Best of January/February 2014

[As a bit of an aid to refresh my memory when "Best of" lists come around next January, here's my pick of the month.]

Movies:

January's decision is tough, but the only 5-star review I gave was to Life is Beautiful, a funny, earnest Italian film set during WWII. My review.

As for February, it's a toss-up. I think entertainment wins the day (because yes, I am that shallow), so I choose Princess Mononoke over Lawrence of Arabia. The film is practically my first experience of Hiyao Miyazaki, and, though flawed, it's pretty incredible. My review.

TV:

This is pretty much a no-brainer - to January I happily give the gold to Broadchurch, an exquisitely made murder drama about the death of a young boy in a seaside town. My review.

As for February, I'm able to name Sherlock, since the last episode aired on the 3rd. (But if I did put it in January, I'd have to give Broadchurch the edge, by a bit.) I didn't agree with all the decisions made in Sherlock's third season, but still, it's good to be back. My reviews: The Empty Hearse, The Sign of Three, His Last Vow.

Hannah Long

Life is Beautiful - Movie Review

The last three movies I've watched have curiously prepared me for this one, which I finished Monday. To End All Wars was a WWII film, taking place in a camp of sufferers. The Scarlet and the Black was about a resistance movement in Nazi Rome. Kind Hearts and Coronets was a film from the 1940's.

Life is Beautiful takes elements from all of these and improves on them, being a WWII tale set in Italy with a 1940's style of filming. Mark Twain once said "the personages in a tale [should] be alive, except in the case of corpses, and...the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others." In Life is Beautiful, unlike To End All Wars, a vast amount of time is spent in ensuring the life of the characters, before even a shadow of death darkens the horizon.

The Scarlet and the Black strove both for an amusing main character and menacing villains, but both efforts failed. Life is Beautiful excels in both directions, always evoking the correct response.