Recent Viewing Part IV

Finally splashed out for the 1973 documentary The World At War.
It was pretty much the definitive word on WWII at the time,...and maybe still today.
Very leisurely paced at 26 one-hour episodes, it offers a VERY in-depth view of all the circumstances and events in the years of and surrounding the second world war.

Two episodes in, and I don't think there is a single bit of footage that I have actually seen before (which is very impressive considering the amount of war documentaries on offer). And while of course the players, events and locations are mostly known to me, the pace of the documentary is such that a LOT of backgrond gets filled in (not in the least because at the time of filming many players were still alive. The interviews with (at the time junior) cabinet members are very insightful and fascinating.

Laurence Olivier is a wonderful narrator, and his lines are neither too sparse nor too dense.
Carl Davis' score is best in the harrowing main titles.
I'm not sure about the rest of the show: the music seems oddly ill-fitting at times. I need to see some more chapters to fully appreciate it, I think.

The only (very minor) quibble I have is that the DVD doesn't come with closed-captions or indeed any kind of subtitles. Luckily this is 1973 and one tends to speak rather above and beyond The Queen's English, so there's really no problem in following any of it, but the sound quality at times (especially in footage from 40-45) is such that it's a little hard to make out the details (e.g. all the words in a George Formby song).

All in all, a magnificent purchase. Very glad I took the leap!

Edge of Tomorrow

This is one of my favorite movie of this year, if not for a while. It has everything that I like. It's Sci-Fi. It's an action movie. It's GroundHog Day-redux (which is also an all-time favorite). It's a hero's journey. It's also a story about how a selfish guy came to care for someone else, through brave acts and romantic motivations (awesome!). It's also the first time I realize that Emily Blunt is incredibly attractive (aside from the her appearance in Charlie Wilson's War). Emily Blunt's character Rita, is a bad-ass, and, in the three major action beats where we see her kick-ass, the Edge of Tomorrow could have been a movie about how a girl who became the the Angel of Verdun. Overall, it's a much better movie than Oblivion, more gritty and thematically resonant. The sci-fi tech is there, but it's not the focus. Not It's also funnier, seeing Tom Cruise re-living moments while trying to do good. He was jerk who became a hero to save a girl and defeat the alien threat.

I actually enjoyed the music in this. Christophe Beck had a hard job of emulating John Powell's style, but he put in a great effort, punctuating the scenes with the appropriate amount of driving rhythms. Given how much of the emotional motivation was really kinda visual, (i.e. short montage showing Rita repeated dying, while Tom's character failing to save her, realizing that he's helpless) with the viewer having to see and recognize it, a melody would have taken it over the top. However, there should have been a "clearer" overarching melody. The cue "Find Me When You Wake Up" was really a stand out cue on the album for me, and the whole score should have gone that route.

For me, Edge of Tomorrow is such a shame . Good movie, good reviews, bad marketing, and lack of care from the public. I preordered the Blu-Ray release though. I hope Tom Cruise get to keep on making movies. They're always what I like to watch. Though I'm not entirely sure about Top Gun 2......

Bad CG? How could it have been better? I would have preferred a brighter scenario....

Agree with you, lp. Loved the film! A very clever time travel romp (although there are always holes to be found in such movies).

lp, i accidentally deleted your last comment, sorry man. Blame it in coffee-less mornings (where's my coffeeee)

I brought it back. No worries.

Oh, I disagree. He's shown his quality on a few occasions. He just seems to be very much a workman who will deliver no more than a sufficient score if that's all he's asked to do.

OH! PRAISE THE LORD! :jesus:

You're always so black/white, D. Either you love it to no end or you think it sucks donkey pants!

Haven't there ever been composers where you've liked some, but perhaps not so much other things?

Yes.

But have you made any effort to check out a representative selection of his work to dismiss him entirely? Or are you basing it on just a few new scores?

The Pink Panther? The Pink Panther 2?

My oh my but I've led a sheltered life.

I thought RED was a wonderful film, and a great score too.

But regardless of that, you're only listing newer scores. I recommend you to check out F/X, BUFFY, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN and especially PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND.

Blade Runner

Boring, boring film.

Yes but have you seen the sequel Runner Runner? Much better.