Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post Reply
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Big Magilla »

I finally saw it.

Not having read the book, I can't talk about missed opportunity in depictions of Peter Turner's family. The only thing I didn't like about it was the frenetic structure. One minute we're in Liverpool, next minute we're in Hollywood, then back in Liverpool, then in New York and so on.

The performances of Annette Bening as the dying star and Jamie Bell as her last lover, though, are among the best of the year. Bening is right up there with Frances McDormand, Saoirse Ronan and Sally Hawkins and Jamie Bell is topped only by Timothée Chalamet. Sadly, only BAFTA seemed to notice.

Julie Walters does what she can with the little she's given as Peter's mother. All the same, it's nice to see her again interacting with her Billy Elliott co-star. Vanessa Redgrave is at her glorious best in her brief bit as Gloria's mother.

In short, it could have been better, but as Spencer Tracy said of Katharine Hepburn in Pat and Mike, "not much meat on her, but what's there is 'cherce'."
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Precious Doll »

Being a huge Gloria Grahame fan, I naturally read Peter Turner's Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool when it was first published about 30 years ago. From memory it was an amusing and poignant portrait of the very human side of a Hollywood icon.

I culled my book collection earlier this year and needles to say I kept this book. My partner wasn't sure if he'd read the book or not so he settled down for a quick read (it's a very slim book) as we knew we were going to a screening pretty soon and I did want his feedback in relation to the film adaptation as my detailed memory of the book is rather vague.

For some bizarre reason I seem to recall some if it was flashbacks to the 1950's which is absurd as it is told totally from Peter Turner's perspective and he didn't know Gloria Grahame back then (he was only born in 1952).

Can't say I was disappointed in the film given it's rather poor/mixed reception at best. The casting was effective. Couldn't think of anyone better than Annette Benning (not a favourite of mine by any means I should add) and though I had thought the casting of Jamie Bell somewhat ridiculous it was only because I haven't seen him in anything for years and still think of him as a teenager. Anyway he certainly has grown up and is completely appropriate and effective, like Banning, in the limitations of the film. They do have great chemistry together, I also got a good sense of why Gloria Grahame had been married 4 times.

Hence lies the problem - the film itself. It has a mediocre screenplay by Matt Greenhaigh (who has written the splendid Control and Nowhere Man - liked by many but not me I'm afraid). He never captures the turmoil which in the book is presented in that classic British comedy style going on within Peter Turner's family - it's reduced to hand ringing, shouting and rigid speeches. I do remember that the Julie Walters mother character is the book was very colourful, but she is reduced to little more than a plot device within the film.

A lot of the films failings lie with director Paul McGuigan. I recall The Pianist stating in another post something along the lines that Paul McGuigan is a shit director and has never made a good film and sadly that is true. He brings nothing to the film and the whole thing feels like little more than going through the motions. There is no vision. I appreciate it was clearly made on a low budget but imagination and genuine creativity can overcome those sorts of limitations. Paul McGuigan simply does not posses them.

This was pretty much dead in the water Oscar wise once the reviews came out and seeing it for myself I can only concur with that. It's such a shame because it's such a great little book and I do feel that all books & plays have the capacity for great films in the right hands. Annette Benning & Jamie Parker deserved a better film to showcase them to their full potential in the roles and most of all Gloria Grahame's final years deserved a much better film that I fear will never come to fruition. A lost opportunity.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Big Magilla »

Gleiberman's catty reviews are becoming insufferable. Between this or his review of Victoria and Abdul, you'd think he was still writing for Entertainment Weekly.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Mister Tee »

The Gleib's review is closer to those many Twitter reactions than the previous reviews have been.

http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/fi ... 202545719/
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Mister Tee »

It's odd how this hasn't got widespread trade reviews yet; I guess Telluride is so jammed with screenings that Variety/Screen Daily -- with their main critics over in Venice -- can only cover so many of the scheduled movies, and this one had low priority.

There seemed to be some murderously bad tweets for this last night, from semi-legit sources, but so far no printed reviews have matched that venom. (On the whole, there seems more distance this year between the critics and the blogger/pundits -- Downsizing was far less favorably received at Telluride than it had been at Venice.)
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Big Magilla »

I'm not expecting anything outside of acting nods, but it does seem to have the potential of 3 of them - Bening for sure; Bell and Walters if the best actor and supporting actress categories remain weak.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Precious Doll »

"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Precious Doll »

Very favourable from Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/s ... ia-grahame
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Big Magilla »

Scott Feinberg is not a critic. He is an, ahem, Oscarologist, often one of the most annoying of the on-line Oscar predictors. Stephen Farber, on the other hand, is the current president of L.A. Film Critics Association. It will be interesting to see which one has more sway with Oscar voters.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Precious Doll »

"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool reviews

Post by Precious Doll »

"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Post Reply

Return to “2017”