Film Reviews by JD

A cult film to me is Rumble Fish or Jean de Fleurette. This is a film which assumes that if someone murders casually enough it is funny. Well if it were; the joke is flogged (pardon the pun) to death. The central character is unlikable, the filming gloomy and drab and the plot drags on and on. These are not cult qualities.

An awesome performance by Kate Winslet and Bruno Ganz. The characters are not immediately likeable nor indeed obviously realistic. This unusual relationship is gripping as it develops and a powerful plot unfolds.

I cried with salty tears during the audition of the pigeon magician. There are moments of pure understated comic genius. The awesome talents of Dave Spikey and Peter Kay unfortunately show up some of the lesser characters. Some weak scenes but not many. The humour is very British and benefits watching twice to appreciate the subtler pieces.

A very, very slow moving plot, I suppose was intentionally to give the atmosphere of loneliness. It is however also quite disjointed and never comes to a point or even close to a plot. There are huge incontinuities the most awesome is that she is saving a baby in one scene carrying it across the tundra but it is never seen again. Sean Bean acts well and it is this together with the well portrayed bleakness that saves this from a 1 star.

Brilliant acting. I felt the characters were totally believable and had intriguing personalities. The plot unfolds at a perfect pace and kept my complete attention throughout. The twist at the end will have you thinking all the way through the credits.

I thought the Brits did the ultimate deadpan. This Argentine production is extreme. No one else who watched this film with me got it, and I was left alone sobbing with joy. A more flat and unrelentingly morose humour I cannot imagine. Like Marmite, you will either love it.....

The far reaching effects of Stalinism and that influence on Tito. Not a blockbuster plot. This is only a backdrop however for the superbly crafted view of the world as seen from the eyes of a 6 year old boy. His perception of his philandering and unreliable father is so childlike as to be nostalgic, his physical and psychological reaction to the stress suffered is tangible.

Given that the average age of the actors in this film is 8 it is quite watchable. An uplifting film portraying poverty in a positive way with a very friendly atmosphere in the remote and impoverished village contrasting with a busy, more affluent and crowded but nonetheless lonely existence in the city.

Listening to this elderly biologist patronising teenagers was not particularly entertaining nor was it an in depth analysis of Darwinism. He was in his day a fount of important reading but that was some time ago now. A shallow portrayal of both biography and science.

Scenes would often be static and without dialogue. There was a slow movement to it and sometimes subtle interaction was beautifully acted but it could also be boring and the ending is as pointless as you might expect from the entire film.

This documentary has German narration without subtitles. The interviews are extremely dreary but there is a nostalgic quality to some of the 70's slum images. The gig footage is poor except for X-Ray specs.

The feeling of desperate worthlessness in the 70s is so alien to today's youth that it is hard to make sense of the rise of punk. This film does it well and gives a taste of the thrill of punk against the thuggery of the mod/rocker roots, and the political impact of real rebellion. Very nostalgic if you were there, very perceptive if you weren't.

I don't think there will be many that will want this specialised documentary, and those that do will probably not need a review; but it is was very interesting even for a casual spectator like myself.

The documentary assumes a moderate knowledge of eastern affairs but is an absolutely fascinating account of what I am sure was a very politically difficult situation to film. The times that the politicians asked for the camera to be turned off is inevitable but frustrating.

The facilities available to the Ukranians were poor but more impressive was the general, low standard of living. The case study was very compelling with an excellent coverage of the operation. This notably missed the removal of the tumour which I would have been interested to see. Generally the subject was interesting, the direction completely disorganised and the lasting feeling was humility at the comparison of our two health systems.