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The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal
Just finished watching this documentary series on Amazon Prime. Even although I am Canadian, The Tragically Hip were never a favourite band of mine . . . but this documentary absolutely blew me away! It shows how this kick-ass band evolved over the decades - warts and all! I never realized how good the lead singer, Gord Downie, was as a poet, songwriter and performer The series gives great insight into how ‘The Hip’ became such a significant Canadian cultural icon. And the ending . . . has a band ever had a more appropriate name!
The story is told over four episodes, so it requires a bit of time commitment . . . but I don’t think you will be disappointed. BTW: the series gets a 9.6 rating on IMDB.
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Dahmer - Netflix. More than just another serial killer.
MAD DOGS - Netflix. Good soundtrack, too.
The film had received excellent reviews. Personally, I did not like the plot which I thought lacked credibility. The acting was good,
Watched two films recently with Emma Thompson.
The Children Act. Has its faults, but very good.
Last Chance Harvey. Again, has its faults, but very good. Maybe I’m being over critical.
For me, there’s something about Emma that is so natural and underplayed. In both films she outshines the male counterpart, by doing very little. I think she’s superb.
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You might like Howards End then. I think it’s one of her finest performances.
In fact I think that can be said of all the main cast. I’m not sure Hopkins, Redgrave, or Bonham Carter have performed as well since either.
I find that film utterly mesmerising and I’m not sure why.
I just watched the trailer for Howards End and I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea. It looks slightly over-acted to me, but I’ll give it a go. I like real life dramas, rather than ‘plays’.
In Last Chance Harvey, Emma plays the lonely, isolated, awkward and disappointed character beautifully. You forget you’re watching Emma and Dustin.
I think it’s worth it. I detest plays so much I dropped out of drama school to go to film school (I didn’t finish that either). Howards End is definitely a piece of cinema. Especially worthy of note is the amazing sound mixing. Not something you’d really associate with such a production but the subtle effects in the countryside scenes like the wind or the sound of long grass against skirts whilst walking really puts you there. Or the reverb of the piano in the London music hall scene. There’s an attention to putting the viewer in the scene that is 100% pure cinema if the set up is able to recreate the intended nuances. I used to have HE as a special edition gatefold Laserdisc and it was one of my most priced items in the collection. While it is not “spectacle” it is a fine example of cinema as craft to recreate things no other artform can manage.
If you don’t like the first 20 minutes, you can always switch off. I bet you don’t though.
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Thanks, I’ll give it a go.
Sim, Cole, Thomas…
…Jill Adams, Raymond Huntley, Dora Bryan, Avril Angers, Colin Gordon, Cyril Chamberlain, Richard Wattis, Arthur Brough, Arthur Lowe, Peter Bull, Michael Ripper…
It’s like a ‘Who’s Who’ of 50’s British cinema! (And 70’s telly.)
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I’ll give it a try. There are some magic (maybe mysterious is a better word) nodal years for superb music and cinema I’ve noticed. '73 is one where both mediums overlap.
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Not bad. I only stuck it on while waiting for a cake to cool enough to put in the fridge. Turns out it was pretty good. Bizarre mix of A listers who have less than a minute of screen time.
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We watched this last night. Really good performances all round and very funny. They must have had a lot of fun making it.
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Previous to that, we watched this. It’s a really heart-warming film. We previously saw it on stage in Chichester and it was interesting to see how it was translated into film. It’s well worth watching and a nice change from heavier stuff.
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