Roman Polanski

Dark, brooding, violent and visually arresting adaptation of the Scottish Play. Polanski's direction is masterful, conjuring up a highly authentic medieval Scotland and presenting the Bard's words in a naturalistic manner that removes overt staginess and even makes the "screenplay" conversational at times. There is a feeling of real psychological depth with hints of Polanski's ghetto home being ransacked by the Nazi's and the notorious Manson murders all bleeding into the story. The acting show more is first class; Jon Finch as MacBeth is hugely impressive, with Francesca Annis as his Lady and Martin Shaw as Banquo also giving strong performances. One of the most impressive Shakespeare films, which is all the more incongruous given the Hugh Heffner and Playboy production credits. show less

What looks like the grimmest sea voyage ever is made even grimmer for supercilious English couple Nigel (Hugh Grant) and his wife Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) when they meet wheelchair bound American writer Oscar (Peter Coyote) and his beautiful young French wife Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner). Oscar regales Nigel with the story of how he and Mimi first met and how their obsessive, perverse love slowly curdled into disdain and mutual loathing. The story is told in elaborate flashbacks delivering show more a disturbing dissection of a marriage. This is mostly well handled but the narrative has the unfortunate tendency of lurching from insightful to ludicrous within the same scene. Polanski's direction is good, maintaining an intense atmosphere and using the confines of the cruise liner to create a claustrophobic atmosphere. The film, however, rests on the ability of the actors and happily the acting is fairly good throughout with even Hugh Grant's stock priggish upper class twit actually working well. Kristin Scott Thomas and Emmanuelle Seigner commit wholeheartedly to their roles but it is Peter Coyote, as the loathsome Oscar, who puts in the best turn delivering a character that is abominably disgusting on every level. Overall this is a decent psycho-sexual "thriller" that is well made and well acted with an intense edge of sexual obsession. show less

A writer working on a former prime minister's memoirs ends up involved in deadly shenanigans.

A very high B. I'm not a big fan of the light-on-action-thriller-for-grownups genre, but it's pretty cool to see two movies in a short time (this and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) that do it so well.

Concept: D
Story: A
Characters: C
Dialog: A
Pacing: A
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: A

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 3.1/4

Considering she was so inexperienced at the time of filming, Kinski does well enough as the tragic heroine, although at times a little more emotion might have been good. She always preserves a feeling of apartness and difference from her peers, which is important. Generally able support from the rest of the cast, including a small role for Suzanna Hamilton as Izzy, the lovelorn milkmaid whom Angel ought to have married. Peter Firth makes a believable Angel Clare, torn apart by conflicting show more beliefs. All too obvious (especially from the buildings) that the film was made in France rather than England for legal reasons, but the rural atmosphere is still captured beautifully. Costuming is quietly authentic. show less