History Movie Reviews

Cinema Movie Review: Les Miserables (2012) 3

Jan

2013

‘Shall his sins be forgiven? Shall his crimes be reprieved?’ And so, I can now die a happy man – not only was Skyfall (2012) released last year and is clearly the best Bond ever, 2013 has begun with the big-screen musical adaptation of Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Cameron Mackintosh‘s amazing, world-beating show Les ...

DVD Movie Review: Taking Sides (2001) 4

Sep

2012

Questionable conduct? It’s a question that will probably haunt the German people forever – who knew? How much did they know? And how many of them turned a blind eye to the horrors of the Holocaust? These are the questions at the heart of ‘based on a true story’ Taking Sides (2001) by István Szabó ...

Classic Movie Review: La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful) (1997)

Aug

2012

Love and laughter in hell A heart-rending tale from the Italian comedian, actor and director Roberto Benigni, the story follows a father and son torn from their wife and mother and incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The main protagonist, Guido (Benigni) soon turns the camp experience into an elaborate game so that the horrors are ...

DVD Movie Review: Garpastum (2005)

Aug

2012

Another country Truly, a film in which not much happens, but a great deal occurs – the director of Posledniy poezd (The Last Train) (2003), Aleksei German Jr takes us into the heart of rural life in 1914 St. Petersburg, where teen brothers Andrey (Yevgeny Pronin) and Nikolai (Danila Kozlovsky) love football. Garpatsum is its ...

Jean de Florette (1986) & Manon Des Sources (1986)

Aug

2012

Hope springs eternal? Ah! I watched Jean de Florette (1986) by Claude Berri a couple of weeks ago, and it reaffirmed my love of French cinema, with its beautiful cinematography, wonderful and realistic acting as well as its unforgiving depiction of the harsh realities of life in rural France. I tried reading the book by ...

Danton (1983)

Aug

2012

Riveting Revolution And another new recruit arrives at Picturenose Towers – young John Tennant of Brussels opens his innings with a look at one of the great accounts of the French Revolution, Danton (1983).

Albert Nobbs (2011)

Feb

2012

The man in the woman Glenn Close plays the title role in Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs (2011) – a story about an Irish woman living the life of a man, to work and survive in 19th-century Dublin. Albert (whose real female name we never get to know), started dressing as a man since the group ...

A Dangerous Method (2011) 14

Jan

2012

Sex and sensibility A Dangerous Method (2011) is a film about temptation and seduction, the breaking of professional etiquette, the falling out between two aging academics and the use of a ‘Talking Cure’ for people suffering from mental problems. Another poignant insight into the life of the soul from director David Cronenberg, who is no ...

Jûsan-nin no shikaku (13 Assassins) (2010)

May

2011

Pale riders The latest addition to samurai lore, 13 Assassins is likely to be judged a modern classic – there’s no doubt that director Takashi Miike (who gave the world the simply marvellous Audition (1999)) delivers a beautiful work with this, which is a new version of the 1963 film of the same name by ...

The King’s Speech (2010)

Feb

2011

Tough talking The King’s Speech (2011) by Tom Hooper (The Damned United (2009)) has been in cinemas around the world since late November and, in the US, its excutive producer Harvey Weinstein has had his eyes set on this year’s Oscars for quite some time. With the winners of the biggest film awards in world, not withstanding ...

The Mill and the Cross (2011)

Feb

2011

Worlds within You walk around the museum or the gallery. You know that you should appreciate the paintings on the wall, feel moved, feel like you’re associating with something grand and important. Sometimes, here or there, one or the other piece of art catches your attention, but mostly your gaze just glides around the image. ...