The All New Book & DVD Review Thread (And Gift Hints)

[Pastis]

Too much effort - think of the RSI implications 

Of course.... 

Oh dear, back to the senility thread 

[dribble]

You too?   <passes a tissue>

[Miss Demeanour]

It's like the doctor's waiting room in here 

[Pastis]

It's like the doctor's waiting room in here 

No dear, that's the Medical Centre 

[Miss Demeanour]

I know ..but it seems like it's a bit far for you lot to walk 

[Pastis]

I know ..but it seems like it's a bit far for you lot to walk 

Don't worry, it's an annex off the Restaurant, just in case any of us suffered a dicky tummy after dining, like

[Barman]

 

[Pastis]

Ta! 

[Barman]

Ta! 

Thank you!

[Miss Demeanour]

Burn after Reading 

Good storyline, characters, no sex - although an interesting invention  ,  bits of gore and violence

An angry John Malkovich ...with an axe 

[Barman]

Burn after Reading 

Good storyline, characters, no sex - although an interesting invention  ,  bits of gore and violence

An angry John Malkovich ...with an axe 

Buy it here like... 

[Barman]

Ghost Town

Comedy starring Ricky Gervais as a dentist with few people skills that dies briefly during a routine operation and can then see ghosts.

Gervais plays the part extremely well/the part was written for Gervais - delete as applicable but I thought it was extremely funny and also quite moving at the end (LL cried).

No shagging.

Ricky Gervais is brilliant in Ghost Town, playing an unnervingly rude dentist, Bertram, who dies for a few minutes during surgery and acquires the unwanted ability to see ghosts. Chased throughout Manhattan by a gaggle of restless spirits begging him to take care of their unfinished business on Earth, Bertram turns them all away except Frank (Greg Kinnear). The latter, a rogue who cheated on his archaeologist widow, Gwen (Téa Leoni), wants Bertram to intervene in a romance between Gwen and a starchy activist (Bill Campbell). Misanthropic Bertram has to polish his relationship patter, but ends up sounding a lot like Gervais' infamous character in the original The Office, unable to complete a sentence without making others uncomfortable. In time, of course, Bertram falls for the wonderful Gwen, setting up a bunch of overlapping conflicts. Cowritten and directed by David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Ghost Town walks a fine line between comic freshness and a story idea with elements that have become overly familiar in movies and on television. Kinnear and Leoni have never been better on screen, but Ghost Town is well worth seeing because no one like Gervais has previously played the hapless hero in a high-concept film such as this one. With Gervais doing his familiar, hilariously discomfiting thing, it really doesn't matter what kind of movie Ghost Town is. Happily, it's a pretty good film in every respect. --Tom Keogh

 

[Barman]

Body of Lies

An excellent Middle-East espionage thriller starring a much improved Lionardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe - directed by Ridley Scott.

The film really is edge-of-seat stuff with some stunning action scenes, plenty of blood and violence.

No shagging.

Set it next to the similar Middle-East intrigue of Syriana, and Body of Lies is easy to follow, in fact, this movie's plot is amazingly straightforward for an espionage flick. Leonardo DiCaprio is the CIA agent on the ground, an Arabic-speaking chameleon who believes in forging personal relationships based on trust and professionalism. Russell Crowe is his supervisor, a meddler who makes up the rules as he goes along and is more than willing to trade long-term benefits for a short-term "win". While working on a case in Jordan, DiCaprio gets a modest flirtation going with a nurse (Golshifteh Farahani), although his most intense relationship is with a Jordanian intelligence chief (great role for Mark Strong) who takes a wary view of the CIA's activities. Ridley Scott directs as though weary of all the fuss, and his merriment in Crowe's breezy sociopath gives the movie a rather strange aftertaste. It gets the job done, although after it's over you might find yourself craving the head-scratching complications of Syriana. --Robert Horton

[Barman]

Notes on a Scandal

Judi Dench and Cate Blanches star in this awesomely acted thriller.

The story is basically that of the relationship between Dench and Blanchett (both teachers at the same school) during a period when Blanchett starts shagging one of her students. Absolutely gripping!

Contains shagging.

Gold stars to all for this taut psychological thriller based on Zoe Heller's novel that that gets more insidiously twisted as it unfolds. Oscar-nominated for her chilling performance, Dame Judi Dench gives a master class as schoolteacher Barbara Covett, a frumpy, friendless, and flinty spinster who lives with her cat. A formidable presence, Barbara is standoffish with colleagues and not one for students to trifle with (not that they'd dare). Cate Blanchett, also an Oscar nominee and winner of several critics society awards for her impassioned performance, costars as Sheba Hart, the new, overwhelmed art teacher who first becomes enthrall to Barbara after she steps in to help Sheba discipline unruly students. Barbara cultivates a friendship, and insinuates herself into Sheba's chaotic life, which includes her older husband (Bill Nighy), teenage daughter, and a son with Down's syndrome. Then, Barbara catches the reckless Sheba in a compromising position with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson). Seizing her opportunity, the calculating Barbara does not turn her in. Rather, she wants to "help" her. "She's the one I've been waiting for," she writes in the journals she meticulously keeps, and which provide, in voiceover, her corrosive commentary. This all sounds very Fatal Attraction, but no boiling rabbits, please; we're British. Philip Glass's Oscar-nominated score accentuates the growing menace. Though there is little in these characters to admire, (one would think GLAAD would have something to say about the predatory turn Barbara's character takes), Notes on a Scandal is a compelling tour-de-force for its Grade-A cast. --Donald Liebenson 

[Barman]

Little Miss Sunshine

Basically a road movie containing a group of dysfunctional characters in a VW camper van...

Utter, utter shite!

This was recommended to me (you know who you are)...  I'd have rather banged nails into my eyes than sit through it.

No shagging.

Pile together a blue-ribbon cast, a screenplay high in quirkiness, and the Sundance stamp of approval, and you've got yourself a crossover indie hit. That formula worked for Little Miss Sunshine, a frequently hilarious study of family dysfunction. Meet the Hoovers, an Albuquerque clan riddled with depression, hostility, and the tattered remnants of the American Dream; despite their flakiness, they manage to pile into a VW van for a weekend trek to L.A. in order to get moppet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Much of the pleasure of this journey comes from watching some skillful comic actors doing their thing: Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as the parents (he's hoping to become a self-help authority), Alan Arkin as a grandfather all too willing to give uproariously inappropriate advice to a sullen teenage grandson (Paul Dano), and a subdued Steve Carell as a jilted gay professor on the verge of suicide. The film is a crowd-pleaser, and if anything is a little too eager to bend itself in the direction of quirk-loving Sundance audiences; it can feel forced. But the breezy momentum and the ingenious actors help push the material over any bumps in the road. -- Robert Horton

Ingenious characters my hairy arse! 

[Snoopy]

Notes on a Scandal

Judi Dench and Cate Blanches star in this awesomely acted thriller.

The story is basically that of the relationship between Dench and Blanchett (both teachers at the same school) during a period when Blanchett starts shagging one of her students. Absolutely gripping!

Contains shagging.

Gold stars to all for this taut psychological thriller based on Zoe Heller's novel that that gets more insidiously twisted as it unfolds. Oscar-nominated for her chilling performance, Dame Judi Dench gives a master class as schoolteacher Barbara Covett, a frumpy, friendless, and flinty spinster who lives with her cat. A formidable presence, Barbara is standoffish with colleagues and not one for students to trifle with (not that they'd dare). Cate Blanchett, also an Oscar nominee and winner of several critics society awards for her impassioned performance, costars as Sheba Hart, the new, overwhelmed art teacher who first becomes enthrall to Barbara after she steps in to help Sheba discipline unruly students. Barbara cultivates a friendship, and insinuates herself into Sheba's chaotic life, which includes her older husband (Bill Nighy), teenage daughter, and a son with Down's syndrome. Then, Barbara catches the reckless Sheba in a compromising position with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson). Seizing her opportunity, the calculating Barbara does not turn her in. Rather, she wants to "help" her. "She's the one I've been waiting for," she writes in the journals she meticulously keeps, and which provide, in voiceover, her corrosive commentary. This all sounds very Fatal Attraction, but no boiling rabbits, please; we're British. Philip Glass's Oscar-nominated score accentuates the growing menace. Though there is little in these characters to admire, (one would think GLAAD would have something to say about the predatory turn Barbara's character takes), Notes on a Scandal is a compelling tour-de-force for its Grade-A cast. --Donald Liebenson 

Read the book and, as one does, formed the characters in my mind's eye. Somehow I didn't come up with either Dame Judy or Cate Blanchett, the latter being a bit too glamorous for the role and the former a bit too "healthy and wholesome" I would have thought.

But if you want me to name pretty ladies I would like to watch shagging then Cate would be one for the list. Have to say I enjoyed the book enormously ~ which is unusual as I am not a fan of Zoe Heller. Having read the book I'm not sure if I would find the film as gripping ~ mainly 'cos I now know how it turns out.