Delila's Reviews

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Another one or two for Netflix. Thanks for the review. As always, it was illuminating.
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Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
I love Get Carter.

I love the grimy, ale-soaked, nihilistic Northenness of it. I love the barren Tyneside scenescapes, the slew of unsympathetic (but unremittingly human) characters, the fact that Coronation Street's Alf Roberts gets thrown off the top of a multi storey car park.

Most of all, I love Caine's performance. Here is a man finally able to put Alfie to bed.

I'm glad you quite liked it though (I'd expected it to be far from 'up your street') so I'm recommending you also check out Sidney Lumet's The Offence (1972). They're the two best Brit-based crime dramas of the 70s.
I took it with a big grain of salt, to be honest. It's like picking up a Playboy from the 70s: I'm not expecting to find an article on breaking through the glass ceiling in there, or a book review on children's bedtime fables. I can only take it seriously to that point though, as the central character has no moral compass and the supporting ones are all characatures.
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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Ok, C, where are ya?????
I come back out of the wilderness, and you're not about.
Que pasa?
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Toga, toga, toga......


Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?



Ok, C, where are ya?????
I come back out of the wilderness, and you're not about.
Que pasa?
I miss her too she has been busy at work etc
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Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Ok, C, where are ya?????
I come back out of the wilderness, and you're not about.
Que pasa?
Hya Darth and nebbs~
I was in Baltimore.. and then worked about 75 hours in a week.. and then went to Atlanta.. and now I'm back, I'm pretty sure but we have an audit next week. So yeah. Which end is up, again?? Thanks for asking after me. You are dears.



It's good to see you again.
I've been gone a while, too, and it's good to come back and see familiar faces. I'd forgotten (almost) how well written your reviews are.

I just got around to seeing Sweeney Todd recently and loved it, too. I've always like Johnny Depp a lot and admired his chameleonlike qualities, but sometimes wondered if he lacked emotional depth. Those worries were put to rest once and for all by this film.

I also liked Get Carter a lot, having seen it within the last 6 months. At first I was worried I wasn't going to like it, but soon enough I was sucked in and ended up enthralled.

Thank you for the reviews, dear. So good to see you here.



Please, could you tell me where did you find the image/still of the film? I am writing from a publishing house and we think this Antonin Artaud's image could be fantastic for a cover book.

Thanks in advance for your help



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Please, could you tell me where did you find the image/still of the film? I am writing from a publishing house and we think this Antonin Artaud's image could be fantastic for a cover book.

Thanks in advance for your help
Hi Joan, the photo is linked from here: http://www.docmartine.com/artaud/Artaudt1.jpg
You can find the source of most photos here by right clicking it and clicking on "properties". Best of luck with the book and life in Barcelona!



"Live forever or die trying"
Great reviews, i gotta work in my writing style still.



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Hamlet (2009 - Royal Shakespeare Co. dir. Gregory Doran)



This is the best thing to happen to Hamlet since... well, not a lot good happens to Hamlet, so this is on a really short list. This production hits on all cylinders, making for a visually and emotionally engaging, highly focused retelling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy.

Director Gregory Doran is perhaps the person
mirror
most responsible for the success of this production, as he would be the person who accomplishes the incredible clarity of the story presented here. In other productions of this text, we see a royal family awash in a sea of immorality, inest, intrigue, murder, in short: icky people. What Doran does is to take those characters and strip them down to the simplest, cleanest motives presented in the text, and provide them life in actors who are highly skilled and experienced with the characters, and put them on a set that is as austere as the production itself.

We're in a sort of alternative modern universe, with extremely clean lines and costumes that simply suggest the station and position of the characters. The result is focus on the actors with no distractions. Shot in a defunct church, it appears almost more like a stage than a real space, but has the feel of vastness and airiness. This helps to keep ever present the element of what is outside the walls of the castle: the public and public opinion. I've never realised before how much public opinion spurs some of these characters, adding a heightened sense of urgency - and providing thereby a foil for Hamlet's reluctance to act. It's almost as if, at any point, had these characters considered the broader picture, things would have gone differently.

The jewel set in this clean setting is the performances, though. This cast did the show live for a year before it became a film project, and it pays huge dividends in terms of character development.

David Tennant as Hamlet is a welcome departure from the mopey neurotic we usually get here. While the character is in a downward spiral from the start of the action, we see glimpses of what he must have been before, and his slow progress to destruction is all the more tragic for it.

The only true villain in the piece is Claudius, played expertly by Patrick Stewart, as is the murdered Hamlet Sr. His is the character most concerned with public perception, and while he's clearly the bad guy, we see him in moments where he'd be otherwise. Stewart has a tough job, in that we aren't going to find Claudius relatable, but he does make him human.

Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, is widely considered one of the more under-written female leads in Shakespeare's women, but Penny Downie brings giant portions of soul to this queen. The scene where Hamlet confronts her with what Claudius has done is just breathtaking.

Mariah Gale is lovely as Ophelia, and a strong performer. My one quibble with her performance is that she practically weeps through every scene. She functions beautifully as the counterpart to Tennant's Hamlet, I just think she could have had a little more contrast between scenes - a fault of the direction, at least as much as the performer. Ophelia's family, Polonius and Laertes are also beautifully rendered, with humanity that adds depth to the proceedings.

All in all, I watched it six times, and some of the Olivier version for the sake of research, and have to say it's a brilliant production, rendered gorgeously on film. 10/10



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
The Debt

Helen Mirren plays a retired political agent/heroine named Rachel Singer who is nationally known for her part in the capture of notorious Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel. Rachel's daughter has just published an account of how Rachel and her partners, Stephan and David, carried out their mission in 1966. The story shifts back and forth from '66 to '96 and does a brilliant job of unravelling the story and conveying the issues of what happened vs what really happened, and the notion of what is true heroism. While the genre is 'thriller', and there are some breathtakingly tense scenes, much more thought-provoking material is also offered.

Mirren is, as always, fantastic. In fact, the whole cast is: both sets of old and young actors are great. Of special mention though, is Jessica Chastain as young Rachel, who delivers a pitch-perfect performance in a tour de force role.

The only complaint I've seen of this film is the slow pace, but I have to admit, I'd have been lost had it moved any faster. We're in a world geared to make us weigh truth against the image of it, and the cost of each, and we're expected to arrive brains engaged.

9/10



Good stuff, loved reading it.
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Oh my... this is my first time on this thread. Absolutely love The 400 blows, Aguirre, In the mood for love, Brazil and On The Waterfront. 2 Thumbs Up!



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Oh my... this is my first time on this thread. Absolutely love The 400 blows, Aguirre, In the mood for love, Brazil and On The Waterfront. 2 Thumbs Up!
My compliments on your taste, sir!


Nebbs, 7th, honey, yoda and all... thanks for reading!



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing


Finally. After three years of anticipation, Cabin in the Woods is in theaters! For some of us, just seeing the words “A Mutant Enemy Production” and/or hearing the opening strains of OkGO on the soundtrack is enough to elicit a smile. If not, then the name of co-writer and producer Joss Whedon should. Or, you’re one of those non-geeks I’ve heard tell of. Anyway, even if you’re going in cold, you’re in for a surprise.

Cabin in the Woods establishes the signposts of its apparent genre early on – five hot teens go to a remote cabin for a weekend of drunken Truth or Dare, swimming and sex. Just as early on though, we’re shown that there is more going on here: everything is monitored by a small team of white coats, watching from a control room. Things aren’t quite the norm. You don’t have to shut off your brain to watch this movie.

It’s a fun, gory, hilarious slasher film with top notch production values. With a small side of indictment of reality tv. And a question: does this make you uncomfortable?

4/5