Derek Winnert

Up at the Villa *** (2000, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft) – Classic Movie Review 1709

Director Philip Haas’s beautiful-looking but shaky 2000 romantic drama stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn. Scott Thomas plays Mary Panton, a holidaying English widow who faces a series of dramas and choices in 1938 Florence, […]

Sep, 24 · in Reviews

Carrington *** ( Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steven Waddington) – Classic Movie Review 1708

Writer-director Christopher Hampton’s 1995 drama provides another peep behind the scenes of English literature dissecting the odd, platonic but deep relationship between the sexually confused painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and gay writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce), […]

Sep, 23 · in Reviews

Con Air *** (1997, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi) – Classic Movie Review 1707

  Buckle up for director Simon West’s crazy, violent, always way over-the-top 1997 action thriller ride. A guaranteed crowd-pleaser, there was never a moment’s doubt of its status and success as a blockbuster hit, grossing over $100million in […]

Sep, 23

The Dancer Upstairs **** (2002, Javier Bardem, Laura Morante, Abel Folk) – Classic Movie Review 1706

  This tense and moody real-life 2002 Peru-set political thriller makes a superb directorial debut for actor John Malkovich, showing that he really understands actors, the drama and the cinema. It’s long (at 132 minutes) […]

Sep, 23

Salvatore Giuliano ***** (1961, Salvo Randone, Frank Wolff) – Classic Movie Review 1705

Co-writer/director Francesco Rosi’s astonishing, eye-opening 1961 Italian classic provides a dark and complex portrait of Sicilian politics after World War Two, centring round its starting point in 1950 when the famous Sicilian 28-year-old guerrilla leader and outlaw […]

Sep, 23

Orphans **** (1998, Douglas Henshall, Stephen Cole, Gary Lewis, Rosemarie Stevenson) – Classic Movie Review 1704

Fasten your seat belts for writer-director Peter Mullan’s excitingly tough and gritty 1998 black-toned comedy drama set in a poor district of Glasgow. There, Mrs Flynn’s four children gather in their late mother’s home on […]

Sep, 22

Breaking the Waves ***** (1996, Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård) – Classic Movie Review 1703

  Danish co-writer/director Lars Von Trier’s 1996 movie is maybe still this most important of film-maker’s finest. And it’s Islington-born actress Emily Watson’s too, in her very first film, aged 29. She was Oscar nominated […]

Sep, 22

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