What DVD have you just watched?

A terrific 2012 film written and directed by Sally Potter, set in 1962. Two free-spirited teenage girls growing up in the shadow of the bomb and the Cuban Missile crisis try to make sense of the world around them. The cast - which includes a wonderful central performance from Elle Fanning, plus great turns from the gorgeous Christina "Joan from Mad Men" Hendricks, Tim Spall, Oliver Platt and Annette Bening - a great, and the period detail is spot on.

Very cool soundtrack as well.

A recent gift from a friend.  I hadn't seen this before. Enjoyably dark. Colin Firth's performance is good. 

After traveling to Grand Rapids Michigan to see the exhibit of Edward Burtynsky's aerial photographs on the theme of water. Pictures were taken with a Hasselbladt and its 50MP digital back and printed to very large sizes.

A Foreign Field.

I lost my first copy and now it is unfortunately deleted. I paid a handsome price for a secondhand mint DVD.

Words fail me on how lovely this film is.

ATB from George

Gosh, You're not joking about price for this, George.  Just browsed Amazon and it has one copy for £50!!

I bought the cheapest second hand and wrote a review.

At the time there were six second hand discs for sale.

I guess that it is down to two or three left. ...

But it would sell if still issued rather than deleted at a reasonable price.

£50 is too much for a DVD. I paid just over twenty, but considering how many good DVDs I've had for £2 or 3, I can take that.

It IS a great film. Guinness, McKern, Bocal ... all great performances, and I imagine a hamlet fee from the BBC for their efforts!

ATB from George

I'll keep a look out for a S/H copy, George.  

PS I've finally got around to buying a copy of Nicholas Monsarrat's book The Cruel Sea that you recommended to me a while back.  I'm going to save it until I've got a few days free when I can enjoy it properly and without distraction.   

Dear MDS,

The book is a great read. The style is readable, not old fashioned, and the story is compelling.

It is harder then the film. Much sadder ...

Please do report back on it!

ATB from George

PS: Let me point you at another book:

Stollen Journey,

which is Oliver Philpot''s escape from a German POW camp. Philpot shared an English teacher with me! two generations apart! His story is also relayed in Eric William's story:

The Wooden Horse,

as Philpot was the third man in that tale.

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single slice.'

Dear Adam,

I blame the bloody auto-spell myself! Combined with my considerable ability to manage typos, the results can be quite funny!!

I simply do not know how to stop the robot!

Mind you, I do love Stollen!

ATB from George

Many thanks for these further recommendations, George.  I'll most certainly report back when i've read The Cruel Sea.

There are your average 'Horror" films - monsters stalking people in the dark, mad knife-wielding maniacs, vengeful ghosts. Ho hum.. And there are the few genuinely scary films that manage to be both horrific, unpleasant, yet surprisingly thoughtful and extremely well executed. The Babadook falls very much into the latter category.

The story concerns a widow, her young son with some pretty bad behavioural problems, and a disturbing book. There's an old, spooky house of course, but the atmosphere generated is extremely well crafted, an almost monochrome world of greys and blacks, with the other characters in the film being similarly grey, unsympathetic and threatening.

You're kept guessing throughout; is the mother losing her marbles, is the son responsible for the bumps in the night, or is there a genuine monster?

Terrific acting by the mother and her young son. A first-class film and highly recommended.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u...eview_b_5841652.html

The Fall

This is not a film I had heard of, but came across it by reading a blog, and I am very glad I did.

This is a beautifully filmed piece that mixes real life and fantasy. A story of desperation and manipulation. A story of a child's love.

I won't say any more about the plot. It is a fascinating and unusual film that I found captivating.

M

A fascinating film. I am ready to see it again.

Here is a two minutes trailer of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO0LYcCoeJY

For about the 5th time with the kids

Great stuff

Not seen it yet but book was quite good/imaginitive

Thx Jamie, I'll read it and hope that the ending improves on the movie.

Must be me and my soft brain. Must have been the late hour. But really i did not like it. Boring, a copy of something else.....(i know i'm bad)

47 Ronin - great movie.....

Teenage mutant ninja turtles on my own after kids watched it 

The last couple I have watched are

Fury with Brad Pitt

The Grandmaster excellent movie 

I got kinda bored with the Groundhog Day thing after awhile.

Fury - enjoyed it.  Not sure if it's up there with the best war movies, and a fair way behind Saving Private Ryan.  A bit predictable in places and the characters seemed a bit shallow but the action and effects are good.   The encounter with the Tiger tank was the highlight for me. 

A documentary about inventor Tim Jenison's efforts to duplicate the painting technique of Johanne Vermeer, in order to test the theory that Vermeer was painting with the aide of technical devices; a lens and a mirror.