Worth owning for the way she peels off her opera gloves as the nightclub singer caught in the snake's nest noir Gilda (1946) alone. It also features Rita chased by Fred Astaire in You Were Never Lovelier (1942); shaking her stuff with Gene Kelly and a pre-Bilko Phil Silvers in Cover Girl (1944); and being a magnificent bitch to nightclub heel Sinatra in Pal Joey (1957). Lady is a vamp.
Passport have secured neither the band's help nor their music rights, although they provide some irresistible highlights, specifically a TV appearance by the pre-pubescent Jimmy Page and excerpts from a John Bonham interview. Misty old chats with Zep members and Peter Grant are bolstered by the contemporary perceptions of Jeff Beck, Roy Harper, Terry Reid, Chris Dreja, Simon Kirke and Richard Cole.
Carol Clerk
A hit in Spain, this only goes to show what Almodóvar is up against. Friends sleep with each other but not with their partners, whom they speculate may be gay. Intermittently they break into dire Euro-pop songs. You keep waiting for taboos to be challenged, stereotypes to be skewed?and you keep waiting. Paz Vega fans would be better off with almost anything else she's done.
You'd have to be Scrooge (or rather Mr Potter) not to recognise Capra as a film-maker whose delight in the human spirit produced some of the finest, sharpest comedies of vintage Hollywood. Here's four of'em-Jimmy Stewart in You Can't Take it With You, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and everyone's festive favourite, It's A Wonderful Life, plus 1934's It Happened One Night. Heart-melting brilliance.
Costner's multi-Oscar winner recalls Ford and Lean in its epic sweep, as well as revisionist westerns like Run Of The Arrow in its portrayal of Native Americans. Costner's weary Civil War veteran is appointed commander of a remote army outpost, where he finds kinship with the Lakota Sioux. Rich characterisations are balanced by awesome widescreen backdrops.
