The Lord of the Rings- The Rings of Power: Shadow and Flame

 "You are their prisoner, Sauron. Lord of the rings..."

I know, this is two blog posts in succession and both on the same show. But I wanted to get this season of The Rings of Power finished. And wow, what a dramativ finale. So much happens, and so much is set up. It's a wild ride.

We begin with the confrontation between the Durins, both father and son, as the King continues to mine, despite the risk of awakening what the subtitles reveal to be indeed the Balrog. His heroic death is nicely done- unexpected, shocking yet appropriate. Durin, I assume, is now king... but it seems his succession is not uncontested? The dwarvesare at last able to assist in the siege, but does civil war await them?

Equally dramatic is the confrontation between the Stranger and the Dark Wizard, who seemingly seeks not to join Sauron but to supplant him. Yet he responds to the Stranger's refusal to join him by destroying the Stoors' village, meaning that they, like the Harfoots, must wander. Yet there's a twist; Bombadil intended him to choose friendship, so he gets his staff after all... and his namre. This, again, is very nicely done. No wonder Gandalf is so fond of Hobbits.

At Numenor things get even worse. Pharazon declares all followers of the Valarto be traitors, and we end the episode with poor, blind Mirielin chains. Yet she orders Elendil to leave, and "reclaim your lordship". Isildur, meanwhile, and the displaced southlanders, also learn of the new regime and its harshness. Yet I sense Numenor, at this point, is irreversibly bound to sink between the waves. Isildur's future lies in Gondor... ad, I'm sure, with Estrid, taken though she is.

Celebrimbor's death, tortured tro death by Sauron, is indeed grimly horrible. He may have been at fault, an eager dupe, but he didn't deserve this. Charles Edwards, though, is again extraordinary.

Adar's death, a horrible twist, also shocks- betrayed by his own Uruks who turn instead to Sauron. He is, perhaps, as tragic an eff as Celebrimbor, noble in his way,and on the cusp of allying with Galadiel.

His flaw was love. He loved ad cared for his orc... and yet they spurned their loving father for an evil master, because evil is what they are. That, to put it mildly, is dark.

Galadriel's combt with Sauron is epic, although perhaps it goes on too long. We end with her barely alive... and, I trust, confined to Lothlorien if she wishes to live?

An extraordiunary episode. And, after a mixed first season... this season has been extraordinary.

The Lord of the Rings- The Rings of Power: Where the Stars Are Strange

 "I'm going to open a First Age bottle!"

Another fascinating episode here, which makes it very clear, seemingly, where the main narrative thread is going. Galadriel is, of course, right that Sauron will seek out Celebrimbor and make more rings- we even get THAT rhyme about seven rings for the dwarves- next on the list- and the nine, those nine, for men.

Yet Gil-Galad is right that Galadriel is vulnerable to Sauron's deceptions. Perhaps Elrond is right about the elves taking the rings,perhaps Cirdan is. We shall see. But poor Celebrimbor comes across asso very naive and gullible here.

Elsewhere, things look bleak for the dwarves of Khazad-Dun, struggling to maintain their home amongsta changing environment- perhaps their seven rings will save them for a while, as did the three rings of the elves. And I'm sure Durin and his royal father, both right stubborn gits, will reconcile... eventually. Durin's being bullied in the mine issad to see.

... And then there's the wandering wizard, who knows not his own name. Yet he explains to his very patient Harfoot friends that he cannot just be given a name: it is his already, and he'll know it when he hears it. This, it seems to me, would not have been said if his name were not known to us.

These scenes in the desert, with bounty hunters searching for them on behalf of some evil widard, feel very Mandalorian, but they're fun.

As, indeed, is the episode. Compared to the first season, a lot is now happening, and the characters are likeable. I hope this streak continues.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

 "What if you have to pee when you're on fire?"

Yes, I know: this film is notoriously not very good. And on the strength of tonight's viewing I'm not going to quibble with the consensus. Yet I've seen worse films- annoying directoral style aside, this is a pedestrian but mildly entertaining watch, if disappointing. But it could have been more.

I don't mean to suggest, of course, that this film is big or clever, or should aspire to be anything more than a good B movie. But there's nothing wrong with a good B movie. And I think we have here a decent if corny action plot, with  decent if corny characters, by decent if corny actors, with Nicolas Cage fitting the description exactly, Idris Elba stealing the show as a kind of religious French James Bond, and Ciaran Hinds chewing the scenery in the best possible way. There's lots of Da Vinci Code-style religious conspiracy hijinks, there's Blackout, there's Danny Ketch from the comic as the boy the Devil/Mephisto is after- interesting. Allthis is promising. The script could perhaps do with a polish, but I think the same script directed better would have garnered a much more favourable reaction.

Because the direction is bloody awful- music video lighting and music video camerawork throughout. Cool camera tricks have their place, but there's too much of it here and, fatally, although the camera trick culd have been gloriously silly, they give the impression of trying to be cool. The same goes with the dizzying camera movements throughoit. There's lots of action but very little mood or atmosphere. And the direction is utterly humourous, which works very much against the grain of a silly B movie script.

It's a shame. This is a bad film, but could easily have been a rather fun one.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: The Cardboard Box

 "Pushing women's work at me? You keep that to yourself!"

So this is it. The final episode, complete with a final philisophical and setimental coda about all the violence in the world as a parting gesture from Jeremy Brett's undoubtedly definitive Sherlock Holmes, much as health problems clearly led to much less physicality in his later years.

And the final episode is a good one, if not exactly standing comparison with the excellence that was routinely reached in earlier, better seasons. An adaptation of a fairly obscure Conan Doyle short story, it still suffers from the overly foregrounded attempts at narrative cleverness that have been too prominent of late: non-linear storytelling certainly has its place, but not here.

Nevertheless, this is a decent send off with a decent cast and a solid story, anchored by the conceit of two severed ears given as a birthday present. It is ulimately a tale of passion, social class, adultery and murder which is told well, much as the trope of the temptress who corrupts a simple man into ruin is worryingly present. This is also, however, a warning against the killjoy busybodies of the temperance movement, who could certainly all do with a drink.

So this is the end. No more Granada Sherlock Holmes. It's now clear that, despite high spots, the once superlative quality has not been so apparent as late, but the series- and the late, lamented Jeremy Brett- will be much missed.

Frozen II (2019)

“You can’t just follow me into fire.”

“Then don’t run into fire!”

This afternoon Mrs Llamastrangler and I visited our local cinema accompanied by a certain little girl who was in equal measures nervous and excited. Yes, Little Miss Llamastrangler is both four years old and completely obsessed with Disney princesses, and this seemed like a good choice for her first ever film at the cinema. And it was. She loved everything about it, which ultimately should probably outweigh the more qualified praise of her forty-two year old father.

A Disney film sequel that isn’t a casually tossed off straight-to-video release is a rarity, but this is the real deal, with cast and creative team reuniting to dig for more box office gold-successfully, I suspect. But, with no original fairytale source to draw upon, the pressure was on.

But I needn’t have worried. Yes, the early scenes seemed overly cosy and devoid of the conflict that all good drama needs, but the magical mystery of the nearby enchanted forest gives the film the injection of epic fairytale magic that it needs. And by the hilarious Olaf song about how everything make sense when you’re an adult, and you in know way feel like an older child who’s winging it, I was well and truly won over. The animation, the story, some nice characterisations and the humour all worked well, and one of the songs in particular had Little Miss Llamastrangler singing all the way home.

Is it as good as the original? Probably not. But it’s a solid, moving, funny film that probably deserves the success it’s pretty much certain to get, particularly as a more cynical cash-in would doubtless have done just as well.

Frozen (2013)

“The cold never bothered me anyway.”

Little Miss Llamastrangler turned four on Monday, and I didn’t get a chance to watch anything last night. So here’s a blog post about what is a) Little Miss Llamastrangler’s favourite film, although other Disney princesses have risen a lot lately in her estimation and b) a film I’ve seen a million sodding tunes and might as well vent about the fact while acknowledging that the film is bloody good for what it is and, indeed, a class A substance for little girls.

One gripe I have is the title- Frozen, not The Ice Queen, the name of the actual Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. This is rather similar to Disney’s version of Rapunzel being called Tangled; they seem to like their past participle form of verbs. I bet if they ever do a version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff they’ll call it Trolled.

But I must admit this is a solid tale, and positive in a lot of ways. They’re really trying to avoid the trope of pretty princesses being all passive in their dresses while princes, i.e. men, have all the agency. This is a love story between two sisters in which Elsa’s sisterly love, not the kiss of a prince, saves Anna from eternity as a frozen statue. Prince Hans, Anna’s initial love interest and indeed fiancé, turns out to be a blunder and a cad and she ends up with the thoroughly working class Kristoff. Best of all, we learn that “conceal, don’t feel” is not the way to go- a nice little metaphor for expressing your true sexual orientation, whatever it may be.

Also, Olaf is funny, and has the best song.

Frozen isn’t perfect- Anna and Elsa are still feminine stick insects who look thin and pretty- but it’s a positive variation on what went before, and I’ll grudgingly admit that it managed to entertain me. Well, the first fifty times at least.

Justice League (2017)

“What are your superpowers again?”

“I’m rich.”

 I'd intended to start this blog with a quip about that notorious moustache. After all, I mentioned it to Mrs Llamastrangler and she was amused to find the CGI on Henry Cavill’s upper lip so very obvious. But sadly I can’t continue along those lines as this film is an utter mess. It’s a turf, a stinker, a mind-bogglingly bad film. What went wrong?

D.C. can make good films. I enjoyed Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman. But they simply have no Kevin Fiege. There no quality control, no consistency of tone, no building up the characters in their individual films first. So we get these big epic films about iterations we don’t really know of characters who have barely been introduced to us in this version of the D.C. Universe. The pacing is atrocious and the script is lacking in sparkle. And the odd wittty line, presumably late additions by Joss Whedon after Zack Snyder was sacked, just jars with the po-faced and dull tone. This is a film about superheroes that fails to be fun. That’s quite an achievement.

Oh, some of the cast are good. Henry Cavill is well cast, and Ezra Miller is an inspired choice as an awkward young Flash. But Ben Affleck is both bad and wrong as Batman, Jeremy Irons is good but miscast as Alfred, and Ciaran Hinds gives us a generic and forgettable villain. And Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, incredibly, gets most of the best lines. And the amount of exposition just beggars belief. And don’t get me started on the sheer quantity of poor CGI.

This is, hands down, the worst superhero film I’ve ever seen.

The Woman in Black (2012)

"She makes us do it..."

This is the first of the new wave of Hammer horrors I've seen and, if this is anything to go by, I'm glad that Hammer are back. It's also interesting to see Daniel Radcliffe excel in his first true cinematic adult role- as a father and widower, no less. How very pointedly adult.

This is a solid and impressive adaptation of Susan Hill's 1983 novel by Jane Goldman, who has written many excellent films of a fantasy bent. I'd still like to see the 1989 TV adaptation, as it's written by the great Nigel Kneale, but this script is pretty awesome. Similarly, it's odd to see the likes of Jessica Raine and Roger Allam in such small parts but the cast here is excellent. So is the direction. In short, it's good.

I should probably be clear that I haven't read the original novel, but I found the plot satisfying and the film even a little scary. A little bit, at least. And I'm so much of a rationalist that, unlike my endearingly terrified wife this evening, I'm rarely actually scared of horror films.

Rationalism versus superstition is a theme here, of course, with Sam Daily holding out as the only person in the village who isn't superstitious. In the real world he'd be right, of course, but this is a horror film. And, I think, we're meant to notice the unfortunate class overtones of the rationalist country squire and the  superstitious peasants. But the film's theme, at heart, is the human cost of high infant mortality, which may have been a fact of life a hundred years ago it still must have absolutely destroyed people.

This film is really about the imagery, though; the creepy dolls, the revealed writing in blood behind the wallpaper, the sudden shocks and the innate horrors of Victoriana. It's true horror; in this modern world of "horror" films where the spectacle of gore overshadows true suspense and shock, this is the real deal, brought right up to date and more than worthy of the Hammer name.

The Rite (2011)

“What did you expect? Spinning heads? Pea soup?”

And so my journey into the unfamiliar territory of more modern horror continues with this acting tour de force from Anthony Hopkins. A confession, though: I’ve never even seen The Exorcist, let alone blogged it, so I won’t be making any comparisons. Sorry.

I suppose films about demonic possession would be scarier for those who believe in all that stuff; I don’t. Nevertheless, this film is effectively creepy, although it’s first and foremost a character drama and a chance for Hopkins to show us his considerable talents.

This is a very pro-Catholic film: the first thing we see is a quote from Pope John Paul II and the vibe seems to be that such things actually happen. Nonetheless, it’s a solid film, pleasingly structured with a strong cast, including Toby Jones trying out his American accent.

The audience identification character, Michael Kovac, has exactly the sort of theological doubts as to make him ideal for his role in the narrative; we see Hopkins’ Father Lucan almost entirely through his eyes. Lucan himself is full of precisely the sorts of eccentricities that we would expect from such a character. It’s highly convenient, of course, that Lucan would be Welsh, therefore absolving Hopkins from having to put on an accent.

We begin by following Michael through the seminary as he enters the strange, celibate world of the priesthood, but soon the scene switches to the far more gorgeous and cinematic setting of the Vatican, with all the obligatory shots where the camera lingers on the famous tourist sights.

The exorcisms are dramatic, and it’s clever that the supernatural elements are limited to a phantom horse and some creepy, devilish creepy crawlies. The creepiest moments, of course, utilise the psychological side of the supernatural: the most memorable moment in the film is where Michael speaks by phone to his dying father who says that “They’re hurting me”, and is then told that his father died hours earlier.

The climax of the film, where Lucas is himself possessed, conveniently gives Hopkins yet another chance to dazzle us with his acting skills. The conclusion is satisfying, although the fact that it revolves around Michael finding his faith again shows us what the film is trying to say.

This is a rather small scale little film, and essentially a vehicle for Hopkins to do a bit of a turn, but it’s well worth a watch.