Reviews

I saw this movie on a wet Sunday in a movie theater in London. The cinema was packed, not because of the weather, but to see the second movie of 'boy wonder' Chris Presswell', a twenty five year old working class boy from Enfield who has got off the dole and become one of England's brightest young directors. Is the movie good? Yes, it is surprising good and reminds me of early Soderberg. Not everyone's taste, but there is a brain at work there pushing the audience to think about the story rather than the pizza they are going to have after the show. If you are a young filmmaker then you could learn from this guy who is an obvious fan of Hitchcock, but who also has integrity. Will Hollywood come and make this kid shoot bang-bang-you're-dead stuff for them? I hope not, and anyway, Chris Presswell already has his own ideas about how to kill people on screen. A good second movie for a kid from nowhere, I can't wait to see what he'll do with some real cash to spend.

This film has been doing the rounds for a few years now and had massive sales in Russia. It is the sequel to Winter Warrior but is less gritty. The Angle bad guys are more wimpy than in WW, but there are still some great moments - the coast and seascape scenes contain some very powerful images. The film has its flaws, its action is sporadic rather than sustained, there are no mass fight scenes, but it has an honesty of purpose, and a Christian streak running through it. The first film was made in response to the events of 9/11, with Bone Hunter as a follow up a year later. It is low budget British film making, but where the Celtic Warrior films have gone (includes the third film Axe Raiders), TV series like Outlander have followed, using many of the same ideas. The Bone Hunter and its two companion films remain the only British films to cover the arrival of the English raiders in the sixth century. That makes them interesting.

Emily Bergl has come a long way from Carrie 2. In I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING she still has her mischievous smile but she's now a grander lady, with grand notions of what she wants. She turns in a superb performance as June Bennett, the prissy American marrying a man twice her age in exchange for a life of convenience and comfort. However, she doesn't want a meal- ticket, she is still capable of doing a hard day's work, and she is no push over. To the English she is bossy and difficult, but in contrast, she manages to make the English appear stuffy and rigid. It is a good conflict that propels the movie along its quaint path. The support cast are all lovable, but it is Miss Bergl who steals the show with her splendid detachment that outdoes the English in arrogance. Very entertaining.

What I liked about this spy movie set in Estonia is that it shows why Russians don't want missiles in their back yard. Espionage in this film is low key, more Third Man than Jason Bourne. It seems real that a hapless investigator would be sent from Brussels to find a missing MI6 agent rather than James Bond. The fact that she is female gives the movie a harmless feel until things start to go wrong. Sure, there are some strange moments like when they find themselves in an Estonian theater, but that somehow had echoes of The Thirty Nine Steps. It seems that there are also elements of The Maltese Falcon with the plotting, and a scene that could have been stolen from Casablanca that is an entertaining interlude, but at the end of it all, Third Falcon has its own message for our times. The Russians are coming, and Europe is not ready to stop them. Interesting film.

I got a preview of this film and I was surprised by the appearance of some great American actors I'd been seen on screen and TV for most of my life. None of these actors are known for playing soft parts, but there they were out in the desert of Utah being nice to the two leads thinking them harmless. Then wham! Those nice characters of Harry and Ebony turn the tables and we've got a movie. The director is British so its not all bang- bang (the Brits like to use their cunning as they don't have firearms), but the on-off romance of the leading pair is as odd a coupling as you will find since My Cousin Vinnie. Fernando Romero turns in a sizzling performance as the the Mexican whore, while JP Gates, the dour accountant, tries his best to keep up with her scheming. In all, a good little movie made on a Hollywood shoe-string - something to watch for fun.

A classic British comedy drama of social realism aka Ken Loach or Mike Leigh, but made in the style of an Allan Clarke film. It has beautiful light touches of tragedy mixed with the course humor of stand up, the subject matter of the movie. Suzanne Kendall, as the lead Stacey, gives a feisty performance as a supermarket girl who wants something better from life. Her support character mates are delightful parodies of Yorkshire hussies who provide the story with depth and warmth, and the one-liners Stacey uses in her act. The film is superbly shot and executed in the familiar English understated way that makes you realize that the clean cut frames are deliberate. Almost devoid of music, the film focuses on the use of words, the tool of the stand-up comic. A unique British film.

Nudes in Tartan is what it says. Set in London, the lewd and rude girls in this film scam and scrape their way however they can to pay the rent and have money to eat (and get drunk). They have no sexual morals and even worse dress sense, and their artistic talents seem wasted on a society that doesn't want them. Yet, in spite of all that, they are colorful and full of life. Would you want them as your girlfriend or daughter? No,way! But maybe a night in their company would be memorable. This film is totally off-the-wall and sick, but I was not bored,and I certainly did not fall asleep watching the ludicrous antics these English girls got up to just to make a living. Hard times are upon us,but God help us if we all have to live like this! SUMMARY - Fun and really stupid, but memorable for the sex scene.