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Reviews
Ring of Bright Water (1969)
Singularly the most traumatic film of my childhood
Just when you get to love the little critter, when you've bonded, when you wish you had one of your very own. SMACK. He's killed by a farmer with a shovel. "Sorry miss." You know what? I'm sorry, but you should never show this movie to children or to people who are sensitive to animal cruelty. It's a terrible film and I still rue the day my parents made me watch it. At the cinema, no less, where there was no escape. I cried for days. So just be warned, if you want to desensitise your children to the horrid miserable reality of animal suffering, this would be a great way to do it. Alternately, it might put them in therapy for years.
The X Files: Hell Money (1996)
One of the best episodes
This is one of the great episodes of the X-files in a series that is arguably the best of the lot. A man seeking money to pay for an operation on his sick daughter (Lucy Liu), engages in a dangerous lottery. Win, and she'll live, lose and he might lose his life. The horror of disfigurement, disability and the black market trade in organs is displayed with traumatic realism. The performances of the cameo cast are wonderful, with BD Wong (better known for his performances in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as psychologist George Huang) a particular highlight.
This is one of those episodes where we see budding actors really shine in cameo roles, as both Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi did in "D.P.O." earlier in this series. Terrible and fascinating to watch.
Un coupable idéal (2001)
A chilling tale of right and wrong
This is an extraordinary film. As a courtroom drama, it's compelling, as an indictment on the American justice system, it's frightening. For Brenton Butler the consequences of this system could be devastating. This film highlights the fundamental flaws of the legal process, that it's not about discovering guilt or innocence, but rather, is about who presents better in court. In truth, the implications of this case reach beyond the possibility of an innocent man being found guilty, or a guilty man being free. Every citizen has a right to justice, whether a perpetrator or a victim. But do they get it? The film is well paced, understated and one of the best courtroom documentaries I've seen.