High calibre World War II suspense thriller based on a true story, Bryan 'X-Men' Singer's 'Valkyrie' sees decorated Nazi officer; Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg (a brilliant, understated performance by Tom Cruise) hatch a plot to assassinate Hitler in a bid to save Germany from collapse. 'Valkyrie' plays out like a parable for an America that failed to stand up to its own little Hilters and has, thus far, staggered and spluttered its way towards ruin in an ever-rising torrent of blood. I got over the multitude of accents quicker than expected, for the film moves at such a pace that you forget Cruise is acting in American or that all the top Nazis are Brits. Cruise's opening voiceover has him move from German to English, in a smooth linguistic transition that's similar in direction to the Norse to English changeover in John McTiernan's 'The 13th Warrior'. Col. Von Stauffenberg is moved to action after losing a hand and his eye in an allied air strike over Tunisia, his malaise and disillusionment exacerbated by the pointless activity of distributing medals to wounded comrades in a veteran's hospital, coupled with a realisation of how his young family are affected by Heer Wolf's imperial megalomania. Sent home to Europe and recruited by high ranking Nazi officers who've tried, and failed, to kill the fuehrer; Von Stauffenberg adopts his pragmatic militarism to change the face of the conspiracy, unify its members and organise a viable, post-Hitler strategy. He soon discovers that for some men, such as Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Brannagh) the assassination plan is a cri de coeur to show the world that "Not all of us were like him", others like General Erich Fellgiebel (Eddie Izzard) and General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson) are extremely reluctant participants whilst General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy) shuns responsibility and compromises a phase of operations by literally being out to lunch. Valkyrie's ensemble acting is second to none, as a sterling cast bring this compelling story to life in a narrative blitzkrieg of political machinations and furious, intentionally frustrating, near misses. Bald as a coot, brass balled bomb maker Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim (Christian Berkel) shines alongside a well sourced supporting cast which includes Thomas Kretschmann (whose Major Otto Ernst Remer provides some unexpected laughs) Clarice van Houten of 'Black Book' fame as Nina von Stauffenberg, a stoic Terence Stamp is chief conspirator Ludwig Beck, 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' baddie Tom Hollander as Colonel Heinz Brandt and Brit TV thesp David Bamber, who provides a memorable take on Hitler, playing him like a German Woody Allen; pacing around 'The Wolf's Lair' and mumbling some barely coherent drivel about the Valkyries of myth & legend. There are times when Singer's movie resembles 'Day Of The Jackal' meets 'Mission: Impossible', but to leave it at that would be unfair, for 'Valkyrie' is historical drama at its best: well acted, tense and thrilling with a captivating storyline, wonderful cinematography and a focused, well paced script: an achievement in every sense of the word; especially since we already know how it ends.
I'm a big fan of My Family and already have series one- seven in a box set.
I think that this 'My Family' is just as good as the rest. It always makes you laugh and there is never a dull moment with the Harpers around. Ever episode makes me smile and want to watch more, you can't get enough!
Just like every series of My Family you have Robert Lindsay who plays Ben, juggling his work and his home life. His wife Susan played by Zoe Wanamaker never lets him have his say and his children just want his money.
The film is so much more than you expect - it works as a piece of pure entertainment but so much more too. The music is superb, but then it is by A. R. Rahman which in itself is recommendation enough.
The plot is mainly fast paced and challenging making you take it in. It isn't the normal mindless pap but it is a film to challenge your view of India and to make you sit up and watch every minute. It finished so quickly despite being quite a long film! I Loved it ***** from me!
Vibrant surprising wonderful challenging wonderful
I watched this film and from start to finish I was just laughing. Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson just blow your mind, the pair work really well together. I just loved it, but not only is the film great but the deleted scenes are amazingly funny too. Sometimes with funny films the ending can just ruin it, but this film had just the right ending. This is a must have film and if I were to rate it I'd say 9/10.
I wasn't too sure about season 5 when I first started watching it but whenever little Jamie came onto the screen I just loved to watch him, he's so cute and he says the cutest things, so I just fell in love with the show all over again. What's more, in this season you finally get to meet the person Brooke despises the most - her mother!
One Tree Hill season 5 jumps ahead 4 years after college
I absolutely love Gossip Girl, I fell in love with it as soon as I started watching it and bought the DVD as soon as it was out. Since then it's become half price, but oh well, it's got everything you want in a TV series, the drama, the comedy, the cliff-hangers and the person everyone loves to hate. I would highly recommend people to buy this. Although I love to watch TV, I did prefer to watch this one episode after another, it's a great American TV show, but one of the main characters is from England, this makes me love it even more! I give this show a 9/10 rating.
The Curious case of Benjamin Button is a unique and fascinating modern fairytale which marks a dramatic shift in genre for director David Fincher who has been previously made some of the best thriller films that have redefined the genre itself, such as, "se7en", "fight club" and "zodiac". The romantic storyline may be almost opposite to Fincher's usual craft in story telling but just like most of his films it is how he executes these stories that separate his movies from most others. For this film Fincher has opted for a realistic and cerebral direction that plays out subtly to its audience, hear he wants us as an audience to see in to the life of Benjamin Button as if we were actually there with him ourselves. Fincher never tries to take us out of the movie and joke with us like he has done before in "fight club". The acting and visual FX take a similar approach as the direction. Some people complain that the acting wasn't "Oscar worthy". I couldn't disagree more. Many people commonly believe that to display good acting the actor must shout loudly during an emotional scene and cry buckets of tears, but hear all the actors focus on characterization to help sell these characters in these sometimes unbelievable scenarios. The biggest compliment that can be given to the special FX is that you will not notice them. Too often nowadays CGI is just used as a gimmick, not so in The curious case of Benjamin Button where it is used only when essential and for the main purpose CGI was created in the first place; to move the story forward. All of these subtle aspects of the production help make the romance between Daisy and Benjamin all the more believable.
I would thoroughly recommend this movie for any who appreciates a well told story and brilliant film making in general, by far one of the best, if not the best movie of 2008 or for that matter the best movie I have seen in a while.
Benjamin Button is "born under unusual circumstances" during the end of the first world war where he is abandoned in an elderly persons home because he is assumed to be "diseased" when in actual fact Benjamin has been "gifted" by somehow being born an elderly man. Upon discovering he has a unique ability to age backwards he meets a young girl named Daisy, where an almost instantaneous bond is formed between them. Later on they become an item and must make the most of this precious time as they meet in the middle before Daisy descends in to an elderly woman and before Benjamin will become an infant.
Camp Rock is yet another modern Disney film for all the kids to enjoy. It includes many fun songs to sing along to and the movie is nice and simple to follow. An exciting film for the family to watch together, have fun and imagine that they're part of the movie.
Mitchie (Demi Lovato) is a girl who just wants to follow her dreams and where's the best place to go? Camp Rock! Camp Rock is all about music: anyone who wants to be in the music career would go here to reach their goals. So, Mitchie meets loads of new mates, including the famous Shayne Gray (Joe Jonas), and throughout the camp she has her ups and downs with everyone. But when the final jam comes along, everything seems to go quite well...
The Secret Garden is beautiful film for all the family - it's one of the best stories ever written and is a classic. The music is also lovely and the cinematography is divine. The actors have been picked perfectly for the roles in this film and portray the characters from the book as imagined.
Why buy this box set after it's already been released before?
We all know about the show, and the excellent rating relates to the best remastering process I have ever seen.
Previous releases are now obsolete; this is the box set every fan has to own.
The picture has been cleaned up a lot. It now has a cinematic quality to it, and looks less like a TV show made in the 60's. Also the special effects have been computerised. When looking at the show previously the Enterprise would fly past the screen from left to right, and the only difference in the next episode the planet in the background would be a different colour. We now have all new different angels in the enterprise - from above, below.
Even if you own the shows already, buy this one, it's like viewing the show for the first time.
The original series - remastered
If a light hearted comedy series with a splash of time travel is your cup of tea then this might hit the spot.
Goodnight Sweetheart is a timeless piece of television from the nineties that you can easily snuggle up and lose yourself in after a hard day at work. It oozes charm, the characters are likeable and the script is funny yet subtle.
Nicholas Lyndhurst of Only Fools and Horses fame plays Gary Sparrow a TV repair man who seems like an ordinary bloke but stumbles across an extraordinary hole in the time space continuum. He somehow manages to stumble fifty years into the past in the East end of London where he meets Phoebe (Dervla Kirwan). He gradually comes to terms with the fact he can walk into war stricken London but doesn't realise his life is about to be turned upside down as he battles to balance his secret life alongside his very real one with his wife Yvonne (Michelle Holmes).
The only one who he can tell is his best mate Ron (Victor Maguire), a man with serious marital problems who realises that Gary's life is much more complicated than his own. Probably the funniest character in the show, Ron helps Gary keep his secret so that he can lead his double life. As time moves on, relationships become more complicated and the tampering with time causes various difficulties for the time traveller. Some moments are cringe worthy, some are charming, some are a little silly, but all can be forgiven due to the talented cast. The female actors do change after season three and it takes a little time to warm to them although they do try to keep the characters alive. Some of the clothes and décor look very nineties but this doesn't mean it hasn't aged well. By popping in and out of two different decades throughout the show, it"s hardly noticeable. Goodnight Sweetheart runs for a six series and has a rewarding and timely ending which really make it worth viewing. Overall a great retreat from the stress of the 21st century.
Tower of Evil (1972) is one way to describe this cheap and cheerless British horror, very much an entry in the 'thing in the attic' school, except this time the attic is more a network of caves underneath a lighthouse.
After four gruesome murders on remote Snape Island, the one survivor, a young woman, is reduced to a catatonic state. To try to get her to talk, Dr Anthony Valentine employs his cutting-edge technique combining drugs with disco lights (though not, mercifully, disco music). We learn that the deaths of her three companions involved a lot of blood-letting and screaming; in fact one of the longest, most gruelling, scream-sequences in cinematic history (thank goodness for the volume control). All the women show remarkable stamina in being able to scream piercingly on demand - and keep screaming, even whilst running at top speed. Unfortunately it doesn't help them. We learn also that the deaths were preceded by a lot of frolicking in the nude and slangy hip youth-speak: "This place is really far-out!"
As the murders involve an ancient gold sword, antiquarian Dennis Price suspects there are Phoenician burial sites and assembles a team of experts to find them. Unfortunately he did not vet them properly as the two men and two women present an incendiary mix of sexual liaisons. What their expertise is in is unclear, except in the fields of bitchy backchat and sexual suggestion. As they make their way on a tiny boat, braving unnervingly shaky rear projection, they are accompanied by a salty sea dog and a hunky free-spirited youth, the kind of cool, laconic dude who demonstrates his machismo by standing around with his thumbs hooked behind his belt.
Curiously, after the initial flurry of blood-letting and nudity the script seems quite coy about having any more until the final minutes, preferring instead to work its way slowly through the familiar diet of shadows, weird sounds, heavy breathing, and skulking. It is not, however, reticent about having the characters say helpful things: "Whoever killed those kids must be mad!"; "The entrance to the caves must be on the seaward side!" Surprisingly, the film could be seen as a precursor to the slasher flicks of the '80s as it does seem to equate teen sex with death: the only survivor is the 'good girl' who remains chaste.
The cast features a few familiar faces aside from the brief appearances of Valentine and Price. Jill Haworth, one-time doyen of Otto Preminger films, plays one of the female experts, whilst Anna Palk, a regular on British TV in the '60s and early '70s, plays the other. Robin Askwith, of the notorious 'Confessions' films, plays one of the 'American' teens (and is dubbed accordingly).
I love the Pussycat Dolls and this DVD has some great songs on it, I really would like to recommend this disc but unfortunately it was a massive disappointment.
Being of American origin the disc starts off with an FBI anti piracy warning, do the FBI have jurisdiction in England? Just curious?
The extras are okay, not fantastic, but nice little additions, the Meet The Dolls interviews last between 1 and half to 2 and half minutes with Nicole obviously being the longest. I don't think any of the extras are more than 4 and half minutes long and the Dress Like A Doll "extra" is nothing more than a web address. The music videos are the best extras if only because they are in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Okay that sounds weird but keep reading and I'll explain.
The main reason for buying this disc is the concert which only lasts 28 minutes and is "widescreen". Now this is the big problem here. Released around the same time November 2006 and costing the same price the Girls Aloud - Greatest Hits - Live At Wembley lasts 128 minutes, making the PCD disc pathetic value in comparison.
Not only that, but the Girls Aloud disc actually fits the full screen of a widescreen TV. The PCD disc is kind of widescreen but it has a 4:3 screen area within which is the "widescreen" picture. Yes it will fill a 16:9 TV if your TV can zoom, but this obviously comes with a quality loss. If you don't have or use a zoom feature on your TV the music videos being in 4:3 actually fill more of a 16:9 TV than the "widescreen" extras or the concert.
As much as I want to say buy this now I really can't, I've got to say don't encourage them, don't buy this until a) it's released in proper widescreen and b) the price drops to reflect the short length of the actual concert.
I'm giving this a rubbish rating purely because of bad value and inexcusable presentation. If I was just rating the content it would be excellent.
Again Prunella Scales proves what a good comic actress she is, Joan Sanderson makes a very good foil for Ms Scales to work against; I liked this series very much
5 years on since first seeing this film at the cinema, I still find myself returning to it on a regular basis. Sofia Coppola shows a huge maturity above her career years with this, only her second film. It seems she learnt a few things from her acclaimed father Francis Ford Coppola, and her husband Spike Jonze.
Lost in Translation is based around the relationship between Bob (played by Bill Murray) a once famous actor now nursing a marriage breakdown and possible midlife crisis whilst away selling his soul to advertising, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) the lonely wife of an up and coming photographer who seemingly has no time for her anymore. The story twists and turns through a variety of sub plots, all ranging from the funny, to the romantic and heartbreaking. Set in Tokyo and scored with a dreamy shoe-gazing soundtrack you cannot help but be sucked in by the beauty and subtle grace of the simple story. Set in almost another world, yet something everyone can relate to.
With outstanding performances throughout (especially from the reliably superb Murray) and great cinematography this film is, in my opinion, as close to perfect as any. There is not one aspect I would change and the relationship between the two leads (so open to interpretation) always brings you back for one more stab at working it out.
An over the hill somebody and a newlywed nobody find happiness and new sense of purpose in the emotional maze of Tokyo.
I can't stop thinking about this film. From the great use of suspense and minimalist dialogue, to the amazing camera work such that every single frame of this modern masterpiece (yes masterpiece) could be taken and hung on a wall in an art gallery, I love everything about it. It has been criticised for focussing too heavily on Annik Honore© and Deborah Curtis as the sources for Ian's spiralling depression, and in that sense only gives us a narrow snapshot of his short life, but I think Corbijn never strove for more than that. To me one of the superb merits of this picture is its sense of isolation which is created by such a very selective approach to its content. I feel certain, given Corbijn's access to Curtis's wife and Tony Wilson as co-producers that Control could have told us the full, unabridged tale of Curtis's demise, yet Corbijn didn't and it is this exercise in restraint that renders this riveting film so artistically pleasing. Moreover, Riley's uncanny resemblance to the great man himself (and I feel, rather eerily, to Pete Doherty) makes it simply impossible to tear your eyes away from the screen. Jaw-droppingly good!
A wealth of talent, emotion and creativity, Paris, Je T'aime is a film-lover's dream! The concept is amazing: bring together 21 of the most prestigious directors in modern film to collaborate with a host of brilliant actors to produce the ultimate symposium on the most universally appreciated concept known to man, love. The execution does not disappoint. Using the 'city of love' (Paris) as a canvass, this groundbreaking team have created a collage of unique perspectives on love that are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes bizarre, sometimes heart-warming, sometimes heart-breaking, and always emotive. If this is the French version of Love Actually then I am afraid to say that Richard Curtis has been emphatically outdone. Paris, Je T'aime is truly the stuff of legends. Do not die before watching this film.
Zach Braff's directorial debut is a quietly funny and quaintly moving story celebrating individuality and the beauty of life, whatever the circumstances. Truly original, Braff's picture is filled with poetic symbolism and, somewhat surprisingly, sublime profundity. The story is one of a lost and desensitised small-time actor whose life ironically 'begins' when his eyes are opened by the death of his mother and the fresh perspective of Natalie Portman's compulsive liar, Sam. During the haphazard and weird trail that Largeman (Braff) is led stumbling along by his old friends, he encounters a crash course in the kind of adventures he missed as a child and learns lessons about family, love, happiness and tragedy. But Braff's film is more than just a quirky, touching tail of rebirth. It is a compendium of lessons on life teaching us that it is ok to be ourselves, and as such it shows incite beyond this young debutante's years. It is an exceptional first film from a clever and gifted actor/writer/director, and a beautiful example of indie filmmaking.
This is by far the funniest programme on the telly right now. It is clearly more for the boys than for the girls, but do NOT miss out - It"s hilarious!
Never have I seen such an excellent collection of films by everyone's favourites, Laurel & Hardy. To top it all, many of their feature length films also boast a colourized version in this magnificent box set thus making it a most attractive "must-have" for those who, like me, who love to watch the highly laughable duo perform one side-splitting scene after another.
Also included are some famous earlier silent films which show that the pair also acted very well in that pre-audio era. My all time favourite from this set is by far Way Out West - for me nothing can beat this film! I have lost count of the times that I have watched it on my home projection screen.
What can I say about the price - it is a steal at the moment. One can obtain it at under £35 (postage included) for a 21 DVD Box set that is considerably less than £2 per DVD. By the way, the collection sports 22 feature films and many more equally famous short films. All in all a must have nostalgic set for the enthusiast and children alike. I wish that I could award more than 5 stars as I feel that I cannot do justice with just 5.
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