Reviews

I stumbled into this as a free view on Amazon, and I'm so grateful that I did. This is a completely compelling documentary by interviewers who know when to be quiet. Although the topic for discussion is tightly themed on eroticism I found this captivating me in exactly the same was as the Finnish documentary 'Steam of Life'. The subjects offer the same candour, and many give gripping monologues. A remarkable piece of film making.

This isn't a bad film, and at the risk of damning with faint praise, most aspects are consistently adequate. At times it feels like a narrative loosely wound around a music video, with a lead actor with very limited acting skills but not a bad voice.

The themes tread well worn paths, and unless you're a real fan of the soundtrack it really doesn't have much to offer.

Viewers would do well to consider 'All About Eve' for a study on the price of fame, or John Carney's 'Begin Again' for a film with similar themes but much stronger talent. The former is a 9/10 out of 10 film, the latter a strong 7/8. This is a 5.

This is not a great movie. It's never going to garner much of 'The Academy's' time and is an absolutely derivative example of the genre, to the point where a seasoned viewer would be able to identify each prison film that is being mined on a scene by scene basis.

That said, it's not terrible either. It's technically competent with regards to sound, lighting and cinematography and the sets and extras make for an immersive and atmospheric environment. Some of the dialogue is a bit leaden, and it's delivery equally so in parts, but this is definitely 5/10 material.

I'm not sure that those reviewers giving 1/10 scores have ever actually seen a truly bad film. This is not one of those.

This could have been something great, but it seems that it couldn't quite decide what it wants to be. The interviewees seem to be largely members of firms who don't really offer much insight into the complex story of football violence.

It seems to lack real journalistic qualities that prevent it being taken seriously as a documentary. The worst part of all though is the horrible script for Sean Bean's narration. It tries at times for both wit and insight but ends up largely playing out like a bad episode of You've Been Framed.

It's worth a watch if you like seeing very rough footage of stadium violence but it's ultimately pretty hard to recommend.

I've given this a four as it has a lot to be commended, including some nice cast members, some great eye candy and some beautifully designed and rendered CG. I've seen a lot of criticism for Rosie Huntington-Whitely which I found a bit unfair. She is, to borrow the vernacular, 'smoking hot', but she also gave a credible performance. Sure, she won't be troubling the Academy next year, but this is a Blockbuster action flick, not Richard III.

But my problem with this film is that it's SO DULL! Non stop action isn't exciting for long - it gets tedious quickly. When this film reached it's natural set piece finale and it still had an hour to run I just got up and walked out, and that was the first time in my life I've ever done that.

I'm sure this movie could be saved with some ruthless editing. It could lose an hour. A whole hour. Comfortably.

There's no question in my mind that this was a sublimely wonderful film, and I hate to criticise it, but I had just one niggle - it peaked too soon! Whilst I've long respected the Pixar animators for their technical skills, it's their storytelling that I truly admire. Here, they excelled themselves. Within the first fifteen minutes of the film lies a contextualising montage. With almost no dialogue, and very little screen time, it told a story that ripped my heart out. All the adults in the theatre were crying. It was tragic and beautiful, and I'd place it as one of the best pieces of storytelling that I've ever seen on the screen, large or small.

The rest of the film was likable, with charming characters and a lovely whimsical plot, but no matter how hard it tried it couldn't take me to the places, emotionally, that that first quarter hour did. And I can't believe I'm saying this about a kid's animated movie! Wonderful work, bravo Pixar!

I rather foolishly read some reviews before I went to see this film, and with EVERY single one completely panning the film I was expecting it to be dire. Nevertheless, I have a cinema subscription so it wasn't going to cost me anything, and my brother's girlfriend was mad keen to see it, so off we went.

Having seen it, I can't quite understand the level of contempt felt for this film. It's a modern remake of a fifty odd year old film, of course it's not going to be a shot for shot remake! But I felt that the update was good and the alterations to story line were valid. I also felt, and believe me I'm no fan, that Keanu Reeves did a fairly creditable job. It's not so easy to be THAT wooden, and given that that was his interpretation of the role then I'd say he pulled it off effectively.

The viewing experience brought to mind two other films. The first was 'War of the Worlds' which of course has undergone a similar contemporary restyling and adaptation. I think that TDTESS actually weathered the transition a little better, and I felt more comfortable with it. The other film that springs to mind was the abomination that was 'The Invasion'. Looking at scores and comments, posters here seem to be equating that film with this, when the reality is that they are worlds apart.

I find the criticisms I'm reading about casting, acting, pacing, direction and scripting to be anywhere between brutally harsh and completely unfair. To my surprise as much as anyone's, I enjoyed it and I'd watch it again. Sure, do rent the original - it's a wonderful film. Whilst you're in the video store get 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' as well - it's equally good. But don't dismiss this worthy effort out of hand.

I've got to say that I saw this tonight and I loved it. It's a very powerful, very well made film but it had a good Director and deserved a great one.

I'd have dearly loved to have seen it filmed in German and subtitled, but accepting that that won't happen, I applaud the decision to go for almost perfect received pronunciation rather than German accented English which would have been beyond awful.

For me, the bugbear was the music. Herman directed both Little Voice and Brassed Off - the man KNOWS how to use music effectively (Danny Boy in the latter film still makes be cry like a baby). The climax to this film however felt ham-fisted. The orchestration completely drowned the moment where I feel a much more restrained hand would have had greater emotional impact. Much of the rest of the score was fabulous.

In the acting stakes, I think the ladies won the day, with both Amber Beattie and Vera Farmiga giving performances that were a joy to watch.

A great film, but it could have been better.

This episode of Blakes 7 is pure comedy and utterly brilliant for it. That's not to say it's a show to be laughed at. Often perceptive, politically prescient, dystopic and dramatic - Blakes 7 had some of the best TV science fiction writing ever. This episode however embraces a common Blakes 7 trait - campness. That's 'camp' in its purest sense, which is everything to do with theatricality and larger than life personas and nothing to do with sexuality. Colin Baker is simply brilliant. Some of the dialogue exchanges between Bayben and Vila are trouser-wettingly funny. And yet there's still a core of quality to the story. The whole episode is completely character driven and full of beautiful moments. Miss it at your peril.

Don't get me wrong - I love the X308 Jaguar. With timeless styling, a sumptuous limousine like interior and near sports car handling it could be considered the epitome of the design principles of space, pace and grace. But however good it is, when you have talent like Kidman and Craig in your movie and the best thing in it is still the car you know that you're sailing into somewhat rocky waters.

I'll be honest and say that I picked this pretty much at random at the cinema with no idea it was a 'bodysnatchers' remake. That wouldn't have put me off, but blimey what a disappointment it was. It's hard to pin where the fault was. The script seemed very spartan, the characters one dimensional, and the pacing just felt pedestrian. What I do know is that my watch was getting PLENTY of attention. My guess is that if it wasn't for the two stars I wouldn't have seen this movie. Replace either one of them and it's got 'direct to video' written all over it. Hell, they should have just gone for Scott Bakula and made sure of it! Miss Kidman, as always, looks fabulous - but it's just not enough. One to avoid I'm afraid.

I'm surprised to see so many people giving this film 1 out of 10. It's true that it is something of an overblown action flick and it's also true that it's a complete no brainer. It struck me as abjectly obvious, though, that this is always what the film was going to be.

It's technically preposterous, but I don't mind throwing plausibility to the winds when I want so high adrenaline action and some great explosions.

The acting is average, the casting is average, there is one scene which is OVERTLY placed in the film just to expose some flesh - but it's damn fine looking flesh, so why not? I think that because it is so implausible it's ludicrously easy to poke holes in, and if you get off on compiling lists of "27 reasons why this movie is factually inaccurate" then you'll have a field day.

I say that as an exponent of its genre it could be a hell of a lot worse. It didn't feel like two hours long, and whilst I came out of the cinema thinking 'God, that was dreadful' I was smiling the whole time.

Maybe because it's a Top Gun/Iron Eagle/Knight Rider hybrid it was always going to appeal to men of a certain age, but even if that's the cause you're not going to tell me that it's fair to score this on a par with 'Santa with Muscles'. Alright, it's not cerebrally challenging, but not everybody wants to dive into a cinema on a hot day in the holidays with the kids to watch 'Sans Soleil'. I liked it - so sue me!

I've never really explored the western genre, and plucked this one from the IMDb top 250.

It's a cracking film that I really enjoyed, and one which I now understand why people debate so much.

What struck me though, was how tall the leads are! I'm used to seeing Stewart towering over everybody, but putting him with an astonishingly good Marvin (6' 3") and of course the towering Duke (6' 4 1/2") must make this the tallest cast ever until the Green Mile came along!

I've seen more than one person say that Stewart was twenty years too old for this role. I don't agree, and thought he was fairly convincing in this. There's also nothing to say how old his character was on arriving in Shinbone.

After only half seeing this on TV back in 99 I have waited through over a year of missed release dates for the region 2 DVD release. It was well worth the wait.

Despite its length it easily stands up to being viewed in one sitting. The acting in this production is wonderful, and the whole improbability of the plot adds to the surrealistic feel of the production.

It's hard to think that this one was made for TV - a massive well done to the BBC for a first rate production. I loved it. It seems that 190min films featuring Andy Serkis are a recipe for success!

This is probably the most high octane, action packed film that has been made in the last five years...hell, maybe ever!

Why then, oh why, did I find it so insufferably boring? The action scenes are technically interesting, but way, way too long. The notorious Agent Smith fight descends into a farce as quickly as it descends into sub-'Jurassic Park' quality CGI.

As the fight scenes came on thicker and faster I just wanted to whizz through them. It seemed that the scene near the end of the film where Neo meets a critical new character was the only genuine item of interest on offer. This film could have been fifteen minutes long.

The car chase scene was visually impressive but not emotionally engaging. I suppose that pretty much sums up my whole viewing experience. I'm just so glad that I didn't pay to see it.

I wouldn't say 'avoid at all costs', but if you watch it don't expect much and have the remote control handy.

I'm left thinking that this must have been an incisive social study that I just didn't get.

Maybe it's a commentary on how the unified family group are actually isolated from each other. Maybe the car breakdown is an indicative omen of a relationship breakdown. I just know that taken at face value it didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

It is well crafted though. A couple of nice effects and a general nice composition. Maybe one day I'll understand it!

I can't help liking Vin Diesel even though his acting is wobbly, but that doesn't stop this film from being a real turkey.

There's certainly non-stop action, with some great stunt work, but that's all there is. Crazy as it may sound, I started to find it boring because there was just nothing to string all these stunts together. I'm sure it would have worked a lot better as, say, an 85 minute run time.

It even managed the near impossible of making Sam L look bad. To be honest, I'm amazed he went anywhere near it.

There do seem to be some scathing reviews here, but I have to say that I loved it!

I first started by reading the play, then watching the 1952 version, and then this latest reworking. The cast were absolutely stellar, though I'd go along with the criticism that they were just a little too deadpan in places. The sheer quantity of wit and wordplay in this script make it difficult to keep up, and it's often only in a reading that you realise that just about every other line is a hilarious gag.

I really can't understand an earlier criticism that a viewer couldn't make out any of the dialogue. I though it was wonderfully recorded with crystal clear diction throughout, but maybe that's an international difference. I'm lucky to make out about one third of anything the children say in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

Anyway - it was well filmed, great locations, and wonderful wit delivered by beautiful people. I loved it.

This is a highly enjoyable film if taken for what it is...a late fifties madcap comedy.

It's a good comedy, maybe even a great comedy, but if you watch it expecting to be bowled over by the finest comedy film ever made then you will be very, very disappointed.

It's Lemmon's film by a country mile, with a wonderful performance. Curtis hams it up wonderfully as well, though you'll find his 'legendary' Cary Grant impersonation either hilarious or irritatingly awful (I hated it!).

Monroe is completely forgettable throughout, and I'm sure for that comment alone people will entirely disregard this review.

This film IS funny, but it would really pain me to think that two men in dresses is still the funniest thing that a century of cinema has to offer the world.

Ever since I got my fingers burned with "The Graduate", I've been just a little wary of films that are considered revered classics on imdb. I didn't need to have any fears about this one!

It really is a courtroom drama with a difference. We don't see the presentation of the case, there is no damning evidence produced at the last minute by sleight of hand, we don't have the oh-so-intense barrister getting the hard-headed witness to crack on the stand (but don't get me wrong, I loved "A Few Good Men"!)

What I like most of all is that, just like the jury, we don't ever find out if the defendant really is guilty or not.

As a film, this is a work of craftsmanship. As so many have said, when you can't bank on special effects or locations, it's down to great writing and great acting, and this film has both in spades.

It's basically a character study, and a fabulous demonstration of group dynamics. Whatever your preferred genre, this film is a must have your collection.

Dare I say flawless?

This film really does deserve more merit than it seems to get.

Sutherland is a bit odd, with most of all a bizarre accent that almost seems to change from scene to scene. Whilst this is perhaps expected from an international spy in deep cover, it doesn't seem to sit well.

Nelligan steals the show with a wonderful performance, but the real surprise for me was Cazenove. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see him as the newly qualified, sparkling eyed flyboy, but his portrayal of the embittered, loveless amputee was a joy to watch - clearly a talented man.

The film wraps up a great story with wonderful acting, a great collection of WW2 military hardware and breathtaking scenery. Well worth a watch.

This is a really heart warming flick with a cracking story. Sure, the gags are there, but they are not the forefront of the film.

James and Jacques have rarely been in finer form, and manage to construct some very poignant scenes. Amanda Barrie is absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

Perhaps most overlooked, this film has one of the loveliest scores of all the Carry Ons, and makes use of some lovely arrangements.

Definitely a must see if you like the genre.

This film is a wonderful piece of work by Reiner. His 'Spinal Tap' movie is considered by many to be one of the greatest rock movies ever, even though it is a spoof! In many ways, Reiner has pulled the same trick here. The middle eighties was a brave time to film a fairy story, and it would have been so easy to go for a slick, urbane allegorical story set in Manhattan or some such. Reiner goes the other way, and parodies the fairy tale genre, ramping it up and camping it up with ridiculous characters and settings. This gung-ho larger than life approach has given us a wonderful fantasy with heroes we love to love and villians we love to hate.

And whoever penned the line "...with eyes like the sea after a storm" please make themselves known. Call me an old romantic, but I would lay down and die for any girl who said that about me :-)