It's very hard to criticise anything with Helen Mirren in it. Even the dire National Treasure: Book of Secrets earned itself some of my respect when she appeared in it. However, this beautifully shot but occasionally bland adaptation of Tennessee Williams' novella isn't one of Mirren's strongest pieces. To be completely honest, the majority of the film is enjoyable drama, but when the credits start rolling you can't help but ask yourself "what was the point of all that".
Mirren plays Mrs Stone, a New York actress who moves to Rome when her husband dies. There she befriends, offends then bonks a dashing young Italian man named Paolo. Little does she know that greed lurks at every corner of the beautiful city she has inhabited, and not all, if any, of her new acquaintances are to be trusted. Unfortunately the film decides to concentrate on Mrs Stone's increasing obsession with Paolo without digging deep enough into her as a character. We get a one sided view of Mrs Stone, a fault which is not down to the glorious Ms Mirren, who plays her excellently, but down to the screenplay that lacks a sturdy structure to keep the characters on track. Olivier Martinez is also fine as Paolo, but occasionally fails to convey the varied use of emotion with the same scrupulous believability as Mirren. All in all, the film is like picking up a chocolate from an assortment box. It tastes good, but sometimes you wish you'd got a different flavoured centre.
Zombies & 'Big Brother': interchangeable concepts at the best of times, so trust 'Nathan Barely' writer and 'Guardian' columnist Charlie Brooker to hit upon the idea of mixing George A. Romero-esque gore-fests with the tabloid banality of a show that p****s on Orwell's grave before drunkenly dispatching its droplets all over Huxley's tomb. 'Dead Set' sees a hapless group of 'Big Brother' housemates, or to give them their proper name: tits, swanning around in blissful ignorance as London falls to a horde of the undead. Creatively culled from reality TV archetypes; archetypes that only exist, as those who're familiar with Brooker's work will know, on an editor's whim: our protagonists brave the impending Zombie apocalypse as familiar faces Jamie Winstone ('Kidulthood'), Riz Ahmed ('Britz'), Andy Nyman ('Severance') and Liz May Brice ('Bad Girls') enter the fray, in an increasingly violent series of clashes with the not-so-fine-or-young cannibals. An unnecessary act of hyper-real necromancy also revives former 'Big Brother' contestants Brian, Saskia, Bubble, Makosi, Kinga & Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace to name a few: certified tits, whose media careers were justifiably slain and buried the second they left the house, for its rather disconcerting to see their faces onscreen again. Premature nostalgia soon turns to despair as you recall all those hours wasted, watching them enact their tragic rituals or "tasks" in an elaborate bid have us orchestrate the destruction of our own souls. Davina McCall proves she's a good sport and makes for one hell of a vicious zombie whilst 'Channel 4' newscaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy crops up to dutifully inform us of the day's horrific events. In many ways, 'Dead Set' is a natural progression from Brooker's 'Reality TV Editing' slot on 'Screenwipe' though limited in its satirical scope (as its produced by 'Endemol', who also bankroll 'Big Brother') we still get the idea: Zombies being used by the media which acts as a contagious vessel to zombify all who partake in their dumbed down idiocy. 'Dead Set' is similar in direction to Marc Evan's underrated 'My Little Eye' meets '28 Days Later' knee deep in a media-savvy swamp of cynicism, suspense and dark humour. Dead good.
Quite simply the finest trilogy ever released on film. Peter Jackson brings alive J.R.R.Tolkien's work to the screen like never thought imaginable! An excellent cast deliver superb performances, aided by incredible special effects and jaw dropping scenery.These 3 films really are the ultimate movie experience for both young and old to enjoy time and time again.Prepare to sit back and enjoy what is without doubt the greatest movie box set of all time!
Kubrick at his best,an anti war theme if ever there was one.
Douglas with a good script/story is a brilliant night in,with this material the depiction is of the politics of the theatre of war.
Similar ground was covered by Breaker Morant but Kubrick captures the essences even better with this story.
A masterpiece.
First World War setting,realistic and poignant.
Don't be fooled; The Mist is a lot harder hitting than its B-movie credentials suggest. Sold as a homage to the 50's creature of the week style of film-making, writer/director Frank Darabont has produced what ends up being one of the bleakest movies you will ever see. Our vessel for the carnage is David Drayton (Thomas Jane) who becomes trapped in a supermarket with his son and other patrons when a deadly mist descends upon their rural back water. The strength of the piece is in the writing, which uses the strong central protagonists to make several - sometimes unsubtle - statements about politics and the nature of the human race. We soon come to realise that the monsters outside are not the only dangerous entity to worry about as Marcia Gay Harden's religious zealot gathers followers to her cause. Those not wishing to be involved in a bible based sacrifice make a break for freedom, but face tough decisions before journeys end. A film with strong characterisation and a deeper message shows how worthy the horror genre can be when taken in the right direction. Just don't expect to feel good when the credits roll.
This has to be one of the most notorious gigs in the history of Black Metal!
All the hype was right, this gig delivers blood, gore, sheep heads on spikes, live crucifixions of naked people (men and women) and most of all, one of the most brutal Black Metal bands around!
Any fan of Gorgoroth should have this dvd in their collection.
Finally, the wait is over. The wait for the entire 6 season run of the Soprano's in a deluxe box set packed with so many extras, you will need your own bodyguard just to stop someone else from stealing it from you!
This is one of the best TV shows of the last ten years, if not longer and follows Tony Soprano and his family, his work and his trial and tribulations in trying to live the american dream. This is intense, adult and sophisticated TV that hits the right marks and makes no apologies for doing so. If you want to see something that talks to you like an adult and is not another "reality" show then give this a go. If you haven't seen it, buy it, if you have seen it, buy it, if you have already got it, buy it again, as the extras on this box set are more than enough for a double dip purchase.
Go on, tell em the Family sent ya...
The most talked about show in the past few years finally gets the DVD treatment it deserves!
A brilliant typical chick flick that keeps you gripped from the very start. Based on the books, people thought the film wouldn't be as good as the books but having read the books and seen the film I say the film is just as good! And Aaron Johnson is gorgeous!!!! A great film
After various tough guy outings in films like his debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the prison football film Mean Machine, Jason Statham takes the wheel (quite literally!) in his first full leading man role and comes up with the goods. Written by Luc Besson T1 is directed by Corey Yuen and T2 by Louis Leterrier (who was T1's Assistant Director.) In T1, Frank Martin (Statham) lives in the South of France. He delivers what you want where you want... no questions asked but when the package starts moving will temptation be too much to resist? Will Frank break his own rules and open the package before Inspector Tarconi (the superb François Berléand) catches up with him? In T2, Frank, wanting a more quiet life (and who could blame him!) moves from France to Miami. But is not long before he his in hot water again when he is accused of kidnapping a influential US officials son, who he is the chauffeur for. Both films scenery is idillic and sets the tone for some powder driven car chases and high flying plane rides. The Transporter 1 and 2 are fast action movies that keep you on the edge of your seat. Statham shines in this role and shows his worth as a leading man. Transporter series has been made into a trilogy with room for more considering the opening box office for these two films was estimated at around $9 million for T1 and a staggering $20 million for the sequel. The time just flies by and you are ready to flip back and start all over again when it ends after a quick breather of course. The double movie boxset is a great price deal and is the same as the stand alone versions packed into a nice shiny silver box. The extras are a worthy mention especially if you like behind the scenes footage which shows amongst others how they did the famous oil scene! A Blue Ray edition of the boxset is being relased in December just in time as The Transporter 3 hits UK cinemas. Fast paced and keeps you entertained - thats just what the Transporter delievers!
Jason Statham packs a punch in The Transporter boxset
A fascinating dramatisation about the CIA's past that strikes a good balance between historical facts and fictional characters and drama.
Based on a novel the series has a great story and good acting from the cast.
You probably won't want to watch it in one sitting due to the length but it'll definitely keep you hooked till the end. The length also makes it well worth the price, currently at less than £5.
If you like recent historical dramas and or films about the CIA or KGB or just a good story well told then you'll almost certainly like this.
A 3 part mini-series adding up to around 4.5 hours covering a number of decades in the history of the CIA in their war against the KGB.
Tackling this subject was always going to be an emotional assignment for Steven Spielberg and in choosing the great Thomas Keneally"s book to illustrate this horrific chapter in history, Spielberg found a perfect vehicle. The story of Oskar Schindler is naturally involving, but also comprehensive in this subject matter with it"s portrayal of Nazi corruption, Ghetto life and the Camp horror. Individual sub plots further illuminate the totality of the human suffering, such as the one armed machinist, the cleaner for the Commandant in the camp, the ransacking of Jewish possessions after the trains have left and the disguised Jewish lady, pleading for the rescue of her parents. The black and white cinema photography is a triumph and conveys the horror, brutality, the period and tension perfectly. The acting is on the whole flawless, especially Ralph Fiennes performance as a psychotic Camp Commandant and Ben Kingsley as Itzak Stern. Also impressive is the way the audience is educated about these historical events without the need for documentary and over simplistic story telling techniques. The use of the girl in the red dress is also indicative of the Spielberg"s art of conveying terror in simple and easily comprehendible ways. Whilst the lessons from this film are all too apparent, the sentimental and spoon feeding of the last ten minutes in the Czech factory and outside as Schindler and his wife prepare to flee are the negatives to this otherwise landmark piece of film making. Highly recommended.
Crime solving using old fashioned detective work, high tech science, plus old bones? Sounds like a one-off drama... but this is the best TV series out there at the moment!
Forget 24, House, CSI, NCIS, Prison Break etc. This really is the best TV drama available right now. Somehow I missed it first time around on the TV. Turns out that wasn't so bad, like me you'll want to watch 2-3 of these back to back each evening until you're done.
So here's the basic plot. FBI dude Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz - Angel from Buffy) teams up with a forensic anthropologist, Dr Temperance Brennan. Booth struggles with the scientific techno babble and soon nick names her 'Bones'. Together they solve crimes using his FBI crime savvy and her intimate knowledge of the human skeleton.
But that's not all. While each episode is free standing there is also a fantastic development of characters and relationships throughout the series. You could watch any episode you like in any order, but better to watch them in sequence and delight in the building smoulder of sexual chemistry between Booth & Bones.
Background characters come alive through the series too, they are not there just to make up numbers. The 'squints' as Booth calls them, the scientific assistants of Bones, also really play their part. Quite often they bring a nice streak of humour just when you really thought it wasn't possible.
Good drama is all about scripts and acting. The scripts here are faultless and the acting is absolutely spot on.
The sleeve says "Bones is sexed-up CSI". It's that and much, much more...
Great film but quite violent. Quite unpredictable if a bit unbelievable in parts. Action stunts brilliant and good cast. Worth watching.
While not highly critically acclaimed on general release at the cinema, this solid horror/thriller title is well worth the money and a good addition to anybodies DVD collection. I first watched it on my laptop on the Hull-Rotterdam ferry...watching this film from a windowless 'coffin' is not to be recommended. Definitely lights on, curtains open.
Action starts with Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith) evacuating his family from Manhattan, as the supposed cancer-cure is starting to take hold on the population. Action then switches to 3 years later and a post-apocalyptic vision of New York unfolds. Is Neville the only man left alive? Can a vaccine to reverse the awful effects of the first vaccine be found? Is it healthy to eat canned food that long out of date? You'll have to watch to find out.
Top-notch CGI and a fast pace will keep you on the edge of your seat, along with Will Smith's excellent & believable performance.
A cure for cancer has been found, hurray! Doh! No, it causes almost everybody in the world to turn into flesh eating zombies. Maybe, just maybe, if Will Smith can stay alive long enough he can turn this around...
As the spin-off of Stargate SG-1 enters its 4th season, it begins with our heroes having escaped an attack from the Asurans, and fleeing to a new world using the city's newly activated star drive. However getting to this new planet is going to be more of a problem than was expected.
The big bad wraith make a good season all the better, add that to the threat of the hybrid Michael, and we have a fully packed season, with action, enemies and potentiall new allies.
However in this new region of the pegasus galaxy, there are unknown diseases, and a miriad of dangers, it would seem that whilst we've escaped from the asurans, their plans have not stopped, and they are now attacking the wraith, but not in the way we expect.
And we say goodbye to a dear character.
I went to see this at the London lesbian & gay film festival with 6 friends. We went because the preview clip we had seen at a screening a few weeks previously made us laugh. We all enjoyed this subtitled Spanish movie and found it funny, as did the rest of the sell-out crowd in the cinema, with laugh out loud moments and applause from the audience at some of the scenes throughout the film.
Yes, there are some so-easy-to-spot-they-might-as-well-carry-a-red-flag set ups and some tired old clichés, but it didn't seem to be a film trying to make too much of a statement. It's just a light hearted picture poking fun at some gay nonsense - or at least that's the way it played tonight with the crowd. The lead women are fantastic, if a bit OTT, but the whole movie is so OTT any other characters would seem stupid. For my money Carlos Fuentes as Rey, was worth the price of the admission alone! If you like a fast moving story that has a few twists, plenty of bearish camp nonsense and a lot of laughs then you'll probably enjoy it. If you are looking for a film with a deep message, then avoid it. Any movie that has a pensioner mother slagging off her son's boyfriend by saying he has an arse 'like a Japanese flag' is never going to deliver much in the way of earnest discussion of the themes afterwards....
2 gay guys in Madrid get caught up in a sinister plot. An unscrupulous estate agent is murdering old ladies, converting their apartments into desirable living spaces for trendy gays and making a fortune.
This movie is a powerful one to watch, it keeps you balancing on the edge of your seat until the end, and even when it's over it stays in your mind, such is the memorable nature of the story. A brilliant bargain for a such a brilliant film :)
This set from Optimum Home Entertainment is the only one where all the films have not only been remastered but more importantly restored by UCLA.
This is the best they will ever look and boy do they look good. Having seen them many times around Christmas on BBC2 I decided to get all 14 films made by Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce for Fox (2) & Universal (12).
All of the Universal logo's from the beginning and end have been re-instated as well as cleaning up the picture and sound. Although they will never be as good as a modern film this is the best I have ever seen & heard these films and much better than any other versions available.
The films come on 7 dual layer DVD's and fit no problem as most struggle to go over 70 minutes running time.
My favourite still has to be The Pearl of Death (The 6 Napoleons) and features the creepy (sic) Oxton Creeper....
Four episodes also have commentary tracks on by the editor of the Sherlock Magazine and one by the editor of the Scarlet Street Magazine. They are informative and worth your time as are the production notes on each film by the Scarlet Street editor.
There is also a short (too short IMO) five minute piece on the actual resoration with split screen before and after shots.
These are the Difinitive Sherlock Holmes films for me (although I agree Jeremy Brett was closer to the books) fondly remembered from childhood and one of the few things that have not dissapointed upon re-watching in later years and this set is the only way to view these films; not sure if I've made that point yet or not ;-)
Enjoy
Shawnduhast
ONLY BUY THIS VERSION....
France, Great Britain, Germany, USA. All these countries contributed in funding Michael Haneke's remake of his disturbing 1997 Austrian film. And for what? For enjoyment? Unless extremely desensitized, you'll find it very hard to enjoy this movie. For our own benefit, then? Granted, the film does make a valid point, raising the issue of "is violence right in an entertainment format". Whatever the reason, this English language version of the original "Funny Games" is painful, pointless and horrible to watch. Indeed, the blu-ray release does add a somewhat more transfixing experience than the DVD does, with a sharper edge to it. We start the film with the sound of relaxing operatic music, which complements what's happening onscreen; a middle-class American couple and their child are driving along to their Holiday home to spend a pleasant weekend on the lake with their boat. Suddenly the noise changes and loud, violent, heavy metal rock music blears over the top, with the opening title credits. The film follows the same trend most of the way through. Just when you think everything's going to be fine and rosy, Haneke presses the "let them suffer" switch on his control panel, and we have to watch this family being psychologically tortured and terrorised at the hands of two seemingly polite youths. Haneke's decision to re-film his past effort shot for shot, word for word could be because he realised the main perpetrators for enjoying onscreen violence are the Americans, who eject from their disc drives anything that's in a foreign language and features subtitles. With an English language version, he could chastise the lovers of Hostel, Saw and the like by giving them what they ask for but in a harrowing way. This is where the film falls flat. The things we see onscreen are upsetting, harrowing and disturbing. Unfortunately, however, we seem to be observing this family's ordeal through one way glass, not being able to connect with them or feel their pain. This detached feeling is not easily explained, but it may be down to the fact that, as a whole, this film feels like a punishment. We are being punished for the violence we watch. It would be so much more effective if our eyes were opened in a way we haven't thought about. After viewing, it is impossible to feel grateful. Instead of coming across as ironic, the cruel and vicious antics in the film feel hypocritical on Haneke's part. The ending isn't powerful, rewarding or entertaining. And instead of changing your ways after listening to Haneke's "you are sick, sick people" filmic lecture, you may just want to dust off and watch your two disc extended edition of Hostel II just to spite him.
One Tree Hill is one of the best TV show's around. The storylines run strong throughout this season. With the characters having to deal with more adult problems, the jump out of high school gives the show a new life, and the basis for a new set of fans.
Whether your looking for some family fun with Nathan,Hayley and Jamie, Drama with Brooke and her mum Victoria, a love triangle with Peyton, Lucas and Lindsay, or some bad guy trouble with Dan and crazy nanny Kerry, this show has something for everyone.
With the time jump from last season to this, you don't need to have watch any of the previous seasons, it's like a brand new show.
And just who is Lucas talking to at the end....
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