Oscar Wilde’s witty comedy is brought entertainingly to life by Oliver Parker, who directed the rather poor St Trinian’s movies and the 2009 Dorian Gray adaptation. Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O’Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench all star in this tale of two bachelors (Firth and Everett) who get caught up with their own deceptions whilst trying to…
John Patrick Shanley brings his award-winning stage show Doubt to the big screen with brilliant effect in this fine film adaptation. Meryl Streep is terrifically brittle in the role of nun Sister Aloysius, who accuses the school priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of sexually abusing an altar boy. But she hasn’t any proof to back up her accusation (apart from…
Last year marked 100 years of Universal Pictures. It’s an achievement worth celebrating, and Universal did it in style. In 2012 they released a number of sumptuously packaged new editions of their finest work, restoring the films themselves in stunning 1080p high definition. This beautiful ‘digi-book’ edition of Gladiator is one of my favourite of…
Big, moving, well-made family blockbusters don’t come along very often. But when they do, they remind us how wonderful it is to be caught up in a thumping good story with characters (including animals) we can connect with and care for. In the age of big brainless 3D franchise films (Pirates, Transformers), it is wonderful to…
Gregory Peck’s performance as the white lawyer determined to defend a young black man is perhaps the best of his career. I adore Harper Lee’s original novel, and read it many years before seeing the film. When I first watched it I was amazed how close his interpretation of Atticus Finch, the brave father of…
Rebecca James selects Serenity as one of the Blu-rays you must put on your Christmas list this year
The year is 2517, and the Alliance has united all known planets under one flag, defeating the rebel Independents. There are differing degrees of prosperity, as those who live on the Core planets have all the amenities they desire, while those on the rim fight for what they need to survive. The contrasts between the slick…
Downton Abbey is a fantastic period programme with lashings of drama, intrigue and historical detail. Spanning the tumult of pre world war one and leading through into the glamorous 1920s, the programme follows Lord Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville, his American wife and their three daughters as they navigate the pre war era. One of…
The Wicker Man has had a complex history. Since its release 40 years ago, it is has been seen in many different forms. There have been multiple cuts, different theatrical cuts, a director’s cut, and now a ‘final cut’, which is what we have here. Probably one of the few horror films to take place…
If you’ve seen some of the awful DVD editions of this film you probably think it doesn’t deserve a Blu-ray release. It certainly does.
This Alfred Hitchcock movie is a fascinating Second World War drama. It is entirely set on a lifeboat (hence the title), with the characters survivors of a torpedoed liner. The suspense comes from the characters suspecting a rescued Nazi of leading them on the wrong course as they try to sail their boat to land, and…
Life is hopeslesly tangled with fiction in this highly original offering from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh. Billed as a British crime comedy but more an exercise in self-referential meta-fiction, Seven Psychopaths follows Marty (Colin Farrell), a scriptwriter struggling to pen his big hit, a film of the same name. The ridiculous dognapping escapades of…
The Killing [Forbrydelsen] became something of sensation when it aired on BBC Four in 2010. Since then it has become part of a much larger phenomenon: an influx of quality crime television and fiction from Scandinavia. The British public have greedily consumed their tales of terrible crimes and strong detectives. The Killing features one of the…
Four British tourists stumble upon an eerily empty castle while on a travelling holiday. Because this is a horror film, they act in the stupidest way possible, and willingly venture into the castle and become the guests of the newly resurrected Count Dracula. Expect a lot of screaming and bright red blood gushing from people’s…