jennifer_litchfield

The Cat's Meow offers an insight into what may (or may not) have occurred during a fateful pleasure cruise aboard media mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924. One guest didn't survive the trip, and afterwards the other passengers only ever talked about what happened during those few days in riddles. The film is at pains to point out that it only depicts one possible version of events, which unfortunately does rather undermine the convincing storyline.

The story begins in Hollywood, "a land just off the coast of the planet earth", in that decadent decade dominated by the Charleston, flappers, and bootleg moonshine. The women's costumes are thus visually spectacular – all satin and feathers – but some of the actors seem to be overwhelmed by the splendour, and appear somewhat wooden as a result. The notable exception to this is Kirsten Dunst, who plays the effervescent Marion Davies, Hearst's mistress. However, the best lines in the film surely belong to the wonderfully cynical and sarcastic Joanna Lumley.

The thing the movie does capture to perfection is the double standards extant in Hollywood. One of the characters disdainfully dismisses the Prohibition, claiming that alcohol isn't illegal "for us". And that seems to pretty much sum up the attitude of the film fraternity at the time – that they are above rules and regulations. Even murder, it would seem, can be hushed up.

This isn't a murder mystery as such; anyone with a thorough knowledge of Hollywood history will know who died, and the whispers surrounding the event. But the average viewer may question if, after all this time, they really care what the truth is. Better instead to enjoy this film as a fiction.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a worthy sequel to the outstanding The Fellowship of the Ring. It is much darker than its predecessor in both mood and in the very coloration of the film itself. The initial scenes as the audience falls through the inky blackness of the mines of Moria, following the epic duel between Gandalf and the inferno that is the Balrog, sets the tone for the rest of the film.

The Fellowship of the first film has splintered into three groups – Merry and Pippin have been captured by Uruk-hai, and are now being tracked by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. Frodo and Sam are slowly edging nearer to the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor where they can destroy the terrible burden that is the ring. In their quest they are aided by the wonderfully dichotomous character that is Gollum/Smeagol. And The Two Towers really is Gollum's film. He is a triumph of digital wizardry that the audience will both loathe and wish redemption for.

The other major computer-generated characters – Treebeard and his ilk – are perhaps not so successfully believable; although few viewers could fail to be moved by the `last march of the Ents'. The settings are simply stunning; both the natural scenery of windswept plains and craggy mountains, and the built sets, such as the Kingdom of Rohan that echoes the Viking settlements of old.

At the conclusion of the Battle of Helm's Deep, where (despite being a supposedly purpose-bred fighting force) the Uruk-hai are massacred by a handful of men, Gandalf prophesies that `the battle for Middle Earth is about to begin'. The audience is left to ponder what further horrors, heartbreaks and triumphs are in store for the adventurers.

Cold Comfort Farm is a jolly film that bounces along as merrily as its theme tune. It's a rollicking good comedy with a laugh-out-loud collection of Dickensian characters (the doom-stricken Starkadders, the rustic Adam Lambsbreath, and the upper crust Hawk-Monitors). Certainly the film is very over-the-top and silly, but it's light-hearted fun - a welcome alternative to the glut of psychological, heart-wrenching, blood-and-guts fare on the market.

The Starkadders live on the bleak acres of Cold Comfort Farm, where "the cows are barren and the sows are farren". Into this gloomy and eccentric setting comes young, 1930s-modern Flora Poste, who sets to winning the hearts and minds of Cold Comfort's inhabitants, and dragging the Starkadders into the twentieth century. Along the way she manages to rearrange and enliven her own life too.

Kate Beckinsale (prior to her arrival on the scene of big-budget American flicks) is a likeable and chirpy young lady with a talent for organisation. In the supporting roles, Joanna Lumley is delightfully sarcastic as Flora's incongruously named aunt, Mary Smiling, who has a rather unusual hobby. And Ian McKellen is a real scene-stealer as the fire-and-brimstone preacher of the Church of the Quivering Brethren.

The plot revolves around Great Aunt Ada Doom and the 'narsty' thing she saw in the woodshed nigh on 70 years ago. There is also the mysterious wrong perpetrated on Flora's father by the Starkadders sometime in the dim and misty past. So it is a tad frustrating that the audience is never let in on either of these secrets! But these are minor quibbles in what is otherwise an excellent comedic romp, with some interesting and atmospheric cinematography. A very good (and very British) laugh.