index | Colins home page | DVDs | >>> | viewed recently | viewed previously | to view | freebies | key
2 Dec 2008
| Viewed recently: | |||||||||
| OSS 117 se déchaine | 1963 | French* | A. Hunebelle | Espionage lark | (nc) | 100 | :2 | bw | |
| Corny and naive entertainment. | 5 | Dec 08 | |||||||
| Lost in la Mancha | 2002 | English | Keith Fulton | Documentary | 15 | 89 | 5:3 | ||
| Good for a making of..., but... | 6 | Nov 08 | |||||||
| Nuit dété en ville | 1990 | French* | Michel Deville | Drama | (nc) | 85 | 2:1 | ||
| Wordy, though with a certain attraction. | 5 | Nov 08 | |||||||
| La femme en bleu | 1972 | French* | Michel Deville | Bittersweet romance | (nc) | 95 | 3:2 | ||
| Like Raphaël, a film which sets music to images; like Raphaël, a story in which... (more... ) | 8 | Nov 08 | |||||||
| Kaos | 1984 | Italian | P. & V. Taviani | Period drama | (nc) | 187 | 4:3 | (i) | |
| Peasant cunning and humour in a harsh environment. | 6 | Nov 08 | |||||||
Viewed previously:
| |||||||||
| Adaptation | 2002 | English | Spike Jonze | Neurotic comedy | 15 | 110 | 4:3 | ||
| Entertaining dark humour with elements of pastiche, but not really memorable. (tcms view.) | 6 | June 07 | |||||||
| Adieu Bonaparte | 1985 | French* | Youssef Chahine | Historical drama | (nc) | 105 | 2:4 | Sept 07 | |
| Adieu plancher des vaches | 1999 | French* | Otar Iosseliani | Wry comedy | (nc) | 118 | 3:4 | ||
| Intriguing gentle portrayal of life as musical chairs. (tcms view.) | 8 | June 07 | |||||||
| The adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert | 1994 | English | Stephan Elliott | Camp comedy | 15 | 98 | 4:2 | ||
| The first half hour was hammy and unfunny. (tcm: boring) | 4 | Jan 08 | |||||||
| Laffaire du collier de la reine | 1946 | French* | Marcel lHerbier | Historical reconstruction | (nc) | 118 | :2 | ||
| The exact opposite of auteur cinema a self-effacingly accurate rendering (more... ). | 7 | Aug 07 | |||||||
| The African Queen | 1951 | English | John Huston | Romantic adventure | U | 100 | 5:3 | m | |
| Guileless adolescent yarn. (tcms view.) | 5 | July 07 | |||||||
| Les arpenteurs | 1972 | French* | Michel Soutter | Drama | (nc) | 80 | :3 | Apr 08 | |
| At the height of summer | 2000 | Viet. | Tran Anh Hung | Drama | PG | 108 | 3:3 | ||
| Uneventful; attractive in a home-decor or tourist magazine sort of way; horrid music (but... ). | 5 | Sept 08 | |||||||
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | English | Stanley Kubrick | Period drama | PG | 117 | 5:4 | ||
| Initially too slow, it becomes uncomfortable during Barrys extended abuse (more... ). | 8 | Dec 07 | |||||||
| Le beau mariage | 1982 | French | Eric Rohmer | Comedy drama | PG | 95 | 4:2 | ||
| I thought this a short story in the guise of a full-length film, but pleasant enough. (tcms view.) | 6 | Feb 07 | |||||||
| Bob le flambeur | 1955 | French | J.-P. Melville | Crime comedy | PG | 97 | 4:3 | bw | |
| Agreeable and atmospheric, but slow to get going. (tcm: stylish and amusing; lovely cars .) | 6 | Feb 07 | |||||||
| Capote | 2005 | English | Bennett Miller | Biographical drama | 15 | 109 | 4:3 | ||
| Creepily gripping: Capote himself (brilliantly portrayed) at first repulsive... (more...). | 7 | Dec 07 | |||||||
| The cave of the yellow dog | 2005 | Mongolian | B. Davaa | Location drama | U | 93 | 4 | ||
| Casts a spell through its innocent beauty, but in some respects unsatisfying. More... . | 7 | Apr 07 | |||||||
| Céline and Julie go boating | 1974 | French | Jacques Rivette | Experimental supernatural drama | 12 | 185 | 5:4 | john | |
| Enigmatic, probably meaningless, exuberent entertainment. (tcms view.) | 7 | Apr 07 | |||||||
| La chasse aux papillons | 1992 | French* | Otar Iosseliani | Drama | (nc) | 115 | :3 | ||
| Like Adieu plancher des vaches a kaleidoscope of eccentric personages and attractive images (more... ). | 6 | July 07 | |||||||
| Chocolat | 1988 | French | Claire Denis | Drama | PG | 99 | 4:3 | ||
| Elusive, ambiguous, poetical. More... . | 9 | Mar 07 | |||||||
| Chungking express | 1994 | Cantonese | Wong Kar-Wai | Romantic comedy | 12 | 101 | 4:3 | ||
| Stylish, hip, and visually gripping. (tcms view.) | 7 | July 07 | |||||||
| Colonel Redl | 1984 | German | István Szabó | Drama | 15 | 136 | 4:4 | ||
| An arresting drama, perhaps a little political. | 7 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| Danton | 1964 | French* | Stellio Lorenzi | Historical drama | (nc) | 120 | bw | ||
| Even hammier than Wajdas film, and with less dramatic intensity. | 5 | July 08 | |||||||
| Danton | 1982 | French | Andrzej Wajda | Historical drama | PG | 130 | 4:2 | ||
| A gripping, sombre portrayal. (tcms view.) | 8 | Apr 07 | |||||||
| Dekalog I, IX, X | 1988 | Polish | K. Kieslowski | Drama | 15 | 55 | :5 | ||
| Gloomy but grittily compelling, as his self-consciously arty French films fail to be. | 7 | Jan 08 | |||||||
| Le dîner de cons | 1998 | French | Francis Veber | Comedy | 15 | 76 | 4:2 | ||
| A simple very funny farce. | 7 | Apr 08 | |||||||
| Le dossier 51 | 1978 | French* | Michel Deville | Espionage drama | (nc) | 108 | :4 | ||
| Holds you in its sinister grip (and reminds you of 70s taste). | 6 | May 07 | |||||||
| The double life of Véronique | 1991 | Polish / French | Krzysztof Kieslowski | Drama | 15 | 93 | 4:4 | ||
| I love Preisners music but found the film painterly but impenetrable and pointless. More... . | 5 | Mar 07 | |||||||
| El | 1952 | Spanish | Luis Buñuel | Drama | (nc) | 82 | 3:3 | bw | |
| Unredeemed unpleasantness (we threw in the towel after an hour). (tcms view.) | 3 | Aug 07 | |||||||
| Les favoris de la lune | 1984 | French* | Otar Iosseliani | Drama | 15 | 100 | 3:4 | ||
| Like his other films, nostalgic, benign and balletic; but resembling them enough to cloy. | 6 | Dec 07 | |||||||
| Good bye Lenin! | 2003 | German | W. Becker | Comedy drama | 15 | 116 | 3:3 | ||
| Only moderately funny. | 6 | Sept 07 | |||||||
| Groundhog day | 1993 | English | Harold Ramis | Comedy fantasy | PG | 96 | 5:3 | ||
| A clever idea, but it limps along a little. | 6 | Feb 08 | |||||||
| Heat and dust | 1982 | English | James Ivory | Drama | 15 | 124 | 3:2 | m | |
| Languid. | 6 | Jan 08 | |||||||
| Lhomme de Rio | 1964 | French* | Ph. de Broca | Spoof thriller | U | 112 | 4:4 | July 07 | |
| Huit femmes | 2002 | French* | François Ozon | Murder mystery | 15 | 105 | 4:4 | ||
| Joyful kitsch. | 8 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| In a lonely place | 1950 | English | Nicholas Ray | Drama | PG | 89 | 5:3 | bw | |
| Bogart plays a charmless brute allegedly personifying the director himself. (tcm: boring) | 4 | Mar 08 | |||||||
| In the mood for love | 2000 | Cantonese | Wong Kai-Wai | Romantic drama | PG | 97 | 4:4 | m | |
| Visually captivating, musically hypnotic, elliptical, reticent, and gentle. | 8 | Apr 08 | |||||||
| India song | 1975 | French* | Marguerite Duras | Experimental fantasy drama | (nc) | 118 | 4:4 | ||
| A tantalising mixture of tangoes, blues, mirrors and voices off; a convincing vision (more... ). | 9 | Mar 08 | |||||||
| Je tu il elle | 1975 | French* | C. Akerman | Drama | (nc) | 82 | 4:2 | bw | |
| Begins intriguingly and pinteresquely, and heads downhill. | 5 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| Jeanne Dielman ... | 1975 | French* | C. Akerman | Drama | (nc) | 195 | :4 | ||
| The first 3 hours are mesmerisingly banal; the violent ending perfectly believable. (More... ) | 7 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| Kind hearts and coronets | 1949 | English | Robert Hamer | Black comedy | PG | 98 | 5:4 | bw, m | |
| Moderately funny if you can disregard the upper class mannerisms. | 6 | Jan 08 | |||||||
| The leopard | 1962 | Italian | L. Visconti | Period drama | PG | 180 | 5:4 | ||
| A sumptuous, perhaps rather directionless, evocation. More... . | 7 | May 07 | |||||||
| Madame Bovary | 1991 | French | Claude Chabrol | Period romance | PG | 136 | 3:2 | ||
| Attractive to look at, superbly acted, but too much of a morality tale for my tastes. (tcms view.) | 7 | Mar 07 | |||||||
| Memento | 2000 | English | C. Nolan | Thriller | 15 | 108 | 5:4 | ||
| Intelligent and tantalising: an amusing reversal of the revenge movie. (tcms view.) | 7 | Aug 07 | |||||||
| Molière | 1978 | French* | A. Mnouchkine | Period drama | (nc) | 250 | 4:3 | ||
| Beautiful interiors (after Vermeer); unconvincing exteriors; very slow. | 5 | Oct 07 | |||||||
| The motorcycle diaries | 2004 | Spanish | Walter Salles | Road biopic | 15 | 120 | 4:2 | ||
| An engaging film with a conscience, but muted in its dramatic effect. | 6 | Mar 08 | |||||||
| Les petites vacances | 2006 | French* | Olivier Peyon | Drama | 12 | 90 | (tim) | ||
| I found this uninteresting, but perhaps I just didnt understand it well enough. | 4 | Aug 08 | |||||||
| Plein soleil | 1960 | French* | René Clément | Crime drama | PG | 113 | 5:2 | Dec 07 | |
| The portrait of a lady | 1996 | English | Jane Campion | Period drama | 12 | 138 | 3:3 | ||
| A stylish, slightly oppressive, tenebrist tale. (tcms view.) | 6 | Feb 07 | |||||||
| Pyaasa | 1957 | Hindi | Guru Dutt | Drama | (nc) | 146 | :4 | ||
| Begins slowly; thereafter effective as a musical, a love story, and social comment... (more... ) | 6 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| Raja | 2003 | French* | Jacques Doillon | Drama | (nc) | 112 | 2:4 | July 07 | |
| Raphaël ou le débauché | 1971 | French* | Michel Deville | Drama | (nc) | 104 | :4 | ||
| A love sorry whose sadness is veiled by enchanting visuals and music. Superbly acted. (More... ) | 8 | Oct 08 | |||||||
| Les rendez-vous dAnna | 1978 | French* | C. Akerman | Drama | (nc) | 120 | :4 | ||
| A sequence of filmed dialogues: rather colourless and uncinematographic. | 5 | Apr 08 | |||||||
| La répétition | 2001 | French* | C. Corsini | Drama | (nc) | 100 | 2:3 | ||
| Rather so-so. | 5 | July 08 | |||||||
| The return | 2003 | Russian | A. Zvyagintsev | Drama | 12 | 105 | 4:4 | (diana) | |
| Gripping and elusive without any believable purpose. (tcms view.) | 6 | Oct 07 | |||||||
| Rififi (du Rififi...) | 1955 | French | Jules Dassin | Classic crime caper | 12 | 117 | 4:4 | bw | |
| A dark but pleasing entertainment. (tcms view.) | 6 | May 07 | |||||||
| Russian ark | 2002 | Russian | A. Sokurov | Experimental | U | 95 | 5:1 | ||
| A visually beautiful longueur. (tcm: astonishing and dreamlike.) | 4 | Feb 07 | |||||||
| Saint Germain ... | 2003 | French* | Gérard Corbiau | Historical drama | (nc) | 90 | |||
| An attractive unfaithful realisation which adds a heart to a rather arid novel (more... ). | 6 | Mar 08 | |||||||
| The sheltering sky | 1990 | English | B. Bertolucci | Drama | 15 | 133 | 4:2 | ||
| Visually appealing melodrama about an American couple who make less and less sense. | 5 | Mar 08 | |||||||
| Les Templiers | 1961 | French* | Stellio Lorenzi | Historical drama | (nc) | 120 | bw | ||
| A riveting first half hour, with Phillip the Bel a Shakespearian monster... (more... ). | 6 | Feb 08 | |||||||
| Le temps retrouvé | 1999 | French | Raúl Ruiz | Drama | 18 | 155 | 4:3 | ||
| Stylish but disjointed and meaningless on its own. | 5 | May 08 | |||||||
| Ten canoes | 2006 | Aboriginal | Rolf de Heer | Ethnic docudrama | (nc) | 92 | |||
| A vivid picture of traditional Aboriginal life. | 6 | Feb 08 | |||||||
| 36 Quai des Orfèvres | 2004 | French* | Olivier Marchal | Crime thriller | 15 | 111 | 4:2 | Jan 08 | |
| Water | 2006 | Hindi | Deepa Mehta | Drama | PG | 117 | :2 | ||
| A sad story told with gentleness. (tcms view.) | 9 | Aug 07 | |||||||
| Where angels fear to tread | 1991 | English | C. Sturridge | Drama | PG | 107 | 3:2 | m | |
| Pleasant as social comedy; unconvincing and forgettable as drama. (tcms view.) | 6 | July 07 | |||||||
| The year of living dangerously | 1982 | English | Peter Weir | Political drama | PG | 109 | 4:2 | ||
| Atmospheric but rather trite melodrama, unsatisfactorily resolved. (tcms view.) | 5 | July 07 | |||||||
| To view: | |||||||||
| Being there | 1979 | English | Hal Ashby | Satirical comedy | 15 | 123 | 4:3 | (i) | |
| Chaos | 1999 | Japanese | Hideo Nakata | Crime thriller | 15 | 103 | 4: | ||
| Closely observed trains | 1966 | Czech | Jiri Menzel | Drama | 15 | 88 | 4:3 | (i) | |
| The colour of pomegranates | 1969 | Armenian | S. Parajanov | Drama | U | 69 | 5:3 | ||
| Dekalog II-V | 1988 | Polish | K. Kieslowski | Drama | 15 | 277 | :5 | ||
| Diva | 1981 | French | J.-J. Beineix | Cult crime drama | 15 | 112 | 4:3 | (seen) | |
| Djomeh | 1989 | Farsi* | H. Yektapanah | Romantic drama | (nc) | 94 | 4 | ||
| Fanny & Alexander | 1982 | Swedish | Ingmar Bergman | Period drama | 15 | 310 | 5:4 | (i) | |
| The garden of the Finzi-Continis | 1971 | Italian* | Vittorio de Sica | Second world war drama | (nc) | 95 | 5:3 | ||
| Historias mínimas | 2002 | Spanish | Carlos Sorin | Comedy drama | 15 | 87 | 5:4 | ||
| Indochine | 1991 | French* | Régis Wargnier | Period romance | 15 | 151 | 4:2 | ||
| Insomnia | 2002 | English | Christopher Nolan | Psychological crime thriller | 15 | 113 | 5:4 | ||
| Ivans childhood | 1962 | Russian | A. Tarkovsky | Drama | PG | 90 | 5:3 | (i) | |
| Le libertin | 2000 | French* | Gabriel Aghion | Period comedy | 15 | 102 | 3:1 | ||
| Merci pour le chocolat | 2000 | French* | Claude Chabrol | Crime thriller | PG | 100 | 3:4 | ||
| Mulholland Drive | 2001 | English | David Lynch | Psychological thriller | 15 | 140 | 5:4 | ||
| The scent of green papaya | 1993 | Viet. | Tran Anh Hung | Period drama | U | 99 | 5:3 | (seen) | |
| Spirited away | 2001 | Japanese | Hayao Miyazaki | Animated fantasy | PG | 124 | 4:4 | ||
| Star Wars | 1977 | English | George Lucas | Infantile scifi yarn | U | 115 | 5:4 | ||
| 37°2 le matin | 1986 | French* | J.-J. Beneix | Drama | 18 | 116 | 5:3 | ||
| Les rois maudits | 1972 | French* | Claude Barma (set of 6 DVDs) | Historical drama (made for TV) | (nc) | 630 | |||
| Banco à Bangkok | 1964 | French* | A. Hunebelle OSS 117 series (set of 5 DVDs) | Espionage larks | (nc) | 120 | :1 | ||
| Furia à Bahia | 1965 | French* | 100 | :1 | |||||
| À tout coeur à Tokyo | 1966 | French* | 100 | :1 | |||||
| Pas de roses pour OSS 117 | 1968 | French* | 100 | :1 | |||||
| Hotel Monterey | 1972 | (silent) | C. Akerman (set of 5 DVDs) | Drama | (nc) | 60 | |||
| News from home | 1976 | French* | Documentary | (nc) | 102 | :2 | |||
| La chute des feuilles | 1968 | Georgian* | Otar Iosseliani (set of 7 DVDs) | Reality drama | (nc) | 100 | :3 | bw | |
| Il était une fois un merle chanteur | 1970 | Georgian* | Drama | (nc) | 82 | :4 | bw | ||
| Pastorale | 1976 | Georgian* | Drama | (nc) | 75 | :3 | bw | ||
| Et la lumière fut | 1989 | Diola* | Drama | (nc) | 102 | :2 | |||
| Brigands (chapitre VII) | 1995 | Georgian* | Drama | (nc) | 120 | :3 | |||
| Lundi matin | 2002 | French | Drama | PG | 126 | 4:2 | |||
| La petite bande | 1983 | French* | Michel Deville (set of 6 DVDs) | Drama | (nc) | 91 | 3:3 | ||
| La lectrice | 1988 | Erotic comedy | 18 | 98 | 4:3 | ||||
| La divine poursuite | 1997 | Drama | (nc) | 102 | :1 | ||||
| Freebies: | |||||||||
| The battleship Potemkin | 1925 | silent | S. Eisenstein | Historical drama | PG | 65 | 5:4 | m | |
| Belleville rendez-vous | 2003 | French | Sylvain Chomet | Cartoon | 12 | 77 | 4:4 | (seen) | |
| The criminal life of Archibald de la Cruz | 1955 | Spanish | Luis Buñuel | Crime black comedy | (nc) | 72 | 3:4 | bw | |
| Death of a salesman | 1985 | English | V. Schlöndorff | Drama | PG | 130 | 3:2 | m | |
| La dolce vita | 1960 | Italian | Federico Fellini | Classic drama | 15 | 170 | 5:4 | bw | |
| Godzilla | 1954 | Japanese | Inoshiro Honda | Monster horror | PG | 92 | 4:2 | bw | |
| Hamlet | 1990 | English | F. Zeffirelli | Tragedy | PG | 128 | 4:1 | (seen) | |
| A handful of dust | 1987 | English | C. Sturridge | Period drama | PG | 114 | 4:2 | m | |
| Kiss of the spider woman | 1985 | English | Hector Babenco | Drama | 15 | 115 | 4:2 | ||
| The last emperor | 1987 | English | B. Bertolucci | Epic biopic | 15 | 209 | 4:2 | m | |
| Local hero | 1983 | English | Bill Forsyth | Comedy drama | PG | 107 | 4:3 | ||
| Metropolis | 1926 | (silent) | Fritz Lang | Science fantasy | PG | 119 | 5:3 | bw, m | |
| Notorious | 1946 | English | A. Hitchcock | Romantic thriller | U | 100 | 5:5 | (m), bw | |
| Le rayon vert | 1986 | French | Eric Rohmer | Comedy drama | PG | 94 | 4:4 | (seen) | |
| Rebecca | 1940 | English | A. Hitchcock | Romantic thriller | PG | 125 | 5:3 | m | |
| The whistle blower | 1986 | English | Simon Langton | Spy thriller | PG | 99 | 3:2 | m | |
Key
Descriptions are based on those in the Radio Times guide to films (2007). The third column gives the language spoken in the film. An asterisk after an unseen film indicates that no English subtitles are provided (though there may be subtitles in some language less recondite than Georgian); after a seen film, it indicates that it was seen without subtitles.
The number in black is the number of stars assigned by the Radio Times guide; the number in red is one greater than the number of Ts assigned by the Télérama Guide du cinéma chez soi (2004). Where a film is not reviewed in one of my other guides I instead give in blue a rating from the Guide DVD 2008. Unfortunately this awards scores in the range from 1-7 in reverse order, so I convert the scores as follows: {7,6}→1; {5,4}→2; 3→3; 2→4; 1→5.
DVDs viewed are those we have watched at home (owned or borrowed) since buying a DVD player in Jan 2007. Criticisms (and marks out of 10) on this page are by Colin. There are links to additional comments by both of us. Roughly speaking:
I often dont comment on films in French because of my imperfect understanding of them.
The date in the last column is the month of viewing.
Good films weve seen at the cinema include Diva, the Scent of green papaya, the Ian MacKellan Richard III, the Remains of the day, the Lives of others (all 9), and the Kenneth Branagh Loves labours lost (8). Bad films include 8½ (4), Babel (4), and Breaking the waves (3).
DVDs to view are those we have bought but not yet watched.
Freebies are DVDs given away with newspapers or as publicity. A couple of them are films we have seen in the past.
index | Colins home page | DVDs | >>> | viewed recently | viewed previously | to view | freebies | key