skjam | Entries tagged with great britain

The Living Daylights (1987) dir. John Glen

As part of a training exercise, several 00-class agents of British intelligence agency MI6 are assigned to infiltrate the military installation on the Rock of Gibraltar. The defenders are armed with paint-guns, but there's a ringer, a Soviet agent who is taking the opportunity to kill the British agents. He manages to assassinate two of them, leaving behind a deliberate reference to SMERSH ("death to spies"). But the third British agent is 007, James Bond (Timothy Dalton). Bond is able to eliminate the assassin in an explosion.

Shortly thereafter, Bond is assigned to assist KGB general Gerogi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) to defect to the West. He cooperates with Czechoslovakia section chief Saunders (Thomas Wheatley), but while they're setting up the scenario at a Bratislava concert hall, James notices that cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo) is acting a bit oddly. Sure enough, during the extraction it turns out that she's the sniper assigned to keep Koskov from escaping. Bond notices more details, and disobeys orders to kill her, instead shooting the rifle out of her hands, then helping get Koskov through the Trans-Siberian pipeline.

Once in England, Koskov explains that his superior, General Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies) has been turning hard-liner, wanting to undercut detente and eliminate opponents using SMERSH. Before he can settle in, Koskov is recaptured by Necros (Andreas Wisniewski) disguised as a milkman.

M (Robert Brown) wants Bond to head to Tangier, Morocco to deal with General Pushkin, but James takes a detour back to Czechoslovakia to check on Kara Milov. He is able to establish that she had blanks in her rifle, as part of Koslov's fake defection. She's being hassled by the KGB, and James is able to trick her into believing he's Koslov's friend and sent to bring her to her lover in Vienna. Exciting chase scene ensues.

Meanwhile, Pushkin visits Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker), an American arms dealer with delusions of being a great military man. Pushkin asks for the KGB's money back on an arms deal for high tech weapons, but Whitaker claims he has already spent the cash (the KGB knows otherwise). Pushkin also knows that Whitaker and Koskov are working together, and threatens the arms dealer if he can't come up with the refund.

Back in Vienna, Bond and Kara are becoming closer while Saunders and the rest of MI6 look into what 007 has discovered. They discover the connection to Whitaker, but at the cost of Saunders' life.

In Tangier, James Bond determines that he was correct and General Pushkin is not in league with General Koskov. (Not without roughing Pushkin up a bit first, of course.) They fake Pushkin's death, but Koskov uses this to trick Kara into turning against James. Bond and Kara are taken to Afghanistan for execution, but this is nowhere near the end....

This was the first Timothy Dalton Bond movie, and had a shift of focus from the Roger Moore run. Dalton's Bond was a bit harder-edged, and while the plot isn't particularly plausible, it's more "down to earth", with weapons and drug dealing rather than science fiction devices or world endangerment. Also, while it's clear that 007 is still a womanizer, he only flirts with one woman, Kara, and only consummates their relationship after the movie is over. Dalton's Bond doesn't do as many one-liners, allowing other characters and situations to provider the humor.

Krabbé and Baker do a good job as the villains, personable enough to make it plausible that they've reached their current positions, but cold-blooded enough to explain why they're the bad guys. Necros fills in as the actual combat henchman, an okay but limited role. His best bits are when dressed as a milkman. A nice touch is that Whitaker has a collection of wax figures of famous military leaders, but they look a bit off...because they all have Whitaker's face.

The theme song by A-ha! is okay, but not top ten of James Bond movie themes.

The most notable political moment in the movie is the part set in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. While the Mujahideen are the scrappy underdogs against the Russian invaders, they're not untarnished good guys. Local leader Kamran Shah (Art Malik) has to work with opium lords if he wants to continue resistance work...though he's okay with Bond blowing up the drugs after they leave the camp. Younger viewers who only remember recent Afghanistan events may want to read up on the history.

As always, excellent stunts, action sequences and special effects. Kara Milov is surprisingly more combat effective than her background would suggest. (Indeed, she does better than some Bond girls who were supposed to be combat trained.)

Content note: Murder, lots of other violence, sometimes fatal. Extramarital sex is implied, a bit of male nudity as a gag. Alcohol use, mention of opium, Bond's drugged at one point. Late teens and up should be fine.

This wouldn't be my choice as the first 007 movie for a beginner to watch, but it's still well done. Recommended to those who prefer their Bond a bit more grounded.

Current Music: Classic MPR

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) dir. Chris Columbus

Once upon a time, there was an Ugly Muggle named Harry. The Muggle family he lived with neglected, bullied and abused him because he was so bad at being a Muggle. But then one day a friendly giant appeared, and revealed to Harry that he was not in fact an Ugly Muggle, but a Magnificent Wizard, far superior to the mere mortals around him. And now he could go to Wizard school to be with his own kind!

Okay, I'm being a bit sarcastic. This was the first in a series of movies based on a then-popular set of children's/young adult books. The infant Harry Potter is dropped off at the home of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who hate magic but are his only living blood relatives by Professors Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) and McGonagall (Maggie Smith) after he's dropped off by half-giant Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane).

A bit over a decade later, Vernon (Richard Griffiths) and Petunia (Fiona Shaw) keep young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) in a closet under the stairs, and treat him miserably, favoring his spoiled cousin and their biological son Dudley (Harry Melling). They're upset any time something weird happens, especially if they can somehow blame it on Harry. Since the Dursleys have spent a lot of time and effort on convincing Harry he's worthless and not at all special, it's unnerving when he starts getting letters, which Vernon destroys until they pile up uncontrollably and the man takes the family to an isolated island.

This doesn't work. Hagrid tracks them down and informs Harry of his true heritage and that he's been invited to Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches. He then takes Harry on a whirlwind trip to gather the needed supplies (and a plot coupon) before leaving Harry at a train station for the Hogwarts Express.

On the train, Harry meets the poverty-stricken but friendly Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and bookish but bossy Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who will soon be his classmates. About this time he also meets Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), a snobbish boy who turns bully when Harry refuses his initial offer of Friendship.

At the school, Harry soon learns about Dumbledore, McGonagall, Quirrel (Ian Hart) the stuttering Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Flitwick (Warwick Davis) the diminutive Charms teacher, Madame Hooch (Zoe Wanamaker) the Flight instructor,,, and the sinister-looking and increasingly hostile to Harry Potions teacher, Severus Snape (Alan Rickman).

It turns out that Harry is good at flying a broom and he becomes the star of the Quidditch sports team for his House. Quite a change from his previous life!

Over the course of the year, Harry and his new friends come to realize that something is going on behind the scenes at Hogwarts, perhaps to do with the return of the evil wizard Voldemort (Richard Bremmer). Near the end of the school year, it's up to them to learn the truth and defeat the baddie. But what if they've guessed wrong?

This is a difficult movie to approach in some ways. As the majority of my readers will know, the author of the Harry Potter series has since joined the sadly long list of authors of beloved children's books that were less than stellar in their personal lives. As I was already an adult when the books started coming out, while I was a fan and enjoyed the community, it wasn't the most important thing in my life. Not like a lot of younger fans for whom the change in personality made it painful to even think about something that had been a huge part of their childhood.

Most of the problematic people I've been a fan of had the decency to become dead before I became a fan, or at least before I found out about their odious personal habits. This one, alas, is still alive and very public about their awful views, and very much still raking in the dough each time someone buys a Harry Potter-related item.

But I know that back in 2001, we weren't aware of that author's darker side except perhaps as odd moments in the books that now look like red flags in hindsight. These were fun books that weren't quite as original as the publicity claimed, but did a lot to restart the young adult book market.

And as for this movie, a lot of other people worked on it who haven't been revealed as particularly horrible, at least by Hollywood standards. It's got a top-notch adult cast, decent child actors in the important roles, wondrous special effects, and some decent directing to try to fit in as many of the plot beats of the book as can be crammed in within two and a half hours. It's a very good-looking movie and also has memorable music.

There's some characterization quibbles I could make, and the Voldemort reveal was going to look silly no matter how good a special effects team you had, but overall it's a fun movie to watch.

Content note: Child abuse, peril to children with some of them needing time in hospital afterwards, an animal corpse, a gruesome death scene. Bullying. Oh, and Nearly Headless Nick (John Cleese in a cameo) shows us why he's called that.

If you already have a copy of this movie and won't be too pained by the associated memories, it is definitely worth a rewatch. Likewise, if you can acquire it legally without the money going to the book author. Otherwise, you might want to consider other magic school stories with less fraught associations. Maybe something by Diane Duane, Tamora Pierce or Ursula K. LeGuin? Heck, maybe The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Become Magicians might suit, despite my reservations about that series.

Current Location: Hogwarts
Current Music: "Hedwig's Theme"

1917 (2019) dir. Sam Mendes

Dateline: April 6, 1917, somewhere on the Western Front in France. Lance Corporal Blake (Dean Charles Chapman) has been chosen for a special mission, and he has picked his friend Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay to accompany him. Unfortunately it's not the supply run Blake was expecting to go on. The German forces have suddenly retreated, making it look like they're on the run. In reality, they've just moved back to new, more formidable fortifications and trenches. A Devonshire regiment, of whom Blake's brother is one, is marching into a trap. The regular lines of communication are down, so messengers must be sent. Can the two couriers get to Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) and get the attack called off in time?

This movie is, first, technically spectacular, designed to flow from scene to scene as though it's happening in real time in continuous shots. This builds audience identification with Blake and Schofield as they move from place to place. Other soldiers (and one or two surprises) appear, but only briefly before our protagonists must move on. It also plays well to convey the urgency--every lost moment feels real.

The acting is top-notch, and the sets well-made. Blake and Schofield pick their way across hellish landscapes littered with corpses, interspersed with peaceful-seeming countryside (also littered with corpses.)

There's a little fiddling with timelines to let there be black soldiers in the background and a bit with Indian Sepoy Jondalar (Nabhaan Rizwan), but like a couple of other historical discrepancies (trigger discipline was not a British Army thing in World War One) excusable for a good movie.

The music's also good, with a fine rendition of "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger."

Content note: This is, after all, a war movie. People die violently and unfairly. Corpses are abundant, and many gory wounds. (Still toned down from actual WWI injuries which might have made the film unwatchable.)

Overall: This is an Oscar-winning movie, all right. Like director/producer/co-writer Sam Mendes, my grandfather was in the war, so I was very much emotionally involved. Also check out the making of features, because wow.

Gaslight (1940) dir. Thorold Dickinson

It has been twenty years since the shocking crime at 12 Pimlico Square. Alice Barlow was murdered by an intruder, the house ripped apart in a search, and the famous Barlow rubies disappeared. All this time, the house has lain empty. But now someone has been found that isn't afraid of possible ghosts and has agreed to lease both #12 and the recently vacant #14 next door. Paul Mallen (Anton Walbrook) and his wife Bella (Diana Wynyard) have moved into the lower floors of Number Twelve, along with two maidservants. Rumor has it that Bella is rather high-strung and prone to seeing and hearing things that aren't there, and small items go missing around her.

In reality, Paul has been manipulating events to make it appear that Bella is losing her grip on reality, so that Bella cannot trust her own memory or senses. He's been hiding her mail, forbidding her to contact anyone on the outside, and threatening to have her examined by a doctor for the purpose of certification as mad. He's also been carrying on an affair with the pretty maid Nancy (Catherine Cordell), though how much of that is just him manipulating the maid as well is up for debate.

What Paul doesn't know is that he's been spotted in the street by Mr. Rough (Frank Pettingell), a former police officer who now runs a livery stable. Rough is certain he's seen Paul before, and the associations make him think Paul is up to something. Rough begins an unofficial investigation.

This was the first movie adaptation of the 1939 stage play, also known as Angel Street. It's not as star-studded as the 1944 version with Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, and Angela Lansbury as Nancy. But it's well worth watching on its own.

We get the term "gaslighting" for a particular tactic abusers use to make their victims doubt their sanity from this story. And Paul is certainly doing plenty of that, though the actual gaslight is more of an accidental byproduct, flickering in a way that would indicate there are people turning on the gas in other rooms where no one should be. (Paul's there, following his main motivation.) It's soon obvious that Paul married Bella for her money specifically so he could move to 12 Pimlico Square, but why?

There are generally good performances all around, and Walbrook is chilling as Paul.

Content note: mental and emotional abuse are central to the story, and even knowing that going in, those scenes can be hard to watch.

Since this is a lesser-known version, it doesn't play as often on movie channels, and may make a fresher impression.

My first film for the May challenge!

Chamber of Horrors (1940) directed by Norman Lee

When Lord Charles Selford dies, he leaves his fortune to his young son John or in the case of John's death, to his equally young niece June Lansdowne, who lives in Canada. He appoints his friend Silva as guardian for John. However, the Selford family jewels are locked in the tomb with Lord Selford, through a door with seven locks. The seven keys are given into the keeping of family solicitor, Havelock.

Years later, when both the children are grown, Silva summons June to England. She finds him in a nursing home, ill and suffering with guilt over some mysterious crime. Silva gives June a key (one of the seven) and is about to explain more, but is shot dead. By the time June is able to bring the matron back to the room, there is no trace of Mr. Silva, moreover, the matron claims there was no patient in that room to begin with!

Fortunately for June, her sassy and man-hungry best friend Glenda Baker was waiting outside, and can confirm that June didn't just make up the existence of Silva. They're able to make a convincing case to Scotland Yard in the persons of Inspector Cornelius Sneed and recently resigned man about town Dick Martin. While Inspector Sneed begins the laborious process of police investigation, Dick assigns himself as June's personal caseworker. They soon begin to realize that Silva's death and disappearance are only the beginning of a murderous conspiracy that will end in...the Chamber of Horrors!

This film was loosely based on Edgar Wallace's novel The Door with Seven Locks and had that title in Britain, changed to the scarier-sounding "Chamber of Horrors" for the American release.

The chamber in question is not the tomb secured with seven locks, but a separate building filled with the sinister Dr. Manetta's collection of poisoned cups and torture implements. (The doctor claims descent from the Torquemada clan.) The most notable feature is a "maiden" that slowly embraces its victims with bladed arms.

Despite the name, this is in no way a horror movie, but instead one of the mystery-thrillers that were popular in Britain in the prewar era. As soon as a foreigner and his mute servant are introduced, it's clear that they're villains of the piece. (Content note: now-outdated term for the physically disabled used.) Dick openly admits suspecting Dr. Manetta just from his appearance. Which is not to say there aren't twists before the end.

June is about as good as we could expect from a female lead given when the film was made and its genre. She's a plucky, adventurous girl not given to unnecessary breakdowns, but becomes a damsel in distress for the last act. The romance is one of those instant attraction things so common to this sort of plotline. Glenda is a bit more stereotypical, but gets many of the good lines. (She especially plays off Inspector Sneed, whose constant exhaustion is only partially faked.)

The acting is decent to good, and the humor balances well with the thrilling bits.

While this movie is suitable for ages ten and up, parents may want to talk to younger viewers about stereotyping people as villains because of nationality or handicaps.