Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Dracula in TV

Jul 6, 2020 (Updated Aug 6, 2020)  
Dracula
Dracula
2020 | Drama, Horror
6
6.1 (14 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Claes Bang as Dracula (1 more)
The Production Design
Doesn't Sustain to the End (0 more)
Smashbomb Giveaway Prize
This was a surprise treat for me in the early weeks of lockdown, and my first win of anything in the suburb Smashbomb giveaways. It was a very welcome distraction, and a very fun thing to do in a blitz over the course of one evening.

The DVD presents the episodes as three feature length chapters, as opposed to the six episodes as shown on the BBC.

The look of it all is superlative for the budget, and I would praise the production design, music and visual style above anything else. Claes Bang as Dracula is a revelation, at once funny and terrifying in just the right balance.

However, the adaptation, and attempt to update the story somewhat, doesn't always work. It begins very well indeed, the first hour being far more moody and of a high quality than I had expected. And then slowly, as it strays from the classic elements of the story into camp and unnecessary modernity it loses its bite!

The quality curve goes completely the wrong way, with all the best bits up front and the worst bits at the climax. Close, but nothing more than a disposable curiosity in the end.

Regardless, many thanks to Smashbomb for the giveaway! Appreciate it!
  
40x40

Geoffrey Rush recommended City Lights (1931) in Movies (curated)

 
City Lights (1931)
City Lights (1931)
1931 | Classics, Comedy, Drama

"I think they’re all fairly artful pieces of work, but I think my all-time favorite is Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, which was one of the… well, it’s like now, somebody still making a film in 2D, three years later: he still made it as a silent film [after the advent of sound], with inter-titling, and it had a recorded score. It’s one of those films that I’ve shown to many, various groups of people socially. I remember going to a DVD night in Silverlake, with a lot of very groovy LA people, and we all had to bring a film. And they were bringing along, you know, Sin City and stuff, and I did a pitch on that film, without saying it was a Charlie Chaplin film — saying it’s about an alcoholic and this young, impoverished guy, and they’re best friends when the guy is drunk and then when he sobers up he doesn’t know who he is; and the young guy is wanting to help this girl who sells flowers on the street, and she’s blind. And they were all going, “Oh my God, this sounds amazing,” and then I said it’s in black and white and it’s silent and it’s a Charlie Chaplin film — and they all watched it and were just entranced; and this is sort of like the Tarantino crowd. I’ve always loved that film."

Source