looking for the rhapsody

dir. Susanna White; based on novels by Ford Madox Ford adapted by Tom Stoppard

Let's make things perfectly clear to begin with: I am a huge period drama fan - and I mean HUGE. I have a feeling it's something to do with the rather wonderful combination of history, beautiful costumes and sets, haughty aristocratic matriarchs with razor-sharp tongues (aka anyone played by Dame Maggie Smith) and very dashing, very charming, very attractive men galloping around the English countryside on horseback, and leaping into the occasional lake. Consequently, I also rather enjoyed the recent Upstairs Downstairs/ Downton battles (for the record: Upstairs Downstairs is infinitely superior), particularly given the fact that 20s/30s inter-war period is one of my favourite in history. All this, plus my deep love of a certain Mr Cumberbatch, meant I was highly excited to see Parade's End - a turn of the century period drama featuring the aforementioned Mr Cumberbatch.

The first episode lived up to expectations. Stunningly well-shot, with clever camerawork and gorgeous sweeping shots of various very pretty bits of countryside. Tom Stoppard's script is also wonderful; with very proper, restrained upper-class conversations interspersed with lighter lines and informal, relaxed scenes. This also allows the actors the opportunity to (essentially) show off. The cast is well & truly star-studded, but Rebecca Hall's performance is particularly impressive as the utterly self-absorbed Sylvia. Cumberbatch is, as usual, virtually perfect, handling the many changes of tone perfectly whilst maintaining Christopher's hideously constricting and infuriating sense of decorum and gentlemanliness. He also manages to look spectacularly ridiculous whilst playing golf - which is just about the most useful thing one can do whilst playing such a pointless game as golf.

In the end,Deceptionessentially boils down to a straight-forward but well-played cat-and-mouse chase between John McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) and Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), with Michelle Williams' mysterious 'S' caught in the middle. In terms of plot, the film starts off unbelievably slow. The artsy cinematography & nice city shots of New York make for a generally sexy, good-looking film meaning you don't notice quite how long it's taking for anything to happen. The generally sexy, good-looking cast also helps with this. However, by 40 minutes in you do start wondering when the writer will wake up & do something.

Fear not. The writer does wake up. And once he does so, he makes up for the initial drag in style. Plot twists come thick & fast; some clearly predictable, others entirely unexpected. There's also a cameo by an elderly oriental lady, hand-selecting her ice cubes one by one in a seedy hotel. This is very odd, completely incongruous with the rest of the film, and very, very funny.

As the plot picks up, so do the three central actors. Jackman, McGregor & Williams all give their usual polished performances - McGregor possibly comes across as slightly too nice a bloke for his character (although maybe that's just my adoration of him coming through), but Williams is suitably inscrutable and nicely balances her character's vulnerability with her independence and 'gutsiness'. For me, Hugh Jackman's performance in particular stands out, and he was a perfect choice for the role. Without giving too much away, he has probably the most challenging role of the 3, and manages to portray the numerous facets of his character's personality extremely well (whilst remaining devastatingly sexy throughout).

See because:

It's a great storyline, showing the media as a far more positive force than it's perhaps portrayed as now

The period of the film (mid-'50s) is established brilliantly. This is partly through the use of black-and-white, & the fabulous costumes, but mostly by the gorgeous soundtrack. It's lots of live, soulful jazz songs picked to nicely reflect the tone of the film at that point and all worked into the body of the film itself

It involves Robert Downey Jnr & George Clooney looking like the definition of class

Avoid because:

The script could do with some lighter moments to keep it moving and change the tone a bit (there are a couple, but they're few & far between)

The performances are solid, but none really shine apart from David Strathairn (Ed Murrow) and a nice, understated turn by Clooney himself

See because:

It's the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. 'Nuff said.

Hardy, Bale, Gordon-Levitt, Hathaway, Cotillard, Caine, Oldman & Freeman = lots of extraordinary actors on top form

You know those beautiful, artistic, dramatic big action set-pieces only Nolan can do? Those.

Avoid if:

You think every action film should be packed full of CG & 3D

You have a personal vendetta against one or more of the cast members

dir. Christopher Nolan

***SPOILER ALERT!***

"You don't want to be trapped inside with me, sunshine"

A biopic of Charles Bronson, Britain's most violent prisoner (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn)

To start with, I ought to point out that, broadly speaking, I'm not a fan of violence for the sake of violence in films. Although fight sequences don't bother me, I also don't tend to think they add a lot to a film; and brutal, unnecessary, grotesque violence for me spoils an otherwise great film (see: Sin City). Watching a biopic of Britain's most violent prisoner could, therefore, clearly have gone either way. Having said that,Bronsonnow probably ranks in at least my top 20 favourite films.

Bronson has been hailed as an absolute tour de force by Tom Hardy (of whom I am a HUGE fan), and sure enough he didn't disappoint. Hardy's performance is extraordinary from his opening monologue onwards; he's chilling, but not to the extent that he de-humanises Bronson. Comparisons can clearly be made with Heath Ledger's Joker, or even Perkins' Norman Bates, but Hardy's Bronson never quite convinces the viewer that he's insane - Bronson may be a monster, but Hardy leaves it ambiguous as to whether he is a madman. This, if anything, makes him an even more intimidating and disturbing character. However, Hardy's performance isn't the only extraordinary part of Bronson. The film is a clear comment on the British tabloid, celebrity culture and its damaging effects. One particularly effective piece which demonstrates this shows some of Bronson's fights through a series of tabloid-style photographs, accompanied by lighthearted and patriotic British music. Refn employs this sort of clever juxtaposition to lend Bronson its brilliance: harsh images overlayed with a frankly jaunty sountrack (such as Bronson's attempted murder of a fellow asylum inmate) or the instantaneous switches from manic laughter to stony-faced silence during Hardy's spellbinding 'mime-artist' sequences.

I've been sort of neglecting you, but at the moment finding time to do stuff like sleeping & eating is enough of a challenge (well, it's generally a choice between bed/food and friends/alcohol). Aside from the huge amounts of work we're all doing, I have lines & songs to learn for a panto in 3 weeks, plus orchestra rehearsals & practice for a concert, plus general going out & socialising & everything.

Don't think you can push us around

Best moment of tonight = feeling deeply sophisticated, wearing ballgown & stilettos with a pint of Guiness in one hand & some hog roast in the other