julieinbrittany Reviews

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

What a brilliant film.

[10/10 · 2 July 2023]

I seldom leave reviews but the brilliance and subtlety of this one has left me just astounded. When Casey Affleck got the Oscar I'd never heard of this. I'm a Brit and it hadn't reached the U. K. at that time. It wasn't featured much at the cinemas and it's only since it's been free on Sky that I saw it.

It's so real, there is no artifice in any of the performances and Casey Affleck so deserved that accolade. He and everyone else in it is just brilliant. It made me cry a lot though, it's heartbreaking and marvellous.

Michelle Williams doesn't have a big role but just as everyone else in this beautifully directed piece of art, she is true and sincere. This is a wonderful film.

Ballet Shoes (2007 TV Movie)

A joy to watch

[9/10 · 27 December 2007]

This reminded me of the Sunday afternoon dramas that the BBC used to show when I was young. There was nothing to dislike about this; it had charm, an improbable story, over-the-top characters and a real feel of the period it was set in - the thirties.

There were lots of familiar faces; it was good to see Peter Bowles back on TV and anything with Victoria Wood has to be good. Emma Watston sustained the reputation she built up in the Harry Potter films - she is definitely going to be a big-name actress in the future. My personal accolade of Best Actress, however, went to Yasmin Paige who played Petrova, the girl who wants to be the aviator. You heard it here first folks - she is going to be a famous actress - and I'm not even her mother!

Out of Africa (1985)

truly one of the best films ever made - if you are a thinking person

[10/10 · 21 February 2006]

It is very interesting to note that people either love or hate this film, there are very few in-betweens.

I watched it for about the sixth time yesterday and was struck anew at the beauty contained within. We are lucky enough to have a projector and see our films on a big wall. This is a film that is made for such a viewing; to see it squashed up on a television screen does not do justice to the panoramic images of this beautiful part of the world.

The things that I rate most highly are: Meryl Streep's performance. You can even work out her thoughts, she does not have to say a word to say a million other things.

The outfits she got to wear. One of the best wardrobes ever created for an actress

The wildlife. The aerial views of the animals are beautiful

The music. John Barry's best score.

I do have a few minor niggles - there are a couple of cheesy moments. But there is no such thing as a perfect film. This is almost perfect and I rate it a ten out of ten.

Match Point (2005)

Brilliant Film

[10/10 · 3 January 2006]

Best Woody Allen film ever! Even if you're not a Woody fan you'll be totally immersed in this film. I saw it with someone who doesn't particularly enjoy Woody's films and at the end he gave it a ten out of ten. It's nothing to do with New York angst and introspective cerebral activity. It's a good involving and exciting story with a beginning, middle and end.

It's set in London which I feel very pleased about, being a Londoner and all, even though I now live in France (why, I hear all you Americans say).

Great supporting cast - I almost didn't recognise Brian Cox as he has lost so much weight and Penelope Wilton - as our hero's mother in law - is as impeccable as ever.

See this film - you won't be disappointed.

Eye of the Beholder (1999)

Bewildering

[5/10 · 5 September 2005]

Why do characters in films not behave as they would in real life? Ewan McGregor is given the task of watching his boss's son to check that he is not defrauding his trust money. So Ewan sees the guy get murdered by a girl, who then appears almost naked in the road dragging the body away.

In real life he would have got on to the police straight away.

This is a very far-fetched movie and you really have to suspend belief throughout. Having said that, I really had to watch to see what happened.

five out of ten

Le pharmacien de garde (2003)

A stylish thriller and I only had to look away twice

[10/10 · 17 August 2005]

This film is about a pharmacist who is intent on saving the earth. The way he goes about it is by murdering people he thinks are not ecologically sound. One example is the CEO of a cosmetics company.

The pharmacist (played by the very sexy Swiss actor Vincent Perez) befriends a disillusioned cop(played by Guillaume Depardieu, son of Gerard). To say any more about the plot will be wrong but this film was so much more enjoyable than I expected it to be. When I first got the film (from our French rental club) I checked the rating on here and was very disappointed when I saw a rating of less than 5. I put it into the machine with an attitude of 'oh well, let's see how the first ten minutes are'. I was so overjoyed to find that it was a stylish, fast-moving film about murder, intrigue, love and betrayal that begins in Paris and ends up in the countryside of Brittany, where the pharmacist's farmhouse retreat is based.

If you like sophisticatedEuropean films, you'll enjoy this. If Beverley Hills Cop is your particular genre, don't bother getting this film.

The Hours (2002)

Faultless acting, editing, cinematography but.......

[22 February 2004]

I don't know what it was about this film but it somehow failed to touch me. It dealt with powerful themes such as suicide, despair, depression and it should have had me in a soul-searching emotional state, but I actually found it rather cold and brittle.

The linking between the three eras was very well done however and I enjoyed the film as an observer, rather than someone who truly cared what happened to these people.