Review of Bedazzled (1967)

Bedazzled (1967) is a British dark comedy/fantasy film, that tells a story about a miserable man that sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for seven wishes.

Directed by Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Blame It on Rio (1984)), who is mostly known for his work on musicals.

Written by Peter Cook (Yellowbeard (1983), Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979)) and Dudley Moore (30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)), who both are the two leads of the film.

Starring: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch, Eleanor Bron, Barry Humphries and others.

I must say that I saw the remake with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley before this. And I like it a lot, I can see why it wasn’t critically acclaimed, but still I enjoy it every time I watch it.

So I thought I’d like the original at least as much. But I did not.

I mean, yeah, some parts were ok, like the joke they reused in the remake, when the protagonist wishes for a lollipop and Satan just takes him to a shop. Again I smiled at that. But I found odd the weirdly nightmarish tone.

Say what you will, but at least in the remake I really believed the main character would want to sell his soul, but here the motivation to make this faustian deal didn’t convince me.

There’s not much of physical transformation, so Dudley Moore has to do these relatively different characters using just his acting, that’s a chance to show off his acting, but I wasn’t too impressed. Peter Cook was more convincing as the Devil himself, doing his best well-meaning millionaire playboy impression. Liz Hurley is a hotter Satan, though. There’s not a total lack of hotties, Raquel Welch is just stunningly beautiful.

The film is unnecessarily blunt with the problems protagonist’s wishes present. And in most of them the love interest even barely shows up. Like, for example, there’s a scene where by mistake Dudley Moore is turned into a fly and then it proceeds to a scene that attempts to combine animation and live-action and the result is just miserable.

The grim tone and unnecessarily large involvement of Christianity in combination with dated satire,  overall mean-spiritedness, left me feeling just depressed and that isn’t what I want from a comedy with a concept that’s this gimmicky.

Overall, I found myself bored and getting angry at the movie as it went on. It wasn’t funny or thought provoking or anything I would expect it to be. Definitely not recommended. Stick with the remake. Sure, it’s stupid, but at least it’s fun.

I'll take the Satan that's on the left, thank you very much.

Review of Another Year (2010)

Another Year (2010) is British drama/comedy film.

Directed and written by Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake).

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley and others.

Yeah, I want to make clear that this isn’t going to be exclusively horror movie review blog, that’s why I started it out with a review of 12 Angry Men (1997), because I knew that soon most of the reviews will be for horror films.

If you’ve been waiting for a movie that’s target audience is almost strictly middle-aged (or older) people, then this movie is for you. Sadly, I don’t fall into that category.

I found watching this movie incredibly boring. This is the kind of movie that gets sent to film festivals and the people there don’t expect to be entertained, because they’re probably film snobs thinking that all movies should be artsy, self-indulgent emotional journeys. I’m not saying this particular movie tries to be these things or that artsy films are never good, but they do have a certain audience. Not surprisingly it was well received by film critics. Outside of film festivals this movie is a perfect thing to watch on the TV, in the evening, by a couple not unlike the one in this movie.

The movie was way too slow-paced, the realization that an hour in, it is still basically exposition and I keep sitting there and wondering if the movie is about a happy couple just having guests over didn’t make me exactly excited for the rest of the film.

However, it does pick up in the second half of it’s 130 minute runtime. It turns into this rather sad portrayal of different types of relationships, which sometimes is uncomfortably awkward, I guess, because life is too. But even when it seems to try to be funny it’s so bittersweet that you don’t feel like laughing about what is going on-screen, but about your own experiences. In a sense that’s not bad.

The actors were ok, these usual British people, Jim Broadbent was good in this solid feeling kind of way. And Lesley Manville was great as a woman who just won’t accept that she’s not in her prime anymore. Also it had David Bradley, best known as Argus Filch in the Harry Potter movies. Ruth Sheen looks a bit like a turkey.

My main problem with the film was that it seemed to lack any point, was kind of mean and only did something with just one character, so while I started to enjoy the second half of the film, I found it rather unsatisfying. It left me with no lingering feeling, I probably will never talk to anyone about this film and soon when I’ll hear the title, it won’t be ringing any bells.

Gobble, gobble!