Foyle's War: Series 1 (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Perhaps it's my affection for England - a love that makes my wife roll her eyes - that causes me to have a higher regard for BBC and ITV small screen productions than those of America, which seem so crass in comparison. So many of the former seem uncommonly funny, intelligent, or both. FOYLE'S WAR is an uncommonly intelligent detective drama, a period piece set on England's south coast in 1940. And, to keep the record straight, my wife's dedication to this series is at least as pronounced as mine, if not more so.

Michael Kitchen is Detective Inspector Christopher Foyle, who's ordered to remain at his post as homicide investigator for Hastings and its environs; he'd much rather be doing his bit for King and Empire fighting the Nazis across the Channel. Indeed, his son is a flying officer with the RAF. The two other series regulars are Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), the Women's Royal Army Corps enlistee assigned as his driver, and Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), Foyle's assistant inspector recently returned to home front duty after being wounded with the Army during the disastrous British invasion of Norway.

In Series One,the murders occur in contexts that include sexual harassment, anti-semitism, police brutality, local jingoism, sabotage, and conscientious objection - all set against a backdrop of Luftwaffe bombing raids and the fear of imminent amphibious invasion by the German Wehrmacht.

The character of Foyle - intelligent, perceptive, reserved, compassionate, wounded by his wife's recent death, worried for his son's safety - epitomizes the phrase "still waters run deep." The viewer embarks into each episode wondering what new layer of Foyle's persona will be revealed. (Not to give too much away, but I've just seen the first episode of Series Two, which gives evidence of an old and tragic love affair involving Foyle and a now-married gentlewoman.) And the evolution of the relationship between Foyle and the occasionally cheeky Sam is one of the major delights of the miniseries as the latter proves she's smart, intuitive, and potentially more useful than just a lowly chauffeur.

The various murders investigated by the trio are never straightforward, but involve clever plot twists and hidden motives, the solutions to which silently gestate in the Inspector's mind before being revealed at the end of the story, much like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of old.

There are, of course, uneven moments to Series One which allow for only four stars. I trust, as the show matures, that it will only get better. The areas that need no improvement are the period costuming, props and sets, all of which are superbly done and a delight to an Anglophile.


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The Lost World (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you didn't see this wonderful Lost World minseries A&E did, buy the DVD or video. Or do like I did-buy it after having seen it on A&E. It was spectacular, by far the best film adaptation I have seen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel. No, it doesn't stay true to the novel (face it, few films ever stay true to the novels they are based on), but the differences actually make the story enjoyable and interesting in its own right separate from the novel.
The changes from the novel include the following:
1) Professor Challenger-in the book, he is not at all a likeable character, and is not meant to be, but in the film, they made him more amenable, yet still kept much of his stubborness and self-righteousness. It was a good compromise for the purpose of viewer accetability of a main character.
2) Agnes Clooney-the female member of the team in the film was not in the novel, but is still a welcomed addition. She is a more liberated woman in some ways, but it isn't done over the top so she is beating up savages and shooting up things (she isn't Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and that type of character wouldn't have fit in this story). Rather, Agnes as a character does fit a woman living in her circumstances in that time.
4) The Demented Reverend-He wasn't in the book either, but I actually think he wasn't a very good addition. I'm kind of sick and tired of this cliched evil missionary character who kills in the name of the lord. Its been done to death. Thought, admittedly, Peter Faulk played this character very well, and did instill in him more soul and complexity than most of these evil missionary stereotypical characters get in most films.
One thing I really liked about this film was how it was an action/adventure story, but it also made you think about what was going on in the story. It had some really good things to say about man's interaction with nature, and preservation of the environment against exploitation. Challenger, towards the end of the film, makes a comment about science often not being accessible to the public at large without it being dressed up a bit as entertainment. This is exactly what this film does in some ways. It presents and entertaining, engrossing adventure, but also presents interesting scientific thoughts about ecology. Just what can happen when man starts mucking about and disturbing the balance of nature?
And the answer to that question wasn't entirely clear in one circumstance. The dispute between Challenger's point of view versus Lord Roxton's view on what to do with the Ape Men in the film. They were both right and both wrong from my view. This really points to the difficult balance between how much we should interfere in nature and how much we should just leave things alone.
I recommend this film very highly to anyone who loves the original novel, or action/adventure stories in general. This film continues A&E's record of excellence in creating film adaptations of classic stories.

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Before Jurassic Park, there was THE LOST WORLD.At the turn of the century, an expedition led by the brilliant and combative ProfessorGeorge Challenger sets out from London.It is bound for the Amazon, where dinosaursare rumored to survive on a forgotten plateau deep in the jungle.The adventurers findthat the stories are true, but the thrill of discovery is quickly overshadowed by a desperatestruggle for survival.With special effects from the award-winning production team behind the acclaimedWalking with Dinosaurs, THE LOST WORLD brings Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic taleto life like never before.Bob Hoskins (Nixon, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) stars asProfessor Challenger, and the exceptional supporting cast includes Peter Falk (Columbo)and Tom Ward (Quills).

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Being Human: Series 1 (2pc) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews). . . and best werewolf and best ghost show on TV. Mind you, I like TRUE BLOOD and have even come to see the upside to THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, but both of those are enjoyable diversions with no real subtext (TRUE BLOOD gestures at subtext with its parallels with prejudice against all kinds of difference, but in 2010 that is a pretty worked over subtext and lacks power at this point). But if you want more depth of subtext and a more subtle narrative and richer character development and, well, less garishness, than this is a show you should check out. Not yet available in the U.S. on DVD and Blu-ray (every time I have checked on Amazon I've only seen an outrageously overpriced $70 Blu-ray that never seems to be available -- though if you have an all regions DVD player, you can order an infinitely more affordable edition from Great Britain, which I strongly recommend, I repeat, only if you have an All-Regions player). There are only six episodes in Season One and eight in Seasons Two, so the idea of paying over $10 per episode is rather offensive. But you can either catch the show on BBC America or on Region 2 DVDs.
The series starts when two orderlies at a hospital at Bristol decide to room together. What makes this desirable for them is that they are supernatural creatures. Mitchell is a vampire. Not a terribly old one by vampire narrative standards (less than a century old). George is a werewolf and on three nights a week has a rather violent transformation into a truly nasty beastie (and thanks to CGI his transformations are truly horrendous). Both of them are trying to pass as normal humans, and for economic reasons and simply because they don't want to live alone, they decide to find an apartment together. By happy circumstance, the apartment they find and move into is inhabited by an outrageously sunny and upbeat ghost named Annie. Together, the three of them try to lives that are as normal as possible.
The trouble is, the rest of the world doesn't want them to live normal lives. The vampire community (why does there always seem to be a vampire community?) wants Mitchell to return to the fold. They especially don't want him living with a werewolf. And meanwhile, the afterlife wants Annie to move on, into the light, and away from her human life. So their struggles are unusually rich and complex.
What made BUFFY and ANGEL so vastly superior to TRUE BLOOD and MOONLIGHT and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and the TWILIGHT series (both novels and movies) was what they were able to do with the premises, with the metaphorical richness of the stories. TRUE BLOOD ends up being a glorious one-dimensional guilty pleasure show, all glorious surface with nothing beneath. BEING HUMAN is much more like BUFFY, with richly developed, deliciously articulated stories with timely cultural references. Mitchell's vampirism, for instance, is used less as a metaphor for homosexuality, as it is in TRUE BLOOD, but addiction and the difficulty of human self-control.
The show is driven by its appealing leads. Russell Tovey (George) will be perhaps best known from his appearance on DR. WHO and the movie THE HISTORY BOYS, but Lenora Crichlow (Annie) and Aidan Turner (Mitchell) are appealing newcomers. There are endless polls about who the hottest vampires are and if Mitchell were better known in the U.S. he'd almost certainly win them all. He is a spectacular incarnation of the really bad boy who wants to be good but for whom it is a constant struggle. George, meanwhile, is like the big silly family dog. There is meanwhile absolutely noting ghostly about Annie except that she can't be seen. She is dark complexioned, but if you had to assign a color to her personality, it would be yellow. Bright yellow. She is sunny and irrepressibly happy and upbeat. Any room she is in has no dark corners. In other words, the polar opposite of all of the stereotypes of ghosts.
SyFy has announced that they are developing an American version of BEING HUMAN. Hopefully they won't blow it. The BBC series is a great one. I am not opposed to an American version, as long as it is more like the American adaptations of THE OFFICE than other efforts. But even if it fails, it should be seen as a gesture towards the excellence of the original. But even if the American version turns out well, if you love extremely high quality shows dealing with the supernatural, you should definitely know the original. The only thing I hate about this show is that there have been only fourteen episodes to date.

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BEING HUMAN is a bizarre, supernatural sitcom from the BBC that revolves around the concept of two young men-Mitchell and George--sharing a flat. While this seems like a tried and tested formula for television the twist is that Mitchell (Aidan Turner - THE TUDORS) is a vampire and George (Russell Tovey - LITTLE DORRIT, THE HISTORY BOYS) is a werewolf. Complicating matters further is pair's newfound home is haunted by the ghost of Annie (Lenora Crichlow - SUGAR RUSH).

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Touching Evil: Set 3 (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent Detective Mystery Series! If you are looking for mystery films more challenging than what you see in American TV mysteries, then this is what you've been looking for. Clever screenplay writing and storylines. Robson Greene is superb as the not quite sane but sharp profiling detective who races against time with his dedicated team to apprehend sinister killers. If you like the Wire in the Blood series, you'll love Robson Greene in this performance.
I'm not sure why another reviewer felt subtitles are necessary to watch this film. None are necessary unless English is not the viewer's first language. I do agree with other reviewers that it is a very odd decision to release the 3rd season before the first 2 seasons. Note to the manufacturers: Come on....make the first two seasons available in dvd format!

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Inspector Creegan is back-and face to face with London’s most heinous criminals.In the third installment of Touching Evil, Robson Green (Reckless) returns as the sly, sexy, and slightly unstable Detective Inspector Dave Creegan of London's Organized and Serial Crime Unit. With the help of his stalwart partner Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker), Creegan races time as he tracks down the city’s most dangerous criminals.Creegan is back on the job, having recovered from a nervous breakdown. In the first case, he is determined to clear the name of a man he helped convict–a tough task given that the murders began again once the suspected killer got out of jail. Creegan and Taylor have to scramble to figure out the true motive of the killer, especially after the killer cuts to the heart of the OSC. Then, a brazen new serial killer terrorizes the city by setting his victims on fire. To gain insight on this frightening predator, Taylor interviews a man behind bars incarcerated for the same reason, but she and Creegan follow a variety of blind leads. With the clock ticking, will Creegan crack the case before he gets burned?Based on characters created by Paul Abbott (Cracker, Reckless), Touching Evil brims with riveting suspense that will convince you that it takes a mentally unhinged cop to outthink a psychopath.

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