Film Reviews by PV

This film is an oddity - and probably would have worked better as a TV drama or even a radio play. As a movie, I can't help feeling the talent is wasted - and still wonder what the Costume Department did as there is one man wearing one lot of clothes in this film!

If you love concrete, you'll adore this, as civil engineer-ish bloke drives away from his work responsibilities for other reasons (no spoilers here).

I must admit it got on my nerves after a while and, fatally, I just didn't believe this character would do this (despite his backstory).

The reaction of those he speaks to on the phone also tested my patience and I couldn't quite believe the reactions.

Loved the in-joke of a football player called Caldwell (Called Well) though! Hee hee!

This is the sort of movie the Brits just cannot make - a fast, thrilling ride of a tale, however unrealistic, about a US Marshall who gets a text on a plane then has to work out which passenger has sent it.

Great fun, all in all. Absurd plot, but who cares? I like the way this is just over 90 minutes too - not the long drawn out 120+ minutes of most Hollywood movies these days.

Good special effects as well.

A really entertaining popcorn movie. 4 starts at least.

I liked this film. It's well-scripted, well-acted and recounts the little-known tale of a murder within the beat poets clique in the 1940s.

The period detail is interesting; not sure how much the characters are true to life though.

But I never knew how that event inspired an early Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs novel.

Full marks to Radcliffe for his performance; Dane DeHaan plays the Bosie characters to an older guy's Oscar Wilde, and not sure how true to what really happened all that is anyway. Other characters too stand out - the cold fish spoilt rich kid Burroughs and Kerouac's testosterone-pumping thrust of a performance. This film is WAY better at portraying him than others I have watched.

But this film stands on its own - though, in reality, these beat poets were really up themselves! This movie is more interesting than much of their dire pretentious poetry, for sure.

I don't see why anyone has an issue with modern music and sound effects being used in a period movie - what a terribly quaint and puritanical attitude!

4 stars

I LOVED this film - just adored it - and know I shall watch it again, probably several times. I don't always agree with Cannes Grand Jury Prize-winner decisions - but this film deserved that award, and more too!

Partly, I liked this film because I am a music lover and a cat lover - and this movies revolves around music in 1961 Greenwich Village (when Bob Dylan was just emerging). The subplot of the cat - or maybe it's more than a subplot - is hilarious and relies on an old British 1970s plot twist after a pet someone is looking after for others goes missing.

There are also some in-jokes about Wales and the Welsh which I think are there as a reference to Bob Dylan (who famously took his surname from Swansea poet Dylan Thomas) - though the first name Llewyn itself is actually mispronounced throughout.

But really, despite the hilarious comedy, and the wonderful dialogue and characters, this is ultimately a story about grief - the grief of a man realising he is a failure. It's a Man versus the Monster movies really - the Monster being the music business and Fate itself, which leaves Llewyn Davis alone and struggling in harsh, cold, cruel world.

I could watch this film again right now (with subtitles again to pick up all the song lyrics). Several times.

Brilliant, wonderful, unique film-making - and there's a cat or two in there too! Five stars with bells on and harmonies!

The worst thing about this film is LOW volume of the dialogue (even at max volume I struggled to hear it - and there are NO subtitles either!)

However, this is a curiosity piece, and yes it is old-fashioned, BUT it stars Alistair Sim and his protégé George Cole, who shone in the BEST ever filmed version of SCROOGE in the same decade. One wonders if this was billed as a 'horror' at the time (1956)? No anatomy scenes in it, though some of the accents are screechingly horrific, for sure...

Burke and Hare are suitably sinister, though when they leave the movie it drags towards the end. Some Victorian melodrama here too, especially from the weaker women actors.

But ANYTHING with Alistair Sim in is worth a watch so 3 stars.

This is a Greek tragedy of a melodrama, set against the background of corrupt early 50s politics in Lousiana.

A hick politican - the Sean Penn character - rises to the top in an unconventional way, and has some choice lines in the script too, as power corrupts him from an honest John into the ultimate cynic.

The main character, however, is the Jude Law journalist assistant to this man, who is a bit like Nick Carraway to Gatsby (and probably narrates the book this comes from).

There are some hard-to-believe plot devices, but having said that, if you like a melodramatic Greek tragedy then this is for you anyway. It is scathingly cynical about politics - but then who isn't these days?

An all start cast here too, with Tony Hopkins playing a rather obvious 'godfather' to the boy...

Worth a watch and exciting viewing - but put the subtitles on if you want to catch all of the scripts great one-liners and exhilarating cynicism. 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this film. It covers a story not covered before in any mainstream movie (there was a very slow British TV movie about how Britain's art was hidden in a mine in Wales, but...)

An all-start cast, a good pace, some decent structure and jeopardy, though some feels tacked on (esp the guff about a statue and a nasty Nazi with a sling), all make this a predictable but enjoyable quest movie. Based on truth, and real-life photos are shown at the end, but one can only wonder how much is really true.

Certainly, the language is more 21st century than 1944: no-one then was 'tasked' with doing anything, I believe (that came into the language in the 1990s), and the word 'teenager' was first used by an advertising agency in 1948 (though 'teen-age' was used well over a century ago) - so how can these old soldiers in 1943/4 refer to being shot at by teenagers in training?

But anyway, a good enjoyable romp, and an opportunity for some older actors to have fun. Practically no women in the film (just Cate AKA Claire) and absolutely no ethnic minorities (except Jews). That is how one can tell that this got absolutely no funding from the pc BBC...

4 stars. A proper movie for art-lovers and boys who like old war film like The Great Escape of Kelly's whatever...

This film is terrible: boring, dull, confusing, pretentious, and a waste of the acting talent on show. I like Jesse Eisenberg and no doubt he wants some arty actorly kudos and status from starring in an arty film. But but but...

I like arty movies - I like films which do not rely on Hollywood tropes and special effects.

But really, this pretentious and over-rated film is the worst film I have seen this year - maybe the worst in 3 years.

I know hipsters will praise anything this director does, because he is trendy and so an 'emperor's clothes' effect takes place.

But I have to be honest - this film really is dull and up itself - and is, frankly, boring to watch.

It thinks it is really clever - and is trying hard to be Gilliam's Brazil in a steam punk way. And BOY is it trying! I struggled to the end and wished I'd turned it off after half an hour.

Only watch if you like this sort of thing...

I would recommend reading the book where this story came from though - - because this film is evidence, if more were needed, that some books and stories on the page just do not translate well onto the screen.

The only really bad thing about this DVD is that there is NO option for SUBTITLES! That is a real shame because the naturalist mockumentary style and the northern accents and mumbled dialogue mean that subtitles would have been very helpful.

Having said that, all else is positive. This is in the mockumentary tradition and probably influenced by Michael Winterbottom's The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden BUT Downhill - a Road Trip is FAR funnier than that, and than any other Winterbottom film.

There are well-drawn characters, efficient flab-free storytelling in the script, lovely scenery, genuine surprised, probably the best drunken acting I have ever seen, and some great weather jokes!

OK, so the ending is a tad unbelievable (are non-friends really so forgiving after...well...no spoilers here). Also, I could predict parts of the screenplay and a couple of the issues each character had - because every major character has an issue, as screenwriting courses teach.

But I can forgive all that and could easily watch this film again now. It is more suited to TV of course than film, but the BBC would never ever be so creative as to take a risk on new writers and directors, preferring to stick with stale, tried and tested old hands or those with who get maximum diversity points to write about social issues.

Downhill is a really funny film. 4 stars+.

A load of Old Testament hokum that drifts badly in the watery second half. No doubt creationists will love it - though there is a nod to evolutionary fact in the speeded up sequences. There is also a clear reference to a tsunami - which is how the myth or Noah and the ark was cobbled together (though actually scripture does not even mention 2 of each animal...)

The premise is silly; the acting hammy; the conclusion wet. Some people'll love it!

But I certainly cannot recall fallen angel rock men from my school days, nor any battles before the ark set sail, nor any cockney descendants of Cain acting as the adversary to increase jeopardy and dramatic tension!

Oh well, it passes the time. And I doubt Sir Anthony Hopkins has seen as much rain since he lived in Port Talbot (where it's wetter sometimes).

I found this film somewhat irritating. I think it was because of the stagey concept - as a play in the theatre this would probably work better.

I was also more than irritated by some of the characters - and was egging them on to jump off that very high building!

The emotional manipulation by Hornby in his original story is shameless, and the tabloid plot silly. But a wafer-thin story needed some sort of plot, structure and direction - though these things, like the holiday, feel tagged on. As does the ending.

It would have been 1.5 stars were it not for the good performances by the actors, especially Pierce Brosnan.

If you're the sort of person who think dire modern Hollywood comedies with swearing and bodily function obsessions are funny, you probably won't like this.

If, however, you enjoy sharp satire and are bright enough to notice intelligent irony, then you'll love this film. The humour is Jewish, and also pitch dark for those who get the references. No wonder it was successfully revived recently.

True, it is a bit dated in patches - and those easily offended by dolly bird gags should probably cover their eyes.

But really, this is one of the best musical movies ever made - a classic. Mel Brooks at the top of his form.

Five stars.

Although occasionally resembling The Fantastic Four, with all-American and achingly diverse (woman, tick; black lead, tick...) cartoon superheroes saving the world and not suffering so much as a scratch whilst all the natives around them fall like flies, this is a well-made and genuinely exciting film that will have you on the edge of your seat. The action and bomb sequences are impressive and startling, in all ways, and the script keeps you guessing. Real adrenalin here.

OK, so it's an action movie and follows the tropes of those. But this has more - a thoughtful consideration of the paradox that is Saudi Arabia. That is why I award 4 stars to this. A couple of laugh out loud lines too.

The ending is particularly poignant, and unusual for an action movie; this is so much more than good guys versus bad guys.

And the first 5 minutes is perhaps the best potted history of Saudi Arabia ever put on film, which explains clearly the pact made by the Saud family and the Wahabi Islamic extremists (who want to destroy all books, all images, everything except the Koran). I doubt very much devout Muslims or Saudi nationals will be fans of The Kingdom, however...

After watching this, I'm just glad I never took that teaching job in Saudi Arabia (despite the money...)

This is an oddity - and feels odd, a bit amateurish, and perhaps more suited to a 1 hour TV drama than a movie. The premise is slight and absurd; some of the acting performances over-theatrical; the script sags in the middle (though thankfully it's a very short film). The budget was clearly of the shoestring variety too!

Suspension of disbelief is needed on a huge scale here - but as time travel features in so many TV series, maybe that's not such a big deal.

There's a vague and under-developed romantic subplot featuring the Italian soldier, but one wonders where the movie can go exactly, so maybe it's best under-developed. It's merely meant to balance the weird village teacher romantic subplot anyway. One sensed that the film makers were trying to find ways to pad out a slight story that could have been wrapped in in half an hour of a sci-fi TV series though!

Still, despite all the negatives, there is something charming about this film. Hence the 2 stars and not 1.

OK, so this film is not unpleasant, though one wonders if the endless focus on relationships and explicit aural scenes are absolutely necessary.

It is a not bad film but way overlong and feels it. That is because the story is so slight the movies is stuffed with padding and unnecessary subplots. It could have been a great half hour episode of a Twilight Zone style TV series. It is basically a short story which has been padded out to be a novel.

One issue with this: all the characters become extremely irritating after a while, from the main character to the subplots. The disembodied voice of 'Her' is probably the least irritating.

Difficult to get emotion into a relationship with a machine - but it was done better almost 40 years ago in a SciFi film when a computer sings Daisy Daisy of course...

The twist is fun but not surprising enough to pay off the time invested in the previous 2 hours.

So, all in all, very average. No idea why it was nominated for an Oscar. But then Gravity won, and that was worse...