Film Reviews by RP

I was looking for films with Minnie Driver and came across this offering from 2001. It's a comedy crime caper (do we still say 'caper' nowadays?) directed by the late lamented Mel Smith, who brings his own flair for comedy to the proceedings.

Minnie Driver (Brit) + Mary McCormack (for the US audience) are girls-about-town who overhear a bank robbery in progress. They track down the crims only to find they are nasty pieces of work who attempt to kill them. After a series of mildly amusing episodes including action sequences with gunfire and explosions, all ends well. Err, that's about it...

This looks as if it was made with one eye on the US market - there are lots of scene-setting tourist-type shots of London and Mary McCormack gets to practice an unconvincing mockney accent laced with a bit of 'underworld' slang. The tiresome Danny Dyer plays an appropriate role as an incompetent gang member, but there is a lot better from Kevin McNally as the hard man and Michael Gambon in a cameo role. The script is amusing (although there's a bit too much f-ing and blinding for my taste) and the best performances are from Minnie Driver and Kevin McNally.

It made me laugh a few times and I enjoyed it, but it's pretty lightweight stuff. 3/5 stars.

[Aside: The bank robbery element is based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery - look it up on Wikipedia. This robbery was also used in the 2008 Jason Statham film 'The Bank Job']

Just catching up on a few Clint Eastwood films that I hadn't seen and came across this one from 2010 that he directed and produced.

While I it has some elements of a ghost/supernatural type story, these are minimal. It's really about the intersecting lives of three individuals: a French woman (well played by Cecile de France - surely that's not a real name?), an American (Matt Damon) who has genuine psychic powers, and a young English boy Marcus (George McLaren) whose twin brother Jason (played by real life twin Frankie McLaren) has been killed in a traffic accident.

French woman has near death experience in the 2004 tsunami. Marcus pines for his brother, who then apparently intervenes to save his life in the 2005 London tube bombings, American psychic touches hands with French woman at the London Book Fair, they get together and everything ends happily...

There is a dramatic opening sequence with a CGI-effects tsunami, but the effects aren't overdone and it comes across well. The London sequences come across best (but perhaps as a Brit I'm a little biased) although there's a fluffed line by one of the child actors and the guide at the Dickens Museum refers to 'Edward Drood' rather than 'Edwin Drood' - it's a bit like a spelling mistake, once you've spotted it your eyes are inexorably drawn to it.

After the opening sequence it becomes a reflective, gentle film, the 'psychic' elements aren't intrusive and I enjoyed it very much. 4/5 stars. Recommended.

Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors and directors and I thought it was about time I caught up on the one or two of his films that I hadn't seen.

'Honkytonk Man' is one of his lesser known films and was apparently not well received by the critics and it was a box office flop - I certainly can't remember it passing through my local cinema, so here I am watching it at home. And I think it's pretty good.

It's a little bit of a mixed bag, with Clint both acting and directing, and also starring his son Kyle Eastwood in a 'coming of age' role. The storyline is somewhat contrived: it's the time of the Depression and hell-raising, hard drinking, heavy smoking, womanising country singer Red Stovall is on his way to Nashville for an audition for the 'Grand Ole Opry' show, his big chance for fame and stardom at last. He collects his 16 year old nephew Whit (nicknamed 'Hoss') and takes him along as his driver and introduces him to the pleasures of life along the way. But Red is dying of TB and doesn't live long enough to hear his record on the radio...

A slight story, somewhat trite and predictable, but it has a certain charm about it and I enjoyed it. Clint does play the piano and I assume that it's him both playing guitar and singing on the soundtrack, although country singer Tim Robbins gets to join in in a cameo role at the end. Tim Robbins later recorded and had a hit with the song 'Honkytonk Man'...

[Aside 1: Kyle Eastwood is now a respected jazz musician. He also wrote the music for Clint's film 'Gran Torino']

[Aside 2: In addition to Tim Robbins, a number of well known country singers have cameo roles]

Perhaps part of the reason for the film's lack of success is that Clint's role is well out of line with the more usual 'hard man' leading roles he was known for playing - here, Red Stovall is a loser. Now that Mr Eastwood has matured out of those 'hard man' roles, it should be looked on more favourably. I'll give 4/5 stars.

The second of the 'Dirty Harry' series, this one has Harry/Clint on the trail of vigilante cops who are bumping off a series of local baddies without due process.

In its day, 'Dirty Harry' came under criticism for glorifying vigilantism and being fascistic. Here, Harry states very clearly that he has been misjudged and that, despite his reputation for a somewhat over-direct approach, he is firmly on the side of the system.

Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors and this is yet another excellent film. Yes, it's a little dated by today's standards but I think it has stood the test of time well.

4/5 stars - great stuff!

It's a Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD) film, so before we start you know it's going to have dodgy acting, a dodgy script and simplistic story, together with a predictable show of his martial arts skills. Yes, the 'Muscles from Brussels' is nothing if not predictable...

Despite all that and despite the somewhat cheesy revenge story, it's quite an enjoyable romp - if you like that kind of thing.

The cheesy story goes: Brother #1 (raised in America) is a US kick boxing champion, goes to Thailand to find some 'real' opposition, and is easily beaten by the brutal local champion and crippled in the process. Perhaps he deserved it for having that moustache? Brother #2 (raised in Europe, hence explaining his Belgian accent) vows revenge, finds an elderly and (of course) eccentric Muay Thai (Thai boxing) instructor, practices by having coconuts dropped on him, having meat tied to his legs and being chased by dogs, his ankles being pulled apart by ropes to improve his leg split skills, felling small trees by kicking with his shins etc etc, and (of course) wins a final contest against the local champion.

It's desperately silly but JCVD does show off his rather fine physique and martial arts skills to good effect and if you can ignore the silliness it's not bad.

[Aside: I rented the DVD copy. The quality is seriously poor and grainy. It is also heavily cut - the BBFC site says the original 1989 film is just under 102min, having already been cut by 1min 17s. The DVD copy is 93min...]

I did enjoy it - perhaps it's a guilty pleasure - so I'll give it 3/5 stars.

I enjoyed this.

That's quite hard for me to say, because in recent years I have found Disney's animated films to be too trite, too schmaltzy, too syrupy-sweet, too American. There are honourable exceptions of course ('Brave' and the 'Toy Story' series come to mind) but suffice to say that taking grandchildren to the cinema often just sent me to sleep.

'Frozen' is very, very derivative. It's loosely based on 'The Snow Queen' fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen + elements of yet another 'princess' adventure, 'Tangled' (itself based on the 'Rapunzel' fairytale by the Brothers Grimm).

Many of the classic Disney films have been based on fairytales eg 'Snow White', 'Cinderella' and the less successful 'Sleeping Beauty'. So it is a return to some of Disney's early roots - and it is rather well done.

The characters are well drawn, the story is fine (as expected, there are many departures from 'The Snow Queen'), the music is good (there's lot's of princess singing) and it's moderately exciting. Not bad - but I did find the animated snowman annoying, although the character is successfully used to inject a bit of humour here and there.

But the real verdict is that the kids enjoyed it - and it didn't send me to sleep :)

4/5 stars. Good family entertainment.

It's very long and it's in Danish with subtitles - but please don't let that put you off. This is an enthralling police / political drama that will have you mystified (by the twists and turns of the story) and impressed (by the sheer quality of the acting).

There are 20 (yes, 20!) episodes of around 55 minutes each. Each episode covers one day in the hunt for the killer of a young girl. But this isn't a simple cop drama - the murder takes place against the background of mayoral elections for the city of Copenhagen and the leading challenger for office and his staff appear to be deeply involved. Are they? Or is this yet another of the many red herrings and false trails that are laid to keep you waiting in suspense for the next episode.

The story goes like this: a 19 year old student is found raped and murdered. Suspicion falls on her fellow students, her teacher, the driver of the car she was found in, her family, local politicians, her father's employees, a taxi driver. DCI Sarah Lund investigates and becomes obsessed with finding out whodunnit, at the expense of her own family and her career.

The length of the series allows a depth of characterisation that is rare in TV dramas and the quality of the acting is very good indeed. The depiction of the grief of the victim's family is almost tangible.

I recently watched series 1 of 'Borgen', the Danish TV political drama. 'The Killing' also includes Danish politics, but this time in local government rather than parliament and while 'Borgen' is about political machination at least the politicians have fairly clean hands. Here the involvement is much darker and more corrupt.

My taste and that of my wife are quite different - but for once we found something we both really enjoyed. We watched 'The Killing' for hours day and night until we had consumed it all. Great stuff. If I have a criticism it is that the ending - while in hindsight inevitable - left quite a few loose ends unanswered and details unaccounted for. So, episode 20 slightly weaker than the others, but the first 19 are cracking!

Superb. 5/5 stars. Highly recommended.

[Aside 1: Apparently the Danish title 'Forbrydelsen' translates better as 'The Crime' - and this series is about far more than a simple killing]

[Aside 2: The subtitles vary in quality and at times lapse into American rather than English - but that's a minor point]

Set in the near future, this is a boys' film about robots boxing each other - a bit of a bizarre proposition, but I quite enjoyed it. It's a certificate 12 which will give you an idea about the age range it's aimed at.

The two stars are Hugh Jackman, who makes a poor fist at being a parent but manages a bit of antihero quite well, and young Dakota Goyo who I found to be seriously annoying ('too cocky by half' comes to mind) and who also has a girl's name (or perhaps I'm thinking of Dakota Fanning here...)

'Real Steel' is vastly better than any of the 'Transformers' films and succeeds quite well at giving Atom the robot a bit of personality and the blend of CGI and puppetry to get the 'robots' to perform is excellent. And there's more than a touch of the 'Rocky' movies here as well.

The director is Shawn Levy who directed 'Night at the Museum' and Steve Spielberg is listed as an executive producer, which I think means he put up some of the money. All of Mr Spielberg's films, whether as director or producer, tread a fine line between entertainment and outright schmaltz, and this one is no different - but it comes down firmly on the 'entertainment' side of the line.

Sit back and let it surround you in rather silly mayhem. You might enjoy it - I did. I'll give it a generous 4/5 stars - it turned out to be much better than I expected.

I must be addicted. Not to crystal meth, but to 'Breaking Bad'. I've just finished watching Season 5 and I've now watched all 5 seasons, 5 years worth of broadcast TV, all 62 episodes. For after day after day I've watched around 47 solid hours of TV - I think that must count as addiction? - and now that it's over I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms :)

The series follows the (mis)adventures of high school chemistry teacher Walter White as, following a diagnosis of terminal cancer, he takes the seriously bad decision to provide for his family by using his chemistry skills to earn a fortune as a manufacturer and later a distributor of methamphetamine. We watch as Walt changes, metamorphosing from mild-mannered school teacher to ruthless killer, letting nothing and nobody stop him as he builds a drug empire. Not other local dealers, drug barons, the Mexican drug cartel, the DEA - nobody. And claiming all the time that he's doing this "for his family".

And in the process - perhaps inevitably - he loses his family and indeed, his own life.

What sets this series apart from many others is a combination of the directing (always sharp), the storyline (always clever, with many twists), the characterisation (every character is well drawn), the acting - Bryan Cranston as Walter White is fantastic - and something I very much appreciate, the blackest of black humour.

This final series, while perhaps not as dark and violent as Season 4, has Walt trying to evade the DEA as they close in on him, trying to extricate himself from the drug business and trying - and largely failing - to transfer his ill-gotten earnings to his family. Many loose ends are tied, some neatly, some messily and bloodily, and the series ends in probably the only way it could.

I have enjoyed it very much. Yes, it's unbelievable stuff, yes it's very American, but it really is great, unmissable TV. 5/5 stars - highly recommended. But be warned: you too could become addicted!

Hammer Films made many low budget pseudo-horror films from the 1950s - 1970s and this is yet another. The studio always seems to have made 'hammy' films and this is no exception, with dodgy acting, a dodgy story and a dodgy script.

The leading role is played by Ingrid Pitt, aka the 'Queen of British Horror', as a character nominally based on Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed. The film's title 'Countess Dracula' is a shameless attempt to cash in on Hammer's earlier successful vampire films - there isn't any vampirism here.

The main male lead is played by character actor Nigel Green as Captain Dobi, with Sandor Elès playing the unlucky young Lieutenant who is seduced by the rejuvenated Countess.

The story is about an elderly countess who regains her youth by bathing in virgin's blood, apparently a sort of magic anti-wrinkle cream, but is eventually (of course) found out. There's no horror (despite this still carrying an 18 certificate), very little blood, but there is the occasional bare chest.

So no horror, no fangs, no vampires, lots of ham, poor script etc etc - yet I liked it. It has a strange 'period' charm, harking back to the days when 'horror' wasn't either torture porn or gruesome gore. I'll give it 3/5 stars.

[Aside: Curiously, the DVD includes two extras entirely unrelated to the film, a couple of short plays, one with Nigel Green, the other with Ingrid Pitt in a Brian Clemens 'Thriller' episode]

Supposedly based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery - look it up on Wikipedia. The story goes that the robbery of safety deposit boxes in a Barclays bank vault was a ploy to recover compromising photographs of Princess Margaret used as blackmail material by Michael X and subsequently covered up by MI5 - at least it gives a twist to the story.

This is definitely one of Jason Staham's better films - although he plays a jack-the-lad amateur bank robber, it's not in the over-the-top 'mockney' style of Guy Ritchie but a rather more believable character - and there's no silly martial arts stuff either. The script is by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais so you know it's going to be really well written.

I rather enjoyed this - I'm tempted to give it 4/5 stars even though that seems over generous. Watch it if you like heist movies - it's not at all bad.

Season 4 of 'Breaking Bad' is darker, more violent than Season 3. Walter White makes yet more bad choices and gets into ever-deeper waters as he battles for independence from the implacable Gus Fring.

Gus demonstrates very, very clearly that he is a ruthless operator and tries to squeeze Walt out of the methamphetamine business as he attempts - and almost succeeds - in driving a wedge between Walt and Jesse. The DEA - more accurately, Walt's brother, Hank - figures out much of Gus's drug manufacturing and distribution business, Gus crosses swords with the Mexican drug cartel but comes out on top. Walt's wife, Skyler, is now in on the money laundering side of the business but begins to realise just what acts Walt is capable of.

Walt becomes more and more manipulative and ruthless in his own right, Gus gets his comeuppance and Walt is at last on top - or is he...

Yet more great, unmissable TV. 5/5 stars.

Using just about every cliché in the book, this is a feel-good film about a man from an unpromising background overcoming adversity to become an opera singer.

It's a biopic of Paul Potts (played by James Corden) who rose to fame by winning the first series of 'Britain's Got Talent' in 2007, singing 'Nessun Dorma' in the final. [Aside: The singing in the film really is Paul Potts]

Bullied at school, met his girlfriend via Internet dating, performed in amateur operatic productions, went to Vienna and was critiqued by Pavarotti, had a crisis of confidence, entered a TV talent show, became famous. Not a bad story and quite entertainingly told.

There are a few liberties taken with the facts though, not least that he grew up in Bristol, went to university and became the youngest-ever local Councillor and served for 7 years. Doesn't sound like someone with no self confidence to me...

While it's not my usual cup of tea, I enjoyed this film - apart from the music, it made me smile quite a few times. 3/5 stars.

[Aside: I was privileged to see the great Pavarotti twice, at Manchester's (then) G-Mex in 1991 and as one of 'The Three Tenors' at Wembley in 1996]

It's in Danish, with subtitles, it's about the politics of a foreign country and it's lengthy with 10 x 45 min episodes. But please don't let that put you off - this TV series really is excellent.

Each episode is essentially self-contained but the same major characters appear consistently throughout and this gives time for some in-depth development of the characters - this is significantly different from most British TV, where character development and background information is usually sketchy at best.

'Borgen' (= castle) is the nickname for Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament. The main storyline follows the election and time in office of Brigitte Nyborg (really well played by Sidse Babett Knudsen), the leader of the Moderate Party who unexpectedly becomes Prime Minister after the formation of a coalition government.

The series shows her development from a perhaps naive, idealistic, inexperienced politician through to a more pragmatic and sometimes manipulative person as she learns to become a shrewd political operator. The close relationship she necessarily has with a spin doctor and with the press is shown in some detail, as is the effect of her career on her family - including the effect on her marriage.

I said the series is excellent - it is. If I have a criticism it is that there is a degree of obviousness. Once elected, it is clear that she is going to change. It is clear that she is going to become a shrewd operator and to make hard choices that will result in her ditching old friends and allies for the sake of political expediency - that's what politics entails. It is clear that it will have a damaging effect on her marriage etc etc. And some of the events that she has to deal with - a CIA rendition flight, bugging of a coalition party's offices, jockeying for power within the coalition, the dodgy activities of her spin doctor - are quite frankly run-of-the-mill stuff. But what really holds it together is the depth of the characterisation.

Great stuff. 4/5 stars - I would have given it 5/5 but for the predictable way Brigitte's character was going to develop. Highly recommended - watch it even if you don't like politics.

A sprawling, ambitious piece of film making that weaves together six storylines set across many centuries - and indeed, as the ending shows, space as well.

With a stellar cast appearing with different makeup and playing different roles in each of the six stories, only superb directing could make this work. And it has those skills applied to it in an unusual arrangement with three directors: Tom Twyker and Andy and Lana Wachowksi.

This is a complex, lengthy (2¾ hours) project - so is it a cinematic masterpiece, a superb philosophical drama, a masterful adaptation of an extremely complex novel, or is it a turgid, pretentious, bum-numbingly long piece of over-ripe tripe?

I watched it first about 6 months ago and was impressed by its scope and scale, and now I've watched it a second time. And I'm still not sure - I may even have to watch it a third time...

It is difficult to describe the overall scope of the film, but to give a flavour here are the main storylines: (1) The 17th century experiences of Adam Ewing on a voyage to the S Pacific islands. (2) The story of Robert Frobisher, a bisexual composer of classical music in the 1930s (3) Set in the 1970s, the tale of journalist Louisa Rey who uncovers a conspiracy by Big Oil to allow a disaster at a nuclear power plant (4) Set in the present, Timothy Cavendish is held prisoner in a nursing home - but escapes (5) Set in a futuristic 22nd century Seoul, Korea, Somni-451 is a fabricant, a clone used for menial work. She becomes enlightened, part of a rebellion, and broadcasts a manifesto. (6) Set in a post-apocalyptic Hawaii, Meronym, a woman from a tribe with some remnants of technology is guided by Zachry to a mountain top observatory to broadcast a signal to the off-world colonies.

Err, that's it - and each of these stories and characters interacts with each other. Perhaps the most telling of these is in (6) where Somni is revered as a goddess. Segments of each story are cut and mixed together so that there are abrupt jumps from one to another. Strangely, this isn't confusing and once you've got it in your head which story is which (and that's why a second viewing is helpful) it seems to work quite well.

Unfortunately I find Tom Hanks to be a 'wooden' actor, so the fact that he plays a main lead (there is no single 'lead' here) gave me an immediate problem, a problem that I also have with Halle Berry who I generally find to be an unconvincing actress. And unfortunately the fact that they spend much time talking to each other in (6) in a simplistic pidgin English does nothing to help matters.

The film is bookended by Tom Hanks reading stories (in pidgin English, of course) to his grandchildren, presumably the stories of the film.

There are elements of humour - the 'cat incident' (you'll recognise it when you see it) made me laugh out loud. There is drama, sci-fi and fantasy. I'm impressed by the scope, by the music, by the cinematography - but I found the philosophy, while somewhat beguiling, to be simplistic and the whole film became, by virtue of its length, turgid.

I will definitely try to find the time to view it again, but at the moment I'll give it 3/5 stars. It's one of those films you'll probably either love or hate - and at the moment I'm sitting firmly on the fence...