02. Juli 2024

American accents throughout with some strong accents at times that may make this a challenge for intermediate English speakers. A sports film is a curious thing for me. It s usually the most telegraphed of films, in that you almost always know how it's going to play out and end. The team starts off badly, makes tough decisions involving the initial "star" player, improves over the course of the film, before coming out on top against the team that beat them badly at the beginning. I could reel...

14. Juni 2024

American and British accents throughout, but not a problem for intermediate students. A new one for a change, and well deserved. How many other franchises have their best episode in the 7th (and most recent) outing? Beginning in 1996, the film series starring Tom Cruise stayed fairly close to the television programme from upon which it is based. Cruise's character of Ethan Hunt is new though, and it is he that carries the series through its various episodes and directors. Yes, each film until...

19. Mai 2024

American accents throughout with some slightly tricky ones for intermediate speakers. Basic Instinct is over thirty years old now. A thriller starring star MIchael Douglas and complete unknown Sharon Stone, it tells the story of a San Francisco cop who investigates the gruesome murder of a retired rock star, stabbed to death, during sex, with an ice pick. His girlfriend at the time, Catherine Tramell, is a novelist who is clearly involved somehow. And then the games start. Michael Douglas was a...

13. April 2024

Clear English accents throughout, but some challenging European accents too. A great film for intermediate English speakers and above. I have to include this one. It's the best Bond film ever made. But, more interestingly, it is the most maligned, too. Two weeks ago I had yet another great discussion with some students about film in general which ended up on the subject of 007. It followed the usual, agreeable tone (Connery is king, Skyfall is great, Dalton is better than Moore, etc etc) but...

16. März 2024

For all English levels. Can be watched comfortably with English subtitles. I watched Aliens twice last year. I could watch it again right now. That's how good it is. There are very few sequels that are better than the original. Terminator 2, Godfather 2, Empire Strikes Back. Aliens, depending on your point of view of course, fits comfortably into this category. The reason it's not definitely on my list is because it's not in the same genre as Alien. Alien was a horror film. Aliens is an action...

27. Januar 2024

American accents throughout. Challenging for intermediate English speakers. We never intended to watch this film. My friends and I were late to another film and decided, rather than miss the first 5-10 minutes, to watch something else instead. "This one's got Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in it?" one of us noted- Ok, we agreed, lets try it. Sorry, but fuck me what a film. Seven is unique in my favourite films list in that it doesn't have the traditional qualities to qualify. The subject matter...

23. Dezember 2023

American English throughout and easy to follow. No problem for pre-intermediate and above. Christmas films are an interesting sub-genre of cinema, they can be about Christmas, "The Santa Clause", they can be set at Christmas like "Die Hard" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight", they can be animated "Arthur Christmas", "The Grinch", comedies, "Scrooged" and they can be fantasy, adventure or romantic, "Miracle on 34th Street" But my pick for Christmas Film has to be Home Alone. It's a wonderful mix of...

25. November 2023

Sometimes, all a film needs to be made is a standout idea. Something really, really unique. So when film executives thought up HIghlander, they hit the jackpot. Immortal men spend centuries fighting until one remains and wins a prize. Oh, and you can only die if you get your head cut off. That's it. And it's brilliant. What's better, is that the two leads, Christophe Lambert, a Frenchman, plays Connor Macleod, a Scottish highlander, (from where the title comes) while Sean Connery, an actual...

29. Oktober 2023

American English throughout, with New York accents that can be challenging for intermediate speakers Al Pacino will always be one of my favourite actors. Carlito's Way, Heat, The Godfather, the list goes on. But Sea of Love is something different. Pacino had taken a hiatus from acting after the huge disappointment that was Revolution, and it was four years before he made another one. That film was Sea of Love. Pacino plays Frank, a detective assigned to a case where the murderer shoots his...

06. August 2023

British English throughout with clear, understandable accents. Sports films aren't that common and not particularly popular. But most sports films have the same theme, with a team of some sport or other struggling at the lower end of their league before overcoming their differences and climbing the division before finally winning the title at the end of the film. Yay! Fever Pitch is different. Although it does involve football (soccer) it is, at its heart, a love story. And its very, very...