Massive media roundup
Wanted to do another holiday post, but am feeling a bit uncommunicative. Nevertheless - media roundup! This one goes back about three weeks.
- Finally saw Victor Frankenstein (on the plane, to which it was perfectly suited). I do think I would have been disappointed if I'd made a trip to the movies specifically to see it, but as a gap filler it was fine. Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) is a hunchback who works in a circus, but has a flair for medicine. Victor (James McAvoy) rescues him, straightens him out (literally) and we're on our way. I don't remember much of it except that there were shots of twitching flesh, bolts of electricity and cries of "It's alive!" - so, pretty much like every other retelling of Frankenstein, ever. Obviously this one was made a little different by the takeover of the Sherlock cast - Andrew Scott as an suspicious policeman, Lou Brealey as... someone (I think she was a girl in a bar, but whatever) and Mark Gatiss as... someone in the lab. IIRC, he had one line: "AAAAAAAGH!". And that was the movie *g*
- Also saw Clue on DVD, something I'd been meaning to do for a while, mainly because 1) I adore Tim Curry and 2) for that infamous Madeline Kahn "I hated her sooo much, it, it, flames... flames on the side of my face" gif which I also love. Yes, a movie based on the the board game. Six guests gather at a mansion in response to a mysterious summons, people are murdered - whodunnit? It was incredibly cheesy, sure, and packed to the hilt with cheap jokes, but they were thoroughly entertaining cheap jokes, and the movie was surprisingly well-structured. Tim Curry was glorious, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Would watch again someday.
- Saw Eddie the Eagle in an open-air cinema while on holiday, which was a lovely experience - deck chairs under the stars. The movie wasn't bad, either. Based on the true story of Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, who competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, qualifying as the first British ski jumper under quite unlikely circumstances. Sure, he kind of sucked compared to the others, but he also did his country proud by getting there. Eddie was played by Taron Egerton, who I remember from Kingsman, with Hugh Jackman as his coach-with-a-dark-past-who-is-dragged-unwillingly-out-of-retirement (whose arc I suspect is heavily if not entirely fictionalised). While I am not a fan of Jackman, I thought he was fine here, and Egerton was that kind of hilariously bumbling character who nevertheless has a spine of steel (not literally). He was an easy character to care about in his seemingly impossible journey from bespectacled, clumsy schoolboy to the Winter Olympics, and I did. Enjoyable, but not life-changing.
- Then as soon as I got back there was Ghost: The Musical, which... yeah, it's based on That Film. Which I actually did see, all those years ago. I mainly saw this because it starred Rob Mills (Sam), who I really like, and Jenna Rix (Molly), who has a lovely voice. I think probably everyone knows the story - Sam and Molly are in love, but Sam can never bring himself to say "I love you". Then he's killed, but finds himself hanging around on Earth to unravel a conspiracy around his death and protect Molly. In this endeavour he's reluctantly helped by a fraudulent psychic, Oda Mae Brown, who is surprised and not entirely happy that she's not quite a fraud after all. I'd say it's still a really solid story, and the staging was interesting, with a lot of use of projection to evoke the New York environment, plus some nifty stage magic to produce some "ghostly" effects. The singing was enjoyable, and Wendy Mae Brown (playing Oda Mae Brown, which did made me double-take) ended up being a major highlight who pretty much just walked away with the show. Nothing could stand before her or her character. But... much like the musical Kinky Boots, I found the musical aspect entirely pointless. The songs were pleasant enough, but so uninspiring that I was mostly waiting for them to be over so they could get on with the plot. I still did begrudgingly ended up enjoying it, but that was as a result of the storyline and the talent on display. Unchained Melody remains the show's most memorable song. Musical or not.
- A week after that there was the NT Live production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Christopher Hampton), which remains such a fabulous play (yes, I know it's based on the book). But I was impressed with the writing all over again. I did see a stage version with Hugo Weaving about four years ago which was brilliant, so I wasn't sure this would live up to it, NT cast or no, and I have to say that it had an entirely different feeling to the Sydney Theatre Company version, partly because that one was done in modern dress. This one was full period, as you'd expect. But I think with the change in costume came a certain change in style as well - the Sydney production was very sleek, almost minimalist, and there was a certain clinical intellectual quality in the games and sparring between Valmont and Merteuil. Whereas the NT production was extravagantly OTT in sensousness. So the Sydney one seemed to emphasise love as a game, while the NT focused more heavily on the decadent sexuality of it. I suppose it's telling that on the whole I did prefer the Sydney interpretation, while also appreciating this production. Another major difference was the vibe of the ending - the Sydney one seemed to echo the movie interpretation (for me) where Merteuil has won, but she's also lost everything that made the game worth playing. But in the NT production I felt like it hurt her terribly, but she lifted her chin and kept on going full steam ahead, because she's a survivor. I think both aspects are implied in the ending - but again, with different emphasis.
I did think Dominic West was excellent as Valmont, despite not appealing physically to me at all. But that was his only flaw *g*. Whereas I really love Janet McTeer's voice and delivery, but she showed a bit too much blatant sexual interest in Valmont for my preference - I think of her as flirting/teasing him with what he can't have in a subtle way rather than draping herself all over him at every opportunity. Una Stubbs was also in it as Valmont's aunt, but I couldn't disassociate her from Mrs Hudson - she seemed to have exactly the same voice and mannerisms. I'd also been excited to see Edward Holcroft as Danceny (one of the main reasons I wanted to see it), but I'm afraid his performance made me wince. He looked awkward on stage, and his voice sounded "heavy" and inflexible next to McTeer and West. But he's still young and pretty, I guess. The big surpise for me was Cecile (Morfydd Clark) who was delightfully giddy yet evil in a way that was entirely convincing. Mdme de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy) just didn't do it for me in the sense that I could not for the life of me see what Valmont saw in her to begin with. I realise she's devout, but the costume made her look horribly "plain" as well, and not in an secretly alluring way. I don't usually care about costumes, but I hated her dress with a passion, and her hair, jewellery and manner did nothing to overcome it. So that was a major sticking point for me, because I wanted to see why Valmont fell for her, and couldn't. I don't even think there was anything wrong with her acting - I just think there needed to be some kind of something there to make him fall in lust.
- Lastly, there was Sherpa, which I'm now sad is the last item because I'm tired of typing, but it was the best of the lot. Amazing, incredible, all the superlatives. Everest is one of my pet interests anyway, and this documentary follows the 2014 climbing season, which was the deadliest in history, with 16 Sherpas killed (in case you're not aware, the Sherpa are actually an ethnic group, but because they're so acclimatised to altitude they have become synoymous with Everest guiding). This obviously devastated the Sherpa community, who demanded better working conditions and government regulation around the industry, and who effectively brought the entire climbing season to a halt by refusing to work the rest of the season. I read a review describing it as the world's most picturesque industrial dispute, which... yes.
What I loved about this film is the focus on the Sherpas and their families. Virtually all Everest-related stuff focuses on the "foreign" climbers, but very few of them could have climbed Everest without the support provided by the Sherpas. It was particuarly entertaining to see the first summit of Everest recounted with the focus on Tenzing and his media appearances and the impact on his family and community, with Hillary effectively relegated to a sidenote. Because let's face it, even Hillary said it was an equal partnershp, but we all know who the Western media typically focus on. Anyway, I knew intellectually that the Sherpas did all the heavy lifting, but actually seeing what they did was both amazing and terrifying.
One of the most - if not the most - dangerous parts of climbing Everest is the Khumbu Icefall, which is basically a giant, slow-moving glacier. There are massive "bottomless" crevasses, and house-sized towers of ice (seracs) can topple over at any moment onto a climber. The Sherpas are the people who go up first to survey the best pathway up, then strap ladders (sometimes two or three lashed together) over the crevasses for the climbers to crawl over, and of course hoist up all the tents, the heating equipment, the cooking equipment, the generators, the supplies, the communication gear, the oxygen bottles, etc. etc. for the camps higher up the mountain (typically four of them at ever-higher altitudes). Which means that a typical "foreign" climber might make anywhere from two to a handful of trips back and forth through the Icefall depending on their acclimatisation program, but a Sherpa might need to go through 20 or 30 times, often carrying a heavy pack. And typically at night in the pitch darkness, because the ice is firmer then and less likely to move unexpectedly.
Anway, the movie focuses on a particular Head Sherpa (the large expeditions have entire teams), Phurba Tashi, who as the documentary begins was originally aiming to break the record of the greatest number of Everest summits - he was looking at his 22nd summit(!). The film-makers talk to his wife (who fears for his life every year and wishes he would stop), his relatives, his children, as well as the descendants of Tenzing Norgay. Phurba Tashi's employer, Russell Brice, is also a lead focus, as are the other teams attempting to climb Everest that year. So it feels like it was originally designed around Phurba Tashi and his Sherpa team, and still has a lot of his/their story in it, before the avalanche occurred and the documentary team were in prime position to cover the fallout. Apart from the work of the Sherpas themselves, which was fascinating, there were two other particularly eye-opening moments. One was the complete dissonance between Phurba's version of events and the story Brice tells his disappointed climbers, which is either an example of cultural misunderstandings or saving face through deceit - it's never entirely clear which. The other was the way the climbers all packed up and went home when the Sherpas went on strike. I may be horribly cynical (okay, I am), but all the equipment was at hand. If any climber were actually capable of climbing Everest by themselves, through their skills alone, they could still have done it. (ETA: I suppose people might also have avoided climbing out of a sense of respect, but if you've read about the shady things people have done to reach the top, I'm not entirely convinced that would stop everyone. Especially since most of the "foreign" climbers shown were clearly hoping/expecting to continue.) Which shows just how Everest has become a 'tourist trail' - although admittedly most of the 'tourists' do possess basic climbing skills - and not really the feat it once was.
It's still incredibly impressive, don't get me wrong, but many people climb probably don't have the skills to even attempt it alone or in genuine partnership, which makes it far, far more dangerous for everyone. It's the Sherpas who fix the camps, hammer in the ropes, stash the oxygen bottles at the right places so the exhausted climbers can pick them up when they need them. And then of course if/when something happens to a climber, you're heartless if you don't stop to help, but if you do you might be giving up your own chance at Everest which has cost you tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of training and dreaming. Here's a picture of the queue on Everest in recent years. Source: The Times
If you have the slightest interest in Everest and the industry surrounding it, this is a must-see imo.
Ah, crap, that isn't even the last one, I completely forgot that I saw Captain America: Civil War yesterday. LOL. Um. You can tell I'm not really a Marvel fan. It was fine, and I liked it better than The Avengers, because the plot was more plotty, and the action less... action-y. Robert Downey Jr. continues to give Academy-Award-level acting in a superhero franchise, which I continue to find amazing. I wanted to find Spiderling annoying, but was charmed despite everything. I like Black Panther a lot. William Hurt! Martin Freeman contributed very little (sorry), and I kept thinking of Fargo. I actually managed to keep track of all the superheroes and who they were, so that's something *g*
- Finally saw Victor Frankenstein (on the plane, to which it was perfectly suited). I do think I would have been disappointed if I'd made a trip to the movies specifically to see it, but as a gap filler it was fine. Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) is a hunchback who works in a circus, but has a flair for medicine. Victor (James McAvoy) rescues him, straightens him out (literally) and we're on our way. I don't remember much of it except that there were shots of twitching flesh, bolts of electricity and cries of "It's alive!" - so, pretty much like every other retelling of Frankenstein, ever. Obviously this one was made a little different by the takeover of the Sherlock cast - Andrew Scott as an suspicious policeman, Lou Brealey as... someone (I think she was a girl in a bar, but whatever) and Mark Gatiss as... someone in the lab. IIRC, he had one line: "AAAAAAAGH!". And that was the movie *g*
- Also saw Clue on DVD, something I'd been meaning to do for a while, mainly because 1) I adore Tim Curry and 2) for that infamous Madeline Kahn "I hated her sooo much, it, it, flames... flames on the side of my face" gif which I also love. Yes, a movie based on the the board game. Six guests gather at a mansion in response to a mysterious summons, people are murdered - whodunnit? It was incredibly cheesy, sure, and packed to the hilt with cheap jokes, but they were thoroughly entertaining cheap jokes, and the movie was surprisingly well-structured. Tim Curry was glorious, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Would watch again someday.
- Saw Eddie the Eagle in an open-air cinema while on holiday, which was a lovely experience - deck chairs under the stars. The movie wasn't bad, either. Based on the true story of Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, who competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, qualifying as the first British ski jumper under quite unlikely circumstances. Sure, he kind of sucked compared to the others, but he also did his country proud by getting there. Eddie was played by Taron Egerton, who I remember from Kingsman, with Hugh Jackman as his coach-with-a-dark-past-who-is-dragged-unwillingly-out-of-retirement (whose arc I suspect is heavily if not entirely fictionalised). While I am not a fan of Jackman, I thought he was fine here, and Egerton was that kind of hilariously bumbling character who nevertheless has a spine of steel (not literally). He was an easy character to care about in his seemingly impossible journey from bespectacled, clumsy schoolboy to the Winter Olympics, and I did. Enjoyable, but not life-changing.
- Then as soon as I got back there was Ghost: The Musical, which... yeah, it's based on That Film. Which I actually did see, all those years ago. I mainly saw this because it starred Rob Mills (Sam), who I really like, and Jenna Rix (Molly), who has a lovely voice. I think probably everyone knows the story - Sam and Molly are in love, but Sam can never bring himself to say "I love you". Then he's killed, but finds himself hanging around on Earth to unravel a conspiracy around his death and protect Molly. In this endeavour he's reluctantly helped by a fraudulent psychic, Oda Mae Brown, who is surprised and not entirely happy that she's not quite a fraud after all. I'd say it's still a really solid story, and the staging was interesting, with a lot of use of projection to evoke the New York environment, plus some nifty stage magic to produce some "ghostly" effects. The singing was enjoyable, and Wendy Mae Brown (playing Oda Mae Brown, which did made me double-take) ended up being a major highlight who pretty much just walked away with the show. Nothing could stand before her or her character. But... much like the musical Kinky Boots, I found the musical aspect entirely pointless. The songs were pleasant enough, but so uninspiring that I was mostly waiting for them to be over so they could get on with the plot. I still did begrudgingly ended up enjoying it, but that was as a result of the storyline and the talent on display. Unchained Melody remains the show's most memorable song. Musical or not.
- A week after that there was the NT Live production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Christopher Hampton), which remains such a fabulous play (yes, I know it's based on the book). But I was impressed with the writing all over again. I did see a stage version with Hugo Weaving about four years ago which was brilliant, so I wasn't sure this would live up to it, NT cast or no, and I have to say that it had an entirely different feeling to the Sydney Theatre Company version, partly because that one was done in modern dress. This one was full period, as you'd expect. But I think with the change in costume came a certain change in style as well - the Sydney production was very sleek, almost minimalist, and there was a certain clinical intellectual quality in the games and sparring between Valmont and Merteuil. Whereas the NT production was extravagantly OTT in sensousness. So the Sydney one seemed to emphasise love as a game, while the NT focused more heavily on the decadent sexuality of it. I suppose it's telling that on the whole I did prefer the Sydney interpretation, while also appreciating this production. Another major difference was the vibe of the ending - the Sydney one seemed to echo the movie interpretation (for me) where Merteuil has won, but she's also lost everything that made the game worth playing. But in the NT production I felt like it hurt her terribly, but she lifted her chin and kept on going full steam ahead, because she's a survivor. I think both aspects are implied in the ending - but again, with different emphasis.
I did think Dominic West was excellent as Valmont, despite not appealing physically to me at all. But that was his only flaw *g*. Whereas I really love Janet McTeer's voice and delivery, but she showed a bit too much blatant sexual interest in Valmont for my preference - I think of her as flirting/teasing him with what he can't have in a subtle way rather than draping herself all over him at every opportunity. Una Stubbs was also in it as Valmont's aunt, but I couldn't disassociate her from Mrs Hudson - she seemed to have exactly the same voice and mannerisms. I'd also been excited to see Edward Holcroft as Danceny (one of the main reasons I wanted to see it), but I'm afraid his performance made me wince. He looked awkward on stage, and his voice sounded "heavy" and inflexible next to McTeer and West. But he's still young and pretty, I guess. The big surpise for me was Cecile (Morfydd Clark) who was delightfully giddy yet evil in a way that was entirely convincing. Mdme de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy) just didn't do it for me in the sense that I could not for the life of me see what Valmont saw in her to begin with. I realise she's devout, but the costume made her look horribly "plain" as well, and not in an secretly alluring way. I don't usually care about costumes, but I hated her dress with a passion, and her hair, jewellery and manner did nothing to overcome it. So that was a major sticking point for me, because I wanted to see why Valmont fell for her, and couldn't. I don't even think there was anything wrong with her acting - I just think there needed to be some kind of something there to make him fall in lust.
- Lastly, there was Sherpa, which I'm now sad is the last item because I'm tired of typing, but it was the best of the lot. Amazing, incredible, all the superlatives. Everest is one of my pet interests anyway, and this documentary follows the 2014 climbing season, which was the deadliest in history, with 16 Sherpas killed (in case you're not aware, the Sherpa are actually an ethnic group, but because they're so acclimatised to altitude they have become synoymous with Everest guiding). This obviously devastated the Sherpa community, who demanded better working conditions and government regulation around the industry, and who effectively brought the entire climbing season to a halt by refusing to work the rest of the season. I read a review describing it as the world's most picturesque industrial dispute, which... yes.
What I loved about this film is the focus on the Sherpas and their families. Virtually all Everest-related stuff focuses on the "foreign" climbers, but very few of them could have climbed Everest without the support provided by the Sherpas. It was particuarly entertaining to see the first summit of Everest recounted with the focus on Tenzing and his media appearances and the impact on his family and community, with Hillary effectively relegated to a sidenote. Because let's face it, even Hillary said it was an equal partnershp, but we all know who the Western media typically focus on. Anyway, I knew intellectually that the Sherpas did all the heavy lifting, but actually seeing what they did was both amazing and terrifying.
One of the most - if not the most - dangerous parts of climbing Everest is the Khumbu Icefall, which is basically a giant, slow-moving glacier. There are massive "bottomless" crevasses, and house-sized towers of ice (seracs) can topple over at any moment onto a climber. The Sherpas are the people who go up first to survey the best pathway up, then strap ladders (sometimes two or three lashed together) over the crevasses for the climbers to crawl over, and of course hoist up all the tents, the heating equipment, the cooking equipment, the generators, the supplies, the communication gear, the oxygen bottles, etc. etc. for the camps higher up the mountain (typically four of them at ever-higher altitudes). Which means that a typical "foreign" climber might make anywhere from two to a handful of trips back and forth through the Icefall depending on their acclimatisation program, but a Sherpa might need to go through 20 or 30 times, often carrying a heavy pack. And typically at night in the pitch darkness, because the ice is firmer then and less likely to move unexpectedly.
Anway, the movie focuses on a particular Head Sherpa (the large expeditions have entire teams), Phurba Tashi, who as the documentary begins was originally aiming to break the record of the greatest number of Everest summits - he was looking at his 22nd summit(!). The film-makers talk to his wife (who fears for his life every year and wishes he would stop), his relatives, his children, as well as the descendants of Tenzing Norgay. Phurba Tashi's employer, Russell Brice, is also a lead focus, as are the other teams attempting to climb Everest that year. So it feels like it was originally designed around Phurba Tashi and his Sherpa team, and still has a lot of his/their story in it, before the avalanche occurred and the documentary team were in prime position to cover the fallout. Apart from the work of the Sherpas themselves, which was fascinating, there were two other particularly eye-opening moments. One was the complete dissonance between Phurba's version of events and the story Brice tells his disappointed climbers, which is either an example of cultural misunderstandings or saving face through deceit - it's never entirely clear which. The other was the way the climbers all packed up and went home when the Sherpas went on strike. I may be horribly cynical (okay, I am), but all the equipment was at hand. If any climber were actually capable of climbing Everest by themselves, through their skills alone, they could still have done it. (ETA: I suppose people might also have avoided climbing out of a sense of respect, but if you've read about the shady things people have done to reach the top, I'm not entirely convinced that would stop everyone. Especially since most of the "foreign" climbers shown were clearly hoping/expecting to continue.) Which shows just how Everest has become a 'tourist trail' - although admittedly most of the 'tourists' do possess basic climbing skills - and not really the feat it once was.
It's still incredibly impressive, don't get me wrong, but many people climb probably don't have the skills to even attempt it alone or in genuine partnership, which makes it far, far more dangerous for everyone. It's the Sherpas who fix the camps, hammer in the ropes, stash the oxygen bottles at the right places so the exhausted climbers can pick them up when they need them. And then of course if/when something happens to a climber, you're heartless if you don't stop to help, but if you do you might be giving up your own chance at Everest which has cost you tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of training and dreaming. Here's a picture of the queue on Everest in recent years. Source: The Times
If you have the slightest interest in Everest and the industry surrounding it, this is a must-see imo.
Ah, crap, that isn't even the last one, I completely forgot that I saw Captain America: Civil War yesterday. LOL. Um. You can tell I'm not really a Marvel fan. It was fine, and I liked it better than The Avengers, because the plot was more plotty, and the action less... action-y. Robert Downey Jr. continues to give Academy-Award-level acting in a superhero franchise, which I continue to find amazing. I wanted to find Spiderling annoying, but was charmed despite everything. I like Black Panther a lot. William Hurt! Martin Freeman contributed very little (sorry), and I kept thinking of Fargo. I actually managed to keep track of all the superheroes and who they were, so that's something *g*