Miranda Richardson seems to show off her considerably wide range of acting talents with every screen effort she makes. In Dance with a Stranger, a small little British indie from the 1980s she plays the radiant but steel-like nightclub owner Ruth Ellis. Ellis is well know for being the last woman to be hanged in Britain, however, this very watchable retelling of her story concentrates more on what led her to the gallows than the gallows themselves. Indeed, there is no glimpse of a noose or leaver throughout the whole film, not even at the sensitive end. The class meets working-class relationship between the aristocratic racing car driver (Rupert Everett) and Ellis is both touching and brutal, with both leads displaying their excellence in portraying floored but likeable characters. If not a masterpiece, this is still classy and at times enjoyably gritty.
After being nagged by my sister to get hold of the DVD of Jim Carrey flick The Truman Show, I finally managed to get round to contacting one of my friends who I knew to own the disc. When I started watching I thought this would be the same kind of face-pulling Carey antics seen throughout Mask-Grinch-like films. I now realise this is now not something to be expected off Mr. Carrey (I made the same presumption before with "Eternal Sunshine..." a few weeks ago) as this is now twice he has surprised me. True, he is cheesy, exaggerated and jumpy to the point of obnoxiousness, but the material he"s working with is of so high calibre I could hardly believe it. I also have a habit of checking to see what my favoured film reviewing publication (Radio Times) had given it stars wise, and was equally surprised when I saw all five stars shaded in. So, I carried on watching, expecting great things. What I saw was extraordinarily great. And what"s greater still is that this film, released in 1998, was pre-Big Brother era. The idea of watching a man"s life as a TV show, seeing how they behave through everyday activities was stunningly simple yet brilliantly handled. One side eerie, the other sentimental, this is a movie everyone must see. And I really don"t find myself saying that very often about something featuring Mr J C.
As I have been playing the cello for many years, the name Jacqueline Du Pre has always meant something to me, even if I didn"t really know that much about her. With Hilary and Jackie, a somewhat controversial biopic, adapted from the 1997 memoir "A Genius in the Family", I was made wise to the brilliance of the talented cellist who tragically died in 1987. Although, since the release of the film, people who knew Jackie have said this is not a portrait of the women they knew, it is still a stunning, emotional and beautiful account of a talent snatched away from the world prematurely. Emily Watson is wonderful as Jackie (I had only previously seen her as the rather masculine sister of Mr Ward in Miss Potter), making it impossible not to be terrified for her as she slowly becomes victim of Multiple Sclerosis. The comment that is splashed across the cover, "One of the Best British Films of the Decade" is in no way hyperbolic. This is striking, superb British drama.
Family Guy is a great thing to have,a funny program, great to watch and it will have you laughing all the way through. Good teenage and adult program, if you like the Simpsons or Futurama you will love Family Guy !
Ang Lee's 'Hulk' (2003) is an excellent movie, unjustly maligned and looked upon as some kind of big, green cinematic pariah; Ang 'don't make him Anglee' Lee, simply doesn't get the credit he deserves for creating an impressive, almost flawless symbiosis of clinical character study, wistful, melancholic meditation on an ordinary life-gone-wrong and intense, balls-to-the-wall Hulk action. Bana's Bruce Banner / Hulk was a man betrayed at every turn, so much so, that his greatest fear (i.e. uncontrollable rage) became his only hope for self preservation in the face of constant treachery and his own, pompous delusions of academic grandeur; hence the psychomachy of Bana vs. Hulk, externalised in the battle against the powers that be, and the strained loyalties of his supposed true love Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly). Betty, a complex character herself, is, like Bruce, used as a pawn in her military father's grand chessboard of move & violent countermove, with old rivalries forced upon a new generation through the malice & greed of those in the upper echelons of power; back and forth; as if trapped in an Aeschylian pinball machine, with scars as deep as strife was long in the house of Atreus. Louis 'Transporter' Leterrier's 'The Incredible Hulk' puts all that in the bin. With a good cast, the movie rolls along at a tolerable pace, though if I were Ang Lee, I'd be none too pleased that the suits at 'Marvel' completely ignore 'Hulk' and practically start over. Ed Norton, one of the best actors working today, is surprisingly unconvincing as Bruce Bana, CGI is of a notably poor standard when compared to 2003; with Hulk looking more like a five year old's drawing, pulled directly from the Kitchen fridge door and accidently rendered / released in a multi-million dollar production. Liv Tyler is OK as Betty Ross; though she's nowhere near as intense as Jennifer Connelly, whilst William Hurt's performance as General Ross is about the same as Sam Elliot's take on the character. Tim Roth is at his villainous best, accurately managing to convey violent megalomania as a British soldier working for the Americans (perhaps a sly dig at our government's sycophantic subservience to U.S. military endeavours overseas). Leterrier's action sequences are quite exciting and shot at a frenzied pace, and though most of the jokes die a death, I loved the fact that they used Bill Bixby's 'Lonely Man' theme from 'The Incredible Hulk' TV series. Overall, this makes for a decent enough blockbuster, and Robert Downey Jr.'s cameo as Tony 'Iron Man' Stark sets up the long awaited 'Avengers' movie, expect similar appearances in the upcoming 'Thor' 'Captain America' and 'Nick Fury' pictures; for 'Marvel' intend to drag this on until summer 2010. Personally, I can't see Ed Norton signing any long term contracts after his experience at 'Paramount', but if its forgettable comic book adventure you're after, its worth soaking up some Gamma rays for another round with the (not so) jolly green giant: ARRRRAGH!...indeed.
Highly entertaining, albeit nonsensical and structurally redundant, comic book action thriller directed by Russian flavour of the month Timur Bekmambetov ("Night Watch", "Day Watch"). "Wanted" is essentially "The Matrix" sequel we never had, and though its" not a patch on the Wachowski brother"s intellectually stimulating, Haryun Yahya-esque classic, there"re nods aplenty; with themes such as an imposed exaltation of false consciousness, some John Woo style heroic bloodshed and a character template which borders on narrative plagiarism: James McAvoy (i.e. Thomas Anderson / Neo) as our everyman hero inducted into a secret war by gorgeous, gun totting assassin Angelina Jolie (i.e. Trinity) and guided by old sage / master killer Morgan Freeman (i.e. Morpheus). "Wanted" wasn"t a movie I was particularly looking forward to, and yet those shots of an impressively athletic, though painfully thin, Angelina Jolie holding two guns whilst waxing lyrical about magic bullets and mystical orders seemed reasonably good, after all, when it comes to portraying deadly, mysterious, impossibly hot hitwomen; you can"t go wrong with Angelina on board. Her co-star; Scot actor James McAvoy, is perhaps the unlikeliest hi-octane action hero since Sean William Scott in "Bullet Proof Monk", and yet Macavoy does well to define his character in the mundane environs of his soul-destroying day job, we cringe as he endues a catalogue of professional and personal humiliations; his loser existence, almost on a par with that of future Stewie in "Family Guy"s: The Stewie Griffin Story". It"s so bad, that we"re actually thankful for an absurd change of pace and rooting for this poor sap to undergo a radical, adrenalin-fuelled transformation. McAvoy's performance in these early scenes is not dissimilar to Ewan Macgregor's turn as put upon caretaker Robert Lewis in "A Life Less Ordinary", in fact, a lot of scenes with Jolie & Macavoy will remind you of the Cameron Diaz & Macgregor"s dynamic from that picture. "Wanted" is a well paced, sometimes lurid, violent and sexist thriller, yet its so far removed from anything resembling reality that all is forgiven; in much the same way as you"d run with a movies like "Live Free Or Die Hard", "Bullet Proof Monk, "Forbidden Kingdom", Crank" and the director"s own "Night/Day Watch". Timur does some fine work here; executing a plethora of stunning camera moves, even copying the van flip from "Night Watch" with a Ferrari. In the end; its pretty much Joseph Campbell fare all the way with, an awkward attempt to inject some "Fight Club" style philosophy towards the end, and though we"ve seen stuff like this a thousand times before, "Wanted" hits the mark more often than not, and works well for what it is; just don"t expect much, and you"re bound to enjoy the ride.
Exit stage left Rambo, McClain & Balboa; for its time for an old friend"s long awaited return: before Bruce Willis waged his one-man war in a tower block, before Stallone drew first blood twice or secured his rematch with Apollo Creed, there was Henry Jones Jr. a.k.a. "The Man With The Hat" a.k.a. Indiana Jones! Archaeologist, professor, adventurer; an aloof ladies man armed only with his trusty whip and a quiver of wry one-liners: Indiana Jones is essentially Han Solo on Earth, a role that plays to Harrison Ford"s unique abilities as an actor, for "Empire" magazine weren"t wrong, when they put him on top of their late 90s list of Hollywood"s "100 Greatest Movie Stars". Its" hard to believe its been two decades since we last saw Indy on screen, and though the years have been quite kind; screenwriter David Koepp cleverly pre-empts any ageism with jovial jibes directed at Ford"s OAP status, lines like: "...not as easy as it used to be", "same old same old" and Shia LaBeoufs "what"re you; like 80?" pepper his script with the kind of good humour we"ve come to expect from this franchise (though those CG gopher shots were bordering on stupid). Its 1957 (good use of real-time / narrative-timeline, as "The Last Crusade" was set in 1937): Indy & MI6 operative Mac (a surprisingly flat, uninspired performance by Ray Winstone) are kidnapped by Russian secret agents, led by sabre rattling Stalinist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchet on fine form), and ordered to recover a mysterious artefact from Area 51; the site where they stashed the Ark of the Covenant at the end of 'Raiders...' (the Ark itself also makes a cool, blink-and-you"ll-miss-it cameo). "Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" sees our hero engaged in a variety of Cold War shenanigans; from his somewhat implausible escape from an A-bomb testing facility to being blacklisted in a McCarthy-esque witch hunt, in fact, so enthralling was the Communist subplot, that I was half expecting Edward R. Murrow to show up and wish us all "good night & good luck". An unwieldy storyline and reasonably imaginative action sequences, add up to some far out hokum about an all-powerful Incan skull believed to be alien i.e. Djinn or Annukai in origin. Its tough to submit an analytical treatise on the merits of Indiana Jones, when all you can really hear in the back of you of mind is Da da-da-da dada da, yet "Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" works surprisingly well, though in many ways, Indy IV like running an emulator and playing old ROMs; its the same old game; only brighter, faster and perhaps a little flashier than it used to be. Sean Connery and the late Denhom Elliot are tastefully acknowledged on screen, though I would"ve loved to see Connery return, as "The Last Crusade" is my favourite Indy outing. John Hurt puts in a fine performance as loopy prof Dr Oxley, Karen Allen (who, like Ford, has aged gracefully over the last 20 years) revives Marian Ravenwood from "Raiders..." whilst Shia LaBeouf"s Elvis coiffed greaser Mutt (Indy was named after his dog, hence Mutt) makes for an amiable, often humorous, sidekick. But how does "Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" compare to its much loved, now legendary predecessors? "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is, to many, the definitive Indy picture, and it"s true; there"s a rough-hewn, reptilian grime & grit to that movie (e.g. poisoned arrows, snake pits, vengeful spectres etc) which was absent in later years. But lets not gloss over the badly scripted, overacted, unmitigated disaster that was "Temple Of Doom", which only has a place in our DVD collections because, like it or not, its part of the original trilogy thus gets in by default. "The Last Crusade" was, for me, an ideal blend of heroic hi-jinks, action, adventure and old school romance, with a perfectly acceptable ending (no sequel set ups or money spinning machinations, just Indy, Henry and Salah riding off into he sunset). One of the main issues this time around, was the absence of any real sense of danger; time, it seems, hasn"t just taken its toll on Indy"s reflexes, but depicted most of the perilous pitfalls our protagonists have to encounter e.g. those giant ants debuted in "The Scorpion King", Peter Jackson"s Skull Island was far deadlier a jungle terrain than "Kingdom"s" Amazonian trail whilst the final, cyclonic metamorphoses was a scene from "The Mummy Returns" and so on, which is why so much of this picture"s success rests on 65-year-old shoulders of one Harrison Ford. For Spielberg & Lucas wouldn"t have had a movie worth seeing if Harrison was even a little off his game, fortunately, Ford doesn"t miss a step, turns on the old magic and puts many a younger action hero to shame, with his spirited and convincing performance. "Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" is a good movie, which should appeal to fans and newcomers alike, though the filmmakers seem to have had the foresight to handle hints at a sequel with tongue planted firmly in cheek. A fitting farewell to an iconic adventurer (lets thank our lucky stars he didn"t go out like Captain Kirk) though its" high time to hang up the hat, and call it a day.
This Film in one word is AMAZING. If I could finish this review there and say I'd be happy I would be lying this film deserves a outstanding review and I'm here to try my best to give that outstanding review. Where to Start????
Tony Stark(IRON MAN) played by Robert Downey Jr, is absolutly amazing playing this character, he is probably I can think the only person that could play Tony Stark and make him really cool which he is.
Obadiah Stane (Bad Guy) played by Jeff Bridges is great as a bad guy, he plays this role great and is able to pull this off, it is great to see how Obadiah Stane becomes jealous of Tony stark and his Iron Man suit this is what drives him to become the bad guy.
Rhodey (friend/Army officer) played by Terrence Howard is a friend of Tony Starks and offers the humour to the film and also makes this film more enjoyable. The humour between Tony and Rhodey feels real and is portrayed in the film with great acting which is just great to watch.
Pepper Pots (Tony Starks assaintant) played by Gwyneth Paltrow is great to watch. She portrays the chracter of Pots exactly how she is in the comics, and the chemistry between her and Robert is great and again makes the film more enjoyable.
The great thing about this film is when watching this film is doesn't feel 2 hours long because this film is enjoyable to watch. Another thing in this film is that you feel that they have spend the exact time needed for every part of this film from how tony gets his EMP heart to the development to the first to the third suit and the time needed for the final fight.
This film is absolutely amazing and especially the suit is exactly the same in the comic and the special effects and the sheer work of the people and ind light and magic make the suit look real and truly believeable.
This is a great buy and great Christmas present for anyone and definately a must have. Highly recommended.
New Zealand have done it again. The sheer amount of humour that plastic sheep can generate is astounding. This is just like Brain dead by Peter Jackson but with sheep zombies rather than human zombies. Fanstasically funny, it doesn't try to be at all realistic and give a great blend of black comedy and visual comedy horror. This is a film for all comedy and horror lovers with enjoy.
Brain Dead with sheep
Bring it on 3: in it to win it, is similar to the two previous films, two rival teams aiming to out do the others in a cheerleading competition and be the best. This film combines the two first films by combining the energy and competition of the first with the joining of two mixed juxaposition teams of the second.
This is a typical romanitic comedy with all the traditional aspects of a teen film. Girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, girl finds out boys on oposite team, team splits boy and girl up, girl and boy dislike each other, girl and boy findout team split each other up, girl and boy get together, girl and boy succeed.
Nothing fantastically new but a enjoyable film for all the family to watch.
More romantic, more athletic and more fun
This lovely teen romantic comedy is Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew set in the modern day. No Shakespearean language like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet though, this adaptation is more akin to Clueless (adaptation of Austen's Emma). Although the 90s were full of teen comedies trying to emulate the success of the latter this is the only one with the charm to pull it off. Kat Stratford (Stiles) is the aggressive, cynical and intelligent heroine of the story. She has sworn off dating after a bad experience and seeing this her father takes the opportunity to protect his younger daughter, Bianca, from 'evil men' by saying that she can"t date anyone until Kat does. Bianca lets this rule slip to Cameron, the new kid with a crush on her, and he (along with his friend Michael - played wonderfully by David Krumholtz) sets about finding someone who will date Kat so that he can take out Bianca. But who in the school would date such a scary ball-breaker? Not even the weirdoes and nerds want to try. Eventually they set their sights on Patrick (Ledger) a scary, uncommunicative loner in the metalwork class. They offer him money to take out Kat and he accepts their challenge. After some resistance he manages to get Kat to go on a date with him and she even starts to like him... But what will she do when she finds out he is only with her because he's being paid? As for Cameron - he is shocked to discover that now he's sorted out Bianca's dating problem she isn't as grateful as he thought she'd be as she starts going out with the ridiculously vain Joey instead. Do things work out in the end? You'll have to watch. The title of the film refers to a poem that Kat writes about Patrick which although distinctly teenage is delivered with such passion and pain is guaranteed to have you sniffling. The most notable difference from the Shakespeare original is the lack of sexism (in the original Katherine must be 'tamed' by her new husband) which make it much more palatable to a modern day audience. Kat's resistance and cynicism are given different reasons, one of which being the death of her mother. The relationships between the characters are believable and nice - the love/hate relationship of the sisters in particular. This film also has a whole host of minor but hilarious characters - see Kat and Bianca's father who is obsessed with teen pregnancy, the guidance counsellor writing erotic novels in school time and the English teacher not afraid to talk back to his class. In fact in this film everyone gets a chance to be funny and although there are a whole host of actors it is Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles who dominate the film with their performances. Although this film is more aimed at women and teenagers it is good enough to hold the attention of men as well. It's a delightful watch from start to finish (and the soundtrack rocks!). And once its over you have a hilarious gag reel to watch as well.
Back in 1989 Quantum Leap brought a new dimension of adventure and excitement to TV on a Tuesday night when the handsome, athletic and cerebrally-gifted Dr Sam Beckett, brought to life by the versatile acting skills of Scott Bakula lit up our TV screens.
Beckett is the quantum physicist that believes that he can time travel and with the help of his long time best friend Admiral Al Calavicci, played so perfectly by the cigar chomping Dean Stockwell.
Dr Beckett stepped into the quantum accelerator... and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. The very words of the voiceover from the titles of the show brings a shiver to the spine.
Even before the advent of literally hundreds of TV channels when the programmes that featured on our four terrestrial stations actually had to be quality entertainment, Quantum Leap still stood out as one of the finest and today it has lost none of its appeal. It was perhaps so compelling to watch because it had a very definite sense of right and wrong.
The first season set the scene for the show over nine cleverly written and well directed episodes, that saw Sam leaping into a variety of different characters such as a mafia hit-man, a boxer, a cowboy and a private detective, not to mention an air force test pilot - and of course he has no idea how to fly.
But it was in the second season that the show really began to explore the potential of the premise that series creator Donald P. Bellisario had envisioned. Sam has to battle with small town prejudice when he leaps into the body of a sailor returning home from war with a new Japanese wife and to deal with sexual harassment when he leaps into a woman for the first time. In other episodes he has to fight to save a mentally handicapped man from ending up in an institution when he leaps into Jimmy LaMotta and to fight to save the life of an innocent African American woman accused of murder when he leaps into a lawyer.
Quantum Leap took important issues from the 50s, 60s and 70s that were still very relevant in the late 80s and 90s, and indeed now, and examined them through the plot device of Sam actually experiencing what was happening. It was an inspired idea for a TV show and it was delivered with genuine passion and commitment by the principle actors as well as the supporting cast that of course changed every episode. It"s also worthy of note that at several times throughout the series Dean Stockwell"s character makes references to global environmental issues such as dumping waste at sea and the importance of recycling. This was well before its time and a credit to the show"s producers and writers.
In the series Sam has to put right what once went wrong to be able to leap out of the life that he inhabits, but its always important for Sam to make sure that he changes the person"s life in the long term and not just as a means to the end of leaping, as he hopes each time that his next leap will be the leap home. He never changes major historic events but the lives that he does change for the better subsequently touch other lives and this is one of the most poignant elements of the series.
It was the season finale of course, when Sam had an opportunity to save the marriage of Al, with his first wife Beth, from ending in divorce that brought tears to audiences" eyes. Al, who had been involved in the Vietnam war, had been captured and held hostage for eight years, over which time his wife had moved on, thinking that he was dead. Sam has the chance to change all that but it that what he is really there for?
Take your very own trip back in time and enjoy the time-traveling adventures of Sam Beckett.
Brilliant show from start to finish, great graphics, great story line and you just fall in love with Wall-e. He is so cute. Lovely film you can just happily watch it again and again! Highly recommend!
Elaine Stritch's one woman show filmed live at London's Old Vic theatre is a real tour de force. She deals with her often turbulent life and career with honesty and humour. There are wonderful anecdotes about fellow performers Gloria Swanson, Noel Coward, Judy Garland and Richard Burton and an near fling with Marlon Brando during her early years in New York. Much of her life has been marred by heavy drinking and she deals with this in a typically forthright and amusing manner, explaining how she conspired with a barman to send champagne to her theatre dressing room with the cork customized not to "pop", keeping a suspicious Producer who had banned alcohol backstage at bay. Ms Stritch talks ruefully about losing the part of Dorothy in "The Golden Girls" because she offended the writer with her colourful language and losing actor Ben Gazzara when she fell hopelessly in love with Rock Hudson. She speaks highly of Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince who helped revive her career in the 1970s with the musical "Company" when she was becoming disillusioned with showbusiness. The story of her life is interspersed with great show tunes including "I'm Still Here, If Love Were All and The Party's Over. A wonderful piece of entertainment from a remarkable lady and entertainer.
I thought this film was amazing.
It really touched my heart. I was crying the whole way through. If Only Guys were like that. I went to watch this at the cinema with my mum and one of my girlfriends, and they were crying too, but apprently i was sobbing my heart out.
I love this film, definatley one for the chick flick collection. It was an amazing film and definatley recommend it.
Hope you lot enjoy it.
If you loved the 80"s romantic comedy then you will love Manniquin. A story of an artist who doesn"t fit within any job finds himself a shop front designer having created a manniquin reincarnated from the past who comes alive and he falls in love with. Can it be any more simple? Through fun, exploration, desire and romance the story unravels. This is a family fun story romantic comedy that all the family will enjoy.
Classic 80's romantic comedy
This is the most convincing drug movie I have seen. You often don't know what is going on as dreams, fantasy and reality collide. Shrooms as to any person interested in trying them are intriguingly tempting and interesting but offer unusual side effects. The film follows an expected format but the content diverts the watcher away from traditional conclusions. Definitely an 18 film due to the drug content. Enjoyable and worth a watch but on drugs could provide a bad trip
Don't be high when you watch this film
Quite possibly the worst film ever made! At the time of writing, the lowest price is 87p. Buying this film would be a bigger waste of 87p than giving it to a crack whore after verbally agreeing she wouldn't use it to help pay for her next fix! Honestly, if there were ever an hour and a half of my life i wanted back... it would be the time wasted watchin this utter tripe.
Adam Sandler plays an aspiring comedian that works on a boat. While watching a comedians painfully unfunny set, Sandler figures he can do better and proceeds to lock the comedian in his bathroom and takeover his show with... yet more painfully unfunny material. 90 odd minutes of non-hilarity ensues... Billy Bob Thronton plays a heckling member of a crowd, Billy Zane plays a mer-man with 2 short scenes... they both get top billing on the dvd?
I thought this was a brilliant film. I watched it with my mother, on one of our Sunday movie marathon's. It is an amazing film, with a brilliant story line.
Having Jack Nicholson as the Devil in this film was really scary, Before i watched this, I had previously seen "The Shining" which made me CRINGE at the thought of him, But after this film, He is so funny and back in my good books.
I went to see this film in the cinema, with my girlfriends, and i truely thought it was a good film. It was a real feel good film, one to make you sing. It should be coming out soon, so i am going to be one of the first people to buy the DVD. I like the fact that it has one huge twist at the end, Colin Firth a GAY. NOOOO. I sat in my cinema chair and thought, that how could that even be possible, he played the heart throb MR DARCY in Bridget Jone's Diary. I mean when i watched that film and fell to me feet, but then after watching Mamma Mia i was shocked, But still loved him. Definatly one for the chick flicks.
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