film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
Oh, stop your tittering. All you know is that Fanny Hill is that naughty bawdy 18th-century novel that got its author, John Cleland, into so much trouble so long ago, and has since become a byword for the evils of censorship and the necessity of freedom of expression. But if you’re looking for something pornographic in this BBC adaptation of the novel, forget it, mister.
I have to confess that I’m not entirely sure what the ‘miracle’ at St. Anna is meant to be.
It’s a big ball of horror ‘Constantine’s Sword’ tries to wrap up in a brief, 95-minute look at the history of the Catholic Church…
Boris Pasternak’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, the classic story of star-crossed lovers amidst a backdrop of the social upheaval of the Russian Revolution, gets a stunning new production via British television and PBS’s Masterpiece Theater. Adapted by Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice) and starring two appealing young rising stars, this is a grimly beautiful production electrifyingly … more…
