revisited revisited

They say 'you can't go home again'. That's how it feels to watch the recent movie release of Brideshead Revisited, when you remember watching the terrific tv mini-series from the 1980's.

There were lots of little things that I liked about the movie... the beautiful cinematography, Emma Thompson, the art deco ocean liner, Emma Thompson, the Brideshead mansion (reprising its role in the earlier miniseries), Greta Scacchi, Emma Thompson, the most amazing sound quality that I've heard on a blu ray disc yet, ... oh, and did I mention Emma Thompson? (ok, it wasn't her finest performance, but even on a bad day, she's fabulous!)

But it just wasn't the same. They had to cram a - what? 8-hour or so mini-series into a 2-and-a-bit hour movie... too much of the fine detail of the story, and most importantly, of the characters, was lost. It ends up being a beautiful cinematic experience to watch, but without the payoff of a great story to go with it. Shame. I wanted it to be much better. This one gets 3 stars on the David-Margaret scale.

Oh, and Anthony Edwards *owns* Sebastian Flyte, so they shouldn't even think about trying this again! :-)