Change Your Image
Brainman
Reviews
Band of Brothers (2001)
The best television ... ever.
Spielberg learned many lessons from Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's list and worked well with Tom Hanks and numerous other excellent film makers to take, historian, Stephen E. Ambrose's powerful book and turn it into what I would say was the best television ever.
The wonderfully acted story of a group of ordinary men who rose to the challenge of war and went halfway around the world to fight and become heroes should be mandatory viewing for every future generation.
Throughout the 10 episodes you feel every emotion with the men due to the amazing realism of the filmmaking and characterization. Personally I don't know how they got through it. Seeing the soldiers as they are now at the start of each episode adds significantly to the overall influence of the film and this is added to at the end (and with the DVD extras).
Although being a powerful war film featuring many harrowing scenes, I personally felt it didn't resort to the retch inducing images of the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. Where parallels could be made to Schindler's List, I also felt scenes were handled well.
As always the book certainly contains more information and as such I would recommend reading after the film so you can extend the marvelous performances of the actors in your own mind.
If you haven't watched this yet then start watching it on the Friday of a free weekend as I'm sure you'll want to dedicate the weekend to sitting in front of the TV and DVD. And at the end of it you will be a better person for it.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Wonderful
Took my family to the first possible preview showing. We all loved it. I thought it was better than the first movie. Visual effects were totally amazing, no surprise they used 5+ CGI companies.
One more comment, don't leave the cinema before watching the end of the titles. You have been warned...
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
What's cockney rhyming slag for Pulp Fiction
An English Pulp Fiction. A film with true humour, not slapstick or in your face humour but characters who play their stereotypical roles so well as to be amusing. Hugely clever in the method of portraying so much violence and death without any being seen on screen.
Overall a great movie. Watch out Quentin Guy Ritchie is on your tail!
If you like the style of this film read The Guv'nor, the autobiography of Lenny McLean (ISBN 1857823354) who played Barry the Baptist who died in July 1998. The violent story of a real life rough tough East End Gentle Giant living in the heart of the underworld.