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Reviews
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Utterly magnificent
"Topsy Turvy" is as good as films get. No performance in it is anything less than top notch, the direction is flawless and the script is, in my humble opinion, a work of art. While it would be churlish to say that it could be seen as a remake of such making-a-musical-show films as "42nd Street" or "A Chorus Line" or "All that Jazz" it so far transcends the genre as to never be anything less than mesmerising.
For me though, the true star of the film is nothing less than the English language in all its precision and all its beauty. Seeing Gilbert and Sullivan tearing bleeding shreds off each other in a do-or-die argument without raising their voices, or swearing, or even deviating from the point is breathtaking and inspiring in this age of instant foul language and fisticuffs. Seeing the rest of the large cast doing exactly the same thing too, is a glorious window onto a vanished culture. If you love the English language, films don't get any better. If you love actual, dead set, real acting,"Topsy Turvy" is breathtaking.
The Betrayed (1995)
Just about perfect
"The Betrayed" is a feature length documentary on the Russian Invasion of Chechnya. It is almost completely depressing, exceptionally violent, deeply cynical and at the same time, almost gut bustingly funny. Well, its funny if you have a very, very, very, ugly dark viewpoint on the human race.
"The Betrayed" is, also, easily the best war movie ever made and for my tastes also the best documentary. While these are very serious claims, I do not make them lightly. I have watched my VHS tape of this film upwardds of 30 times, and still find the film to be as strong as the first time I saw it.
If you like war movies, in "The Betrayed" there is lots of real war, shot realistically, and excitingly, and expansively. The film makes war look exactly like the mad nightmare that it actually is, because it is well shot and there is nothing faked in it.
The film is of course a documentary and it examines with horrible honesty the motivations of everyone involved in the madness and shows how each and every faction in the conflict interacts with all the others, with, for the most part, the best intentions. Lastly, it shows how the whole immense nightmare is based on lies, and on the fact that all of the factions and all of the individuals are, one way and another, "The Betrayed."
One example from a film studded with perfect street interviews: An old lady hysterically tells that the Russian infantry are throwing hand grenades into cellars crowded with women and children. She is not acting. It is, or was, happening, just up the street. She is insane, in a nightmare. She finishes up... "and THEY ARE ALL DRUNK!" somehow, she seems to find this more shocking than mass murder. She too is betrayed, somehow; she thought that genocide wouldn't just be mass murder, by drunks. But it is, and, a month or so before the film was shot, she had a normal life, in a normal apartment, and then the war came.
"The Betrayed" is an astonishing assault on every preconception that a person can have. It should be compulsory viewing and it will reward any serious viewer with endless insights over repeated viewings. Simply, movies may equal, but they will never better this one.
10/10
Gladiator (2000)
History Rewrites Itself, again
My name is Russellus Thespianus Crowus, actor of the movies of the twaddle, Star of Romperus Stomperus, loyal servant to the true hackerus, Ridleyus Scottus. Father to a tabloided child, husband to a absent wife. And I will have my LONG DISTANCE, either in my room, or down at the desk!
"Gladiator" is one of those films which surfed into a lot of hearts on the back of an hysterical advertising campaign and then quickly faded in a foggy welter of quiet reassessment. Bad history masquerading as a good movie and now, being rendered even more laughable by the history of its star.
Captain Clegg (1962)
One of Hammer's very best.
While Britains's Hammer film company made their reputation with remakes of the hoary old horror staple potboilers such as their Draculas and their Frankensteins, their true strength was in the creation of relatively small budget genre films that shone with matchless originality and talent. "Captain Clegg" is Hammer Films at their very best.
The story concerns Captain Collier of the English Customs Service arriving in a small seaside town in search of smugglers and of his old arch nemesis, the pirate, Captain Clegg. he soon discovers that things in the village are not as simple as they seem. For a start, there are the "marsh phantoms" which are more than capable of frightening people to death, and then there is evidence of large quantities of illegal rum. The plot thickens as Collier seizes the trail and as the villagers fight back in ways quite unexpected for people familiar with this kind of story. Captain Clegg is a rare blend of horror, suspense and swashbuckling comedy that would not be emulated until 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Legend of the Black Pearl." The plot is full of twists and evil jokes and never lets anything get in the way of what is after all, simply a rollicking good yarn.
The acting is frequently nothing short of breathtaking. Peter Cushing as the Reverend Doctor Blyss is at the top of his very considerable form and delivers an masterful performance. "Doctor Blyss" is a fully rounded and complex antihero character of undeniable magnetism and amazing power. A young and almost unbelievably handsome Oliver Reed delivers an arch and catlike performance that with have viewers rolling in the aisles on one hand and swooning on the other. Michael Ripper delivers what may have been the performance of his career, his character, "Jeremiah Mipps" is worthy of the great Leonard Rossiter at his best.
"Captain Clegg" AKA "Night Creatures" is not a perfect film, but it is one which has found an abiding place in my heart. A true classic, I cannot remember it without smiling.