Film Reviews by BE

A pleasant enough little movie, held together by good acting and directing plus a cool soundtrack from Bruce Springsteen. No prizes for the supplier of wigs - some were truly awful (a case in point being Rob Bryden's)!  The movie just stopped itself from turning into mawkish towards the end. Other than that, quite a good watch. 

I can appreciate Heath Ledger gave his all in his performance as the Joker. Nevertheless, I did not like this movie very much. The sound effects were so very noisy, I had to keep turning the volume down, then up again for the dialogue as it then could not be heard.  I didn't understand the dynamics between all of the main characters so the movie was lost on me. I watched it on the back of Todd Phillips' movie 'Joker'. Not a patch on that brilliant movie 

I wish I had read the reviews before hiring this movie. A banal load of rubbish. I was surprised to see the cameo performance from Gerard Depardieu at the end. Whatever possessed him, or Juliette Binoche, comes to that. Maybe they were short of funds!  

A reasonably enjoyable movie well acted by Colin Firth as the lead player. The scenes involving wife and children looked a bit staged, with them and the rest of the cast not looking comfortable in this 1968 - 69 setting. I was not aware of this true story so was a bit surprised at what I thought was going to be a predictable ending. 

A thinking person's movie with a very unusual storyline. Humourless, depressing but ultimately very watchable. Excellent acting from the whole cast. Surprisingly quirky footage towards the end, the meaning of which I have yet to suss out. Directed and written by Paul Schrader - clever man. 

Lots going on in this presentation. I watched the first episode and enjoyed it. I didn't realise Sneaky Pete was a ten part television series. I cannot commit to watching another nine episodes. My bad. 

A film with substance and good acting. This was an eye opener on culture issues and what it must be like to live in modern day Israel. I failed to initially engage with the characters as I was missing a lot of the quite fast dialogue. The white subtitles were placed on top of the actual film thus making them impossible to read when the presenting scene was light as well. Poor show. Other than that, I am glad I persevered with it. 

I don't think I have ever watched such a boring and inconsequential movie.   It had nothing to redeem itself. Awful. 

A very grown up movie about an initial loving relationship which evolves into the couple taking their very real frustrations out on one another. This was due to the fact that the female was unable to conceive of a wished for child.  With hindsight, this may not have been a bad thing.  They started living together after a whirlwind romance and whilst physically well bonded, had no time at all to really get to know each other over any length of time. Thus, it may not have been a good idea to bring a newborn onto the scene when their relationship needed to mature into a strong and healthy one. Once this had been achieved, I should have thought that if they still felt they wanted to extend their 'family', hopefully they would be open minded enough to look at adoption. The movie was extremely well crafted and the acting so natural, it was almost like being a 'fly on the wall'.   The soundtrack was also very good. 

This movie was recommended but failed to live up to expectations. A really silly presentation, repetitive and boring.  I endeavoured to persevere but fell asleep half way through!  (One star for playing the Beach Boys' rendition of 'Good Vibrations' during the screening). 

Nicely paced credible and realistic drama around the dynamics of a family in which the parents have alienated themselves from each other.  There is also a truly terrifying scenario towards the end of the movie. The only issues with the subtitles were at the very beginning because of the background. Other than that, no problem with reading them. 

I found this laconic movie mainly dull and uninteresting.  It was too slow and the father and son characters lacked any depth. I watched it all but ultimately, found it quite boring. 

Difficult to watch at times given the subject matter but it is well crafted and has excellent and natural acting from the cast. The film portrays an injured boxer overcoming adversity with the help of friends and professionals. 

A thoroughly absorbing cinema experience with Joaquin Phoenix giving yet another Oscar worthy performance. Emotional, controversial and tragic in equal measure interspersed with some uncomfortable comedy scenes.  I cannot rate this movie highly enough and glory be, no sex scenes!  A Superb presentation.  (I noticed Bradley Cooper coming up in the  in the credits as one of the co-producers - he doesn't appear to be putting a foot wrong these days). 

A thoroughly absorbing and engaging movie with two of America's finest male actors at the helm tackling an unusual subject matter. Joaquin Phoenix was truly outstanding (although was not awarded the Oscar he deserved for his performance).  Phillip Seymour Hofmann also gave his expected excellent performance and proves what a sad loss to the world of acting his demise was.   To be revisited.