Category: Films

I’d been looking forward to seeing Slumdog Millionaire from director Danny Boyle since I first heard about it. It was such a remarkable idea for a story, based on the book, Q&A. Now despite what you may have seen in the film’s own advertising, this is not the “Feel Good Film Of The Year” –…

J. Michael Straczynski is someone best known to me as the creator and driving force behind Babylon 5, a series that was almost certainly ahead of its time. Now comes Changeling, a superb new film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie. Straczynski dug up the story – infamous at the time – based…

Another year – another Ridley Scott film. Scott is responsible for some of my favourite ever films. They tend to be earlier films like Blade Runner and Alien than later ones, but American Gangster last year was superb, while 2006’s A Good Year (also starring Russell Crowe) was abysmal. So where does Body of Lies…

I must admit that I managed to turn down two sets of free tickets for screenings I couldn’t make before finally paying to see the new Bond today. First the good things: Craig is still excellent as Bond, the premise of the story might not have been especially dwelt upon, but it was relevant, and…

I must admit that I’ve been pretty poor at writing about films of late, and you might think it was because I hadn’t seen any. To be honest, I haven’t been to the cinema this year as frequently as I have in the past and it’s not solely because the experience is so dreadful these…

Back in 2003 one of my favourite directors, Ang Lee, gave us Hulk, a film that I never saw. It’s not that I don’t like superhero films – I’ve probably seen most of them. But I’d heard so much negative press about it that I just couldn’t bring myself to see it. Anyway, it didn’t…

In a turn up for the books, I’ve now seen two of the summer’s blockbusters, and you know what, Iron Man’s not too bad at all (this week’s major title is Sex and the City, and having not seen a single episode of the TV series, I’m certainly not bothered about the film). Iron Man…

I must admit that I had to go away and double check that title. Perhaps, in the fullness of time it’ll come as second nature, but it’s unnecessarily complicated it for you ask me. Anyway Indy’s back, and it’s been a while. We first meet him having been kidnapped and brought to that secret warehouse…

Here’s a bit of an oddity. Heartbeat Detector is a French film focussing on the headquarters of the French division of a German company. We follow Simon, a psychologist employed by the firm. He’s recently overseen the downsizing of the company – it’s into fuel in some way, but we never hear a great deal…

I went to see The Orphanage today, and I’ll get onto that shortly. But first, can I just highlight what a joyless experience Cineworld made it for me. It began when I phoned the cinema’s automated ticket booking line. As is the way with these things, it’s all voice activated these days, which invariably means…

I’m not quite sure why, but I always treat a Daniel Day Lewis film with some trepidation; he doesn’t exactly produce films at the same rate as Samuel L Jackson. But There Will Be Blood has been talked about with such great praise, that I was really keen to see it. The distributors have gone…

I must admit that I hadn’t been looking forward to Cloverfield with quite the same enthusiasm that some on the internet had been. But the teaser trailer was good fun, as did the idea of a film with no stars, and all that it brought with it. I will just mention that having two brothers…

By now, if you’re like me, you’ll have bought the 5 DVD boxset of Blade Runner with every version known to man including this new “Final Cut.” But before Christmas I did actually see the film projected in the cinema, and it really was a sight to behold. This film does have a bit of…