Film Reviews by PV

I loved this film - I thought it was funny, witty, full dark ironies and great characters - and actually quite true to life too sometimes. This is amazing for me, because I usually HATE Woody Allen movies - and I mean REALLY hate them. His other movies leave me cold and I find them totally unfunny, but this is a wonderful characters comedy. Of course, the usual suspects will complain that it's not realistic and doesn't show a true picture of London - of course it doesn't, it's not a documentary of social issues set on a sink estate! But this film just really made me laugh: I know people just like the ones portrayed in the film - I particularly liked the gold-digging female characters, and also the failed writer character. Tony Hopkins also shows he can do comedy! This is the best Woody Allen film - ever! And the only one that made me laugh!

As it usual with Chinese films such as Red Cliff, this film os full of CGI battle scenes and clan warfare. So far, so good. For a Western audience the melodrama is overplayed to comic levels, of course, and the history may well be a bit confusing. But this is not my main criticism. It is clear from the subtitles given on the actual film at the end especially that the purpose of this film is to make the claim that Confusius is the greatest thinker ever - of all time - which is actually written on screen at the end! Not Socrates, Plato or Aristotle then; not Shakespeare or Newton or Einstein; no, because you see, they are not Chinese! Watching this is like watching one of those nazi propaganda films from the 30s - claiming that the master race is German, or Chinese in this case, and the trying to build a foundation for that 'truth' by trawling through ancient history and myths to prop up bigoted nationalism. The Chinese olympic ceremony was like the Berlin 1936 olympics too. As such, this film is very offensive and dangerous. It is also rather a boring movie, but no doubt Chinese nationalists will agree with its sentiment that ' a love of country comes before anything else'. This is film making as propaganda for a claim to Chinese superiority and that all other races are inferior. Backwards and old fashioned film making. Avoid.

I watched this movie expected a lame comedy of the type Hugh Grant has done a great deal in recent years; however, I was pleased to find myself laughing at this larger than life satire of reality TV. It's a good fun movie, and manages to get in the president of the USA, white trash wannabee singers for Pop Idol type shows, Lot sof Jewish humour and slapstick, the middle east peace process and Islamic terrorists all in one movie! Tightly written and fund, this is one of the best comedies to come out of Hollywood in the last decade. Hugh Grant is good as the Simon Cowell tyep Brit in America, but other actors are excellent too. This type of movie never wins prizes (Oscars are of course reserved for boring films about Jews, Nazis, diabled people, and Britflicks about royalty) - but this movie is way more enjoyable to watch than most worthy po-faced Oscar nominees. I could watch this movie again right now! It is FUNNY!

Of course, we should never forget that the first of these Pop Idol and Popstars type shows started in the UK and the US bought the format!

It's good to see a film in Welsh - partly - and which shows the wonderful scenery of Wales. Unfortunately, this is a typical state-funded film that looks like it's been created by committee. All the social issues are ticked. Moreover, it is achingly predictable and very slow too. And the ending - (won't spoil it) - is just ridicuolus - can screenwriters not learn some law? There are more holes in this that Swiss cheese - the biggest being that the old woman could havem through her young pretty teenboy neighbour, have found out all about Wales using the internet without ever leaving Argentina! And Duffy in this is really Duff - and I hadn't realised until the close-ups lingering on her face just how ugly she is. What a pug!

Two stars for the fact it's an unusual film and the scenery. The story would have been better left unwritten though - but then, this is the type of rubbish state-funded projects often spew out. Slow, dull, unrealistic and, frankly, amateur.

Boring stupid useless film. Probably only of interest to those who live like this, or those obsessed with ethnic issues (Guardian readers, BBC munchkins, those with white guilt).

I thought this film badly made and shot - and quite frankly boring as hell. It is NOT a quality filmn just because it has black people in it, has a black director and is about black issues! That's a racist opinion, actually.

I enjoyed this series but it's not as good as series 2. The writers were trying too hard sometimes - too many predictable vomit gags and crude sequences: that's always a good way to tell that a series should end. I really hope they don't make series 4 and 'jump the shark'...

Some laugh out loud moments here though, and Greg Davies is the best comedy teacher in any drama or comedy for years! So true to life! It's all a bit racist against Swansea in the final episode, of course - would the same gag have been made about any ethnic area like Southall or Handsworth? - but I can forgive the weak points and silliness of all this because some parts are genuinely funny! Feels a bit strained and desperate at times, so best that The Inbetweeners ends at series 3, I think. My favourite line from Will when he's being driven by mad roadhog speeding driver jay: 'He made us feel like royalty; sadly, it was Princess Diana'!!!

This film is so sentimental, twee and old-fashioned (Victorian even) that it makes Enid Blyton look like Harold Pinter................. It is what's known as a 'feelgood' film - in other words, it gives a positive (hence completely unrealistic) view of Africa - a place where the vast majority of people are friendly and helpful, according to this, except for a few bad apples, half of whom are white. Yeah right...........

There has always been a certain type of well-off white person who has a rather patronising love of Africa - with all those smiley little black faces - and I think this film is made by such people. It's also very religious and churchy, especially the ending. It even argues that so long as you've got 'god and the goodies [AIDS medicine]' than all will be well. WHAT UTTER TRIPE! The 1 million people killed in Rwanda in 1994 were killed for religious reasons, and AIDS has spread like wildfire in Africa because of religious teaching to a gullible population! Sorry - didn't like this 'feelgood' movie at all - but it sure does tick all dem PC boxes, so that's why it got all our BBC money and lottery money to get made...........................

The dialogue is also sometimes clunky and 'on the nose', and the acting (from the adults) so wooden as to be made of ebony! Direction is workmanlike, and there are some animation sequences that REALLY do not work at all - but they are part of the churchy, 'let's all pray and get to heaven', ethos of this twee little children's film. I don't think even that many kids will really like it that much though - but there are some nice scenes, some nice pics of animals (which the director shamelessly gets into shot and sequences, despite their having no relevance to the plot!), and some football sequences that boys will love. Two stars at most though.

There is nothing good about this film. It's the kind of sub-Ken Loach and sub-Mike Leigh poverty porn realism much loved by critics - but really, it is patronising, dishonest, self-indulgent pap.

I come from the same homw town as the dirctor and I can tell you that is is mostly middle-class suburbia too! So the portrayal of it as some kind of awful sink estate in dishonest.

What we need are good stories well told - that is what we need in the British film industry; not this awful tedious pity party - this film is typical of all that is wrong with British film-making.

NO STARS.

This is a genuinely funny lightweight movie - essentially a road trip with a straight guy and a mad guy being forced to travel to LA - tghey're thrown together and go through the usual ups and downs a la Planes, Trains and Automobiles. But it is really funny in parts - of course, there's a silly sentimental ending, as per usual in Hollywood. But, unlike most Hollow-wood 'comedies', this is actually occasionally funny! Some great set ups and some great lines allow the actors to milk every situation and ham it up wonderfully. One of the better comedies of recent years. A nice, easy, funny film to destress to. And the scene on the plane is hilarious!

More comic capers from the boys - or should I say men? Here are four 21, 22 and 23 year olds, playing schoolboys of 17, who behave like schoolboys aged 13/14.

But it works. Why? Because there are some genuinely funny moments are funny lines; also, the characters are clearly differentiated - the usual way of doing this on TV is to add black, female or Scottish characters, so well done for the writers for sticking to the 4 white guys: the parent character (Will) and the three children Jay, Si, and Neil.

I laughed out loud at the boating episode and also the London nightclub one. Some others are less funny and can be overly farcical and cartoonish. However, compared to the usual girly soapy dross on TV like Waterloo Road and practically all other drama, this is actually entertaining and funny! Masturbatory and scatalogical language abound - but actually there is far less swearing on here than on many other shows approved for a younger audience. No F wortds. The 18 certificate is absurd really.

This is better than series 1 too - and the habit of laughing at poor people has been dropped, thankfully (that was probably desperation for laughs in series 1). Every episode is essentially the same: the boys have a plan to get girls that goes horribly wrong. But hey, every episode of Sherlock Holmes follows the same format too, so why not?

I LOVED the episode about Si in trainers being refused entry to a nightclub... Ah the memories...

This is a wonderful comedy series - which, sadly, has become of a victim of the BBC's notorious PC Stalinist censorship and has effectively been banned from ever being shown on TV again. Why? The BBC commandants have declared it 'racist'. Well, actually, no - the characters are all caricatures - that's all. And the joke is always on the white British too! It does not mock or demean or incite racism against the Asians! The BBC really are full of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was written by two men who had served in the army in India during the war and the characters are types - the white Brits and the Indians. Not racist at all. The main Indian is played by a white Brit - but one who grew up in India so spoke fluent Urdu! I challenge anyone to say his performance is somehow inauthentic!............

Windsor Davies, Don Estelle et al are great character actors and this is a great comedy. Why? Because it is FUNNY - with a serious side too - and it always makes me laugh. This is FAR better than any so-called 'comedy' on the BBC today too.

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One could never ever imagine the Germans or the Indians making a TV series half as funny: other nations just won't mock themselves as the British do here...............................

A superb Britich comedy from before the BBC went mental and unfunny! Five stars +!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This film, funded by the Irish film board, is more like a TV drama really - everything takes place in an old folks' home. It is based on a short story by Maeve Binchy, and like everything else by that writer of women's fiction, it is very sentimental and full of characters who each have a sob story. When I saw that this was based on a story by her, I knew what to expect, and I was right. It is all utterly unbelievable, sentimental women's wish-fulfillment fiction really............................................However, this movie (or stay-still-ie) is rescued by the sheer acting talent on display: Redgrave, Staunton, Ackland et al). Some bum notes are sounded by drugs references - as though dope is harmless - and a silly plotline with a health inspector. Who, exactly, works on 26th December Boxing Day where you live? Anyway, 3.5 stars, and one to rent at Christmas.

This is a watchable movie, but suffers from a terrible sentimental streak, no doubt to appeal to the US market. There are plenty of stereotypes here too: the tough woman struggling to juggle work and family; the way her husband and kids comes round in the end; the loutish boorish character who turns nice by the end of the film; the way this supewrwoman overcomes nagativity and hostility to succeed in the end: this is a template for so many Hollywood movies and their imitators. But at times, this film feels like a feminist lecture....................

BUT - there are some great scenes in this story and good acting, and it's worth watching for the scene with the despicable catholic brothers alone. The catholic church is still covering up massive child abuse and refuses to give evidence to the courts about what they knew and how they just moved abusers from parish to parish. But this movie is a bit coy and puritan - we get no real details of this disgusting abuse, just occasional looks and silences - I would have preferred detailed and graphic descriptions, so as to show in no uncertain terms just what those awful catholic brother abusers did....................................

Of course, there is an argument to be made that sending children away to Australia was actually better than leaving them in slums with unfit mothers in the UK, but that argument is only represented here by some cardboard cut-out bureaucrat baddies. (These days, social workers are obsessed with keeping kids with their mothers, even if they are totally unfit and then give their children up for adoption, damaged and disturbed, when they are four or five years old).

This film is worth watching, so 4 stars. But it's not as good as the TV movie 'The Leaving of Liverpool'.

This is a great war film about a turning point in the war - the Germans' defeat at Stalingrad which, crucially, stopped the Nazis moving south to the middle east and seizing the oil that was partly powering the British war effort. The film does not flinch in its portrayal of brutal Nazis and brutal Russians too. It shows war as a messay amoral business............................. Sadly, this is ruined by the fact that the film is dubbed - not very well somtimes - and subtitles are not even given for passages of writing in German! Fortunately, I can understand a bit of German! Subtitles throughout would have been far far better - I hope to watch this film again with subtitles at some stage.

This movie is strictly for those who love their sci-fi. Me - I couldn't really get into it because I couldn't believe the situation OR the characters - though it is well-written and structured. I was going to give this 2 stars, therefore. Then I saw the ending. The alleged stand-up comedian who is about as funny as an infected pimple, and the sickly sweet affirmation of the American Dream in that awful vomit-inducing ending - the worst ending for a movie I have seen for quite some time. Zowie Bowie should be ashamed at himself for pandering to Hollywood and making everythning sentimental to the nth degree for that audience. Oh and of course there has to be the brave American soldier hero plotline - which I guessed within 5 minutes actually. Buy hey guys - you chose to go into Afghanistan and Iraq! Hello! Good grief - I HATED this movie at the end. One star. For a great repeated time loop movie, watch Ground Hog Day.