Reviews

Following in the tradition of Eric Sykes' previous silent comedy shorts ("The Plank", "Mr H Is Late" et al), "The Big Freeze" is a highly amusing little diversion that keeps the chuckles coming all the way through.

Bob Hoskins revels in the chance to play a little slapstick as the plumber's hapless son, and he just about eclipses the very funny cameo roles from veteren stars John Mills, Donald Pleasence and Spike Milligan, who almost steals the film with his turn as a manic Adolf Hitler impersonator (complete with stuffed dog!).

It's hard to believe, given the popularity of his earlier silent comedies, that Sykes allegedly found financing hard to come by in the UK for this film (hence why it was made in Finland), and its a sad reflection on the British film & TV industry that simple but effective little productions like this can't be made more often.

Tricksy psychological thriller where no one is what they seems, nor indeed do they do what they seem!

It's well cast (almost perfekt, in fact) with the performers seeming to enjoy themselves in their roles. Angela Plummer & David Thewlis are no strangers to playing off-the-wall characters and excel as always, but it's Robert Forster who steals the film and shows along with his superb performance in "Jackie Brown" what an under-rated character actor he is.

If I've one criticism to make it's that when the characters are a little better revealed halfway through the film some of the tension dissipates a little but the plot keeps twisting and turning to the very end.

Worth a couple of hours of your time.

Excellent little supernatural anthology series, supposedly based on true accounts, with an excellent mixture of quality guest stars from both sides of the Atlantic, including Denholm Elliott, David Warner, Karen Black and Eli Wallach.

Relegated to late-night British TV when it first came out, the series hasn't reappeared since, and richly deserves a re-showing and critical re-evaluation.

Fun dinosaur movie with a solid British cast headed by suitably lantern-jawed Doug McClure.

Respected SF author Michael Moorcock adds a dash of intelligence to what might have been just another Sunday matinee pot-boiler, and the downbeat ending (slightly different to the book) is a change from the norm. The decision to turn the U-Boat captain from the stereotypical dastardly Hun in the original book to a philosophical man of science is also a good one.

The submarine is suitably claustrophobic and the jungle suitably clammy, just a shame that some of the dinosaurs couldn't have looked a little more than just as if they'd been borrowed from episode of "Doctor Who". Fans of which should be suitably impressed by future 'Master' Anthony Ainley's nasty performance as the treacherous German first officer Dietz.

"Auf weidersehn, Mr Tyler!"

Although less spectacular than its predecessor "Zulu" "Zulu Dawn" is still an excellent war film which properly captures the sheer incompetence of the senior British officers and the nobility and fighting spirit of the Zulus. The action sequences are expertly handled and the frightening ferocity and speed of the Zulu attack and the total overwhelming of the British forces is well portrayed. The film isn't quite so impressive in the acting stakes, with stars O'Toole & Lancaster being overshadowed by the likes of Bob Hoskins, Paul Copley and Dai Bradley as the squaddies forced to suffer the fatal consequences of their officers' mistakes. It also misses the stirring John Barry score from the previous film, with Bernstein's score only making an impact during the fight sequences. If you have the time and the inclination, trying watching "Zulu Dawn" and "Zulu" back to back. Tremendous.

Stalwart little "Sunday Afternoon" war film with all the right ingredients - excellent cast of British character actors with requisite mix of seasoned pro's (Andrews, Landis, Maddern) and young up & comers (Boyd, Shaw, Caine), simple but gripping plot with salty "it's-a-dog's-life-in-the-army-but-orders-is-orders" dialogue, well staged action scenes, "friendly" US planes bombing British troops etc etc. Well worth an hour or so of your time.

A muddled attempt at an interesting premise - people are trained to perfect killers in a Wild West environment - which plays its trump card too early by revealing that Keir Dullea & friends are in a VR situation at the start, when it would have been more of a surprise to reveal it nearer the end, and we could have done with more of an explanation as to WHY the scientists are doing what they're doing and why the people involved have been selected. That said, the film just about keeps the viewer interested throughout, with the best performances coming from Dullea & Palance. It's all very similar, by the way, to "The Prisoner" episode "Living in Harmony", which also had its hero thrown into a VR wild-west scenario.

Another very droll comedy from Alan Plater who continues to display his love for the jazz scene after the wonderful "Beiderbecke" series. Elliott Gould is perfectly cast as the lugubrious old jazz pianist, and is superbly supported by Geraldine James as his long-suffering minder and Alun Armstrong as a laconic joiner-cum-jazz freak. It's also a good early role for a pre-"Trainspotting" Ewan McGregor too. A joy from start to finish.

Agreeable "Boy's Own Paper" nonsense with a sprightly performance from Cushing, some amusing rubber monsters, colourful jungle sets, & the ever-welcome appearance of Caroline Munro in animal skins.

Bog-standard cop-buddy movie with a run-of-the-mill plot boosted by good work from the two leads. The TV series explored the background to the story and the characters in it a lot better, but this is a perfectly adequate thriller.

Fairly competent cobbling together of two of the better episodes of the Gerry Anderson space opera, though the joining scenes are pretty basic looking. The effects are generally better than than the story lines or the acting. If you enjoyed the series you should enjoy this.