Film Reviews by PV

I ummed and ahhed about whether to give this 2 stars or 3.

I was irritated by the quasi-religious angle and there is no doubt the devout will enjoy this more than I did - it seems to have been financed by Christian groups too. The angelic light which just happened to shine on a folder etc - that sort of thing annoys me. The religious will love it no doubt. I do not believe in saints so have no investment in the significance of making someone a saint. I think it;s all a bit silly tbh. But I know how seriously some Catholics take it.

It was OK but a lot left out. I wanted to know more of what happened to the characters - Michael Praeger the journalist (played by a Brit actor) who investigates, for example. I can find nothing online, and do not know how true this story is.

This is overlong too - should be one and a half hours max. Some extraneous scenes with people who knew Edith clog up the flow of the plot.

So a slight film. 2 or 3 stars. Just squeaked a 3 from me.

I expected nothing of this film but was hooked - it is a fascinating film about Chechens taking hostages in the 1990s. The film was made in 2002. Putin was in charge of Russia then too and his photo and terrorist policy features.

The real star here is the actor Aleksey Chadov - who is brilliant in this and perfectly cast. It's an action role but way more than that about a highly complex military situation in Chechnya, part of Russia. He relates the story.

As one Chechen says to the main Russian character: "you gave away your country in Kazakstan and Ukraine". Putin would no doubt agree...

The most irritating thing is the bumbling cartoon character Englishman and his oh-so-irritating girlfriend., Not the actor;s fault - Ian Kelly does well. The script to blame.

Watch the half hour MAKING OF extra - it is fascinating.

Quite violent at times and with random Russian rock music.

But a great film all in all - and fascinating to see a war film set in Chechnya.

4 stars. Would be 5 but a star deducted for the cartoon character Englishman stereotype and the random soundtrack.

This is the most authentic portrayal of Ukraine in The Second World War in film (apart maybe from the tragic episode of German TV miniseries Generation War).

It is mostly in English (sadly no subtitles available) but also Polish, Ukrainian, German and Russian. This is an independent US movie.

Based on the true story of a girl from the eastern flank of Poland who pretends to be a Christian classmate in order to escape the Nazis - and ends up over the border in Ukraine. Watch until the very end to see the real life woman.

The portrayal of the vast flat Ukrainian farmland and peasant farmers seems very authentic and accurate - and the film does not shy away from the problems and issues of that less than ideal world, including anti-Semitism (I loved the carnival scenes). Remember the pogroms in Russia and Ukraine in late 19th and early 20th century is why so many emigrated esp to the USA - one was a baby who became Kirk Douglas., There were many more.

A revenge for Partisans killing 2 German soldiers scene is particularly effective. The film does not shy away from the fact partisans/communists were as bad or worse than the Germans - as a character says.

This is a superb film, and so very timely. Watch it. 4.5 stars rounded up.

Here's something unusual: a modern French film which is both funny, intelligent and entertaining.

A bit like a French 'Truman Show' - but less believable - a film I loved; or 'Synecdoche, New York', a film I hated - this is could be called postmodern, or magic realism even.

However, it is also well-written and acted, and fun - with unexpected twists and turns. It entertains intelligently, despite some silly bits and some self-indulgent romantic naval-gazing.

It will really strike a chord with many 'older' viewers who remember the 1970s or 1980s and think in so many ways life was better, happier and simpler then, back when we were poorer and had no tech or trendy bistros or foreign food and holidays etc.

Some great music too - though one track played (Yes Sir I Can Boogie) is from 1977 and very much disco, not from hippy-ish crusty 1974.

A rare French film I would happily watch again - right now. 4.5 stars rounded down - just.

There have been several films made about Rommel and he pops up in countless war movies too.

The most famous is the classic Desert Fox from 1951. Worth a watch.

Also there is Valyrie with Tom Cruise and the superior German film Stauffenberg (2012) about the plot to kill Hitler which is part of Rommel's downfall.

This German TV movie is excellent however.

Those who know a lot about the Second World War and this story willl enjoy it as will those unfamiliar with it. Debate rages still about how Nazi Rommel was and how much he knew of Nazi atrocities.

I particularly liked the way real-life newsreel footage (from Germany) was spliced into this film.

Ulrich Tukur stars and is superb, as he is as John Rabe in City of War.

5 stars.

OK so I am probably not the target audience for this. I have left school, after all. ..

But I enjoyed it for what it was - though I am glad I turned on the subtitles as the dialogue is so fast and/or mumbled and/or drowned out by the score.

It is not too long (as so many Hollywood movies are now), had some good one liners and twists.

Of course it's all very silly. Anything based on a computer game will be, after all.

But for a high octane adventure with loads of CGI students, chases, mad characters, it's fine.

So 3 stars

I did not expect to like this film, so was surprised when I was enjoying it so much, especially the first half.

The was the 4 characters bounce off each other, as characters are revealed, is fun. I liked the various character arcs and subplots. The goodies, the baddies etc may be a bit cartoon character at times - but some issues were handled really well, I thought.

The latter half of the film gets weaker imho. But it's still enjoyable.

Not sure sure if it is really a true story, or a pretend one claiming to be true - wait until the end to see what happened to the characters. But then people have been doing that since Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, each of whch claimed to be true in their day.

I found the classical score a bit odd and irritating, but why not? All the composers are long-dead decomposers now, so no rights or royalties to worry about paying.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I tend to dislike far eastern movies because of the vast spectacle and gloss, with way too much CGI - plus the Chinese nationalism often, and thin character development. I and dislike martial arts etc.

However, this is a German film set and filmed - brilliantly - in China. It is, in a word, a cinematic classic so I have no idea why it has passed me by until now.

It follows the fascinating story of German Siemens manager in Nanking, John Rabe, a man of his time - 1937 - a loyal Nazi who has to confront his own conflicted loyalties as he endures the infamous 'Rape of Nanking' in December 1937. His story was unknown to me - but I knew of Nanking, a prelude to WWII really.

This whole film is brilliant - the writing, acting, sets, locations, the music (some written by the brilliant actor who plays Rabe) - massive international casts too. The CGI is there - as to be there - BUT is well-done and not intrusive. It is just right.

Watch the EXTA half hour film on how it was made.

One of the best war films - and best German films - I have ever seen. A very intelligent, balanced telling of a little known story. I shall probably watch it a again soon.

You can also watch Steve Buscemi drunkenly dancing and singing 'Hitler has only got one ball' (which we used to sing as kids!) accompanied by main actor Ulrich Tukur on piano (which he plays very well). What more could you want in a movie?

Watch to the end to read what happened to some characters.

My only gripe, and it is a small one, is the very end scene (no spoilers). No need to quite so slavishly follow clappy-happy Hollywood modern movie convention.

5 stars.

Tbh this film should have won best foreign film Oscar (though another excellent Nazi-set film The Counterfeiters won that year).

I found this film irritating and think I know why - it is a romance padded out to try and pretend to be something more, with a confusing flashback spy story. It seems the film's writers and director is also its author, a rather privileged south Asian British woman helped by her same sex spouse who is also a film producer, Hmmm. Always rings alarm bells when the screenwriter and director also wrote the novel...

Some interesting bits but a rather cartoon character version of life in the USSR with clunky dialogue an a wafer thin plot.

It was so-so but John Le Carre or Fred Forsyth this ain't. Watch THE AMERICANS DVD box set instead or a film based on real cold war thrillers.

It is a mills and boon romantic story really. 3 stars max. Some nice falling snow...

This film depicts the start of the Second World War when on 1st October Germany invaded Poland - usually we see that from the south and west. Here it is in a seaside resort near Gdanck (Danzig in German). Remember too that the USSR was in cahoots with Nazi Germany to divide Poland up between them.

This is an important film but is way overlong. Could cut half an hour from it.

Not sure about some filming techniques either such as fake black and white newsreel footage or dream sequences.

It tested the patience so 3 stars instead of the 4 it could have been.

A derring-do tale, with plenty of stereotypes. Mot sure all the stuff re the operation is true or not. Certainly the Battle of Norway 1940 is too much forgotten even though it mattered greatly re German decision not to try and invade Britain in the summer of that year.

Danny Dyer is one of those actors who always plays himself - Michael Caine is arguably the same, so fine. But Danny with his same late 20th C London accent and words - 'innit??' - is so not 1940, innit? Ahe even uses the word 'f-aggots' - which did not even start to enter British English until well into the 1980s or later. If you do not think such things matter and just want a shoot em up war film then you'll like this.

James D'arcy good as ever in his role - seen him in many an Agatha Christie Miss Marple on TV.

A shame some characters seem to fade out and vanish, so we do not know what happens to them.

The main baddie Nazi could be been focused on more - he is underused and lost in the big bang war stuff happening.

But passable so 3 stars

The worst thing about this film is the title which is misleading - possibly chosen for marketing reasons. Most of the film is the 1930s life story of Young Perez the boxer in Tunis and Paris. A small portion is at Auchschwitz.

Based on a true story and see the real man's photo at the end.

However, it is a very messy fragmented film - it almost wants to be 2 films. Maybe a TV drama could have covered all this in 2 or more episodes?

In French with subtitles which is great. I hate dubbing.

The acting is great from the lead and others, esp the gold-digger actress.

The use of modern pop music at one stage jars badly though.

2.5 stars rounded up.

The 2020 movie THE CHAMPION OF AUSCHWITZ about a Polish boxer at Auschwitz is mostly set there and a better film than this: It is "The incredible true story of the Polish pre-war boxing champion Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski (Piotr Glowacki), who, early on in the Second World War, arrived with the very first transport of prisoners to the newly created Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he became known as 'The Champion of Auschwitz'."

This is the final series of Vikings - the second part of series 6. And what a finale!

OK so best not dig to deep into how certain characters survived. Or indeed get too worked up about the romanticisation of the lives 'first nations' north American tribes, though Viland was a settlement by Vikings in Newfoundland so that is accurate. This is a Canadian/Irish co-production, after all. The woods and coastline and seas. rivers and waterways are all Ireland - a very rural place, remember.

A genuinely moving finale esp the final 2 episodes.

I am glad Vikings is stopping here. The first series were superb though some pc metoo stuff did seep into later stories though thankfully not any absurd colourblind casting. Some middle episodes of later series dragged a bit.

Nevertheless, a superb series - I could watch it all again from series 1. In fact the biggest problem I had was remembering who was who as it is so long since I watched the first part of series 6 and 5 too - months, in fact years, thanks to the pandemic. Hey ho...I shall have to check who is who when I rewatch it all.

Not sure why they remixed the feem toon for this final series - it was better how it was.

This has been a superb drama, way better than most TV drama now

The big battle would seem to reference the Battle of Edington in 873 AD though that was led by other Vikings Guthrum; another great battle was 867. So history may be mixed an confused, which is fine as this is not a documentary but a drama. And I loved the cheeky Hvitserk's fate (though historical records claim he was executed by the Russ by burning alive).. Ivar the Boneless was in fact a king of what is now Dublin, slave market central in the 9th century.

All semi-mythical iron age characters and peoples anyway! Best watched for the drama alone.

5 stars.

I hate dubbed foreign films - why no option for original language and subtitles?

That lets this down. As does the episodic nature of the film - which comes from a novel by a Latvian Nationalist in 1920s/30s - watch until the very end to find out what happened to that author when the USSR invaded at the start of the Second World War.

Probably reads better as a novel, to be honest. No attempt to hide the Latvian nationalist bias of the film as that is the novel - I am sure it is a better read than this film is a watch. Screenplays have to have clear 3 act structure and focus, so much of what is in novels has to be ditched. For better or worse.

Some jumps here between episodes and confusing politics - so best familiarise yourself a bit about Latvia history pre and post WWI and the Russian empire and 1917's effects there with Lenin's Bolsheviks to fully appreciate it.

Watch together with MR JONES maybe about a Brit Welshman exposing the famine in Ukraine post WWI too, caused by Stalin and USSR.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 - JUST.

This film stands out as the concentration camp prisoners are not Jewish - their red triangles symbolise political prisoners, maybe communists and socialists. The Auschwitz here is the first one, with the ARBEIT MACHT FREI sign above the entrance, opened in 1930s for political prisoners, not Auschwitz Birkenau II which is the larger second camp.

Fascinating story - there are so many from this time, The usual callous brutality on display.

A slight film, but the main character and the teenage boy in particular are superb actors.

Watch till the very end to see what happened to the boxer.

3.5 stars rounded up.