ambrose Reviews

Victoria (2016–2019)

A Disappointment

[5/10 · 27 January 2018]

I dearly love Jenna, or Jenna Louse, or whatever. She is as cute as any puppy you'd ever see. But her portayal of Victoria is uniformed (historically) and it's in a production by BBC that's strange, to say the least. Mediaeval Babes? The them is anathema to Victoria! Why not use some of ALBERT'S MUSIC!! "Alleluia" for the theme? Ugh!

Jenna's explanation that she did not know about Victoria's music (she could sing?) and almost nothing about Albert's huge influence with the importance of music (The Royal Albert Hall came out of this!). The idea that Jenna didn't know that Victoria could sing! Oh my!

The lack of Albert's musical reference and his influence in arts is sadly downplayed for political effect here. For me, I don't care! Victoria's legacy is growth of the empire and the spread of British custom, both of which are downlplayed in this series.

The F Word (I) (2017)

Not the UK F Word

[5/10 · 1 June 2017]

As a fan of the F Word as presented on UK television, I was hoping for the best. This was a big disappointment. Fox (and their associates) has changed the premise to make it impossible to care about who wins. The celebrity interviews stink. Gordon's segments on cooking are brief and odd. At least in the UK version we got some of his culinary knowledge. This was a big disappointment but it was not completely unexpected, based on what Fox has done to Gordon's prior series.

Maybe it will improve, but I don't think so. Once established, the formula is just repeated over and over.

American Experience: Walt Disney - Part 1 (2015) Season 28, Episode 1

More Facts, More Life Story, Less Analysis

[21 September 2015]

I was anxious to see a two-part program on the life of Walt Disney. This one shown on American Experience was a disappointment. Bits of his early life were tossed in as though you knew about them. Elias was presented as a one-dimensional authoritarian figure without much love for his sons. Both Walt and Roy have disabused us of this. There are so many hundreds of hours of interviews from people who knew Walt from the early days, and these were not chosen to be included. Instead, we got the "talking heads" approach from those who have read about Walt's life.

Now, I was not expecting the Bob Thomas approach, but the first program wasted so much time with analyzing things that the facts of his life were jumbled and difficult to follow. Did Walt ever draw? When and why did he leave this and go to Laugh-O-grams? What was Elias 's attitude about this? Was Flora, his mother, supportive or critical? These things are knowable. Instead, we got more and more analysis. Then, Part One ended at a good dividing spot, but we were not prepared for the remainder of his life in the second program.

It's true, as has written another writer, that one might tell the story of Walt's life in a five part Ken Burns style mini-series and get all the interesting and necessary facts included. Given a bit less than four hours, things must be omitted. We didn't see and hear any of the Nine Old Men, or Roy E or Roy O Disney, or Diane or Sharon, or Lillian. Lillian was responsible, pretty much by herself, for *Walt* Disney Concert Hall, and Roy was responsible for the name *Walt* Disney World and not Disney World. Why was Walt interested in creating EPCOT? Did he suddenly become preoccupied with future building? We heard that Hazel was with Walt at the end but we never heard from the person who spent more time with Walt than anyone else. Of course, many of the primary sources are long dead, but video of them exists, and some of it should have been included in order to tell Walt's life story, at the expense of the some of the commentary and analysis.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

A Joyless Journey with Tolkein Points Scattered About

[3/10 · 29 June 2014]

I was hoping to be surprised with #2 after the oddities that strayed from the charming, effective story by the great linguist and teacher, Tolkein. Instead, previously admired movie director, Peter Jackson, and his creative assembly, have gone where no group has gone before. Part 2 of this needless trilogy is a joyless slog through made up characters which serve a non-story purpose and contain so much lengthy violence including stabbings and decapitations that it really buries the idea of the original story of Tolkein's The Hobbit.

The encounter with the spiders was just wrong. The clever language of spiders, and indeed most animals is suppressed, but the the language of Smaug is not. The encounter with the Wood Elves was odd in that they weren't approached by famished dwarfs desperately looking for food. The escape in the barrels was over a Class 5 rapids that could not possibly be used for commerce. Melted gold? So quickly ... so much ... and since we know dwarfs and hobbits are temperature sensitive, well ... what's the point? To make Smaug mad enough to attack the village? The village didn't throw the mysterious solid-then-molten gold on him, but that's where his anger is focused.

Overall, it's not fun. The characters have no really happy moments. Gandalf makes strange decisions, none of them with a wink or twinkle of his eye, Radegast makes another appearance, and all of it is so serious and depressing that you may not want to finish the movie. I did, but just barely.

There is no need to put more "Tauriel" and Orlando Bloom's Legolas in the story. Although I love Bloom's Legolas, that was a different story. It takes away from the already limited time of the main character, uh Bilbo. The great man/bear Bjorn was well done and as scary as he needed to be. For my money, the extra orcs and wargs and the oddly provocative Pale Orc who appears more than Bilbo are a complete waste and change the narrative so that it becomes confused and completely inaccessible for children. By the way, the target audience for The Hobbit is children. Peter and Phillipa decided it was more important to make a trilogy with lots of action, violence, and ideas they gleaned from other sources, including their own imaginations, than to translate the best Hobbit ever made for the screen. Too bad.

I really don't know what to expect for Part 3. Perhaps 15 armies and nuclear annihilation?

The Newsroom (2012–2014)

Stunning Television from Sorkin and HBO

[10/10 · 28 June 2012]

I gave up on Veep for junior high snickering and bad language without purpose. It had likable actors but unpleasant characters who did not seem in any way relatable to the US Executive office of vice-president.

The Newsroom is everything that Veep wasn't. The writing is simply brilliant. The language is treated with respect and conveys a sense of the believability of the characters in a newsroom. The music is not overly aggressive and doesn't consist of the ubiquitous distorted electric guitar soundtrack of most other lower budget programs. Within the first episode, the audience cares about the characters and pulls for the plot arch, that it is possible to decide to do the news right. This series will be a critical success over multiple seasons.

Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)

Great memories

[8/10 · 26 June 2011]

"Bobby Fischer Against the World" is a great title. I never met him, but all of the original news coverage offered in this excellent documentary offers memories that match the title exactly. There are two things I would have liked to see done differently. The cutting in and out of Bobby's speaking while on camera is a current trend, perhaps due to the limited attention span of today. I would have preferred to see him more often on screen uninterrupted as I remember it was originally presented. This gives a better picture of his obsession and of his complete personality. And second, the music, while more or less contemporary, was not in line with Bobby's tastes. He was a recluse and eschewed crowds, coverage, and pop culture. And, as a passing thought, wasn't it great to see network coverage of chess as a ... sport!

The Time Machine (2002)

Just Horrible

[2/10 · 24 April 2010]

I was ready to enjoy this film, not having seen it until 2010. It started badly and went downhill. New York? Really, New York? Set design was a mash up of whatever came to mind, I guess. The machine itself was strange, which would not have been bad in itself, but the blender blades coupled with the brilliant laser like beams just exuded excess energy and would have drawn attention for miles. Gone is the wondrous symbolism of the control handle and crystal. Gone is the feeling of the inventor for the concept of time.

His fiancée? Robbed, murdered? Really? This was an improvement? Adding a useless attempt at 'fixing' but failing history was painful. This was never the point of the story anyway.

How many digits can the chronometer show? ##,###,###,###,###? Moon, did someone say Moon? This was deleted from the DVR without even watching the credits. To quote a young person I overheard, "I want my two hours back."

Why 2 stars? One for each of the two seconds that Alan Young was on screen.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

Iccchhhh

[2/10 · 12 September 2009]

I happened across this one and watched 100% due to the title.

From having little to do with the great original to the painful acting to the lame CGI, this is one to be avoided.

Even young children with popcorn and candy would turn away in disbelief. Iccchhhh!

Big, fat T Rex chases after running humans -- wonder what else he eats? Little phosphorescent birds? Giant aggressive flesh eating plants with no sun.

Magnesium, raw exposed magnesium? Anyone take high school chemistry? Avoid this one.

10,000 BC (2008)

Avoid at all costs

[1/10 · 28 February 2009]

In every respect, this was a disappointment and a puzzlement.

Different races are mixed together. Hunter-gathers walk a bit into the iron age. The language skills of the people are terrifyingly sophisticated, even allowing for storytelling English translation. Several times, spears were thrown with the force needed to pierce entirely a man's body. From the distances shown, this would be possible only with powered assists. Some have knives, some have spears, some have bows and arrows. Following a star was invented by the hero. There are pages more things that ruined the story as it unfolded.

Avoid at all costs.

A Year in Provence (1993)

A Splendid Trip in French Stereotypes

[9/10 · 11 April 2008]

The amount of French language is enormous for an English language production, and that makes it fun to listen and try to understand, because much of the French in conversation is not translated fully. The things that one expects from Provence are all there, and when the expected ending of a story plot does not come and the twist is even more inventive than the simple negation of a stereotype, the narrative really shines. Peter runs the plumber out and you would think that this is the beginning of a rancorous feud, but it's not. Winning at bowling turns out not to be winning after all. The production does its best to include some of the most pointed vignettes of the book. It manages to capture the flavor very well overall. For the strongest sense of the continuity, I recommend that you read the book first; then, when you watch this on VHS/DVD, you can bask in the extra time and story added here to add depth to this stranger and his wife in a foreign land desperately trying to become local and belong.

Songcatcher (2000)

Great promise, earnest execution, strange additions

[7/10 · 9 September 2007]

There was beautiful photography but not enough, especially to establish where we were -- mountains, "Southern" mountains? Up the mountain? Which mountain? What railroad? What river? They kept referencing Asheville in the dialogue. I don't think a viewer could tell much about anything without that one reference. Besides, this part of the Southern Appalachians known as the Blue Ridge is famous for its rich and varied gemstones and minerals, even today. The incredible coal veins are found in western Virginia and Kentucky.

Unfortunately, there are a number of inconsistencies. The accents are pretty strongly Tennessee. Emmy did a great job of following the dialect coach but the twang was too strong, the nasality maybe not strong enough, and the diphthongs too broad and even. The music director made it clear that he thought there were "African-American" influences in mountain music. There are not. He got a lot of it right, but he didn't know what to call "Old Time" music (that's what it's called by outlanders) and called clogging flat-foot dancing. But he got a lot else about the music right. The ending 'flip' of ballad phrases is too strong in most of the songs. One singer got it exactly right -- Bobby McMillon, who was the second to sing part of the Conversation with Death. And what's this with Dolly Parton? In the DVD, she's proud to have been a part of it, but she's not in the credits, but she is the soundtrack listing. I'm confused.

I have questions! As far as I was concerned, this could have been a documentary about the music. Why invent a woman to take the part of the collector? Even Greenwald admits this is a fantasy at that time. Forcing an Edison cylinder maker and all the paraphernalia that goes with it into the story is, well, deeply forced and unbelievable. Why add a lesbian romance? If there were such a thing, it would have been hidden so deep the subplot police could never have found it. The panther story about shedding of clothes -- true. They're all but extinct now. Moonshine? True, I've tasted some in Hot Springs. (Raw tasting and it burns!) But it doesn't come out the still like tap water as shown in the scene. The romance that developed between Tom and Lily is totally unbelievable within the scope of the story. The rich coal mine owner and his stooge would never have offered to buy land because there is no coal to mine. They cut out part Taj Mahal's playing. Black people were a rarity in the mountains and they took this chance to illustrate that, so why cut it short? (I guess they had to cut something.) Did you notice the mailman? Do you really believe that some poor mail carrier trudged up the mountain to deliver mail? If they wanted the mail, they went down to the post office to get it, or it didn't get got -- at least until Rural Free Delivery (RFD) was implemented.

The hardest part of all to accept was that nowhere in this film did they find time for even one complete ballad. But I still enjoyed this film because it means well and it gets a lot of what of it started out to do right, though it veers off track a good bit. I had relatives in Weaverville and Leicester and attended school at Mars Hill College in Madison County, the site of the 'discovery' of many of the songs. One of my teachers used to tell us stories of John Jacob Niles.

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

Nice idea but sloppy execution

[4/10 · 2 November 2006]

What a great idea, and what a great chance to play interesting philosophical points against themselves and others ... but there's so much out of kilter here that sloppiness prevents the very point that would seem to account for such high ratings. Winston-Salem? I've lived in NC all of my life. No to everything. Wrong license tag. Wrong drink - julep? Go to Kentucky. I love Duval but the accent was laughable. The California types were too strongly stereotypical. The David Spade type character would be great on SNL but spoiled the illusion here. There are some very funny places, though. The MoD Squad idea was done to death. This movie should be remade with a different script incorporating the real lives of tobacco farmers and real Marlboro men who don't storm out of a house wielding guns and believable tobacco executives. The points would be stronger, the depth of the drama and the comedy would be stronger, and the issues would be more believable. The best comedy is made from real live and not a superficial gloss of popular stereotypes. I hope for a remake.

Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971)

The best of humor, the best of social criticism

[9/10 · 26 August 2006]

I loved Hogan's Heroes when it was first on, and I'm the first in line to buy the DVDs. I'm frankly surprised to see DVDs.

Can you laugh at murder? At abortion? At genocide? At yourself? Hogan's Heroes laughs at everything. Is Hogan a murderer? Well, in a way. Remember, it was WWII. Is Hogan an American? You bet! Are there stereotypes involved? Of course! HH is a send up of the first degree. The great Werner Klemperer, related to a great musician and a great music lover himself, will win your heart as the beloved Kommandant Klink. He's bumbling but always tries to be tops in efficiency. If there weren't a war, he and Hogan would be friends. The contribution by John Banner is inestimable. When things get too serious, he's there. When things need moving along, he's there. His sense of comedic timing was an inspiration to Bob Crane. Schultz was the German grandfather that Heidi might have known. The rest of the heroes and the incidental cast, such as Howard Caine, are stupendous stereotypes. They're stupid when they're supposed to be and insightful when necessary (which is not often).

HH is sometimes criticized for making light of a deathly serious matter. Well, yes. OK. They did! And why not??!! The number of Jewish actors alone playing Nazis is worth the cost of the DVD.

Like M*A*S*H, HH succeeds every single season, although I am personally most fond of the episodes with Ivan Dixon.

The Majestic (2001)

Heart-warming, Sentimental, and Patriotic

[8/10 · 20 August 2006]

The story has enough twists to keep your interest, and it's full of heart warming sentiment and love of country. The acting is fine and Carrey's pretty believable, but the gem to be found here is the great Martin Landau. For me, this is a film that can be seen over and over. The only weak points are the marquee and vertical sign for the Majestic: nothing in a town that size would ever approach the size of that thing, and the amount of unsupported neon tubing in it could only stand up in a scale model or a computer generation. Never mind the complex electrical repairs! Also, that diesel engine that Luke rides into town sure looks futuristic. But, movies demand the suspension of disbelief, and if you can manage it, this is a rewarding story and a good showcase of the other side of Carrey's talent.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Why would anybody make this ... except for money(???)

[1/10 · 25 May 2005]

This was a huge disappointment. As a long-time fan of Adams and of the BBC radio and the television version, I was crushed. I actually fell asleep! I watched it again afterwards, still shocked.

The acting was insipid and unbelievable (and that in an epic space fantasy!). Zaphod was way overplayed and unbelievable and the two heads and three arms were just plain wrong. One head could not talk to the other! Who is Ford? Why is he named Ford? Why is he black? Why does he run to Arthur's house with a grocery cart full of beer and peanuts? There is so little motivation in this film for anything! Why is there an entire construction company and 25 men? It was just a little house. Besides, they cut out the dialogue about finding the plans, the basement, the disused lavatory, and the leopard. So, why bother with all the props? Marvin is short and moves quickly and often. This is not in keeping with the character! The great Warwick Davis deserves better.

What a waste of the adorable Zooey! She wants to go to with Arthur? Why? And why would she desire him anyway? BTW, they met at a 'fancy dress' ball. This, uh, doesn't mean weird costumes. Huge mistake #1. Love story where there was none.

Characters drift in and out of continuity. The letter "Z" is pronounced ZEE by Tricia but ZED by everyone else. The planet Magrathea is pronounced variously as magra-THAY-uh and magra-THEE-uh. The excellent narrator does his best to hold things together, but he's no Peter Jones alas, and he's not given the chance actually. The name of the film **IS** the name of the book but the part of the book is hugely reduced.

What's this 'dolphins with musical bit' for the beginning? Of course, *I* knew what it was (stupid and wasteful), but did most of the audience? That's not the beginning anyway. These folks should've followed Douglas Adams -- who wrote the story for radio. They were not "treating" a book here! They were working with output from a man who had a tremendous, albeit unusual, understanding of how to tell a story -- the sequences being especially important to his style. And this story is nothing if not style.

The end seemed to tease us about the restaurant at the end of the universe and then confuse us about at which end it was located. Good grief! It's the end of the universe in time, not location. This huge gaffe #2 is enough for me to hope that these same folks do not get a chance to make a sequel.

The Magic Christian (1969)

Money in the 1960s

[8/10 · 27 January 2005]

Everything true of the '60s is in The Magic Christian. There are many cameos from quite famous people, some uncredited, who portray in their cameos a variation or parody of characters they are known for portraying. John Cleese is not humorous at all but an under-spoken high class wannabee; Yul Brynner is not a tough guy at all; Ringo plays a bum with easily molded taste. Of course, this is a must for we Peter Sellers fans.

The psychedelic things are not parodies; that's the way it was! One section makes many people turn away because of the strong strobe effect. The last scenes aboard The Christian seem out of place and confusing. Actually, if you were to ask Patrick McGoohan, he could easily explain them! If you don't know The Prisoner television series, you should watch all 17 episodes and pay special attention to the last 2 for the answers. Notice that there is an ape in both; notice that the leader (captain) is attacked but never vanquished nor replaced; notice that perceived reality isn't reality nor is it even accurate perception.

This movie was a fine way to close out the '60s. The audio track needs restoration help, though, in every way. Geoffrey Unsworth's sparkling and creative cinematography is in need of cleaning up as well.

Santa Fe Trail (1940)

A well-produced mix-up

[5/10 · 13 August 2004]

Fine camera work, decent direction, partly fun and partly exceptionally heavy, this is a real mix-up of a movie. The DVD cover proclaims that it stars Ronald Reagan -- well, uh, no. The only biography on the DVD is, guess who -- Reagan again. I thought Reagan's portrayal of Custer was strangely wooden. As pointed out by others, Custer didn't graduate from the Point until 1861, two years after we were rid of John Brown. I love Olivia de Havilland, of course, and Alan Hale is always fun. The real star of the show, though, is John Brown -- Raymond Massey. He looks a bit like John Brown, but Reagan bears no resemblance to Custer at all. There is so much that's appealing here, but it's so hard to overlook the many impossibilities presented in the story. Perhaps a little of that 1850s whisky before you watch would help.

The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (1999)

Outstanding documentary of Ub & Walt

[28 May 2002]

This production is outstanding throughout. At the start, much needed time is spent on making clear Ub's and Walt's earliest endeavors into the field of commercial art and animation. The video is 90 minutes long, but I could have easily watched double that time. The quality is excellent, though the video cautions that "this film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit your TV." (This is confusing since my TV is 16:9!) In any case, I could find little missing from a 1.33 cropping. Two of Ub's earliest animation shorts for Walt, Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie, are windowboxed. I would have liked to see the explanation of why Ub changed his name from Ubbe Iwwerks to Ub Iwerks. Some of the documents presented in the film and at least one reader use the older form, but the story is never acknowledged in the production. We know he changed his name, but I'd like to know more details as to why and when. Included are comments by Roy E Disney and the always effervescent Leonard Maltin. (We sure miss your thoughts around here!) It's good to hear a brief testimonial by Chuck Jones about how UB inspired him. There is little video of Ub, though; the short clip at the Academy Awards presentation is about it. Walt never recorded much about Ub but all I've ever seen is included here. Overall, this is a "must" for the collection of a Disneyphile or animation lover. A companion book is also available.

The Search for the Nile (1971– )

A true romantic treatment of the search for the Nile's source

[8/10 · 1 September 2001]

After watching Mountains of the Moon (1990), I was reminded of this excellent film made by the BBC for television in 1971. For reasons unknown to me, it has not been released in any home video format (as of 2001). The beautiful sweeping music of Smetana's Moldau and Kenneth Haigh's true Brit portrayal of Burton make this the romantic's choice for the film version of this story. The violence and graphic detail found in Mountains is absent in Search. I have always respected Michael Gough, who is perfect as the great David Livingstone. James Mason, one of the best narrators of all time, holds the mini-series together through its episodes. The BBC ought to release it so that we could have the chance to enjoy it as a whole.

The Old Man and the Sea (1958)

An unhurried fishing experience

[9/10 · 26 June 2001]

This is Spencer Tracy at his best. The grandest fish story of them all is told in an unhurried fashion with plenty of time for recollection. If you're tired of action this and drama that, check out John Sturges's Cuban and Cuban-esque backdrop for a narrative that bears repeated viewings. My only complaints are the unevenness of the Warner color process and the switch between back projection and original film and 16mm sports fishing film. For me, Tracy makes this easy to ignore.

The Bible in the Beginning... (1966)

Such a disappointment

[3/10 · 17 February 2001]

I saw this for the first time today.

I had read it was disappointing, but nothing prepared me for this.

Avoid.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

Simply one of the funniest movies ever made.

[9/10 · 16 June 2000]

"There's no place like home." You need to see The Kentucky Fried Movie to understand this old chestnut of a catch phrase. It's as funny as the best of the excellent Pink Panther films. After watching TKFM, you will appreciate Zucker's other films more - guaranteed.

Recommendation: Do not eat or drink while watching because the laughs will catch you and you'll make a mess. Don't think so? If you've never seen it, try munching popcorn and drinking during the first 20 minutes, and let us know how it turned out!