Reviews
Always Outnumbered (1998)
Simply Brilliant
A beautiful piece of cinema - don't be put off by the fact that it's listed as a television production - it has more heart and soul and craftsmanship than any fifty contemporary Hollywood films. Fishburne's portrayal of this very intricate character is one of the great male screen performances of his generation. I'll confess that I had more than a few tears rolling down my cheeks at the end of the film. Once again ignoring exceptional small-scale work, the Academy Awards and movie media in general proved themselves to be so much debilitating, meaningless, commercial rubbish by ignoring it. Resist the dumbing down of America and support films like this and, for example, "The Station Agent."
The Shining (1997)
Better than Kubrick's, to my astonishment
I bought this DVD out of sheer boredom and got in return one of the best small screen films I've ever seen. I found it absolutely riveting, superbly acted and shot, and it's subtle shift into madness is far more effective than the 1980 film. Now don't scream at me all you Kubrick fanatics but I find this version superior in every way.
First, while I love Jack Nicholson, he was way over the top, and Shelly Duvall was (let's be generous) horribly miscast, a cartoon character at best. Steven Weber's performance, while perhaps not as wildly entertaining, is much more disturbing in its subtle transitions. All the cast are excellent but the film is stolen by the underappreciated actress Rebecca DeMornay, who hits a home run in this multilayered performance. Really stunning effort and genuinely moving.
The production values are easily as high as in the Kubrick version, you can feel the emptiness of the Overlook at the back of your neck, you can hear the creak of the floorboards.....and it takes a hell of a director to make the mere sight of a ball rolling down a hallway truly frightening.
Great stuff. Not at all what you'd expect from a tv miniseries. I only wish I'd seen it on a big screen.