Blu-ray: Breathless (1983) In this remake of Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960), Richard Gere plays Jesse, a thief who seems to have a preternatural knack for stealing classic 1950s convertibles. He’s also annoying. Full of jerky energy, always talking to himself, or gazing at himself in the mirror. But then, despite the beautifully full mouthed […]
DVD: The Handmaid’s Tale (1990) Before #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein’s reveal as a rapist, and Hulu’s 10 part TV series The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elizabeth Moss as Offred, was this 1990 film, directed by Volker Schlöndorff, scripted by Harold Pinter and starring Natasha Richardson (as the handmaid), Faye Dunaway (as Serena Joy), and Robert Duvall (the […]
It’s not surprising how a couple of my American friends thought Jonathan Pie was a ‘real’ newsperson. Slightly ruffled suit, windswept hair, squinting into camera, he does appear to be Mr BBC. One exclaimed her shock at him not being sacked for his ‘Potty mouth’. (Oh such sweet lips that utter platitudes of angry exasperation […]
DVD: Doctor Faustus (1967) In the late 1960’s Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were the most famous couple in the world, probably along the lines of Kardashians, only they, unlike the Kardashian’s, had talent. Coming off the back of the critical and box office success of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’? ,the world was RichBeths’s (Dickliz? […]
DVD: Sunday Too Far Away (1975) Sunday Too Far Away made in 1975 is one of the first ‘Australian New Wave’ films (along with Wake in Fright, Mad Max and Picnic at Hanging Rock). The film is set on a sheep station deep in the Australian outback in 1955 and the story looks at the […]
Blu-ray: Quantum Leap – The Complete Collection (1989 – 1993) Quantum Leap first aired in the UK in 1990 on BBC 2. I missed it. I was in Los Angeles and had already become quite obsessed with this sci-fi tale of Dr. Sam Beckett (the gorgeous Scott Bakula); a physicist who figuratively ‘leaps’ through his […]
Blu-ray & DVD: Chaplin (1992) How on earth do you fit Charlie Chaplin’s life into a two hour film? Well, you can’t. You can only skip lightly through it, and this is what director Richard Attenborough does. Based on Charlie’s autobiography and a screen play by whiter than white Bryan Forbes, here we have an extremely […]
DVD: Namatjira Project (2017) On seeing this latest release from Umbrella Entertainment, I assumed it was a documentary about a contemporary Australian artist I’d personally never heard of; Albert Namatjira. I very wrongly thought it would be a retrospective of his work, but instead I got a very hard hitting documentary more of less about the […]
DVD: A Chorus Line (1985) I LOVE Musicals, oh hang on, a bit TOO broad. I love most musicals. I’m thinking On the Town, West Side Story, yes, even La La Land. And you know what I love MORE than musicals? People dancing. No I’m not talking ‘Strictly‘ dancing with the stars here, no proper […]
DVD: Breaker Morant (1980) I think people won’t really know Edward Woodward unless they are ‘of a certain age’, then they’ll mainly remember him as David Callan (in Callan) and as the original Equalizer Robert McCall. Movie fans will possibly remember him as the virgin human sacrifice in The Wicker Man. Definitely a ‘man’s man’ […]
