Film Reviews by PV

This was remade in 2002 with Al Pacino in a more Hollywood-style version, so less explicit sex, no animal cruelty, more shoot-outs. A good film too though. Pacino really plays the insomniac well - I relate to his red tired eyes with my insomnia too.

This is the original Norwegian version, more arty, with the extreme mental effects on the detective front and forward - he is made a sometimes unpleasant character here who does morally questionable things, including with young women. The Hollywood film cut that out.

It is slower, which is fine, with lots of silences and a man touched by the wings of madness due to the 24 hour daylight in northern Norway stopping him sleeping. I found it effective, troubling and original.

Watch both films! 4 stars

This is so-so - a very by the book, by-numbers crime thriller, with unlikely plot, unrealistic almost-superhero Cage taking on the mob, cartoon characters galore.

BUT it is watchable. So long as you go along for the ride and do not expect art, it is fine as a cartoon character goodie versus baddie thriller - though I must admit I laughed at times at the absurdity of some scenes.

Watch SEXY BEAST or BREAKING BAD for real quality; watch this to pass the time.

Watch DREAM SCENARIO with Cage - he is great in that.

2.5 stars rounded up

OK so I made the mistake of watching this film stone cold sober by myself on a weekday evening - why I turned off after half an hour.

This German film is very much in the manner of John Waters movies which starred the late Divine - so very low budget, very brash, trashy, crude and gay, and bonkers.

Watch with a group of others, preferably when rather drunk, and it would be fun. Watch with HAIRSPRAY.

2 stars

This is a political intrigue thriller all about corruption, so do not expect any murders etc as it is not a crime drama that way.

I found it a tad dry and slow. But then, that is what this is. Not a murder mystery in the manner of those Scandi Danish dramas.

Just too many suits and meetings and office blocks for me to take! And one has to concentrate a lot, esp on names of characters, so ensure all is clear in the end.

Watch with the original HOUSE OF CARDS maybe or other political corruption dramas.

3 stars

This is a watchable series, yes.

However, it is sodden with woke juice from start to finish. Some lines are SO preachy woke, they made all eyes roll in our house.

This is especially true of the Indian army section and constant sniping at the British empire (you know, the one that created India). The 3 million strong volunteer Indian army of WWII was by far the biggest in history, though a few Indian supported the Japanese against Britain (BOSE).

And of course every single woman has to ne STRONGANDINDEPENDENT, because no woman in a drama these days cannot actually behave like many women so, being supported by men, crying etc. Nope, they have to be STRONGANDINDEPENDENT even leaving their babies behind to go to war. The section here where that mother picks up another baby is gruesome in its metoo virtuesignalling.

If this were DEWOKED it would be excellent. The wokery makes it mediocre.

Though some scenes and parts are really excellent. Though maybe it could be cut down and lose an episode.

I liked the Polish actors/themes and the harsh mother character has developed well, together with mysterious tenant.

So not classic, spoilt by woke, but passable. 3.5 stars rounded up

This started so well but soon became rather plodding and meandering, almost plotless.

However, titles at the end reveal it was based on a book written soon after the war by women who were there.

I must admit what surprised me here was how the women in Berlin seemed to get on with the Soviet soldiers. Previously I had thought there was just brutality and rape. The way the book showed the women getting on with the soldiers caused outrage and the book was banned, I think.

I liked the Mongolian Soviet soldier character - I have never see such a character before in a film. We even get some Mongolian throat singing!

There are some great war movies, DOWNFALL is one I can think of and the classic, though others which deal with the end of the war and the invading Soviets. Worth watching them too if interested in the subject. GENERATION WAR is a great German TV series too.

So this is interesting rather than effective, and really overlong. But worth watching. 3 stars

The first thing to say about this film is it is SO overlong, written, produced and directed by the wealthy upper class German director of The Lives of Others. The Oscar for that no doubt got him a green card and big funding for this - not a great idea.

The cast is superb. Tom Schilling (born 1982) looks so young he is 35 here but plays 25. He played an 18 year old in the superb German TV miniseries GENERATION WAR in 2013. Always worth watching as are Rainer Boch and Sabastian Koch who often play NAzis in these sorts of films.

I like art and know a great deal about Nazis and WWII so this film ticked the boxes BUT it is so bloated and flabby, needs an hour cut from it (I can never see why ANY film should be over 2 hours and not 3 unless an epic movie like Lawrence of Arabia). Just cut all the slushy gushing romance/sex scenes and that'd lose 45 minutes.

Reminds me of FOG IN AUGUST and other films about the T4 euthanasian programme in Nazi Germany - the only murder document signed by Hitler himself was to kill disabled people under the T4 Aktion. Gruesome and true. 'Useless eaters' as Nazis called them were gassed or starved to death and the doctors who did it were never punished, continued to work in West or East Germany after WWII. 97% of SS war criminals escaped punishment.

Great stuff, in parts. It starts very well. Then the last half wallows in self-regard way too much.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This is not as good as ROYAL AFFAIR by the same director, also with the superb Mads Mikkelsen who makes any film (The Hunt) or TV series (Hannibal) watchable!

This is from a novel and I suppose it shows. Many authors now are keen (overly so perhaps) to include ethnic characters and show women being strong & independent, and this ticks those boxes. The Roma girl is great however and reveals the superstitions of country people all over Europe then.

It also has the biggest pantomime villain I have seen on screen since Alan Rickman in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. I mean really he could play the baddie in panto all Christmas long on the basis of his behaviour here! JUST this side of a cartoon character, but it's close!

It is fascinating as a story, set in 1755, based on truth apparently. The heath does not look like the heath I grew up near which was all gorse and broom and hawthorn trees, sometimes birch. The soil was sandy from an ancient shallow tropical sea, hence no farming interest. This is more heather moorland as in Scotland.

It is somewhat slow as a film, but intelligent.

4 stars

I rented this because it stars Tom Schilling, a great German actor who was in the brilliant Generation War (2013) though he looks much younger than he is (born 1982 so 24 here playing 14!). An advantage for an actor..

This film itself is Hungarian really and a bit of a mess - the scenes in WWII are by far the best.

I just did not believe Ed Stoppard was the grown-up version of Tom Schilling though - he sounded like a Londoner, no trace of a German accent which is silly. As is the relationship with the black London girl. As is a lot of the spy stuff and the end (no spoilers).

But the scenes in Germany etc are great though not a patch on a classic like DOWNFALL or GENERATION WAR.

3 stars

Disappointing and way overlong and, frankly, rather boring. yes it';s a Christmas movie and sentimental, on the same theme as DEAD POETS SOCIETY but way more tiresome.

I think based on a novel and maybe the book is better.

Honestly, I do not see why the supporting actress won an Oscar. Actually I do because the Oscars seems to always give that gong to plus-sized black women playing rather stereotypical big mama roles. Happens a lot and robs better performances by better actors IMHO. Happened when the actress playing Stan Laurel's wife in STAN AND OLLIE lost out to a woman of colour. It is racism really after all the #Oscarssowhite blackmail demands. Shame.

Half an hour too long. Just not enough here for a movie. The main character is dislikeable and not that interesting - watch BREAKING BAD to see what teachers can do! Or the original GOODBYE MR CHIPS or ANOTHER COUNTRY or IF.

Anyway, this is worth a watch but no more. Probably be on TV one Christmas Day.

3 stars. Just. I liked the Labi SIffre song at the end.

This is a stunning film in German - a disgrace it did not win the 2004 best foreign film Oscar (I suspect the Hispanic vote wone Almodovar the oscar for the mediocre The Sea Inside which is not a patch on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (written by the great British screenwriter Ronald Harwood). I also think Bruno Ganz should have son the best actor Oscar for his jawdroppingly accurate portrayal of Adolf Hitler. Controversial for some as he is humanised BUT he was human, after all.

There is literally NOTHING bad with this film, It is perfect.

The only thing that comes close is 2013 German TV miniseries GENERATION WAR though that plays fast and loose with the truth, which is fine, for drama.

But this film Downfall is SO authentic and accurate - the portrayal of Hitler, the slippery social climber Speer, also Goebbels and his loyal Nazi wife (previously married to the boss of BMW) with all the children whose names started with H in honour of Hitler. That scene in the bunker is heart-rending.

I have watched this film at least 5 times and would do so again at any time. As someone who has researched and read a lot about the Second World War, I know who all the generals and characters are here, like Hitler's Adonis-athletic blond bodyguard, who was after 10 years in a Soviet prison loyal to Hitler until his death in his 90s. And all the others - their fates are stated at the end.

One of the top 20 films of the last century.

Essential viewing for all teens and children too. They can watch the horror of this and Schindler's List together.

This is a great watch esp the early episodes.

Not 100% sure all of this is true - inspired by truth but characters combined into those here, which are ticking the diversity boxes galore.

Not sure |I believe all the stories, esp the doctors. But maybe true. Certainly the level of duplicity from big pharma is shocking and true. Real-life footage at the end.

The timelines are handled REALLY well - so bravo for that. It flashed between various years because this story dates back to 1990s or even 80s and is still going. Legal settlements only in 2019. Many hundreds of thousands of deaths because of opioids, esp Oxycontin.

The actors are all great, esp the ambitious and unlikeable slimy toad who takes over the family firm and pushes opioids via the sales team. Everyone here is amoral at best, especially the corporates and big pharma and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

I'd have cut two episodes though, jettisoned a lot of the relationship stuff, which is padding, often woke padding - no need at all to make this all about racism or sexism, SO many dramas do this now and it is tiresome. And anyway, the investigator in real life was NOT a black woman. Remember that.

The ending, well,. No spoilers but it sort of fizzles out BUT not sure what else it could have done.

4 stars

This film starts brilliantly - it took me a while to grasp what was going on, which is good! Think of the tedious film THE VILLAG by M NIGHT SHYAMALAN or the brilliwnt 2012 Italian film REALITY, the best ever film about the toxic effect of reality TV.

Not sure I BELIEVE the story but it is a great metaphor, an allegory, about how the poor are always with us and people always exploit others.

I can see why the Screenplay won at Cannes - its Catholic sensibility is there, with the main character Lazzaro is almost a Jesus character, or one based on Lazarus. Not a fan of quasi-spiritual stuff myself, but this could also fit into TIMESLIP drama territory for the second half. There is also a wolf here. No idea why.

Some of this baffled me especially later on when the film does drag,. hence the 4 stars and not 5.

But in general, this is a superb film and original. Watch with REALITY (2012). And THE LEOPARD (1963) also about the declining Italian nobility 9and there are plenty of Palazzo turned into hotels in Italy - i have stayed in a few). The Leopard (Italian: Il Gattopardo, lit.?'The Serval')[5] is a 1963 epic historical drama film directed by Luchino Visconti.

4 stars

This s a decent drama, sure. But it is ruined by the endless quest to ensure main characters are 50% female and many characters are black or Asian - as the extra interviews on disc 3 admit.

All very well BUT it is just not realistic. FYI in the UK 1940 there were just 6000 black people out of 44 million people in the UK. 8000 in 1945 due to GI mixed race babies.

I very much doubt there were evr a black female piano player in northern clubs - most were male anyway. Female singers yes but no way would a heavily pregnant woman be allowed to perform.

As for the later scenes on D-Day beaches - well a cockney Sikh in a usual British regiment is unlikely. yes, France had redhatted troops from Senegal BUT unlikely they would be looking after injured Brits. I would even go so far as to say portraying anyone of colour as angelic is racist in itself.

The more interesting characters are in Poland and Paris - the gay couple, doctor and Jazz pianist which is believable, as is the Martha Gelhorn-type US journalist (read William L Shirer or watch the TV drama about that US journalist in Germany then France until late 1940).

The Mrs SImpson style mother is a caricature. The romantic story was boring for me. The Polish and French bits way better.

Lots of ticking diversity ishooos of a list here, which does get tiresome,. Racis,, tick. Sexism, tick. And as per usual, the cocky women behave in a way women of then would not have behaved.

It would have been SO much better without the preachy woke lecturing and tickbox quotas. Far better WWII dramas out there. GENERATION WAR is the best, German one. BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969 film). War films of 1970s and 60s. Downfall.

But it is watchable. 3.5 stars.

This is the sort of film which begins with a drunken discussion in the pub and is written on the back of a beer mat.

A WHAT IF... story - which I am sure was in science fiction short stories in the past, as was the I SEE DEAD PEOPLE concept and the village lost in time one. Very derivative stuff and magpie writer and director behind this.

Very silly, some absurd stuff and the reveal ending wordily explains stuff - like a bad episode of Dr WHo.

Watchable to a point but total hokum, and laughable at times.

maybe watch with the movie THE BEACH