Visitors Review

Andy Unripe (2012-05-23 15:05)

7/10 with Barry Norman. 10/10 with Jonathan Ross.

This has always been a good show. Barry Norman was informative, but Ifound I could not rely on his recommendations. If he said a film wasbad that seemed to be a good indication that I might like it.When Jonathan Ross took over I fully expected the show to take a turnfor the worse because up until then I'd only seen Wossy playing thefool. However when it comes to Film, Jonathan clearly takes the subjectvery seriously and has such a professional delivery it's as if hebecomes a different person.Jonathan is very knowledgeable and passionate about film and givesuseful and thorough reviews and behind the scenes info. Mostimportantly he makes recommendations you can rely on. If Jonathan saysa film is good, you can bet it will be. Except maybe when it comes toJapanese monster movies ;)

ShadeGrenade (2012-05-22 23:51)

"Onto last week's competition..."

You will notice that I did not title this review 'And why not?'. Andwhy not, I hear you ask? Well, because it is a quote attributed toBarry Norman by the ex-comedian turned political commentator RoryBremner, never at any time uttered ( well, maybe once or twice ) by thereal Bazza. Funny why he should use it as the title of hisautobiography though. Oh well...'Film 72' began, you will be surprised to learn, in 1972, and waspresented originally by novelist Jacky Gillatt. I never saw her ( forreasons I will come to later ), but a clip on an anniversary show inthe early 1990's told me she was very beautiful, if somewhatuncomfortable on television ( she sadly later took her own life ).Barry, son of director Leslie and a former film critic for 'The DailyMaul' ( sorry, Mail ), made the show his own.Down here in the Welsh valleys, it was an unknown quantity until 1978.Those nice B.B.C. programme planners must thought of us Taffies ashaving no interest in films, save for those set in doomed miningcommunities and starring coal-dust covered men with operatic voices andnames like 'Ianto' and 'Dai'. Common sense finally prevailed and itcrept onto Sunday nights, competing against re-runs of 'Police Surgeon'( a U.S. import starring Sam Groom ) over on the other channel. Thattheme tune - 'I Wish I Knew How It Felt To Be Free' - got me hooked.Barry earned my undying admiration by reviewing a Clint Eastwoodpicture - 'Every Which Way But Loose' - and favourably comparing theacting skills of Clint's simian co-star - Clyde the orangutan - withthose of then teen-sensation John Travolta ( in those days we had onlyseen J.T. in 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease' and were ignorant ofhis true abilities ). From then on, I watched Barry in order to see himbash the latest 'blockbusters'.His reviews were like great works of art; the words just came flowingout of his mouth, all well-chosen and aimed with the accuracy of anExocet missile. He could take the most mundane picture and rip it toshreds in a few seconds. For instance, he said that 'Table For Five' (1983 ) screenwriter David Seltzer "lacked the fizz of his better-knownbrother Alka". John Lydon ( better known as 'Johnny Rotten' of The SexPistols ) made a film called 'Copkiller' and Barry said he "soundedlike a speak-your-weight machine that had been programmed by E.L.Wisty" ( a comic character created by Peter Cook who spoke only inmonotone ). Sylvester Stallone came in for a Bazza bruising when the'Rambo' films went on release. The film director Cecil B. De Mille had,according to Barry, "parted The Red Sea twice ( he had made twoversions of 'The Ten Commandments ). Not even God managed that!".I did not agree with all his opinions - he was much too kind to PeterGreenaway for instance, and overpraised the work of Robert Altman andWoody Allen, yet came down hard on horror films. He raved about BrianDe Palma's 'Dressed To Kill' when it opened, yet later recanted,describing it as 'luridly distasteful'. Ah well, we have all changedour minds at one time or other.In addition to the reviews, there was a regular competition, such as'Spot The Film This Snatch Of Dialogue Came From', the lucky winnerreceiving the latest copy of Halliwell's Film Guide. And interviewsgalore.One problem I had with the show had nothing to do with Barry. Some ofthe flicks he raved about were nowhere to be found outside of London,and by the time they made it here I had forgotten what they were about,and what he thought of them, and went to see 'Zombie Flesh Eaters'instead.Barry quit in 1982 to front the arts show 'Omnibus' and in his place wegot various celebrities such as future 'Vanity Fair' editor Tina Brown,actress Maria Aitken, Michael Parkinson, the late Glyn Worsnip, andIain Johnstone. But none could hold a clapperboard to Barry and it cameas a relief to see him back a year or so later.In 1998, he left the B.B.C. to move to Sky T.V. It turned out to be theworst change of channels made by anyone since Simon Dee defected toL.W.T. in 1969. The new show was a pale shadow of his old one, and wasannoyingly interrupted by commercials. Sky eventually dropped it. TheB.B.C. replaced Barry with Jonathan Ross and he has been there eversince.Barry continues to write for 'The Radio Times', but it is a shame thathe is no longer to be seen on the box, sitting in thatcomfortable-looking chair, talking about a subject he both knows andcares about.

CLOSE_6 (2012-05-22 07:13)

Terrible new run

Now before I go any further, I have to point out that I actually don'tmind Claudia Winkleman, I've always thought she seems like a laugh andalthough you would most certainly have to tell to slow down and shut upa bit, she has that, she'd be a laugh to go out on the lash with, airabout her. Now having been a longtime Film watcher, (well Barry norman years iswhen I started, I'm only 33) I can safely say that this current run isutterly dreadful, Why oh why oh why, or should that be how oh how ohhow the sweet jebus did Claudia Winkleman get this job, her knowledgeand from what I've seen so far, taste in movies is pretty dire, in factI hate the new run so much I've actually stopped watching it, andunless I hear of a biblical style epic turn around, I wont be watchingagain (until a new presenter is found at least). This upsets me,because for the most part there is very little on telly for me worthwatching, I just watch DVD's most of the time and for a long time oneof the only highlights to an otherwise terrible week on telly, used tobe Film. I cant help but think, there were so many other better choices forpresenter of Film, Mark Kermode being a personal favourite, or KimNewman, even James King who I hate more than third world poverty coulddo a better job. Oh well looks like my only source of Film news and reviews now, besidesthe printed pages, are podcasts, at least BBC radio 5 live see fit togive me a brilliant movie review podcast every week, and so theyshould, since they've destroyed Film

Jay Micallef (2012-05-21 09:21)

Great film review show

This is a great film review show that offers very trust-worthy reviews.It also offers great interviews, on set previews, polls, competitions,exclusive clips, trailers and gossip from the world of film as well aseverything else you would expect to find.It reports on all aspects of film making from production to Hollywoodtrends and everything in between.It is superbly presented by Jonathan Ross who took over from theequally great Barry Norman. Ross is particular in his more thanadequate film knowledge and speaks passionately and honestly about afilms pros and cons.This show is British (I don't know if it airs in America) and is a mustsee for any movie fans.

ml012a4860 (2012-05-19 10:28)

Need Barry Norman Back NOW!!!

Film used to be the best program on TV if you wanted to find out aboutwhat movies were at the pictures, It didn't even matter if you didn'twant to go to seem them because it was presented in such a nice relaxedway with host Barry Norman sitting in his chair, realizing that theshow was going to be on about 11:30, Monday night, he made sure thepace of the show resembled this. Since he left/got fired in 1999 andJonathan Ross took over, the show has sadly gone downhill and hasbecome more like a chat show rather than a movie review program. Itseems that each week he has someone on there trying to plug their Godawful film and it works, if you do give an interview to Mr. Ross hewill then, with out fail give the film that his interviewee was in aglowing review and recommend it to the viewers.Because of this he has often flogged a few turkeys, like when he said50 cents movie 'Get Rich or Die Trying' was a good movie and should beseen, while only 2 minutes earlier he was criticizing the otherwell-worth seeing movies. This was no coincidence that he had 50 Centon his chat show that week, anyone who has seen Friday Night With knowsthat he will never EVER say a bad thing about an actor or their movie,even if the actor/actress admits that they was in a box office bomb. Hewill often boost their ego with the phrase "Ok, the movie wasn't thatgood but I thought that you was great in it." I don't have any problemwith his sucking up as I don't watch his dreadful chat show anyway, butI do watch Film because of how much of a good job Barry Norman did withthe show, like visiting a grave yard so to speak just to show myrespects.Another thing that I liked about Barry Norman was how he wasn't afraidto review the lesser known film of that week, even if you didn't agreewith what he said he did at least show you something different, andthen let you make the choice not to watch it. Ross only seems to gowith films that have won awards, been nominated or got good/bad reviewsfrom other critics. I remember seeing him review an African made film(The Title Slips My Mind Sorry) about a boy who steals a woman's carand then finds that her baby is in the back, leaving him to look afterit. The movie has subtitles and didn't really fit in with the filmsthat he reviewed normally, i.e. The Romantic Comedy or The ActionBlockbusters. That is probably why it still sticks in my mind that hereviewed it, until about three days later, when I found out that ithave won or been nominated for countless awards, including a BAFTA.The last point I want to make was how much in this show Jonathan Rosscomplains about the state of British movies and their lack of funding,which is kind of a slap in the face when it was leaked to the pressabout how much his three year contract with the BBC (One of Britonsfilm makers) is costing the licence payer. I can't remember how much itwas but it was so high that they didn't want anyone to find out as theywere worried that they (The BBC) would be accused of wasting money onone person who does about 5 jobs, when it would be cheaper to hire 5individual people and have more that enough to make a good Britishmovie. Since this information came public he has stopped moaning aboutthe state of the British film industries funding and started about theamateur way they are made.The strangest thing about Ross is that it was found out that he doesn'tsee all the films that he reviews??? Why do they have someone whohasn't got the passion about films to go and see them?

Jackson Booth-Millard (2012-05-19 00:19)

Film ????

I had always seen tiny bits of this programme when a break of anotherwas on, and Leigh Francis did his impression on Bo' Selecta!, and whenI got to watching the whole thing, I was most interested. Jonathan Rosssince 1999 has presented this programme where he gives hisprofessional, critical and sometimes humorous (both in the good and badway) review of the latest films at the cinemas, released and due for.Of course he also gets the chance to go behind the scenes on some ofthem, and talk to many numerous and much loved stars, young and old.The programme also features a few little extras such as DVD reviews,and short information about latest film subjects, e.g. sequels, tortureporn, etc. A most interesting show for me, particularly as I want to belike Ross, a film critic (possibly with my own show). It has beennominated the BAFTA for Best Graphic Design. Very good!