IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...)

Movie: Taken (2008)

 
Director: Pierre Morel; Writers: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen; Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen.

According to Empire Magazine Taken raked in 'north of $200m from a budget of $25m' and in March of this year it reported that Neeson had ‘all but signed on the dotted line for a sequel’.  That’s a sign it’s a good one, yes?

Miss Marple rebooted by Disney

Some news travels fast and jaws may drop just as quickly.  Breaking today was the fact that Disney has done a deal and will 'reboot' the Miss Marple franchise.  This involves the casting of Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner in the main role.  And yes, it is the role of Miss Jane Marple to which I refer.

But the casting is not the main issue (as today's Daily Telegraph attests).  It's the concept.  For the Disney rebooted Miss Marple is a Marple revisited and redrawn.

• It's to be her younger self. Well that's OK then; sometimes the younger, formative self works well, see The Young Indiana Jones. (But it's also worth remembering that 'young' versions often follow massively successful originals and are simply made to extend the money-spinning bandwagon journey.)  PLUS
• It's to be modern day. Again, this can work: think the BBC's recent and hugely successful Sherlock.  PLUS
• It's to be set in America.  Sorry, I can't think of one mitigating offering for this.  It's like mangoes turning into olives.  Taking such a big attribute of the stories is to change their nature completely.

And taking all three together is simply a step too far.  It's like taking a step too far and walking over a cliff into the ocean, or stepping from solid ground into quicksand.  It's just not recognisably the same.

Finally, back to that first point; it's to be a younger Marple.  Surely the magic of Marple lies in the fact she's a wise old woman, a keen observer of humankind with many years of quiet practice behind her?

You've got to hand it to Sandra Bullock...

...for the best acceptance speech on receiving an embarrassing award.  She had me in stitches.

Movies watched lately...

In Bruges, Mr Brooks, Burn After Reading.

In Bruges

This carries a tag line of "Shoot First.  Sightsee Later."  Yes, it's gangsters and guns in Bruges, Belgium after a shoot out in London goes wrong for two Irish hit men.  I have never seen Brendan Gleeson in anything before, but he proved to be a captivating screen presence, as was Colin Farrell.  Both managed to elicit sympathy in characters you'd prefer not to meet at the best of times.  But the biggest surprise for me was Ralph Fiennes as I've never been a fan of his.  He comes into the story when it becomes a matter of honour and needs to do a bit of dirty work himself.  It's a chilling and stunning performance.  A mix of darkness, tragedy, comedy and the surreal, expect to laugh, enjoy the setting and possibly reach for tissues.

Mr Brooks

Alerted to this one by Martin at Do You Write Under Your Own Name?  It's a serial killer story with a twist; the sort of twist that turns everything on its head.  If the psychopathic serial killer is a paranoid schizophrenic, Kevin Costner's Mr Brooks hardly ever appears without his alter ego ("voice") played by William Hurt in a very chilling performance.  His latest killing goes wrong when he is seen by someone and a little bit of bribery comes into play.  But the witness is not after money.  Oh no, he wants something else in the first of a series of original and unexpected twists.  Hot on the case is a wilful, stubborn detective played (convincingly) by Demi Moore; the detective having something to prove.  One part of the plot was a bit ludicrous, but with suspension of disbelief, further twists come into play before the end.  Mrs Brooks is played by Marg Helgenberger of CSI who was originally unrecognisable.  Has she gone under the knife recently?

Even though I was not fully convinced by Kevin Costner's performance, the movie does grab attention.  I was roasting some butternut squash to make soup when watching.  Eventually, I remembered what the smell was.  The soup never got made.

Burn After Reading

Having loved Fargo, here was another Coen brothers and Frances McDormand vehicle with the added bonus of George Clooney and John Malkovich that I couldn't resist.  It's all a bit surreal with the label spot on: "...outrageous spy comedy about murder, blackmail, sex addiction and physical fitness."  When Malkovich's character walks out of the CIA after rejecting a move/demotion, he decides to write a memoir.  The disc gets into the hands of two gym employees who attempt to blackmail him, but the disc contains some rather poor revelations which complicate matters.  McDormand plays one of the blackmailers motivated by wanting money to purchase a series of cosmetic enhancements.  Brad Pitt plays the other, in what was a revelation of a comic performance for me.  (I am probably the only woman in the world who did not really notice him in Thelma and Louise; he was just a six pack on show.)  McDormand does quirky and Malkovich does rage as beautifully as usual.  Tilda Swinton does an excellent turn as an ice cold, English, posh totty, let down wife.  Burn After reading contains scenes with excellent comic timing from an ensemble cast.  This is one I will watch again and I expect to laugh more on the second innings.

Quantum of Solace, James Bond's latest outing on DVD now

Having had one job interview this week, which went pretty well, on wending my way home I stopped off at Sainsbury's and ploughed rather a lot of dosh into their coffers to fill my freezer and fridge.  (In times of recession there can be nothing so wasteful as a half-empty freezer.)  And before leaving, I spied a copy of the latest Bond DVD, so I treated myself.

On Saturday afternoon, I lay on the sofa for some quality Bond time.  After the over-long title intro, it became obvious, almost instantly, that this was not a movie to watch in the horizontal position.  It opens with a car chase  - involving guns, naturally - on some perilous roads in Italy.  For the run time of 100 minutes I am sure my blood pressure was raised.  Had I seen this on a big screen in the cinema, I believe medication would have been advised.  And it all seemed so real: every punch; every dive; every freefall; every shot.

Spivs - a movie from 2004

I recently watched Spivs, the cast of which included Ken Stott, Linda Bassett, Kate Ashfield, Jack Dee, Paul Kaye, Dominic Monaghan, Roshan Seth, Nick Moran.  Little known Rita Ora and Christos Zenonos played Rosanna and Anton, two illegal immigrant children, and I think they may have excellent acting careers ahead of them.

Spivs may appear to concentrate on the wheeling and dealing of London east-enders Jack, Steve and Goat, but it quickly turns into the story of a life change for Jack.  As they find themselves inadvertently embroiled with a bunch of gangsters when a lorry container unexpectedly contains illegal immigrants, two of the illegal immigrants remain - both children -  and fall into Jack's hands.  He faces up to responsibility and does what he can for them.  He also has to deal with the evil gangster Villa, who is obviously upset that he lost his precious cargo.

Takin' Over the Asylum - again - the DVD

I shall come back to the Harrogate experience in a later post.  But these last couple of weeks have seen me retreating from the sitting position (and hence the PC for posting here) due to a fall on my backside at Harrogate.  It hurt.  It still does.  Less so now, but not enough to say "Whoopee!" yet.

I read for a while - not crime - and then I hit the sofa and some long-held DVDs worthy of a look.  I preferred the visual for a few days and I started with my recent purchase of the recent but late release on DVD (never video - why for this great series?) of the whole series of "Takin' Over The Asylum" originally aired in 1994, by the BBC.

The acting was brilliant: by all concerned.  Had I viewed the whole back in '94 when this series was controversial and cutting-edge, I think I'd have enjoyed it even more.  Today, time has passed and you need to remember the era and its constraints built on existing prejudice and ignorance.  We are talking pre-Prozac and very much pre-Amy Winehouse here. It's a series that pays due respect to TV drama but it is not devoid of the odd cliché or more.  The story may have a little left to be desired in today's world - soppy and corny at the ultimate moments, and so 80s in its own unique way - but the series stands as a great one, because of the wonderful acting from all in the cast and because of what they made of the story at the time, which was cutting-edge then.  And let's not forget the script.  For its time, these actors had the best fillet steak to take to screen.

I'd love to serve up the credits for Stott and Tennant in the main, but that is an injustice to others.  All who appeared, even with no speaking parts, were fantastic and you just have to watch it.  Do make the most of the availability of this DVD.  You will not be disappointed; you might be pleasantly (and joyfully) surprised.  I've waited a decade and a half to see this.  It was worth it.  "Takin' Over The Asylum" is a classic.

But I will come back to Stott and Tennant, as they had lead roles.  For both, this series proved a springboard in terms of launching acting careers and deservedly so.  Both are impeccably real in their characters.  Katie Murphy was also excellent as Francine, the self-harmer.  Ditto Ruth McCabe as Rosalie the obsessive-compulsive.  Elizabeth Spriggs as the immigrant "Grandma" to Stott's Eddie was a class act, as was Liz Smith as Harriet, the old woman with a dog who was initially a pest to Eddie, but then became his guardian angel.  Angela Bruce, who later played alongside Stott in Messiah as the somewhat dour forensic pathologist to his (mainly dour) police detective Red Matcalfe, was brilliant as the nurse who obeyed the rules and followed procedures, but not without evidence of humanity and empathy for those caught within the system.

This is an excellent series and if you choose to watch the best of British acting talent, you can see it here.  I've no doubt that I will watch this series again.  I waited so long to catch the whole of it and it delivered more than I expected.  Clichés can be brushed aside.  This is - as I thought all those years ago when I caught a bit of an episode - the Brits at their best.

I suspect that the BBC finally put this out on the wave of Tennant euphoria due to Dr Who, especially due to inclusion of his original audition on the DVD. That aside, they made a good decision.  And about time.  This is series not to be missed; even 14 years later.  Don't miss it - that's all I can say.

Casino Royale and the new Bond, James Bond

It was the Secrets, Spies & Foreign Affairs panel at Harrogate that reminded me.  I watched the new Bond film, "Casino Royale" some time ago and meant to make a post sooner, but life caught up.

It provided the antithesis of what John Fullerton said makes a good spy in that panel, but oh, what a film!  Bond, now in the wonderful human form that is Daniel Craig, is very noticeable.  No woman with a beating heart would fail to notice this man.

Bond, being human, also has an ego and this leads to an error of judgment on his part in the early minutes of the film, for which he gets a severe reprimand from M (Dame Judy Dench on superb form and again, clearly enjoying herself).

Again, making the fictional character a candidate for the P45 in the real world, Bond fell in love with Vesper, the woman from the Treasury, on hand to authorise his millions as he took part in a more than major poker game.