Elizabeth: The Golden Age

6/10 – Nice Video, Shame about the Truth ...

Well, what can I say that you haven’t already read somewhere? The movie isn’t historically accurate at all and that is sad because the real history is far more interesting. I know many people think it doesn’t matter, but then again, many people think most of Braveheart is true. That’s the problem; no one bothers to find out history in any other way. If the movie is out (and it’s new) that’s enough. People don’t go and look it up and films should at least give some idea of what really happened. Especially if you have the mighty acting powers of Cate Blanchett playing the title role.

Come on!

No Robert Dudley … instead, the film absurdly replacing his “love of her life” status with Walter Raleigh? That’s just ridiculous. Raleigh was not in the battle against the Spanish Armada, nor did the English burn many of the ships (the weather got them in the end) … I mean, they didn’t even get the Tilbury speech right, leaving out her most famous line of rhetoric (of possibly the first great speech in modern English)

"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and of a King of England too! And I think it foul scorn that Spain or Parma or any prince of Europe should dare invade the borders of my realm".

For all that, it is well realized and filmed beautifully.

So, I’m one of those annoying people who think that history is actually more important than a good story. In this case, there truly is no excuse for it as the history of Elizabeth I has been such good source material for many, many adaptations. In the last two years we’ve seen two different (and far superior) television adaptations. The BBC’s “The Virgin Queen” is best one I’ve seen and seems pretty historically accurate, while the Helen Mirren version is merely OK. She may have gotten Elizabeth II right, but nowhere close on the original.

I’ve read Antonia Frasier’s biography and I will tell you, for those that are interested … it is very readable, interesting, and frankly relevant even now and to Americans, as well. America is an extension of English history, just as England is of ours. It’s important to know where we come from.

Random Notes at the Beginning of a Season …

Heroes – Season Two

Aintitcool.com has a headline that reads “Can Sylar save Heroes?”

The answer is, it seems, no.

The first three episodes of season 2 seem resolutely determined to undo all the damage that the ending of season one did – namely kill off a lot of characters and change the entire direction of the program. Unlike the truly twisted twists of “Lost,” “Heroes” doesn’t feel designed to be that kind of animal and now we are finding out just how a heavy story arc can damage a new season of a television program. So, all the characters we thought were dead in the big epic battle are not … and then we have some new characters that seem very, well, uninteresting to say the least.

If it sounds like I’m being harsh, well, I’m not. The new era of television is much improved over the crass awfulness of the 1990’s. I can honestly say I don’t remember a time when TV seemed so good. The shows I watch now are an odd assortment and come from all sorts of places:

- “Heroes”
- “House”
- “Boston Legal”
- “The IT Crowd” (just ended)
- “Sarah Jane’s Adventures”
- “Doctor Who”
- “QI”
- “Dexter”
- “Weeds”
- “24”
- “Lost”

That’s actually quite a bit for right now and are in no particular order. Compare that to the 1990s when I was actively avoiding shows because I found them particularly crass and aggravating. Even the end of the 80s saw even my favorite shows (“Doctor Who” and “Star Trek”) bastardized and cheapened to extremes. In fact, with the death of the Next and Previous Generations of the original Star Trek, it seems that some cool breeze is blowing back into the world of entertainment.

So, that is my ramble. I didn’t give away any “spoilers” as such.

The IT Crowd – Season Two

Well, let’s face it … it was a disappointment. Not only did season two NOT do anything that writer Graham Linehan claim it was going to do in the commentary tracks (plural) of season one, but it utterly failed to deliver even on the most basic expectations of its own premise. It was … oh, I don’t know … almost like Graham was too pre-occupied making some other show in another country like America to be bothered with writing something worthwhile. (Yes, that’s a joke. Development of the US It Crowd is well underway and will, no doubt, remove any qualities from the original series worth seeing.)

But, still it wasn’t as bad as say … the American version of the Office. The beauty or should I say simplicity of “the IT Crowd” is the surrealistic tone of the show and sometimes that still shines through quite well in season two. It seems, as with Black Books, Linehan has trouble sticking to the reality of his premises and that is his virtue. Sometimes it is his weakness, but mostly a virtue. Let’s face it, how many geek/IT jokes can you squeeze out before it gets tired or worse, hateful?

So, instead of reprising the set-up of the IT department as social outcasts, the first episode finds them all off on Jen’s date with a man who may or may not be gay. He knows people in a musical … called “Gay” … and by the end of the episode sees Roy in a wheelchair being hauled off to Manchester with gay cripples, Moss working as a bartender in the theater, and Jen’s potential date admitting he’s gay and saying, “I thought it would work … since you look like a man!”

The other stellar episode is “the Dinner Party” where Jen has to invite the IT department gang (including the goth Richmond) to replace three men for her couples dinner party. Each is paired up – Richmond is paired off successfully with a rather socially awkward woman who makes comments on how socially awkward things are, Roy with a super model who’s been in an horrific car crash, and most strangly, Moss with an alocholic lush who is so convincing as a divorcee that Moss thinks he needs to divorce her (despite the fact that he isn’t married.) Richmond has a tremendously funny spider-man moment and Jen’s new boyfriends turns out to be named – Peter File – with rather hilarious consequences.

But, in the end, the series of six ended and it seemed like it wasn’t really over. Worse, there isn’t any assurance that there will be a series 3. Like Coupling before it, there is a suspension of activity surrounding the program due to the possible success of an American(ized) version … which is just simply not going to go in the same direction. In fact, the entire premise will no doubt ground the show back to “let’s make fun of geeks” and leave the surrealness on the floor. Richmond certainly won’t be in it. And, even though Richard Ayoade has been brought over to play Moss, this too totally reeks of the dreadful “Red Dwarf” pilots attempted in the U.S. … I predict an instant death, mostly because even the few sentence description on the NBC site doesn’t seem to understand the point of the program

http://www.nbc.com/Fall_Preview/The_IT_Crowd/cast_credits.shtml

And, this is sad, because we’ll have to wait for Graham Linehan to come to his senses again and write a series three of the “good” version …

if....

Criterion brings us another classic here with Lindsey Anderson’s “if ….”. Starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis (in his first major role) the film is set in the God Awful world of the British boy’s school. Here is, I must say, first hand why I would not wish to have grown up in England. Appearantly Anderson’s depiction of this world is so complete and realistic, that the public and even the actors and crew found some of it almost primordially terrifying. This world of “authority” and “class structure” is so thoroughly despicable and demonstrably bad, even the horrific ending seems somehow justifiable.

Mick Travis arrives at school after his summer break and, with his friends, set about being the school trouble makers. The film is broken into episodic sequences with titles (very similar to what Monty Python would later do in “The Meaning of Life”) and then further broken down into realms of hyper reality and surreal unreality. The film switches between color and black and white (because they ran out of money … though some on the dvd that it was because it was too difficult to light the school in time) to great affect. It is, as with so many things of the late 60s, informed coincidence. Once Anderson knew he would have to film in black and white, it is incorporated into the narrative to give us distance during the more dream-like sequences, while the color comes back to provide us with reality.

The film is best remembered for two sequences. The first is the beatings that Mick and his cohorts received (as object lessons because of their attitudes.) Mick is the only one who is actually shown being beaten and, as the leader, he is given more than his friends. This is a pivotal moment when the viewer knows … something will have to happen. And, it does. During another punishment cleaning out the storage areas, Mick and his friends discover all the live amunition that the school uses for military training … and they decide to go up to the roof and shoot everyone, including the head master. It is a startling ending even now, but at the time it rang everyone’s bell – positively or negatively. Before the film even reached the theaters, the Paris riots exploded in 1968 making the masacre far more realistic than it was initially thought to be.

As usual, Criterion are really putting in some good work and you can bet any dvd that lists a bonus feature called “Graham Crowden Interview” is going to be very high on my list. The main bonus feature is an interview show (with Kirsty-Dead Ringers Loves you baby-Wark) with many of the principle crew and some location interview footage with Malcolm McDowell (who says it made his career.) The film itself looks good, considering how it was made. The sound is a bit chaotic and uneven. I found myself turning the volume up and down a few times during the piece.

Frankly, this is a very 60s film in a lot of respects, but unlike things like “Blow Up” or “Alfie,” it doesn’t necessarily seem so rooted in its time. In fact, the school system depicted is so backward that you could be forgiven for thinking it takes place just after World War I. And for that timeless quality, “if….” Remains very powerful.

Sarah Jane Adventures - Revenge of the Slitheen

Well ... er, it's Slitheen and Sarah Jane. Equals farting school headmaster. I mean the math is simple enough. What I truly don't understand is why this is actually better than the blatantly over-hyped (and more expensive) Torchwood. It's stupid, childish, and all those other words you can think to describe it. In fact, it makes K-9 and Company look like I-fucking-Claudius!

It is EXACTLY everything you expect. We knew the title, and even if you didn't, that's the first thing you see, so no surprises. Sarah's surrounded by children ... so school is kind of an obvious start ... A strange remake or mish-mash of School Reunion and WWIII ... with cheaper costumes and a lower budget. And, yet ... even though I'm very tired from a long day of stuff (a 12 hour one, almost) I still watched it all the way through. Honestly ... whatever it is that fuels the new Doctor Who with energy is present in the show (again, the way it is not in Torchwood.)




And, perhaps that is the reason ... the ultimate reason why Doctor Who really works ... when you compare the two spin-offs: the family and child oriented program fairs better than the unbridled sci-fi-fuck-fest. It's not really nostalgia that brings the audiences to Sarah Jane (it's a children's show full-on.) So, clearly the mixture of adult-to-children themes favors the child in us all.

Lesson to Mr. Davies.

Yes, definitely not Doctor Who. But ... not Torchwood.

Peter Askew T-Shirts

The Peter Askew T-shirt is ready for your enjoyment. Promote the book, be a walking billboard ... for me.

http://www.cafepress.com/Landru




If you have read the book, please visit Amazon.com and leave a review. I would like to myself, but that isn't really fair is it?

Random Task

Well, the weekend was a bit lame. I watched the first few James Bond films and they are fun. I will admit that I have mixed feelings about the franchise. Even the first few films, while great, are a sometimes too outrageous to believe. Not just the outrageousness of the plots and gadgets, but the sexism. I realize that these films were meant to be viewed as “adult” but they seem as adult as cartoon women in comic books. It’s a special brand of male chauvinism that comes from adolescent fantasy.

Admittedly, I will watch Bond movies when I just don’t want to do anything at all and can’t bother to think. There is a reassurance in them for children of the 70s. Those ABC Sunday night movie events are a part of the landscape of my childhood. I remember sneaking out to the hall and watching the premier of “You Only Live Twice” in the early 70s (being past my bedtime) and loving the whole gyrocopter sequence. Or later actually sitting through the whole of “Goldfinger” and being certain that it was the greatest film ever made. It really isn’t, but it is good. I still can’t sit through “Diamonds are Forever.” I have no idea why. Sean is back, but the film just seems so at odds with the James Bond culture.

Doctor No – 8
From Russia With Love – 9
Goldfinger – 10
Thunderball – 6
You Only Live Twice – 7
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – 5
Diamonds are Forever – 4

“How Do You Want Me” – watched this short-lived late 90s series starring Dylan Moran. Wow, just so dreadful and hard to sit through. It just wasn’t funny and the sort of dry, dead humor that centers around the main character going through pure Hell. It was produced with such on odd sensibility. They clearly didn’t know what to do with Dylan Moran (who is, in my opinion, one those unique comedy voices that come along every generation), the sound track (and ghostly harmonica and toneless dreadful theme tune), and just a general malaise about the whole piece. Even though it was only 6 episodes, it felt like struggle to watch.

“The IT Crowd” – after that I rewatched the episodes of season 2 thus far and I have to say … it’s still really great. Sure, it’s a sitcom and is very silly sometimes, but there is something really likable about all the characters (especially Moss and Richmond.) I laughed and laughed. I then rewatched the season one dvd and laughed and laughed. Frankly, the real sad part of this show is knowing that there will be an American version (like the Office) that will completely erode the original.

But, this cheered me up a lot on Sunday and I was feeling a bit more normal.