Welcome to PV's film reviews page. PV has written 1487 reviews and rated 2394 films.
After the initial speech, this film is almost wordless (a bit unrealistic because I think most people would be swearing a lot and talking to themselves in such a situation).
A chance collision with a container lost from a ship knocks a hole in the side of Robert Redford's boat. From there, the jeopardy is pumped up with misfortune piled on misfortune.
I would expect his survival kit to be better - but maybe they're like this (with but one fishhook and just 2 flares).
Anyway, it all gets very wet and miserable, until the end (which is the only part I disliked). Quasi-religious ambiguity isn't my thing really.
All in all, a watchable movie. Maybe not as good as Open Water, and clearly influenced by that. But still good. 3.5 stars
This is the sort of movie (and story) I call 'emo-porm' - emotional pornography for women. It is basically a soggy Mills and Boon romance, sprinkled with criminality and baked in a great big pie of schmaltz. I expect the novel it comes from was full square aimed at the escapist romance reader...
The story is utterly unbelievable - I just do not believe a chance encounter would happen like this. I do not believe in the characters reactions either. In a word, it's unbelievable and makes Jurassic Park look like a documentary...
By the last scene (so shameless schmaltzy it should carry a health warning) I was ready to burst out vomiting at the sheer awfulness of this silly romantic story. I was hoping for a murder, especially of the Kate Winslet character, but no such luck...
Having said that, there are some good scenes with tension and the younger actors do well. So 2 stars - just about.
Get this for the woman in your life, then hide under the bed and put the headphones on to block out the blubbing...
This is such a weird film - I found it rather disturbing but it did stick in my mind for ages afterwards. It's the sort of film whose images could give those of a nervous disposition nightmares...
As you'd expect from former ad-man Glazer, it is beautifully filmed, looking like a pop video in parts.
Set in 2014 Referendum Scotland, with some incomprehensible Glasgow accents (use the subs), it went completely into weirdness at the film seduction - which is surprisingly explicit. I shall never look at Celtic fans the same way again...There then follows another seduction and another and really disturbing weirdness.
I am not a sci-fi fan and am not really sure what it was all about (maybe I shall find someone who's read the book to tell me). I think it's about an alien who wants to be human - but who knows?
But I would really like to have seen this on the big screen because the visuals deserve it. But maybe I'd have a stiff drink first...
This film does what a lot of French and continental movies do, and veers off into surrealism. Not sure if this comes from the original novel (by an Italian) or is the result of the writer/director Luc Besson going for the Grand Guignol uber-violent plot (esp in Act 3) because he can't work out how else to end the movie. And the plot point that leads to Act 3 is just about the most unbelievable one I have ever seen.
Whichever it is, this makes the movie unbelievable, and means the viewer has no sympathy at all for the amoral characters (compare with the wonderful Wolf of Wall Street to see how it is possible to make an amoral key character sympathetic so the audience roots for him).
Still, it's an interesting watch, even if it is a confused film which can't decide if it's a comedy or a mob movie. There are silly subplots aplenty to pad out the film to its overlong length.
The big problem here, however, is the fact that very few members of an audience will be able to suspend disbelief here or sympathise with the amoral and violent, nasty characters. The plot is simply incredible - I simply cannot believe the shtick that despite all the violence and deaths and explosions, this family would be able to move from house to house in France with new identities: it's like a plot from a first year film student, frankly, and with more holes than Swiss cheese!
Worth a watch, but to see some really funny mafia moments, stick to The Sopranos.
2.5 rounded up to 3 for the good acting and some funny scenes.
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.