What I Watched This Week (w/e May 4th 2008)

DVD

The Complete Prime Suspect - Over four days I watched the seven Prime Suspect series, a programme I'd never previously seen - I knew of it but that was it. It is a great piece of television - arguably the medium at its finest, with quality rivalling the best feature films. With each running to more than three hours and the set at over twenty, you really get to know the characters and appreciate the excellence of the writing, direction and acting. :D

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - A decade after Dr. Mabuse: the Gambler, Fritz Lang made the sequel with the übermensch criminal in an asylum but still able to control his vast criminal empire through his psychic ability. With overtones of Nazism in his philosophy, it's no wonder that the film didn't go down well with Goebbels et al., and it has resonance today with Mabuse's views similar to those of bin Laden. Brilliantly directed and an extremely intelligent piece of filmmaking. :D

Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas - I last saw this at the cinema in 3D but it works just as well at home in 2D. The animation is wonderfully rendered and Danny Elfman's score, lyrics and singing are terrific. :D

Cinema

Iron Man - This was a decent origin film with some excellent set pieces and humour but it didn't know how to finish. Jon Favreau's direction was, for the most part, very good and better than I expected and Robert Downey Jr. is perfectly cast but the Transformers-like ending was disappointing. It's not up there with Batman Begins or Spider-man 2, but it's great fun and the next instalment should be good. :)

Television

Vanishing Point - As this is not a 'grindhouse' movie, this was oddly referenced by Tarantino in Death Proof, this is almost devoid of dialogue if you take out the 'Super Soul' DJ character but the driving and crash scenes are brilliant and make this worth watching. :|

The New World - A real snoozathon from Terrence Malick with loads of voice over but not much action. The film looks great but doesn't involve, with the constant meditation grating, and the costumes are far too well designed to be believable. :(

I Was a Male War Bride - A quite superb screwball comedy by Howard Hawks with Cary Grant on top form, having to play his own wife in order to travel to the US with his new bride. The humorous dialogue is thick and fast and this is up there with The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby. :D

Oscar de la Hoya vs. Steve Forbes - Not the most exciting fight you'll ever see, with the Golden Boy looking to shed ring rust and work out a fast and tricky opponent prior to his September showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Ian Napa vs. Colin Moffett - Napa seems to be getting better with each outing, with his slick defence and sharp counterpunching earning him a lopsided points victory and the Lonsdale belt to keep. The co-headlining fight saw the 'boxing binman', Rendall Munroe, keep his European title after the poor Italian opponent had had enough and refused to come out after not putting up much of a fight.

Bath vs. Saracens - The last time I saw a game this one-sided was Leicester's 84-10 demolition of Newcastle a couple of seasons ago. Bath don't play for 80 minutes but are so dominant for the first 40 that they don't need to be and went into the dressing room at half time with a 45-0 lead.