I really must blog more. A time-, soul- and hope-consuming freelance project is drawing thankfully to an end so hopefully there\u2019ll be more time after that \u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Bens 2012 have been announced, for various classes of movie watched by Ben in 2011. The motto of the Ben Academy is\u00a0it\u2019s not what it\u2019s about, it\u2019s how it\u2019s about it<\/em>\u00a0(or as Google Translates assures me,\u00a0circa quod non est suus, suus est de modo<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Best movie:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And the winner has to be The Girl. The entire Millennium trilogy was energetic, atmospheric, well acted and generally\u00a0fun<\/em>, dammit. It didn\u2019t help the others on the short list that I already knew their story in advance, whereas in the Girl movies you honestly feel almost anything could happen. And it very often does.<\/p>\n Best actor:<\/strong><\/p>\n And the winner is Bob Hoskins, for\u00a0The Long Good Friday<\/em>, of which you will be seeing more of in these awards. Colin Firth played George VI very well (despite being almost the age George was when he died) and, like Wall-E, manages to tug on the heartstrings by sheer power of performance. Hoskins on the other hand does everything in his power to be horrible, yet in the famous ending you still can\u2019t help but feel sorry for him. A little. The emotion and unspoken, facial acting of\u00a0those last two minutes<\/a>\u00a0is astonishing.<\/p>\n Most unexpectedly good:<\/strong><\/p>\n These are the movies I didn\u2019t have very high hopes of, but ended up watching for various reasons not worth going into.\u00a0Despicable Me<\/em>\u00a0is an enjoyable Pixar-clone.Shrek<\/em>\u00a0gets a mention for finally pulling the series out of the third movie\u2019s slough of despond, but honestly guys, enough is enough.<\/p>\n And the winner is\u00a0Keeping Mum<\/em>, a film I\u2019d not heard of before and wasn\u2019t too hopeful about when I did: Rowan Atkinson has a vicar? Okay-y-y-y \u2026 Yet not only is his character very sympathetic and not at all a clown-vicar, he actually comes up with a couple of quite deep Christian insights. He is admittedly helped out by Maggie Smith as a dotty, loveable serial killer.<\/p>\n Least predictably \u2018meh\u2019 sequel:<\/strong><\/p>\n Quite an easy one here.\u00a0Dawn Treader<\/em>\u00a0had its moments \u2013 I liked the way they continue to link the real-world sections to the War, and managed to get the other kids in too with quite acceptable plot jiggery pokery, but otherwise it just continues the series\u2019 slide into computer gamery.\u00a0Tron<\/em>\u00a0was a noble effort and also had its moments, but the improved graphics paradoxically work against it \u2013 the charm of the old wireframes, or whatever they were, is lost in a faithful CGI rendition. But\u00a0Wall Street\u00a0<\/em>actually pulls some surprises out of its hat.<\/p>\n Best film where the actors are clearly loving every minute, and so is the audience:<\/strong><\/p>\n It can only be\u00a0The Long Good Friday<\/em>. It is helped by the fact that the other two contenders, while good and fun, are essentially star vehicles, whereas none of the stars of TLGF (Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, whosit from\u00a0Casualty<\/em>, Piers Brosnan as First Irishman) were famous. No one could have quite known then who would go on to be Oscar-winning Hollywood superstars and who would continue to be whosit fromCasualty\u00a0<\/em>for the rest of their natural.<\/p>\n Best movie with Jeff Bridges:<\/strong><\/p>\n He is an actor of considerable range: all five performances (Tron\u00a0<\/em>has two) are quite different from each other, even if his character in\u00a0Goats\u00a0<\/em>does recycle the Dude \u2013 a role he plays extremely well. But\u00a0Jagged Edge<\/em>\u00a0wins for the did he\/didn\u2019t he plot and the eloquent, deadly charm of his character.<\/p>\n Best old friend, watched again:<\/strong><\/p>\n Winner: once again, after long deliberation,\u00a0The Long Good Friday<\/em>\u00a0(see above) withThe Ipcress File<\/em>\u00a0a very close second: a wonderful low budget, very sixties, non-Bond spy drama. Apart from the minor detail that Gordon Jackson\u2019s character dies, it\u2019s easy to believe this is from the early, pre-CI5 career of George Cowley.<\/p>\n Most unexpected underage male teen nudity that I bet wouldn\u2019t be allowed on screen nowadays:<\/strong><\/p>\n Nuff said. Seriously, I am astonished it was legal then and presumably continues to be now – like, I was able to buy the DVD and there’s no warnings on the case. Possibly in case it becomes a collector’s item for the wrong type of viewer.<\/p>\n Funniest football scene:<\/strong><\/p>\n Also. Sport is a subject I find very hard to find funny, but see\u00a0http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dP66T8ktiTA<\/a>\u00a0if you don\u2019t believe me for Brian Glover’s finest moment (and no nudity at all, thankfully).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I really must blog more. A time-, soul- and hope-consuming freelance project is drawing thankfully to an end so hopefully there\u2019ll be more time after that \u2026 Meanwhile, the Bens 2012 have been announced, for various classes of … Continue reading \n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n