Purely Joyful Movie!

Awesome Movie

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I loved this series from the first few moments of the first episode. Heads and shoulders above anything then or since, including the US female. Ian Richardson is the consummate actor and greatly missed. Well written, directed and acted. It has everything, action, dark humor, drama, pathos. By far my faviourite of the BBC drams, along with I Claudius a string second. Two series I revisit regularly.Do watch it and enjoy!

Heard nothing but great things about 'House of Cards', and 'To Play the King' and 'The Final Cut', and saw it to see how it compared with the US version of the same name. That show was brilliant for most of its run, but its final season saw one of the most severe declines in television in recent years. The UK version's crew in front of the camera and behind the scenes had talent that was immense.Will always hold the US version in very high regard, or at least for the first four seasons, but to me this is superior and more consistent in quality. 'House of Cards' is superlative viewing, seeing British talent at its best, and some of the best television of the 90s. While there has been the odd gem here and there in recent years, like the period dramas and David Attenborough's nature documentaries, there has been very little on this level of brilliance. Whether it's a good or faithful adaptation of the source material feels completely insignificant, deviations are numerous and some are major but the spirit and attention to character and mood detail are present.Visually, 'House of Cards' looks wonderful and full of elegance and atmosphere in the design and class and style in the way it's filmed. It's also beautifully scored by Jim Parker, and the direction lets the atmosphere and drama breathe but still never undermines the momentum.Andrew Davies also deserves a lot of the credit. The script has dry cynicism, sharp wit, dark bite and class, with some deservedly iconic lines that have since become part of popular culture. The nation's mood is brilliantly captured and the political elements are handled so truthfully and don't feel shoe-horned (it's actually essential here) or heavy-handed. The storytelling is ceaselessly compelling throughout the whole four one hour episode duration, hooking one in and never letting go despite not being a series that deliberately and wisely doesn't move "fast". The ending stays with you for how it effectively shocks.Pitch perfect casting also plays a large part. Cannot add to the vast amount of magnificent adjectives summing up the role of a lifetime acting of Ian Richardson. Have always liked him, but this is his most famous role for a reason, he has never been better and it is hard to see anybody come to his level. It is very easy to overlook the rest of the cast and say they're in the shadow, they may not dominate like Richardson does but they are just as good.Susanna Harker has an affecting charm and Diane Fletcher also impresses in a role that sees a side of her that one wouldn't associate with her. Miles Anderson's acting here is some of his best too, he's never had a meatier character since.Overall, really brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I recently watched the first season of the Netflix show House of Cards and it reminded me that I had never actually seen the version which the BBC made even though it is held in high esteem. I tried to put all of that to one side in approaching the show because it is not the perfect show that some would have you believe. Instead it is a very enjoyable slice of cynicism and humor which plays out much better in a shorter run than the US version had to deal with. We join the Conservative Chief Whip Francis Urquhart as his party enters a leadership race to replace the outgoing Thatcher. Supportive of the new man, Urquhart is deeply offended when Collingridge decides that he will make no changes – depriving Urquhart of a cabinet position. With his gentlemanly exterior hiding a much darker heart, Urquhart sets out to bring down the Collingridge government from the inside, and position himself for a new job.The shorter run and the cold British tone to this show helps the narrative because it makes it much sharper and tighter; okay it moves maybe a bit too fast at times but generally it is engaging and surprisingly satisfying in how it moves. It was screened at a time of political change and general frustration with politics (a feeling that continued into the grey years of Major and probably contributed to the massive swing towards Labor and Blair a few years later), and there is a certain gleefulness in the writing as it scandals opposition and goes beyond where required. Although it presents itself as realistic, this dark sense of humor does help the viewer to get through moments where it is most unrealistic (the hands-on approach of Urquhart sometimes feels a bit daft) and mostly it is engaging because it does it with conviction. As a satire it has a lot of teeth; okay some of the shots of rats scurrying is a bit heavy-handed, but it is infrequently used and generally the show manages to feel bitter in a way that the US version did not ever quite manage to sell.Much has been said of Richardson in the lead and he is a delight. His clipped English gent and superiority makes the character work very well, and he makes for a very engaging and entertaining lead character. There is a downside to how good he is, and this is that the rest of the characters and cast do not quite stand up to his level. This is mainly in the writing because none of the other characters ever feel like they are even close to being his equal – whether in the hapless politicians in his sights or in the journalists who seem to take a very long time to catch on. That said there are solid performances from Harker, Anderson, Emmanuel, Fletcher and others, it is just that Richardson has the best material and the best performance.It takes liberties with realism but it does it with a dark sense of humor that helps it work; moving slickly through twists and turns it has an enjoyable cynical coldness and drollness to it, all of which is perfectly captured by Richardson in the lead.

The public, be it in the United States, Europe or Britain, often see their political figures at press conferences or in front of large crowds offering endless platitudes through endless speeches. Occasionally, the public sees the interesting discourse which occurs during the Prime Ministers Questions in the British Parliament or the speeches made on the floor of the House or Senate in the United States. What the public doesn't see is the internal relationships between many of the key players, and how either great achievements or small missteps can either make or break promising careers. But most of all, we the public almost never hear the internal thoughts of political operatives.The BBC's "House of Cards" gives us something we probably will never be able to enjoy in real life: the actual thoughts of someone working within the most powerful circles in politics. Ian Richardson plays Francis Urquhart, the Whip of the British Conservative Party who has taken hold of Parliament and the seat of the Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher. In politics, "the Whip" is typically an informal position in party politics designed to keep other party members in bounds. He is there for counsel but also for discipline. From the very first, Urquhart speaks directly to us, an unseen constituency who has been privileged to hear what a leading politician really thinks about his fellow colleagues and even his thoughts about the system itself. While outwardly, Urquhart supports all the members of his party, inwardly he tells us his thoughts about all the contenders to leadership, including how he views the present Prime Minister Henry Collingridge.Urquhart desires to influence the highest levels of his political party but seems uninterested in attaining the position of Prime Minister. As the Whip of his party, he must not only keep all elected party members in line but enact damage control if any member involves him or herself in behavior which could escalate into a scandal. To help, he allies himself with a young but precocious journalist, Mattie Storin, played brilliantly by Susannah Harker. The party Whip and the journalist form a strange but trust-worthy bond, a relationship almost like an uncle and niece. Urquhart believes by trusting someone in the press, he can at least have some influence on how the press handles the inner-workings and dealings in Parliament, be they success or failures.Most of the series involves the many behind-the-scenes shenanigans the public rarely sees, let alone knows about. While politicians always present a facade of cool confidence and determination, we see the men behind the curtains. Their weaknesses, doubts, and hypocrisies are laid bare as if we, the audience, have been allowed to sneak inside the corridors of power. For example, a party member is caught using party funds for a cocaine habit. The Whip decides to use political black-mail to acquire his full political support. In exchange he expunges his financial record but threatens exposure if the member/addict ever breaks out of line. Things begin to heat up when the journalist learns that private research reveals the Conversative Party is in trouble with the public and must decide if there will be an internal coup d'etat.A thoroughly compelling, excellently acted series which paved the way for the West Wing almost 10 years later. However, unlike "the West Wing", the main players are revealed as being all-too human. The Prime Minister has his doubts in the face of dwindling public support which is fueled by the exposure of a scandal. And the Whip begins to realize, partly with the help of the young journalist, that he may be underrating his own leadership qualities. If there is anything we can glean from "House of Cards", it is as the title suggests. Politics is a house of cards, a game of subtlety, delicacy and intense strategy. Players must make their moves slowly, with precision and deftness. Well-thought-out moves can not only help the party but help the country. Hasty and ill-conceived moves can hurt party reputation and lead to losing elections. At any moment, if not played right, the cards will topple.