Compulsion - 2013 ***

I don't know what I was expecting with this film, but whatever it was, it didn't happen. In fact nothing happened. The most shocking thing according to film critics was how much padding Heather Graham was wearing to 'big herself up' into a typical 1950s housewife. Apparently the look made her 'a bit overweight' which scared the living daylights out of me, as there is nothing overweight about her and makes you worry about the American size system. 

A woman obsessed with food spends her days cooking amazing meals for her grumpy, parrot obsessed boyfriend who couldn't be less interested in her if he tried. An anorexic, former child star moves in across the hall and doesn't speak to anyone for love nor money. 

Gradually the pair open up to each other and form a bond that proves fatal.

A strange film, very weird and quite surreal, just appeared to move a bit slowly. 

Conte D'Ete - 1996 ****

A recent graduate takes a holiday before starting his first job and meets not one, but two women, both with different qualities. One is quiet and thoughtful and the other is loud and beautifully aware of her own allure. The only trouble is he also has a girlfriend who's a bit of a pain. Who should he choose?

Rohmer has a beautiful knack of showing off character studies to the maximum, each one is totally individual and captivating. He delivers this all in sumptuous surroundings that make you want to drop everything and leave for France immediately. 

The Lost Moment - 1947 ****

A very overlooked film barely ever mentioned in annuals nowadays.
Cummings plays a publisher desperate to get his hands on love letters written by a deceased writer. He carefully ingratiates himself into the house of the widow and her great niece, hoping to be able to  steal the letters for himself. Things aren't simple however when it turns up that the great niece Tina has a schizophrenic nature resulting in her frequently believing she is the rightful recipient of the love letters. Its a beautifully haunting movie very like 'Rebecca'.

A New Kind of Love - 1963 *** 1/2

When mannish Joanne Woodward is contracted to go with her boss to Paris to 'lift' some new ideas for the latest fashion season in New York, she becomes enamoured with a caddish playboy (Paul Newman) who is there to get a scope for a new newspaper article. After a misunderstanding and a drastic makeover, Newman mistakes Woodward for an elegant, foreign debutante and starts to pursue her.
Beautiful shots of Paris, and you can see Paul and Joanne's genuine love for each other in the scenes they inhabit together.

The Other Woman aka Love and Other Impossible Pursuits - 2009 **

Bleak and hard going. Natalie Portman plays a woman trying to get over the death of her baby as well as juggling her marriage with her husband who left his last wife for her. Portman tries unsuccessfully to get on with her husband's son from his first marriage, all the time feeling inadequate for not having the child she so desperately wants.
Nothing happy or positive here so don't watch unless you have some sort of sedation for afterwards.

Man's Favourite Sport? - 1964 *****

Maybe my new favourite film? I cannot explain how much I loved this movie.
Rock Hudson plays a charming employee who works at a fishing store, knows everything about fishing, and has even written a book on the subject much to the joy of his manager. There is just one problem. He has never actually fished before in his whole life.
Enter Paula Prentiss, who is desperately keen to get him to take in and win the annual fishing tournament.
Hilarity ensues as Prentiss takes over Hudson's life, giving him six days to get up to scratch on his fishing techniques so that he can enter.
Apparently Howard Hawks did this film as a homage to one his best known productions 'Bringing up Baby' (one of my other favourite movies) and you can tell that some scenes (including the ripped dress) are basically lifted from this.
Rock Hudson is wonderful. And the music is of course by Henry Mancini. A must see.

Wuthering Heights - 2009 ***

I am a huge fan of the Laurence Olivier version of this story. Therefore any tv drama of this was going to be closely compared to it. I thought this was a sumptuous drama and incredibly well done. Tom Hardy is a very versatile actor and puts his all into the role of Heathcliff who falls desperately in love with wild and carefree Cathy (played by his wife to be Charlotte Reilly). Certain parts of this were changed and I was disappointed (yet again comparing it to the 1939s version) because one of the most potent parts of the story was switched around, leaving me feeling a bit hollow. *SPOILERS* When Cathy dies in the book, Heathcliff is by her side, but in this version he is loitering outside in the garden without knowing what is going on. And also, when Heathcliff dies in the earlier film, he does so because of ill health and a broken heart, here he goes crazy and shoots himself. I can't deny that the acting was very good but for continuity and screenplay I have to side with the 1930s film.