A British drama written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn and Phyllis Logan.
An adopted daughter finds her birth mother. The mother's brother runs a photography business and has a run-in with his old boss. The identity of the adopted daughter is revealed at a family gathering. But seriously, Brits sit around and have tea.
More slice of life from Mike Leigh and Timothy Spall. They have really grown on me. The plot (as always) was minimalist and uneventful. The characters were developed quite well, as usual. It was interesting that black characters were included this time. The video and audio were good. Everyone knows I can't get enough of British accents. This was all about the mother of the adopted daughter and her emotions. Overall, not too shabby and as expected. I rate it o.k.
A British French German biographical drama written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Timothy Spall.
The later life of the painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner is depicted.
I thought this was pretty cool. I like the work of Mike Leigh and Timothy Spall in most cases. They have grown on me as I've been watching through these films. The plot was sparse. It's a Mike Leigh kind of thing, but there were some definitive events. There was a scene in the art gallery that I found unbelievable. The artists were working on pictures that should have been done already. The characters were all very British and Mr. Spall took the lead of Mr. Turner admirably. He starts out old and only gets older. The video was good. I liked how some of the wide shots of landscapes looked like Turner's paintings. The audio was a little hit and miss. Some of the dialogue had too much dynamic range. The lower end of that range was lost on me and the thick accents did not help this. Overall, a contemplative, beautiful and well-acted film. I rate it good.
A British comedy drama written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent and Timothy Spall.
A family has their two adult daughters living at home with them. The father buys a trailer snack shop that is in poor condition. One daughter fucks her boyfriend during the day and wallows in bulimia at night. A friend of the family opens a restaurant. He gets drunk, as does the father (separately) and the next day, the father falls at work, breaking his leg.
Ah, more "slice of life" from Mike Leigh. The plot was minimalistic, but the characters were entertaining when they weren't crying or puking. I was shocked to find that the daughters were both daughters and adult. One looks like a boy and the other looks like she's about 11 or 12 years old. I was wondering "who lets these little kids smoke and drink?". Video looked really good. I saw lots of correct exposure with the shots clearly showing what was going on. The audio was decent. I seriously can't get enough of those British accents and slang terms like "taking the piss" and "innit?". Overall, not too shabby, but I like more to happen in a movie. Sorry for all the spoilers, but it's not like there's much there to spoil! I rate this adequate. It's worth watching if you have nothing else to do.
A British drama directed by Mike Leigh, starring Timothy Spall.
A family living in an apartment building has problems. The father is a lazy taxi driver, the son is lazy and morbidly obese and the daughter is a cleaner at a nursing home whose elderly co-worker is trying to get a date with. Their neighbors have problems as well.
This was basically a two hour treatise on human suffering. The plot went downhill the whole way and the characters degenerated into the tragic conclusion. It wasn't good enough to notice any visual style and the dialogue was barely audible. This is a common problem today: video with bad audio. I watch stuff and think "did they even look at the waveform for this?". Player audio normalization can only correct so much and the errors are so gigantic. Maybe that is my calling: audio technician for videos. My little thing to do that would make the world a better place. I had hoped for better, but such a problem cannot be ignored. Overall, this was bordering on painful to watch. According to the title, this family chose nothing and so did the sound technician. I rate it bad.
