Film Reviews by BE

A truly excellent production with top acting from all of the cast.  A solid two hour watch. I cannot fault it. 

What a nice change to see such a faultless screen presentation. Why hadn’t I heard of Paul Walter Hauser before? 

Two hours of intrigue and surprises, admirably carried off by Michael Douglas. Ultimately incredulous but If you like thrills and spills, this is for you!  Ten out of ten for effort. 

The earlier part of this movie was tedious just waiting for something to happen.  It didn’t help that Elizabeth Moss (Cecilia) slowly moved about a lot of the time with a pained expression on her face. Having said that, the movie was interspersed with some genuinely nail-biting, scary bits.  We knew the storyline was going to be hokum because of the subject matter.  However, not a good idea to leave a pet dog alone in an empty house to look after itself for a very long period of time without food, water or toileting facilities. This apparently had no harmful affect on its well-being and beggared belief!  I really didn’t get the movie ending and had to read the on-line synopsis to understand what had happened!  See it if you must

A contrived and really unrealistic and silly film. Given that everything was rationed during and after WW2 with only small quantities of even basic foods being sold, the bowl of sugar cubes spotted on the dining room table defied belief plus the talk of cooking chips.  Goodness knows how they would have fried potatoes without sufficient butter or oil, which were only sold in minute quantities at that time. One star given for the coastal location. 

The Critic Review (below) says it all. David Byrne and his musicians/dancers give top class performances.  They must have all worked very hard on the show to have so perfected it.  David Byrne (now 68) is one of the coolest guys for his years that you’ll ever see. Absolutely loved the whole presentation. Will watch DVD again before it goes back in the envelope. 

Not hugely entertaining but quite a fun piece of viewing. Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are always worth a watch. Not too keen on the hurried Agatha Christie type denouement at the end but you can’t have everything. 

Bleak landscape, bleak characters and consequently a bleak film. Apart from an incident with milk, totally lacking in humour. Passed a bit of time but wouldn’t recommend it. Very natural acting but too doleful for me 

An irritating load of codswallop. Don’t bother. Ewan McGregor must have well needed the money to entertain this rubbish. Needless to say, abandoned after the first 3/4 hour as it wasn’t getting any better. One star to enable review entry. 

As previously mentioned in review by HM - duped by a Mark Kermode recommendation. Didn’t even last half an hour with this one. I should have known better! 

An extremely graphic depiction of violence, weird scenarios and peppered with some black humour.  You name it, it’s got it, interspersed with an attractive intermittent soundtrack.  It could have been a directorial liaison between Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino. Some of the violence was turn the head away stuff. Not my usual choice of movies to watch but it certainly held my attention. It was extremely well crafted and very well acted by all of the cast.  If you watch it, see if you can spot the continuity error in a house towards the end where a member of the film crew  could be spotted scuttling by in a far off room almost, but not quite, out of camera range!  Recommended if you can stand all the gore associated with being shot and dismembered bodies (whereby it is a wonder that it didn’t precipitate a shortage of tomato sauce)!  

Incorporates references to other movies ie ET, Alien etc.  Quite amusing but didn’t match the originality of the first full length animations.  A bit same old, same old. 

Inspired to hire this by somebody else’s review, who was obviously more familiar with the work of Agnes Varda, than myself.  Found it less than invigorating and ultimately boring. I’m sure those that revere her work will find it less so

Switched off after witnessing three unpalatable animal scenes in the first twenty minutes.  Not for me, thank you!  Had to give one star or this site would not accept review. 

I am not sure what I expected but found it difficult to equate with the grubby lives of these individuals. The acting was good but I didn’t really like the storyline

Extremely bleak representation of the life of a farmer and his elderly parents on a Yorkshire farm. The introduction of a Rumanian worker into the household brings some love interest into the farmers life.  There  are some harsh farm animal scenes and there is no humour whatsoever. Nevertheless, it is very well acted and it has an acceptable ending but I wouldn’t want to watch it again