Change Your Image
portobellolinda
Reviews
Banished (2015)
Hogwash
This sounded promising and so I began watching the first episode. I say 'began' because 15 minutes later, I'd switched off. Its truly one of the worst things I've seen aired. The characterization is hollow and, whilst Jimmy is a good earthy writer, his style of prosaic musings doesn't work here. The dialogue is stilted and the acting truly bad. Its miscast as one can see when a 20 something with highlights drifts past in her gown as though getting ready for a commercial for shampoo. The flogging scene was utter tosh. Badly scripted and offering no realism. Actually, its almost an insult to the intelligence of the viewer to air nonsense like this.
Lets leave the historical accounts of this episode of history to those who know something about casting, filming, direction et cetera. The script is not worthy of a first year creative writing student ( they'd get a D...) its contrived and sheer unadulterated hogwash of the most boring kind.
Elizabeth R (1971)
Glenda IS queen!
Faultless. I have been watching this series recently on YouTube and I cannot find one single aspect of it to whinge about. The portrayal of Elizabeth 1 is utterly breathtaking. The costumes perfect, lighting ditto, direction magnificent. The entire series is, for me, a sign that when everything is in place and knows its place - its been done with such skill that the expertise doesn't show, like a dancer on pointe, its seemingly effortless and yet, therein is its craft. The script is magnificent and one feels that the characters would approve of their portrayal. This character has been portrayed countless times yet, this series from the 1970's though showing its slip of age just a little, remains absolutely THE best.
When the actress went into politics, I felt like shouting 'No...she's the queen!' Glenda Jackson is stunning, her face precisely shot from varying angles to accentuate her authority, her voice marvelous as she bellows out and acts the churlish girl when confronted by the possibilities of marriage. A wonderful cast. This is probably, for me, the most perfect historical drama ever made for television.
Mr Selfridge (2013)
Flawed...
How can it be that we have moved from pre suffragette to 1920's London and yet the actors haven't aged a day? I love the London store and this should have been a really enthralling series but it lacked authenticity to the point of being ludicrous and now we have another series of the same...with all the doings, comings and goings, surely one frown line wouldn't have gone amiss from the makeup department? I also thought the dialogue stilted and contrived and the narrative itself sounded second-hand,a thrift shop sort of series where the actors are primed and primped and off they go...has anyone actually been realistically served in this shop since the series began? I've looked but not seen one purchase and how sad as Selfridges has such lovely things...
No, its a boo-boo. The American accent and drawling on and on about the woes of being rich are just too trite and contrived for me. There seems to be only one layer of narrative here with no layering whatsoever. I will not be watching another series of this.
Poldark (2015)
The best television adaptation by far...
I watched a little of the adaptation made in the 1970's but found the lead actor rather lame, though Anghared Rees was splendid. This time, its simply superb. Well cast and directed, with sumptuous Cornish scenery, the first episode introduces the main characters with a great deal of skill. We are not shown everything and not all is obvious, so there is an element of guesswork for the viewer, which always adds to the enjoyment. I can't wait for episode 2 and the others. Its fabulous, and shows how very skillful the team who put this together are. The narrative has strong sub texts which add richness to the feel of this and the acting is very fine. The whole experience was rich, costume and storyline, suspense and symbolism of the man who will not take hand-outs but instead, chooses to make his own way despite the fists of fortune punching his nose...
Wolf Hall (2015)
Superb
Watching the first episode actually put me to sleep. The pace is very slow to begin with and the lighting is low, the actors voices rather drowsy but, I watched it again on catchup and am so glad I did. This is a superb piece of historical drama, not entirely factual but nonetheless, superb. Great acting from all with the one exception of the actress playing Ann's sister, whom I thought rather too modern looking for the part. Now onto the series. The lighting in this was very realistic, the acting almost faultless and the natural pauses in speech were allowed here, which on screen is something very rare indeed. The ellipsis were excellent and we really were given a flavor of what it was that made up the character from child to man, which added to a sense of congruity for me. I would have given this one a 10 star review but, for me, it seemed one episode short. The characters demise was not shown and I think this was a real error on the part of the director. However, it was beautiful to watch and overall, very enjoyable.