Film Reviews by JD

I find it frustrating to watch a documentary/biography style film and not knowing how much of it is true. Did Lauder really pull out of a grand prix after 1 lap because it was raining? Did Lauder really suggest that his car was rebuilt in Magnesium alloy? Did he really have rigid bronchial washouts without sedation while watching television? OK the last one is obviously false but without knowing whether all of it (except the car on fire) was false takes the enjoyment out. The race scenes are very well filmed, not many will stay still in their seats. These scenes alone make the film worthwhile.

87 minutes of awesome suspense and stunning cinematography. This film utterly deserves best visual effects and cinematography. The most ridiculous of the others is score. It is backing music for space scenes. Tubular bells would have been good but cellos scratching long notes is not. The physics is dreadful, the most notable is when the pod fires jets forward in order to go forward, I laughed out loud. The aurora borealis is more impressive on youtube clips from the NASA space-station. I note the other reviewers scorn of the acting but they are in space suits most of the time so it is mainly voices. I put these negatives behind me however when I scored the film on its imagery and suspense which are truly glorious.

This film was rated highly in a best action top 50. So I thought it would be worth a blast. It was not disappointing but probably not in my top 50. Willis has done more exiting thrillers and funnier actions since. In this he is, as usual, a super hero detective. Super cool, but super good at detective work and funny too. There is no romantic angle. The cliched relationship development of starting as hateful enemies and ending as close profound friends is 3 fold. The ones involved would be a plot spoiler but I cannot remember seeing a triple before. The best moment of the film for me was a touchdown under pressure in which the player uses a very unusual tactic. Again I won't spoil but I think it deserved a little more reflected gloriousness as it could/should have been a split your sides moment.

There can be few films referred to so frequently and yet so rarely seen. It is a dark comedy well before anything else so slapstick but so dark. The race was set 25 years in the future in 1975, (but of course is now 14 years in the past). The object is to kill elderly pedestrians. It is much funnier than you might expect for a film featuring Stallone and much less amateur. Apart from Stallone the acting is pretty good for such a low-budget simple comedy. There is a sort of sub-plot about the President living abroad and the politics being so corrupt but this is not much explored, it is a knuckle dragging, laugh out loud, silliness.

This Danish detective / crime drama has as its main character an extremely focussed female detective who is work obsessed. She is highly respected by all but patronised by many for her inability to relate compassionately to others. Sometimes this autistic personality trait seems to be a little exaggerated, but on reflection I think it was just at the limit of credibility, but no further. An awesomely accomplished performance.

The problem with the plot is that (without spoiling too much) the long build up turns out to be completely irrelevant; even at the end you are left wondering what the first 6 episodes were for, possibly just character build up. Having said that this is another Danish masterpiece which I waited by the letter box for.

Danish detective/crime drama is in a league of its own and is utterly compelling. This is no exception but is a little more disgusting than most other mainstream TV dramas even Wallander. Featuring serial killers, a detective and a phorensic psychologist. The serial killers are particularly vile and the scenes of them killing and torturing their victims make them in my opinion most definitely an 18 rating. (As an aside I completely disagree with the UK rating system, a flash of breast is not as shocking as a decapitation nor is a swear word equivalent to finger nails being pulled off.) I digress, for 18+ year olds who like their crime drama on the gory side there is no better than those who kill.

Basil Rathbone would have raised an eyebrow at this novel approach to Conan Doyle's character. The emphasis on Holmes's drug addiction seems to be a distinctly American fondness. Having a drug addiction "sober companion" is a crude method of making Dr Watson a live-in but less approachable female. It twists the emphasis to narcotic recovery so much that you wonder how he manages to concentrate. Having a female Dr Watson raises the constant possibility of romance. It was too contrived, as was the plot which frequently makes ludicrous suggestions to emphasize Holmes's deductive powers e.g. I thought you were a surgeon because you use hand cream...

Having said that the acting is good and most of the plot races along at great speed. There are so many points of observation that after an episode or two it is difficult not to see the world in a new light. The observations are generally believable and more frequent than the book which is ponderous by comparison. I much prefer the Cumberbatch/Freeman version although this one is more thought provoking.

Danish films seem to be very highly regarded at the moment most notably Borgen, the Bridge and the Killing. Personally I think they are all fantastic and that the Killing is best of them all. Which series of the Killing is the best is difficult but 3 is definitely not running out of steam. I stayed up far too late because I could not wait a day for the next episode of which there are 10. Like Borgen there are several parallel plots, the prime minister and political elections being the primary one in Borgen but secondary in the Killing to a murder detective thriller.

The script is very Victorian. Emily Bronte seeps from it. A messed up but strong headed Aspergic woman marries a man for his wealth. She is totally unemotional though it is some surprise when she betrays her childhood friend. The way her marriage unfolds is beyond objectively dispassionate. If you were hoping to see Audrey Tautou fascinate and delight you are in for a grave disappointment. If you want a film with 1870's values and lovely photography this is for you.

I am most definitely NOT in the target for this film and the chances are you (reader) are also not. It is all about the trials and tribulations of being a 21 year old female dancer living with affluent and articulate artists in New York. It explores every aspect of this in a ruthlessly one directional way. Every job interview, every visit to parents, it is totally boring if you are not engrossed from the start.There is no obvious plot or point. I think it was filmed in black and white to get artistic merit, which it lacks.

The depiction of life for Jews in the German concentration camps has rarely been shown as such a violent and evil place. It is deeply memorable and haunting. The main character is very engaging. He has an extraordinary head and face, he is a forger, he is very mercenary with regard to working with the Nazi's who are so appallingly evil to the Jews but you can't help wanting to know more about him. A brilliant and striking actor. An awful film in the sense of full of awe for the horrible dilemmas facing the bullying, often fatal bullying, in the camps. Almost incidentally an incredible true story of record breaking forging.

I trust that this is a reasonably accurate historical account because it makes roman history seem very real. Some of the characters are totally mercenary / mercilessly objective but somehow it seems very plausible. There are some interesting angles to the roman expansion, like did the legionnaires have totally messed up family lives? The sex lives of the soldiers and some of the politicians and their wives is pretty crude and unemotional. The 18 certificate is based on this, though the knife fights are quite impressive. Some of the acting is a little sketchy and it is difficult to get very involved with most of the main characters. As a historical drama though it is very interesting.

The failure of the allied forces to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has always struck me as hinting at the invasion to be a pathetic excuse if not a complete fabrication of the truth. The plot of this, shows a possibility that is too sickeningly possible. Damon is brilliant, Greengrass has an intense style which is superbly suitable for this film, and the filming is perfect. The only slight caveat is that the gore factor is about 7, I would have preferred a 5.

I have never found Steve Coogan funny. Given the good reviews I gave this a go, not worth it. Coogan's only character (since his stand-up career) is one who appears to be arrogant with the occasional moment when he seems to parody himself but then returns to being obnoxious. There are few comedians who can make unpleasantness funny. Ricky Gervais is another who has tried and (in my opinion) failed badly. His character in this is very egotistical and abusive, I think to make this work you would have to like and invest a lot of yourself into the actor. If you think highly of Steve Coogan then it might work for you.

At the time of typing there were 2 very positive reviews about this film which also forms episode 1 of the trilogy. I do not share the opinions of the other reviewers. A hand held biography of the immoral lives of 2 drug addicts / pushers and how they chat, sell drugs, get drunk and grope women I did not find interesting. There did not seem to be a plot, the scenes were (deliberately I think) squalid and unpleasant and the characters (again I assume deliberately) pathetic and unengaging.