TV and Movies
When it comes to movies, the classics always come first. It makes sense, doesn’t it? To become classics, they must have something that make them endure over the years.
Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, is a dark, but romantic drama about a love triangle between two young professional dance partners, Johnny and Gilda, and a rich, cruel old man. Gilda is one of the immortal classics, Notorious, Spellbound, Casablanca and Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes are others.
I have other favorites like The Scarlet Pimpernel, My Beautiful Laundrette, Educating Rita, Romuald et Juliette, Trois hommes et un couffin, L’Union Sacrée (Brothers In Arms), Angel Farm (Änglagård) – and the sequel. All the Indiana Jones movies belong to this category. In the past couple of years, I’ve come to like Starsky and Hutch, Mysterious Skin, Transamerica, Quinceanera, Monsoon Wedding and many others.
I can also mention Cutthroat Island, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Stargate, Junior, Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, Virtuosity, Never been kissed, Aliens 2, Back to the Future, The Karate Kid, Gattaca, Sleepers, Practical Magic, Strange Days, Chocolat, Italian for Beginners and many, many more.
Yes, you’re right. I like a variety of movies, not too serious, but not too much action either. Also, the humor can’t be too sick, I draw the line at American Pie, which isn’t a favorite of mine anyway.
Yahoo Serious, the Australian actor and producer, has created a number of unforgettable movies. I love his brand of humor, but I guess it’s not to everyone’s taste. Why, I can’t understand. The first movie he made was Young Einstein. Then came Reckless Kelly. Now he’s made another one, but so far, I haven’t been able to find it. He’s really great looking, he can sing, and he’s a good actor, but that’s not all, he makes his own movies too. A totally unique personality.
Of course, movies aren’t everything. There’s tv too. I like some sitcoms, like Dharma and Greg, Will and Grace, Veronica’s Closet, Katie Joplin, Grace Under Fire, That 70’s Show.
Other series I like are Three, Lexx, 2030 CE, Lifeforce, Degrassi (Junior High, High and the new series) and Ready or Not.
I’m not sure how to classify some of my other favorite series, such as the Danish Hotellet (At the Faber), Judging Amy and State of Play (brilliant in every way – must see!!!). Lately I’ve started watching the American tv series Medium, starring Patricia Arquette. This is a very interesting series which doesn’t cross the line into sentimentality or gets too scary. The British series Afterlife, is about roughly the same thing and some excellent actors star in it.
An old classic – so classic that it’s been parodied by the British comedians French and Saunders, is The House of Elliot. There was a rerun of it a couple of years ago. Very nice series. Speaking of classics, I just have to mention I, Claudius. However, since I’ve studied ancient history, I have to point out that Claudius wasn’t nearly as noble as he is portrayed in the series. Some of the other emperors weren’t nearly as horrible as they appear in the series. That goes especially for Tiberius. I really liked short series The Amazing Mrs Pritchard too. It’s fun and deceptively simple, but I think there’s a message underneath the humor too.
When it comes to cop series, I love Rex, a cop’s best friend. Ok, so it isn’t the best cop series in the world. There are compensations, in the form of sexy guys, a cute dog, the beautiful city of Vienna, and the added bonus of being able to practice my German. Homicide – life on the street was a good cop series too. I especially love British series of all kinds, cop series too. I could mention Midsomer Murders, Second Sight, Touching Evil (the earlier seasons), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Silent Witness. Young Lions (excellent Australian series, with gorgeous actors) and the American Without a Trace, Cold Case and Veronica Mars. I’d also like to mention the Danish series Unit One and The Eagle – A Crime Odyssey.
I’m crazy about sci fi series, like Roswell, the X files (the earlier seasons, until Mulder left and Doggett showed up), Star Trek, especially TNG and Voyager, First Wave, Sliders, Prey, Stargate SG1, the X files spinoff, Lone Gunmen and many others. The new British Dr Who series is quite good too and so is the spinoff – Torchwood.
Finally, I’m a big fan of historic series, like Robin of Sherwood, Hornblower (until Archie Kennedy was killed), Heartbeat and all the Jane Austens, and similar classics turned into tv series or movies. Band of Brothers is more like a documentary, but still good. Since I love to study modern history, American Dreams is really interesting.
There are times when I feel really depressed about tv-series and movies. It seems there’s nothing but ‘reality series’ and game shows. And Hollywood movies tend to be all the same these days. As late as in the 1970’s or even into the 90’s, some movies were very different. They even had some kind of message. I’m glad there are other countries – especially the UK, France, Germany and Italy, but also Spain and Latin America.
Swedish and other Nordic movies are of a mixed quality to say the least. Maybe it’s time we started cooperating a lot more, maybe also with Estonia. Then we might become a larger culture and produce better tv series and movies.
