Change Your Image
carson120
Reviews
Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar nonsense
I haven't sat through such a load of tosh in a long time. The film's central thesis is that mankind has screwed up the planet and it can only be saved by American science and technology. Nothing unusual then for a Hollywood epic. At least God and religion weren't thrown into its specious mix, although love is, in the shape of the central father-daughter relationship. Of course the father is an all-American hero whose daughter grows up to be a brilliant scientist. However, he has to leave her behind, so that later, with her help, he can save mankind. It's the Right-Stuff meets Contact meets Buck Rogers? Meanwhile, the rest of us are left starving, and choking on our own pollution. Other critics have pointed out the holes in the film's plot but to my mind it's worst sin is its total lack of humour. Oh, I forgot, it had talking robots who could occasionally be sarcastic. Now there's an original idea! I split my sides laughing. Poor old Carl Sagan would be turning in his grave, if he had lived long enough to see this humourless piece of nonsense.
Dag (2010)
Only those who favour solitude can be a true friend
From the land of Ibsen, comes DAG. A comic hero/philosopher in the shape of marriage guidance counsellor Dag, whose philosophy of life advocates living alone to that of being married. This comic incongruity is played to maximum exaggeration when he confronts his startled clients with observations that marriage 'represses' your true self, and that divorce is better than marital misery. As with all comic caricatures there is a degree of truth in a philosophy that chooses to ignore such fanciful ideas like love and friendship. Of course, Dag practices what he preaches in his high security 'man-cave', where his solitary pleasures, after spending his day advising clients, are eating junk food, drinking, and listening to music. These are occasionally disturbed by his cuddly 'friend' Benedict whose inability to keep his fly zipped constantly lands him in hot water. Whereas, Dag appears to be more choosy in his sexual partners, as his well-intentioned sister (who sets Dag up with blind dates) is always finding out. That is until Dag meets his sister's friend: Eva.
After only two episodes I'm hooked on this dark and satirical take on the comedy of the sexes. Can Eva find out if 'loner' Dag has a heart? Will she become the soul-mate that his sister craves for him? As I already have a crush on the elfin-like Tuva Novotny, who plays Eva, this is a no-brainer for me. However, it will be fun watching their verbal and physical foreplay as the series develops. Needless to say this ageing misanthrope loved it. More please!!
Detectorists (2014)
A diamond in the dross of TV sitcoms
Andy and Lance live in a rural English backwater that on the surface seems boring and uneventful. Mackenzie Crook's genius is to show us the comic gold that lies beneath. I'm not talking of the Saxon gold that our two heroes are searching for, but the ups and downs they face on their journey through life.
While gently making fun of our two under-achievers, the humour never belittles them. Their male obsessions are given a dry, melancholic and often wistful comic voice. Andy and Lance are well meaning, but they can also be naive and boring, loyal and selfish or just total dick heads. However, they are also strangely endearing.They are like us and we learn to love them despite their faults and eccentricities. Loved it!