The Anderson tapes 1971

Starring: Sean Connery

An ex-con forms a gang to rob a building, not knowing that police and others, for various purposes are making recordings of his conversations.

Sean Connery was at his peak at this time, I remember that he seemed to be in nearly every film released. He made a lot of duds, is he overrated or was his selection of scripts slightly suspect? The first half of this movie is confusing, clumsy editing spoiling any flow as we flicked from scene to scene. The last half was entertaining enough with Pop, an excellent charcter similar to the librarian in Shawshank redemption. But there was never sufficient explanation of 'The Anderson tapes' recordings and they all seemed a bit irrelevant as a kid with a ham radio was ultimately, the critical character. OK, but could have been so much better. 4/10

How to get ahead in advertising 1989

Starring: Richard E Grant

An advertising man, in revolt against salesmanship, grows a boil that turns into an alternative head.

In my view, a film should entertain, either by making you laugh, cry, thrilling you, scaring or amazing. I found this movie just plain irritating from the first frame to the last. Grant played the most hateful character, I hoped he'd become more likeable when the boil came to life, but alas no. Rachel Ward added a touch of glamour and was at least watchable. The only good point is that I'll never need to watch this again. 1/10

Brighton rock 1947

Starring: Richard Attenborough

The teenage leader of a racetrack gang uses a waitress as alibi to cover a murder and marries her. He later decides to be rid of her, but fate takes a hand in his murder plot.

I'm a big fan of Richard Attenborough as both director and actor, I don't consider this to be his finest moment. A lot of his menace he portrays by using his eyes and I never really bought him as a hard man. Carol Marsh was terrific as the poor, misguided waitress and played her role to perfection. Brighton must be a very small town as when you're trying to avoid someone, you seem to constantly bump into them around every corner. Now, in the early 1970s, I used one of those booths where you record your voice onto a vinyl record and let me tell you, they were rubbish. The ending came as no surprise and brought back memories I hadn't thought of for years. The movie itself was built to a good climax which helped me to forgive some of its earlier tedium. 6/10

Guadalcanal diary 1943

Starring: Preston Foster

Marines fight for a vital Pacific base.

A documentary style movie of 5 months on an island fighting the Japanese. This was probably made as a moral booster in the second World war and therefore had its place, now it seems very dated. It makes you appreciate how senseless war is and it certainly makes no attempt to glamorise. Touches oh humour such as the guy who never knows where his helmet is are welcomed and some of the battle scenes are quite effective. Interesting but past its sell by date. 4/10

The Wicker man 1973

Starring: Edward Woodward

A policeman flies to a remote Scottish isle to investigate the death of a child, and finds himself in the hands of diabolists.

This movie is certainly original. It's actually deeply disturbing despite the fact that Edward Woodward's accent often disappeared off the island whilst he was still there. It seems so far fetched that you don't worry about the subject matter too much. That is, until the end. I never saw the twist coming and forget slasher films, this had a terrifying ending. Some strange scenes in this movie, but lots to admire, particularly if you want to see Britt Ekland doing a bizarre naked dance. 7/10

Ivanhoe 1952

Staring: Robert Taylor

Derring-do amonk the knights of medieval England.

Oscar nominated in its day, this was certainly a lavish, colourful production. The Saxons/Norman plot was a little confusing and the text over emphasised with every sentence sounding as if it was an Earth changing statement. Some of the special effects were dated and rather obvious but there were some good scenes. The jousting and siege of the fort was all good 'Boys own' stuff. Dated but harmless. 5/10

Fantastic voyage 1966

When a top scientist is shot and suffers brain damage, a team of doctors and a boat are miniturized and injected into his blood stream......but one is a traitor.

Sometimes when watching sci-fi, you look at the plot and think the whole thing unlikely, but maybe one day in the future. This you don't! Preposterous plot which you can get away with if the performances are ok. To start with, this movie was poor. Very pedestrian with wooden acting. The whole thing picks up once the boat enters the body and you even get a bit of a biology lesson along the way. The identity of the traitor is never really in doubt. Many flaws, but harmless enough, however, not to be taken seriously. 5/10

Saturday night and Sunday morning 1960

Starring: Albert Finney

A Nottingham factory worker is dissatisfied with his lot, gets into trouble through an affair with a married woman, but finally settles for convention.

Gritty realistic drama. An angry young man searching for a way out of his hum-drum existence. To be honest, I never warmed to the character and felt desperately sorry For the people he was constantly taking advantage of. The whole setting is superbly observed, stunningly realistic streets, houses and pubs makes no attempt to glamorise. Apparenlt ground breaking when released, it's dated now but is still fascinating viewing. 7/10

Loving you 1957

Staring: Elvis Presley

A press agent signs a young hillbilly singer to give zest to her husbands band.

You know what you're going to get with an Elvis film. Gentle humour, pretty girls and songs. Well this movie certainly didn't break the formula. I actually think this was one of his better efforts. At times, it was like watching an epsiode of Happy days, but ultimately had quite a strong storyline. The music was good with classics like 'Teddy bear' although Mean woman blues was my favourite. The fight in the diner that set off the jukebox was a well worked out scene.
I can't take too many Elvis movies, about one a year is fine & this was a good one. 6/10

Time lock 1957

Starring: Robert Beatty

A small boy is trapped in a bank vault just as it is being locked for the weekend.

Considering nearly the entire movie is on 1 set, the pace is very well maintained in a race against time to open a bank vault, for once with robbery not the motive. Forget the opening schoolboy error that results in the child being locked in the vault, the rest of the plot is well thought out and has you on the edge of your seat. Some of the acting isn't the best and the parents seemed a bit wet, but it's worth a view and you get an interesting science lesson on what happens to your body if you're trapped in a sealed room and the oxygen runs out. 9/10

Lady in white 1988

Starring: Lukas Haas

After seeing the ghost of a murdered girl, a young boy discovers the identity of her killer.

This is a slightly unusual movie. It starts off as a harmless childrens ghost story with touches of gentle humour and then from time to time, turns into a taut thriller with racist undertones that results in real tragedy. The story is a bit laboured at times, but is well enough made and it's interesting to see the 12 year old and slightly squeaky Lukas Haas.
No classic, but certainly unusual and worth seeing for that reason alone. 5/10

His girl Friday 1940

Starring: Cary Grant

A remake of 'The Front page' with Hildy Johnson turned into a woman

There's various actors whose films you always eagerly anticipate. James Stewart is one and Cary Grant another. I have to say this is the most disappointing Cary Grant movie I've ever seen. The pace is frenetic and doesn't relent for the entire 90 minutes. There's people talking at 100 miles an hour, talking over each other, 3 or 4 telephone conversations taking place at once, it's just impossible to take in a quarter of the conversations being hurled at you. I know cue-bite is crucial, but this was ridiculous. Timing in both visual and audio comedy is crucial, so many gags would have been missed because there was so much going on. I laughed once or twice but always at visual things, when there was a sudden lull in the chatter. The character Earl Williams had the most effective scenes, mainly because half a dozen other characters weren't about to butt in. Very disappointing and utterly exhausting to watch. 3/10

Closely observed trains 1966

During World War 2, an apprentice railway guard at a country station falls in love and becomes a saboteur.

The good thing about Saturday newspapers is that they now frequently give away DVD's. This movie came from The Independant. I'm not a great fan of foreign language movies but have recently seen a few charming ones also free from newspapers. This film is set at a tiny quiet station in occupied Czechoslovakia. Quite how they justified the amount of staff there baffled me. This is actually a lovely film, the innocent naievity of the apprentice, the fear and loneliness of all the characters from whatever class and the sexual frustrations again of every character. this is actually quite a racy movie, the scene where the telegraphist is rubber stamped on her legs and bum is very erotic, more so than the pottery scene in Ghost. Ultimately, de-motivation and frustration led to this triviality which ultimately led to a tragic but moving ending. 9/10

Cinderella Liberty 1974

Starring: James Caan

A sailor on shore leave picks up a prostitute and falls in love with her.

I've never been a huge fan of James Caan, I find him a bit single paced and predictible. At the start of this movie, I had no reason to revise my opinion, but his performance as a sailor on extended shore leave due to a boil on the bum, followed by the Navy losing his records grew on my enormously. He picks up a pool-hustling bar hoare and decides to change her life for the better. At first, he is just annoying as it is clear the lady and her 11 year old son with bad teeth don't want him to stick around. But gradually, their barriers are removed and we are left with a touching love story. The performances are all extremely credible with special mention for the lad playing the 11 year old with terrific maturity. The settings are well observed, with the squalor of the flat leaving little to the imagination. Early on, I wasn't sure where this film was going, but a quality script left us with a movie about the fear of change, the fear of loving and the fear of being hurt. Could these fears be conquered? Well, I'll leave you to decide for yourself, but be sure there are tears and laughter along the way with a nicely thought out ending. 7/10

Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942

Starring: James Cagney

Biopics aren't my favourite type of movie. The biggest compliment I can pay is that I went straight to the encyclopedia at the end of the movie to find out more about George M Cohan. I obviously knew some of the songs and was amazed at the sheer volume of material that he'd been involved in. Cagney was terrific, convincing as the arrogant, brash youngster but also showing a subtle side to his acting when he potrayed his character's maturity, appreciating his family's priceless involvement in his success. The film is littered with musical numbers, none of which grated on my nerves. This was flag waving, patriotic stuff, but understandable as made during the war years. My one complaint is that Cagney never looked convincing as a young man, looking middle aged when he was supposed to be 17, easier to look older than younger a guess. A worthy Oscar winner.
7/10