Stars - Tamsin Greig, Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Jessica Barden
Director - Stephen Frears
Memorable Quote - 'Why does the asshole always get the girl?'
Review - Tamara Drewe is a young journalist who, since leaving her sleepy hometown, has had a nose job and flourished into a new woman, much to the surprise of her former flame Andy, the philandering writer who turned her down, and all those who knew her. Negotiating a slippery slope between new toy Ben, whose good looks hide a selfish and childish personality, writer Nicholas whose wife is on her last straw, and gardening Andy who can't admit his real feelings for her. Arterton is a good actress but she seems only interested in ditzy or uninteresting roles, as here; Greig provides the strongest character, and in fact her plotline is far more interesting than the love triangle described above. As she tries hard not to break down in the wake of her husband's affairs, she eventually falls instead for an American writer staying at their writer's retreat - which happens to be one of the best money-making ideas I've heard in a while. The value in this film comes from the effort put in - making up songs for drummer Ben's band to play and sing in, performed well by Cooper with his heavily underlined eyes, is a clear example; the character of Jody, while a little melodramatic in terms of the script and plot, is nevertheless played well by Barden, and in all it's not too painful to watch. In parts you might even call it enjoyable. 3/5
#2 - BRASSED OFF
Stars - Pete Poselthwaite, Ewan McGregor, Tara Fitzgerald, Stephen Tompkinson
Director - Mark Herman
Memorable Quote - 'How the hell do you die happy?'
Review - 'Brassed Off' is a little dated in its feel, particularly given that it is rooted very firmly in a certain timescale. It certainly isn't the only movie made about the miner's strikes, and not the only one about a band, but probably the only one that combines the two. Poselthwaite is heartwarming as the ill old man who depends on the brass band to give him a reason to live, while his son's life falls apart. Tompkinson is not the best of actors, and even Ewan McGregor's shabby accent fades away now and then - it's like half of the cast keep forgetting they're supposed to be up North. The few political messages scattered clearly throughout the film are a little too obvious, though it does have its humorous moments and a few good lines. I suppose it was a creature of it's time, and although it has not lasted well, there are a lot of well-known English actors involved and it stands as a testament to the feeling at the time and the personal struggles of those going through redundancy. I won't bother watching it again, but it filled up a bit of time when nothing else was on television. 2.5/5
#3 - GAME OF THRONES SEASON 1
Stars - Sean Bean, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, Mark Addy, Harry Lloyd
Director - Daniel Minahan et al
Memorable Quote - 'Winter is coming'
Review - I'm reviewing this television show mostly because I am a huge fan of the book series, and because, despite the fact that it finished a while ago now, it's still generating a lot of buzz. What was so great about it? Well, for a start, it managed to capture the epic feel of George R R Martin's fantasy world without drifting into the ridiculous, and sticks very closely to the books - even taking many lines directly from the book. The casting decisions made were excellent: Jaime, Ned, Tyrion, Cersei, Joffrey, Daenerys were all perfect. There were flaws with other characters: Catelyn was not the right look, neither was Sansa - they were supposed to both be very pretty and also resemble each other closely, hence why everyone seemed inexplicably to be in love with them. Renly, too, was neither handsome nor charming enough. It's also true that a lot of racy scenes were added just for viewer appeal, something that appears to be a trend in the US at the moment which I don't feel translates properly over here: it becomes a joke that everyone is walking around naked constantly, rather than something you can take seriously. I also don't think it was necessary. The drama of the story itself, the settings and the special effects, should have been enough to carry it through. Yes, there were some explicit scenes in the book, but I saw many more in the show. Also, some things could not possibly be represented, which is a shame - a lot of story arcs were longer and contained much internal torment in the book, which of course cannot be shown on the screen. Tyrion's stay in the sky cells is an excellent example of this. A good effort has been made to stay as faithful to the books as possible, however, which I applaud, as it would have been so easy to present a highly simplified version. It certainly isn't possible to show every single character just yet, as we've seen from the fact that Tommen appears to be invisible and Rickon only popped up when it became convenient. I eagerly await the second series - with the way events unfold in the books, if they carry on as they have, it should be something to really look forward to. 5/5
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