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Essex Boys [2000]

starring: craig fairbrass, Alex Kingston, Charlie Creed-Miles, Tom Wilkinson, Larry Lamb

July 02, 2001
I was hoping for a good British gangster movie but this isn't. A lot of people like Sean Bean but I always got the impression it was somebody acting. The driver was well played and, as usual, the film went up a couple of notches when Tom Wilkinson appeared. As well as the acting the poor script let the film down.

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Watership Down

starring: John Hurt, Joss Ackland, Richard Briers, Hanah Gordon, Ralph Richardson
directed by: Martin Rosen

August 29, 2005
I have loved this film since I first saw it as a child. The sense of menace and foreboding which hangs over it is truly disturbing, as are the flashes of savage violence. The 'Bright Eyes' moment about half way through turns the supposed death of Hazel into one of the most moving moments in cinema history, and the 'Black Rabbit of Inle' ending is hardly less moving.

Bigwig, Hazel and Fiver are brought to life with a huge amount of warmth and 'humanity'. Before reading the book I always thought the gull Keehar rather embarrassing, with his strange Middle-East-sounding accent, but after reading the book I think he actually is supposed to sound like this and I have come to really like the characterisation.

I always found ... Read More:

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The Beiderbecke Collection Complete (includes CD)

starring: James Bolam, Barbara Flynn, Dudley Sutton, Dominic Jephcott, Terence Rigby
directed by: David Reynolds, Frank W. Smith, Alan Bell, Brian Parker

November 27, 2006
Fabulous, brilliant, funny, sardonic, witty, wistful and sublime. Oh what a joy to behold, British telly at its absolute brilliant best. Stunning cast, vibrant script, lovely gentle pace, none of this jump cutting idiocy that spoils so much contemporary television. This assumes the viewer is intelligent and interested enough in what they are watching, to just meander along with a gentle whimsical air and a magnificant soundtrack.

Buy it, watch it, return to it, again and again and again. Because you know you will, sure as a ferret chases rabbits.

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Tomorrow Never Dies [1997]

starring: Pierce Brosnan, Desmond Llewelyn, Al Matthews, Terence Rigby, Pip Torrens
directed by: Roger Spottiswoode

October 20, 2008
The history of the latter Bond films is one of false dawns, with sporadic good or near-great Bond films promptly followed by horribly disappointing ones. OHMSS was followed by the lazy Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me by Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only by Octopussy, and sadly Pierce Brosnan's enjoyable Bond debut GoldenEye remained true to form in being followed by another clunker. Tomorrow Never Dies was a famously troubled shoot, with a constantly rewritten unfinished script the most visible of its many problems. It's that classic `inbetween good Bonds' film that just feels like its treading water while they recharge their creative batteries for the next one. The premise may sound absurd - Jonathan Pryce's media mogul tries to start a war in Asia to boost circulation ... Read More:

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Plunkett And Macleane [1999]

starring: Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Iain Robertson, Ken Stott, Tommy Flanagan
directed by: Jake Scott

May 02, 2005
Sometimes a bit of hard, dark and amusing period-drama is just what the doctor ordered, taking a break from BBC endless remakes of nicety-nice Jane Austin and Charles Dickens books that we all pay our licence fees for !!!

High-way man Plunkett (Carlyle) teams up with ex-socialite Macleane (Miller) to rob the London gentry of their wears, along the way becoming infamous and inciting the wrath of the local authorities.

I felt that the film was just the right mix of drama and comedy, with serious events separated by moments of shear comic genius. Macleane encouraging Plunkett to eat more prunes and trying to catch a large ruby as it worked its way through his system, along with trying to cure a dose of the clap caught in the line of duty with gun-powder ... Read More:

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The Crossroads Collection

starring: Ronald Allen, Sue Lloyd, Gabrielle Drake, Susan Hanson, Terence Rigby
directed by: Alan Coleman, Mervyn Cumming, Nicholas Prosser

September 01, 2008
I was hoping here for a new batch of crossroads but this is just the previous 4 series bunched together. Where are the later Crossroads episodes. Bit of a con, dont buy if you have the other releases as this boxset contains no new episodes unfortunatley!

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Great Expectations [1999] [Dutch Import]

starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Justine Waddell, Charlotte Rampling, Bernard Hill, Daniel Evans
directed by: Julian Jarrold


Technical flaws aside owing to the very grainy resolution, this is Great Expectations as it ought to be... arresting and deeply evocative.This is very,very good. Having admired David Lean's rather compressed version of Dickens' superb novel for many years and having endured the complete annihilation of the said novel in the abhorrent farrago starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke, it is an absolute joy to witness the sheer quality of realisation in this production. It vastly outclasses the other productions on every level although the Lean has great nostalgic charm and appeal. Relatively faithful to the novel, this is profoundly engaging. The acting is superb.Charlotte Rampling inhabits the character of Miss Havisham at a stellar level, evoking a sympathetic response to the personal tragedy that ... Read More:

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Bond Remastered - Tomorrow Never Dies (1-disc) [1997]

starring: Pierce Brosnan, Desmond Llewelyn, Al Matthews, Terence Rigby, Pip Torrens
directed by: Roger Spottiswoode

March 12, 2007
For an hour or so this is one of the best films in the Bond canon for quite some time, then it all goes horribly wrong.

The pluses and the minuses of the film are pretty much half and half as well.

Jonathan Pryce's Elliot Carver may be a return to the sinister AND charasmatic villians of the Connery era but, come on, does anyone really care about his aims of owning the world's media? His henchman Stamper may echo physically one of the greatest Bond villains of all-time (From Russia With Love's Red Grant) but isn't a quarter of the delight.

Michelle Yeoh may bring a nice touch of balance in her relationship with Bond, but then again Teri Hatcher may well be the worst of Bond's conquests in the entire series. It's difficult to belive that Bond would have any ... Read More:

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Plunkett And Macleane [1999]

starring: Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Iain Robertson, Ken Stott, Tommy Flanagan
directed by: Jake Scott

April 17, 2000
Sometimes a bit of hard, dark and amusing period-drama is just what the doctor ordered, taking a break from BBC endless remakes of nicety-nice Jane Austin and Charles Dickens books that we all pay our licence fees for !!!

High-way man Plunkett (Carlyle) teams up with ex-socialite Macleane (Miller) to rob the London gentry of their wears, along the way becoming infamous and inciting the wrath of the local authorities.

I felt that the film was just the right mix of drama and comedy, with serious events separated by moments of shear comic genius. Macleane encouraging Plunkett to eat more prunes and trying to catch a large ruby as it worked its way through his system, along with trying to cure a dose of the clap caught in the line of duty with gun-powder are probably worth watching ... Read More:

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Crossroads - Volume 3(Limited Edition) (3 Discs) [1964]

starring: Ronald Allen, Sue Lloyd, Gabrielle Drake, Susan Hanson, Terence Rigby
directed by: Alan Coleman, Mervyn Cumming, Nicholas Prosser

February 26, 2007
I always felt Crossroads got a bit of a raw deal with everyone quick to knock it and this DVD set clearly shows it really was a good show in its day although it did have a habit of regularly butchering the cast.
Episodes included on these discs are an early episodes from 1966 featuring dizzy waitress Marilyn played by Sue Nicholls now better known as Audrey Roberts in "Coronation Street".
An early colour episode from 1969 is here featuring Meg's evil 2nd husband Malcolm Ryder starting to poison her.
Adam Chance's(Tony Adams) first appearance is included here as Meg(Noele Gordon)thinks she may face financial ruin because of her late husband Hugh's business deals.
Other episodes include Shughie(Angus Lennie)caught vandalising his own kitchen and the episode set after the famous motel fire ... Read More: