Reviews

James Gandolfini is a good actor so what ever did he take a role in this piece of unfunny rubbish. Affleck is just a lightweight who just can't cut it, the rest of the cast are truly unforgettable. I saw this in the USA in an empty theatre, I soon knew why the place was empty after about 10 minutes. I walked out before the end it was so bad, so imagine my surprise when back in England I saw the movie had a glowing report from that yoyo "Paul Ross" in one of the down market Sundays. I always rely on Ross to save me money on cinema tickets, if he says the movie is good, I get straight on this very website to check it out. This movie should have gone straight to £1.99 DVD in a supermarket near you.

I watched this as I had seen the original British 4 part series a few years back. This version wasn't bad but was not in the same league as the series which starred Timothy Dalton as Eddie Myers leading a very good cast.

Le Plante is a good writer and her stuff is better in either a long movie version or spread over several episodes. This movie for TV version wasn't so good because the story needed longer to tell and cutting down on time and detail just made it look as though it was cheaply made.

If you compare it to the 1992 4 hour series it shows just how mediocre it is. Nothing wrong with the acting, just that a good story was badly diluted.

Although I thought Scorcese had done a good job on this picture, I think it disappoints by not really getting to really express just what Howard Hughes was all about. In two and a half hours a lot more story and lot less glitz could have been shown. I have read several books on Hughes including the Noah Detreich tome. The film missed a lot about Hughes the man and really spent too much time on just a few of the movies he made and a fairly watered down version of what the man achieved as an entrepreneur aviator and inventor. Anybody going to see The Aviator to learn about Hughes would not be much wiser after seeing it.

However, it is a good film and I enjoyed it. The only problem I have with Martin Scorcese is that he has made so many great films I think I just expects him to be near perfect every time.

Just a footnote, an earlier TV movie "The Amazing Howard Hughes" with Tommy Lee Jones as Hughes and Ed Flanders as Detreich was a much more informative account of the life of Howard Hughes. If Howard Hughes is of interest to you this version also based on Detreich's book is well worth checking out.

After seeing "The Aviator" I watched the Tommy Lee Jones movie again on video as I think Leo De Caprio must have also. I mention that as Leo's impression of Tommy Lee Jones playing Howard Hughes was near perfect. Both actors have great talent but which one is most convincing.

A terrible, awful, amateurish, attempt at making a movie. It has not one redeeming thing in the 80 long minutes it runs for. The acting, the directing, the dreadful storyline, the appalling script. This film should be used in film schools as an example of how not to do it.

How does such rubbish get made. I guess that a glance at the credits shows it was made on a very low budget with possibly amateur actors and crew. I read the write up on this board before I watched it and expected better. Unfortunately, while there are many great films that are still unobtainable on DVD there are thousands of real turkeys.

This site is normally a reasonable guide to lesser known movies but unfortunately sometimes there is not enough information.

The Long Firm is good but unfortunately it seems to be a semi documentary based on a mixture of the Krays and the Richardsons who are just old hat now. It's a pity, but just like most rubbish British films featuring the 60s such as "Scandal", "Charlie" and "The Krays" that were really terrible films. The Long Firm it is full of stuff nicked from those turkeys and suffers badly by it's obvious likeness. I haven't read the book so I won't comment on whether the author realized his main character Harry is a ridiculous stereotype.

It has all been done before but TLF does it better. The torture scenes(The Krays and Charlie), Phil Daniels popping pills and remorsing on throwing a woman out of the car(Jack the Hat in The Krays) the nightclub scenes (Scandal) it contains too many characters like Barbara Windsor, Ronnie Knight,Johnny Ray, Joe Meek, Brian Epstien like you were reading a 60s gossip column. So who is Harry Starks based on, who knows but his Mum and aunty May have been seen before just like all the other characters.

The Long Firm screenplay could have been written by anybody who has watched The Biography Channel and seen Scorsese's "Goodfellas" and the movies mentioned previously. It is very well produced and directed and all the actors are great especially Mark Strong who excels and is destined for Hollywood.

The Long Firm is far better than any of the Brit movies mentioned previously but it could have been a lot better if hadn't been so unoriginal and predictable.

SHANE has to be one of the worst sitcoms of all time. Skinner is about as funny as a hangover on a hot day. Is that how to write a sitcom, just line up a load of schoolboy one-liners and attempt to write them into the dialogue. Who are the executives at ITV who commission such dire rubbish and why are they still employed.

It is bad when we have to suffer such bad attempts at comedy but ITV always end up with the BBC and Channel 4 "has beens" although in Frank's case a "never was". But good luck to Skinner for front, he certainly has no artistic pride in whatever he seems to be invoved in, he may be a decent bloke but as a comedian and writer he stinks.

The trade descriptions people should prosecute Frank Skinner and the ITV producers for stealing prime time entertainment slots. If Skinner and ITV had got their comedy timing right, SHANE would have gone out at 2am in the morning so as to ensure a bit of sleep for the insomniacs.

I have spent a lot of time in Camberwell and know the Richardson stories that have been around for years, but Malcom Needs lost the plot with this so called pic of the Richardsons. Charlie Richardson must have cringed if he saw how he was portrayed in this dreadful movie. Luke Goss isn't a bad actor as it happens but was miscast here although it will do him no harm, most of the ensemble were good but the script was so bad I was thankful for the pop tunes slipped in like an episode of Heartbeat. The South African thing veered off course continuously and the scrapyard looked more like it was run by Frasier, with a shiny new engine block hanging from above. Sorry but I would only rate this movie 2/10

Billy Bleach (Simon Day) the pub know-all and compulsive bull****er from the fast show witnesses a gangland hit and is put on a witness protection programme. Harry Taylor the crime boss puts a contract on Billy's head and the story is then a zany romp in to the hapless Billy's adventures set in and around a village in Norfolk where Billy is holed up and being guarded by the village copper and a couple of "cossers" from "The Met". A great cast including the Fast Show's Mark Williams as the eccentric pub landlord, Philip Jackson and his sidekick as bent cossers in the gay way, and Roger Sloman as an older version of the nutter in Mike Leigh's classic "Nuts in May". The locations are great and all the cast are good. I have only seen five of the eight episodes and it seems Harry Taylor's two hitmen are closing in as Billy is beginning to enjoy his life in the village.

For some reason the Beeb have stuck this on BBC3 which means the audience will be minimal. As it happens I think BBC3 are going to be the best comedy channel as it appears to think in the 21st century with shows like "Grass" and "Little Britain" to name but two of a host of fresh comedy.

"Goodfellas" must rate as one of the all time great movies. De Niro Liotta, Pesci at their best. The story never has a dull moment and the direction and production are second to none. You can almost feel like you are part of the action and Scorcese's pictures just get better and better. This movie rates up there with the Godfather 1 & 2 as the best of all time.

This film hits the mark big time because it could be a fly on the wall Sarf London /Costa del Crime, real life look. Kingsley plays Logan to perfection, a right skinny little nutter whose name alone has people needing a change of underpants. Ive met a few like Logan in my time so it's easy to see Gal (Ray Winstone) and his ex pat ex con mates wishing they had retired to Brazil instead of Spain. McShane was good as Teddy Bass and you really couldnt fault any of the cast. The only bit I thought was slightly OTT after staging such a great hiest, was stopping off at James Fox's mansion in millionaires row to blow his head off. As though drawing up in the early hours in a white left hand drive 911 Porker and leaving Fox's brains and their dabs everywhere didn't quite fit with the master criminal brain of "Mr Black Magic" himself Teddy Bass.

Not the best McQueen movie but pretty good, a lot better than the Pierce Brosnan remake. It falls down a bit on storyline but it makes good in other ways, the direction is good and the chemistry between McQueen and Dunaway is explosive. Worth watching.