Drama > W Drama > 5 GBP to 10 GBP

Advantages: A great cast.
Disadvantages: Poorly written, subject to heavy handed metaphors and an overpowering score

...one for trying my patience. All the elements are here; a heavyweight cast, a universal story with contemporary parallels, an ominous score… But Zaillian goes completely over-the-top, smothering the film in clumsy visual metaphors (you know three people are going to die because he zooms in on three crosses at the side of the road). He signposts everything – characters play constantly with guns or gaze at each other in a meaningful way. He’s too fond ...
...air conditioning and it becomes all about damage control. You never see how the honest politician becomes slippery snake-oil salesman. It damages the dramatic impetus of the film, making the otherwise reasonable two-hour running time drag interminably, so every revelation and twist feels like hard work. Zaillian’s screenplay makes the fatal error of focussing on Jack Burden rather than Willie Stark’s fall from grace. Sadly this makes for a far less ... Read review

Advantages: A few good action scenes; If you like violence this is for you...
Disadvantages: If you don't, don't even botter, you'll feel sick...

† What you are about to read is a review on a box set that could easily be described in a simple word: Violence…! But as I spend more than 300 minutes watching it, I think I will tell you a bit more about it… Was it worth it? You will soon find out… † “Domino” (2005) - “There is three kinds of people in the world: the poor, the rich, and everyone in between… My name is Domino Harvey…” (2/5). Tony Scott is the personification of everything we hate ...
...blockbuster concept, when he directed “Top Gun”, back in 1986. But there’s something about him that catches my attention and maybe that’s the reason why one of my favourite “worst movie ever” is “The Last Boy Scout” (1991)… “Domino” is an action thriller freely adapted to the true life of Londoner Domino Harvey, who gave up her career as a model to become a bounty hunter; Domino was the only daughter of Lawrence Harvey (Lithuanian-born actor, mostly ... Read review

Advantages: Great Film! Very close to the play itself.
Disadvantages: Little Publicity...

A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt showing the rise and fall of its main character, Sir Thomas More. Set in 16th century England, the play exposes many similarities between its era and ours. There are of course differences, with its strong theme of social hierarchy and the immense power harnessed by the reigning monarch, King Henry VIII. While there are still elements of these in Britain they are certainly far from apparent today. The ...
...are many strong themes in A Man for All Seasons one of the strongest being corruption. A Man for All Seasons focuses as much on the fall of Sir Thomas More as it does on the rising of Richard Rich. In the first act, scene eight, Rich gives Cromwell information about a silver cup given to More as a bribe. Though More rids himself of the cup as soon as he realises this, Cromwell thinks he might be able to use this to his advantage. Cromwell, desperate ... Read review

Advantages: Masterpiece of the affects of war
Disadvantages: long and slow, deep and requiring thought.

Michael Ciminos, the Deer Hunter has rightly become a classic of the modern cinema, a masterful study of the affects of war, in this case Vietnam, on three friends and the community they come from. But it is so much more than that, if you look hard enough into the imagary and subplots there is communication to the watcher that at first dont become apparent. The film is based around three friends, Michael (Robert DeNiro), Nick (Christopher Walken) ...
...The Film is divided into three distinct parts which follow the friends lives over a number of years. The first act is set in the small community and develops the relationships between the main characters. There is the marriage of Steven (John Savage), a long portrayal of a Russian Orthodox ceremony as he marries his, already pregnant, intended. The films title is from the other main opening theme, the friends on a deer hunt. Both the wedding and ... Read review

Advantages: Walters is Brilliant
Disadvantages: None

Plot: Based on the true story of Marie Stubbs, played by Julie Walters, who turned St George's around, a notorious London comprehensive that was facing closure. Filmed and originally shown by ITV, it is a gritty and strong depiction of Marie Stubb's book Ahead of the Class. Phillip Lawerence, Head Teacher of St George's in 1995 when he was murdered outside the school. By 2000 Ofsted had placed the school on special measures. The story that ...
...and characters being added or altered' in this version, as stated at the start. The story itself begins with chaos at the school; meanwhile Stubb's quietly prepares herself for her new role and faces the press on her decision to do so. At the school a fight breaks out and a boy is severely hurt, with blood everywhere, immediately outlining the difficulties facing Stubb's. Through a series of new and often simple initiatives within the school she ... Read review