- EdTV
An ordinary man’s life is put on Real Life TV for 24 hours every day. An ordinary man whose brother really wanted to be the featured star. Soon the celebrity status starts to completely change Ed’s life when the general public start joining in the newspaper polls as to whether he should break up with his girlfriend and the network does a little manipulation. A different film than The Truman Show despite having a similar sounding premise but this time it’s all, or used to be, real.
- The Elephant Man
“My name is John Merrick. I’m very pleased to meet you.” Despite spending so much of his former life as a carnival-show freak, once rescued by Anthony Hopkins’ Dr. Treves, he slowly begins to recover some human dignity. He slowly overcomes his speech impediment but soon the press has got wind of him and turned him into a freak for the upper-classes to be associated with. Did Treves really help Merrick for “decency’s sake,” for medical science, or purely to impress his fellow doctors with his discovery.
- The Philadelphia Story
A wonderful Hollywood comedy with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart. To describe it in more words would only dilute the enjoyment to be gained from seeing the film for yourself.
- The World Is Not Enough
Probably the best of the Pierce Brosnan Bonds we see the Bond skin is really starting to fit. We leave behind the idea that a media mogul is really frightening and go back to baddies who want to do some real damage. I was glad to see Robbie Coltrane returning and Robert Carlyle does manage to seem menacing enough if only because he can feel no pain. Watch out for WinCE exploding and the flying ski-mobile things running into trees that ends up looking like a substandard version of Return of the Jedi. If you’ve seen a Bond before, you’ll now what to expect and best of all it really delivers. I watched it a few days after Desmond Llewelyn’s death which made Q’s final scenes that bit more touching. If you want gadgets, dodgy puns and action set pieces this is your film.
- The Winslow Boy
For some reason, at least at the start, this new version by David Mamet felt somehow wrong compared with the earlier film version but you do get into it and after a little while really don’t mind. The best moment is still Sir Robert Morton’s “The boy is plainly innocent” line after the family are convinced that he will not take up the case and all their hopes have been dashed. Based on the Terence Rattigan play, it concerns the Winslow family’s fight to clear the name of their son, Ronald, who has been “sacked” from Osbourne Naval College for allegedly stealing a five pounds postal order during which time many sacrifices have to be made before the final outcome is revealed.
- Dogma
Two of the best lines are the only two lines spoken by Silent Bob, played by writer and director Kevin Smith, “No ticket” and “Thanks” especially since he has managed to get through so much of the film without needing to use words. Dogma seems to insist that you should hold dear an idea which guides your beliefs rather than relying on that which has been handed down through generations and must have been tainted by the prominent thinking at the time the dogma were laid down. We should not forget that the Bible itself was only recorded and copied by fallible human hands. If you don’t like Chris Tucker then you’re unlikely to like this film a great deal since he does much of the talking as 13th apostle, Rufus. We see how the angels, muses and the like have just as many problems as us but have to play out their conflicts over much longer timescales. Alanis Morissette is quite wonderful in her part, especially her handstands.
- End of Days
After Arnie’s heart op, we now see him fight with a middle-aged woman and win, but only just. We also see Gabriel Byrne replaced by a special effect at the end of the film. If you remember to leave your sense of reason on the tray at the door, it’s a fun surround sound ride with some cool special effects. Lots of guns and explosions as you’d expect and some memories of the Terminator series when the Terminator just refused to die no matter how many times you might try to shoot it.
![[BACK]](imgs/back.png)