Film Reviews by JD

The actors were chosen I am sure on their cultural background and not their acting skills. It makes for a raw and unpolished performance but it feels very genuine and I felt I started to understand the nonsense that characterised the Irish conflict at that time, but in particular the tragedy and grief that flowed from it.

If you can get over the poor attempt at a Jewish/Polish accent and a fairly familiar drama setting of the Jewish ghettos (done rather cheaply) this has some deeply dark humour. Robin Williams' acting skills excel again (apart from the accent) and expresses perfectly the dilemma of telling his compatriots lies just to stop them committing suicide. If you are not easily offended by the setting an entertaining film.

Although it contains some ingredients which should have worked it didn't. There are some serious issues such as does having good same sex friends threaten a marriage, previous sexual problems can influence subsequent relationships and how irritating is it when a dog owner refuses to clear up faeces on a pavement. These might have served to counterpoise the humour but they didn't. It moved from embarrassing to immature humour. The plot was totally disjointed and uninteresting, the characters more superficial than skin scales.

The stunning setting of remote mountainous grandeur makes the very plain Maoist way of life seem strangely appealing. The conversion of the bourgeois to peasants is an unspoken stupidity of this regime which now appears ridiculous but worryingly had an almost self-perpetuating support. The cultural revolution is a difficult plot to make into a compelling film but I was utterly captivated by this serene and charismatic film.

At the time of writing there were 3 other reviews which said what I was going to type. In addition I want to add that Clint's character is similar to his previous roles, and utterly fantastic because of that. The bit I liked in particular is his completely cynical contempt of his children and grandchildren, accurate as it transpires. This film explores racism, bullying and prejudice, gently and neutrally hardly noticed under the macho frontage. Loved it.

Nicole Kidman acted magically with two gifted, promising child actors. The plot moves beguilingly through twists and turns and has an unusual end. There are some good moments of sudden horror which would make anyone jolt (with a good and very dramatic musical score).

I don't watch many horror movies and this film is a good example of the reason, they are not that enjoyable, the bits between the horror are plain and it doesn't leave you with any other emotion than creepiness. This hybrid was worse than usual as the horror detracted from the period drama.

Why are actors forced to do accents? The nanny has the most varied Irish accent you will ever hear, which detracts so much from the atmosphere it should not be allowed. Not quite as bad as Brad Pitt's German accent or Tommy Lee's Irish accent.

This film has not been widely acclaimed either within these ratings or by the critics. I genuinely don't see why. The sad existence of the heroine addict is neither glamorized nor stigmatised. It become completely understandable and almost mundane. Del Toro looks so unhealthy at the bottom of his lapse it is difficult to imagine it is just make up. His relationship with Berry's character is very complex and you can feel their thoughts and emotions and the changes in their relationship as their lives move to different phases. The only slightly unrealistic scene was the cold turkey after one or two days of lapsing was over done. The film title doesn't do it any favours.

The opening credits roll to a scene of a typically small French town street. Nothing is happening. After a few minutes voices are heard. Discussions are heard apparently between husband and wife. A daringly dull start to a film. The outstandingly good things about this film are the acting and the filming. This is however balanced by a plot that is not well constructed, has several unexplained and irrelevant mysteries, and doesn't end but fades away. The only shocking moment is a totally unrealistic suicide almost amusing in its unbelievablity. There is a moral to this film but it could have been done either more or less shockingly according to taste but pleasing few as it stands. Binoche distracts from this with a magnificent performance again.

It is important to engage in this film despite a weak beginning. It is easy to dislike the characters but good acting by both Brosnan and Kinnear make these apparently badly written characters clash and eventually harmonise in a seamless development.

This film is unconditionally arty. It is mainly strange, occasionally wierd, but never interesting. Lots of pouting women fail to make it sexy, lots of scenes of pointless activity succeeded in making me eject the DVD.

I would recommend this film even if you are not familiar with Joy Division. There are lots of biographical films about musical icons and I've liked all the ones I've seen but this is one of the better ones. It explores and exposes the apparent contradictions in Curtis's life. The Joy Division music was presented but no more than required to give a feel of the force inside his head. Dower and dark but not depressing, even strangely uplifting in the sense of a genius as great as his was going to break up it was better that he was famous for that time.

I watched the first 30 minutes and could stand it no more. A tennis coach is spoilt by an over-privileged family and marries their daughter but covets his brother-in-law's girlfriend. Great stuff if you liked Dallas or Howard's End but this upper-class romantic betrayal stuff is not my thing and I ejected before it got to the crime intrigue. My advice would be to get it either if you like Bronte or skip the first 40 minutes.

This 1959 film is pretty low budget by current standards and the action is plain and simple. The comparison of Eskimo with Western culture is done sensitively and objectively. The acting is a little bit theatrical with a feeling reminiscent of Saturday morning sci-fi. I enjoyed the film for its photography and portrayal of Arctic life but at the expense of the shock of seeing a young, pre-alcohol O'Toole.

After the abduction it keeps getting grimmer. A man with a huge problem in his psychological past has a wife who becomes so suspicious of him that she sets him up to get abducted again by some Mafia style thugs. The film explores some seedy and unpleasant sides of Boston life. Larger than life detectives carry the plot. I hope you can tell, I found it morbidly gripping but ultimately it left a dirty feeling.

The Bafta award for acting was won 100 times over. Firth plays such a diverse range of emotions with supreme subtlety. It is a powerful drama using acting skill rather than plot to create tension. Its gayness is pretty full-on but isn't pornographic at all. The plot is pretty basic but this film is about feelings rather than story.