Marley and Me (Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston)

(Amazon UK link)

We saw this film in a charity shop for a couple of pounds, and thought it looked worth buying; we decided to watch it last night, wanting something light and undemanding.

'Marley and Me' is exactly that. There's no great plot in this film; essentially it's the story of a young couple (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) who adopt puppy, who quickly turns into a rumbunctuous dog. Meanwhile, they go through some stressful times in their marriage as their family grows and they have to make important decisions about their careers.

And yet it's a very engaging story that captivated us from the start. The chemistry between the two main actors is strong, and the dog Marley an absolute delight. We're not 'dog people' - and even less inclined to be so after watching this! - but there are some very funny moments as well as some sad scenes, which are beautifully done. Had we been dog owners, we would probably have cried at the end; I admit only to feeling a tear or two pricking my eyelids.

Overall, I appreciated a story featuring a family who genuinely care for each other, who have good rapport and who stick together despite often difficult circumstances. Marley undoubtedly provided most of the humour (and some of the tension between his family) but it was essentially a story of growing love and loyalty between all the family members.

There's almost no bad language and no on-screen violence; however, there's one violent off-stage scene, several innuendoes and the beginnings of bedroom scenes. There is also more than one scene showing the dog 'humping' someone or something. There's nothing overt and no obvious nudity, but parents should take note of the "PG" rating - if you don't want a small child asking awkward questions, it might be worth avoiding. Having said that, under-12s would probably find it a bit dull, other than the Marley scenes. A sensitive dog-loving child could find the ending very traumatic.

There are lots of extras, which we thought well worth seeing. They include some great deleted scenes, some dog-training demonstrations, and much more.

Recommended if you want a light film that promotes positive family values.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Dad's Army: The Movie (Arthur Lowe, John le Mesurier, Clive Dunn)

(Amazon UK link)

I watched the BBC TV series 'Dad's Army' off and on in my teenage years, and have seen random repeats from time to time. But it's many years since I watched the official film, made in 1971 as a spin-off for the cinema. Teenage friends wanted a recommendation of something light but interesting, so we recommended this, and all enjoyed it.

The story is well-known, set in World War II and involving the formation of the local 'home guard'. Arthur Lowe is brilliant as the bossy bank manager Mr Mainwaring, who decides to take control of the local home guard, with his assistant Wilson as second-in-command. They gather together a rag-tag collection of mostly elderly men, plus Pike, a mollycoddled young man whose mother likes to look after him all the time.

The group who form the Warmington-on-Sea home guard are essentially incompetent but willing; they clash with the Vicar (Frank Williams) and the air raid warden Hodges (Bill Pertwee), as happened regularly in the TV series, but they also clash with a visiting Major-General...

The humour is mostly low-key, with some slapstick and some situations that are so ridiculous they become amusing. But what makes this film - and indeed the series - work is the chemistry between the main actors, and the superb timing. I love the ending, too, when the platoon finally succeed in something constructive.

Critics complain that this is really cobbled together from about three of the TV episodes rather than being a new idea or plot, and that may be the case; but as an introduction to Dad's Army, and indeed a caricatured overview of how the home guard functioned in the war, this is hard to beat.

I had forgotten the majority of the story, and liked it very much.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Raising Helen (Kate Hudson, John Corbett)

(Amazon UK link)

Browsing films a couple of years ago I saw 'Raising Helen' recommended to me by Amazon. The reviews mostly seemed positive, and although I wasn't really familiar with any of the cast. So it went on my wishlist and I forgot about it; so I was pleased to receive it for Christmas last year. Our 25-year-old son had not seen it, so with a spare evening a few days ago we sat down as a family to watch it.

Three grown-up sisters, celebrating a birthday. Two fairly laid-back, one quite stressed and rigid in her views. Two with families, one - the youngest - a glamorous career-girl. Tragedy strikes, and Helen (Kate Hudson) suddenly finds herself trying to house and raise three children: a moody teenage girl, a depressed pre-teen boy, and a smaller girl...

For a romantic comedy, this film starts in rather a dramatic way and has a thread of tragedy running through it, yet I thought it was very well handled. The three children are entirely believable, dealing with their grief in their different ways. We don't see scenes of trauma, just snapshots that felt poignantly real. Overall it's an encouraging story with quite a message of hope about working terrible situations.

It's also about the difficulties of balancing a career with parenthood, and as such might well upset some; yet, once again, the way it's handled seems quite realistic. As a parent myself (though never a glamorous wedded-to-career person) I could empathise quite strongly with Helen's difficulties.

It's not laugh-aloud funny, although there are plenty of light-hearted moments. Inevitably there's a growing romance, but it's not a passionate one - instead, it grows out of a low-key developing friendship. Unusually, and much to our relief, nobody was shown leaping into bed after the first kiss. The language is clean, too. There's plenty of love and understanding, and while there's a caricatured Asian neighbour (Sakina Jaffrey) who introduces a bit of slapstick, there's a likeable and believable pastor (John Corbett) who is neither elderly nor a dork.

I wouldn't rate this amongst my absolute favourites, but overall, we all enjoyed it very much. More thought-provoking than many films of this genre, and nicely done.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

The Railway Children (Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett, Gary Warren)

(Amazon UK link)

When we started collecting DVDs, I included several classic children's films, many of them excellent value. These have turned out to be useful, as we sometimes entertain young friends. Last night we were babysitting four of them, aged 11 down to three-and-a-half, and decided to watch 1970 version of 'The Railway Children' with them. It's a good story, adapted from the classic children's book of the same name (by E Nesbit), and unlikely to give nightmares. The older three had watched it about a year ago.

The story is well-known. Roberta, usually called Bobby, narrates to start with, explaining how they used to be well-off and fortunate in many respects, but were never really aware of how happy they were. They had a large house, a wealthy and loving father, and a caring mother who - unusually for the era (very early 20th century) - spent a lot of time playing with them.

Then one day, shortly after Christmas, two men come to visit their father and he goes away with them. Their mother is distraught, and things start to change rapidly in the household, until they move to a much smaller house in the countryside, where they explore the local railway lines, and start to befriend some of their new neighbours...

All the children who watched with us were entranced, with barely a wriggle for the full 109 minutes. We enjoyed it ourselves, too. Made in 1970, this adaptation of 'The Railway Children' is a little slow-moving in places, but faithful - on the whole - to the original story.

The children's voices are perhaps a bit over upper-class English... but then that's probably not unrealistic for the society they moved in, and the era . Lovely costumes, attractive scenery, believable people, and a few humorous moments to lighten the (slight) tension.

Totally suitable for the entire family. Definitely recommended to anyone who enjoys classic children's films. Apparently there was a re-make in 2000, but I don't see any need for an update, as this is just about perfect.

Note that the above links are to the DVD  containing just this film, but there are sometimes double-film DVDs, such as the one we have, which contains another classic film in addition.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Oliver! (Mark Lester)

(Amazon UK link)

‘Oliver’ is the classic musical production based on Charles Dickens’ book ‘Oliver Twist’. The plot is well-known, as are many of the songs - such as ‘Food, Glorious Food’ or the catchy ‘Oom-pah-pah’. First produced in film format in 1968, this is a lengthy DVD, over two-and-a-half hours in length. It follows the typical style of musical films in that the plot is interrupted regularly by well-choreographed and beautifully sung pieces, which (at least in the case of this one) lighten the mood.

I had only the vaguest memories of this film, but we had it on DVD. It’s rated U so I rather naively assumed it would be a good one for some young friends (aged 3 up to 11) to watch. Thankfully they didn’t opt for it, and instead I saw it - or most of it - in the company of two teenage friends who already knew the story. One of them had read the Dickens book.

The story, set in the mid 19th century, starts in the workhouse. Oliver, who has lived there all his life, draws the short straw and makes the infamous request for more gruel. He is sold to a local undertaker, and escapes, only to find himself part of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. It takes him a while to work out what’s going on, by which time he is ensnared by the greedy Fagin, and the evil Bill Sykes. Bill’s wife Nancy, however, develops quite a soft spot for Oliver who is quite tender-hearted despite his upbringing.

It’s very well done. The young Mark Lester makes a very believable Oliver with an amazing singing voice, and Jack Wild was perfectly cast as the Artful Dodger, Oliver’s new friend and lead amongst the young pickpockets. The songs go on, perhaps, a bit too long for today’s youngsters, and some of the general shots of scenes in London were rather slow; an editor today would, I’m sure, reduce the length by at least half an hour with no loss of plot or dialogue. But those are minor quibbles; it’s a classic film, and this kind of thing is to be expected.

What surprised me more was the level of violence in the film, something which, I feel, should have lifted the rating to at least PG, preferably 12. There are two very unpleasant deaths at the end; one is off-stage, but it’s still clear what went on, and the other, while less gruesome than that in the book, could still give nightmares to a sensitive child. Earlier in the film there is a great deal of violence - or threatened violence - to the boys, in ways that would today be considered seriously abusive.

While there is no overt bad language, nudity or intimacy, there are some clear innuendoes, and quite a bit of drinking - not inappropriate for the characters and era concerned, but equally not something I would want a young child to see. I will no longer offer it to my younger friends as a possibility!

Still, for teens and adults, it’s worth seeing at least once, if only to learn where the songs come from, and to appreciate the grandeur and complexity of such a major production in the late 1960s.

Available as DVD or Blu-Ray.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Never been Kissed (Drew Barrymore)

(Amazon UK link)

As so often happens, I don't recall why this DVD ended up on my wishlist. Perhaps it was because of the genre; perhaps it was recommending Drew Barrymore films. In any case, I was given it for Christmas - at the end of 2012! It sat on the ever-increasing to-be-watched shelf, and we finally saw it last night.

'Never been kissed' is firmly in the rom-com genre, produced in 1999. Romantic comedies were somehow lighter and cleaner in the 1990s, although it didn't feel that way at the time. Drew Barrymore was in her 20s when she starred in this, as Josie, a pedantic copy writer who longs to be a journalist.

She is finally given an undercover assignment to find a story at a local high school. So she has to behave as if she were 17, and enroll as a student, something that brings some quite painful flashbacks of her own rather nerdy high school days.

The story, it has to be said, is somewhat unlikely. The script a bit tired; while it was undoubtedly light, there weren't any laugh-aloud moments, and although the climax was a bit unexpected, the ending was (happily) predictable, if unlikely. Nevertheless, this is a nicely done film, with some good acting, and some rather shocking insights into American high schools, albeit (I assume) rather caricatured. At the point where Josie talks about how high school really hasn't changed, I can imagine some teens in this situation feeling quite challenged.

The 'love interest' is underplayed; not that this is necessarily a bad thing, and the scenes in the newspaper office seemed exaggerated, even silly at times. Perhaps the most interesting character in the film is Josie's brother Rob, ably portrayed by David Arquette.

Still, despite its flaws, we enjoyed this film. I would recommend it for anyone who likes this genre, and wants a fluffy hour and a half that's a bit different from the average rom-com. Rated 12, which I think is about right - there's no violence, no nudity, no intimacy, and I didn't even notice any bad language.

However, there are many discussions about sex, including one mildly humorous scene in the classroom... to say more would be a spoiler. I doubt if this would be of any interest to anyone under the age of about 14 in any case.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

The Italian Job (Michael Caine)

(Amazon UK link)

I first saw this film over twenty years ago, when - a little ironically - we were living in the US for a couple of years. Some friends invited us over to see the video, assuming we would like it because it was 'so British'. Never good at understanding fast-moving action, I found it very confusing in the early sections, mildly amusing in the middle, frustrating at the end. I wasn't very impressed, although my husband thoroughly enjoyed it.

As I learned later, the 1969 version of 'The Italian Job' is considered a classic. So when it came out on DVD we thought our teenage sons should see it. My husband watched with them, but I decided against it. However, last night some teenage friends asked to watch it, and I though I'd see if time had mellowed my opinion.

The basic plot involves some crooks, ably headed by Michael Caine, who plan - in minute detail - a major robbery in Italy. To do this includes hacking into the traffic control computers to cause a traffic jam. So we have the introduction to this (essentially another crook failing in the attempt), and a lot of discussion about it, and some preparation, and then the actual day. There's a lot of fast action, some of it very cleverly choreographed, and some mildly amusing sections although they mostly involve some kind of slapstick violence.

So it's an action film involving cars, which is fine; not my taste, as there's little room for character development, but suitable for most viewers... I had a hard time understanding what was going on in the early sections, but the essential plot was pretty clear.

What surprised me was the number of fluffy girls involved in the first part. Everything that happened was clearly behind closed doors with no detail, but still the implied activities of the hero were sleazy, and totally unnecessary as they didn't add anything at all. Indeed, they were very demeaning to the girls in question. 

The UK rating for 'The Italian Job' is PG, which seems about right. However I would probably have said 12 myself, given that there are a few mild swear words, a great deal of violence (albeit non-gory) and some implied sex.

What surprised me even more was to learn that the US censors, usually more prudish than the UK ones, rated this as G - suitable for all.

On the whole I thought the film was quite watchable, given the genre. I had forgotten almost everything in it other than the ending, and that wasn't as frustrating as it was the first time since I knew what was coming. Our young friends were shocked when the titles rolled at the end, leaving the film (literally) on a cliff-hanger... but overall they enjoyed it very much.

We then watched the classic 'deleted scene' with a band playing the 'Blue Danube' while cars 'danced' ... that alone made it worthwhile, in my view!

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews