Drama > Walters, Julie Drama

From Russia With Talent

Advantages: Excellent and very watchable film
Disadvantages: Will it be widely distributed?

...rubbish has been produced in the name of capitalism and fast bucks (the Russians have proved astonishingly adept at adopting the less salubrious aspects of western “values”), the counter-tendency to create serious drama in a less stifling atmosphere has also returned; Russia is after all the country that gave birth to Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin and Chekhov. “The Return” is an enthralling film, a family drama which tackles serious issues. Issues ...
...family, the shabbiness of post-soviet Russia, the politics of family and friendship. What appears in its first scenes to be a standard movie about kids switches with the arrival of the two boys’ missing father whom they have not seen for ten years and know only from a faded photograph they have hidden. The relationship of the two boys with their returning father marks the central dramatic conflict in the movie. The reasons for their father’s absence ...

JoePoirot 30.07.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Return (DVD)

Billy Elliot: 2 Disc Special Edition

Advantages: Great storyline, plenty of extra features, bargain price 2 disc special!
Disadvantages: They need to make a second film to see more of his dancing!

...about a young boy called Billy Elliot who is caught up in the struggles of the miner's strike in England. He relies on his father and older brother who go on strike. However he does not fulfil his fathers dreams of boxing, but instead uses what little money they have to attend ballet classes that go on in the next room. He faces a cold reception when his father finds out about the ballet which is not the manly thing to do, but eventually he realises ...
...true for Billy - so you should buy this to see how they story turns out in the end!! It really is a must have, and there are extra features such as: behind the scenes of making the film, the making of the west end stage production and much more! ...

CrazyShopper08 06.09.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Billy Elliot (Special Edition) (DVD)

Posh Brits and straight-talking Americans

Advantages: Gently humorous look at growing up
Disadvantages: Dull at times

At the tender age of 11, Ralph Compton is subjected to witnessing his mother, Lauren, and her lover having sex. If this isn't bad enough, she later decides that she has had enough of being wife to a British diplomat in Swaziland and leaves her husband to seek new horizons with her lover, leaving Ralph with his father. Mr Compton's drinking gets out of hand, leaving Ralph with little choice but to go away to school. When he returns, he is shocked ...
...American woman called Ruby that he has only just met. Ruby and Ralph quickly become very close, just as Ruby and her husband start to drift apart. Will Ruby stay with the family? Or is Ralph destined to have to deal with his father's drinking alone? Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Skins) plays Ralph, and shows that he is very much more than just a one-trick pony. Ralph is a complicated character, and has to run the entire gamut of emotions during the ...

sunmeilan 30.08.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wah-Wah (DVD)

Brilliant and True School Drama

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 ...

veryluckyshorty 16.07.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Ahead Of The Class (DVD)

Billy Elliot

Advantages: Brilliant
Disadvantages: Aint none

Billy Elliot is by far the most gripping film i have ever watched.It not only demonstrates the grim British life of a poor family but it portrays a hunger for a young boys pashion. Billy is from a poor coal mining family, and is taking weekly boxing lessons at the local gym, when he discovers the facination of Ballet when he stumbles across Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters) dance class in the next room. He enjoys taking the classes and enjoys the thrills ...
...family probably wont agree with what he is doing, and the thing he wants most of all is there support. His life at home makes him push for success in the dancing world with positive outcomes. The film will have you greatlty admire the dancing of such a young boy, and will no doubt have you holding back tears of happiness by the end of it. ...

bibster123 02.09.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Billy Elliot (DVD)