Average Rating:

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Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [1998]

starring: Justine Waddell, Jason Flemyng, Oliver Milburn, John McEnery, Lesley Dunlop
directed by: Ian Sharp

February 19, 2007
A wonderful adaptation of the original novel. The sets are authentic and the characters are well-done. There were some differences between the this film version and the book, of course; it would be almost impossible to have a perfect match to a novel that is so subtle and heart wrenching; but this version comes very close.

Highly recommended.

Average Rating:

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The Descent (2 Disc Special Edition) [2005]

starring: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Alex Reid (III), Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring
directed by: Neil Marshall

November 07, 2005
The Descent is often patronisingly refered to as 'one of the great British horror films in recent years'. I take exception to that. This is simply a great horror film. The fact that it is British is irrelevant. The plot is simple, the premise sound. The sub-plot of an implied affair doesn't really pan out or detract. The twist - spot on.

Well acted. The real star of this film is the darkness. The real monster, the cave.
If you're claustrophobic (as I am) you'll probably find the sequences before 'the crawlers' show up to be the most terrifying of all.

Average Rating:

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Me Without You [2001]

starring: Ella Jones, Anna Popplewell, Cameron Powrie, Trudie Styler, Allan Corduner
directed by: Sandra Goldbacher

October 14, 2002
This 2001 film from British director Sandra Goldbacher is a coming-of-age story about intense female teenage bonds and what happens to them on the road to adulthood. Marina (a splendid Anna Friel) and Holly (Michelle Williams) are in young years already fervently loyal best friends who live next door to each other. Perhaps as a reaction to this over-intensity and partly due to different parental backgrounds, their personalities develop into near opposites: Marina is a self-consciously wild party-girl and eclectic dresser who dabbles with heroin and casual sex, whilst Holly is a Sylvia Plath reading intellectual, a steadier, introverted being who feels mousy and unsexy (her domineering mother is shown telling her "There are pretty people, and there are clever ... Read More:

Average Rating:

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Byron [2003]

starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Philip Glenister, Stephen Campbell Moore, Natasha Little, Vanessa Redgrave
directed by: Julian Farino

October 06, 2003
This BBC 2-parter on the life of Lord Byron is simply stunning. Jonny Lee Miller captures the poet perfectly, and the girls are gorgeous. We go from Greece to London to Italy, back to Greece where he dies fighting for freedom. Fantastic. And beautifully shot.

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Descent [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Rosario Dawson, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Vanessa Ferlito, Chad Faust, Tracie Thoms

February 05, 2008
As a revenge film, this is more realistic than others of it's like and it also seems more of a thinking persons revenge film. This film not only moved me in a way, but will stay with me probably for some time. I like this film but I didn't love it the way I wanted to. "Descent" isn't for the weak minded and again this film is not for the religious right and the NC-17 rating is appropriate for just two scenes. This film was good to a certain extent and the main reason it truly held me was how it played with my psych. I have always felt that a person who rapes women deserves to be punished exactly the way they have destroyed their victim(s), but this film made me hesitate a bit but didn't change my mine at all.

We see Maya (Rosario Dawson) as a bright college ... Read More:

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Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [1998]

starring: Justine Waddell, Jason Flemyng, Oliver Milburn, John McEnery, Lesley Dunlop
directed by: Ian Sharp

May 12, 2003
This video had been knocking around my local charity shop for a while, and I'd been vaguely debating whether or not to buy it. It was only £2 but I was just so tired of hammy, thespy, unsubtle adaptations of beloved books, which reduce sub-plots and characters to tokens and use completely rewritten, overly 21st century dialogue. I love the novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and I didn't want to see it ruined.

Just five minutes in, as soon as Justine Waddell appeared on screen, I knew this adaptation was going to do the book justice. Justine Waddell is exactly how I had pictured Tess and at the beginning exuded the simple but dignified country girl sweetness of Tess (also, she is absolutely beautiful in a natural way, just like Tess. The camera loves her). ... Read More:

Average Rating:

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The Descent [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Alex Reid (III), Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring
directed by: Neil Marshall

December 26, 2006
The Descent is often patronisingly refered to as 'one of the great British horror films in recent years'. I take exception to that. This is simply a great horror film. The fact that it is British is irrelevant. The plot is simple, the premise sound. The sub-plot of an implied affair doesn't really pan out or detract. The twist - spot on.

Well acted. The real star of this film is the darkness. The real monster, the cave.
If you're claustrophobic (as I am) you'll probably find the sequences before 'the crawlers' show up to be the most terrifying of all.

Average Rating:

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Wives Under Suspicion [1938]

starring: Cecil Cunningham, James Flavin, Jonathan Hale, Samuel S. Hinds, William Lundigan
directed by: James Whale

March 27, 2007
The Descent is often patronisingly refered to as 'one of the great British horror films in recent years'. I take exception to that. This is simply a great horror film. The fact that it is British is irrelevant. The plot is simple, the premise sound. The sub-plot of an implied affair doesn't really pan out or detract. The twist - spot on.

Well acted. The real star of this film is the darkness. The real monster, the cave.
If you're claustrophobic (as I am) you'll probably find the sequences before 'the crawlers' show up to be the most terrifying of all.

Average Rating:

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Wuthering Heights / Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [1998]

starring: Orla Brady, Robert Cavanah, Peter Davison, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Justine Waddell
directed by: David Skynner, Ian Sharp

May 03, 2004
The Descent is often patronisingly refered to as 'one of the great British horror films in recent years'. I take exception to that. This is simply a great horror film. The fact that it is British is irrelevant. The plot is simple, the premise sound. The sub-plot of an implied affair doesn't really pan out or detract. The twist - spot on.

Well acted. The real star of this film is the darkness. The real monster, the cave.
If you're claustrophobic (as I am) you'll probably find the sequences before 'the crawlers' show up to be the most terrifying of all.

Average Rating:

.

Me Without You [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Ella Jones, Anna Popplewell, Cameron Powrie, Trudie Styler, Allan Corduner
directed by: Sandra Goldbacher

June 17, 2003
This 2001 film from British director Sandra Goldbacher is a coming-of-age story about intense female teenage bonds and what happens to them on the road to adulthood. Marina (a splendid Anna Friel) and Holly (Michelle Williams) are in young years already fervently loyal best friends who live next door to each other. Perhaps as a reaction to this over-intensity and partly due to different parental backgrounds, their personalities develop into near opposites: Marina is a self-consciously wild party-girl and eclectic dresser who dabbles with heroin and casual sex, whilst Holly is a Sylvia Plath reading intellectual, a steadier, introverted being who feels mousy and unsexy (her domineering mother is shown telling her "There are pretty people, and there are clever people," as if the two were mutually exclusive). ... Read More: