Change Your Image
bill-294
Reviews
Notting Hill (1999)
A Familiar Plot
Notting Hill tells the story of handsome,diffident middle class Englishman who,by chance, meets a glamorous American woman. In due course they spend the night together then the glam. Yank leaves apparently forever leaving our hero to pine supported by a group of close,slightly oddball,friends. However all is not lost and after a couple of false starts they re-unite and live happily ever after. Although Notting Hill has exactly the same plot and some similar characters as Four Weddings it is an amusing romantic comedy,worth going to see if you have nothing better to do. One rather pedantic point,Dickens wrote American Notes and Pictures from Italy which,although only of historical interest,are travel books.
True Crime (1999)
Eastwood too old?
I found myself distracted during this film by the fact that Clint Eastwood appeared far too old to have a young daughter,the scenes between them were unconvincing.This spoiled an enjoyable if somewhat predictable drama. It was interesting to see Bernard Hill, playing the warden,more than holding his own in distinguished company.
A Simple Plan (1998)
A Simple Story
A Simple Plan is a simple story of how people can be corrupted by greed . Two brothers,one of them not very bright,and a friend happen upon a crashed plane containing 4 million dollars,the story of how they plan to hold onto the cash while battling against a fate which has decreed that everything that can go wrong will go wrong makes an engrossing film. There are strong performances from Bridget Fonda, Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton who is outstanding as the slow witted Jacob. I do not share another reviewer's opinion that the downbeat ending detracts from the quality of the film any other outcome, in view of what goes before,would have been crass.
Best Laid Plans (1999)
A happy accident
I came to see this movie by accident,I arrived at the cinema too late for the start of A Simple Plan which I had set out to see and so settled for Best Laid Plans although I have never heard of any of the cast or the director. Although it makes no great demands intellectually it is neatly plotted,well acted and directed with pace and imagination. It is impossible to summarise the plot without spoiling it so I will only say that it has as many twists as Usual Suspects. I am glad that I got to the cinema late today.I will see A Simple Plan another time.
Victim (1961)
Brave of Bogarde to take career risk
Dirk Bogarde,who was a matinee idol at the time,took a brave career risk by playing the married barrister who is being blackmailed over a homosexual affair. Although the film now looks rather dated the two central performances by Bogarde and Sylvia Syms as his wife are still powerful and moving.