The Proposal (Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds)

(Amazon UK link)

I don’t know how the DVD of ‘The Proposal’ appeared in our collection. Perhaps I saw it at a church book sale; perhaps I bought it at the local Thrift Store. I don’t even know how long we’ve had it on our shelves. But last night we finally decided to watch it. It claimed to be ‘comedy gold’ on the front, and a ‘laugh-out-loud romantic comedy’ on the back. So we hoped for a light evening’s entertainment.

The film features Sandra Bullock as the pushy, controlling Margaret, who is the editor in a New York publishing company, and Ryan Reynolds as her hard-working assistant Andrew. He somehow manages to pander to her every wish, and hasn’t yet been fired.

There’s a bit of humour at the start, as Andrew oversleeps and races his way to the office, with two takeaway coffees that he attempts to hold, but it’s slapstick, making us cringe rather than smile. It quickly becomes clear that everyone dislikes Margaret; messages are sent around the company’s computers when she’s on her way, and when she’s in a particularly bad mood. Andrew clearly dislikes her but hopes for promotion…

Margaret, we learn, is Canadian and her visa has expired. She’s due to be deported until she comes up with a solution… once again coercing Andrew to agree to do something he really doesn’t want to do. He puts himself at risk of a huge fine and imprisonment if he goes ahead, but he stands by Margaret, and then realises he actually has the upper hand. So he starts to negotiate.

Much of the film takes place in Sam’s family home in Alaska. His father Joe (Craig T Nelson) owns most of the local stores, and had hoped that Andrew would stay and take over the business. But he and Andrew have a difficult relationship, and Andrew insists that he’s happy in his work. Andrew’s mother Grace (Mary Steenburgen) is kind and diplomatic, easing the stresses where possible, and Andrew’s grandmother Annie (Betty White) is enthusiastic, lively and rather weird… despite celebrating her 90th birthday when she might be expected to slow down a little.

There’s a marked contrast between Margaret’s solo life (her parents died when she was a teenager and she has no siblings) and Andrew’s extended family and local friends, all of whom care for him despite the tensions with his father. And the film cleverly demonstrates her gradual thawing, with some insecurities showing, and Andrew’s growing strength as he begins to make some decisions.

There are undoubtedly some humorous moments; it’s a light-hearted film that revolves around a bizarre proposal, but I don’t think there was anywhere where we laughed aloud. There’s situational humour, with some nice choreography but there’s a lot of poignancy too, as Margaret and Andrew continue on the path they have agreed, in danger of making his family very upset and angry if they discover the truth.We thought overall that the film was very well done, even if a bit predictable at the end. The chemistry between all the actors - not just the principals - was just right, and the pace excellent.

The rating is 12 which reflects the nature of the story, some minor bad language and nudity (albeit not full frontal). I can’t imagine that this film would be of the slightest interest to children anyway.

We watched the ‘extras’ afterwards. There were a couple of deleted scenes which were well done, but we could see why they were cut as they weren’t necessary. There were also a few outtakes, mostly showing forgotten lines or sudden laughter that shouldn’t have happened, and a commentary from the director and writer. There’s also an alternative ending shown, one which was quite fun, but a bit long-winded.

All in all we thought it well worth seeing, and look forward already to watching it again in a few years time.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Sister Act (Whoopi Goldberg)

(Amazon UK link)

I don’t think we’d heard of the 1992 film ‘Sister Act’ until about seven years ago when a friend took part in a stage production of the same story. I wasn’t able to see it, and wouldn’t have thought much more about it, but another friend mentioned that the film was excellent. And then Amazon recommended it… so, on a visit to the UK, I found an inexpensive DVD.

Last night we watched it, with little idea what to expect. We knew that someone was going to pretend to be a nun, but that was all. It turns out that Whoopi Goldberg - whom we knew very little about - is the main character, a music hall star called Deloris. She’s in a relationship with a dodgy character called Vince (Harvey Keitel) who is married to someone else, and refuses to leave his wife.

Vince, it turns out, is the leader of a dangerous mob, and Deloris witnesses a terrible crime. She demands police protection, and is sheltered (much to her disgust) at a convent. The Mother Superior is a caring but strict and traditional person, brilliantly portrayed by Maggie Smith. Deloris does not want to conform but realises it’s for her safety, and only for a few weeks until she testify against Vince and his cronies at a trial…

There’s a lot of humour in this film, as the independent, sassy Deloris questions the rules, makes friends with some of the other nuns, and eventually finds herself involved with the choir. Unfortunately the choir has a reputation for terrible, tuneless singing…

There’s quite a bit of music in this film, although I’m not sure it could be classed as a musical, exactly. And there’s a strong religious - Catholic - theme, done extremely well. The other nuns are devout, if a little frustrated at times that their order is so inward-looking rather than getting out into the locality and meeting people. The priest is broad-minded and caring, the Mother Superior willing to admit when she’s wrong, and open - eventually - to changing her attitudes. There’s a lot of love, in the best sense of the word.

We thought it extremely well done, very well cast, and with a good storyline. The rating is PG which reflects the lack of any nudity and only minimal bad language, although there are occasional references to sex. There are chases involving guns and some shooting, but no gore or physical violence is portrayed, though it’s clear what happens in a couple of cases. It’s unlikely to be of interest to anyone under the age of about twelve or thirteen anyway.

Definitely recommended for a light evening’s viewing with an unusual storyline.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Lark Rise to Candleford TV series (Olivia Hallinan)

(Amazon UK link)

We were given the full box set of ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ for Christmas 2018. It wasn’t something I had put on my wishlist, and I thought at first that it was an error. My father, however, told me that he had very much liked the series when it was broadcast, and thought I would too. I thanked him, and put it in our to-be-watched drawer, and there it sat until April last year when we decided to start watching.

I’m not sure either of us expected very much, but the BBC is good at period dramas, and we thought we might at least watch two or three episodes, to see what it was about. We did not expect to get drawn into the story, so much so that we watched at least one episode per week, sometimes two, until we finally reached the end last night. I feel like I’ve said goodbye to friends, as we took the DVD out.

The series is loosely based on a book of the same name by Flora Thompson, charting her life in a village in Oxfordshire towards the end of the 19th century. Flora’s character is that of a young girl called Laura in the series, expertly played by Olivia Hallinan. She is the oldest of five children living in a cottage in the fictional village of Lark Rise.

Her parents, Robert (Brendan Coyle) and Emma (Claudie Blakly) are an excellent couple, with some disagreements, some heartfelt discussions, and a lot of love. They have agreed that it’s time for Laura to go out to work. But as she’s bright - she learned to read at a young age, and writes in a journal every day - they are sending her to work for Emma’s cousin Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha) in the nearby town of Candleford. Dorcas is the postmistress, and her other employee is Thomas (Mark Heap) who is hard-working and full of religious fervour.

There are other characters who come into all of most of the four seasons: in Candleford we get to know the sisters Ruby and Pearl, who run a dressmaking establishment, and the vicar’s daughter Margaret who is rather keen on Thomas. In Lark Rise, Emma and Robert’s neighbours are the elderly Queenie and Twister. Their other neighbours are the Arliss family: Caroline (Dawn French) is feckless, lacks self-control and drinks too much… her husband is away at sea most of the time, and the care of the family falls on her eldest son Alf (John Dagleish), who is Laura’s best friend and not too keen on her going up in the world by working at Candleford Post Office.

The stories weave around these main folk, introducing others, many of whom appear in just one or two episodes, although others come to stay: Millie the maid (Ruby Bentall), the boy Sydney (Edward Darnell-Hayes), Daniel the journalist (Ben Aldridge) and Gabriel (Richard Harrington) all become significant characters by the end.

As a piece of social history, it is superb. We watched some of the ‘extras’ which are distributed amongst the DVDs, mainly in the second series, and were astonished at the amount of detail that went into the constructing of the sets, and (for instance) making Lark Rise look like December for the Christmas episode that was filmed in August. The costumes, the interactions, the local customs and the hard work of farming felt authentic, and were shown without any pity - indeed, the advent of the railway and mechanical farming tools are not welcomed, despite their potentially easing some of the burden of farming by hand.

But the series is essentially about the people. Unlike many period dramas, there are no upper class folk living in luxury; there’s a squire and his wife who feature in the earlier series, but the squire, at least, is friendly - perhaps too friendly with one individual - and understands some of the needs and stresses of the ordinary working folk. There’s some tension between the business-people of Candleford and the farming community of Lark Rise, some of whom struggle to put food on the table and are often behind with their rent. But the Lark Rise folk are proud; they want to work (other than Twister, perhaps) and are reluctant to accept any kind of help or charity.

Since I haven't read the book, I have no idea how close the people in the TV series are to Flora Thompson's originals. Fans of the book might find it difficult to watch, since I understand that the story-lines are mostly very different. But it doesn't claim to be a true adaptation of the book, it's a series based on it.

It’s difficult, in retrospect, to say just why we both loved this series so much - all I can say is, if you have any interest in period drama, or character-based stories with realistic people and some humour as well as some quite poignant scenes (including one very depressing episode) then I would highly recommend this series.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

The Box of Delights (Devin Stanfield)

(Amazon UK link)

I knew it was a few years since we acquired the DVD of ‘The Box of Delights’. It's a six-part adaptation of the book by the same name written about a hundred years ago by John Masefield. I was startled to realise, on searching my Amazon lists, that we were given this DVD for Christmas 2011 - eleven years ago - and that it’s been sitting in our to-be-watched drawer all this time.

But on New Year’s Day, we decided to watch something in the afternoon for a change. We looked at our Christmas DVD collection, and chose this one, knowing we had plenty of time - and that, if it turned out to be something we didn’t want to see, we could stop after one episode.

It turned out to be an extremely well-made film, if a tad long-winded in places. The hero is a boy called Kay (Devin Stanfield) who must be about eleven. He’s on his way back home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays when he encounters an old man called Mr Hawlings (Patrick Troughton) with a friendly dog at a station. There’s an instant rapport, then Kay has to run to get his second train. On that he meets two rather less pleasant characters. They are dressed as clergymen but cheat him out of some money.

Kay starts getting messages about wolves running, and an old lady with a star ring. It’s a little confusing - perhaps I should have read the book first, but somehow it has never appealed - and is thrown into some exciting, sometimes tense adventures. It’s hard to know who to trust, at first; but the film does a very good job at distinguishing the ‘bad’ guys by evil grimaces, and camera action that distorts their faces.

The film was made in 1984 so the special effects look rather basic and dated now, but they were cutting edge technology at the time, very cleverly integrated into the film. A picture comes to life with a waterfall that moves, for instance, and a mule that becomes real. With today’s CGI and other computer techniques it would probably have been quite straightforward, but the 1984 version is remarkably well done.

There was one sequence, in the second episode (as far as I recall) that was animated entirely, after Kay meets someone called Herne the Hunter. I didn’t understand this sequence, nor why it was included, unless to demonstrate that there are always enemies about. But although it was nicely done, it didn’t take the story any further, other than introducing Herne, but with no explanation as to who he was, or what his relevance is (though he does appear again later when Kay needs help).

There’s some violence in the book, and some tension - I kept wondering when Kay was going to be spotted as he observed or listened to different ‘bad’ guys plotting and, at times, giving monologues. There’s a dramatic escape for a lot of people towards the end, although I was a little bewildered as to how people imprisoned for two days, splashing through dirty water, and trudging through snow were clean, dry and singing Christmas carols without any warm baths, change of clothes or even hot drinks. Suspending reality for a fantasy film is fine. I had no problem with the idea of a magical box that enabled people to shrink in size, or move at speed. But somehow the lack of dirt or damp felt like a plot hole.

It’s undoubtedly a Christmas show. It was broadcast over six weeks with the final one on Christmas Eve of 1984 and was apparently very well received by children of all ages, caught up in the magic and mystery of the story. The whole thing takes place over just a few days, culminating in a huge midnight service at the cathedral.

I was a bit disappointed with the very final scene which I was not expecting and which made it all feel rather like cheating.. although it’s apparently left more open than in the book by the presence of two people sitting in the station. I think I prefer an open-ended finish than the one Masefield wrote.

That apart, it’s a classic ‘good vs evil’ story with an exciting climax, and the unusual factor in the ‘evil’ guys being apparently respectable clergymen. Some of it looks dated now - such as the fights with wolves, which clearly didn’t involve any actual or even computer-generated wolves - but some of it is very well done. The acting is excellent, and the tension real.

We hadn’t expected the ‘extras’ to be anything more than lists or photos, given the era of the series, so were very pleasantly surprised to find three archive scenes from the TV shows ‘Blue Peter’, ‘Pebble Mill at One’ and ‘Take Two’ in which some of the actors were interviewed, and some of the technicalities of effects were discussed - I thought them rather more interesting than many ‘making of…’ extras which tend to be a bit long-winded and sometimes self-indulgent.

I would definitely recommend ‘The Box of Delights’ for adults or children of about eight and older, who like action stories, either to watch in one three-hour session, or as individual half-hour episodes.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews