One of my 1000 recommended films.
I haven't seen this for quite a few years but today (all day) I watched this unique film on the big screen, in the 5 and a half hour Photoplay restoration with score conducted live by Carl Davis with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
The story of how Kevin Brownlow has spent nearly half a century working on restoring this film to as close to Abel Gance's original vision as possible is well known - and…
One of my 1000 recommended films.
Recently I saw the beautiful new print of this film directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and can report that after fifty years it still looks amazing, with vibrant colours, a remarkably rich score, and performances that linger long in the memory.
The doomed romance of the modern Romeo and Juliet, Polish American Tony (Richard Beymer, all teeth and eyelashes and so pretty…
A rather interesting thriller based on the Troubles in Ireland with a starry cast led by Red Steiger as the titular character who seeks revenge for the deaths of his wife and daughter at the hands of a trigger happy young British officer during a riot.
From a brutal opening it settles into a battle of wills between Hennessey, IRA leader Tobin (Eric Porter) and loose cannon Insp Hollis (Richard Johnson, whose original story was turned into this film). Collateral…
Strong start but ultimately disappointing fantasy story that makes little sense as Paul is thrown into a new job at a mysterious London building where computers don't work and the trade is in something more sinister than goods.
This was one of the films on my list of shame, I had been long aware of it but had never got around to seeing it, until now.
I knew the theme was Nilsson's 'Everybody's Talkin'' and that Jon Voight's character was a would-be hustler, and Dustin Hoffman's character was a low-down dirty rat. But that's about it.
The film is nothing like I expected. It has some fantastic moments - the way Voight and Hoffman eyeball each other as…
This bittersweet film gets another star on a rewatch. It's Colin Firth's best performance in years as stuffy professor George Falconer ('it takes a long time to become George'), who suddenly finds himself bereaved by the sudden death of his partner Jim in a car accident, and finds it difficult to cope until he decides he needs to make a momentous decision.
This being the 1960s he cannot talk openly about it, or even grieve, nor can he seek a…
