Reviews

This film is an object lesson in how to take an excellent children's book and ruin it. The child acting is dreadful, especially Titty and Roger, and the whole film is an embarrassment to watch. If you liked the book please don't watch this.

I went to see this with reservations. I had heard that it bore little resemblance to the book, but I was on the whole pleasantly suprised. The acting is uniformally excellent (apart from the Young Fanny who had the worst fake English accent I've ever heard) especially from Frances O'Connor and Harold Pinter.

Although O'Connor was excellent, and the characterisation of Fanny worked in the context of the film, it would have been nice to see the character of Fanny from the book, which contrary to most opinions, I found to be very complex and interesting. This would be hard to bring across in a film, and when you remember the diabolical TV version, it is easy to understand why they did it as they did.

I thought the addition of the slavery issue was a bit crass, and there were too many needless jokes, Mansfield Park isn't Emma however you rejig it) but on the whole this wasn't too bad.

This is one of the best of the recent Jane Austen films, from one of her weaker books. Emma Thompson has done a fine job of the script, not slavishly remaining faithful to the book but not abandoning it either.

The cast are uniformally excellent. I especially liked Kate Winslet's Marianne and Alan Rickman's Brandon. Emma Thompson's performance is almost good enough to make you forget that she is far to old for the part. The supporting cast are all excellent.

Ang Lee's direction shows the same skill that it did in the excellent Eat Drink Man Woman and the scenery and costumes are beautiful (perhaps too beautiful).

This is more romantic and less comic than say Emma, and Thompson's script wisely stays away from the kind of set-piece gags seen in the recent film of Emma. All in all, this is excellent.

This is an OK adaptation, but not as good as the TV version. The actors are generally alright but I found Jeremy Northam rather wet as Mr Knightley, particularly compared to Mark Strong in the TV version. Gwyneth Paltrow is OK and her English accent is pretty good but again, I preferred Kate Beckinsale's Emma. There are excellent support performances from Toni Collette, Juliet Stephenson and Sophy Thompson.

The script is often played too much for laughs, the book is a comedy, but there are too many set-piece gags here, and also the Frank Churchill subplot is almost completely absent.

My biggest criticism is the scenery. It is far too lush. England has never been like this. It looks like a chocolate box. Only Americans would make it like this.

Despite these criticisms I enjoyed this film but would recommend the TV adaptation more.

This is a great adaptation. It is well cast and all the performances are excellent. I particularly liked the performances of David Morrissey as Bradley Hellstone and Stephen Mackintosh as John Rokesmith.

The script remains fairly faithful to the book, and the costumes and scenery give a very convincing Victorian look.

This is a very boring drama. It is just people talking all the time, without anything happening. It doesn't help that, with the exception of Jeremy Irons most of the acting is pretty iffy.

There is far to much naval-gazing going on here, and though this is also a fault of the book as well, the endless voiceovers make it even more pronounced here.

This is a big disappointment. The main problem is the acting. Sylvestre le Touzel is pretty poor as Fanny, and the rest are not much better, everybody is very stilted and unnatural. Also the camerawork is very 1980's ie cramped and jumpy, compared with the likes of 1995's P&P, for example.

The script is, if anything too faithful to the book, and there are some cringe worthy expressions that should have been cut.

In every way this is far inferior to the recent film version, which though it took huge liberties with the book, seemed far more faithful to the spirit of the book and was far more enjoyable.

This is superb. The Coen Brother's have given the world another classic after Fargo, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink. There are so many great quotes in this film and the perfomances are excellent.

Particularly good is John Goodman's Walter and in a smaller roles Philip Seymour Hoffman as Brant and John Turturro as Jesus. In the main role Jeff Bridges is totally convincing as 'the Dude'.

This is easily the best Trek film, only Wrath of Khan comes close. The action scenes are spectacular and the story and performances are brilliant. Particularly good is Brent Spiner's Data and Alice Krige's Borg Queen. Not only is this the best Trek film ever but it is one of the best Sci-fi films ever.

This is not bad, but it is not good either. The one thing that saves this film is the excellent performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg as the adult Jane. Gainsbourg is totally convincing and 'feels' right for the role. Some of the other acting is of a much lower quality, I was particularly disappointed by Anna Paquin, who after giving such a great performance in The Piano is disappointing as the Young Jane. Elle Macpherson is predictably awful, but her part is so small that it doesn't spoil the film much.

In adapting quite a long book for the screen, I suppose something has to give, and as in all adaptations of Jane Eyre, the St. John Rivers section is botched. Despite these criticisms, I did enjoy the film and probably would have done more if I hadn't read the book.

This is a great film, much better than the Full Monty. It perfectly catches the mood of helplessness in a run down community. The performances are all excellent, particularly from Pete Posselthwaite as the band leader Danny, and Stephen Tompkinson as his son.

Despite having a depressing subject matter, this film is at times funny and very moving.

This is an excellent adaptation, and in the ranks of Austen films/TV ranks with the recent P&P adaptation. The performances are great across the board but particular standouts are Amanda Root's Anne and Sophie Thompson's hilarious Mary. Considering that it is fairly short, the scripwriter has done well to keep all the important bits of the book.

Where to start? This film is terrible in so many ways. There's the stupid 'Gone with the wind' costumes, the fact that Darcy is obviously nice from the beginning, the culling of some of the most important scenes in the book,and the worst ending to a film ever. Also this is revoltingly 'olde England', only Americans would have made this. This bears no comparison to the wonderful TV adaptation. Not only one of the worst literary adaptations ever but one of the worst films ever.