Reviewing Movies

What does a Born-Again Christian do when his body starts telling him he’s gay? This is the moral and intellectual dilemma faced by Brady when he and his puritanical Mother move to the small coastal town of the title. The long-suffering Clifford puts up with Brady’s conflicted attentions because in a small red-necked town he doesn’t have a lot of other alternatives for compatible companionship. It isn’t until Clifford finally gives up and decides to leave town to live with his Father on another continent that Brady finally faces up to the choices before him and finds help from an unexpected source in the person of his pastor. His mother, although not going to the length of casting him out of her home nevertheless is unwilling to attempt to accept the reality that her son may have no choice in coming to terms his homosexual orientation.

The film-makers try to keep the Bible-Thumping to a minimum though dinners in front of a large reproduction of the Last Supper and long passages in church do tend to drag. The movie’s 78 minute running time is padded with a great many scenes of rocky coastline, crashing surf, and blowing grass and flowers. There’s a great deal of homoerotic petting but whether or not the pair ever actually get it on is left up to our imaginations.

Do you remember what it was like to be a hormonally charged nineteen-year-old? Now think what it would be like to become absolute ruler of the most powerful country in the world at that age, be accounted handsome, and have an athletic body. Henry Tudor was the modern equivalent of a rock star and premiere athlete all rolled into one. Not only did he have a boundless sexual appetite but woman were literally lining up to share his bed and as monarch his wish was their command in any case. In deference to modern sensibilities Harry asks each new conquest if she consents before he ravishes her; I doubt the original took such precautions. The young men with whom Harry surrounded himself were no less active. In any case today anyone with that many sexual partners would be subject to any number of venereal diseases not the least of which would be HIV.

We now enjoy what is called a constitutional monarchy. The sovereign still enjoys all the rights and privileges he/she historically held but her Parliament and Ministers exercise those authorities in her stead. In watching The Tudors we get an inside look at how the King’s advisors managed their charge’s absolute power. Since no one man could possibly manage all the detail involved in running a country, let alone an empire and a coterie of foreign diplomats his advisors took care of these details while the king was kept busy going off hunting, jousting, playing games, and chasing skirts. In fact keeping a ready supply of wenches for his dalliance was one sure way of ensuring a favoured position at court.

With so much power to be wielded it should be no surprise that court was rife with no end of rivalries, back stabbing, and intrigue. There is truth to the old saw that one keeps one friends close and one’s enemies closer. Henry may have been king of England but his courtiers were rulers of their own private fiefdoms, held vast wealth, and maintained their own standing armies. It were better if they were at court where they could keep a close eye on one another than at home plotting insurrection behind their fortified castle walls. It is also interesting to note church and state were intricately intertwined as the most powerful temporal authority in England at the time was also the chief prelate.

Much has been made among critics of John Rhys Meyers’ lack of physical presence as Henry and there are times when this becomes jarringly apparent—particularly in such scenes as the joust where he falters in attempting to manage the heavy pole. He looks more like a scholar than a jock. Having seen the original Henry’s suit of armour; this actor would be lost in it. For the most part though, the actors lead you to suspend disbelief and draw you in. This is not a Hollywood production and hence millions were not spent on sets and period costumes. In the scene at Val d’Or, France Henry actually demonstrates that his palace is fake.

If you’re curious CBC has made this series available online at their site but I must say it looks better on a wide-screen TV than inside a browser window.

One Tree Hill is a town where the people surrounding Lucas Scott; either on purpose or by misguided intent seem powerless to stop themselves from causing evil things to happen to one another. In the middle of this high-school soap opera Luc evinces near saint-like qualities. In the main the seventeen-year-olds in this series display a great deal more maturity and centeredness than the adults who are their nominal guardians.

Lucas Scott was raised by his unwed Mother and his Uncle Keith who last season was murdered by Luc’s biological father Dan who is father to Luc’s half-brother Nathan who has emancipated himself from his father and his drug-dependent alcoholic mother and is married to Luc’s best friend Haley. This improbable maze is set among the players of the town’s high school basketball team and their cheerleaders, their coach, their teachers, and their parents.

The force holding all this together is series creator, writer and producer Mark Schwahn. He has created an ensemble cast of characters who draw the audience into their lives and make you care about them as if they were family members. As implausible as it is that any single close-knit group of people could find themselves week after week involved in so much high drama using classic cliff-hanger plot lines the writer keeps one wanting to come back for more.

Using the device of Luc’s diary the writer provides an ongoing background commentary on the events and experiences that surround his characters. Luc’s “girlfriend” Peyton, on the other hand, keeps an online Video Blog. The series is current with all the latest teen-aged fads and their music provides the background for their lives with many popular bands appearing on the show in person. The whole is so seamlessly knit together that I found myself watching all 880 minutes of Season 4 over the New Year’s Holiday in less than four days as with a book one finds oneself incapable of putting down.