An American Tale

Advantages: Well-crafted songs telling poignant tales; great musicianship; evocative pedal steel
Disadvantages: None to speak of

..."Post to Wire" is Richmond Fontaine's fifth studio album and the one that really turned me onto the band. Previously the Portland-based quartet were associated with dark, brooding lyrics and a much blacker feel, but "Post to Wire" really highlights not just the band's ability to compose across genres but the strengths of songwriter and frontman, Willy Vlautin, in creating vivid snapshots of the contemporary west. Labelled "Americana" or "alt-country" by a music press that always feels the need to pigeonhole, the band have developed the genre, and cemented their position in it, where the likes of Uncle Tupelo or Wilco left off. By more use of the pedal steel, the band has taken more of a country direction but Vlautin's stories of people living ordinary lives on the margins of society have ensured the band stay firmly...

fizzytom 06.05.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Post To Wire - Richmond Fontaine

STEAK & CHIPS AND A VIEW OF FRANCE PLEASE!

Advantages: Warm, friendly atmosphere; excellent food at reasonable prices
Disadvantages: None

...For my latest Jersey review, I thought I would introduce you to my favourite little eating place on the island. Nowadays, especially since the arrival of our little boy, we no longer stay in hotels but choose the more convenient option of a self catering apartment. However, I utterly refuse to ?self cater!? It may work for some, but in my opinion, cooking tea and washing dishes can be saved for other 51 weeks of the year. During a holiday, whilst many people prefer to partake of their evening meal in the luxury surroundings of a Michelin star restaurant, I prefer to opt for the more comfortable, easy going setting, namely - a pub! We originally came across Les Fontaines Tavern by accident approximately four years ago. During a leisurely drive around the island late one afternoon, and having got lost a couple of times, we were...

matthewsmum 20.08.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Les Fontaines Tavern, Jersey, Channel Islands

Last Night I dreamt I went to Manderley Again

Advantages: A fantastic film full of drama, suspense and brilliant acting and writing
Disadvantages: None at all

...Based on the Daphne Du Maurier novel, this was Alfred Hitchcocks first big budget Hollywood film. Following a string of highly regarded films made in the UK, the Americans decided it was time to get this rising star of world cinema to America. The studio chose this film adaptation specifically as a highly melodramatic response to the hugely popular Gone with the Wind. This film is nothing like that one though as this is based much more on careful characterisations and atmosphere. Joan Fontaine plays the second wife of Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), she also narrates the film, she meets the handsome, dashing Maxim on the French Riviera and after a whirlwind romance they are married and he brings her home to Manderley his huge English estate in Cornwall. Fontaine's character starts to realise all is not well, as she is not...

paulie1975 28.09.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Rebecca (DVD)

Spellbound

Advantages: Taut suspense never lets up; direct, simple, concentrated style; human dimension.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...During the Second World War, French director Robert Bresson spent a year in a Nazi prison, which is likely to have helped him in the making of 'A Man Escaped' (also known as 'Un condamné à mort c'est echappé' or 'Le vent souffle ou il veut' / 'The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth'; 1957). Like 'Pickpocket' (1959), 'Trial of Joan of Arc' (1962) and 'L'Argent' (1983), the film touches upon a recurrent Bressonian theme: the imprisonment (literal and metaphorical) of an individual. The story is based on the real-life experience of French Resistance fighter André Devigny, who, with 10,000 others, suffered as prisoners in the infamous Hotel Terminus in German-occupied Lyon in 1943. Seven thousand inmates in all would die, either by execution or through natural causes. André Devigny is personified by the film's Lieutenant Fontaine...

zerbine28 28.03.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of A Man Escaped (DVD)

"I am Mrs. De Winter now!".

Advantages: A pure classic, wonderful, just wonderful!!
Disadvantages: None at all

...INTRODUCTION If I were asked which my favourite film was I would instantly say 'Rebecca' - but it must be the 1940 black and white Hitchcock version. Usually when I watch a film of a book that I have enjoyed I am left disappointed, but I felt that this film stuck very much to the original book and captured the dark, gothic theme well. The film was of course, adapted from the book - Rebecca -by Daphne du Maurier, and was the first American film project for Alfred Hitchcock. The producer was David O. Selznick, who had previously produced the classic Gone with the Wind. This is the only Hitchcock film that won an Academy award (for cinematography and Best Picture) Joan Fontaine was chosen to co-star with Laurence Olivier. Among the other candidates to play Fontaine's role were Loretta Young, Olivia de Havilland (Fontaine...

oldchem 01.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Rebecca (DVD)

Never be too overprotective with your kids

Advantages: beautiful movie
Disadvantages: I do not know

...Sofia Coppola makes a stunning directorial debut with this "powerfully seductive" film that has become the most talked about movies of the year. In the mid-1970s, in a sleepy Michigan community, live the Lisbon sisters, five teenagers whose beauty has bewitched a group of neighborhood boys. Isolated by their over-protective parents (James Woods and Kathleen Turner), they move like fleeting visions against the suburban landscape, luminous and unattainable. But when school hunk Trip Fontain (Josh Hartnett) convinces Lux Lisbon (Kirsten Dunst) and her sisters to go to the prom, the boys' romantic fantasies threaten to come true - until they are engulfed in a stunning chain of events that will change their lives forever. Based on the acclaimed novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Virgin Suicides is "a haunting mystery which...

FRADUC 19.05.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Virgin Suicides (DVD)

The Virgin Suicides

Advantages: Very good cast, great acting
Disadvantages: Deals with a subject matter not all will be comfortable with perhaps?

...final act. The film deals with many themes, including amongst others, teenage mental health issues, family bonds, underage sex and relationships as well as social isolation and its affects. The film also deals with religion, in this case Roman Catholocism, including the mothers attempt to protect her children by banning secular music. It also deals with the idea that there was little understanding of teenage suicide in the 1970's and that in a patriarchal middle class society the parents are havily scrutinised by society, for the action of their children. The main actors in the film are as follows: Mr Lisbon James Woods Mrs Lisbon Kathleen Turner Lux Lisbon Kirsten Dunst Trip Fontaine Josh Hartnett Cecilia Lisbon Hanna Hall Bonnie Lisbon Chelse Swain Mary Lisbon A.J. Cook Therese Lisbon Leslie Hayman Dr. Hornicker Danny De...

rachieb123 02.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Virgin Suicides (DVD)

Cary Grant? A psychotic murderer? Whatever next?

Advantages: Really tense, excellent performances
Disadvantages: The ending is a complete let down

...My Hitchcock week continues in earnest, and my third film by the great one is perhaps one of his lesser known works, Suspicion. It was made in 1941, and stars Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, who won an Oscar for her performance. This film was also nominated for Best Music and even Best Picture. They play a charming rogue and a beautiful rich lady respectively, and I think this is a film that really should be better known, as it's rather good. When Lina McLaidlaw (Fontaine) is whisked off her feet by the handsome Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant), they get married and all seems happy. But - and you knew there would be a but - she thinks he is trying to kill her. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, because as she delves into his past, all she finds is a string of i.o.u s, dodgy dealings and large amounts of money "won on the horses...

l-m-n-o-p 12.11.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Suspicion (DVD)

A Must for Hitchcock Fans

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

...The first time I saw this movie, I was kind of undecided. I had taped an Alfred Hitchcock marathon on TV and I only watched it for the sake of watching another Hitchcock film. The second time though, was in the back seat of a conversion van on a LONG road trip and I had a lot of time on my hands, so the more movies I had to watch, the better. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having read about the movie, I knew that the ending wasn't Alfred Hitchcock's first choice, but I thought the final shot was very beautifully filmed, and the ending was ok with me. Of course, the whole movie is beautifully filmed in brilliant sunlight. I think the only really dark scene is the milk one. However, the theme of a woman suspecting that her husband is a murderer is indeed dark. The movie is about Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) who marries the rascally...

Mohammed 10.08.2000 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Suspicion (DVD)

Rebecca

Advantages: A Hitchcock classic.
Disadvantages: A little wooden.

...***INTRO*** My DVD video of the Hitchcock's classical adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's celebrated novel REBECCA came free with the Times, because of this you don't get much more than the film, there is some advise on what to expect from the Times in this section in the future. The film directed by Hitchcock was named the Best Picture in the 1940s by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It was brought to use by ABC Motion Pictures Inc. The film is rated PG parental guidance fit for viewing by persons generally. Some of the scenes may be unsuitable for young children. ***THE STORY*** The story adapted by Philip MacDonald & Michael Hogan includes the cast of: Lawrence Olivier: George Fortescu Maximillian (Maxim de Winter). Joan Fontaine: The second Mis.de Winter. George Sanders: Jack Favell. Whilst on holiday...

JeffreyB 13.01.2006 (19.01.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Rebecca (DVD)