By Tim Greaves
The year is 1962. Aggrieved when Algeria is granted independence by President Charles de Gaulle, the militant underground alliance known as the Organisation Armée Secrète botches an attempt to assassinate him. Within months many of the conspirators, including their top man, have been captured and executed. The remaining Oas leaders, bereft of funds, take refuge in Austria and warily decide to contract an outside professional to do the job for them. They settle on a British assassin (Edward Fox), who chooses to be identified as Jackal. The Oas orchestrate several bank robberies to cover his exorbitant fee of half a million dollars whilst the mechanics of the plotting are left entirely to Jackal's discretion. After capturing and interrogating another alliance member, the French authorities learn of Jackal's existence and, suspecting another attempt on de Gaulle's life may be imminent, they set their best man – Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel (Michel Lonsdale) – on his tail.
The year is 1962. Aggrieved when Algeria is granted independence by President Charles de Gaulle, the militant underground alliance known as the Organisation Armée Secrète botches an attempt to assassinate him. Within months many of the conspirators, including their top man, have been captured and executed. The remaining Oas leaders, bereft of funds, take refuge in Austria and warily decide to contract an outside professional to do the job for them. They settle on a British assassin (Edward Fox), who chooses to be identified as Jackal. The Oas orchestrate several bank robberies to cover his exorbitant fee of half a million dollars whilst the mechanics of the plotting are left entirely to Jackal's discretion. After capturing and interrogating another alliance member, the French authorities learn of Jackal's existence and, suspecting another attempt on de Gaulle's life may be imminent, they set their best man – Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel (Michel Lonsdale) – on his tail.
- 8/27/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This Britcom about a bunch of locals trying to save their village pub by writing a Fifty Shades of Grey-style bestseller is hammily acted and clunkily scripted
There are one or two moments of amiably daft silliness here, but really this British comedy is ropey: dully and depressingly lit, hammily acted and clunkily scripted (except for one or two lines that I suspect are down to Miles Jupp who provided “additional material”). It is nowhere near TV standards. Yet film-maker Tony Britten has assembled quite a cast, including Eileen Atkins as a Peggy-Ramsay-style literary agent and John Hurt as her boozy, moustachioed colleague.
Continue reading...
There are one or two moments of amiably daft silliness here, but really this British comedy is ropey: dully and depressingly lit, hammily acted and clunkily scripted (except for one or two lines that I suspect are down to Miles Jupp who provided “additional material”). It is nowhere near TV standards. Yet film-maker Tony Britten has assembled quite a cast, including Eileen Atkins as a Peggy-Ramsay-style literary agent and John Hurt as her boozy, moustachioed colleague.
Continue reading...
- 9/1/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Tony Britten’s strained account of Elizabethan madrigalist John Wilbye’s sexual adventures lacks passion
Tony Britten combined music and mummery to leavening effect in Peace and Conflict, his 2013 film on his composer namesake Benjamin. His latest makes starchy work of a notionally sexier subject – Elizabethan madrigalist John Wilbye’s saucy relations with his patrons – by having rep actors roam heritage sites, declaiming stylised period dialogue; bland cutaways to a modern chorister’s love life strain to illustrate the loin-stirring capabilities of Wilbye’s music.
Continue reading...
Tony Britten combined music and mummery to leavening effect in Peace and Conflict, his 2013 film on his composer namesake Benjamin. His latest makes starchy work of a notionally sexier subject – Elizabethan madrigalist John Wilbye’s saucy relations with his patrons – by having rep actors roam heritage sites, declaiming stylised period dialogue; bland cutaways to a modern chorister’s love life strain to illustrate the loin-stirring capabilities of Wilbye’s music.
Continue reading...
- 9/10/2015
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Den Of Geek Jul 20, 2016
Want to know what British films are coming out this month? Then look no further than our UK movie release calendar...
Welcome to our regularly updated calendar of all the British movies due for release in UK cinemas over the coming months. So if you're keen to keep up-to-date on the latest in home grown cinema - from documentaries to dramas, and comedy horror to science fiction - this is the ideal post for you.
So here's what's coming up in the future.
22 July 2016
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Mark Rylance, Bill Hader
Details: An adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, this is a Us/UK/Canada co-production, but we're having it anyway.
K-Shop
Director: Dan Pringle
Cast: Ziad Abaza, Scot Williams, Darren Morfitt, Reece Noi
Details: The son of a kebab shop owner seeks revenge.
29 July 2016
The Intent
Director: Femi Oyeniran, Kalvadour Peterson
Cast: Dylan Duffus,...
Want to know what British films are coming out this month? Then look no further than our UK movie release calendar...
Welcome to our regularly updated calendar of all the British movies due for release in UK cinemas over the coming months. So if you're keen to keep up-to-date on the latest in home grown cinema - from documentaries to dramas, and comedy horror to science fiction - this is the ideal post for you.
So here's what's coming up in the future.
22 July 2016
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Mark Rylance, Bill Hader
Details: An adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, this is a Us/UK/Canada co-production, but we're having it anyway.
K-Shop
Director: Dan Pringle
Cast: Ziad Abaza, Scot Williams, Darren Morfitt, Reece Noi
Details: The son of a kebab shop owner seeks revenge.
29 July 2016
The Intent
Director: Femi Oyeniran, Kalvadour Peterson
Cast: Dylan Duffus,...
- 9/12/2014
- Den of Geek
The Hangover Part III | Something In The Air | Epic 3D | Benjamin Britten – Peace And Conflict | The Moth Diaries | My Neighbour Totoro/Grave Of The Fireflies | The King Of Marvin Gardens
The Hangover Part III (15)
(Todd Phillips, 2013, Us) Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, John Goodman, Justin Bartha, Melissa McCarthy. 100 mins
Here we go again, ostensibly for the last time, and if this doesn't capture the magic of the first Hangover it's at least less offensive than the second, which isn't much of a recommendation. An intervention over Alan's mental health and the hunt for Mr Chow is what sets in motion the Wtf escapades and male bonding this time, but it all feels a little forced and familiar. If anything, the "wolf pack" is now too tame.
Something In The Air (15)
(Olivier Assayas, 2012, Fra) Clément Métayer, Lola Créton. 122 mins
Assayas gets beyond the cliches of France's young, post-1968 revolutionaries,...
The Hangover Part III (15)
(Todd Phillips, 2013, Us) Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, John Goodman, Justin Bartha, Melissa McCarthy. 100 mins
Here we go again, ostensibly for the last time, and if this doesn't capture the magic of the first Hangover it's at least less offensive than the second, which isn't much of a recommendation. An intervention over Alan's mental health and the hunt for Mr Chow is what sets in motion the Wtf escapades and male bonding this time, but it all feels a little forced and familiar. If anything, the "wolf pack" is now too tame.
Something In The Air (15)
(Olivier Assayas, 2012, Fra) Clément Métayer, Lola Créton. 122 mins
Assayas gets beyond the cliches of France's young, post-1968 revolutionaries,...
- 5/25/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Although it feels a little homemade at times, this film switches effectively between dramatisation, documentary and contemporary performances of the composer's works
This drama-documentary, coinciding with Britten's centenary year, is unlikely to bring the composer to new audiences, but music lovers will find it illuminating and evocative, though in all honesty, it has BBC4 written all over it. It views the composer's life and work through the prism of his commitment to pacifism, from his liberal, progressive education to towering works such as the War Requiem, via flirtations with communism and a fateful visit to Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Director Tony Britten (no relation), a former composer, is clearly more intimate with the music than the finer points of film-making. It feels a little homemade at times, though the action switches effectively between dramatisation (newcomer Alex Lawther is very good as the fey, plummy young Britten), well-researched documentary (narrated...
This drama-documentary, coinciding with Britten's centenary year, is unlikely to bring the composer to new audiences, but music lovers will find it illuminating and evocative, though in all honesty, it has BBC4 written all over it. It views the composer's life and work through the prism of his commitment to pacifism, from his liberal, progressive education to towering works such as the War Requiem, via flirtations with communism and a fateful visit to Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Director Tony Britten (no relation), a former composer, is clearly more intimate with the music than the finer points of film-making. It feels a little homemade at times, though the action switches effectively between dramatisation (newcomer Alex Lawther is very good as the fey, plummy young Britten), well-researched documentary (narrated...
- 5/23/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ It's entirely appropriate that Tony Britten, an established and well-versed composer himself, delivers this spirited biopic about the life of Benjamin Britten (no relation). His idle feature film record is in plain view however, as the structure and format of Peace and Conflict (2013), his second feature, spoil the journey. He's adopted the quasi-documentary, splitting his film in two: one half, a fictionalised account with Alex Lawther turning in an engrossing performance as a young Britten during his Gresham's School days, the other a documentary with interviews, recitals and a distracting piece of narration by John Hurt.
The decision to intercut the narrative with voiceovers and archival photographs is occasionally enlightening but mostly lethargic. Sometimes the contrast between reality and fiction works well in biopics in order to unpick the material, but the narrative clout in Peace and Conflict is completely diluted by its documentary parentheses. It's possibly a matter of personal taste,...
The decision to intercut the narrative with voiceovers and archival photographs is occasionally enlightening but mostly lethargic. Sometimes the contrast between reality and fiction works well in biopics in order to unpick the material, but the narrative clout in Peace and Conflict is completely diluted by its documentary parentheses. It's possibly a matter of personal taste,...
- 5/23/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.