What I Watched This Week (w/e July 6th 2008)
With the 22 ½ hours of Cracker taking over most of the week, I only had enough time to watch one other title and my review discs.
Rififi - Jules Dassin, the director of such films as The Naked City, was blacklisted in the McCarthy witchhunts and largely sidelined but was still approached to direct an adaptation of the French serie noire novel 'Du rififi chez les hommes'. He apparently ripped out all but the central premise and changed the gang members from North Africans to Frenchmen. They plan and carry out the perfect robbery, including a 30 minute sequence devoid of dialogue or score that is incredibly tense and gripping. A great film that has finally been released. :D
Cracker: The Complete Collection - As with Prime Suspect and House M.D., this is something of which I've been largely ignorant, but bought it on DVD on its reputation alone. Having watched the eleven episodes this week, I realise that I had seen To Be a Somebody - a superb piece of television with a magnificent and extremely memorable performance by Robert Carlyle - but had only thought I'd seen clips. That is the highlight of the box set with the several episodes that follow of equal quality. The penultimate episode, White Ghost, is not of the quality of the earlier pieces but Cracker finishes well with a great episode. Robbie Coltrane is superb as the self obsessed heavy drinking criminal psychologist with a gambling addiction and is ably supported by a wonderful cast including Lorcan Cranitch, Geraldine Somerville and Barbara Flynn. :D
Vampyr - Brilliant, but I need to see it again - review to follow.
Frontier(s) - Review on the site.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane - Review to follow.
F1 British Grand Prix - Rain and unusual track conditions always make for a good race and the wind and rain in Northamptonshire brought downpours, high cross-winds and even sun during one of the outstanding races of the last few years. With cars spinning off, spinning 180° and colliding, Lewis Hamilton drove like a seasoned pro in a way that would make Michael Schumacher, 'Der Regenmeister', proud.
David Barnes vs. Barry Morrison - Having dropped from welterweight to light-welterweight, David Barnes has looked sharper and has become British Champion. This defence against Barry Morrison wasn't easy but, as he revealed in the post-fight interview, that was possibly due to a rib injury and an injured hand.
Kendall Holt vs. Ricardo Torres - The queue to fight Ricky Hatton was long enough already without Ricardo Torres, who gave Miguel Cotto all the trouble he could handle a year or two ago. Torres beat Holt in a controversial fight when the home crowd threw things into the ring, one of which - apparently a full beer can - struck Holt. This rematch at a neutral venue, Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, lasted all of 61 seconds with Holt down twice, the first after only 13 seconds, before a accidental head clash and hellacious right hand left Torres unconscious on the ropes with his left leg twitching. The round of the year so far and I can't see anything bettering it.
New Zealand vs. South Africa - This was the first time I had seen the new ELVs in action; I was against them when they were announced and, although this didn't entirely win me over, they do lead to a faster and more fluid game with the ball in play for a higher percentage of the 80 minutes. The game was intense and extremely physical - I doubt that any other country could have lived with either side, with the ABs coming out on top. Next week's game in Dunedin should be superb.
Australia vs. France - With most of France's best players having just finished their domestic season, Marc Lièvremont was only able to take an inexperienced group of players to Australia - they were comprehensively beaten last week and Robbie 'Dingo' Deans' Qantas Wallabies (how I hate the corporatisation of international sport) repeated the treatment with a sound beating of the French, who only had 13 caps in the entire starting back line. This game was played under the traditional rules so it'll be interesting to see how to Wallabies cope with the switch to the ELVs when the play South Africa in 2 weeks time.
DVD
Vampyr - Brilliant, but I need to see it again - review to follow.
Frontier(s) - Review on the site.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane - Review to follow.
Television
F1 British Grand Prix - Rain and unusual track conditions always make for a good race and the wind and rain in Northamptonshire brought downpours, high cross-winds and even sun during one of the outstanding races of the last few years. With cars spinning off, spinning 180° and colliding, Lewis Hamilton drove like a seasoned pro in a way that would make Michael Schumacher, 'Der Regenmeister', proud.
David Barnes vs. Barry Morrison - Having dropped from welterweight to light-welterweight, David Barnes has looked sharper and has become British Champion. This defence against Barry Morrison wasn't easy but, as he revealed in the post-fight interview, that was possibly due to a rib injury and an injured hand.
Kendall Holt vs. Ricardo Torres - The queue to fight Ricky Hatton was long enough already without Ricardo Torres, who gave Miguel Cotto all the trouble he could handle a year or two ago. Torres beat Holt in a controversial fight when the home crowd threw things into the ring, one of which - apparently a full beer can - struck Holt. This rematch at a neutral venue, Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, lasted all of 61 seconds with Holt down twice, the first after only 13 seconds, before a accidental head clash and hellacious right hand left Torres unconscious on the ropes with his left leg twitching. The round of the year so far and I can't see anything bettering it.
New Zealand vs. South Africa - This was the first time I had seen the new ELVs in action; I was against them when they were announced and, although this didn't entirely win me over, they do lead to a faster and more fluid game with the ball in play for a higher percentage of the 80 minutes. The game was intense and extremely physical - I doubt that any other country could have lived with either side, with the ABs coming out on top. Next week's game in Dunedin should be superb.
Australia vs. France - With most of France's best players having just finished their domestic season, Marc Lièvremont was only able to take an inexperienced group of players to Australia - they were comprehensively beaten last week and Robbie 'Dingo' Deans' Qantas Wallabies (how I hate the corporatisation of international sport) repeated the treatment with a sound beating of the French, who only had 13 caps in the entire starting back line. This game was played under the traditional rules so it'll be interesting to see how to Wallabies cope with the switch to the ELVs when the play South Africa in 2 weeks time.
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