Thursday, June 29, 2017

Movies Monthly: May

June is about to be over so it is time to tell you which movies and TV shows struck our fancy in May.

TV series

Detective stories by BBC:

DCI Banks - we did not watch much of the previous season which was presented a few years ago. It looks like this time the series may not be aired long again.

Ashes to Ashes - III season - 2010 - a new-look of the main female character and more music of the 80s - less new age and more punk rock tunes + some non-British music as well. I started liking the series mostly due to the DCI Gene Hunt role played Philip Glenister. The character seems very similar to Inspector Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) from 'Murdoch Mysteries' - another crime story series. The same type of man, the same type of inspector, similar behavior and personality, similar look even - different time setting only. At first, I thought the two parts might be played by the same actor but no, they were two different men. I also like the new image of Alex Drake and the entire detective crew - the bond they share (besides Jim Keats who seems rather slippery).

Scott & Bailey - although the serial has had many seasons, just a few episodes appeared on our local TV. Maybe because there was nothing special about it (besides some entertainment), just another detective TV show.

Documentaries

Plants Behaving Badly - an educating show about carnivorous plants.

Victorian Slum House - quite an illuminating series. The real life circumstances in the Victorian Slum House must have been one hundred times worse and much harder due to the omnipresent filth, diseases, malnutrition, lice and other nasty bugs, rats and so on. We really liked the tailor's family, most of all the ones who took part in the series. They were so integrated - the parents and two children working together and learning together, supporting each other. Not all the children worked so really hard. As it was mentioned in the series, some quickly got bored and did nothing. Maybe a reason of that was those kids were younger than the tailor family children and they did not understand the meaning of it all, why they were taking part in the show. Maybe it was something else but we disliked that attitude of being indolent and idle which made the parents work only. Luckily, it was just a TV show. If the children had lived in Victorian times, they would have not been able to skip the work.

Not long after watching the documentary series about the London slum house, I came across some interesting information - possibly, one of my distant relative's father (whom I had never heard about - neither the relative nor his father) was born in Whitechapel, London at the time depicted in the Victorian Slum House series.

Movies

As usual, we watched some older films/some classics + more current ones.

Absolute Power - 1997 (crime, drama) with Clint Eastwood - one of our this months classics. I had already seen the film but it was so long ago, I could not recall much of the plot.
Some actors' names make you expect a certain level of a quality of a movie. Clint Eastwood is one of those who do not disappoint you. 'Absolute Power' is a good movie indeed.

The Man Who Knew Infinity - 2015 (biography) - I had never heard of that math genius of India who had the 'visions with numbers' when he prayed/concentrated. Despite his brilliant mind, quite a tragic life he had.

Bat*21 - 1998 (war) - one of the Vietnam war movies - about a lost in action officer who is rescued in dramatic circumstances. Quite well-made and an involving story too.


The Day the Fish Came Out - 1967 (drama, SF) - a French production set on a Greek island - quite a weird film, interesting though.

The Whistler - series of movies - made in 1944 - 1948 (crime, thriller). An early version of The Twilight Zone.

Leon: The Professional - 1994 (crime, drama). Another classic in May. An outstanding part of Leon created by Jean Reno. The young actress who accompanied him did really well.

The Attack of Lederhosen Zombies - 2016 (horror style comedy) - totally silly but funny as well.

No Time for Sergeants - 1958 (comedy, war) - Andy Griffith as a very simple young countryman drafted into the Air Force + his comic adventures.

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