General Reviews

The Great Silence ****

If you missed it thinly written between the lines, I have a mild school-girl obsession with the Spaghetti Western genre. And having been weaned on the Sergio Leone poncho-and-cigarillo flicks from a young age, I was slightly hesitant about watching this snow-dome critic's-little-darling.
But my doubts flew south for the winter when the disc started spinning. Bleak as the British weather, with a chill-down-your-spine Morricone track and an ending that raises a few eyebrows, it's a big thumbs up from me.


Where Eagles Dare ****

A thinking man's action war film that doesn't aim to punch the harrowing, realistic, tear-jerking 'war-is-hell' ticket. With busty bar-wenches and blondes, Clint Eastwood snarling alongside Richard Burton, ze germans, a head-scratching plot laid on thick at the end, explosions and some age-old cable car jumping and thumping...this may damn well be one of the best darn war action films I've laid my eyes on.

Also on the running is Robert Enrico's cesar-winning 'Le Vieux Fusil' where Philip Noiret unleashes his inner Rambo to avenge for his family's death. Although it's slightly heavy-handed on the flashbacks, it does churn out some horrifyingly-disturbing scenes that makes the film slightly more than a bish-bosh gun wielding action film.