Film Review: THE FULL MONTY (1997)

Director: Peter Cattaneo
Writers: Simon Beaufoy
Running time: 91 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 29^th August 1997

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 28^th April 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must have avoided seeing this film for about ten years after its release. I think the reason was that it was very successful and anyway, I didn’t really want to watch a film about male strippers. Don’t worry, I’ve learnt my lesson; just because a film is successful it doesn’t mean it’s either good or bad. The subject matter is also immaterial; it’s either a good film or not; we’ve all got the right to decide for ourselves. And so to ‘The Full Monty’; I have loved this film ever since that first viewing and it will always be a favourite. As those of you that read my stuff regularly know, I’m not all that big on comedies; this is a very rare exception and I’ll tell you why after this very brief summary.

At a time of high unemployment in the city of Sheffield (England), a group of men get together in order to make some cash. Inspired by the success of the Chippendale’s, they decide to put on an act at the local working men’s club. Who are these men I hear you say; well there’s Gaz (Robert Carlyle), who’s trying to raise money to pay off his back maintenance for his son, Nathan (William Snape). Then there’s Dave (Mark Addy), who’s Gaz’s best friend; he has low self esteem and needs a boost. Next up there’s Gerald (Tom Wilkinson), who has been lying to his wife about being out of work. The others are Lomper (Steve Huison), Horse (Paul Barber) and Guy (Hugo Speer). They all have their own reasons for wanting to do it and we get to know a lot about their lives and what makes them tick. When putting out posters one day, Gaz is goaded by a couple of women; he retaliates and claims they were prepared to go all the way, to do ‘The Full Monty’. But can they deliver on his promise?

There are very few films these days that make me laugh out loud but this one managed it six or seven times! Having spent most of my adult life in the north of England, I find the humour in this one quite refreshing. It’s not all fun and games though, there is quite a lot of drama to be found here and it’s this element that gives the humour more bite. Great performances all round with (for me), Tom Wilkinson standing out, although they were all praiseworthy. Over all, a comedy set against the gritty reality of unemployment and all that brings. If, like me, you’ve been avoiding this one, don’t put it off any longer, you can thank me later!

SteelMonster’s verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My score: 8.7/10.

IMDb Score: 7.1/10 (based on 60,341 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119164/

MetaScore: 75/100: (Based on 31 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 95/100 (based on 44 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 73/100 (based on 162,993 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/full_monty/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
Dave: [discussing possible means of suicide] Drownin'. Now there's a way to go.
Lomper: I can't swim.
Gaz: Well you don't have to fucking swim, you divvy, that's the whole point. God, you're not very keen are you?
Lomper: Sorry...

Gerald: He's fat, you're thin, and you're both fucking ugly.

Horse: No-one said anything to me about the full monty!

Gerald: Fat, David, is a feminist issue.
Dave: Well, what's that supposed to mean, when it's at home?
Gerald: I don't bloody know, do I? But it is.

Gaz: Gentlemen, the lunchbox has landed!

Horse: No, but... what I mean to say is... my willy...
Lomper: *Your* willy? *My* willy!

Gaz: I need an audience
Dave: You need a doctor!

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011)

Director: John Madden
Writers: Ol Parker (screenplay), Deborah Moggach (novel)
Running time: 119 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 24^th February 2012

Watched on Sky+ Monday 7^th January 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is a film I have been looking forward to seeing for some time now. I don’t know if it was the fact that it did gain a little critical acclaim, or possibly the fact that my late mother would have loved it. But needless to say I was very happy to see it finally appear in the TV listings this week. I wasn’t disappointed; the film definitely lived up to expectations without getting too sentimental. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

A disparate group of, let’s say, the older generation, find themselves as guests at ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ in India for a variety of reasons; I won’t go into them here. The hotel is run by a young man, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), who has great ambitions for the hotel his father had once run. The guests; Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench), Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson), Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) and his wife Jean (Penelope Wilton), Muriel Donnely (Maggie Smith), Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) are all there for different reasons. Some financial, for some it’s an adventure, some looking for ghosts of the past, one is even there for an operation; but they all have some reason to be there. Some take to live in India well, while others take time to find their feet; which is not surprising as life there can be quite chaotic! As time passes we learn more about the residents’ loves and hates and more about Sonny, who has problems with his mother and with the girl he loves.

Beautifully shot showcasing all the vibrancy of life in an Indian city; I was impressed with the look of the film. All the performances were excellent, with Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson standing out; I thought Dev Patel was a tad underused though. I liked the fact that the writers didn’t pull too many punches and as such it made the main characters more believable. There was, however, just one niggle; I felt that Dev Patel’s character, Sonny, came over as a bit of a caricature rather than a more rounded character. Over all though, I have to say I enjoyed this one and would happily sit down and watch it again sometime.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.7/10.

IMDb Score: 7.2/10 (based on 28,319 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1412386/

MetaScore: 62/100: (Based on 35 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 77/100 (based on 142 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 80/100 (based on 65,632 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_best_exotic_marigold_hotel_2012/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Sonny: Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.

Orderly: My wife is from Mumbai.
Muriel: Well don't blame me, you married her!

Sonny: [trying to reach a fallen Norman] Let me through, my brother is a doctor.

Sonny: Your bedroom.
Madge Hardcastle: Where?
Sonny: Here. In here.
Madge Hardcastle: My dear man, rooms have doors. What you're showing me here is an alcove.

Douglas Ainslie: I invested our, well, my retirement money in our daughter's Internet company. She assured me that as soon as the startup actually, um, started up and the conversion from virtual to actual became sufficiently viable, then she'd be able to pay it all back.
Evelyn: I'm not sure I understand what most of those words mean.
Douglas Ainslie: Well, it turns out neither did she.

Graham Dashwood: Good evening, Mrs. Ainslie. You have a good day? What did you get up to?
Jean: Well, I started in my bedroom where I spent a happy couple of hours giving all the cockroaches names. And then after lunch, that will long have a place in my heartburn, I came out here and stared blindly at a book waiting for someone - anyone - to rescue me. And how glad I am it was you.

Sonny: [showing around a potential investor] Please can you describe to us in as much detail as you desire your experience of the ambiance and atmosphere of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Muriel: Words fail me.
Sonny: Ah, the English wit we love so greatly.
Sonny: [whisking his visitor away] See, the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead.

LINKS:
(NOTE: All links were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.thebestexoticmarigoldhotel.co.uk/
Trailer:

Film Review: THE DEBT (2011)

Director: John Madden
Writers: Matthew Vaughn (screenplay), Jane Goldman (screenplay), Peter Straughan (screenplay), Assaf Bernstein (film “Ha-Hov”), Ido Rosenblum (film “Ha-Hov”)
Running Time: 109 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/Thriller
UK Release Date: 30^th September 2011

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 4^th August 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I remember seeing a trailer for this at the cinema all the way back in 2010 but it never seemed to appear! It did, of course, finally get a release but was (as far as I know) not all that well received. The trailer had done its work on me though and I remembered it when I saw it land in the TV listings. It’s an interesting film that has both good and bad parts. I will tell you more after this very brief summary.

When a Mossad team is sent to East Berlin in 1965 to find and bring back a Nazi war criminal, they begin a train of events that will follow them for many years to come. The team consists of Rachel Singer, Stephan Gold and David Peretz. Their target is a man who calls himself Doktor Bernhardt, who is in reality Dieter Vogel; the notorious ‘Surgeon of Birkeanu’. The action switches between 1997 and 1965 as we are told of the events in Berlin in flashback. The results of these events have long-reaching and very different effects on the three members of the team. I really don’t want to say any more or I may give too much away (and the Spoiler Police wouldn’t like that!).

A very well made film which I found notable for the performances of those involved. With the action being split between two timelines there are two actors for each of the main parts; Helen Mirren was excellent as Rachel Singer (1997) and I thought Jessica Chastain was equally good in the same part circa 1965. Tom Wilkinson was great (as ever) as Stephan Gold (1997) with Marton Csokas doing a fine job in 1965. Finally there’s Ciarán Hinds who did a good job as David Peretz (1997) and Sam Worthington did an excellent job as the 1965 version. I should also give a mention to Jesper Christensen who did a great job as Doktor Bernhardt / Dieter Vogel.

Based on the Israeli film, “Ha-Hov” (which I haven’t seen), I could see parallels with the Steven Spielberg film “Munich”. Surprisingly, there is a long section of the film that concentrates on the events in Berlin which I thought was maybe a bit too long. There needed to be (IMO) a little more grounding in 1997 as that is where the film ends. Having said that, I did find this tale quite gripping with an unexpected outcome. I liked the way certain details were kept from the audience until the action switched to 1997. Over all, an interesting drama/thriller with some great performances; I just felt it needed a little more… Still, worth a look.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED.

My Score 7.1/10

IMDb Score: 6.9/10 (based on 28,779 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1226753/

MetaScore: 65/100: (Based on 37 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 76/100 (based on 165 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 67/100 ‘Liked It’ (based on 30,552 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1211195-debt/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Young Stephan: Breathe.

Young David: Here you are a Mossad agent, all those years of training, the highest levels of marksmanship and krav maga, and your first big mission is sewing.
Young Rachel: Black belt in dressmaking.
[brandishing a pin]
Young David: I never argue with an armed woman.
Young Rachel: [stabs him with the pin]

Doktor Bernhardt: Do it. You want to do it... Do it.
Young Rachel: [finishes shaving his neck]
Doktor Bernhardt: That's right. I'd forgotten. You Jews never knew how to kill. Only how to die.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://focusfeatures.com/the_debt
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seethedebt
Trailer:

Film Review: THE CONSPIRATOR (2010)

Director: Robert Redford
Writers: James D. Solomon & Gregory Bernstein
Running time: 118 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Crime/Drama/History
UK Release date: 1^st July 2011

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 29^th April 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

It wasn’t until the closing credits that I realised who had directed this film and, funnily enough, I had been thinking it had some of the hallmarks of a Redford film all the way through. I like a good courtroom drama as much as the next man and this one had the added spice of being based on historical facts. I must say, for the most part, I enjoyed it, although there were one or two things that didn’t work quite so well (for me). More of that after this brief summary.

Towards the end of the American Civil War President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Attempts were made on the lives of two other senior politicians which prompted a huge manhunt for the conspirators. Amongst those rounded up was Mary Surratt who owned a guesthouse at which Booth had stayed. Whilst there he had befriended her son, John, who had subsequently gone missing. All the conspirators were put on trial and it falls to a former Union soldier, Frederick Aiken, to defend Mary Surratt. What follows is a totally biased trial in which witnesses are bribed by the prosecution and the tribunal consists of Union Generals who are in the pocket of the War Minister, Edwin Stanton. So desperate is Aiken to give her a fair trial that he almost finds himself in contempt of court. I won’t tell you how it ends or the Spoiler Police will be trumping up charges against me (again).

Very well made with the look and feel you’d expect from a quality production. Everything from the costumes to the locations to the props was expertly done with great attention to detail. As far as performances go, well everyone was very good but nobody really stood out (for me). So honourable mentions go to; James McAvoy as Frederick Aiken, Robin Wright as Mary Surratt, Kevin Kline as Edwin Stanton, Evan Rachel Wood as Anna Surratt, Tom Wilkinson as Reverdy Johnson, Justin Long as Nicholas Baker, Danny Huston as Joseph Holt, James Badge Dale as William Hamilton and Colm Meaney as David Hunter.

The film has quite an exciting opening showing us the murder of President Lincoln and the aftermath. However, the middle part of the film does tend to fall a little flat. I think part of the problem is that we are never made to feel any sympathy for the accused, Mary Surratt. Yes, we can sympathise with her plight, but we are never given evidence of her innocence (or maybe it doesn’t exist). Things do pick up again towards the end and there is one particularly striking sequence that I can’t talk about without giving away spoilers (dammit!). Over all, not the most enthralling film I’ve seen on the subject, but worth a look.

My score: 7.1/10

IMDb Score: 6.9/10 (based on 11,614 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0435761/

MetaScore: 55/100: (Based on 37 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 56/100 (based on 165 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 64/100 (based on 18,675 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_conspirator/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Edwin Stanton: Damn the rebels. Damn them to hell!

Frederick Aiken: It's John that you want, not Mary.
Edwin Stanton: I'll take either.

Frederick Aiken: You're my witness! Should I not expect you to tell me the truth?

Reverdy Johnson: Freddy, she's not your mother, if John Surrat won't turn himself in for her, then why should you?

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.conspiratorthemovie.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)

Director: Michel Gondry
Writers: Charlie Kaufman (Story/Screenplay), Michel Gondry (Story) & Pierre Bismuth (Story)
Running time: 108 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/Romance/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 30^th April 2004

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 31^st January 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is a film I saw several years ago and immediately fell in love with. I thought it would be interesting to give it another viewing just to see how well it’s stood up in the intervening years. Well I’m pleased to report, it does pretty well; if anything, I like it slightly more after this most recent viewing. I will tell you more after this brief summary.

We begin with a couple meeting on a train for the first time. They are Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski. Everything seems to be going very well and then the mood suddenly changes. Joel is in his car banging his head against the steering wheel; very upset, almost inconsolable. He eventually finds out that Clementine has undergone a procedure to erase him from her memory. Unable to live with that, he decides to do the same. It is through this process that we see their entire relationship from the end to the beginning. Will it be successful, or is Joel doomed to live with his grief? Well obviously I can’t tell you that or the Spoiler Police will be erasing my memory (some say they already have!).

Beautifully made with some outstanding (& very subtle) CGI; I really love the way small things are erased as a scene progresses, or they go out of focus so you get the impression of memories being lost. The performances are all excellent too; especially Jim Carrey as Joel Barish (I really wish he would take more parts like this, he’s very good at it) and Kate Winslet who played Clementine Kruczynski perfectly; in fact she got an Oscar for it! Honourable mentions go to; Elijah Wood as Patrick, Mark Ruffalo as Stan, Kirsten Dunst as Mary and Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Mierzwiak.

[Spoiler Alert]
There are several sub-plots that I have not included in the main summary that serve to show the imperfections in the process Joel and Clementine have undergone. This takes the film to a higher lever for me, it illustrates that no matter what, there may be a person you are supposed to be with. I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but it’s a concept that (I know) many cling to. But back to the film… It’s really well made with some excellent performances; very well written (another Oscar for that), one that’s quirky and quite bizarre in places, but also quite unique and one I have no problem in deeming ‘Highly Recommended’.

My score: 9.1/10

IMDb Score: 8.5/10 (based on 297,486 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 93/100 (based on 218 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 93/100 (based on 503,889 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eternal_sunshine_of_the_spotless_mind/#

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Joel: [voice over] random thoughts for Valentine's day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

Joel: [narration as Clementine acknowledges him by raising her coffee mug] Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?

Clementine: Hi!
Joel: Excuse me?
Clementine: I just said hi.
Joel: Oh! Hi, hello.
Clementine: I'm Clementine... No jokes about my name.
Joel: I don't know any jokes about your name.
Clementine: Huckleberry Hound.
Joel: I don't know what that is.
Clementine: Huckleberry Hound!
[singing]
Clementine: Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine.
Joel: I don't know what that means.
Clementine: Are you NUTS?
Joel: It's been suggested.

[Mary reads to Dr. Mierzwiak out of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"; the lines are from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard"]
Mary: How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind/
Trailer:

Film Review: 44 INCH CHEST (2009)

Director: Malcolm Venville
Writers: Louis Mellis, David Scinto
Running time: 95 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Drama/Crime
UK Release date: 15^th January 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 28^th January 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is one of those films I have wanted to see for some time now. From the writers of ‘Sexy Beast’ (a film I very much enjoyed) I was really looking forward to more of the same. I can see where they were going with it, but it didn’t quite have the same impact as their previous effort. I think the idea was solid enough, but what they did with it really didn’t quite work out (for me). I will tell you more after this brief summary.

When Colin Diamond’s wife, Liz, tells him she’s leaving him for another, he is devastated. He gets her to give him the name of the other man and he, and some friends, take him to a room for a talk. It is here where the majority of the action takes place. Even before the man is brought out of the cupboard they have him stashed in we have some quite explicit dialogue and flashbacks of what had transpired in the previous 24 hours. Colin’s ‘colleagues’, Meredith, Old Man Peanut, Archie and Mal have already softened ‘Loverboy’ up for him, but now it’s up to him to decide what’s to be done. Asking the others to leave the room, he talks through the various options open to him. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be looking into the disappearance of that waiter a few months back.

A very well made film with some very colourful characters and some great dialogue, but it does have the look and feel of a stage play. I guess this is because the majority of the action takes place in one room. One thing I cannot fault is the performances; everyone was superb! And so special mentions go to; Ray Winstone as Colin Diamond, Ian McShane as Meredith, John Hurt as Old Man Peanut, Tom Wilkinson as Archie and Stephen Dillane as Mal.

There is an awful lot of dialogue in this film and much of it contains extreme swearing, but much of it I found was quite philosophical. I think the trouble is, there’s far too much of it and, at times, it doesn’t help the story move along very smoothly. I found the ‘hallucination’ scenes very confusing and they got more bizarre the longer they went on! It ended up being quite a strange film in the end that left me kind of flat. I can’t really recommend it for that reason, but if anyone out there feels like giving it a look I’d be interested to hear what you made of it.

My score: 5.7/10

IMDb Score: 5.8/10 (based on 3,175 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0914837/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 40/100 (based on 77 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 36/100 (based on 13,005 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/44_inch_chest/#

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Warning: Strong Language.
Archie: Are you hearing this? What you've done? What you're responsible for? Are you proud of yourself? Was it worth it? All this pain.
Mal: Fucked his wife. Fucked his fucking wife. You fucking wife-fucker, you. You fucked his fucking wife, you wife-fucking cunt. Another man's wife. Are you stupid, are you fucking thick, you cunt? Fuck another man's wife? You don't do that. It ends in this. This. This is where it ends. You listening, you hearing me? Shitter? Little shitter?
Archie: You should have got your own fucking wife to fuck!
Mal: You're in deep shit mate. You're in the worst possible place a man could find himself.

Colin Diamond: I want you dead. I think you owe me that. I do. Because that's what you've done to me. You've fucking killed me.

Colin Diamond: I bet she's never farted in front of you, has she? Has she? No- I thought not. I mean, that's not romantic, is it? You just want the perfume clouds, the romance, the magicalness of it all- the false crap. Well, I've got news for you, Sonny Jim- that's not love. Love's hard work, hard graft. Love can be murder. Love is watching what she wants to watch on the telly, taking her the papers and a cup of tea on a Sunday morning in bed and inquiring to how she might be feeling, "You all right, Liz?" whilst plumping up her pillows. And she might get irritated by that, but you gotta take it on the chin and broad shoulders, because she's the queen, and you're the bee- the Dad. And so what if you cook the dinner and you get no thanks for it? Don't do it if you expect thanks. That's not why you do it. And yes, you forgot the dripping tap for ten years, and then one day- for whatever reason, fuck knows why- you get off your fat ass and you find yourself under the sink with a spanner in your hand and you're smiling like fuck- because you know it's gonna please her. And if she don't notice it, she don't notice it- it don't matter. It's fixed. It's plumbed. It's the maintenance of a marriage, the nuts and bolts, the nitty gritty, the reality- that's life, that's love, it ain't easy- nobody ever said it was gonna be easy. It's fucking hard work. But, you know, love can be... lovely. One day, you'll be in the bathroom, having a shave in front of the mirror, all soap on your face, and you feel her approaching you. She's hung a pair of tights, hanging on the radiator. And as she leaves, she pats you on the bum and gives you a tiny smile- almost not a smile- but a smile nevertheless. And it will mean the world to you- the whole. incredible world- the fucking universe.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.44inchchestfilm.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: BURKE & HARE (2010)

Director: John Landis
Running time: 88 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Thriller
UK Release date: 29^th October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 17^th September 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

When I first heard they were making a film about the notorious grave robbers and murderers, Burke and Hare, I was quite interested. When I latterly heard it was to be a comedy, I was not only quite taken aback, but also quite annoyed! If you know their story you’ll know they were quite brutal and evil men who quite deserved their ultimate fate. To trivialise it seems quite wrong to me; however, I decided to face my demons and give it a viewing. Now, I always try to watch a film with an open mind and look for the good ahead of the (usually quite obvious) bad. With this in mind, I put aside my preconceptions and hit play on my Sky+ box. I’ll give you my thoughts after this brief summary (bet you knew I was gonna do that).

In the early nineteenth century Edinburgh was the place to be to learn about human anatomy. Two colleges competed for students and, consequently, dead bodies for them to study. Dr Robert Knox ran the Barclay School of Surgery and Dr Munro ran the Royal College of Surgeons. Munro was also a politician and used his position to ensure his school had a good supply of bodies from public executions and the like. This left Knox needing a supplier and this came in the form of two Irish immigrants, William Burke and William Hare. They stumbled into the business when one of Hare’s lodgers dies and they discover that Dr Knox would pay them good money for the corpse. They begin with grave robbing but find that a bit too much like hard work. Cutting out the middle man (as it were) they progress to murdering their victims. After a while the missing people are, well, missed and the local Militia begin to investigate… Is this the end for Burke and Hare? Well, if you know the story then you’ll know the answer, but I’m not going to say here or the Spoiler Police militia will have me strung up by dawn.

Quite a well made film that doesn’t tax the grey cells too much, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from John Landis. As far as the acting goes, everyone was good without any stand-out performances. Simon Pegg as William Burke and Andy Serkis as William Hare both did a decent job. Tom Wilkinson was quite proficient as Doctor Robert Knox, as was Tim Curry as Doctor Monro. Honourable mentions go to; Jessica Hynes as Lucky, Ronnie Corbett as Captain Tam McLintoch and Isla Fisher as Ginny Hawkins. Also there are nice cameo’s from Christopher Lee as Old Joseph, Paul Whitehouse as gentleman Drunk, Michael Winner as Gentleman Passenger, Stephen Merchant as Hollyrood Footman and Jenny Agutter as Lucy.

The film begins with the statement; “This is a true story, apart from the parts that are not”. Unfortunately, the filmmakers have kept up with the tradition of making the vast majority of the story up from “the parts that are not”. This is not the only problem for me, I found that in trying to make the main protagonists likeable they totally trivialised the positively evil acts they were committing, which, I’m sure many will agree, isn’t right. There’s a sub-plot about Burke using his money to finance a theatrical production that is used for some justification of his part in the crimes they were committing, but it didn’t really work (for me at least). It’s not all bad though, I did like some of the less obvious humour on show, the nod to Greyfriars Bobby was quite a welcome distraction but over all I’m afraid I didn’t find it charming, funny, or ever “Outrageously Funny” as I’ve seen on a poster or two. Over all, yes, there are a few laughs on the way, but it soon falls flat on its arse and doesn’t really get up again… Not recommended.

My Score: 3.7/10.

IMDb Score: 6.1/10 (based on 4,467 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1320239/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36/100 (based on 45 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burke_and_hare/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
William Burke: She is an actress, not a whore.
William Hare: What’s the difference?

LINKS:
Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BurkeandHareMovie
Trailer: