Posts Tagged ‘films’

Last Sunday’s The Reunion programme on Radio 4 was a special on Withnail & I. In the 45 minute show, recorded before a live audience at the BFI, Sue MacGregor chats to Bruce Robinson, Ralph Brown, Richard E Grant and Paul McGann about the film, with a short contribution from Richard Griffiths. You can currently hear the show using the ‘Listen Again’ link on the right of that page, although I don’t know how long it will be there.

(If, like me, you have to install bloody Real Player to listen to it on the BBC site, don’t bother entering fuckrealplayer@bbc.co.uk during the mandatory registration - someone’s already used it. Perhaps fuckrealplayerwhynotopensource@bbc.co.uk or director-general@bbc.co.uk…)

Whilst you’re listening, you could have a look at some recent photos of Sleddale Hall in Cumbria (Crow Crag) and other Withnail locations.

Perhaps best of all, someone’s made their own Withnail & I Action Figure, complete with carrier bag footwear and Camberwell Carrot.

Following on from the Napoleon Dynamite soundboard, someone’s now come up with the Rex Kwan Do soundboard. Of course, you’ll need to discipline your image with these bad-boys too.

Well I’ve just got back after seeing The Return of the King in Brixton and it was very, very good. But not quite as brilliant as I had hoped, to tell the truth.

The acting was first class, the attention to detail was insane, the battle scenes epic, and the special effects flawless, but sadly it did suffer from a certain Hollywood-style dumbing-down. I’m not one of those idiots that thinks Tolkien’s work is too sacred to be adapted or have parts ommitted to fit into a three hour film (me? I’d have had more buxom go-go dancers), but some of the changes did reduce the subtlety and depth of the characters and storyline (not to mention one or two dodgy moments with the script). It wasn’t just a time thing either — Jackson ousted some important scenes with invented bits that weren’t in the book — and although the film felt better balanced and paced the the first two, the ending wasn’t quite right… I won’t put in any spoilers here, suffice to say is that it’s very different from the book in some places (like the Papa Smurf teaming up with Gandalf, and finding out that Smeagol was actually Frodo’s father).

Perhaps I’m just being too picky though; Return of the King was still better than The Two Towers (if not quite as good as Fellowship), and I’ve a feeling the extended version will put right most of my misgivings. It’s certainly destined to become a classic, and is far superior to most of the pap that’s churned out by Hollywood these days. Go and see it.