Bobby

I really enjoyed this star-studded film - there were so many stars it would be rude to mention one or two and leave out the others! It tells the story of the day of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy through the yes of various people working or guests at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the venue for the party to mark the Democratic Presidential Primary.

There are the kitchen workers - Mexican and Black - disenfranchised and mainly illegals. There are Kennedy workers - mostly young and white and dewy eyed, politically naive. There are hotel workers - managers, switchboard operators, hairdressers, retired doormen, and there is a drunken singer at the Hotel's Coconut Grove. A woman is getting married to save a drafted friend from the Vietnam War - the cloud hanging over everything in the late 60s.

Interspersed with these stories is footage from the Kennedy Campaign trail, excerpts of speeches and historic footage from the 60s - the decade of assassinations in America.

Director Emilio Estevez handles the period very successfully and captures the hopes bearing down on the youthful Bobby - so many people wanting him to produce a solution to the ills of America - racism, intolerance, class divisions - wealth and poverty, economic woes and above all the tragedy of Vietnam.

Does he hammer home a political message? No - but the message still comes across, and the shooting of Kennedy is dealt with dramatically, realistically, and without being over sentimental.

Impressive film. My rating - 8/10

Venus

I really enjoyed this film, and Peter O'Toole very much deserves the nomination in this years Oscars. On the other hand Leslie Phillips is a true star - a pity he's been overlooked for glory!

This film is the tale of two old actors whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of Jessie, the great niece of Ian (Leslie Phillips). Jessie is the object of Maurice (Peter O'Toole's)infatuation. Now this could have been handled very sordidly - and perhaps there are times when you are made to feel slightly uncomfortable about this obsession by a man in his 80s for a 20 year old girl. However, they both get quite a bit out of the relationship - Jessie is made to feel special, and important, and Maurice finds love in the last months of his life. I think the film is a light hearted, sensitive, funny, moving, examination of friendships and relationships - between Maurice and Jessie (the Venus of the title), and Maurice and Ian. Even the minor characters are superb - Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave and Bronson Webb. My rating? 8/10

The Last King of Scotland

An interesting film - nothing like I expected. It tells the tale of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Forest Whitaker plays the President with James McAvoy as his white Scottish personal doctor and advisor (although these roles are totally accidentally acquired). It is a study in increasing insanity - Idi is triumphant in a coup against a corrupt regime, welcomed by the people - and is probably well intentioned. Rapidly he is overcome by paranoia. The doctor (Nicholas) is arrogant, naive and overwhelmed by charisma. It all goes horribly wrong. Forest is good in this film, and probably deserves the Oscar nomination, but I am concerned that here is another film (like The Constant Gardener) viewed from a white perspective. There is very little attempt to get to understand Africa - its politics or society.
My rating? 7/10

Oscar Nominations

Excellent year for films - and so many British nominees. Very pleased about Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Little Miss Sunshine and 'Volver'. A pity though that British cinemas receive so many films months after they screen in the United States. I haven't seen quite a few of the nominated films.

Boycott Channel 4

Join me in boycotting Channel 4. This is no longer a public service television channel. Join me in contacting Ofcom and Channel 4 to stop these appalling reality shows. Commercial channels can pander to the lowest common demoninator if they want.

Miss Potter

I probably knew this wasn't my sort of film. I also had the problem that I'd recently heard on the radio a serialisation of a biography of Beatrix Potter.

It is an extremely sentimentalised view of the early life of the children's book author. (Well in fact only a few years of her life, studying the courtship of Miss Potter by her publisher - Renne Zellwegger and Ewan MacGregor).

In real life Beatrix understood only too well the brutality of nature (Peter Rabbit's father ended up in a pie after all), and she and her brother boiled dead pets to examine the skeletons. This was underplayed in the film, as was Miss Potter's feminism and triumph over the social attitudes to the role of women in late Victorian England.

A useful advert for the Lake District Tourism Authority though. My rating? 5/10

Flags of Our Fathers

I don't usually go to see war films, but as part of my policy of seeing at least one film a week I went to see this Clint Eastwood epic. How different this is from the old John Wayne movies I usually see on a Saturday afternoon on BBC2. This ia graphic film - the colour is used to enormous effect with a great deal of blood. I imagine this is closer to the reality of the experience of war than 'In Which We Serve'.

The film is the story of the photograph taken of a group of soldiers raising the flag over Iwo Jima - the first part of Japan to be taken by American forces. In truth the flag was not raised once but twice, and the photograph of the original raising was lost. Only three of the men featuring in the famous photograph survived the battle. These 'heroes', Doc, Rene and Chief were used in a fund raising campaign across the United States. The movie is a study of heroism - Doc keeps saying over and over again that the three of them are not the heroes, those left behind on the island are the heroes. Chief - a native American - is treated with total disrespect, both in the army and back in the United States. He didn't want to go on the tour of the US and his life is real tragedy, rapidly declining into drunkeness and depression. Rene is an accidental hero (his commanding officer insists he is used as a runner because he believes he is more of a liability than an asset). He loves the fame and is disillusioned to discover that after the war his actions and fame are forgotten - the modern equivalent of fifteen minutes of fame!

This is an interesting and powerful film - but I think Mr Eastwood missed the target. Powerful photography cannot make up for poor characterisation. It is extremely difficult to tell who is who, the characters are not developed - so the viewer fails to be moved by their plight, or to understand the comradeship and interdependence of the fighting unit. I wasn't truly gripped by their fate. In the end it is slightly sentimental, and this reduces the impact.

Spectacular, but not an outstanding movie. He'll probably get the Oscar though. Rating: 6/10

The Queen

I saw this film (later than most people have I'm sure) at a wonderful cinema called the Gate at Notting Hill Gate with two friends.
I was quickly drawn back into those times of mass hysteria when Diana died almost a decade ago. Helen Mirren is a true star, and although she doesn't look like the Queen her mannerisms quickly made me believe she was our monarch. No one possibly know the true conversations that took place at that time - but it a tribute to the cast, the writers and the director that by careful use of historic footage it all seemed very probable. Isn't it strange how for a week the British nation behaved so out of character. Now I cried on the day of her funeral, I laid a rose in her memory at Sale War Memorial, and this film pushed all those buttons again. I started to fill up as Faure's Requiem was being performed. My friends couldn't understand what happened in late August 1997. I can - I was at a time when things in my life made me want to grieve - even if it was for someone I didn't know, and had never met.
I was glad this film didn't go along with some of the preposterous conspiracy theories that have currency today. My respect for the Queen was increased by this film, my respect for Tony Blair declined - as the Cherie Blair character implied Tony was sucked in by the establishment, and how genuine was his manner of describing the Princess? He certainly tapped into the mood of the nation - a true politician.
Excellent film - my rating 9/10