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Post by vrkalak on Jun 20, 2022 22:16:54 GMT
Started Dark Shadows with E210 ( When Barnabas entered), I'm in the 900s now. The Original Outer Limits Saturday Night Live, just finished S1, not sure how far I'll go, but at least as far as Aykroid and Belushi. Love Dark Shadows, bloopers and all.
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Post by Salzmank on Jun 23, 2022 14:32:42 GMT
Rewatched two episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot last night. I’ve written some comments on the show before, so I won’t say too much (ha, famous last words, Salzmark!).   The episodes were “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” (S5:E1) and “The Mystery of the Blue Train” (S10:E1). I remembered liking both a lot; on rewatch they’re all right—but not, I’m sorry to say, great. “Egyptian Tomb” was a particular disappointment because I love anything Egyptological—mummies, tombs, archaeology, all of it. And I want a great Egypt-themed mystery movie, but I don’t think I’ve seen one. ( Death on the Nile is Egypt-set, and it’s my favorite Agatha Christie book and episode of this series, but the setting doesn’t play that much role in the story.) The writer and director never establish much atmosphere—this story should be packed with atmospherics—and the mystery plot is not only minimal but also unfair. That said, David Suchet’s, Hugh Fraser’s, and Pauline Moran’s performances are so strong that they go toward mitigating a lot of the show’s weak points. “Blue Train” is better: For me, the show’s best period was in the middle of its run, around 2004-06. Hastings and Miss Lemon were gone, unfortunately, but already-strong production values seemed to get even better and the writers started leaning more into characterization. “Death on the Nile” in particular manages to present Christie’s mystery plot with aplomb while playing up the tragic elements (unlike the Peter Ustinov adaptation, which is just as good but plays up comedy, or the Kenneth Branagh adaptation, which is unadulterated crap). Poirot’s character also changes, as in the books, from an eccentric figure of fun into an avuncular, gently melancholy human being (“Papa Poirot”). That is my favorite depiction of the character, and Suchet is wonderful with that characterization. “Blue Train” has a few funny lines, most said by a kooky Lindsay Duncan. But it weakens Christie’s mystery plot and loses some steam once it’s off the titular blue train (pun intended, of course). And, as usual, Elliott Gould is awful. How does he keep getting roles?! That said, I thought Georgina Rylance was so cute and likable as the heroine:  |
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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2022 14:24:54 GMT
I’ve (much to my own surprise) come off as negative on Agatha Christie’s Poirot in this thread, so I wanted to note that last night I rewatched the adaptation of Five Little Pigs and thought it was great.  It manages the book’s sense of tragedy without coming off as camp or melodrama. The script—by Kevin Elyot, who also wrote Poirot’s superb adaptation of Death on the Nile and many of the better Agatha Christie’s Marple episodes—is first-rate. The book is mostly Poirot’s conversations with suspects—not prime material for visual adaptation—but Elyot deftly handles the flashbacks so that we want to return to the story in the past. That means deemphasizing Poirot’s role, which most writers might have been afraid of doing but which works for this story. The direction—by Paul Unwin, who unfortunately doesn’t appear to have done any other Poirots—is also noticeably good, with some clever transitions between frame story and flashbacks. My only problem with the episode is casting. Aiden Gillen’s Amyas Crale just never convinces as an eccentric artist type. And as unchivalrous as this comment is, I never was convinced that Crale would consider abandoning his wife and child for Julie Cox’s Elsa Greer. It may be the makeup’s fault, but the actress looks quite pallid and wan for much of the episode. Those are nitpicks, though. This is one of Poirot’s best, fitting because the book is one of the best things Christie ever wrote. |
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Post by Salzmank on Aug 3, 2022 3:13:53 GMT
More Agatha Christie! This time it’s Agatha Christie’s Marple’s adaptation of 4.50 from Paddington.
As I think I’ve written here before, the late Geraldine McEwan, who played Miss Marple in the first three seasons of this show, is by far my favorite Marple—in fact, I may even like her portrayal more than Christie’s character! She’s witty and impish and broadminded and always fun. And on that I seem to part ways with most Christie fans, who prefer Joan Hickson’s Marple, whom I’ve always found a humorless bluenose.
I don’t even mind that the adapters for the McEwan series weren’t always faithful to Christie’s books, though—at least in the first season—they were more faithful than many people say. (The only one that really changes anything is “The Body in the Library,” and even that change doesn’t alter Christie’s mystery puzzle at all.)
“4.50 from Paddington” in some ways suffers from being too faithful to the book, which is weak Christie—no clues, for one thing. It keeps the odd device of having Miss M’s friend see the murder; the writer could easily have changed the witness to Miss M herself.
The 1961 film adaptation, Murder, She Said (with Margaret Rutherford as Marple; most Christie fans don’t like Rutherford either because she’s nothing like the book character, but I love her gruff Marple), makes that change, and the plot actually works better.
The adapter, Stephen Churchett (who also wrote the series’s superb adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage), also kept Christie’s decision to have a young heroine investigate while Miss M serves as an armchair detective.
Luckily, the actress playing the heroine is super-cute—no, I do not watch these Agatha Christie adaptations only because they keep casting attractive women, but, um, I’d be lying if I said that aspect didn’t appeal to me—and is entertaining throughout. (Why the character ends up with the brother from The Mummy, though, is beyond me.) Churchett does give Miss M more to do than in the book, smartly, but as lovely as the heroine is I’m not sure the character is needed from a screenwriting perspective.
McEwan is as great as ever. I have to seek out what else she was in; I would have loved to have seen her as Lady Macbeth. (I wonder if she ever played the role; Wikipedia mentions Ophelia and Beatrice, among others, but not Lady Mac.) Her line readings are constantly surprising and constantly entertaining.
Anyway, despite my adaptation nitpicks, “4.50 from Paddington” is loads of fun (even if it, like the book it’s based on, isn’t much of a mystery). Definitely recommended.
My rankings of the McEwan Marples I’ve seen, by the way, would go like this:
1. “The Murder at the Vicarage” (S1:E2)
2. “A Murder Is Announced” (S1:E4)
3. “The Body in the Library” (S1:E1)
4. “Towards Zero” (S3:E3)
5. “4.50 from Paddington” (S1:E3)
6. “By the Picking of My Thumbs” (S2:E3)
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Post by Salzmank on Aug 9, 2022 3:14:18 GMT
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Ghost Island.  So. I’m watching this for the obvious reason: I watched the original Are You Afraid of the Dark? when I was a kid. And I watched a few episodes of the last season of this reboot/remake series and found them surprisingly decent. Ghost Island isn’t great. But it also isn’t bad, which is something of an accomplishment. For one thing, it’s scarier than some big-budget kids’ horror movies I’ve seen (the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark adaptation was a particular disappointment). Nothing really disturbing (though who knows what disturbs kids? I was always spooked by the scary stories I used to read—yet kept reading them!), but it’s got a bit of the toughness of the original Are You Afraid of the Dark?. Related: It’s better directed than a Nickelodeon remake of a ’90s kids’ show has any right to be. The budget must be relatively small (though much larger than the original show), not many locations, but the director (Dean Israelite, whose background is movies rather than TV) keeps shooting from interesting angles and moving the camera to show off the sets. And the one adult actor, Julian Curtis, is actually giving a good performance—or at least an entertaining performance: He acts like he’s trying for all the world to imitate Tim Curry in Home Alone 2. (I keep expecting him to ask the kids if they want a PIZ-za.) Again, though, not great. It’s not half as good as the original show. (And that’s not just nostalgia talking: I recently rewatched some Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and it holds up in ways that Goosebumps—which I also loved—mostly doesn’t.) The plot is generic kids’ horror fare. Episode 2 is a particular disappointment because it turns into one of those overdone collect-the-magical-objects fantasies. The first episode, which depends more on atmosphere and spookiness (the scene where the heroine tries to summon her dead sister is genuinely creepy), is better. But still—better than it has any right to be.
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Post by Salzmank on Aug 10, 2022 17:58:16 GMT
I feel like I’m monopolizing the thread… This’ll be quick. Watched Psych’s spoof of Friday the 13th, “Tuesday the 17th” (S3:E15), based on a recommendation from this blog.  I’m not a Psych fan, at all, almost entirely because I find James Roday’s main character (being attacked by Baghead Jason clone above) extremely annoying, one of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in anything ever. But—“Tuesday the 17th” isn’t bad at all. It works as both a slasher and a parody of a slasher. Dare I say I like it more than Friday the 13th? It’s got more atmosphere and better uses the summer camp setting (early on we get a good idea of where each building is, which makes the climax more effective), believe it or not. Roday also cowrote and directed, and—I’ve got to give it to him, his direction is good. He films the suspense scenes seriously and well. And the episode lacks Friday the 13th’s worst element, interminable scenes of tree branches rustling. Roday’s acting is still annoying, but he gives himself a few OK jokes, and he gives everyone else quite a few good jokes. And the episode actually has a little hidden whodunit plot with a few clues (it reminded me of Anthony Horowitz’s Agatha Christie spoof “I Know What You Did Last Wednesday”). I’m impressed. |
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Post by Salzmank on Aug 17, 2022 20:46:45 GMT
Watched another Danger Man last night, “The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove” (S2:E18).
This is splendid. I usually see “Colony Three” (S2:E3) cited as an inspiration for Danger Man star Patrick McGoohan’s later The Prisoner, but “Mr. Lovegrove” is even closer—it basically is a Prisoner, at least in mood and atmosphere.
Even in plot, come to think of it: Not that John Drake is in the Village, of course, but Mr. Lovegrove and Mr. Alexander both act like different Number Twos, and Drake keeps going to see them as Number Six would be invited to Number Two’s’s green dome. (I’m one of those people, by the way, who think John Drake is Six, no matter what McGoohan said. The similarities are just too close.)
The twist is obvious, but I think it’s meant to be obvious, especially as the ending doesn’t quite dispel the demons, leaving almost as many unanswered questions as, well, a Prisoner. Lots of ’60s pop surreality, which I love. But even on a more mundane level, just watching Drake get conned into this plot is fun.
Excellent McGoohan performance, probably needless to say. (I have not seen a bad McGoohan performance; he gave his all even when doing a Murder, She Wrote. His line readings, as I said above about Geraldine McEwan’s, are constantly surprising and constantly entertaining.) Neat to see James Bond’s Q, Desmond Llewelyn, pop up. Eric Barker’s affable blandness somehow becomes frightening over the course of the episode.
I was surprised that McGoohan didn’t write this one himself; the writer was David Stone, who apparently wrote a bunch of Danger Mans but died young. Stone’s dialogue is good, too: Drake says he’s a travel agent. Mr. Alexander (Francis De Wolff, doing a Sydney Greenstreet impression) responds, “No, Mr. Drake. Shall we say… ‘an agent who travels’?”
The director was Don Chaffey, who appropriately helmed four Prisoners, including the pilot.
Definitely recommended.
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