)
Wildly historically inaccurate, wholly absurd Hammer exploitation movie based on the events of the Iceni revolt led by Boudicca in 1st-century Britain. Roman governor (American) falls unconvincingly for Briton queen (Finnish); their imminent marriage promises to be bad for the business of the local merchants and their corrupt ally, a Roman general (Scottish), so a conflict is provoked, leading to rebellion...
Problems are mostly with the script, which appears to be only vaguely familiar with the concept of historical research, although a lot of the acting and staging is also pretty poor. Some usually reliable actors (Andrew Keir, Patrick Troughton) do the best they can with the material they're given. Probably best viewed as a high-camp piece of unintentional comedy. The widely-circulated story that one of the Roman actors can be seen wearing a wristwatch appears to be apocryphal.
Problems are mostly with the script, which appears to be only vaguely familiar with the concept of historical research, although a lot of the acting and staging is also pretty poor. Some usually reliable actors (Andrew Keir, Patrick Troughton) do the best they can with the material they're given. Probably best viewed as a high-camp piece of unintentional comedy. The widely-circulated story that one of the Roman actors can be seen wearing a wristwatch appears to be apocryphal.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) in Movies
Apr 6, 2019 (Updated Apr 6, 2019)
Good-natured family fantasy based on Arthurian legend. Alex Elliot draws a magic sword from a stone and finds himself charged with defending Britain from an ancient sorceress, the problem being he's only twelve years old.
Scores highly on the CGI spectacle front, and some good gags as well, but some of the learning-and-growing stuff feels a bit laborious and it's probably about twenty minutes too long. Child acting is mostly acceptable and Patrick Stewart is always good value, even though he's hardly in it. Given the film is trying hard to hit the same beats as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and mostly succeeding, it's a little hard to see why it has turned out to be such a flop; a victim of too many other dud films based on classic mythology leaving a bad taste in the mouth, I guess. No-one involved in this one has any real reason to feel ashamed of themselves, anyway.
Scores highly on the CGI spectacle front, and some good gags as well, but some of the learning-and-growing stuff feels a bit laborious and it's probably about twenty minutes too long. Child acting is mostly acceptable and Patrick Stewart is always good value, even though he's hardly in it. Given the film is trying hard to hit the same beats as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and mostly succeeding, it's a little hard to see why it has turned out to be such a flop; a victim of too many other dud films based on classic mythology leaving a bad taste in the mouth, I guess. No-one involved in this one has any real reason to feel ashamed of themselves, anyway.
