Today I watched two films. One on the small screen and one on the big screen.
Deciding that I was in the mood for a Hitchcock this afternoon, and instead of watching one of my favourites for the umpteenth time (and this would be no hardship), I thought I would watch one of ones that I hadn't seen. It was a toss up between Topaz and Family Plot, and I chose Topaz, for no particular reason.
I liked it well enough. I would have expected to have enjoy it more than I did, given the subject matter, but something about it wasn't as engrossing as it could or should have been. Annoyingly, I managed to miss his cameo, so I am going to have to watch it again, or at least until he appears (I now know where it is, so this shouldn't be too difficult). From a completist's point of view, I'm glad I watched it, but not sure it will bear repeated viewing. I just don't think his later films are as good as his others - hardly an original observation, I know. But I would rather watch a less good Hitchcock than a lot of films by other, less skillful film-makers.
And the second film? Burn After Reading. I think my afternoon's viewing had put me in the spy mood. I really enjoyed this. It made me laugh out loud. I like the Coen Brothers films a lot (save Raising Arizona, which was just too screwball for me) and think that George Clooney is always great when in their films. It's maybe not vintage Coen Brothers, but it's crazy and fast-paced (once it gets going) and at the end, you just think, rather like the characters, "how the hell did that happen".
Clooney would have made a great Hitchcock hero too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment