Music and Lyrics (Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore)

(Amazon UK link)

Several people recommended this film to me, and the blurb looked good - so it went on my wishlist, and I was pleased to be given it for Christmas.

'Music and Lyrics' is a lovely feel-good film, starring Hugh Grant as Alex, a rather washed-out musician. He is given the chance to make a recording with a current teenage pop idol... but has to write the lyrics. He agrees to this, despite not being much of a writer at all.

He then meets Sophie (Drew Barrymore) who has been employed to water the plants in his apartment. She hears him struggling with words, and offers assistance.. and it turns out that she's quite a talented lyricist.

Unsurprisingly, the story is all rather predictable after the initial situation unfolds, but the chemistry between the two led characters works well, and we thought it a very pleasant story. Nothing particularly deep, just gentle romantic comedy. 

Recommended, if you like this kind of thing.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Father of the Bride (Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor)

(Amazon UK link)

I was flying on a plane with individual choice of films to watch. But the only one that appealed to me was the 1950s black-and-white version of 'Father of the Bride'. I knew that there was a 1990s remake starting Steve Martin, but knew little about the plot other than assuming that there was a wedding involved somewhere.

The movie begins with the respectable and slightly grumpy Stanley (superbly played by Spencer Tracy). He is sighing over the cost and mess produced by his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) having been married.

The rest of the film looks back over the circumstances leading up to the wedding. It starts with the time when Kay mentioned her young man for the first time. Then it  progresses through all the rituals that were common in 1950s America - inviting him to dinner, meeting his parents, and so on.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. Parts of it were very moving, perhaps all the more so since we had just said goodbye to our son who was working at the other side of the world.

I scarcely noticed the lack of colour after the first five minutes or so, and was drawn right into the story. I smiled in places, and even shedded a little tear in others.

Definitely recommended, if this kind of film appeals to you.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Northanger Abbey (Katharine Schlesinger, Peter Firth)

(Amazon UK link)

I was on a long flight, with personal choice of video to watch. I opted for an adaptation of one of my favourite Jane Austen books, 'Northanger Abbey'. It was made for TV by the BBC, who are usually very good at period dramas of this kind, so I had high hopes for it.

Katharine Schlesinger plays the hapless Catherine Morland. She stars in this story as a young girl longing for adventure. But her imagination runs riot, and she envisions all kinds of dreadful deeds taking place amongst even the pleasantest of homes.

Unfortunately, I did not much enjoy the movie. While much of the text was (to my memory, anyway) fairly true to the book, none of the characters was particularly appealing. Catherine, admittedly, is supposed to be rather annoyingly silly. But none of the others were a great deal better.

In addition, the director appear to have missed the point of the book. It was ironic, poking fun at the plethora of 'gothic' novels which were so popular with teenage girls at the time. But instead of warmth and humour, this film seemed to glory in the gothic horror, producing some scenes that I couldn't quite bear to watch, as part of Catherine's nightmares.

The rest of it was, I suppose, pleasant enough. It told the Austen story, albeit from a perspective entirely lacking in humour. But I don't think I'll be watching this again.

Note: later on we acquired the ITV adaptation of Northanger Abbey, which I liked a great deal better.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

The Vicar of Dibley complete series (Dawn French)

(Amazon UK link)

While we're not really television watchers in general, there are some sitcom series from previous years where we caught a few episodes and very much liked them. 'The Vicar of Dibley' is one such series, made mostly in the 1990s. And when, visiting our son abroad, he was given this series - most of which he had not seen previously - we watched it together over a couple of weeks.

The story is well-known. Dawn French stars as the lively Geraldine, appointed as Vicar in a small parish. The series starts at the beginning when she must face prejudice against her gender, and moves through typical (or stereo-typical) situations in the life of a parish church.

There's lots of humour in the characterisation and circumstances. What we particularly like about this series is that it doesn't poke fun at the church as such, nor at Christian ministers. Geraldine is portrayed as a lively, caring and - in the end - faithful and responsible lady, for whom problems arise. What we particularly appreciated is that God is usually the winner, in a gentle kind of way.

This series is rated 12 in the UK, probably due to some sexual implications and innuendoes, which sometimes border on the vulgar. However, there is nothing explicit, and no violence to speak of. The US does not have a rating for this series.

Definitely recommended for adults and teenagers, if you don't mind the strange mixture of humour, which does sometimes border on the adolescent.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Emma (starring Kate Beckinsale)

(Amazon UK link)

Of all the Jane Austen novels, my least favourite is 'Emma'. However, I have realised that some classic novels come to life in film or TV form, and so have started collecting some of them on DVD.

There seem to have been several versions of 'Emma' made, but the most highly rated one was the ITV production made in 1996, starring Kate Beckinsale.

The story is about Emma's inveterate match-making, which leads to misunderstandings and embarrassment amongst her friends. She is quite cold-hearted, or so it seems, caring more about her own success as a match-maker than the feelings of her supposed friends.

Emma is a very clever creation by Austen. It's not easy reading a novel where one really doesn't like the main character, and it's a tribute to her writing and imagination that the book is so popular. I don't much like the book because so little seems to happen, and because Emma is, basically, quite annoying.

However, I did very much enjoy this made-for-TV adaptation. I found that I could get more into Emma's skin by watching the settings and situations that arose than I could in the book, which is often decidedly long-winded. Kate Beckinsale does an excellent job, showing Emma to be rather more human than the book implies, and the story flowed well.

Enjoyable, and recommended. My husband, who has not read the book, thought it well-made and liked the film too.

Other recommended adaptations of Jane Austen books include:

• Sense and Sensibility
• Persuasion (1995 BBC version)
• Pride and Prejudice (BBC series)
• Pride and Prejudice (2005 film)

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

A Room with a View (starring Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands)

(Amazon UK link)

'A Room with a View' is one of the relatively few films that we saw at the cinema, back in the mid-1980s. I remembered it with fondness, so was delighted when I learned that it is now available, inexpensively, on DVD.

This classic film is based on the book 'A Room with a View' by EM Forster. It opens in Florence (Italy), where a group of people are staying at a hotel at the start of the 20th century. The young and vivacious Lucy (Helena Bonham Carter) and her chaperone Charlotte (Maggie Smith) have been allocated rooms without views.

Charlotte is complaining about this to her fellow-guests, and is then embarrassed that Mr Emerson (Denholm Elliot) and his son George (Julian Sands) insist on giving up their rooms to them. A view, they insist, is nothing to men, but vital for women.

The film follows a growing friendship and sudden intimacy between the two young people, quickly quenched by their elders. They then meet again, some time later, back in the UK where Lucy has become engaged to the incredibly dull Cecil (Daniel Day Lewis).

There's not a great deal of plot, but the settings of this film are beautiful, the photography superb, and the whole feeling of decaying grandeur in the early 1900s. I have to admit that, watching the film on DVD, the conversation did seem a bit over-stilted in places, even given the period.

But the enjoyment is in the irony and satire, and one very amusing scene which has resulted in the over-careful US censors giving this film an 'R' rating (and corresponding extortionate cost), despite the classic nature and gentle content of the film in general. The UK rating is a more appropriate PG.

All in all, an enjoyable film, although I was slightly disappointed to find that it did not quite live up to my memory. I would still recommend it, however, if you can find it at a good price.

(Note that there have been some complaints about the technical quality of some versions of this DVD; please read reviews at Amazon before purchasing any particular edition)

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews

Mr Holland's Opus (Richard Dreyfuss)

(Amazon UK link)

It's rare for us to go to the cinema. A good friend of mine, knowing this, said in 1995 that if we didn't see any other films that year, we should see 'Mr Holland's Opus'. Brilliant for all the family, she told us. Not to be missed...

Circumstances did not conspire, and we didn't see it. Indeed, I had almost forgotten about it until a few years ago when I spotted, at an online store, the DVD of this film on special offer. I ordered it immediately, and we watched it as a family not long after. We were unanimous in thinking it a wonderful story, superbly done.

Three of us have just watched for the second time. There are not many movies I can re-watch in such a short space of time, but Mr Holland's Opus was probably even more enjoyable this time around. I would go so far as to say that it's possibly my all-time favourite film.

The overall plot is a ‘feel-good’ story about a young man, Mr Holland - Richard Dreyfuss - who wants to compose music. However, he takes a job teaching music in a high school to provide a reliable income for himself and his wife. It’s only ever going to be temporary, or so he thinks at first. But the years roll by, and he finds himself more and more drawn into the life of the school, making an incredible difference to many of the students.

There’s another whole storyline involving Mr Holland’s wife and son, which is incredibly moving, and brings tears to the eyes at times, even seeing it for the second. I imagine it will continue to do so if and when I see this film again - as I certainly hope to in a few years time.

Richard Dreyfuss is a great actor, but must surely be associated in my mind forever as Mr Holland. He was almost fifty when this film was made, but somehow he manages to be as realistic at sixty as he is at the start of the film, playing a young man in what would appear to be his late twenties.

If you're the kind of person who only likes films with fast car chases, great excitement, sex and violence, then don’t bother with this. But for anyone who likes a slower pace of life, who is interested in schools, or music, or children with special needs, or indeed if you simply enjoy films with great characterisation, I would highly, highly recommend this.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews