Change Your Image
Zhivago-5
Reviews
Up the Junction (1968)
Formative years
This movie had a profound effect on me when I first craned my neck to see it from the front row of the Haymarket cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne. I was sixteen years old and on date with a guy that had a rich father, a triumph spitfire and the personality of deadwood. I fell deeply in love with Suzy Kendall knowing that it should have been Dennis Waterman. I saw this movie every night for two weeks. It captures those times exquisitely, almost painfully. I just need to hear the opening theme to be transported back. The clash of cultures, the poverty on both sides of the class divide. Polly had money but was surrounded by shallowness and snobbery. Her friends up the junction had loyalty, camaraderie and fun, but struggled to survive, scamming their way from pay day to pub, who was the poorer? Manfred Mann's excellent score insinuates it's way into the fabric of the movie, haunting and evocative. Give this one a chance, you won't regret it.
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Evocative
From the deadpan delivery of the matchless Alec Guinness through the three dimensional passion of Julie Christie in one of her finest roles, to the sincere sensitivity of Omar Sharif, this film has stars in it's firmament to dazzle the milky way. Rod Steiger is menacingly sleazy, Ralph Richardson utterly convincing in his despair at a world gone mad. A complex tale interweaving a love story with the Russian Revolution, the fear and deprivation of those dark years, the hope when love survives, really against the odds. The camera work is spectacular, as is the scenery and the music. Don't miss it.
Sitcom (1998)
leaving a sinking ship
This film is entirely without merit and one wonders at the mentality of the director. It is a crude and tasteless attempt to parody something, although what that is never becomes clear. Does it work as a metaphor? Not for anything of any benefit to anyone. The characters are so unattractive and unpleasant that any point ( if there is one) is lost because no-one could care less. I watched this film on Sky udirect and if they had a money back guarantee I'd be £2.99 better off. Don't waste your time on this garbage.
Beautiful Thing (1996)
Strip away the hollywood gloss
The one thing the British have always been able to do, is to make a movie that accurately captures the heart of a story without coating it in sugar. Beautiful Thing is a case in point. Life on a London housing estate is neither portrayed as all bad or all good, and the legendary camaraderie of the 'typical' cockney is exposed as being a sham invention of Ealing Comedies and the London tourist board. These people have problems, don't we all, but it doesn't mean they can't recognise a beautiful thing when they see one. This is an ensemble piece that each player can be proud of. It is uncompromising which is often a euphemism for grim. It reveals it's characters as real people , with faults and prejudices. The ending is whimsical but ultimately satisfying, and the expression on Sandra's face as she silently dares the watching crowd to challenge her son, is as powerful an image as I have seen in cinema. A hidden gem-see it.