Reviews

With nods not only to Witchfinder General (1968), but also The Mask Of Satan (1960), Witchfinder is a very pleasing live-action debut for director Colin Clarke, following two animated shorts.

It's a fairly simple tale of witchery and revenge, but perfectly suited to the slim running time. The film's real trump card is an engaging visual design - heavy on autumnal reds, yellows and browns, it strikingly utilises the woodland setting and claustrophobic interiors.

As The Witch, Valerie Meachum is suitably menacing, particularly at the film's climax.

Is this a taster for a more fully fledged project? Let's hope so, as on this evidence Clarke has a great flair for capturing barren landscapes and locations, which is screaming out for a wider canvas. Well worth a look.

This is truly one of the finest series to come out of Britain. It took writer Flannery 15 years to get the series made, and when it was eventually produced the UK channel BBC2 spent their entire drama budget for the year on it. However, it was a fine investment.

The lives of four friends from Newcastle are followed from 1964 to 1995, against a backdrop of massive social and political change. It says much for the quality of the writing and the performances of the principal actors that you find yourself getting heavily involved with the characters' lives and caring a great deal for them. The leads have gone on to further successes, but this series catches them all early in their careers, and on astonishing form.

It was, in hindsight, a good thing that it took so long to get the show made. Flannery's original play ended in 1980, but the elongated production process enabled him to write more and more about the characters' fortunes, and take them another 15 years into the future. The most changed character was Geordie, who served in the army in Rhodesia in the original play, but finds himself instead in swinging London in a strip club in the finished series.

Do yourself a favour. Pick up the DVD set, and savour 14 hours of top television. It will make you think, it will move you, and we will never see its like again.

Just a couple of days ago, I made the truly wonderful discovery that one of my all time favourite movies had finally been given a DVD release.

My immediate reaction? "About Bloody Time!!!" (even if the release wasn't in the UK - time to get importing from the US...) I can't describe to you the impact that this film had on me the first time I saw it, when it was broadcast by BBC2 in the UK way back in 1989.

Others here have covered the basic premise in depth, so I won't recover old ground. I'll just cover a few points which might tell you what this film has meant to me over the years.

1. I have never seen a film which reflects so well the realisation that hits you when you realise that your life is about to change forever, and there's nothing you can do about it

2. The way in which Fandango portrays the breaking up of a group of friends who think that their camaraderie is indestructible has never been bettered.

3. As an indictment of the horror and futility of war, Fandango does a better job than many films which have addressed the subject directly. Fandango's message will stay with you long after you have ejected the DVD.

4. Neither Kevin Costner or director Kevin Reynolds have ever been better ("Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves"? No way!)

5. Few films have the ability to make me laugh and cry in equal measures like this one does.

6. There are very few films which stand up to repeated viewing for me. The DVD release of Fandango couldn't have come at a better time as my 16 year old recorded copy is definitely on its last legs.

7. It has the best soundtrack of any film to have not had a soundtrack album.

8. It had an indescribable something which I can't put my finger on which keeps me coming back for more.

9. Judd Nelson shows why he is one of the most underutilised talents of the last 20 years.

My only caveat with the DVD release is a lack of extras. I would have loved to have seen Kevin Reynold's student film "Proof", which provided the template for Fandango... However, just to have a copy of this underrated film on shiny disc at last has really made my day!

When I originally heard that there was to be a Tom & Jerry feature film, I was more than a little worried...

After all, when you look at feature length films adapted from short-subjects (animated or otherwise) the law of averages dictates that, on the whole, they are not that good (with few honourable exceptions).

However, when the film was in the early stages of production, the BBC series on animation "Stay Tuned" got a sneak preview, and my spirits lightened.

The rough footage looked pretty good, the animation was high quality, and even though I was apprehensive about our fave cat and mouse being able to speak, I felt able to give the makers the benefit of the doubt.

Hey, I could even say I was actually looking forward to it.

Oh, how foolish I was...

Now, can anyone explain to me why film-makers, when revisiting classic characters and situations, seem insistent on removing all the things which made the formula a success to begin with? Ah yes, Tom and Jerry - always good for an anvil in the face or a head slammed in a french window... But not here. No, the two of them become (wait for it)... FRIENDS, before heading off into what is basically a sub-standard animated adventure of the kind which would have gone straight to video without the marquee appeal of T&J on the billing. The great genius and comic timing of the MGM shorts is replaced by turgid song routines, and a permeating atmosphere of plain tweeness which leaves a nasty aftertaste for some time after viewing.

It's almost as if Tom & Jerry had been created by Disney with a hangover.

The undemanding child might find this a passable time filler (if they've not seen any of the genuine T&J classics) - anyone else will just be plain bemused as to why the makers bothered.

I give the film a bonus mark for some nice, old-style animation, but it's just frustrating that it was wasted on this.

Do yourself a favour - skip this, and pick up a DVD volume of Tom & Jerry's Golden Collection

Many years ago, when ITV in the UK was an amalgamation of separate TV companies (like HTV, the makers of this show along with many other great series, serving the west of England and Wales), which used to make their own shows for local consumption, before submitting them to the network for a national screening, they used to come up with gems like this.

It's a bizarre story of a kid and his dad entering a strange place in the west of england (the Dad is a Historian on a research trip, but his son finds out more than his Dad was expecting), only to find that everything is not as it seems. The locals are being drawn into a strange cult which revolves around an ancient stone monument in the locality (actually the ancient monument which still stands in Avebury, Wiltshire, UK)...

I really couldn't tell you any more without spoiling things, but my description of this series would be: If that great cult movie "The Wicker Man" had been made as a children's programme, it might have looked something like this. It's a true hidden gem, which caught the imagination of kids across the UK upon its original transmission in the UK in early 1977.

If any overseas viewers (who like something a bit out of the ordinary) want to check it out, then I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend the UK DVD release by "Second Sight" - and if you ever find yourself in the UK, take the time out to visit the location used in the series... It's a truly mystical place, with a truly strange atmosphere which will stick in your mind long after your trip...

ITV in the UK these days is a very different operation, and they just don't make shows like this anymore. If ITV made a show called "Children Of The Stones" today, it would probably be a reality show starring Jade Jagger and Theodora Richards....

Watch and enjoy what once was, in the days when we Brits were truly proud of the programming we produced, as opposed to these days, when we are frankly embarrassed by 95% of it... :-(

I know that this isn't much in the way of an "in-depth" review, but the experience of seeing this film was too painful to dwell on in depth, so here goes.

This piece of tripe stole 2 hours of my life which I will never be able to retrieve.

I only hope that any fans of the fantastic TV series will be able to wipe the memory of watching this farrago from their memory.

I can say, in all honesty, that I have never had such a painful movie-watching experience in all my time on this planet.

This film is the work of Satan - that's all I have to say on the subject...

Watch at you own peril!

An interesting, if not totally successful variation on the Jack The Ripper story, blighted by Hollywood yet again assuming that anyone in London says "cor blimey" a lot, and speaks in the same exaggerated "cock-er-ney" manner. This is a shame, as the film actually has a lot of good things going for it. Some genuinely chilling set pieces and a suitably grim visual style make for some scary moments. Sadly, particularly in the first half of the film, the Hughes Brothers (directing) seem to spend too much time trying to be visually clever when they should be putting more effort into getting on with the story. When they dispense with the visual gimmickry and the action is allowed to take off, the film is extremely gripping. On another level, the ending is particularly moving. A previous reviewer referred to the film's historical inaccuracies in depth, so I won't retread the same ground, but suffice to say that anyone familiar with the events will be distracted by these, although anyone new to the story wouldn't be affected. Performances are generally good, if not quite the principal performers' best work - in my book, the honours go to the ever reliable Ian Holm and Robbie Coltrane. Overall, this film is well worth a couple of hours of your time, but it could have been so much more...

My fiancee has mentioned this movie to me often. However, she only picked up a DVD of it a few days ago. I just watched it with her, and must say that it is one of the best films I have come across in some considerable time. The cast are all in top form, James Clavell's direction is top notch, and it is one of those films that leaves you with a lot to think about long after the end. Special mention should also be made of the excellent cinematography, and John Barry's fine score which must rank as one of his best.