Film Reviews by PV

I found this film to be deeply dull. No idea why it won any Oscars - I suppose the feminism quota got it the gong.

I loved this movie. True, it was over-long and lost it a bit in the 3rd act.

But it genuinely amused me and made me think, and surprised me in its plot twists and characters.

I especially liked the way the writers/actors got the foreign accents absolutely correct - films and TV and esp the BBC always get this SO wrong.

I also think this film addresses a hugely important issue: over-population.

Almost 10 years ago I wrote a radio drama about a man who wanted to solve overpopulation by making himself shrink. It wasn't made BUT a radio play featuring a man who makes himself shrink was on BBC Radio 4 a year later. The BBC and its readers will happily steal ideas of scripts they read - and you can't copyright an idea!

The idea is not original anyway - Jonathan Swift was writing about little people almost 300 years ago in Gulliver's Travels.

Far better than those dumb action movie Mat Damon got famous for.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Together with MARGIN CALL, this film deals with the 2008 financial crisis and is a classic of now.

It's funny, jaw-dropping, intelligent, original and I loved it. The film was not a minute too long.

Great acting from many Brits in here too, from Christian Bale and others.

5 stars

I loved this film. I remember watching the match - Wimbledon 1980 men's single final - as a kid on our black and white TV, and it really was as nail-biting and exciting as it's shown here.

Most movies about sport just do not work - the awful 'Wimbledon' is an example, and who can ever forget 'Escape to Victory'?

But this works as a film about 2 huge characters and the psychological backstory of Bjorn Borg especially was fascinating - and I see he was involved in the movie's production, and McEnroe wasn't.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Gary Oldman's portrayal of Churchill superb and fully deserving of an Oscar (despite his disadvantage of being a white man in today's poc Hollywood) - however, I noticed in one dialogue he drifts into and out of Cockney when he says 'for our boys' in pure Sarf London. Most people won't notice that, but I am from near London so do!

I also doubt VERY much that Churchill would have said 'off of' rather than 'off' - he was very particular re the English language!

I also know King George VI would not have pronounced 'Adolf' in the American way - ade-olf - but would have said add-olf as we do over here.

The king's role and power is exaggerated because that is what Americans and an international audience is interested in - it was in fact Clement Atlee who as deputy PM of a national govt had far more power and say. The entire plot re Halifax, Chamberlain and the king planning peace tales is overstated massively too.

I do not believe for a minute scenes of Churchill chatting to people on a tube - especially as one is black Jamaican and no comment is made about that fact. It's a shame how pc tokenism can ruin a film.

So, 4 stars not 5. This is way better than the modern Dunkirk - I would recommend watching the 1950s film about that starring Kenneth Moore actually - and then the wonderful early 70s film Battle of Britain which begins where this film ends.

Anyway, enjoyable but occasionally annoying - and a towering performance by Gary Oldman who has been my favourite actor since Prick up your Ears in the late 80s! And no matter what your political affiliation (and Churchill was both Tory and Liberal in his time, and was MP for Dundee, somewhat improbably), you have to accept that he was the right man at the right time, and if it wasn't for him and the British people, Europe and the world would be a very different place.

And remember, in 1940, the USA was not in the war and wasn't actively helping us (quite the reverse - Joe Kennedy father of JFK said Britain is finished so the US should make peace with Hitler) and Stalin and the Soviets also had a deal with Hitler. So Britain and its colonies stood alone and saved the world. Never forget it.

I usually like Spielberg movies but I do have to admit I was really quite bored during this.

Maybe because the issue happened before I was around (and when Spielberg was a young man so it meant a lot to him obviously); maybe because it's so American-focused re Viet Nam - which I am sick of seeing films about. And thank goodness British PM Harold Wilson refused the US request for the UK to get involved in that mess (which had been created by Colonialist France).

So it's tough going - the jeopardy all hanging on whether a newspaper can print a story with official documents while Nixon is in power.

A curiosity really. 2 stars.

Written by the Coen Brothers, you'd expect weirdness. Directed by self-righteous Hollywood liberal, you'd expect smug political correctness themes. And that is precisely what we get.

In a quasi-mythical 1950s housing estate in the USA, everything is perfect until a black family arrives. Though this is the subplot of what a man with a disabled wife plans. We've seen the easy target of idealised small town 1950s American or versions of it many times before - eg Pleasantville - always mocked in Hollywood films One wonders why. In the 1950s most kids had 2 parents at home and were much happier and rarely obese. These days 10% of American kids are doped up on Ritalin and most come from broken homes. Hoorah!

Sadly, like most Hollywood films these days, this movie goes in for preaching that 'racism is bad' (no - really?) and hammers the point home with the subtly of a fatal bullet.

Now, what would have been REALLY original is if the film had portrayed a white family in an all black area - that has never been done. I await someone with the guts to show black people was racist in a Hollywood film.

And I just did not believe the later plot progressions of this film - which 'jumps the shark' as it goes OTT and a half.

Disappointingly predictable. 3 stars. Just.

I suspect those who actually believe In heaven or er afterlife will 'buy' the conceit of this film more than non-believers like me.

Also, just to add: South American cultures did NOT invent day or the dead celebrations. The ancient British festival of Halloween (Samhain) is at least 5000 years old, for example! So NO cultural appropriation here, as pc persons claim.

Hollywood is keen to pander to ethnic groups, and here it's the Hispanics' turn.

Anyway, the visuals here are superb - not so the mediocre songs.

It starts very twee and pc - and I'm afraid it thinks it's funnier and cleverer than it is - I did not crack a smile, to be honest. It lags badly in act 2. Total focus on impressive animation at the expense of story.

BUT then something happens when the character arcs intersect - NO spoilers, but just to say from this point, the film is sublime.

So a bit of a curate's egg really, Undoubtedly clever but probably confusing for kids - the plot is intricate and adult. Shame the songs are so rubbish!

Very impressive visuals BUT I still think FINDING VINCENT should have won the Oscar, and this film won primarily because in these pc days, it ticks the ethnic boxes. Shame the Oscars are now going to be awarded to less good films and actors JUST because they have dark skin or are female.

This is an interesting watch, as usual professionally-executed by the now 80 year old Ridley Scott.

BUT I have 2 gripes:

1) Much of this is fiction, particularly the ending. NO SPOILERS but I remember watching a TV documentary about Mr Getty in the late 1970s - shocking as he was so rich but so mean, alone in a big house, eating alone. I remember it. So when did he die?

2) I think it is just plain wrong that Kevin Spacey was 'vanished' from this movie in such a Stalinist manner. He has been accused of minor indiscretions when drunk by certain persons no doubt keen to sell their stories. He has not even been arrested or charged. And yet so cowardly are the Hollywood mob that they throw him to the lions, for fear of being tainted themselves.

Plummer is OK; but Kevin Spacey would have added more dimensions to the character. And EVEN IF he did wrong in real life, so what? Are we to vanish all writers, artists etc from view who have done wrong? If so, the bookshelves and galleries would be half empty. And didn't Elvis date a 14 year old? Shall we ban his records now and delete him from history? THAT is what I mean. Think about it. Separate the man and the work - as DH Lawrence wrote - no matter now many metoo boowho whingers scream and yell for their own egomaniac, attention-seeking, infantile, victimhood-craving, compo-chasing purposes (my words).

Sadly in these pc gestapo times it seems this sort of USSR/Nazi vanishing of undesirables will continue, as we are forced to suffer tedious movies full of female and black characters to tick the diversity metoo boohoo boxes. That is why I hardly ever visit the cinema these days. I watch TV dramas dominated by white men like Breaking Bad which you'll never see in a movie now, as half the characters have to be female and black according to a decree demanded by the diversity gestapo.

4 stars. I esp liked the visuals here, esp of Hadrian's Villa near Rome which I have visited.

This film is trying - very trying - and trying way too hard to be like LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS for pensioners.

It's a so-so watch but does look rather amateurish and some of the 'actors' haven't seemed to bother about acting at all.

For a truly great movie which also features bank vault robbery and cockney crime life, watch SEXY BEAST - which is as brilliant as this film is boring.

In the same way that Cliff Richard was a Poundland Elvis and Alvin Stardust was a Poundlan Cliff Richard, 'The Hatton Garden Job' is like a Poundland 'Sexy Beast'...

It has its place and passes the time, but don't expect too much because you won't find great entertainment here!

2 stars

I have to admit I had never ever even heard of the children's book this comes from BUT it is American and was published in 1936, so maybe that's why. Set in Spain and with an anti-violence message, which may well have in mind the Spanish Civil War of the time.

I'd love to know how true this animated movie is to that book really - I suspect the film-makers have added huge dollops of 'political correctness' and upped the madcap car chases etc to please modern audiences with their goldfish attention spans. Which may well be a shame because those are the weaker parts of the film.

I did like the character and the general story, and the animation is fun - especially the German show horses! The 3 hedgehogs are not that memorable - and viewers should watch till after the end credits to see a scene with them which concerns the absent 'Tres'.

The movie decides not to confront the reality of what happens to bulls in Spanish bull rings by actually showing any deaths though - which may be a bit cowardly. Beef comes from dead animals, after all, and kids should know that. But this film backs away from that reality - always.

The new songs are without exception AWFUL - though some standards are used (such as the Jagger-Richards composition I'm Free).

I hated the madcap car chases etc - and the first half of this film is way superior to the second half, though the ending satisfies.

3 stars. So-so.

I cannot understand why people are giving this movie 5 stars. Really. It's awful.

This is basically an attempt by French (and Belgian) state-funded cinema to make a film that may sell well overseas esp the USA> Cue the killer whales; cue the disability theme; cue the cute kid and social issues.

It is so dull and overlong. And I usually like foreign films and subtitles too.

The most impressive thing was probably the special effects - no spoilers but you'll see what I mean re the disability.

Fro a REALLY classy French film about disability watch THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY scripted by Brit stalwart screenwriter Ronald Harwood (who wrote THE PIANO and won the Oscar for it). Far better than the Spanish THE SEA INSIDE.

This is basically a very dull, overlong, gimmicky French film - though the man is actually Belgian, I just want to add and the movie is part funded by Belgian organisations too (ultimately the EU!).

One star.

This movie feels long - very long. Its plodding and tiresome from the start and is in general just boring - which is quite an achievement when one considers it depicts sado-masochist sex!

This is one a spate of new feminist-issues movies to come out of Hollywood now, directed by women often, showing women as strong and men as weak - though of course Wonderwoman was created by a man, and the recent movie was written and directed by a man too!

My first issue was that I simply did not believe these characters were living in the 1920s and 30s - it was if they were #metoo activists transported through time and dressed up in 1920s costumes like puppets.

My 2nd issue is that Wonderwoman really is like a Poundland Superman. I was aware of the TV series in the late 70s but as a boy it held no interest for me - whereas I adored Dr Who, The 6 Million Dollar Man, and didn't mind The Hulk.

My 3rd issue is the way all these historical films set in the past portray people with morals and opinions of the 21st century as GOOD and all those with other opinions as BAD. It is silly and infantile, and not how life or history works! So women who believe in being housewives in stable 2 parent married households are mocked. WHY?

It's just so long and dull - and is basically an attempt to cash in on the Wonderwoman movie.

The BEST bit is at the end when over the credits we see real photos of the real-life characters portrayed - and neither of those real-life women were at all pretty, and the man was older too.

One to avoid except for Wonderwomen fanatics.

This is a watchable film - with Arnie aged 70-ish phoning it in as a supposed Ukrainian (I think).

A shame I though that this could not be set in Germany. The real life story was about a Russian man who hunted down the German (or Austrian or Swiss) air traffic controller and killed him. I remember the news story.

So not bad and obviously predictable, but slight and I suspect massively padded up to make a decent story - I bet the last scenes are not based on truth.

The ending is sudden and odd.

So meh, 3 stars.

Well, all I can say is best not to watch this movie if you're a bit depressed! It's a bit of a throwback to the early 80s really when there were several movies and TV dramas like this: THREADS and also the wonderful cartoon by Raymond Briggs WHEN THE WIND BLOWS.

Low budget movies after get mocked, but this is good enough and uses limited locations and minimal special effects to tell an end of the world story which is mercifully short.

And anyway, what would former child stars like Edward Furlong (Terminator) do without gigs like this!

Maybe watch together with the equally depressing THE ROAD, but then watch the best move of this type 28 DAYS LATER (or the scary late 1970s thriller about a disease wiping out the population) or DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS.

Then cheer yourself up with SHAUN OF THE DEAD!