Dame Joan Collins, magnificent woman, star, sassy and sexy, beloved of all women over the age of ….ahem. One could say she is an ‘old style’ movie star, but her change to television in the 80s with Dynasty lead her to become an actress of two parts, elevating her above her contemporaries to become a true […]
DVD: Go Now (1995) Builder and amateur footballer Nick (Robert Carlyle) meets and falls for Hotel worker Karen (Juliet Aubrey), will Nick’s unexplained and sudden Illness ruin their love? Written by Jimmy McGovern and MS sufferer Paul Henry Powell, Go Now was originally broadcast as part of a ‘Love Bites’ TV series on the BBC 20 years […]
DVD: The Water Margin (1973) It’s been quite hard to find any information online about this TV show, so please forgive me for using Wikipdia to give you some background info on it. Made in 1973, The Water Margin is a Japanese television series based on Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels […]
Blu-ray: Conversation Piece (1974) A retired American professor (Burt Lancaster) lives a solitary and luxurious life in a house in Rome. His world takes an unexpected turn when he is forced to rent part of his house to a countess and her companions: a lover, a daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend. Forced into interaction with the […]
Blu-ray: Hangmen Also Die! (1943) Hangmen Also Die! is set in wartime Czechoslovakia, where surgeon Franticek Svoboda is pursued by the Nazi police and is assisted in evading them by Mascha Novotny. News spreads that the Nazis’ head executioner, known as the Reichsprotector (the Hangman) has been assassinated. Is the doctor the killer? With Fritz Lang […]
Blu-ray: Review: Buster Keaton – The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 Unfortunately for me, it’s very difficult to write a review of this really wonderful boxset without it turning into a ‘History of Cinema’ lesson. Mainly because (in my opinion) you can’t compare these films to contemporary films, despite them being ‘movies’ they come from a different […]
Blu-ray: The Commitments (1991) In Dublin, Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) is sick of failing to sell knocked off gear and wants a better life, so decides to form a soul band with his friends Outspan (Glen Hansard) and Derek (Ken McCluskey). He holds auditions in his parents house and manages to assemble a rag-tag band […]
Blu-ray: Cocoon (1985) Beginning with a soft light falling through the ocean onto some frolicking dolphins, the camera gives us an opening clue to the ‘otherworldliness’ of this story by focusing on the ruined signs of an ancient civilisation of the lost city of Atlantis. Made in 1985 by director Ron Howard, Cocoon was his […]
DVD: The Spoils of War (1980 – ) Network on Air’s release of all three series of The Spoils of War is a very welcome addition to their already breathtaking array of television classics. It tells the story of two families from the north of England in post World War 2 Britain; one working class […]
DVD: The Booth at the End (2011 -) In a time of gorging on box sets, here’s one you may have missed. The Booth at the End has no movement in it, it is the most stationary piece of television I’ve witnessed. It’s also a revelation in storytelling. Simply set, a man (Xander Berkeley) sits in […]
