The Captive Heart (1947)

Ice Age The little shorts of this little critter are probably the highlights of the DVD. I watched each of them, really excellent little mini-films. The rest of the film lacks a certain something but still maintains the Pixar standard, with great characters, humour, pathos and pace. Ray Romano's voice is really excellent as the deadpan cynical characters he usually plays, but lacks the funniness, as the animation can't quite master the subtle facial expressions that generally go with this kind of humour. Probably my least favourite Pixar, but that still puts it in great company. Lili Marleen (8/10) Wow, I can't believe this isn't on RT, since its a Rainer Werner Fassbinder film. It's WWII "love lost" epic, supposedly based on the story behind the song "Lili Marleen". Set in Germany and Switzerland, the story of a German singer, in love with a Swiss Jew, who strikes an chord with wartime Germany with her badly sung, melancholy ballad. It's pretty good, the acting is well done, particularly the lead "Willie" played by a gorgeous Hanna Schygulla. some excellent scenes, especailly the "unwritten" dialogue, testiment to the directors restraint and the fine acting and chemistry by the leads. I was definitely sucked in. The Captive Heart Good title for an average film. A few stories intertwine messily in this piecemal film. A few flashes of brilliance (like the "Roll out the Barrel" scene)and a strong lead (Redgrave), save this otherwise bland film. It is the story of war time romance, as seen by the women at home and the men in the prisoner of war camp, the main plot being a Czech man who steals the identity of a dead Englishman to avoid being killed by the Germans. He then writes to his estranged "wife" in order to avoid arousing suspicion from the German guards. While the ending was always going to be predictable, it is WAY too abrupt, I felt like the film-maker ran out of time and suddenly went "O crap, must finish film in 3 minutes!". Ali G - In Da House Bad, bad bad. If you are a fan of the series, you will find some laugh out loud moments ("Dont you be disrespecting my bitches"), but most of it is crap. Ali G works brilliantly in Sketches, but he can't carry a whole film. Avoid.