Tag: BritBox

BritBox

The Red Shoes (1948)

Throughout September I will be raiding my collection of favourite movies to review one a day, with a focus on overlooked and underappreciated films.

Where to find it: Britbox on Amazon
Length: 135 minutes
Synopsis: Beautiful ballet
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: gorgeous, serious, colourful
What I don’t like about it: long and pretentious

Review:
Featuring a thinly-veiled Ballets Russes, a Diaghilev-type takes full advantage of a young ballerina’s ambition, writing for her the ultimate prima role. Culminating in a 17-minute ballet that shows the conflicts between art and life and the demands put on dancers. It’s pretentious but it’s beautiful.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (2022)

Where to find it: BritBox
Length: Three 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: a mysterious death is investigated by amateurs in rural Wales
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: fun
What I don’t like about it: missable

Review:
Hugh Laurie ably adapts this standalone Agatha Christie mystery into an entertaining if convoluted yarn that doesn’t outstay its welcome. Will Poulter’s limited range is well-hidden behind the affable character of vicar’s son Bobby Jones and Lucy Boynton is charming as his friend, tomboyish aristocrat Lady Frankie Derwent. The cast is rounded out by Hugh’s impressive list of old friends such as Paul Whitehouse, Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): death, murder, hanging, drugs and alcohol