Right, I'm going to whizz through these because I still have to do an entry on Australia and I just found Frozen River online so I want to get both this and the Luhrmann out of the way, watch Melissa Leo (because it has not got a release date here and probably only will if she gets oscar nominated and then it'll be 6 months down the line).
A couple of Agatha Christies to mention, the first was Death on the Nile, which I've wanted to see for years. Accomplished cast, but Mia Farrow was appalling and Angela Lansbury was so over the top she managed to make Bette Davis look subtle in comparison - that hadn't happened for 35 years! I think my dislike of this stems from the story itself, I found it tired and somewhat predictable. Peter Ustinov was okay but nothing revolutionary. I also saw Agatha, which is a poor man's Julia (coincidentally also starring Vanessa Redgrave) - this was better, but flawed. Rednose was nicely restrained and Dustin Hoffman quite charming but this "real life fantasy" never became as vital or artful as Julia and pales in comparison.
Lots of tv to talk about now because there's been an Ian McKellen Shakespeare season and a period drama season on various small digital channels. I videoed the McKellen Richard III but haven't got round to it yet (talk about that at a later date), I did see A Performance of Macbeth though because McKellen + Dench = mandatory. It was alright, very well acted by the leads (especially Dench's sleepwalking scene which is simply phenomenal) but the overt stylisation doesn't do much for it and it does get rather turgid.
Next a trio of re-adaptations of film classics. I caught the BBC's remake of The 39 Steps - it starred Rupert Penry-In love with Himself, whoops, I mean Jones, hahaha. It was quite good and the relationship between the leading pair was nicely done but it's not a patch on the original and the ending is absolutely ridiculous and spoils the film. I also watched the three part Andrew Davies adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, starring Hans Matheson and Keira Knightley. Both have come on a long way in the last five or six years as neither were good in this. This is pre-Pirates Keira and she was so incredibly poor, just all pouting and no emoting whatsoever, Matheson was just as inept, showing none of the charm he gave us in this year's Tess of the D'Urbervilles - the saving grace was Alexandra Maria Lara who was absolutely divine, she's the only aspect of this version that surpasses the original David Lean film.
Another one on the ITV3 Period Drama season was Rebecca, starring Emilia Fox and Charles Dance. This was a 4 hour adaptation and is a very good watch. The cast are all good (especially Faye Dunaway as Mrs. Van Hopper at the beginning) and it does work in its own right. What this and Doctor Zhivago do though is merely highlight the economy of storytelling in the original films. Both tell their stories in significantly less time but in certain areas deliver more characterisation than certain plot strands in their television counterparts. Right that'll have to do for now, on with Australia then Frozen River.