Christmas TV and Film I

Dec 26, 2006 13:27

Always so much on TV at this time of year, so I'll be reviewing things I've watched. This is the first post.

Quick note before I start: I'm really annoyed that the TV has been suffering really bad reception. So irritating. My copies of ep 12 of Robin Hood and the Vicar of Dibley are all liney and I'm not happy :(


Nuns on the Run is a brilliant and funny film. Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle are criminals trying to go straight and escape with a lot of money that previously belonged to the Triad and then their gang boss. They hide in a convent, disguised as nuns. Genius. It's got a lot of funny lines and set pieces (the Triad were hilarious), and the added bonus of two men dressed up as nuns - intrinsically funny. The story is surely based on Some Like it Hot (which I also saw yesterday - also very funny), with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon on the run with Marilyn Monroe (I think Camille Coduri's character is based on Monroe's in another movie though, because that's not the one where she can't see very well, is it?), but it's updated in an '80s British sort of way. Not that I hadn't seen Nuns on the Run before (when I was too young to get the really racey jokes!), but I thought I should recommend it to people.

A Muppet Christmas Carol is possibly the best adaptation of said movie. Michael Caine is brilliant as Scrooge, it makes you cry at the end, and yet it's much cheerier than the (also wonderful) Alastair Sim version, which makes you cry quite a bit of the way through. But Tiny Tim is so cute :) It wasn't on last Christmas, and what with being ill as well, I felt like Christmas didn't happen :( But I'd got the video this year (yes, I mean video - I saw it cheap in a sale in the summer), just in case it wasn't on (though it was). It's very much a part of my routine, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Doctor Who was a bit... well, quite enjoyable, but also a bit... unsatisfying. There were some things I liked about it, like references to Rose and the reappearance of exploding Christmas things (suitably corny, just right for Christmas). But Catherine Tate was really annoying half the time and merely OK the rest. There were some funny lines, but nothing that made me laugh out loud. Tennant continued to get on my nerves. The Racnos spiderwoman baddie was extremely over-the-top (and, incidentally, reminded me of Echidna in Hercules, right down to talking about her children). The plot was a bit boring too, and I didn't really like the going back to the beginning of the world bit and discovering that there's a hoard of sleeping spiders or whatever at the centre of the earth. Plus, I reckon some damage must have been done - draining the Thames, I suppose, is reparable, but mightn't all that water cause problems in the the earth's composition or something? I don't know, it just all seemed a bit implausible. And did I miss something, or was the connection between Torchwood and the Racnos never fully explained? I assume Torchwood did the drilling to the centre of the earth and the Racnos took advantage of it? Anyway, all in all, it could have been better.

Emmerdale was brilliant. They've been building up to the murder for ages now, having just about everyone fall out with the victim (Tom) in the last few weeks and him being horrible to everyone for no good reason. Like a very extended Midsomer Murders or something. The hour long special featured Tom's wedding to Rosemary. OK, I know noone wants to read about this, but let's just say there were highlights, like Matthew (Tom's middle son since the youngest of the four died) in a suit, and Matthew having a fisticuffs fight with Carl (Tom's youngest son now), and Matthew sitting around at the reception making snide comments. I'm also quite partial to Grayson (recently revealed as gay and played by the wonderful Christopher Villiers - nasty Bampfylde in Sharpe's Siege). And the action was good too. Lots of people in the frame now, and Emmerdale have set up a special site for the public to interact and try to find out whodunnit - there's even a prize of some sort for someone who gets it right. Yay! I hope it isn't Matthew whodunnit...

The Vicar of Dibley, a Christmas special of a series I'd never seen before, wasn't funny, which surprised me. I had been assured it was funny, but it wasn't. Maybe if you've got really used to all the characters then just appreciating their ironies and things would be funny... Hmm, well, I don't think I'd manage to find it consistently funny though, unless this wasn't as good as the series. Anyway, it didn't matter that it wasn't funny, because Richard Armitage (Guy of Gisborne) was playing Geraldine's suitor and looking absolutely stunning. Not much more to say really...

christmas, films, tv, film

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