Quick Round-up: Movies

I seem to have seen so many films recently, on TV, DVD and at the cinema and I've not had time/inclination to write a lot about each one. So for the sake of completeness, I'm going to zip through what I've seen here, starting with TV drama Page Eight (2011), a slow yet solid tale of espionage starring Bill Nighy. Then there was Bringing Up Baby (1938), the hilarious screwball comedy that sees Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn trading barbs as they try to track down the titular Baby, a pet leopard on the loose, and Hepburn tries her darndest to snag her man. I've seen this film before and it's an absolute hoot, so I was eager to get Andrew to watch it to see what he thought - for the same reason we watched The Birdcage (1996), the hilarious US remake of La Cage aux Folles starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a gay couple who are shocked to learn 'their' son is to marry the daughter of a Republican senator. Funny and unexpectedly touching, The Birdcage doesn't do a great deal for the gay cause, but it's hard to be offended when everyone's having so much fun. 

A change of tack to documentary and Sarah Palin: You Betcha! (2011), where Nick Broomfield investigates the strange world of the one-time VP hopeful through interviews with family and friends. And once it becomes clear that Broomfield is making an honest documentary rather than a puff piece about how amazing Palin is, the access to family dries up pretty quick. I didn't think that Broomfield set out with a liberal agenda per se, but he soon uncovered a lot of dodgy back story and delusion behind the soccer-mom smokescreen that painted a convincing and scary picture of Palin. 

Panned by the critics and shunned by audiences, I went into John Carter (2012) with an open mind (and a buy-one-get-one-free email voucher from Disney) and was completely blown away. I cannot see why everyone is down on this movie, it's exciting, it's funny, it's original and it is much better than many other CGI sci-fi epics I can think of (yeah, Phantom Menace, I mean you). I've not stopped talking about it to friends and colleagues since. Taylor Kitsch is hunky and a hero to route for as the title character, a widowed US Civil War veteran who is mysteriously transported to Barsoom/Mars where he gets caught up in the red planet's own internal fights. Filled with spectacle, non-irritating CG characters, suprisingly dark moments and much more, John Carter's fully-realised world is one I'd love to go back to in future films, but alas that's unlikely. 

Special effects on a much smaller budget and screen made last Christmas' The Borrowers (2011) a believable and fun tale that up-dated Arrietty's family and found them living under Victoria Wood's floorboards. Stephen Fry's scientist gets wind and determines to expose the little folk to the world in a plot that is bigger than the Ghibli movie but less sweetly engaging. A much more odd interpretation of a classic children's story, Wes Anderson's stop-motion Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) features an assortment of indie voices plus George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr and Mrs Fox, and a laconic tone that suits the story to a tee. 

After reading William Goldman's novel I revisited The Princess Bride (1987) on DVD. I didn't get the big deal the first time around, and while I can see why it has earned cult status, like the book before it I still felt it was lacking an extra something to expand the idea of a parody fairytale into a roaring success. What the movie did was make me want to watch Cary Elwes really letting loose in Robin Hood: Men in Tights again! The Princess Bride felt oddly low key as a whole, something that could also be said of Monsters (2010), the economically made movie about two characters who are thrown together to travel across alien-infested landsThe low budget meant that this was more a character study than a John Carter style action-fest, with the CGI aliens only briefly glimpsed. Perhaps actually it is more of a love story than anything else, as well as a pretty trip around the jungles of Central America. 

Finally, last Wednesday we went to the cinema to see The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012), in 3D, Aardman Animation's latest claymation feature. The most joyfully silly movie I've seen since The Muppets, The Pirates is packed full of sight gags and witty lines, run through with an earthy Britishness and randomness reminiscent of Monty Python. While not as consistently laugh-filled as Chicken Run, I found The Pirates more satisfying than Curse of the Were-Rabbit and left the cinema with a massive smile on my face. And that concludes the movie part of the update!

Documentaries: The Diamond Queen, The Story of Musicals, Little Matador, The Cricklewood Greats

The Diamond Queen (2012)
Andrew Marr's 3 part series about Queen Elizabeth II, made as part of the Diamond Jubilee year, was a fascinating insight into the monarch and her life. Marr had fantastic access to a multitude of royal engagments over the past year, from state visits to Australia and Ireland, to the Royal Wedding and on to smaller occasions like the Garden Party and the Queen's Speech. Far from being the royal propoganda that Republicans have claimed, I found The Diamond Queen to be a measured approach to a woman who has a unique position in the UK, the Commonwealth and the world and who is not always understood or fully appreciated. Through his investigations Marr explored the Queen's past, her family life, her devotion to her job and came to the conclusion that she works hard, moves with the times and is still, in her eighties, eager to be a force for good where she can. I already admired the Queen and I'm looking forward to the updated version of Ben Pimlott's peerless biography, so this programme provided an excellent introduction to the Jubilee year. Long live the Queen!

The Story of Musicals (2012)
Another 3 parter, this one had a wider focus than the last. It should have been called The Story of British Musicals but that's no matter, it did a solid job covering many shows I've seen - Cats, Billy Elliott, Blood Brothers - many I haven't - Les Mis, Starlight Express, Phantom of the Opera - as well as plenty I'd never even heard of. Spanning several decades, the series interviewed many of the big players in the genre, from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh to Elaine Paige and, erm, John Barrowman, and it felt pretty comprehensive and packed full of interesting back stories and anecdotes. Most of the interviewees seemed to have a good sense of humour and a perspective on the musical's place in the world while having massive respect for the producers and stars - and after seeing this documentary I can certainly see why. If nothing else, The Story of Musicals made me want to get out and see even more of them!

Little Matador (2011)
Another movie in the True Stories strand, Little Matador is oddly an Irish movie about child bull fighters in Mexico. It follows 3 bull-bothering hopefuls, each of whom has their own reasons for pursuing a life as a matador, from pushy parents, absent parents and a young girl's desire to be a famous female matador... if only she didn't run crying when the bulls run at her. I didn't really have an opinion on bull fighting before watching this documentary - most of the images of stereotypical matadors I have come from Looney Tunes cartoons. I quickly realised how distasteful and barbaric the 'sport' is - it's basically aggrivating and then torturing a riled up creature, before savagely thrusting a blade into it's brain. The successful matador then receives the bull's shorn off ears as a grisly trophy to display triumphantly to the baying crowds. You'd have thought that this sort of practice would have died out with the gladiators of Rome, but apparently not - there are even matador schools in Mexico, training children to do this stuff. It's horrible. I had to look away when the bulls were murdered. I'm no animal rights activist but I can see no up-side of this practice in the 21st Century, no matter how much it's part of the Mexican/Latin culture. The documentary itself left me feeling sad for the 3 delusional children, who deserve to be loved by their parents and allowed to be young, to play and to enjoy life, not taught to face down angry bulls before slaughtering them. 

The Cricklewood Greats (2012)
Ok, I'm cheating now, this wasn't an actual documentary but rather a mockumentary of those rather earnest types of show on BBC4 that celebrate a particular era/icon of film. I'm including it here as it was a fun one-off, and to take the edge off Little Matador. As co-writer, director and 'presenter', Peter Capaldi has created a very funny, almost touching piece about a fictional British film studio that would be believable were it not for the presence of Kelly 'Emma from Hustle' Adams and Tim 'Yates from The Royal Bodyguard' Downie as a number of different actors from Cricklewood's roster of stars. Gently mocked are silent comedies, Hammer-type horror schlock, monster B-movies and Carry On camp. Everything is played straight with a firm tongue in cheek - my favourite scene has Capaldi ('playing' himself) visit the site of the Cricklewood Studios with a 'historian' (Alex MacQueen) and strolling through the Wickes DIY store that has been built in its place, pointing out where the toilets used to be and sensing the aura of the old Studios. Ludicrous and oh so very based in fact - the fact of these types of documentaries.

The Boy Who Was a King (2011)

basics...
A True Stories documentary about Simeon II, King of Bulgaria for a couple of years before he was toppled and exiled in 1946 aged 9 when the Soviets invaded. 50 years later Simeon unexpectedly returned to Bulgaria and won the 2001 election to serve a term as Prime Minister. 

brilliant...
What a fascinating story! I never even heard of this unique part of royal history. The disjointed narrative style of the documentary pieces together the various parts of the tale by interviewing various Bulgarians who remembered Simeon fondly, as well as Communists and the ex-King himself. So through these personal insights we learn of how the young boy king (Tsar) came to the throne so young, and how he was exiled to Egypt with his family. Archive interviews with the young Simeon show him to have been a very level headed businessman, not filled with anger towards his country, seeing himself as a victim of a certain set of circumstances more than anything else. His return to Bulgaria decades later saw him greeted by hoardes of adoring 'fans' eager for him to come back to them, but once in power as PM, a role that was seemingly thrust upon him unbidden as per the monarchy, the dream of Simeon's return turned sour. He found that it was difficult to bring about the social change that Bulgaria so needed in the post-Soviet world and his supporters, including one man with a royal tattoo, became disillusioned. A particularly interesting moment came for Simeon at the British Queen Mother's funeral when he was sat as PM on the world leader's side of Westminster Abbey, across from the other royals - his surname, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha indicates his relation to our own royal family. It's curious to see how fickle the finger of history can be to monarchies when comparing the UK's with Bulgaria's.

but...
The langourous style of the documentary is infuriating at times and cries out for the more conventional tropes of the genre such as captions indicating who speakers are and narration to link the pieces together. 
 
briefly...
A compelling tale of an unconventional monarch told in a novel, albeit slightly annoying, style. 

The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2009)

basics...
A documentary from the recently created Disneynature brand, the film focuses on the lives of the unusual lesser flamingos of the Lake Natron in Tanzania.

brilliant...
Part documentary, part nature-porn, with a life-span narrative to hang it all on, Crimson Wing started out slow with lots of pretty shots of landscapes and soon became an enveloping, pleasurable experience, combining the silky tones of Mariella Frostrup's poetic narration with stunning photography and genuinely interesting creatures. These flamingos fly back to Natron every year to breed - what's weird is that Natron is incredibly salty and not much survives here, yet the flamingos build nests from the salt and bring up their chicks on it. This leads to some of the chicks' downfall as they wander about in the water, get coated in salty crud which then hardens on dry land, weighing them down like concrete ugg boots and leaving them prey to various carnivores. There's less information here than in an Attenborough documentary and the pace is more relaxed, with a quirky soundtrack that makes Crimson Wing stand out as more than just a documentary about pink birds. The images of running flamingos was rivettingly hypnotic and awe-inspiring.

but...
There's an argument to be made that the flowery script is too airy fairy at times, and that more importance is given to the lives of the flamingos than is appropriate. And sometimes the images are not just nature-porn wonderous but computer wallpaper placeholders. I find it a bit odd that this is being released by Disney as there's nothing particularly Disnified about it, it's a UK/US/French co-production with the Disney name slapped on the DVD box. Although honestly, would I have picked this up if it hadn't?

briefly...
An uplifting, beautiful story of a surprisingly fascinating creature and its equally intriguing habitat.

December Round-up: TV & Books

The Christmas / New Year period was fairly busy for some reason, and it's only since this last weekend I've been able to unwind, at least that's how it feels. So I'm going to do a quick catch up on the stuff I've been watching and reading to bring me up to date to start the new year. 

Back at the end of 2011 I loved every minute of Forbrydelsen II / The Killing II (2009). While not as long or perhaps as compelling as the first series, the second still held my rapt attention. Sarah Lund returned to Copenhagen to track a series of killings involving the army and incident in Afghanistan many years before. Grisly murder scenes and lots of pensive Lund moments mixed with new politician Thomas Buch's investigations into his predecessor's conduct as Justice Minister combined for some pretty exciting TV. I did not see the ending coming AT ALL and it was super intense. The intelligent way that The Killing handles plot, character and drama makes it one of my favourite show of the year. Roll on series 3!

Another returning series was Merlin: Series 4, which kicked things up a notch early on by dispatching Uther (and Lancelot) and crowning Arthur King of Camelot, before treading water with some ho-hum warlock-of-the-week episodes before shifting gear again on the overarching plot and marrying off the new king to Gwen. Still no sign of Merlin revealing his magical secret to his best mate and boss, but there were more interesting developments that almost got forgotten in the final episode of the series when the boy magician finished off evil Agravaine! I'm sure that's going to come back to haunt Merlin and add some angst to series 5.

The small yet perfectly formed Rev came back with a new series that saw some big name guest stars in Reverend Adam Smallbone's tiny congregation. Still funny, endearing and often unexpectedly, refreshingly rude, Rev still feels like a hidden gem.

While in Crewe for New Year I had the 'pleasure' of watching a few bits and pieces on my in-laws' new 3D TV, including some Kylie concert, a bit of a CGI movie and a whole programme in the form of nature documentary The Bachelor King 3D. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough the over-long one off followed the life and times of a king penguin - at least it purported to do, until the closing credits revealed that the penguin lead was actually 'played' by several different birds. The 3D was a nice touch, but as I've said before, watching something in 3 dimensions does not improve the actual experience. It's a novelty and nothing more, and after 75 minutes with heavy 3D glasses it's also a bit of a headache. The programme was good, though didn't shed any new light on the lives of a well-documented species.

TV short Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas was charming though distinctly odd. I understand the conceit of talking mammoths, sloths, etc, but I just cannot credit the presence of a human Santa Claus or the very notion of Christian Christmas many thousands (millions?) of years too early. I know it's a kids' holiday special but come on! Paradoxes aside, the short was a lot of fun and made me want to finally watch the movie sequels to the not-quite-classic-but-better-than-most-cgi-movies original.

I found time to read a couple of books over Christmas. The first I actually received as a gift last year, The Interrogative Mood (2010) by Padgett Powell. A bizarre 'novel' constructed entirely throughout its 164 pages by a random string of questions. It's an odd beast, and not really my idea of a novel, but it's hardly non-fiction either. Occasionally there seem to be groups of questions that link but there is no connected through-line. Strangely the overall impression of the book is that whatever it is, it works. It really has to be read to be believed.

More straightforward was Kate Mosse's Labyrinth (2005), an epic grail quest that feels incredibly sedate compared to the Da Vinci Code. I say grail quest, it's not until the last third of the novel that the relic evens merits a mention. Before that the story is split between Alice in the present and Alaïs in the 13th century as the former pieces together bits of the life of the latter until both narratives cleverly converge in the same cave in the French Pyrenees. I rarely had this book out of my hands over New Year, I very much relished the dual-narrative style, the subject matter and the wonderfully drawn characters. I particularly liked Alaïs' experiences in a foreign country and a dim and distant past for the fact that both aspects of her life were so different and original. Where Dan Brown's book felt like a thriller for the MTV generation, Labyrinth was more like a 20 part Danish drama, slowly unfolding over time to reveal a deftly plotted adventure.

The Flaw (2011)

basics...
A True Stories documentary about the financial crisis of the past few years, how it happened and how it could have been prevented had anyone cared to stop and think.

brilliant...

The Flaw would sit well alongside Starsuckers and Countdown to Zero as an example of an entertaining documentary that shines a light on a less palatable part of the modern world. Where the other films took on the media and the threat of nuclear disaster, the flaw looks at the state of the global economy before and after the financial crisis. Pieced together from interviews with leading economic figures, cartoons of the 50's that celebrated consumer society and graphics that attempt to explain the numbers behind the sub-prime mortgages, stock futures and other impenetrable financial double-speak, The Flaw is as enlightening as it is baffling. It takes a large view of the crisis and then picks out smaller, personal viewpoints from people who are mortgaged to the hilt and a young man who used to work on Wall Street and now gives tours there. I can't say I understood everything that was discussed, but it was all a very convincing indictment of all of us who believed that wages could keep going up alongside house prices and falling consumer prices. The confusion was more a result of my own understanding and resistance to numbers than a fault of the film.

briefly...
Making finance fun, or at least a bit more accessible than previously, The Flaw filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge and entertained me while doing so.

Gnarr (2010, Leeds Town Hall)

basics...
A documentary that follows comedian Jón Gnarr's entry into the Reykjavik election for mayor and his subsequent landslide victory that saw The Night Shift's Georg assume assume in 2010. Shown at the Town Hall for Leeds International Film Festival.

brilliant...
Gnarr is the funniest documentary I've seen. If I didn't already know the events depicted really happened I could easily have taken the film for a clever satire or mockumentary. Beginning low key with Gnarr addressing his web cam (looking very different to his Georg character), the movie continued in a low-key, student-project type style. There were no talking heads or voice overs, just the odd onscreen caption to identify the key players. Gnarr created the Best Party in the wake of the financial and volcanic disasters that gripped Iceland in the years before 2010, and his refreshing take on politics resonated with a public fed up with a city council they perceived as old fashioned and grid locked. The film shows Gnarr making up policies on the spot, from acquiring a polar bear for Reykjavik zoo to getting parliament drug-free by 2020, and being as surprised as everyone else at how his campaign got traction and propelled him to greater fame and power than before. As the film is made with Gnarr's total cooperation there is little critique of his progress or balance, but the whole documentary is an inspiration to people fed up with politics and is damn funny too. 

briefly...
Almost too good to be true, the story of Jón Gnarr is one that has to be seen to believed. A funnier documentary I am yet to see.

Fry's Planet Word (2011)

basics...
A documentary about words - their origins, power, uses and abuses - presented by the National Treasure (TM) Stephen Fry. Like an extended offshoot of QI without Alan Davies, but with Brian Blessed, David Tennant and a lady with tourrette's instead. 

brilliant...
An absolutely splendid and incredibly entertaining series, Fry's Planet Word is one of those documentaries I would happily watch again, and there aren't too many of those - I prefer to get my information fixes from non-fiction books. Fry is such a reliable and exciting proponent of words, both written and spoken, and neither - the show takes in other languages such as sign and that of primates. Trekking around the globe, Fry focussed each programme on a specific aspect of language and did a thoroughly good job of exploring almost everything one could ask for in the space of an hour. The episode on language as power, with particular focus on swearing was a lot of fun, and I learnt a lot too. This episode is responsible for some hilarious intereaction with Brian Blessed, as the youtube clip below illustrates. It helps that Fry is so passionate and can call on many celebrity friends to assist in the documentary alongside eminent language experts. There was nothing about this series I didn't enjoy.

bollocks!

briefly...
Informative, thought-provoking and a whole lot of fun, if only all documentaries were this enjoyable.

Countdown to Zero (2010)

basics...

A True Stories documentary about nuclear weapons and the frightening truth behind how close the world has been and is potentially to nuclear destruction. 

brilliant...

This film is very powerfully made, full of talking heads with real gravitas - Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Valerie Plame Wilson and lots of other statespeople, scientists and historians - and images of mushroom clouds, possible fallout zones and historical footage. Director Lucy Walker keeps the visuals interesting and uses narration and pundits to explain how mistakes in the past had the world on the brink of launching nukes; how easy it would be for terrorists to get their hands on nuclear material to construct a dirty bomb; how the launch codes for America's nukes used to just be 000000; and how many countries today have the bomb and why they came to have it. It's scary to think that flocks of migrating birds have caused scares within the military and put them at high alert, and that the USA and USSR had too many close calls for comfort. It's a convincing documentary with a real message that is explained through clear examples as well as dire prediction.

briefly...
A fascinating insight into Cold War practices that haven't completely thawed, Countdown to Zero makes its points with visual flair and convincing pronouncements without seeming preachy or manipulative.

Starsuckers (2009)

basics...
A multi-functioning documentary about fame, public hunger for gossip and the lengths that the media will go to to cultivate and feed it.

brilliant...
I liked the style of this documentary, which used clips, talking heads and 'sketches' to make its points. By sketches I mean pieces created for the film, with the creator running fake focus groups and job interviews to show just how crazy some people are. Such as the parents who are happy for their children to take part in a (fictional) visit to an abbatoir or drink alcohol and act drunk if it means they get on TV. Or the celebrity PA candidates who would be more than willing to break the law for their bosses, or in one case even happy to take a bullet, since they'd be alongside celebrity. There's also a long part in the second half of the documentary that looks at tabloids and how they solicit stories, without verification, to fill their pages. And finally there's a piece on how Live 8 pushed the Make Poverty History marches out of the papers and then didn't really have the impact it claimed. Oh and an excellent bit in Lithuania, where much of their parliament is made up of celebrities.

but...
Perhaps there's a bit too much going on in this documentary, and the focus gets a bit muddled. Is it about the way newspapers manipulate the news? Or about child stars? Or about public hunger for fame? It's everything all at once, and I didn't really follow how it was all supposed to be connected, other than under the massive 'media' umbrella. 

briefly...
An insightful, disturbing look at the way the media controls our lives, whether knowingly or not. 

Babes in Hollywood (2010)

basics...
Another documentary in the True Stories strand, this one looks at the experiences of child actors who come to a specific apartment complex every year for pilot season, in the hope of landing a TV series and having their celebrity dreams come true.

brilliant...
Rather than being like some sort of freaky mini-pops style clown show, Babes' tales are full of unintentional laughs, delusional young actors and parents, and a real dollop of reality and emotional heartache. The families who inhabit the apartments include Megan and her mom, who came several years ago and never left, but the precocious young wannabe fails to secure any auditions, never mind callbacks. Her story is the sad heart of the documentary - they rarely see her father, back home in his state making money to keep funding the acting classes, photographers, and myriad other leeches, and her mother regularly breaks down and wonders how she carries on. There's also Shanna, who has come along with her mom to pilot season for the very first time, and they both have their eyes open to how difficult it really is to make it in Hollywood, and how much luck is involved. They end up leaving at the end of pilot season seemingly satisfied to carry on with their lives, but many of the kids and adults are not so clear headed. It doesn't help that the 'motivational' speakers fill everyone's heads with impossible dreams.

briefly...
An eye-opening peek into how Hollywood makes its money, and how difficult it is for anyone, whether child or not, to get a big break.

After the Apocalypse (2010) & The Redemption of General Butt Naked (2010)

basics...
The Radio Times has picked out a couple of the True Stories documentary film strands on More 4 lately, so I've taken to recording/watching them and found some very interesting stories. The first one I watched was After the Apocalypse which took as its focus the possibly sinister aftermath of Soviet nuclear testing in the Polygon/Semipalatinsk Test Site in remote Kazakhstan. The second followed Joshua Blahyi, known as General Butt Naked during the Liberian civil war of the 1990s, who has become born-again and seeks forgiveness for his horrific acts of bloody violence. 

brilliant...
Neither story is the sort of thing that makes for easy viewing, but both subjects are fascinating, and the way both documentary makers let the people tell the story with no narration allows you to make up your own mind about who to believe or who to forgive. Apocalypse begins with stories of people who have grown up in the Polygon area and they and their children have suffered physical deformities, which they blame on nuclear fallout. However, as the film goes on we meet scientists who cast doubt on the veracity of these claims. But some of these scientists work for the government. So it is difficult to know who to believe, since the officials may have an agenda just as much as the poor families are looking for excuses. What is true is that the treatment of the deformed children, and the expectant mothers, is terrible at the hands of unfeeling health professionals. 

Victims of the Polygon?

In Redemption - which has a title that really draws you in with the expectation of something a little bit salacious - is the more fascinating of the two documentaries. Covering a filming period of months and years, it follows Blahyi as he addresses congregations, meets victims of his brutality, testifies to the Liberian war crimes 'pre-tribunal' and then goes into hiding. The film never asks you to judge Blahyi, but it allows him to explain himself, his past actions and his later search for redemption, and contrasts this with talking heads interviews with historians, ex-gang members and victims' rights campaigners. After admitting to killing not less than 20,000 through his actions in the civil war at the tribunal, Blahyi is exonerated from prosecution while others - including a politician who had killed the ex-Liberian leader - were recommended for trial. It's a shocking admission, a shocking statistic, and an even more shocking outcome. It makes you wonder about the power of forgiveness and whether a person really is capable of such acts of contrition as Blahyi. 

briefly...
Sometimes difficult to watch, yet always fascinating, thought-provoking studies of two terrible periods in the histories of little-discussed countries. I will be watching more True Stories with interest.

Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (2009)

basics...
This documentary does exactly what its title says, providing an biographical account of comedian/actor/marathon runner Eddie Izzard through interviews, home video footage and clips from his stand up shows. 

brilliant...
I was dubious about whether a 1hr 45min documentary about Izzard would have much to say, but it turns out that his rise to comedy heights took quite a slog. From being born in Yemen, moving to Northern Ireland, losing his mother, attending boarding school, being kicked out of Sheffield University, slogging away at the Edinburgh festival and street performing in Covent Garden, Izzard eventually hit the big time, pretty much overnight. And then there was the coming out as TV, the Watchdog 'scandal' when he was accused of recycling old material in 2000 and his comeback to stand up in 2003 on the Sexie tour, which is woven throughout the standard talking head-docu stuff. There's no denying Izzard's determination and drive to make it big in comedy, and then to get to Hollywood and star alongside George Clooney in Ocean's Twelve & Thirteen. It's quite a story, and one that is told with compassion, insight and liberal doses of Izzard's humourous flights of fancy. The movie is surprisingly emotional too, as Izzard opens up and shares his belief that by doing all of the things he does he's aiming to get his mother back. 

but...
On that last point above I'd say that the camera lingered too long to be comfortable on the teary Izzard after he'd bared his soul. Otherwise, as a depiction of how hard it is to make it in stand up, and the tenacity of Izzard, Believe is a winner.

briefly...
An unusual insight into the way the comedy circuit works, with a subject worthy of such a lengthy documentary. The clips of old shows reminded me just how hilarious Izzard is. 

Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood (2011)

Or as our hard disk recorder would have it, 'Paul Merton's Birth', which would be a different show altogether... Luckily we were spared any crying babies and instead enjoyed this 3 part documentary about the very earliest days of filmmaking in America. I think the programme would be better off titled 'Birth of American Film' because I expected more history specifically about Hollywood - Merton never even mentioned how it go its name for example. That niggle aside, the show was very entertaining, with clips of silent movies, interviews with relatives of those around at the turn of the twentieth century (plus Angela Lansbury, who nearly was!), and lots of information about the people who were responsible for turning Hollywood into the massive industry it is today. 

I really only know Merton from Have I Got News For You and other comedy shows, although I'm aware he's made shows about silent movies before. He's a great presenter, peppering his scripts with humour that you can easily miss if you take everything he says at face value. If only all documentaries had this funny approach to filmmaking I might watch a few more, and maybe learn more too. I learnt how filmmaking moved from New York to the West Coast for the weather, and to avoid mobsters; the truth about Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's wrongful arrest for murder and subsequent fall out; and how the studio system became beholden to producers over writers and directors. The difficult transition from silent to talkies was covered, and Merton packed a lot of trivia in all the way in a tale that spanned the first 20-30 years of the Twentieth Century. 

Based on this documentary I would happily seek out a few silent comedies, as well as looking out for other Merton-fronted shows like this. What really shone through the whole piece was Merton's intense love of this period of filmmaking, and this passion was communicated to me in the imaginative structures of the episodes, and the level of detail he lavished on certain aspects, particularly the tragedy of Arbuckle.

March of the Dinosaurs (2011)

Aired around the same time as the feature-length documentary Death of the Megabeasts, March of the Dinosaurs looked at a more traditional area of pre-historic life. Coming off a bit like a feature-length Walking with Dinosaurs, this CGI film followed a couple of dinosaurs, Scar (an Edmontosaurus) and Patch (a Troodon) during one autumn-winter transition in the Arctic 70 million years ago. Narrated by Stephen Fry, the rather bleak narrative, that sees a lot of dino-death, follows a rather unoriginal story, as seen in The Land Before Time or Disney's Dinosaur, namely that of a migration. 

Scar and his herd of Edmontosauruses, plus a group of Pachyrhinosauruses (I'm not convinced I have the right plurals here), make the journey from their summer stomping ground to find food in a better location hundreds of miles further south. Patch and his fellow Troodons stay in the same and perpetual night-time and compete with Gorgosauruses for scarce food. None of these dinosaurs are familiar to me or would be to an audience brought up on Jurassic Park and the aforementioned dino movies so the novelty of learning about new species is interesting, especially as a couple of the species sport feathers in line with more modern theories of bird evolution. 

While Fry's narration naturally gives the dinosaurs an anthropomorphic bent in order to engage with the non-speaking CGI reptiles, it doesn't get sentimental. March of the Dinosaurs is an intriguing prospect and appears to be trying to educate as it entertains, and having Fry narrate is an obvious way to unite the themes and lend the film gravitas. There is just something about it all that doesn't make the whole as engaging as it might. Over a 30 minute episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, with Kenneth Branagh's excitable narration learning about dinosaurs was exciting, stretched out to 2 hours (with adverts) with less effective CGI it is difficult to sustain the same interest in the story being told. 

Sounds Like Teen Spirit (2008)

Broadcaste on More4 in a double bill with the excellent 90 minute documentary The Secret History of Eurovision (2011), Sounds Like Teen Spirit follows a number of kids from across Europe as they prepare to compete in the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. Although I love Eurovision, I tend not to write about the show itself on my blog. I don't know why, maybe I don't want to analyse it too much. I have never seen Junior Eurovision - it's only been shown twice in the UK to my knowledge and the UK hasn't competed in it for a long time. But watching Teen Spirit it is clear how much other countries in Europe love it equally as much as its parent show.

The film follows entrants from Cyprus (a cute, camp little 11 year old boy), Georgia (their first entrant, a sweet girl who lives in a run down block after her family fled for their lives during tensions with Russia), Bulgaria (she lives in a vast, showy house with a pool, but her parents have split up and she's disillusioned with love), and Belgium (these are pretty normal kids). The Eastern European entrants are the most interesting, they have the most to gain from the contest, using it as a showcase for their oft-little-known countries - Belarus has won Junior Eurovision twice for example, but would be hard pressed to do the same at regular Eurovision. 

Watching the snippets of the show itself, there was a noticeable lack of the Big Five and countries from Scandinavia, with a heavy Eastern bias to those competing. I'm not sure whether this says more about the Western attitude to Eurovision as a whole or about the Eastern attitude. Either way, the young entrants stories are touchingly interwoven into an engrossing documentary. There is little narration, just a few onscreen prompts, and the children mostly tell their own stories. At times you fear the whole Junior Eurovision could be a horrendous Mini Pops / Little Miss Sunshine style grotesque, but what comes across is a happy, positive experience that cares for the contestants and is eager to share young European talent across the continent.

Death of the Megabeasts (2009)

A random documentary that Radio Times highlighted on More4 some time ago, Death of the Megabeasts felt like Walking With Dinosaurs cross-bred with CSI. Featuring CGI recreations of the megafauna that roamed Australia many thousands of years ago intercut with a technology/archaeology driven mystery to find out why these creatures died out, the documentary made for interesting yet flashy viewing. 

Making a change from dinosaurs, the megafauna included an array of exotic giant lions and kangaroo type critters, and the Australian focus was interesting in the different perspectives it provided. After suggesting various theories and then disproving them, it was ultimately decided that man was to blame for much of the extinction process, in his manipulation of the climate, hunting of the animals for meat, and burning of the grasses that the herbivores fed on. Ending with an environmental message about how our treatment of the planet could impact on the animals living now, the programme generated intriguing questions and shed light on a part of world history I'd hitherto not even considered. 

Julia Bradbury's Iceland Walk (2011)

A couple of weeks ago BBC4 had 'Iceland Week', which consisted over a number of documentaries, films and a sitcom about or made in that wonderful frozen country in the north. The first one we watched was Julia Bradbury's Iceland Walk, which does exactly what it says in the title. I don't know who Julia Bradbury is (I think she's on Countryfile) and on the evidence here I wouldn't make a point of watching her in anything else. 

The best parts of the programme were the gorgeous shots of the barren, verdant or icy Icelandic landscape, coupled with interesting narration about the country and it's geographic features. Julia's work took her around and up the country around the famous volcano that erupted last year and grounded all of Europe's 'planes. Guided by a knowledgable Icelander, Julia walked through Moon-like terrain, waded barefoot through freezing streams and trudged across ashen no-man's-lands between huts that provided overnight shelter. Julia's commentary during the walks consisted mostly of exclaiming about how amazing everything was and looked and didn't venture much beyond bland platitudes or pronouncements. I think if I was walking with her I'd leave her behind somewhere. Other than that, it was a good introduction to Iceland, and for those like me who've been there, a reminder of how great it is and how much I want to go back.

Human Planet (2011)

Human Planet seems like the natural successor to the Life of Mammals/Birds/in Cold Blood strand that David Attenborough has made over the years, taking humans as its subject instead of animals. Filmed with the same gorgeous cinematography as more usual BBC natural history programmes, the show was narrated with some bombast by John Hurt, who I kept imagining was about to launch into the Merlin preamble about magic. The choice of narrator added gravitas but not authority, which Attenborough would have brought, but still this show wasn't about the narration, it was more about the people.

Each show was themed and followed people from around the world in various locations - in the desert, around rivers, in the polar regions, and finally, oddly, in cities - and focussed on feats of endurance or curious methods of finding food and water in seemingly inhospitable environments. Several stories stick in my mind - the communities who catch and kill auks, and then stuff them in a bag to go rotten before eating them; the jungle dwelling children who catch massive tarantulas and then barbeque them in the fire until good enough to eat; the divers who use cheap garden hose to help them breathe underwater; the sulphur miners who risk death every day; the young girl and boy who must spend days walking on a freezing, thawing river just to get to school... Such an array of people and astonishing human behaviour. 


The programme regularly had me gasping in amazement at the lengths people must go to in some areas of the globe just to eat and drink. You wonder why they don't just move somewhere easier, but then some of these skills would be forever lost. Human Planet was always fascinating and looked beautiful, and the 10 minute making of that closed each episode was equal interesting, showing how much patience and endurance the camera crews went through to capture these amazing stories. I'm glad they did.

Madagascar (2011)

I don't watch that many wildlife documentaries, but I was drawn to Madagascar, a three-parter narrated by Sir David Attenborough, for the sheer variety of nature that exists on this African island. The show was pretty amazing, looking gorgeous and full of lots of nuggets of information. There were also a heck of a lot of lemurs! Every other piece featured a lemur. Or a chameleon. They're native to Madagascar you see, and no where else. There were many animals featured that can be found no where else on Earth, outside of zoos. 

The extremes of parched, desert-like areas, mountainous climbs and sheer rock faces present thrilling filmmaking and I really enjoyed the 'how they did that' 10 minute segments that end each episode. They're almost as interesting as the animals contained within! Attenborough lends so much gravitas to these programmes, and although he clearly didn't put the time into this as his other series, only appearing on camera to top and tail the series, his narration is always welcome.