A Mixed Bag

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system explained previously in this blog. Those watched via Netflix instant view, include “Streamed” after the numeric rating.

Watching a couple seasons of an old BBC series and several disks of an HBO mini series took a lot of viewing time in September, making for a longer delay since the last list and fewer entries this time. Your comments on what you have been watching are always welcome, so keep them coming.

Sometimes I feel tempted to start borrowing DVDs from the library again. They have an excellent collection and many that are going into my Netflix mail queue are readily available from the library. Maybe as fall and winter close in I will make more time for movies.

Upstairs, Downstairs – 1971-1972. (Seasons 1 and 2). (3.5) I saw some of this early BBC five season series, either first run back in the 70s or else in the 80s as reruns. I remember parts of it being quite fascinating, as it followed the lives of the aristocratic family upstairs and the servants downstairs, portraying the changes in social decorum from the turn of the century through WWI and into the roaring twenties, with a touch of high class British soap opera thrown in, and I have been wanting to give it a try for a while. The first disk had me hooked, in spite of the narrow screen and teleplay style of production. The DVD is good quality, especially considering the source media is dated. Though it is about a very refined household, the first season managed to convincingly weave sexual harassment, rape, abortion, adultery and suicide into the stories. I plan on watching all five seasons.

Brothers & Sisters (Season 4) – 2009. (3.2) We have started the fourth season without much anticipation, having grown a little weary of the whole ensemble by the end of season three. Sally Field and Calista Flockhart are the best actors in this cast and it is Calista’s new complication introduced in the first disk of the fourth season that has us wanting to keep watching. I never saw any of her old series, Ally McBeal, but her excellent acting in Brothers & Sisters makes me interested in checking it out.

Band of Brothers – 2001. (3.2) Based on the book by Stephen Ambrose this miniseries tells the story of a unit of paratroopers from the time of their training through the end of WWII. The computer generated aspects of the large scale operations is suitably impressive, though now more common. Some parts of the battles and fighting resemble many combat video games, which is not necessarily a criticism or a compliment. The disk includes brief bios of the characters, which helps people like me who have trouble keeping track of all the similarly uniformed characters in war films. Episodes begin with brief interviews of some of the surviving real soldiers. Realistic combat movies like this generate awe for what these men did and doubt about whether we would have been able to do the same.

Babies – 2010. (3.1) A few years ago, I realized how much I had aged when I would see an attractive young mother out in public with her little baby and I would be more interested in checking out the baby than the mother. This charming documentary follows four babies, from Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the USA, from birth to their first steps. Though it is French made, it is virtually a silent film, except for some catchy music, a fair amount of baby talk and a little parental babble. A brief special feature gives a three year follow up look.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John – 2006. (3.0) Home movies, personal narration and contemporary filmmaking join together in this documentary to tell us the story of a third generation family farmer in Wisconsin who struggled with reconciling his desire for a free and creative lifestyle while constantly being drawn back to the hard job of running a small farm. In spite of the expected setbacks, the film is not oppressive.

Country Life – 1994.  (2.9) Another variation on Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, here set on an Australian sheep ranch, this Aussie film did a pretty good job of ditching it’s stage origins, and was fairly well done, but the story itself offers nothing new.

Bright Star – 2009.  (2.8) Streamed. Australian director Jane Campion’s movies are always a visual treat. This tale of the doomed love of the poet Keats and his young muse includes many intimate extreme close up shots that enhance our connection to the characters developing intimacy. The script is confusing at first because the patron of Keats has a similar name to the muse, and we are not informed of any relationship, until we figure out there is none. The integration of poetry into the story did not work for me and I was left with a visually stunning period piece about a somewhat awkward love that blossomed but was doomed.

Carla’s Song – 1996. (2.4) An angry young bus driver in Glasgow is attracted to an enigmatic Nicaraguan woman, with whom he gets involved in a trip to Nicaragua to find out what happened to her boyfriend after they and fellow rebels had been routed by the Contras, whom the Scotsman learns are actually CIA agents. A marginal movie anyway, this DVD left me missing most of the dialogue, first in Scotland without any subtitle help for the hearing (or dialect) impaired, and then in Nicaragua, where the subtitles worked briefly and then stopped working (even though tried on two different players).

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – 1996. (2.4) Streamed. Proving that a Brit production of a Bronte novel is not an automatic winner, this Ann Bronte story did not have much to offer and this short miniseries adaptation, though it managed to hold me out of curiosity, did not have anything about it to make me say I liked it.