Eleanor Reviews

*** DVD Release Swept off her feet by the charming Thomas Sharpe, naïve Edith returns to his family home with his sinister sister in tow. But this is no ordinary home: this is Allerdale Hall, an ancient building seated on top of a red clay mine, and it soon becomes apparent that the house, and Edith's new relatives, aren't as they appear.   Well, where to begin? Whilst the poster and trailer promise a dark, scary, sexy Gothic romance to leave you quivering in your seat, the film itself is a very empty vessel, being all premise and no content. To begin, the ghosts just aren't scary. We see the first one not two minutes into the film, which rather destroys the tension for the rest of the movie as we already know what they look like. The ghosts themselves are more skeletal figures than paranormal apparitions, and certainly lack any of the 'horror' aspect you'd hope for in a film of this ilk. Secondly, it is not nearly 'sexy' enough. If you look

***/**** (3.5 stars) A day in the life of Eddie Mannix, a fixer for the Hollywood film studios, Capitol Pictures. When you see a film written by the Coens, there are certain things you expect: satirical bite; witty dialogue; fast-talking characters; and a good deal of film stars. 'Hail, Caesar!' has all these factors... and yet, whilst their past films have been, arguably, social studies of America, their latest outing feels all surface and no substance. Maybe that is entirely intentional, it being a film about a film studio in which Communists kidnap the main star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) and try to teach him about the corrupt nature of American culture, but it just felt empty to me.   That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, however - I just wanted more! As you are probably aware, I am somewhat adverse to comedy, and yet I did find myself chuckling along with the film, from Channing Tatum's overly dramatic dancer to the scene in which four religio