Blu-ray: Birdy (1984) The book \’Birdy\’ is based in WWII but director Alan Parker took William Wharton\’s story and set in 1960s Philadelphia. The story follows two unlikely friends; Al Columbato (Nic Cage) a gawky, good looking, over confident shagger, and Birdy (Matthew Modine) a quiet odd lad who’s obsessed with Birds. It’s one […]
Blu-ray: The Amazing Mr.Blunden (1972)It was several year after its cinematic release that I saw The Amazing Mr Blunden. Definitely on the telly, probably at Christmas, but I have no recollection of when. The only thing I could remember about it was being terrified of Diana Dors’ Mrs Wickens and somewhat confused by Bella (Madeline […]
Blu-ray: Young Winston (1972) Richard Attenborough continued his war journey after ‘Oh, What a Lovely War!’ with his 1972 Young Winston (Churchill) based on Churchill’s book My Early Life: A Roving Commission, the movie gives young Winny the Hollywood treatment and examines his early life from an unhappy time at boarding school and ending his election […]
Blu-ray: Secret Ceremony (1968)Secret Ceremony is one of those films I’d heard about but never seen. Directed by Joseph Losey of \’The Servant\’ fame, this could have equally starred Dirk Bogarde and James Fox and the female roles replaced by males.It’s an odd film, disjointed and on reading up on it I think there is […]
DVD: Out of Africa (1985) Out of Africa is one of those barnstorming multi-Oscar winning films that everyone loves and was a huge success both financially and critically. Featuring Meryl Streep (whose accent is of course impeccable and her acting first class) as Karen Blixen, she recalls her life in Africa where in 1913 where […]
Formed in 2014 and changing line-up a few times, Inglorious now consists of Dan Stevens (Guitar), Danny Dela Cruz (guitar) Phil Beaver (Drums), Nathan James (vocals) Vinnie Colla (bass). Not being a fan of reality TV and talent shows, I was surprisingly unaware that Nathan James had another life before the rock band. Stalwart of […]
DVD & Blu-ray: 7 – 63 UP (1964 – )How on earth do you write a review of one of the most comprehensive, relevant, important and astonishing documentaries ever made? How do you do justice in a few paragraphs to a literal life’s work? How can you encapsulate the joy, fear, emotion contained within?Quite simply, […]
Blu-ray: Aniara (2018)Aniara is a science fiction poem written by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson in 1956. The title comes from ancient Greek and means \’sad/despairing\’. The poem tells the tragedy of a spacecraft bound for Mars with a cargo of colonists from a dying Earth. After an accident, the ship is ejected from the Solar System […]
Blu-ray: Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) The problem with a lot of ‘true life’ stories in film is that they are invariably NOT true. My very cursory knowledge of Lon Chaney is that only the main points of this biopic are ‘real’. But it really doesn’t matter, mainly because the star of this film […]
DVD: Worzel Gummidge Christmas Special (1980)For those of you who may be unfamiliar with our titular hero, let me explain who Worzel Gummidge is.He is a walking, talking scarecrow who has a variety of interchangeable turnip, manglewurzel (YES, Manglewurzle) and swede heads, each of which suited a particular occasion, like tea with the Queen or […]
