This film was highly recommended to us by a friend whose opinion we tended to agree with. However, our copy of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' came free with a relative's newspaper. On balance, we were glad that we didn't pay for it.
It's a black and white film, made in 1949. There are two main stars. Dennis Price plays a young man who has been disinherited from his upper class family. He decides that he wants to inherit the title... so sets out to kill everyone else who is standing in his way. Alec Guiness plays several different parts - all related people, male and female - and does them extremely well.
However, the plot is extremely far-fetched, and the ending rather predictable. We don't have a problem with the bizarre or unlikely, but it was an odd subject matter to be treated as a comedy. There was rather a lot of slapstick, too, that left us rolling our eyes more than laughing.
I guess it was worth seeing once, as it's apparently considered quite a classic, and was well made for the era. But we probably won't bother seeing it again.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
I expect that the film 'Bruce Almighty' ended up on our shelves due to a special offer, or perhaps a recommendation, or maybe both. Anyway, we decided to watch it as a family, with some friends who were staying, on Valentine's Day...
It's an interesting idea, different from the usual rom-com style that I tend to choose by default. In this story, Bruce (Jim Carrey) who is a TV reporter has been complaining about his life, and about God, despite being reasonably popular and having some good friends. But it seems as if everything is going on, and he moans just a little too much...
So God appears in human form (played, brilliantly, by Morgan Freeman) and says he'll take a break, and that Bruce can take over as God for a week to see if he can do the job better.
At first disbelieving, Bruce discovers that he does indeed have divine powers, which he can use to do pretty much anything he wishes...
We thought it was well made, and quite thought-provoking too. At first excited, then overwhelmed, then determined to do things efficiently, Bruce implements some of what he feels 'should' happen in the world, only to discover the wider implications... and, unsurprisingly, chaos ensues.
Some of this is a bit silly, but parts of it were amusing and it certainly made its point. On the whole we thought it well worth seeing. The 12 rating (PG-13 in the US) is due to some bad language, some mild sexual content, and some rather crude humour at times.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
'Houseboat' is one of those films I picked up on special special offer at one of the online shops. It was probably a 'three for ten pounds' kind of thing, where it looked interesting enough to go with two other DVDs that we actually wanted.
It's not something I would necessarily have chosen, although even I have heard of Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. It was billed as a light family comedy.
The story is about a widower (Cary Grant) with three rather riotous children. He has been having a string of bad luck. The film is also about a rich young lady (Sophia Loren) who runs away from home. She takes a job as nanny to the children, without revealing her identity.
Most of the film takes place while the family are on holiday in a houseboat... which is not quite as expected, so various predictable disasters ensue. And, of course, there's a romantic element...
We thought it was a reasonable film. It wasn't bad, exactly, but a bit dull. I don't know why it was considered so brilliant, but then there weren't so many films made in 1958. It's in colour, but feels very dated. Despite stars playing the principle roles, a lot of it seemed rather over-acted.
Still, it makes a pleasant enough story in the end. It's certainly innocuous family viewing, hence the U rating for the UK. Not that it's likely to be of much interest to children.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
Having finished - and very much enjoyed - the DVD of the first season of Quantum Leap, a TV series which I watched avidly in the early 1990s, I was delighted to learn that the second and subsequent seasons were now also available in DVD format. We've now seen all the episodes of the second season (22 of them in all).
Some of these episodes were extremely moving, particularly the last one; some were frightening, some were thought-provoking, and most had plenty of low-key humour in the banter between Sam, the quantum physicist (Scott Bakula) and his holographic assistant Al (Dean Stockwell).
We learn more about Sam's background in this series, too, as he begins to discover things about himself - such as particular talents that he had originally, but had forgotten about when his time travel experiments turned his brain into what is graphically described as 'swiss cheese'. The script is well done, so that as Sam's memory apparently begins to fill in the holes, so we learn more about him, and he begins to seem more well-rounded.
My respect for Scott Bakula as an actor increased enormously while watching him take on a wide variety of different personalities in this season - from a trapeze artist to a kidnapper. He also plays a theatre actor, a lawyer, a rabbi, a blind pianist... and even a teenager with serious learning difficulties.
All in all, this was an excellent series and we look forward to seeing the third! Rated 12 in the UK, probably due to some bad language and violence as part of some of the storylines.
Links to reviews of the other seasons of Quantum Leap:
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
This film, the unusually titled '84 Charing Cross Road', was recommended to me by Amazon. It was probably because I so like films with Dame Judi Dench in them. It went on my wishlist, and I was very pleased to be given it for Christmas.
It's a twenty-year-old nostalgic film, based on a true story: the correspondence between Frank, clerk working at a bookshop in London (Anthony Hopkins) and Helene, a script editor (Anne Bancroft) in New York. The story begins in the late 1940s and continues over many years.
We thought that there were some lovely contrasts between American exuberance and British austerity, although they were done tastefully without exaggeration. The common factor between these two very different people is their shared love of good books.
There's no fast action, nor any high drama; yet we were drawn right into the story, which is beautifully done. The casting is excellent, and the film very well made. It was lovely and gentle film, suitable for all the family, with a touch of sadness.
The UK rating is U, reflecting this, although the more cautious US rating is PG. I doubt if it would be of much interest to young children, but there's nothing inappropriate - at least, not that we noticed.
Recommended.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
'Nanny McPhee' is one of those films that's highly rated on Amazon, and, for some reason, was recommended to me. Possibly it's because I was looking for 'Mary Poppins', the classic that seems to remain highly priced. Or perhaps it's because I had rated films with Colin Firth or Emma Thompson.
Either way, I thought it looked interesting so added it to my wishlist, and received it for Christmas. We thought we would watch it as a family, despite not having any young children at home any more.
And, yes, it is a children's film. The beginning of the story is a bit like an updated version of Mary Poppins. Colin Firth is a rather bemused father of a large family, who has lost his wife. He employs nannies to look after the children while he is at work, but the children are so horrible that they manage to drive them all away.
Then the agency sends Nanny McPhee, played brilliantly by Emma Thompson, looking as she has never looked before - she is dressed as an ugly witch, covered in warts, speaking in a harsh, disciplinarian voice.
I'm not sure I liked her methods much, but then again, nothing else seemed to help. It becomes a bit predictable plot-wise, but the children are delightfully horrible, with some excellent acting by the younger ones in particular.
Brain-dead fun, nicely done, and entirely suitable for all the family. Recommended.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
I'm not sure that 'The Terminal' would really have appealed to me based on the reviews, which were decidedly mixed. Indeed, I'm not sure that I would even have heard of it, were it not for my older son - who was working abroad on a ship at the time - happened to see it, and told us it was brilliant.
So I put it on my wishlist, and received it for Christmas.
And yes, if you happen to spot the date of this review, we did indeed watch it on Christmas Day. Not that we were absolutely raring to take the film out of its wrapper and put it in the DVD player - it was more to give us something to do. We were all feeling a bit low, on our first Christmas without our older so at home.
What a wonderful movie it was, too. Tom Hanks is brilliant as Victor, the lost foreigner stuck in JFK airport. Due to a complex political situation that erupted after he left his home country, he is unable to enter the USA, but also is unable to fly back. So he is stuck in the airport for an unspecified length of time...
I have to admit that the plot is minimal, and becomes increasingly unlikely during the latter part of the film. But the humour is wonderful - much of it subtle, most of it very cleverly done. We all found ourselves enjoying it very much; I would recommend it to anyone.
I'm not usually a huge fan of extras, but we were all interested to know whether the real JFK airport was used for the filming... and found ourselves fascinated by the explanations, and other extras. If you like this kind of thing, make sure that you get an edition with extras on it.
'The Terminal' is rated 12 in the UK, PG-13 in the USA, due to some moderate bad language - though not inappropriate, given the situation - and some implied sexual references. Nothing extreme, however.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
