Reviews

First of all: both Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell are both absolutely brilliant in this! Rufus -I'm long time fan, since the Charles II series- has all the mannerisms and the stupidity of this conceited man.(sorry, I'm a republican, I don't like our own royal family either😁) Being dutch, I had to look up Emily, to know what kind of status she has in the UK, but I saw the interview at the time and was impressed by the calm and the skill of this interviewer. Movies like this, like ' all the president's men' and 'the post' are very much to my taste and this one is another 'like' for me.

Billie Piper is also great as the somewhat papparazzi-like person, who nevertheless knows what 'sells'. BBC tv is a bit like NOS tv in the Netherlands: well behaved and somewhat dull, but trustworthy. That's exactly what is portrayed here.

As far as I'm concerned: great acting!

Being curious about Robert the Bruce, I watched this movie on Filmbox. Usually, this kind of movie - nowadays- is an orgy of blood and steel.

I was happily surprised by the slower pace and the intensity of the atmosphere. It is, what we call here in Europe, a 'small' movie, meaning small(er) in its action, intimate.

Not that one-dimensional portraying of the so called hero, who does nothing more than going 'fast forward', screaming and roaring. Fast forward is, what I do to my moviebox, with the remote control, seeing films like Braveheart:)

But this movie has an intimacy and a much more realistic portayal of a man, who is fighting for a good cause, but has his doubts,...about himself, if he really isn't after his own glory, if he will ever reach his ideal of a Scotland, free from the English... Also , you see the scheeming 'lairds, rotting together', always ready to sell each other for a few coins more. A fine lot... The family that saves him is devided and especially the youngest one, Scott, is in two moods about Bruce.

As far as I am concerned: a fine, fine movie.

A wonderful documentary about music on tv. Big names pass on the screen: Toscanini, Bernstein, the ever egotistic Karajan, Paul Tortelier, Stravinsky, Britten, Pink Floyd and many many more. Presented by a.o. Attenborough.

But we don't know everybody and why in godsname don't they put names under the talking heads?? We see beautiful concerts by all those famous conductors, but, again, no names of the compositions and/or composers or orchestras/conductors. Of course, most of th4m are that famous, that most of us will know. But how many people for instance know how the composer Olivier Messiaen looks like?

Why change a winning team, the voices? Just mr. Earl Jones brings back his regal sounds. But where's my favourite Scar? Jeremy! I missed him, his sarcasm then brought so much to the caracter. The film has a very slow pace and it is a bit hybrid: animals acting like animals and then suddenly have humane emotions. The same flaw that in the early days was in'Bambi'...

What a movie! I was a bit apprehensive, because of the review above, but it turned out to be a wonderfully, fine, actors-movie! A star studded cast, a great story. Nothing flashy à la James Bond, mind you, but that is what makes the plot so believable and real. A treat!

After 'Abel', 'de Noordelingen ', 'kleine Teun', 'de jurk' and many others, this is another example of Alex' special, wonderful qay of storytelling. He has this very special way of filming in a hyper-realistic fimstyle, with an ironic sense of humor. You have to understand 'the language'. The situations are absurd, the human relations are often distorted, the humor is wry. I love it! Who needs music, when a movie is this brilliant?