Drama > Bates, Alan Drama

Altman does British Costume Drama to Perfection

Advantages: A really good film with a great cast
Disadvantages: None

Gosford Park is an old fashioned English film made by one of the great American auteurs of the twentieth century, Robert Altman. It has a huge array of acting talent involved and was released in 2001 to critical acclaim, at the time it won best original screenplay at the Oscars as well as a Bafta for the Best British Film, it was also lauded as a return to form for Altman whilst Julian Fellowes received similar praise for his script. Ok so that's ...
...Set in 1932, Gosford Park is a wonderfully elegant English country estate. Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristen Scott Thomas) gather their closest friends and relations for a weekend shooting party. The film follows the various eclectic guests who have come for the weekend as well as the staff during this hectic weekend. The film is a comedy of manners and class, it has elements of farce and sex, as well as a murder. ...

paulie1975 29.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Gosford Park (DVD)

Slave to the System

Advantages: Shiny swords!
Disadvantages: There's no budget, no script editor and stunningly average acting.

...to have the story of Spartacus told to you with talking pictures, then it's the Kirk Douglas movie all the way. It's got a better script, bigger budget and far, far better actors. There really isn't the faintest need for a remake, especially such a poor one as this. If, however, you can be sold on a good-looking guy strutting about all oiled and not wearing many clothes, and some neat sword-fights (um, so if you're like me then) you might enjoy it, ...

Calapine 30.06.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Spartacus (DVD)

An Arousing, Sensual Film

Advantages: story, cast, script
Disadvantages: see review

...movie. This film is called Women In Love, based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence. The setting is 1920's England which involves a free spirited artist named Gudrun(Glenda Jackson) and her sister Ursula(Jenne Linden)who make friends with two men named Gerald(Oliver Reed) and Rupert(Alan Bates). The four friends attend a picnic honoring a pair of newlyweds. The newlyweds suddenly drown in a nearby lake. Gerald and Rupert suddenly decide to participate ...
...out want makes men and women really "tick". This film really explores the sexual relationship of these characters. The cinematography and lighting helped make Reed's and Bates famous nude wrestling match quite exciting in the film. The film Woen In Love becomes an international hit and gets an Oscar win for Jackson. So if you're going to see Women In Love, I suggest you make sure the kids are asleep and see this film as a couple. ...

kagito 29.05.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Women In Love (DVD)

You can't call a cat spider!

Advantages: A lovely story
Disadvantages: They turned it into a really bad musical

This is such a nice film, definately one to watch when you're sick, it will make you feel so much better. Basically the outline of the story is a group of children find this guy passed out in the barn, when they wake him up and ask who he is he replies "Jesus Christ!", this taken literally by the kids think its the second coming. A great performance by Hayley Mills but she is definately over shadowed by the boy who plays her younger brother, he's ...
...old (I think it was made in 1961) it hasn't lost any of its appeal. A timeless classic, like many of Hayley Mills films. Black and white films are always dismissed for the computer generated special effects films that we come to expect nowadays, but should be appreciated more. Definately give this one a look, a perfect Sunday afternoon treat. Enjoy ...

mistresslenore 25.10.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Whistle Down The Wind (Special Edition) (DVD)

it was not to be.

Advantages: Ethan Hawke in amusing hat
Disadvantages: it is crap

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play. I know it fairly well. It lives up to the hype, so to speak. This movie, however, is self- indulgent and badly written, poorly scripted bollocks. It has not one fatal flaw like our hero, but several. The entire movie is a multitude of sins, too voluminous, and some too hideous to cover fully. First of all, the cast. Julia friggin Stiles (Ophelia) is in every modernised Shakespeare thing ever made. She's a ...
...the entire film. Ethan Hawke's Hamlet is weak and unconvincing, often over- acted. Bill Murray provides some comic relief with his scarily accurate portrayal of pottering rambling old Polonius, but one decent performance does not a movie make. In fact, Murray merely serves to highlight by juxtaposition how terrible the other actors truly are. Updating Hamlet to a 20/21st century setting (Manhattan) yet retaining the original names and language doesn't ...

heroinchica 17.01.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Hamlet (DVD)