Weekend viewing

[altariel]

In what could well be a massive lapse of taste, we both really enjoyed the remake of Battlestar Galactica, which we recorded last week and watched on Saturday evening. The script was very absorbing, the SFX were great (loved the hand-held camera shots in space), and all the characters and performances were good. I gather there was some fan controversy about it being not quite sequel, not quite remake (fan controversy at remaking an old show - surely not!), but I don't remember much detail about the original so it didn't spoil my viewing. (And it glossed over what I can imagine are the really cheesy bits of a 70s SF show.) Apparently it's going to series - hope it keeps up this standard. Even Mr A. liked it and he usually doesn't like space opera.

Edited to add: Ron Moore is co-writer of the BSG remake; I tend to think of him as 'Mr Klingon', but surfing-not-working this afternoon I was reminded that he did the rewrites on the utterly, utterly brilliant DS9 episode In the Pale Moonlight, in which Garak does bad things to Sisko's head. Oh, and wrote Tacking Into the Wind, the Cardassian elements of which are amongst my favourite bits of the whole show.

Sunday night we watched 24 Hour Party People, a biopic about Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan), and the Manchester/Hacienda scene. As anyone who remembers Granada Reports can attest, Tony Wilson (as well as being responsible for the Happy Mondays) is the most revoltingly smug individual. (The film's tagline is: "Genius. Poet. Twat.") I don't understand why I haven't got round to watching this before: it was extremely funny and well-scripted, and when you weren't laughing at what an arse Tony Wilson was and how perfect Steve Coogan's impression of him was, you could spend the rest of the time spotting the various cameos (Andy Serkis, Christopher Eccleston as a wino spouting Boethius, even Tony Wilson himself at one point). I'm not going to try to claim nostalgia points (all of this insanity was going on twenty miles down the road while I was studiously hunched over the dining room table with my A-level Latin revision) but it was a hugely enjoyable film.

Comments

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

The film sounds fab! Somehow, I'd managed not to realise what it was. Thanks for the write-up.

It'll be interesting to see how the BSG series goes, too.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I bet you'll get a laugh from all the bits of Granada Reports.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

That's the key bit that I hadn't realised! It'll be worth watching it just for that, never mind how good the rest of your write-up sounded.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

His interview with Sir Keith Joseph is particularly entertaining.