At The Cinema: 2000

Possibly the best comedy of the year, Ben Stiller stars as Greg Focker, a male nurse on the verge of proposing to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, after hearing about what her father (Robert De Niro) is like, he decides he must wait until he finds favour with her parents, and the opportunity arises when the young couple go to spend a weekend with Greg's prospective in-laws. De Niro is, to say the least, a little protective of his daughter, a conservative father who is dubious about this meek-looking guy who has attached himself to his beloved little girl, while Greg is the 'new man' eager to impress. From the very start, this weekend is the weekend from hell - everything that can go wrong, does. Accidents with ornaments, volleyballs and pet cats abound. This is a perfect 'squirm comedy', full of the kind of terrible, embarrassing situations that everyone has experienced in one form or another. Not only this, but Greg finds himself being measured up against an old fiance (Owen Wilson) of his girlfriend, who is so perfect in every department (house, money, fitness, etc etc) that he cannot possibly compete. Stiller and De Niro turn in spot on performances as the harassed boyfriend and dubious father respectively, while director Jay Roach (Austin Powers) clearly knows how to tell a story like this, and how to bring it to a conclusion while keeping the laughs coming. 4/5

A pleasingly old-fashioned tale of family values triumphing over corporate greed, Nicolas Cage stars as Jack Campbell, a super-duper business executive, single, who would rather spend Christmas Day dragging employees in to negotiate billion dollar mergers than celebrating with family or friends. He chose this life 13 years earlier, when he decided to split up with his college girlfirend Kate (Tea Leoni) in favour of a banking career. A chance encounter with a mysterious would-be thief (Don Cheadle) on Christmas Eve leads to him waking up on Christmas Day in the life that he would have led if he had stayed with Kate. He has been given a 'glimpse': no longer does he have a high-flying career with New York apartment, flash cars and money to burn; he now has an average house in the middle of suburbia, two kids and a tedious sales job with his father-in-law's tyre firm. Naturally, he is a bit bewildered by all this. Learning that any trace of his real existence has vanished, he struggles to get to grips with this new life: a low-paid job with long hours and kids who require constant attention. However, he begins to find in Kate something worth living this life for, but the 'glimpse' will soon end - which life will he prefer? This is great seasonal entertainment, a little lacking in that extra magic that would make it a classic, but nevertheless remains a bit of a heartwarmer. 3/5

Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest thriller joins the cloning bandwagon (probably begun by 1997's Alien Resurrection) and sees the muscular one get a twin double. Set in the very near future, Arnie plays Adam Gibson, a helicopter pilot by day, a loving husband and father by night. One day, on his birthday, he comes home to find that he has been replaced by an exact copy of himself: a living, breathing person who is identical in every possible way. Human cloning has been outlawed in this time, but that hasn't stopped a dodgy corporation, led by Tony Goldwyn, from doing it anyway, thanks to scientist Robert Duvall. Just why have they done this, and why are henchmen of the company trying to bump the real Arnie off? Needless to say, the film follows Arnie and his attempts to stay alive and figure out just what is going on, before his family are also caught in the trap. All the usual features of an Arnie film are present and correct: guns, death, action, explosions and the odd wince-inducing one-liner. But what makes this better than just a bog-standard shoot 'em up is that the moral issues of cloning are not swept under the carpet in favour of another gunfight. The possible implications are actually addressed, if not in any great depth. In this world, pets are frequently cloned, so children do not have to cope with the loss that death brings. They can even be 'tweaked'; for instance, dog's teeth can be blunted to make them safer. The odd satirical swipe like this is funny, but it might not be so far from the truth a few years down the line. And Duvall, always good value, brings a bit of emotional resonance to his scenes with his dying wife. A decent thriller. 3/5

Enjoyable sci-fi hokum is the order of the day in this B-movie yarn with an A-movie cast. The year is 2050, and Earth is on the brink of entirely running out of natural resources due to pollution and overpopulation. So scientists look to Mars as a solution: the most hospitable planet in the solar system after Earth, it only requires some tweaking in the atmosphere department to make it habitable. So some terraforming is undertaken with the introduction of algae, to help create oxygen. However, something has started killing off the algae, and so the first manned mission to the red planet is sent to investigate, comprising of Carrie-Anne Moss as mission leader, Tom Sizemore as chief scientist, and Val Kilmer as engineer/space janitor. Things do not go according to plan (wouldn't you know it?); the ship becomes crippled in a 'freak' accident, and all bar Moss abandon it in favour of the planet. However, they then crash-land themselves, and are stuck on the surface with a malfunctioning robot that wants to kill them all. The science of all this is of course hogwash, but that's never stopped Hollywood before. What matters is how entertaining is the result? Well, the answer is quite. Not as good as it might have been, but not as bad either. Kilmer and Moss are engaging as the leads, and the special effects and thrills come along often enough to stop you from getting bored. 3/5

Forget the fact that this is based on an old, cheesy TV series; what we have here is one of the silliest films I have ever had the fortune to see. And it is gloriously silly. The concept is basically unchanged from the TV show that started back in 1976: mysterious, unseen billionaire Charlie Townsend runs a detective agency, headed up by Bosley (an underused but still cool Bill Murray), who in turn manages the three female operatives: bookish babe Natalie (Cameron Diaz), streetwise Dylan (Drew Barrymore), and weapons bod Alex (Lucy Liu). The plot, as I remember it, has a computer whizz kidnapped for ransom; the Angels must find him as his revolutionary technology could fall into the wrong hands. It's as if the filmmakers sat around one day and tried to think of what would make the coolest film ever. 'Let's get Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz (10/10 already!) to do Matrix-style kung-fu, preposterous stunts, smile a lot and show vast amounts of cleavage.' 'Yes, and let's get Bill Murray to play their boss, as one look from him sends me into fits of laughter.' 'I know, get George McFly from Back to the Future to play a mute, sword-wielding baddie with a ludicrously over-the-top haircut.' Nice one. 'Then we can get Joey from Friends to play a boyfriend of one of the Angels, but he still basically plays Joey.' 'And we can top it all off with cool music, colourful cinematography, racing cars and deadly muffins.' Genius or awfulness? It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I almost died from laughing. 3/5

The most fascinating, absorbing film since (for me) Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Memento stars Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man who has lost his short-term memory. This came about as he tried to protect his wife from an intruder at their home; he was badly injured but she ultimately died. Though he lost his short-term memory, he remembers everything up until that fateful hour. An insurance investigator by profession, he has become hell-bent on avenging his wife's murder, but how do you track down a killer when you can't even remember what you were doing twenty minutes ago, let alone people you met and talked to? So Leonard has devised neat methods to assist him: polaroids and tattoos to remember where he lives, which people he has met. This would make an intriguing film by itself, but the whole story of the film is told from its conclusion backwards, in short scenes. So you start with the climax of his pusuit: revenge carried out. But then you see how he got to this conclusion, which makes the film quite disorientating, though never at the expense of the audience's sanity. And it makes us sympathise with Leonard; the film, like Leonard's life, never gives you the whole picture. Guy Pearce has never been better, and there's good support too from The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano. Very well directed by Christopher Nolan, Memento is an excellent thriller. 4/5

Elizabeth Hurley is the devil. Or at least she is in Harold Ramis' comedy, an update of the 1967 Peter Cooke/Dudley Moore film. Brendan Fraser, in great comic form, stars as Elliot Richards, a pathetic IT helpdesker who lusts after his co-worker, Alison (Frances O'Connor). Unable to attract her attention, Elliot suddenly gets paid a visit by old red horns, who pops up in the rather sumptuous shape of Hurley, and offers him seven wishes to make his dream come true. So naturally he wishes to be married to Alison with a stupendously huge bank balance. However, it doesn't quite work out as he had hoped, after being turned into a Colombian drug lord with an unfaithful Alison as his wife. And so Elliot tries again and again to create a wonderful life for him and his dream girl, but it just doesn't seem to go as he intended. The wish scenarios range on the laughter scale from amusing to very funny, and Fraser rises to the challenge of playing several different characters, from a basketball player to a witty Noel Coward-like author. Hurley does her best as the sexiest devil to ever grace the screen, and while the film runs out of steam a little towards the end, Bedazzled remains a solidly amusing comedy. 3/5

A low-budget sci-fi thriller that really delivers where it counts: in suspense and pace. With a cast of relative unknowns, equally unknown director David Twohy has made a cracking film that wastes not a second of screen time, hurtling the story along to its edge-of-the-seat finale. The premise is an all too familiar one, the staple plot of hundreds of direct-to-video time-wasters: a passenger spaceship in some far flung corner of the cosmos crash-lands on a mysterious planet, one that is, due to three local stars, permanently in daylight. The survivors (among them pilot Fry, serial-killer prisoner Riddick and law enforcer Johns) must try to stay alive in this desert world; this is complicated by the fact that nocturnal beasts lurk below the ground, and a 22-yearly total eclipse is about to occur. With relatively little money for special effects, Twohy concentrates instead on old-fashioned values like story-telling, dialogue and pace. The characters are given just enough shading to make you empathise with them, and some great cinematography captures the feel and atmosphere of a planet in permanent daylight, not to mention the terror that awaits the survivors come the darkness. If you like the Alien movies, to which of course this film is indebted, then there's no doubt you will like this too. Unoriginal, yes; but fantastically executed. 4/5

Michael Douglas is truly excellent as Professor Grady Tripp in Curtis (L.A. Confidential) Hanson's Wonder Boys, a slow-moving but richly rewarding comedy drama. Tripp is an English professor at university, who likes to smoke pot and is trying to complete his second novel, a task that seemingly has become impossible as the story just grows and grows. He also has a deteriorating personal life. His wife has left him, his girlfriend (Frances McDormand, the wife of his boss at college) is pregnant, his young and attractive housemate (Katie Holmes) has a crush on him, despite being in his class, and a brilliant but weird student of his (Tobey MaGuire) has stolen a priceless jacket that Marilyn Monroe wore at her wedding from said boss. Events do get even more complicated than this, but they force him to take stock of where his life is, and where it is heading. As said, Douglas is superb, simply becoming the character he portrays, and an Oscar nod would be well-deserved. The supporting players are just as good, particularly McDormand and Robert Downey Jr, playing Tripp's unsuccessful publisher desperate for the new book. Not a Friday night film, but if you're in the mood, this is quality stuff. 4/5

A follow-up to 1999's low-budget, high-earning chiller The Blair Witch Project. It was always going to be hard to follow on from BWP, a film that was unique in its treatment of what was essentially nothing more than a spooky campfire tale. At least the makers decided not to try and ape the style of BWP; rather they used a higher budget to deliver a more traditional Hollywood production. BW2 picks up the story a few months on from Project, with new stories covering the real-life success of the film. After this we learn that, mirroring real-life events, the town of Burkittsville, Maryland, where the original was shot, has been beseiged by tourists wanting to immerse themselves in the legend of the Blair Witch. One local (Jeffrey Donovan), with a mental history, has also become obsessed, and starts offering guided tours of the area. The first group he takes out consists of a boyfriend-girlfriend pair of writers, wanting to research the Blair Witch phenomenon; a wiccan religious nut; and a Goth. Needless to say, their sleepover in the woods goes pear-shaped: when they wake up in the morning, 5 hours from the night have mysteriously dispappeared from their lives. Luckily, their campsite was videotaped, so they take the tapes back to Jeff's empty warehouse flat and examine the footage... To be honest, this isn't a bad effort. Their are some good eerie moments, but nothing to match the brilliance of the original. Furthermore, the whole thing feels stretched out, even at only 90 minutes long, and what tension is built soon ebbs away. Throw in some cliches and an occasional dodgy bit of acting, and you end up with a disappointment. 2/5

British director Mark Herman, best known for his previous efforts, the excellent Brassed Off and Little Voice, returns with a third picture in a similar comedy-drama vein. This time around Newcastle forms the backdrop of the tale, which follows two teenage boys (Chris Beattie and Greg McLane) and their desperate attempts to raise funds for a season ticket to the Magpies. This is not easy however, as neither lads have jobs - in fact, they barely go to school. So they go through various means, legal or otherwise, to attain that which is "purely belter": to be able to watch their team at their stadium. At the same time, the plight of Charlie's family becomes evident, with his violent alcoholic Dad (Tim Healy) making unwelcome visits home, one of his sisters missing having run away, and the ill-health of his mother. The tone of the film certainly leans more towards the light-hearted side of the story, but the serious elements of the story serve as before to give the characters depth. However, this time out director Herman is less successful. The comedy is certainly amusing, but lacks any truly hilarious moments, while the darker side of the tale dealing with the family's hardship, though engaging, feels a bit trite. It is nice that he has stuck with his working class roots, but perhaps the time has come to move on. This is still a cut above the average British movie however, and well worth a look. 3/5

An excellent example of what Alfred Hitchcock would be up to if he were alive now and still at his 'Psycho' peak, WLB is a taut supernatural suspenser that only occasionally lets itself down through an overlong running time. Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer (Ford is advertised as the star, but it's Pfeiffer who has the most screen time) turn in very good performances as a married couple who are living a quiet suburban life. Pfeiffer's daughter has just left home for uni, and so Mum finds herself feeling quite alone, what with Ford at work most of the time. Taking her mind off things is her new neighbours, a couple who seem to be arguing and fighting all the time. Then suddenly the wife disappears, leading Pfeiffer to suspect murder. At the same time, mysterious things are happening in her own home... To say any more would spoil the developments in the story, so I'll leave it at that. Director Robert Zemeckis (Contact, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) has obviously been watching his Hitchcock videos, because although we've seen these old-fashioned tricks before, they still work exceedingly well. There's more suspense here than is legally allowed under EU regulations, so lap it up while you can. As I said earlier, it is a little too long, but it's never less than intriguing, and at its best it is heart-thumpingly tense. 4/5

Disney's latest animation is pretty much a remake of Eighties classic The Land Before Time, though entertainingly done. In the enthralling opening sequence we learn that our hero Alador is an orphaned dinosaur raised by a family of lemurs (don't ask). Years later, a meteor plummets into the earth, wiping out flora and fauna alike. Fortunately, Alador and co escape this initial life threatener, but return to find the earth a wasteland. However, there are rumours that something has survived: a lush nesting ground that escaped the carnage. Learning this through joinging up with a convoy of miscellaneous other survivors, led by the merciless Kron, Alador tries to make this journey whilst a) trying not to die of thirst or hunger; b) trying not to die from a nasty predator called a Carnotaur (basically a T-Rex, only uglier); c) falling in love with Kron's sister; and d) trying to keep the stragglers of the group alive and together, as Kron believes only in the survival of the fittest. This computer-generated animation is spectacular to look at, and that and the action will be enough to satisfy adults. Children will certainly enjoy it, and will probably not be as offended at the nauseating sentimentality that occasionally creeps in as adults might. 3/5

U.S. college comedy that tells the tale of four students who undertake a great university tradition - the road trip. However this isn't just an aimless frolick in the countryside. One of the students, Josh, has unfortunately cheated on his lifelong girlfriend and posted her a videotape of him making love to a one-night stand instead of a video-taped love letter from him to her. Buggar. He has three days to travel 1800 miles from Ithaca to Austin to rescue the tape before it falls into her clutches. 3 friends travel with him, and the film follows their amusing misadventures along their way. Needless to say, things does not go smoothly. Oh, and it is all told in flashback by a slightly weird thicko who delights in feeding mice to pet snakes. Of course this is hardly original stuff (except for the snake-feeding weirdo), but it nevertheless has a certain charm, thanks mainly to the performances of the leads and some genuinely funny moments. I was grinning pretty much all the way through, if not laughing out loud. Plus it reminds you of why uni can be fun! Though where were the mini sponge football players who tried to keep it up all day? Er, the football anyway... 3/5

An excellent British film in the mould of Brassed Off and The Full Monty, Billy Elliot is a comedy drama set in the north during the miner's strike of 1984. Billy (impressive newcomer Jamie Bell) is an 11-year old boy being brought up by his widower Dad, and Dad, a miner, wants his son to continue the family tradition of boxing. Whilst at boxing, at which he's not terribly good, he sees the girls taking ballet lessons, and this curious world of dancing intrigues him. So he joins in, taught by the rather brisk Mrs Wilkinson (an excellent Julie Walters). But his Dad is not having any of it when he finds out, and forbids him to take part in this interest which he now so enjoys. In fact he is so good, his teacher believes he may get into the Royal Ballet School. The performances are all excellent in this well-told story about a boy's struggle to grow up, and the miner's strike backdrop deepens the film's atmosphere of family tension and hardship. But it never gets bogged down in the 'grim oop north' setting; indeed there is much humour here, especially between Billy and his best mate, and most scenes involving Walters. The period soundtrack is also very well chosen. Good, solid entertainment. 4/5

The Invisible Man returns to the big screen for the umpteenth time, this time with popular sci-fi director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers) at the helm. Also noted for having directed the infamous Basic Instinct, this version of the classic tale was always going to deal with the power of invisiblity in a darker way. Sure enough, this story has the genius but eccentric scientist (Kevin Bacon) inventing an invisibilty serum, and an antidote. It works on an animal test subject, and so (going against his superiors' orders) he tries it on himself. Only the antidote doesn't work. He and his team (among whom is Elisabeth Shue) try to figure out a solution. Being stuck in invisible mode soon starts to affect his mind however, and his new found power begins to corrupt him morally... On the plus side, the film does to dare to suggest what invisibility would quite realistically do to a man (voyeurism is only the beginning here). After all, what would you do? The special effects are astonishing, naturally for this day and age. Seeing an invisible subject slowly reappear firstly through their veins, then their skeleton, then their muscle tissue and finally their skin is pretty dazzling. However, the script was a bit poor in places, and the final act was a very stupid stalk-and-slash chase as the invisible man seemed to become the invincible man. But otherwise this is an entertaining and exciting ride. 3/5

Waking Ned in Space, or Armageddon (Too Old For This Shit), could pretty much sum up this latest entry in (director/star) Clint Eastwood's long and illustrious career. He doesn't often exercise his comedic skills, but he does sometimes bring a dry sense of humour to his films, much in evidence here. Clint plays Frank Corvin, first seen in a prologue set in 1958 as a test pilot for the USAF, which (pre-NASA) was trying to start a space program. Their boss (James Cromwell) suddenly replaces him and his team (Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner) however, as NASA is formed, and they lose their chance at getting into space. Jump forward 42 years, and Eastwood is suddenly contacted by NASA, who have a problem with an old Soviet cold war satellite whose orbit is rapidly decaying. Repairs need to be effected, but the technology is so ancient, only Eastwood and his veterans can do the job. The first half of the film is actually pretty funny as Corvin and co. attempt to regain their fitness in order to make the journey. The second half follows the team into space, and their efforts to capture and repair the ailing satellite, as the comedy gives way to a good dose of action and tension. Eastwood directs it all effortlessly, at quite a leisurely pace, and the sheer charisma of the four leads makes the whole package very likeable. 3/5

Jennifer Lopez stars as a psychologist in the freakiest film of the year - yes, even more so than Being John Malkovich. The Cell is a serial killer thriller, but the key to the film is the new technology that Lopez is testing: a device that allows her to enter the mind of a patient and face the person there. This of course is a brilliant excuse to conjure up all sorts of weird and wonderful imagery from the depths of the human mind with great special effects. When the killer is caught early on in the movie, the FBI have only a few hours to discover the weherabouts of his latest victim, due to be drowned in a watertight cell that the killer uses on all his victims. So Lopez is forced to gon into his mind to try and find this out. This is truly a mind-blowing trip at times, and often quite scary. However, music video director Tarsem Singh is unable to build any empathy or charcterisation with the lead characters, and the result is the audience caring little about the outcome. Stanley Kubrick employed much the same methods in his 2001: A Space Odyssey, an equally cold but spectacular film, but his work was a fascinating meditation on the origins and future of the human race in a series of meaningful imagery. The Cell's imagery is often without meaning at all, and its subject matter merely serves to further alienate the viewer. An intriguing but unlikeable film. 2/5

Samuel L. Jackson struts his ultra-cool stuff once again in this remake/sequel to the 1970s classic that starred Richard Roundtree as the (in the words of Isaac Hayes' immortal theme song) "private dick who's a sex machine to all the chicks". This updated version (technically speaking this is Shaft 4) stars Sam the Man as the nephew to Roundtree's Shaft, and they even share a couple of scenes together. Rather than make a campy retro version of the film, which would have been the easy option, the producers have contemporarised the politics of the orignal films, so issues concerning blacks and other ethnic groups form the backdrop to the movie. The story concerns Jackson's Shaft, who is a detective in the police force, who continually has to deal with racial attacks and deaths. The latest one involves a white rich kid (Christian Bale) who brutally murders a black guy, witnessed only by a waitress (Toni Collette). Bale gets off scot-free at court, having threatened the waitress into silence. Bale then leaves the country, returns two years later, is put on the stand again, and gets off again. Shaft, suitably narked, quits the force and makes it his personal mission to nail the mother. The storyline isn't always as thrilling as it wants to be, but Jackson was clearly born to play this role, and whenever he's on screen, you're always hooked. And when the theme tune strikes up again, you're seriously diggin' it. 4/5

Now, at the risk of being murdered by Iain, who I suspect has seen quite a few, I have to admit I had never seen a Coen Brothers film before this one. They are the team behind 1996's Fargo, plus others like The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona and Blood Simple. However, on the strength of this offering, I may be tempted to catch up with their back catalogue. Very loosely based on Homer's The Odyssey, George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake-Nelson star as three escaped convicts from a chain-gang in 1930s Mississippi, trying to locate a stash of treasure Clooney hid before he was nicked. Their travels see them turned into music chart-toppers, being chased by the KKK (including John Goodman), seduced by sirens, become bank robbers and caught up in unseasonal floods. There are touches of the surreal here of course, but this is really good fun, and the comedy surprisingly is quite gentle. The photography is gorgeous, the old time music sounds from America's south very fitting and quite funny, and the acting jolly good. Clooney in particular impresses as the natural leader of the intelligence-challenged trio. Lord knows why they chose the title that they did, but then again, why not? 4/5

The recent revival in the horror films (begun ironically enough in 1996 by Scream, which itself was a satire on the genre) would undoubtedly have to be spoofed sooner or later, and so comes Scary Movie, the original title for Scream. It's four years too late, but what the hell? Aiming to bring to horror what The Naked Gun brought to the cops and robbers genre and what Airplane! brought to disaster movies, Scary Movie employs the same scattershot methods as its predecessors, but to much less success. However, though the laughs may not be as loud, they are still laughs all the same, and it is at times very funny. Primarily spoofing Scream (even on occasions copying entire scenes and speeches) but taking in the I Know...Summers, Blair Witch Project and Sixth Sense as well, plus other films outside of horror, the action is set in B.A. Corpse High School, where a gaggle of high school students, naturally played by twentysomethings, are under fear of a killer who is at large bumping off classmates. Can they figure out who is doing it? The unknown cast are at least game for anything (and believe me, they had to be - be warned, the gross humour on display here puts There's Something About Mary to shame), and at the very least you should be smiling through most of the picture. Surprisingly, I was too. I even thought I spotted a modicum of intelligent humour here and there... 3/5

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie returns with another London gangster caper, with another ensemble cast. Amazingly, despite the extreme similarites, it is almost as entertaining. I would try and talk briefly about the plot at this point, but it is such a labyrinth of story strands, even if tortured by the Spanish Inquisition, I don't think I could explain it here. But it works while you're watching, and that is the important thing. Basically it involves an 83-carat diamond which falls into the various laps of small-time crooks, unlicensed boxing match organisers, bookies, an ex-KGB hitman, Vinnie Jones and an American businessman, as well as a dog's stomach. The result is a very enjoyable film, perhaps surprisingly. The direction is punchy and vibrant, and the pace unrelenting. An eclectic cast includes Brit stalwarts Jason Statham, Alan Ford, Jason Flemyng, Mike Reid and Ewen Bremner, plus foreigners Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina, Rade Serbedzija and Brad Pitt as the Irish 'One Punch Mickey'. And of course the aforementioned Jones as a hard man. What a stretch. Actually, he's a good laugh. Clearly a master when it comes it to complicated narrative, Ritchie effortlessly tells what could have been a very convoluted story with great skill, expertly balancing comedy and good ol' British violence. And though it inevitably lacks the freshness of Lock, Stock..., it is still great fun. You can just imagine Michael Caine doing this thirty years ago. 4/5

Probably the bizarrest comedy since Being John Malkovich (though nowhere near that level of weirdness), the lovely Renee Zellwegger and the just-as-lovely Morgan Freeman star in this tale of a simple, good-natured waitress (Zellwegger) who witnesses the violent death of her husband and goes a little cuckoo as a result. She suddenly takes off in a car and heads for Los Angeles, convinced she is the ex-fiancee of her favourite character in a popular US TV soap series. The actor (Greg Kinnear) who plays the character mistakes her earnest belief in this fantasy as the unrelenting actions of a determined actress desperate to be in the show. Meanwhile, Freeman plays a hitman who is tracking Betty and her car, which contains something unbeknown to her. Chris Rock plays Freeman's nutty assistant. In some freaky way, this is a reworking of The Wizard of Oz as a satire on soap operas. Slowly the film transforms into a soap itself, as the preposterousness factor rises and surprise revelations emerge. Sometimes it's very funny, sometimes it's quite touching; occasionally it's a bit gruesome. Director Neil LaBute doesn't make the mixture gel totally successfully, and although intelligent and entertaining, it doesn't quite work. But the acting is tops, especially Zellwegger who is perfect as the sweet Betty. 3/5

A comedy western adventure, in much the same vein as Back to the Future Part III, Shanghai Noon is a very enjoyable caper with a high feel-good factor. Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson star as, respectively, a Chinese Imperial guard and an easy-going outlaw cowboy in the 1880s. What brings them together is the search for a Chinese princess, who has been kidnapped and taken to the Wild West, where a ransom of gold must be delivered. Chan tags along with the official guard that is carrying the gold, only to get lost and wind up with Wilson, who upon hearing about the gold, volunteers his services in getting Chan back on track. What follows is their very amusing misadventures in trying to rescue the princess. Chan perfected his talent for inventive martial arts years ago, and shows he still has the knack here, fusing action and comedy in equal doses. Sharing the screen honours is Wilson's brilliant surf-dude slacker-style cowboy, who definitely gets the most laughs. The script is for the most part very good, with plenty of in-jokes for western genre fans, and the out-takes at the end of the film simply add to the enjoyability of the piece. Like I said, if you liked BTTF3, you'll like this. 4/5

Superheroes fly onto the big screen once again in X-Men, having being forced into hiding following the lamentable Batman & Robin in 1997. And for comic-book fans like me, its been worth the wait. Based on a comic series famous in the US (starting back in 1963), and using a more scientific approach to its characters, X-Men tells the story of the next evolutionary stage for mankind: children born around the world with a genetic twist that develops in their adolesence, giving them peculiar and individual powers. These 'mutants' face a hostile world, who are scared of these beings that can read minds, or turn invisible, or kill by touch. Many mutants are drawn towards Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), himself a telepathic mutant, who has established a school to help these people hone their skills, while trying to convince the world that they can all live peacefully side-by-side. Others believe this cannot happen, and that a war with mankind must be fought. They are led by Magneto (so-called because he can wield massive magnetic forces), who is haunted by similar memories of persecution from being a Jew in Nazi death camps in World War Two. The story follows Logan a.k.a. Wolverine (whose peculiar trait is razor-sharp blades emerging from between his knuckles when angered) as he decides which side he should fight for, amid Magneto's plot to strike at a UN convention. It may all sound a bit bewildering, but it really isn't. Of course, with films like these, special FX are crucial, and rest assured, X-Men is not short on spectacle, particularly the climatic struggle on the Statue of Liberty. However, the relationships and characters are just as important in this film, and there is a genuine heart to these people, as well as humour. Contemporary political parallels (the 1960s civil rights movement) give the film a greater depth than most others of its ilk. But most of all, it never forgets its comic-book origins, and it's a great ride - and over far too soon. 4/5

The ethics of modern warfare purports to be the subject of RoE, though in truth the scrutiny is neither the focus of the story, nor very severe. Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones star as 'Nam vets whose careers take very different courses over the years. Jackson saved buddy Jones' life back then, and Jones has since gone through a divorce, hit the bottle and become a military lawyer on the verge of retirement. Jackson climbed the ranks rather more successfully. Then a mission to Yemen under Jackson's command to evacuate the American ambassador (Ben Kingsley) from a gun-brandishing crowd of protestors goes rather awry, resulting in 83 locals being killed, plus a few troops. The ensuing investigation blames Jackson, thanks to a Washington official, and the film switches genre from actioner to courtoom thriller as Jones, asked by Jackson to represent him, fights to try and save his friend from going to jail. The politics of the film (especially the Middle Eastern parts of the narrative) are best not examined too closely, as (like last year's The General's Daughter) this is really a military potboiler, but it is otherwise an enjoyable yarn. The action at the start is well directed, probably owing a fair bit to Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan, while the courtoom scenes undeniably hold the attention, thanks to the usual high standard of performances from both the leads. 3/5

Following M:I-2 comes another summer crash-bang blockbuster, this time from the producer who made his name in the field: Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon). Nic Cage reteams with him for a third time (after The Rock and Con Air) in this remake of the 1974 film of the same name, in which a retired car thief (Cage) is forced back into the trade in order to get his brother off the hook with a rival gang (led by Christopher Eccleston). Cage tries to round up his old cohorts, including babe Angelina Jolie, mentor Robert Duvall, and mute Vinnie Jones (who steals not only cars but also every scene he's in). 50 cars in 3 days is the requirement, and they set off to do just that, while trying to avoid copper Delroy Lindo. The result is an entertaining mixture of super-cool visuals, punch-ups and fast cars. It never really thrills you to pieces like, say, the car chases in 1998's Ronin for example, but there is a quite a good sequence towards the end with Cage in the fiftieth car at the eleventh hour. The quality cast aren't really here for the acting of course, but to look cool and earn a paycheque, so performances are merely adequate. First-time director Dominic Sena has the visual panache for a blockbuster, but I got the feeling that technically the direction is sloppy and uncontrolled at times. Overall, an enjoyable ride, though not a particularly memorable one. 3/5

John Cusack is excellent in this adaptation of Nick Nornby's book, set in London originally but transferred successfully (so I'm told, not having read said volume) to Chicago. I must admit, before this film came along, I was at a loss to explain why many people enjoyed Cusack's films, but having watched Grosse Pointe Blank for the first time last week, followed by this, I can now see why. He really excels in comedy, both in understated wit and occasional energetic farce (present in both films). High Fidelity is about record-shop owner Rob Gordon (Cusack), who is about to break-up with yet another girlfriend. His business is likewise doing unimpressively, with two music geeks for employees who are lower on life's ladder than even he is. However, a turning point seems to have been reached, and this break-up spurs Rob on to finding how a few of his ex-girlfriends (who make up his "top 5 all-time worst break-ups") are getting along. The tale is a very humerous one, with stong performances all round the cast, as well as being quite romantic - the perfect date movie really, with something for both sexes. Plus it's a great movie for music lovers, with an excellent soundtrack. Good fun. 4/5

George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg get buckets of water thrown over them in 'The Perfect Storm', the true tale of a fishing boat and its crew which got caught in the worst storm in recorded history. This occurred in 1991 off the east coast of (guess?) America, and the events are recorded in the best-selling book by Sebastian Junger. This movie is adapted from that, and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, director of submarine classic Das Boot. Clooney plays the captain of the Andrea Gail, who is going through a lean patch as far as fishing is concerned, so he decides to go on one more trip in his vessel before the season ends. His crew, the stereotypical bunch of workers (the divorcee, the loser, the new recruit, the bloke with the chip on his shoulder, the token black man, etc etc), are all rounded up and they sail off further than they would want in order to make some decent money. However, three seperate weather fronts have collided and created a monstrous storm, cutting them off from land. Now, as I have hinted, there are rather trite elements to this film. The script is on occasions as corny as they come, and there are a few scenes which reek of sappy American melodrama. However, on the plus side there are good performances from the cast, who are all very watchable (particularly the two stars and John C Reilly as Clooney's mate and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantanio (Maid Marian from Costner's Robin Hood) as Clooney's wannabe girlfriend). The storm itself is pretty good too, with great special effects that frequently create spectacle and a good dash of tension thanks to the director. Not as good as it should have been, but OK. 3/5

Mel Gibson is always at his best when he's out for revenge, and he knows it. As Mad Max and Martin Riggs, and in later films like Ransom and Payback, he proved that as an action star with character depth, he has few equals. He has been in a few historical pieces too: Galipoli, the 1984 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, and of course his 1995 Oscar winner, Braveheart. Now he combines the two in The Patriot, a war epic set in and around the American War of Independence circa 1776. He plays Benjamin Martin, a ex-army officer turned pacifist, aggrieved, like most of the colonists, at George III's 'taxation without representation' policies. However, as a widower with seven children and having experienced the worst of warfare, he is extremely reluctant to take up arms against the English. His headstrong 18 year old son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), enlists despite his father's contrary wishes, and experiences for himself the nature of warfare. Meanwhile, Benjamin is drawn into the developing war further when a battle takes place literally in his back yard; here he first encounters Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), a ruthless officer who makes an enemy of Martin immediately. The story then follows Martin as he joins the local militia and tries to protect his family. This is a very enjoyable film, quite long but always worth watching when Gibson is on screen. This is his show, and he does an excellent job of holding the film together. The story is a good one, combining family drama and action together very well. Picture effectively conveys the brutality of war, and how this particular conflict was fought in homes and gardens as well as the battlefield. Political goings on take a back seat, but the film does highlight how outmoded British tactics and the changing nature of warfare served to aid the eventual American victory. There are moment of shameless cliche and historical whitewash, but these are too few and far between to stop the movie being successful in its aim, which is simply to entertain. 4/5

From the creators of the classic Wallace and Gromitt animations comes this full-length film based on a chicken farm in fifties England. Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) is a chicken constantly looking for ways to escape from the farm, brilliantly made up to look quite similar to a Nazi P.O.W. camp. After numerous failures, hope arrives in the form of an American rooster, Rocky (Mel Gibson's vocular talents), who falls out of the sky and agrees to lend a wing. The race is on as the farmer's wife, the satanically evil Mrs. Tweedy, decides to ditch the egg business in favour of chicken pies. There is a great amount of humour to be found in Chicken Run, not only in the whacky idea of the film's premise, but also the homages to numerous war film classics, primarily The Great Escape, and others besides (notably Raiders of the Lost Ark). Technically, the film is faultless: the characters are all instantly likeable, and the animation is first class. The trademark features of Nick Parks' imaginary world are thankfully all present and correct (the exposure of all teeth in characters, for example!), and the down-to-earth northern wit that inhabited Wallace's adventures continues here, complimented once again by deftly-handled action sequences, which should ensure global appeal. 4/5

Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in this John Woo sequel to the 1996 blockbuster. Firstly, a bit of background. The original TV series was an excellent bunch of espionage adventures, with the leader given a seemingly impossible task and a couple of days in which to achieve the goal. He and his team would then go about their task in ingenious ways, using disguises and gadgets galore. And they would always succeed, and no-one would get captured or killed (despite the ever-present opening threat by the Secretary to "disavow all knowledge of their actions"). The 1996 film, directed by Brian DePalma, brilliantly updated the concept and turned it into a Hitchcock-esque thriller. Tom Cruise's team all get killed in the opening set up, and suddenly he's on the run from his own side, who believe he's a double agent. Great set piece followed great set piece, even if the plot got overly tricky at times. Sadly, the ingenuity of the series, and the taut paranoia of the first film, is lost in the sequel. Directly copying a couple of pieces from its predecessor, and then adding lots of explosions and guns at the end, does not a great film make. It's not a complete washout though; Cruise is given a bit of characterisation, and the supporting cast acquit themselves pretty well too, particularly Thandie Newton as Tom's bit of stuff, and a fleeting appearance by Anthony Hopkins. However, John Woo's stupid (but also stupidly enjoyable) bombs and bullets trademark destroy any depth or seriousness the film has managed to muster together, and thus the audience cares little about the inevitable outcome. Still, enjoyable popcorn stuff. Let's hope a third episode returns to the atmospheric thrills of the first film. 3/5

An intriguing premise is thoughtfully played out in Frequency, a film that practically crosses every film genre in its two hours. There's romance, comedy, sci-fi, action and murder mystery all in equal dose. Dennis Quaid stars as a father, fireman and radio ham in 1969, who through some freaky sunspot activity, manages to tune into his son on the same radio 30 years in the future, 1999. This allows the son (Jim Caviezel) to get to know his Dad, because as he knows, Quaid should die the next night. They manage to prevent this from happening, but the future has now been altered, and as anyone who has seen the Back to the Future films know, this usually presents some unforseen circumstances, and not all of them nice. Most efforts that try to please everybody fail dismally, but this is a rare exception. The first part engages you nicely as Quaid (always good value) and Caviezel as father and son first get to know each other. The second half of the film goes up a gear into mystery thriller territory, and is pretty tense. The ins and outs of the strange phenomenon that allows them to speak are never explained, and the film is all the better for it - an enjoyable, sort of fairy-tale thriller, well worth seeing. 3/5

A third Kevin Costner baseball flick, joining Bull Durham and Field of Dreams in an unofficial trilogy. Unfortunately, I haven't seen either of those two, but by all accounts, they were both very good and both were better than this one. But I reckoned it was pretty good, and a return to form by Costner who is perfectly cast in this. He stars as Billy Chapel, a baseball prodigy from a very young age, and now in the twilight stage of his career. In the last game of the season, he learns he is to be sold off to another team from the one he has played at all his life after a couple of indifferent years. Being a pitcher, his arm is also feeling the toll of years of throwing. While he plays the game, he starts to weigh up what his future should be: continuing to play the game that is his life, or to try and patch things up with his long-term girlfriend (Kelly Preston) who has just left him, and call it a day. As he looks back on their relationship, his pitching becomes spot on and a 'perfect game' (i.e. no points scored off his pitches, almost unheard of) looks to be within his grasp. The film is excellently directed by Sam Raimi, and the game itself becomes very tense. The romance is less successful, but involving enough. A good film all in all. 3/5

I love submarine movies. I had better admit that before evaluating this movie. I really enjoy the hot, fearful sweaty-palmed tension they create, hundreds of feet below the surface, trying to second guess and out-manouvre their opponent. The Hunt for Red October (1990) and Crimson Tide (1995) are recent examples of the genre. This one isn't quite as good as those, mainly due to the lack of interesting characters. The mission is the recovery from a stricken German U-boat of an Enigma coding machine, which would enable the Allies to halt the Nazi's successful disruption of Allied Atlantic shipping. Matthew McConaughey plays Lt. Andrew Tyler, second-in-command of the American sub sent to snatch this device. He and a small group of men board the submarine and get the device, but just as they are about to leave, a Nazi sub sent to assist the damaged craft arrives on the scene... Historically accurate this is not, but it never pretends to be. It's just a tale of adventure and good guys and bad guys, and derring-do. As such it works well; the running time flies by, and you really are caught up in the tension and terror of the mission. This sort of film has to be seen in the cinema; don't bother renting it on video, it wouldn't be worth it. The sound effects work is terrific, as the depth charges from a ship above rain down on the crew of the submarine below, and explode closer and closer. As I said, characterisation is spartan to say the least. The actors do their jobs well, but no-one really makes a strong impression, given the functional but basic dialogue. The pompous music gets on the nerves occasionally as well. Still, it's great cinematic entertainment. 4/5

Poor old Sandra Bullock. Likeable star though she is, her recent films have not exactly been classics. They haven't even been good. This one is no different unfortunately. 28 Days is the title, and 28 days is how long she is forced to spend in a rehab centre to try and solve her drinking problem. Bullock plays a writer and a non-stop party-goer, who ends up ruining her sister's wedding day. Sent to said centre, managed by Steve Buscemi, there she meets, argues with and of course eventually bonds with her fellow batch of losers in life. Trying to be a comedy drama, but being neither very funny nor dramatic, the film does have much potential in its premise, but mostly falls between two stools. Bullock is always watchable, but the rest of the characters are pretty uninteresting, and even Buscemi looks faintly bored, though he does his best. The film isn't that bad, don't get me wrong, it's just that it doesn't particularly please on any level. Will someone please give this girl a decent film to star in? 2/5

The original Fantasia is one of Walt Disney's most enduring films, setting well-known pieces of classical music to animation. Some of the segments tell stories (like the most famous piece, The Sourcerer's Apprentice, starring Mickey Mouse), others are simply abstract works, different colours and objects moving and changing to the themes. As Disney intended it to be continually updated and changed, this new version is a little late, but it has been worth it. Retaining only one segment from its predecessor (the aforementioned Mouse piece), Fantasia 2000 is a very enjoyable experience. Like the original, knowledge of the music is absolutely not required, and it is a visual treat. Again, the opening segment is abstract, set to Beethoven's 5th Symphony. The rest tell either a complete story to music (like Rhapsody in Blue, set in Depression-Era Manhattan, which is one of the best parts, or Donald Duck's mis-adventures aborad Noah's Ark in time with Pomp and Cirumstance) or 'abstract stories', like the battle between two forces of nature (the spirit of Spring and a volcano). With amusing introdutions from the likes of Steve Martin and Bette Midler, this a well-crafted piece that should appeal to almost all age-groups. 4/5

Hot on the heels of Scream 3 comes another entry in the canon of killing off teenagers one-by-one, but this one has a twist. Far more X-Files than Elm Street, the only villain here is Fate. A class of high school students are ready to go on a trip to Paris, when one of them, Alex (Devon Sawa), has a terribly clear premonition that the plane will explode shortly after take-off (if you don't enjoy flying, then this scene will make sure you'll never get on a plane again!). This naturally scares him crapless, and in the ensuing disturbance, he, five other students and a teacher get kicked off the aircraft. Plane then takes off and it does indeed explode, freaking out most of the unwitting survivors. However, it does not end there. One by one, the survivors start to die in freak (or not-so-freak) accidents. Alex has to figure out who is doing this, why, and who's next. An intriguing premise (which perhaps could have been made much more of) is pretty well executed, with quite a few jumps and scares, but a nice dash of black humour too. Very enjoyable, and the closing frame is one to remember. 4/5

The Roman epic makes a triumphant return to modern cinema in Ridley Scott's thrilling tale of revenge. The last film of this sort was The Fall of the Roman Empire, made in 1964, and chronicles many of the same historical events (circa 180 A.D.) used in this picture. But the similarities end there. Russell Crowe plays Maximus, Roman general to dying Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Having defeated the Germanic barbarians, Maximus wishes only to return home to his family, but the Emperor wants him instead to take his place, and "return Rome to the Romans", due to the political greed and corruption that has taken hold there. This of course spites Marcus' son and natural heir, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who has Maximus' family murdered. From hereon in, the tale of revenge becomes clear, as Maximus, now sold into slavery, emerges as a gladiator, and carefully prepares to take his vengeance. Crowe is excellent as the wronged man; he has a great screen presence that helps the picture through the several outstanding action sequences. In particular, the gladiatorial fights in the Colloseum are a standout, helped along too by Scott's directorial skill, making his best film since Blade Runner. But the story and plot are not ignored; the atmosphere of intrigue and political deception in the Senate is artfully recreated in a manner reminiscent of 1998's Elizabeth. Influences from Shakespeare are quite evident too. You do get a lot for your money here. Historically accurate or life-changing? Probably not. But this is purely and simply entertainment of the highest order, and practically faultless. 5/5

Sequel time again for the horror franchise that single-handedly revived its genre in the mid-90s. The four survivors from the previous films, heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), ex-cop Dewey Riley (David Arquette), TV presenter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and Cotton Weary (Liev Schrieber) are subjected once again to the maniacal schemes of a psychotic knife-wielding killer, once again imitating the murders that occurred three years earlier at Woodsboro. This time it happens in Hollywood, on the set of Stab 3, a sequel to the film (glimpsed at in Scream 2) that was based on the events chronicled in the first Scream (keeping up at the back there?). If it sounds like a tired formula worn out, that's because it almost is. Yet, there is life in the old dog yet. The relocation to Hollywood works well in some ways, as it allows some great jibes and homages at Hollywood's expense. The script is well up to the intelligent levels of the first two films, creating some great set pieces and some clever dialogue. Making it quite clear that this is the last episode of the series, it closes the storyline in a neat way, closing the loop as a proper trilogy should (which is also pointed out via a clever cameo from Jamie Kennedy (Randy from the first two films), speaking from beyond the grave). Although lacking the freshness of the first two (the cast are starting to look a little too old for this sort of thing), this is still an intelligent, fun and occasionally scary movie. 4/5

It's another Julia Roberts movie! But wait, don't turn off your monitor in disgust just yet. This one is very good, in that she proves she can act, and act well. She plays the titular character, in this 'based on a true story' story. A single, but caring, mother of three, divorced twice, living practically hand-to-mouth, Erin blags herself a job at a legal firm, doing odd office jobs. Noticing something amiss in one of these case files, and pointing it out to her boss (a very droll Albert Finney), she starts to investigate, and begins to uncover dodgy dealings by a major corporation. The pollution of the local water made by this company was responsible for hundreds of diseases and ailments, and ended up with one of the most expensive pay-outs in American legal history. It sounds the usual predictable underdog story, but it is done with style, and some very funny moments along the way. Roberts excels in the role of the brassy, foul-mouthed and courageous Brockovich, broadly similar to her character in Pretty Woman, but with greater depth. It is perhaps a touch too long, but for the most part it's a touching and absorbing story. 4/5

A giant crocadile living in a lake starts attacking some locals in Maine, USA. Doesn't sound a particularly original or appealing premise, but actually this is well worth a look. Written by David E Kelley (TV's Ally McBeal), this is a clever and witty version of the 'big old monster eats people' plot. Bridget Fonda stars as a paleontologist sent out to the title location, where an unusual tooth has been found in a corpse's body. Teaming up with local ranger Bill Pullman, sheriff Brendan Gleeson and croc expert Oliver Platt, they go searching to find the villain and put an end to the attacks. However, the short running time (1 hour 20 minutes) is primarily devoted to the humerous relationships between the characters; the battle of wits between Gleeson and Platt in particular is priceless. When the action does come, it is well done with enough tension and suspense to keep you well and truly hooked. It is not a spoof, thankfully; it is simply a humerous character piece that happens to have massive crocadile eating people. Even the requisite deaths by actors lower down the cast list are funny! Well above average for this sort of thing. 4/5

Kenneth Branagh returns to the works of Shakespeare for the first time since his 4 hour Hamlet in 1996, and comes up with a charming version of one of the Bard's lesser known works: it has never been made for the cinema before. The plot, what there is of it, revolves around the King of Navarre, who, with his three mates, vows to stay away from girls for three years of rewarding study. Unfortunately for them, the princess of France suddenly descends on their doorstep, along with her three beautiful chums. No prizes for guessing the what happens next, but what is different here is that it is set in the late 1930s, with World War Two looming. This setting is a choice that works well. Newspapers reporting events of the times are seen here and there. Vintage-style news reels are inserted, helping to move the story along, and the text itself is very easy to follow, broken up as it is into easily digestable pieces, interspersed with song and dance numbers from the era (No Business Like Showbusiness, Let's Face the Music and Dance, etc). It's a treat to see the musical genre come to life again; it is witty and fun and energetic and light as a feather. Very, very enjoyable. 4/5

Why are there so many excellent films around at the moment? Like buses I suppose; you wait for ages for one then a whole load of them come at once. Add this one to that list. Magnolia is a film about people and coincidence. It tells the story of several people's lives over the course of a day or so, but they are all connected through coincidence in a small way. One major storyline involves Julianne Moore, wife of dying Jason Robards, who is having a guilt trip. Tom Cruise is Robards' angry son, not having seen or spoken to him for years. Robards is also a TV producer, whose quiz show forms the platform for the second major storyline. Mixed into these stories are music (all the characters start singing along to the same song at one point) and biblical references (at another point, a plague is visited upon them all). This is a bewildering, breathtaking piece. It may sound as strange as the far more bizarre Being John Malkovich, but this is not a satire or comedy, although it is funny and moving. On the surface at least, it is a simple drama, excellently acted, brilliantly directed. No reasons are given for what is shown, yet somehow, we don't feel the need to ask. Strongly recommended. 5/5

As taut and tense as they come, The Insider is a classic drama that skilfully makes material which could have been mundane into a quietly thrilling story. It's a dramatisation of real-life events in America, where an ex-employee of a major tobacco firm (played excellently by Russell Crowe) decides to blow the whistle on the company. The major firms had sworn an oath to Congress that they did not believe nicotine was addictive. Crowe knows otherwise, and wanted to tell his story. In steps a TV news programme (60 Minutes) producer (Al Pacino), who fights with him to get the story and put it on his show. The 2 and a half hour running time just flies by, the performances down the cast list are all excellent, particularly Christopher Plummer in a small but signifcant role, and the look and feel of the film is beautiful. Thoroughly good stuff. 5/5

Never at the cinema have I seen a film so nuts as this one. But its weird in a good way. In what can be only be called a dark surreal comedy, John Cusack plays a poor puppeteer unable to find work. He finally gives into his wife (an unrecognisable Cameron Diaz) and gets a proper job, as a filing clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of an office building (one of the many fantastical but funny elements in this tale). There he chances upon a small hidden door, that leads the entrant into John Malkovich's head, allowing them to "be" (i.e. see what he sees) the actor, for 15 minutes only. They then get deposited out of thin air onto the side of a motorway. Realising the financial potential to this phenomenon, Cusack gets a business partner (Catherine Keener) and they start selling tickets. The story then follows the romantic entanglements that follow between Cusack, Diaz and Keener, and all the while Malkovich starts to realise something funny is going on in his head. The acting is very good, but credit here must go to director Spike Jonze for being able to convince us this situation could even exist. Lots of quirky characters spice this odd mixture up even more. Mind-bogglingly imaginative. 4/5

Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) returns from a five year absence with a film similar in subject matter to his directorial debut (period prison drama based on a Stephen King story), but what is astonishing is that it is as good. Tom Hanks toplines as Paul Edgecomb, a prison guard on Death Row, known by the inhabitants as the Green Mile (the colour of the floor that the inmates walk to the electric chair). A new inmate arrives - John Coffey ("like the drink, but not spelt the same"), played by Michael Clarke Duncan. It soon emerges he has a mysterious gift of healing, that leads Edgecomb to suspect Coffey was not guilty of the murders for which he was imprisoned. Also tied into this is a sadistic guard working for Edgecomb; the prison chief (James Cromwell) whose wife has a brain tuma; and a mouse. The acting is superb, led from the front by Hanks and Duncan, but equally good lower in the ranks. The writing and direction is top class too; it tells the story slowly, but very effectively. There really is never a dull moment. Partly a whimsical fantasy, partly a study of humanity, the strength of this film lies in its humour and poignancy, resulting in a touching tale. 5/5

Nearly ten years after the event, a film set in the Gulf War emerges. What's most shocking about this movie is not its gore, of which there is comparitively little, nor its action, which is relatively moderate, but its satire of American policy. This is ostensibly an adventure in the mould of Kelly's Heroes; in 1991, four soldiers, led by George Clooney, go off in search of Kuwaiti gold bullion in the immediate aftermath of the war, with the hope of going home rich. Along the way they get drawn into the plight of a village's refugees, and suddenly the treasure hunt gets much more complicated. The performances are fine, but the stars here are the script and direction, both by the same man, David O. Russell. Daring to poke fun at American attitudes and questioning the success of the campaign, it's frequently very funny. The camerawork is also magnificent, with its highly noticeable use of filters and angles. It all adds up to an oddball film, but a great one. 4/5

The long-awaited adaptation of Alex Garland's popular novel, but perhaps more famous as Mr L DiCaprio's first film since THAT boat sank. Leo plays Richard, a backpacker who flies to Bangkok in search of adventure and 'real life', like every young person. There, he meets Daffy (Robert Carlyle), a bonkers Scottish guy who tells him of 'The Beach', an island that is supposed to be paradise. Richard hooks up with two French tourists and off they go. However, the paradise they find soon turns sour... The Beach itself is a stunning location, one of this film's many assets. Another is the performances, especially Leo's - a good one in that you forget he actually is Leonardo. The story moves quickly along, is well directed by 'Trainspotting's' Danny Boyle, and it mixes comedy, drama and excitement into a slick package. 4/5

The sequel to Toy Story, of course. But what an excellent sequel. In fact, this is better then the original. The story picks up a few months after the first film, in what all toys fear - a garage sale. While attempting a daring rescue, Woody (voiced again by Tom Hanks) is spotted and kidnapped by a toy collector, whereupon we discover his origins as the star of a popular TV western puppet show from the 50s. There he meets toys of the show's other stars, known collectively as The RoundUp Gang. Andy's other toys, led by the redoubtable Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), set off on a rescue mission. But will Woody want to come back? The story is well told, the animation superb, the voices spot on, and the script both funny and touching. But what raises this above the high standard of the original is its simultaneous simple pleasures and the complex emotions it deals with. Kids will love it, but adults will be surprised by the level of intelligence it aspires to. 5/5

A bizarre film that deals with family disintegration, lust, love, sex, mid-life crises and murder. Yet strangely, it is quite uplifting too. Kevin Spacey (in an excellent performance) plays husband and father Lester Burnham, whose marriage has gone stale and is himself locked into a monotonous existence in American suburbia . One day, he meets his daughter's best friend, Angela, who reawakens something inside him. Suddenly, he quits his dull job, gets a job serving fries at a fast food place, starts working out, and generally chills. Meanwhile, his wife (Annette Bening) increasingly buries herself in her job, eventually having an affair with a local business tycoon whom she admires. There are many other story strands which I could list here, but I would fail to do it justice. This is merely the starting point of a complex story, though told with great ease by director Sam Mendes. It is very funny, being in part a satire on suburban life, and at other times it is very poignant. It also really makes you think, long after the film has finished; a sure sign you have watched something of high class. 5/5