Reviews

No this isn't factual history but since when has that particularly bothered US filmmakers?! The point is if you want an exact version of events read a book on the subject, it is very clear you cannot provide a full and 100% accurate account in the amount of time allowed by a film. Once you get over this point I felt that The Path to 9/11 was a well made drama which covered some very key episodes in the buildup to 9/11 and had some wonderful acting. The atmosphere of impending doom was beautifully handled and there is no doubt that one is left to dwell on some appalling mistakes made in the handling of terrorism prior to 9/11. What I find as a Brit remarkable is that so many on here are accusing the programme of rabid right wing bias. I have to say that I completely disagree. Yes the Clinton administration was made to look weak and irresolute, but I hardly think that the makers of the programme covered the Bush regime with glory either. The fact that the film ended with the lack of progress made since 9/11 means it is hardly a pro-Bush piece, but at the same time since it was the Clinton administration in power during most of the preceding events, it is only natural that it should shoulder its fair share of the blame. So why don't you lot get off your political bandwagons and just agree that the whole thing was one great big screw up (not that Britain would have done any better I assure you!)

Before I discuss Strayed I should say that I am a big fan of French cinema and therefore don't agree with the sweeping generalisation that it is over-ponderous and self-important. Strayed however most certainly does conform to this stereotype. It all begins very promisingly with a family running into the woods to escape German bombs and encountering an almost savage seventeen year old youth. The children like him while the widowed mother (played by Beart) is a little more reticent. Unfortunately the film then peters out and the rest of it meanders along with no sense of tension or character development. It is as though the writer came up with what he thought was a good idea, and then after writing a few pages realised that in fact he still had writer's block. The sex with which the film culminates appears to have been added to give the film some spice, but there are simply no preliminaries (at least on the part of Beart's character) to make her sudden rampant desire in any way explicable. The acting is good as is the general mood set by the music and the scenery, but this does not excuse the fact that this film simply has nothing important or interesting to say.

Like one of the other reviewers on this site I am going to vote 10 out of 10 for Kidulthood to try to redress the anomaly of its incredibly low score. Something is surely wrong with the IMDb system when most of the reviews on the site are positive yet the film has such a low rating. Anyway I thought Kidulthood was a very realistic 'urban streetkids' film which captured perfectly the style, speech and violence that happens every day around London's inner city schools. I thought the acting was absolutely fine especially considering the age of most of the actors - have those criticising the actors actually seen the way that teenage kids behave because I think they were all very believable. The film was tense, violent and gripping and is a nice London take on the issues of teenage gang violence.

I honestly wanted to like this film. I love Argentina and I like quirky films where not all that much happens. But I am sorry to have to report that this is one of the worst, most excruciatingly dull films I have ever seen. There is absolutely no plot and absolutely no character development. What happens (to use the term loosely) is that a Buenos Aires Grandma decides that her whole family will drive up to Misiones for a wedding and the film shows us what happens on the trip. Which is nothing. Except lots of incidences where the van breaks down which means there are lots of shots of engines and carboretters. We find out very little indeed about any of the family who go on this trip except that one of the men is having an affair with one of the women. Sometimes with road trip films at least you get some lovely shots of the countryside, yet even here the film fails, making the pampas look about as dull as the subject matter.

I actually found it remarkable that this film is presumably a work of fiction. The fact that somebody would bother to make up a story where absolutely nothing of interest occurs and where there is no character development or humour is actually remarkable. And the fact that a film company thought that it would be a good idea to buy the story is equally astounding.

I occasionally have a problem on my machine with DVDs skipping. And whenever this normally happens I go hopping mad. I have to tell you however that when my copy of La Familia Rodante started jumping I was actually relieved that it meant I would have to endure less of the awful banality that was proceeding in front of me. Honestly, the only people who would like this film are mechanics and even they would get bored after the first breakdown.

After half an hour of this film I felt as if I was watching one of those awful one off Sunday evening dramas which seem to have been made only with the middle class housewife in mind. There were cut glass English accents, shots of tennis and the opera, meaningful looks across dinner tables and a rather obvious love triangle involving Scarlet Johannsen. But I have to admit that the longer this film progressed the more intriguing it became until by the end I was quite unashamedly shouting advice at the screen. Match Point was refreshingly unpredictable and also rather refreshingly had no particularly likable characters thereby avoiding moral judgements. As others have said this is far from your typical Woody Allen film - and I am normally a big fan. A slight disappointment for me in Match Point was that you can normally rely on Allen to produce scintillating dialogue yet the conversations appeared stilted and slightly humourless. I also felt that some of the details - such as Chris being a supposedly working class boy from Ireland yet with a posh English accent and a penchant for Dostoevsky were a little far-fetched. Overall though Match Point is definitely worth a look.

My all time top five favourite films is a list that has remained happily undisturbed for the past few years. I've seen some excellent films in that time but nothing that has had me scratching my head and getting ready for the problems of entering a new entry. Until last week when I came out of the cinema having seen The Proposition. This film is simply magnificent. The direction is stunning and should have won the director an Oscar - every scene feels as though it has been carefully thought about and this makes for beautiful and harrowing visions of the wild Australian frontier. The acting is marvellous with Ray Winstone putting in a career best performance (which is really saying something for Britain's best actor). Everyone else is also superb even down to the sinister locals who in their looks and mannerisms seem to have stepped straight out of the nineteenth century. Yes, the film is disturbing and the violence can make for uncomfortable viewing. But this is of course necessary to bring home just how dangerous and anarchic life on the frontier really must have been. The film's score helps to create a haunting atmosphere throughout and the story, though simple, is genuinely moving. I really am not used to using so many superlatives in a film review but The Proposition leaves me no choice. Anyone who enjoys cinema must see it.

This is definitely one of the funniest films I have seen for a long time. It's completely inappropriate and repulsive but the fouler it gets the more I was literally crying with laughter. The ones which brought racism in at the end were especially hilarious as was the South Park scene. My girlfriend hated it (she is from Tunbridge Wells) but the fact that she was looking so disgusted actually made it all the funnier. I agree with some of the other reviewers that the editing could have been a lot better - I wished the comedians had just been left to tell the joke without interruption - but nevertheless I really enjoyed this film and would heartily recommend it.

After about twenty minutes of this film I was in heaven. The father setting fire to his hand, the old man in the shoe shop and the children writing about 'poop' on the internet were amusing, offbeat, almost Todd Solondz-like scenes. But that was it. I didn't laugh again and slowly got bored. The performance artist who I gather was also the film writer was just irritating and self-absorbed and every scene involving her made me feel that this film was trying to be quirky for the sake of being quirky. All of the children were excellent, but they had so little to do by the end that they were wasted. I am normally a great fan of films where very little happens and where the ending is anything but a conclusion. But an old man banging a coin against a post and then giving the coin to the small boy? Please. Either it went way above my head and I am just a boorish idiot or it was just another example of the pretentious, meaningless nonsense that pervaded the final hour of this very disappointing film.

I must say that when I heard that a powerful Hollywood drama about racial stereotypes had been released I didn't have high hopes. I've heard it all before quite frankly - 'turns racism on its head', 'really makes you think'. Yeah, whatever. But I read some great reviews so rented it on video. Now this film is not a complete calamity - it's nicely shot for one thing - but quite why people are feting this film as some sort of cinematic masterpiece is extraordinary. But no more extraordinary than the earnest, self-important view that the film sees to have of itself. The absurd life-affirming music at the end would have fitted perfectly a genuine epic where you have seen the characters change and grow. But the problem with Crash is that there are simply too many characters to care about any of them. And they are all so horribly clichéd - the wisecracking, funny blacks, the desperate Arab, the hard working Hispanic, the racist and overworked white - that it makes a mockery of viewing racism in a different way. The more I think about this film the less I like it so I'll stop now and leave my 3 out of 10 before I reconsider and give it a two...

I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I rented this from the video shop. I'd never seen a Bergman film before and only knew that they came highly recommended. I went out for the night, came back very late, and thought I'd put the film on for a few minutes before hitting the sack. From the opening scene I was spellbound. An hour and a half later when the credits rolled I had the sensation that I had just watched something truly special. I was captivated by the beautifully constructed, hauntingly quiet scenes and the understated sense of foreboding that lingered throughout. I am pleased I had never before heard of the scenes of the knight playing chess with Death as for me they took me by surprise and were a delight. This is a wonderful film and I'm looking forward to seeing it again soon.

I will clarify something from the start. I am a white, straight male who has little time for wishy washy liberal propaganda. But this film is not propaganda. It is an epic of a quality rarely seen on the big or small screen. The film plunges us into a captivating opening scene of a wisened old rabbi giving a funeral oration about a Jewish grandmother he had never met, and takes us on some diverse and often surreal paths throughout the next 6 hours or so. The grand themes of politics, religion and sex have the time to be dealt with in a sometimes serious, sometimes very funny manner, and the acting is a treat. Every scene with Al Pacino is a joy to watch, and in particular his one-on-one dialogues with the gay black nurse played by Jeffrey Wright are superb. People who think this film is gay propaganda or an attack on religion should probably get out more and stop being so paranoid.

Quite a fun, original film about an interesting subject. Unlike others on here I thought the direction was spot on, and other than the fact that the film went on 20 minutes too long I thought it did well to hold my attention - especially as it was a Friday night and I wanted a drink! As many have said the acting was tremendous. The only problem was that this film merely adds to the paranoia that is currently invading intelligent thought throughout the world. Saying 'drugs companies' in the same sentence as 'AIDS' and 'Africa' seems to have normally clever people sagely shaking their heads in the way they do whenever George W Bush or Iraq come up in conversation. Please see this film if you want to watch a thriller and be entertained. But if you're the conspiracy-theory type who believes that the world is run by a cartel of drugs companies, oil conglomerates, serpents with big heads who suck blood and George W Bush I think it's better you stay away.

I went to see this with very limited expectations as I had not read many reviews but I have to say I really enjoyed it. Its slight zaniness is recognisably Spanish while there were also elements of typically Jewish humour. Some of the set pieces in the film are laugh at loud funny, while the characters are superb - in particular the ex-Israeli army granddad, the ultra religious but very confused son and the nymphomaniac daughter. This is a family with real problems and the comedy is often tinged with sadness. In an albeit short argument at the end between the Jewish daughter and her Palestinian boyfriend the Middle East debate is given a very vocal hearing, and while this film does not attempt to delve into the subject too deeply, it is an amusing, feel-good take on family relationships and Jewish-Arab relations.

The predictability of the reviews on this database is hilarious. Every Woody Allen film gets...'it's not as good as Annie Hall'. Over and over and over again. As though Woody Allen has committed a heinous crime in making a supposedly lesser film. Just as every Martin Scorsese film gets a run of 'It's not Raging Bull or Goodfellas'. Over and over and over again. I think that sometimes people sit down intent on wallowing in gloom, specifically to compare a film negatively with a director or actor's previous works. Probably the sort of irritating people who go back to the same place on holiday every year and complain that it was cheaper last year, much more fun and friendly and the place has become too commercialised.

Quite frankly I don't care if Anything Else is as good as Annie Hall. I loved it. From start to finish I laughed out loud at the fantastic dialogue, and unlike others I thought the acting was superb. Having heard next to nothing about it on release, this was one of the most unexpectedly funny, heart warming and intelligent films I have seen for some time.

Despite the comments of one particularly hilarious pseudo intellectual reviewer, I do understand subtlety. I would also rather practice agonising self-mutilation than call myself a science fiction fan. I was however appalled by the dross that was Lost in Translation. Nothing happened and I was bored. I am very very rarely bored in the cinema and no, I don't only watch films with explosions. Moreover the two characters were singularly unappealing and this more than anything else made the film difficult to watch. Bill Murray looked sheepish, Scarlet Johansson looked impassive. For the whole film. And we were meant to empathise with their apparently very human plight. What a lot of nonsense. I empathise more with patronising IMDb reviewers than I do with this rather selfish, unexpressive duo. Anyway so i hated it. And so did my girlfriend. So there!

The sort of film you want to shout about and make everybody watch and then dive into your television set and sit outside the hot dog stand with the characters. Whoever likes this film because its so un-Hollywood is missing the point. I'm honest enough to admit that i loved Meet the Fockers - as Hollywood as you can get! To compare this to Hollwood films is like comparing carrots and nylon. It is absurd. By the same token those attempting to pick holes in the plot ought to be committed. This film has nothing to do with plot. Just lie back, open up a cold beer, and soak up the incredible atmosphere and beauty that it creates.

Last night I was feeling edgy. That fidgeting edginess that seems to arrive and then settle in for the evening. Then I pressed play on my video and half an hour later I was, according to my girlfriend, sleeping like a baby. Cue the jabs in the ribs that forced me to endure the remainder of this anaemic folly. I must say that I am often a fan of films in which very little of any consequence occurs. The previous night, for instance, I had loved every minute of The station Agent. This sort of film however can only work if it manages to engage. And in this The Girl with a Pearl Earring, for all its beautiful costumes and scenery, spectacularly fails. Colin Firth plays the same role we all know by heart, and Scarlet Johansson simply fails to bring any sympathy or life to her character. Tom Wilkinson is as good as ever, but his character is so one dimensional you wonder whether he has simply been copied and pasted from a comic book of villains. I was left rather annoyed by this pointless work. Firstly because I had been woken up to suffer it, and secondly because every time I see the beautiful painting that inspired it, I will be left with the painful image of a mute Scarlet Johansson and a mute Colin Firth in a room together, with not an ounce of tension between them.