Film Reviews by JD

Leslie Nielsen is an icon of modern slapstick comedy. There is no one who comes close in sustaining the force of one liners, physical silly comedy and the plot of the drama. Priscilla keeps up fairly well for a celebrity's daughter,but who let OJ Simpson in? Leslie alone is utterly fantastic, every thing else is satisfactory.

Leslie Nielsen is an icon of modern slapstick comedy. There is no one who comes close in sustaining the force of one liners, physical silly comedy and the plot of the drama. Priscilla keeps up fairly well for a celebrity's daughter,but who let OJ Simpson in? Quite a lot of comedy for Americans which might leave Brits a bit lost, I'm thinking mainly of baseball. Leslie alone is utterly fantastic, every thing else is satisfactory.

Although this contains all the essential elements of romantic comedy, it has a wider appeal. The comedy is just funnier. Lake Bell is impressive. Her English accent is perfect. There is some good chemistry with Pegg who of course is likeable and funny. The last 10 minutes for me were disastrous. 75 minutes of well paced well written plot and then utter utter rubbish. Maybe they tried to compress the end too much, maybe they ran out of time/money/ideas. Leaves you thinking it wasn't that good after all.

If you are new to Python they were revolutionary satirical 40 years ago. Their mad, innovative style was ground breaking. Now, seen after so much comedy revolution, they are dated, the acting is poor, the direction worse, the ending just irritating but the material often good fun and very silly. If however you are not new to Python you are probably hoping to watch this for the 3rd time and you don't need a review. The awesome silliness is rarely surpassed especially now the BBC have destroyed Spike Milligan's output. In my opinion the best sketch is the guard who continues to fight despite the increasing loss of limbs.

If you really want to know where Eric Idle was educated, how tall John Cleese is in stockinged feet and who met whom when, then this is music to the ears. It is interesting to non-Python fans only as a historical perspective on comedy. I am a fan, the sort who can quote chunks, and thought it was brilliant.

If you are new to Python they were revolutionary satirical 45 years ago. Their mad, innovative style was ground breaking. Now, seen after so much comedy revolution, they are dated, the acting is poor and the direction worse but the material good fun and very silly. If however you are not new to Python you are probably hoping to watch this for the 3rd time and you don't need a review. The awesome silliness is rarely surpassed especially now the BBC have destroyed Spike Milligan's output. Some sketches have survived into contemporary humour like the parrot sketch and the lumbar-jack song, some gems have been forgotten and some is too silly for me.

Some sketches have me in tears after 10 times of watching them. Mr Creosote, the grim reaper, sex education and every sperm is sacred for me will never be bettered for silliness. Some sketches are limp and were never funny. If you are new to Python they were revolutionary satirical 40 years ago. Their mad, innovative style was ground breaking. Now, seen after so much comedy revolution, they are dated, the acting is poor and the direction worse but the material good fun and very silly. If however you are not new to Python you don't need a review. The awesome silliness is rarely surpassed especially now the BBC have destroyed Spike Milligan's output.

So many funny phrases from this brilliant script have stayed around. Surely you can't be serious, yes I am and don't call me Shirley. The silliness is sustained with great force and superb acting, there are few actors who can make this farcical daftness work without it becoming pathetic. There are 2 sequels both great but could not have worked without Nielsen.

I really don't think I ordered this. Dragon slaying with witches and wizards is more of a teenagers thing. If you like magic and fantasy heroes this may be for you.

There are so many ways to see a Shakespeare play seeing a film at home might be thought of as inferior. This is not. The cast are incredible, the sets and costumes (or lack of them quite frequently) are beautiful and the drama intense. By today's standards really not politically correct in fact incredibly racist. That aside a masterpiece. It has comedy, romance, intrigue and a climactic court room drama. Perfect.

An uplifting detective crime drama. Crowe as the main character is an experienced hack. Affleck an ambitious politician and old flatmate of Crowe's and McCaffray a junior colleague. The plot is interesting, the direction smooth and the product glossy. This is a Hollywood break no rules film. The only surprise is that Mirram's performance is poor. The comic fine line between funny and flimsy was crossed, I felt she looked amateur. She was much better with Willis in Red. The others were great.

A troubled, miserable 15 year old lives a joyless life with no talent and no hope. The plot is haphazard picking out episodes of despair apparently at random as she slides into the moral and emotional abyss. This unstructured, shakey hand held camera format gives it a greater air of impoverishment. At the end a pall of gloom will envelope you for days. It is not really what I want from a film. Watch if you need bringing down.

Although it was made only 30 years ago, it feels older. The acting style is quite 50's, of the genre of Escape from Colditz, except that the English actors are playing German roles with English accents. Surprising that such well-known actors play in such a projected fashion. The fight scenes are very old fashioned, each swing of the arm arcing several feet from the opponent. The plot would have been more familiar to audiences in the immediate post-war era but were lost on me. I had not heard of the SA for example nor that the national socialists started as left wing. Interesting for students of the rise of Nazism but not as entertainment.

As mentioned in the other reviews the acting is brilliant even from the minor characters and child actors. The essence is partly whether suspicion warrants intervention (smoke without fire) or does paranoia result in victimisation (shit sticks). There is also the parallel strand of the true nature of the characters of the priest and headmistress, is he evil and is she mad? These questions are left lurking and are only partly concluded. It is not a feel good film but a moving one which will stay with you for days. It is a feel bad film but in an interesting way.

David Hare seems to have a very good grip on spy intrigue, how British intelligence works and how it has changed recently. Carter, Fiends, Nighy are all actors of immense skill and justified distinction. It doesn't hang together well enough for me however. There is a lot of rushing around escaping pursuers, changing addresses and secret meetings but I didn't really get absorbed into it. Probably better if you see it as the third part of the trilogy but then it would be in danger of being far too long.