The Constant Gardener (2005)

Thriller adapted from the John Le Carre novel, with an emotional dimension you wouldn’t usually expect from that genre. 

Ralph Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a mild-mannered diplomat whose Amnesty International activist wife (Rachel Weisz) is murdered. In investigating her death he learns that she was killed for what she has discovered about the British government’s collaboration with pharmaceutical companies in Africa.

The acting is tremendous all round, and Fiennes and Weisz are completely believable. The former’s sense of loss is unbearable to behold. Bill Nighy plays Sir Bernard Pellegrin at the Foreign Office and Pete Postlethwaite plays the creator of a deadly drug. 

It’s beautifully shot, with the beauty of the African landscapes contrasting against the ugly goings on perpetuated by corporate greed. 

It’s tensely dramatic and desperately sad, but also achingly romantic. That’s a lot to weave together, but director Fernando Meirelles pulls it off.

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017)

Biographical drama detailing an unlikely romance between American actress Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) and a Liverpudlian half her age (Jamie Bell). 

Their romance is shown in flashback during Gloria’s final days after she comes to stay with her young lover’s mother (Julie Walters) and his family while dying of stomach cancer. 

It’s a poignant love story that examines youth, age, celebrity, sexuality and other themes with a lightness of touch. 

It’s shot in a deliberately dream-like way, with the Hollywood sunshine deliberately contrasting with the “grim oop north” English light.

Flood (2007)

Disaster film. 

A storm surge causes flooding and mass destruction in London. Robert Carlyle has to save the city with the help of his estranged father (Tom Courtenay) and his estranged wife (Jessalyn Gilsig). 

It’s nice to see familiar locations such as the Thames Barrier, but unfortunately – despite moments of genuinely gripping drama – parts of the film are unintentionally funny. There’s something oddly stilted and false about the whole thing, with a TV-like quality to the way it’s filmed and directed. It’s like an extended episode of Casualty. Nigel Planer is especially awkward as a guilt-ridden forecaster for the Met Office.

Enjoyably daft as it is, you're left wondering how the film attracted so many relatively big names. David Suchet, Joanne Whalley and Tom Hardy also pop up with varying levels of success.

Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Good-natured comedy-drama telling the true story of Michael “Eddie” Edwards, a British ski jumper who represented his country at the 1988 Winter Olympics. 

Taron Egerton is endearing as the well-meaning, socially awkward anti-hero, who became an unlikely star despite – or because of – the fact that he came last. 

Hugh Jackman is his coach, a surprisingly wholesome alcoholic, and Jo Hartley and Keith Allen play his mother (supportive) and father (repressed). Improbably, Christopher Walken has a brief role too. 

There are funny and poignant moments and the film sidesteps having to deal with any of the more difficult topics it encounters (addiction, social disorders, etc), opting for a more lightweight, frothy approach. An idealised but enjoyable portrait.

Fame (1980)

Alan Parker’s engaging drama tells the story of a group of teenagers at the New York High School of Performing Arts. We follow them from the initial auditions through to their eventual graduation, getting to know their personalities and backstories through their social interactions as well as their musical, dancing and acting talents. 

It’s strongest for the first three quarters. The characters are developed well, and – unlike the spin-off TV show version – it doesn’t shy away from depicting the grittier aspects of their lives. The ending left me a little unsatisfied, though, and a few of the threads were left unresolved. 

It’s almost a musical, but not quite. On two occasions, spontaneous music and dancing breaks out (in the canteen and in the streets), but given that they are all performers it just about works within the “realist” framework. 

Performances are uniformly strong. Irene Cara (who sings the well-known theme tune) is Coco Hernandez, Lee Curreri is keyboard wizard Bruno Martelli, Barry Miller is troubled comedian Ralph Garci, Gene Anthony Ray is skilled-but-illiterate dancer Leroy Johnson, and Maureen Teefy is the “ordinary” Doris Finsecker who, inevitably, finds out that she's not so ordinary after all.

Crocodile Dundee (1986)

The internet: “A journalist travels to Australia to interview a unique crocodile poacher. When he rescues her from an attack, she invites him to New York and, despite the cultural differences, they fall in love.”

It’s an endearingly simple story that really hinges upon the appealing character created by Paul Hogan. He’s oddly believable as the unreconstructed bushman who can wrestle with or tame wild beasts. 

The film would never be made now because of various un-PC lines about race and gender.

Like Splash, it works as both a fish-out-of-water comedy and as a sweet romance. Linda Kozlowski is charming as Sue Charlton, who falls for the subject she researches. And Mark Blum is appropriately unlikeable as the man she thought she was in love with. There are enough laughs to keep you watching.

The Princess Bride (1987)

Fantasy comedy romance directed by Rob Reiner presented as a fairytale story within a story. A grandfather (Peter Falk) reads a book to his grandson (Fred Savage), and we see those events playing out as the film’s main narrative. 

It’s an enjoyably silly saga about an evil prince (Chris Sarandon), who wants to marry a princess named Buttercup (Robin Wright). But Buttercup is in love with farm-boy Westley (Cary Elwes) a.k.a. Dread Pirate Roberts. 

The action plays out in castles, forests, a swamp and a pit. It’s deliberately slightly ridiculous, and yet it’s played straight – which makes it funnier. It’s both a good-natured action romp and an expert parody of that sort of thing. 

Christopher Guest is impressively “evil” as Count Tyrone Rugen, and there are also roles for Mandy Patinkin, Peter Cook, Mel Smith and Billy Crystal.

An American in Paris (1951)

Musical.

An American artist falls in love with a woman who is already involved with a man he knows. Meanwhile, a wealthy heiress promotes his art and wants affection in return. 

In fact, the plot is almost irrelevant. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, this is really designed as a showcase of extravagant dance set pieces, in which Gene Kelly demonstrates his full range of abilities. The magical/dream sequences take you out of the narrative, but are spectacular in their own right. Most notably, there is a 17-minute impressionistic dance sequence at the very climax of the film, where you might expect there to be some acting. 

Aside from Kelly, the leads are played by Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary and Nina Foch. There’s very little that’s “French” about it. 

An amiable if inconsequential affair.

Bachelorette (2012)

So-called comedy that didn’t make me laugh even once.

Three friends who seem to have nothing in common (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher) plan a pre-wedding party for their school pal Becky (Rebel Wilson), formerly known as “Pigface” because of her weight. Then they accidentally ruin her dress and have a night of silly adventures while trying to fix it. Yes, it really is as unfunny as that sounds. 

Writer and director Leslye Headland, adapted Bachelorette from a play, but it’s difficult to see how such weak material could have worked on stage. The characters are cruel and unengaging, vain and unlikeable. Maybe it’s meant to be titillating that they take so much cocaine, but they are too annoying to seem anything other than shallow and poorly drawn. That goes for the vacuous, self-obsessed male characters they interact with too. 

I was especially disappointed with Dunst and Fisher, who usually impress in their other films.

Mystic River (2003)

Compelling drama directed by Clint Eastwood. 

Three Boston-based childhood friends are reunited in unhappy circumstances. They discover how the events of their youth have shaped their lives and relationships, and continue to do so as events play out in the present day. 

Sean Penn is the gangster-like Jimmy Markum. Tim Robbins is Dave Boyle, who has become a damaged, haunted man after being abused as a child and now finds himself the prime suspect in the killing of Jimmy’s daughter. Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon is a detective named Sean Devine (assisted by a further detective played by Laurence Fishburne). 

The performances are hugely credible, leading to an unbearably tense couple of hours as this painful human tragedy plays out.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Western. 

Arizona, 1884. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a rancher who – desperate for money – takes on a job escorting a dangerous criminal named Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the train that will transport him to Yuma Territorial Prison. There, he will be hung. But Wade is a psychopath with an uncanny intelligence and has other ideas. 

Crowe is absolutely perfect for the role because the plot hinges on the power of his charisma and magnetism. He bewitches those around him and somehow gets inside their minds, like a cowboy version of Hannibal Lector. 

Adapted from a short story by Elmore Leonard and directed by James Mangold, it’s excellently paced and visually impressive. There are strong performances by Ben Foster (as a truly nasty member of Wade’s gang), Logan Lerman (as Evans' teenage son) and Gretchen Mol (as Evans’ wife). Peter Fonda also appears.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The plot is a little tricky to explain, so here’s what it says on the internet: “A teenager from the slums of Mumbai becomes a contestant on the show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati?’ When interrogated under suspicion of cheating, he revisits his past, revealing how he had all the answers.”

This clever premise allows us to see, in flashback, the life story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) and his friend and lover Latika (Freida Pinto). This includes being orphaned, being exploited by a gangster who blinds children so they can beg for him, and dabbling with the criminal underworld. 

It becomes incredibly gripping, as well as often painful to watch. The intensity is such that I felt quite shaken by the end of it. The DVD box has a quote calling it “the feel-good film of the decade”, but for most of the time it’s actually fairly dark and disturbing. 

Director Danny Boyle’s usual visual energy is in abundance. Initially I felt that his high-speed, high-colour treatment was trivialising the drama, but then I came to understand that this approach perfectly evokes Jamal’s lifetime of vivid recollections. It’s a memorable and often brilliant film.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Based on a true story, Hidden Figures focuses on three female mathematicians who worked for NASA during the Space Race. Despite their brilliance as individuals, their careers were stifled as a result of racial prejudice and segregation.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe star alongside Kevin Costner, who portrays the director of the Space Task Group. Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst is oddly cast as an unsympathetic supervisor.

The film combines their stories with that of the space race itself, bringing to life the nail-biting events of John Glenn’s first American orbital spaceflight. 

There's no getting away from the seriousness of the subject matter, but there are funny and tender moments too.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)

Romantic comedy-drama. 

A fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor) attempts to help a Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked) with the expensive and improbable task of introducing salmon to the Yemen desert. He’s assisted by the sheikh’s financial adviser (Emily Blunt), whose soldier boyfriend has just gone missing in action. Romance ensues. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s press secretary is keen to exploit the situation for its publicity value. 

It’s an odd film. Some of the awkwardness is presumably deliberate because it’s suggested that McGregor’s character has Asperger syndrome, although that’s never really explored. Everything remains thin and surface-level. 

Blunt is her usual charming self, seemingly able to do this stuff in her sleep. McGregor exhibits more versatility than usual. The sheik is saintly and one-dimensional. And Kristin Scott Thomas’s brash, pushy character, presumably designed for comic relief, is just annoying. 

Overall, it doesn’t really work. The unlikely love story is nice enough but otherwise it’s just a bit weak all round.