If you’re working with great material, what else do you need to do as a director other than recruit the right actors and shoot it well? Although Roman Polanski won’t blow your mind with a radical re-imagining of Oliver Twist, he will draw you in to savour the richness of Charles Dickens’ classic story so effortlessly that you might not even notice how brilliantly skillful a film-maker he really is. Read the rest of this entry »

Tim Burton has a bright and bubbly personality, and his delightful new musical Sweeney Todd, will leave you smiling and laughing for days after you see it…. NOT!!!! Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know what it was like to live in the 40’s, but that period sure looks great in film. It was the decade cinema came of age, after all, so perhaps its an appeal based in a sort of borrowed nostalgia. All the men wear hats, all the women have shoulder pads, and everyone speaks so elegantly to each other. There’s something to be said, too, for the value of the cigarette as a dramatic device. It’s an intimate prop actors can use to convey meaning, and nothing adds more atmosphere to a night scene than a miasma of cigarette smoke. But Married Life uses its 40’s setting as more than just window dressing - its mixture of social sophistication and personal restraint is a key driver in the story’s premise, involving love and passion, betrayal and murder. Read the rest of this entry »

All right, I admit it. I’m just an old softie! I had very little interest in seeing this little piece of British sweetness but, damn it, it’s just a very entertaining film. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian de Palma has obviously poured his heart and soul into his film of James Ellroy’s famous novel, The Black Dahlia. Unfortunately, beyond the superficial style and artistry, it fails in almost every other respect. Read the rest of this entry »

Could this be the most sordid period piece ever filmed? William Shakespeare meets Todd Solondz in the debut film from British director Laurence Dunmore. Read the rest of this entry »