Articles + Quotes on Film & TV

Most of the sports films that have been made, have had very Hollywood plot lines. It was almost a recipe. Underdog team/coach/player/ whatever, trying to do something. A few montages of things going badly, then a winning formula, or new coach/player that tells them "they just have to believe in themselves" or teaches them how to work together with a few gimmicks. Which means, when you watch a well written film like Moneyball, you are completely unprepared by the realism and length of film that really tells you the true story. Or close to it, at least. With Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillan (Mr Zaillan wrote screenplays for The Interpreter, American Gangster and Clear and Present Danger) writing the screenplay, Brad Pitt portraying the character listed and the direction is tight and without any excess scenes, Bennet Miller was nominated for an Academy Award for his work with the film Capote - its a film worth watching for the all of the above and the finished product that ...

This is quite different from the version released in 1997, more angst and some drama, instead of the cutesy comedy from the first. This has some comedic moments as well, thanks mostly to Stephen Fry and Robert Sheehan's characters. And Christopher Eccleston's as well, come to that. His introduction and subsequent scenes are all worth watching. Mr Sheehan appeared to be portraying, more or less a PG version of Nathan in this, which worked rather well. Mr Fry was portraying the character Professor Mildeye in the film, which suits his well known intelligence and articulation perfectly. I quite enjoyed it, thanks in part from the tight script and the believable (kind of) special effects. There was not anything overly high tech, but instead the production team kept things simple. Less is more, in this case, worked well and meant that the focus was on the storyline and characters. Five Stars!

Impressive and attention catching title. Equally impressive and entertaining film. The basis is, as the title suggests, bringing salmon fishing to the dry and arid region of Yemen. Its a seemingly crazy idea, but as the film progresses and takes hold in your imagination, so does the idea. And into reality. Not just in the Sheik's, played by Amr Waked or in Harriet's played by Emily Blunt. It spreads to sceptic fish expert Dr Alfred Jones, played by Ewan McGregor. And then harsh, demanding and slightly overzealous PR for the government Mrs Patricia Maxwell, played slightly over the top by Kristin Scott Thomas. Her role brings a touch of spice to this comedy with romantic undertones. This film is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, a man who might be called famous for directing many similar films that focus on a miracle or an idea based on faith and maybe a smidgeon of science or simply a way of life that simply needs protecting. He's done well here also, as has the screenwr...