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Atonement [2007]

starring: Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave
directed by: Joe Wright

February 04, 2008
All the ingredients are here for a great film but it just doesn't quite come off. The film is beautifully shot, with an interesting use of sound effects, but the romance, which is central the plot just doesn't convince or move, leaving what ought to be a heart-rendingly tragic tale falling flat. Keira Knightley's character of Cecilia is particularly exasperating, and Knightley just doesn't have the maturity or ability (at least for now) to convince in this role. The scenes of war were too long to serve any purpose and the ending abrupt and unsatisfactory.

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Amazing Grace [2007]

starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Albert Finney, Youssou N'Dour
directed by: Michael Apted

August 06, 2007
An enjoyable film , but not as powerful or as moving as the film Amistad in conveying the cruelty and injustice of slavery. Despite this, an enjoyable film, especially the rousing bagpipe rendition of Amazing Grace at the end which was worth the price of the DVD alone.

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Atonement [HD DVD] [2007]

starring: Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave
directed by: Joe Wright

March 10, 2008
I think you have to look past the hype and see the film for itself. In that regard, James MacAvoy was as usual superb, and brought his character (Robbie) to life. Saoirse Ronan as the young(est) version of Briony, showed us all of the intensity of a 13-year-old on the cusp of adolescence. Her motivation is clear - she has strong feelings for Robbie, feelings which she cannot express, does not know how to express, but somehow must do; and then she catches her sister and Robbie together, intimately, and it is the resulting bottled-up rage that destroys all three of them.

And what of Keira Knightely? I thought she was convincing. In the first part of the film her dialog is mainly cliches, but that would have been the way her character would have ... Read More:

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King Lear

starring: Ian McKellan, Frances Barber, Romola Garai, Sylvester McKoy
directed by: Trevor Nunn

October 06, 2008
I was fortunate to see the RSC's stage production of "King Lear" twice during it's World Tour stop in Minneapolis and Ian McKellan was impressive to say the least. His command of the role kept me on the edge of my seat. I was also impressed with the performances of Frances Barber, Romola Garai and Sylvester McCoy, all of whom held their own very well when on-stage with McKellan. Having this production preserved on DVD is a real treat. My only disappointment is they didn't also record "The Seagull", which used most of the same cast and was running with "King Lear" in repertoire.

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Inside I'm Dancing [2004]

starring: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Brenda Fricker
directed by: Damien O'Donnell

April 25, 2005
Where did they get a film like this from. It is truly magic. Forget James McAvoy as being the stand out. Steven Robertson gives a performance that in my opinion deserves a BAFTA. I have never seen this actor before. I was rivited by his performacne. Top film.

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Dirty Dancing 2

starring: Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, John Slattery, Jonathan Jackson
directed by: Guy Ferland

November 22, 2004
Ever since 'Dirty Dancing' burst into our lives in the 1980's a string of dance movies have followed all striving to break into that special niche market that Dirty Dancing identified. We've since had 'Step Up', 'Save the Last Dance', 'Strictly Ballroom', 'Take the Lead' and 'Shall we Dance' to name but a few and they have all more or less had varying degrees of success. While the dancing in these movies is always excellent the storyline often leaves alot to be desired

Thankfully Dirty Dancing 2 at least makes an effort to avoid the over-worked storylines of its predessors. Yes it's still far from original being as usual the story of girl meets boy, girl discovers the passion of dance and surprise surprise falls in love with boy but what makes this movie ... Read More:

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I Capture The Castle [2003]

starring: Marc Blucas, Rose Byrne, Sinéad Cusack, Tara Fitzgerald, Romola Garai
directed by: Tim Fywell

January 26, 2004
This film faithfully follows the story of Dodie Smith's beautiful and sometimes painful novel, but cannot capture its magic or the lyrical narrative which is so important (and what is really successful) about the novel. Read the book first, then enjoy this film for the pictures!

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Vanity Fair [2004]

starring: Reese Witherspoon, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai
directed by: Mira Nair

May 16, 2005
It shows the vanity and hypocrisy of England 200 years ago. Strange but becky seemed to have the secret of eternal youth never ageing in the film once she was adult. Nice to have no bad language nor explicit sex.

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Nicholas Nickleby [2003]

starring: Stella Gonet, Andrew Havill, Henry McGrath, Hugh Mitchell, Poppy Rogers
directed by: Douglas McGrath

November 10, 2003
This came as a bit of a surprise, suffice it to say, due to the photo used on the cover. I expected less but was so pleasantly surprised!

I read Nicholas Nickleby years ago and have no plans to read it in the near future. That said, I had forgotten much of the story. It is obvious, though, that even without remembering much of the book nor the story, there is much that has been left out of the movie. No matter. What is left here is perfect. Although we may never know why Ralph Nickleby lost his ten thousand pounds just by watching the film, we understand that there must have been some behind-the-scenes scheming going on and that's perfectly fine.

Although definitely a drama, the comedic elements work so well here to lighten the desperate dark Dickensian times. ... Read More:

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Mary Bryant - The Incredible Journey Of Mary Bryant

starring: Jack Davenport, Romola Garai, Sam Neill

April 17, 2006
the mary bryant story is amazing i loved it when i saw it on t.v but it was so sad as well it made me cry and i thought amaingane that happening to me i wouldn't want to live anymore i'd feel my life was ruiened and theres no need to live and when i saw it i thought "go you" because she stuck to what was best and i think by doing that she diserves to be in the history books it's the best program i have ever watched don't you think? and the man that shot her husband was so evil i couldn't belive that some one could be so meen and terible and so many other things i shouldn't say but how could he be so meen?!
by:niamh dunne