Drama > Mirren, Helen 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)

Not a good week for Her Majesty!

Advantages: Excellent film
Disadvantages: none

...vividly that incredible week at the beginning of September 1997 - the week Princess Diana died. Particularly I remember the complete shock, followed by an outpouring of public grief never known before and probably never likely to be known again in our lifetime, and the hostility vented against the Royal Family for not showing their emotions and instead opting for the 'stiff upper lip!' I was never a big Diana fan, although I did feel her death was ...
...to note that one of the things that this film did not do, at least in my mind, was to come down on one side or another and I think that all the events were depicted in a very honest way. The key players in this film are obviously the Queen herself, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, the Queen Mother and Tony and Cherie Blair. Princes William and Harry are not shown at all which I think was a very good decision as even after all the time that had elapsed ...

kingfisher111 24.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Queen (DVD)

ITV drama at its best

Advantages: Twelve and a half hours of quality entertainment
Disadvantages: No extras, expensive

...celebrate 50 years of the ITV channel, the set is made up of 8 discs in all, all key episodes from well-known dramas of the last 15 years or so. These include: Cracker - One Day a Lemming Will Die Brief synopsis: A young boy is found hanging from a tree in the middle of a wood. It is not at first clear whether he committed suicide or was murdered. Either way, his death seems to be linked to the fact that he was gay. Opinion: Robbie Coltrane, as ...
...the great dramas shown on ITV over the last few years. Just a couple of criticisms - the boxset was supposed to be celebrating the last 50 years of ITV, but all the dramas included were from the last 15 years or so. I'm surprised there wasn't more of a mix of older dramas, of which I'm sure there is any number. Another is, of course, the price. When you can get choice episodes like these free with a newspaper, it does make this set rather expensive ...

sunmeilan 26.01.2006 · Read full review
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Review of ITV 50 - 50 Years Of ITV Entertaining The Nation (Box Set) (DVD)

Dreamy for a Midsummer night

Advantages: Shakespeare has *never* been so much fun!
Disadvantages: n/a

...way that Hollywood could do a decent Shakespeare. You'd be wrong. This production is quite simply beautiful. Hysterically funny. Some of the most enchanting camera-work I've seen in a film for a *long* time. And beautifully acted by an all-star cast featuring everyone from the obligatory Hollywood A-list (Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer) through TV stars (Calista Flockhart) to a sprinkling of great British character actors (Bernard Hill). A bizarre ...
...supposed to be. Puck is a triumph of mischief and understated vulgarity. Oberon oozes charisma. And Michelle Pfeiffer's performance as Titania - well, wow...it's *well* worth waiting for is all I can say. Cleverly, the producers managed to play on the old "Americans can't do Shakespeare" prejudice by casting the whole of Quince's amateur dramatic company as Americans - a device used to glorious effect in the final scene, with Kevin Kline (as Bottom) ...

linasi 17.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream (DVD)

A Jack Nicholson Masterpiece

Advantages: Superb acting, superb direction
Disadvantages: Not for action lovers

...that time disappears and, when the film is over, you just can’t get its atmosphere out of your head. That’s what happened to me with The Pledge, a masterful piece of film-making starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Sean Penn. At first it appears to be a standard police thriller, but after 20 minutes or so you realize that it’s actually much, much more… The Plot ++++++++ Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) is a retiring policeman in bleak, wintry ...
...enjoying, as the man is clearly at odds with the concept of retirement) his retirement surprise party, a young boy out in the snowy mountains stumbles across the body of a mutilated and sexually assaulted child, and sees an American Indian man fleeing the scene. The call from headquarters comes through to the party, and Nicholson, having six hours to officially go before his retirement begins, seizes the chance to get involved in one last case. ...

sandrabarber 20.07.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Pledge (DVD)