The magic of Belle Isle (Morgan Freeman)

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It’s over ten years since we watched ‘The magic of Belle Isle’. I had forgotten most of the story, but knew it featured Morgan Freeman, who is always excellent. We wanted something relaxing to watch, and decided on this 2012 film.

We were almost immediately captivated. 

Monty Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman) is a former novelist who was quite well-known for his western adventures. But life has not treated him well, and he’s lost both his faith and his mojo. He hasn’t written for years and has become an alcoholic. He’s in a wheelchair - we don’t learn why until much later in the film - and is both angry and depressed.

Monty’s nephew Henry (Kenan Thompson) persuades him to stay in a beach house, dog-sitting for the summer. He sets up Monty’s typewriter, hoping that the tranquillity of the location might persuade him to write again. 

Grease (Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta)

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It’s over twenty years since we watched the DVD of the 1978 film ‘Grease’. We saw it at the cinema in the late 1970s, and then acquired the DVD in 2005 when we started collecting them. We watched it soon afterwards. But it’s been sitting on a shelf since then. I remembered the basic outline of the story, but had forgotten most of the details. It was clearly time to rewatch it.

We meet Sandy (Olivia Newton John) on a beach in the United States, saying a long farewell to her holiday romance boyfriend, Danny (John Travolta). These principal actors must have been 30 and 24 respectively, but are quite believable as 17-year-olds about to embark on their final year of high school. 

Sandy is Australian, and expects to return home with her parents. But plans change, and she enrols at the local high school, not knowing that it’s the one attended by Danny. But he’s in a group of friends who are quite tough and don’t treat girls particularly well, so when they do finally meet, he’s distant and abrupt with her. 

Flipper (Elijah Wood)

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It’s over twenty years since we watched the family film ‘Flipper’ about a teenage boy and his special relationship to a dolphin. I didn’t remember much about it, other than that it was a somewhat bittersweet ending with some tension along the way.

I had quite forgotten that the show stars Elijah Wood as fifteen-year-old Sandy, well before he became a household name as Frodo in the Lord of the Rings series. He was apparently prolific as a child actor, and plays the part of the somewhat fed-up Sandy very competently.

Sandy’s parents, we quickly learn, are separating, and they have sent Sandy to stay with his uncle, Porter (Paul Hogan), for the summer. Porter lives in a ramshackle building on the coast of Florida, and mostly lives on canned food, which he acquires in bulk from various ships. He doesn’t much want someone around, and Sandy doesn’t want to be there, but when Sandy tries to run away Porter follows him and brings him back.

All creatures great and small series 1 (Christopher Timothy)

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Although we’ve had some DVD sets of the 1980s TV adaptation of ‘All creatures great and small’ on our shelves for many years, we’ve never sat down and watched them through. So we decided to make that our next ‘light’ DVD watching after finishing the fifth series of Dad’s Army in the middle of April. 

This TV series was based on the books by James Herriot, and produced by the BBC. I watched some of them when they were first broadcast, but don’t think I’ve seen the series since. It looks quite dated in style, with the almost square layout of the screen, and it’s not as sharp as modern shows. Perhaps there are remastered editions of this, but ours must have been bought at least twenty years ago. I understand that another series was made a few years ago, too. 

The theme tune was immediately recognisable to me, but I’d forgotten how the series started: a rather nervous James (Christopher Timothy), smartly suited, is on a bus on his way to a job interview. He arrives, only to find that his prospective boss Seigfried (Robert Hardy) is out, and the housekeeper Mrs Hall (Mary Hignet) is not expecting him. But he gets thrown into local conversation, then goes out with Siegfried when he gets back, and - unsurprisingly - is offered the job. There’s a slightly stressful ending to the first episode as he is threatened with a possible lawsuit..

The shack (Sam Worthington)

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It’s seventeen years since I read the bestselling Christian novel ‘The Shack’, which caused some controversy in American evangelical circles. I recalled disliking the first section which was cliché-ridden and described a heart-breaking family tragedy. But it got better. The main part was unexpected,  inspiring, and moving in places. 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to see the film that was based on - or, at least, inspired by - the book, which was made in 2017. But my husband acquired the blu-ray, so we decided to watch it last night. 

The opening is quite disturbing; 13-year-old Mack (Carson Reaume) lives with a seriously abusive father who drinks too much and becomes violent. This is hidden behind an overly-religious front, demanding that children obey their parents, and expecting his wife to obey him. When Mack’s mother can’t take it any more, she leaves, and Mack takes matters into his own hands. 

A hard day's night (The Beatles)

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We’ve had the DVD of the classic film ‘A hard day’s night’ on our shelves for years. I have no idea how or when we acquired it. But last night we decided, at last, that we would watch it. We knew nothing about it, other than that it featured The Beatles.

The film was made in 1964, but was in black-and-white. This didn’t worry us, after a moment’s initial surprise. And while there is, of course, quite a bit of Beatles music featured, the film doesn’t feel like a standard musical. Instead, it’s a story - fictional, but based loosely on the kinds of things that might have happened - starring the four Beatles as themselves.

We first see them chased and almost mobbed by screaming young women, but getting onto a train with their manager Norm (Norman Rossington) and his sidekick Shake (John Junkin). They are also accompanied by Paul’s grandfather (Wilfred Bramble). I could not understand the frequent references to Grandfather as ‘a very clean man’, until we watched one of the ‘extras’. Apparently he was better known in a sitcom from the same era, ‘Steptoe and Son’, where he played an elderly man who was known for being very grubby. 

I capture the castle (Romola Garai)

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It’s over twenty years since we watched the DVD of the film ‘I capture the castle’. I remembered that it was based on a book by Dodie Smith, and that it involved a writer who wasn’t writing. I also recalled that he got locked in a room by his children. But that’s all I could remember of it.

I had no idea until we started watching that the father in question is played - brilliantly - by Bill Nighy. He is perfect for the role, with the typical balance of grumpiness and kindness that this actor often displays. However the real star is 17-year-old Cassandra (Romola Garai), one of his daughters, who narrates the story, while writing it in her notebooks. 

We learn from flashbacks that her father published a novel twelve years before the story begins, and it was a major success. But he had a bad temper, and was in prison for a while; we only learn later what happened. Cassandra thinks they were a happy family when she was young, and recalls the day they saw a somewhat tumbledown castle, and decided that they would live there.