Shame: DVD
To have the front to call yourself Steve McQueen and get away with it takes some grit, plus you would have to be totally different to the late legendary film star that we all knew and loved. Well this...
Yesterday
The Artist
Now and again you see some magic; such is the case here. Seen on the smallest screens and in unfashionable black and white, this silent movie – yes, I did say silent, is a wow.
It tells the...
1 month ago
The Iron Lady
Let me say from the off, this political bio-drama will win Meryl Streep an Oscar as best actress. She’s already won a Globe, so it should be in the bag - we shall see; for me she can do no...
1 month ago
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Daniel Craig is about to invade a multiplex as Journalist Mikael Blomkvist, in this latest US version of the best-selling thriller from the world of Stieg Larsson. The trio of books from Larsson have...
1 month ago
A Night to Remember
I felt, as the interest in the subject of the Titanic has been so dominant lately, it being 100 years since the awful event, I’d offer my opinion on the material on offer. This particular...
2 months ago
Submarine
Although I’ve put this teenage growing up film in the DVD category, which is where you will find it, I actually saw it at our local cinema club which, like all good clubs of that ilk, strives to show...
2 months ago
Hugo
The whole thing is set in the interior of a 1930’s Paris train station, where our young hero, Hugo (Asa Butterfield), lives - he’s hidden away inside the clock tower; his late father (Jude Law) was...
2 months ago
The Awakening
So you’re sitting around the log fire having consumed too much turkey and Christmas pudding, when that old relative reveals that they excel at telling ghost stories. So if you enjoy that kind of...
2 months ago
Tower Heist
This is a mixed bag of tricks which almost works. It’s 21st century Manhattan and Josh (Ben Stiller) plays a very caring, luxury tower block manager. Backed up by a dependable staff, all runs like...
2 months ago
The Help
Based upon the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, the story unfolds through 1960’s Southern USA, or to be more specific, Jackson, Mississippi. Through the eyes and ears of two delightful...
3 months ago
Jane Eyre
This much filmed and televised classic Bronte tale is now out on DVD.
As for the story, well most of you will know it by now. However, there’s always new blood, so here goes.
Jane (Mia...
3 months ago
My Week With Marilyn
I expect there was a time when many a man all over the world would have loved to have woken up only to find M.M. in their Christmas sack; well maybe not after this movie.
The most famous blonde of...
3 months ago
Contagion
The epidemic of scary films was so prevalent in the 1970s, I do hope there’s not more on the way. It was always an excuse to cram as many stars into hours as possible, and this follows the pattern....
3 months ago
The Rum Diary
Springing from the routes, as it were, of late author’s Hunter Davis memoirs. This alcoholic dazed, humorous tale, set in sun soaked Puerto Rico is a serious hoot. Hoot because it’s very funny in...
3 months ago
The Three Musketeers
Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, an up to date version of Dumas’ “ Musketeers”.
For those of you who don’t even know the story, a young D’Artagnan comes to the city from the sticks...
3 months ago
We Need To Talk About Kevin
The automatic answer to this statement is “yes we do!” A psychological drama, directed by Lynne Ramsay, and based upon the bestselling book by Lionel Shriver, which derived its content from the awful...
3 months ago
Morris: A Life with Bells on
Now this is different and comes with an interest background. It started a few years ago now, and the small outfit behind it had a hard time trying to get any serious recognition for it for...
3 months ago
Johnny English Reborn
It had to happen sometime. Rowan Atkinson’s return to his successful spoof spy hero. The mission goes like this. Johnny English (Rowan) after years in the Libyan mountains, studying...
4 months ago
Drive
I have very mixed feelings about this, so called, edgy thriller. The substance is as follows: The driver (Ryan Gosling) is working on a one off super car with money supplied by his crippled pal. He...
4 months ago
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
This spy movie is a master class in both acting and superb British film making. Please note members of the coalition, I said British, which once was best! And can be again - so wake up government!...
4 months ago
The Debt
There seems to be a current trend for the spy movie again, especially those that are still routed in the past. This thriller, directed by John Madden, is a riveting example of the genre.
Retired...
4 months ago
Inglourious Bastards
I have to admit that this latest offering from the always surprising Quentin Tarantino was not what I expected at all. I was thinking it was going to be a send up of past war movies like “The Dirty...
11 months ago
Hue and Cry
This month’s classic movie – check out the internet – is Ealing studio's first post war comedy.
Set in a bomb sited 1946 London, our hero (Harry Fowler) works in Covent Garden – the...
11 months ago
Call Northside 777 (Classic movie 1948)
This black and white film noir ‘classic’ is a masterpiece. In 1948, newspaper reporter P.J. 'Jim' McNeal (James Stewart) is directed by his editor (Lee.J.Cobb) to follow up a mother’s...
11 months ago
It’s a Wonderful Afterlife
Cinema
Directed by Gurinder Chadha
I must admit to having a soft spot for director Gurinder Chadha. She knows her world, which is mainly the west London Asian community. I love the...
11 months ago
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
Cinema
Directed by J Blakeson
This very captivating thriller from new director J Blakeson is a must see for lovers of the unexpected.
Alice Creed ( Gemma Arterton) is kidnapped by the...
11 months ago
Robin Hood
Cinema
Directed by Ridley Scott
From age five, I have been a Robin Hood fan. Being an elder statesman, Erroll Flynn will always be the tops, even in tights, and for those of you who don’t...
11 months ago
Iron Man 2
Cinema
Directed by Jon Favreau
Having enjoyed the first outing of this iron clad hero, I was totally up for the next adventure. So did it live up to expectations? Well, it's a yes from me,...
11 months ago
Kick-Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Cinema
Dave the nerd (Aaron Johnson) fancies himself as a super hero. So dressed in a green wetsuit, hoodie, mask and boots he transforms himself. One problem...
11 months ago
The Ghost Writer
Directed by Roman Polanski
Cinema
The thought of one of our premiere ‘Bands’ appearing in a Roman Polanski film was a big lure and it does not disappoint. To give too much away would be a...
11 months ago
Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang
Directed by Kirk Jones
Being an actor myself, I know what it’s like when you get a winning formula and want it to go on forever. I guess that is what Emma Thompson feels as she plods through this...
11 months ago
The Bounty Hunter
Cinema
Directed by Andy Tennant
You’ll never guess, or maybe you will, Nicole (Jennifer Aniston) is about to be picked up by her ex husband, Bounty Hunter, Milo (Gerard Butler) for skipping...
11 months ago
The Blindside
DVD
Directed by John Lee Hancock
I have to own up to being a Sandra Bullock fan. She is funny and witty, though at the same time possessing a great dramatic quality. Hence her receiving the...
11 months ago
The Princess and the Frog
Cinema
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
It is always a pleasure to see a Disney cartoon that really works, and in fact takes you back to the good old days of Jungle Book and Lady...
11 months ago
The Wolfman
Cinema
Directed by Joe Johnston
When I think of films like this, my memory drums up black and white images, in what we used to call ‘BUG HUTCHES’ which were tiny cinemas only fit for fleas...
11 months ago
Invictus
Cinema
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Now and again, a film comes along that gives you hope. Not just because that’s part of its overall message – which it is – but also because someone has...
11 months ago
Crazy Heart
Cinema
Directed by Scott Cooper
I have to say, in all sincerity that I, as both a country music fan and long time supporter of Jeff Bridges' work, looked forward to seeing this.
Bad...
11 months ago
A Single Man
Cinema
Directed by Tom Ford
Colin Firth has already received the ‘Best Actor Award’ at the BAFTA’s for his role as a homosexual teacher in this film.
It’s the early sixties in...
11 months ago
A Prophet
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Cinema
This French edge of your seat prison drama comes highly recommended. What with winning the 2009 Grand Prix at Cannes and best film at the London...
11 months ago
Edge of Darkness
Directed by Martin Campbell
Cinema
After an absence of seven years from the screen as an actor, Mel Gibson is back with us playing a Boston police detective in this remake of the BBC...
11 months ago
The Boys Are Back
Directed by Scott Hicks
Cinema
Set against a lush Australian wine growing backdrop, this tear jerker of a true story is good family fare, well certainly for Mums anyway.
Joe, an...
11 months ago
It’s Complicated
Directed by Nancy Meyers
Cinema
Well it’s not actually when you have two superb stars like Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin on the screen, giving us the audience full value for the price...
11 months ago
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Directed by Marc Lawrence
Cinema
The Morgans, namely Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, are a warring New York couple who continue their war in Wyoming where they are hiding out as part...
11 months ago
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
There’s a lot that occurs in this film, I won’t reveal all because:
a) if you have read it you know it, and
b) I don’t want to spoil it for you.
Suffice to say Harry feels pangs of...
11 months ago
Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde’s classic horror novel is given a new treatment for the big screen. Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) comes back to his Victorian London childhood home. Young and very handsome, he is easily...
11 months ago
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens’s great story is given a new 3D animation treatment with stunning results.
Jim Carey inhabits our old pal Ebenezer Scrooge’s skin and as such is in fine form barking orders at...
11 months ago
The Day the Earth Stood Still
How well I remember a young boy, me, wandering into my local cinema in the 1950s to gaze at this chunk of tin known as a robot, and beautifully spoken Michael Rennie as his minder in the first version...
11 months ago
Quantum of Solace
In case you haven’t noticed, Bond is back!
Gun’s, explosions, car chases galore, action adventure - what else would you want? Oh yes, the ladies! Naturally we have...
11 months ago
Taken
This fast pace ‘edge of the seat’ thriller unfolds as follows. Bryan (Liam Neeson) reluctantly permits his 17 year old daughter to go on holiday in Paris with a friend.
His fears come true, as an...
11 months ago
Gulliver’s Travels
They are all in this one - Billy Connolly, Catherine Tate, James Corden etc, etc and there’s the very funny Jack Black as Gulliver, Jonathan Swift’s children’s book hero.
Most of you will...
11 months ago
Pirates Of The Caribbean - On Stranger Tides
This front outing to "eye patch land" is the usual diet of cannons roaring, swords slashing and lots of pirates doing what pirates do - "Ar har Jim lad!". Well maybe not Jim....
11 months ago
Hop
My granddaughter Renn'e told me that we were going to see this!
So there, EB is the son of none other than the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately EB has no intention of being Bugs Bunny or...
11 months ago