The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

First part of Peter Jackson’s version of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic. 

A hobbit called Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) journeys through Middle-earth to destroy a ring containing immense evil power. Along the way there are battles and mystical happenings that help and hinder his progress. 

I was somewhat dreading watching this – anything with wizards, elves, magic and beards is a big turn-off – but it was better than I thought. The storytelling is coherent and the acting is above par. 

Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean and Andy Serkis, among others, all do their bit. It’s ludicrous, but they take it seriously enough to make it just about hang together. 

My objection remains the arbitrary-seeming, make-it-up-as-you-go-along “rules” (i.e., this sword will glow blue when orcs or goblins are approaching) that typify fantasy. This thing has this power. That thing can defeat this thing. This other thing can destroy that other thing.

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Police Officer Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is sent away from London, for being too good at his job and showing up his colleagues. Transferred to the sleepy village of Sandford, Gloucestershire, he expects a frustratingly quiet life with his amateurish partner Police Constable Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). But inevitably there’s far more going on there than he realises. 

This is a comedy from the same team behind Shaun of the Dead, and it's almost as sharp. Anyone who’s anyone in British acting/comedy pops up, including Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Martin Freeman, Stephen Merchant, Bill Nighy, Rafe Spall and Edward Woodward. 

It’s funny and silly, with a lot of jokes crammed in. Not all of them work, but there are enough that do to keep you entertained.

Invictus (2009)

Directed by Clint Eastwood, this film tells the story of the Springbok rugby team in South Africa and how their profile was boosted with the support and encouragement of Nelson Mandela. They went on to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, boosting notions of racial harmony in the process. 

Matt Damon plays the team captain and Morgan Freeman plays Mandela.

While Freeman’s impersonation of the president may be accurate, there’s something about this old man playing another old man that ends up being ponderous and extremely dull. It could be his slow speaking manner or the rather flat way the scenes are directed, but the first half feels slow and laboured. Also, Matt Damon’s character is hardly developed at all. He’s highly watchable, but he doesn’t have much to get behind in terms of the role. His girlfriend and family are even sketchier. Also, the racial stuff seems simplistically handled. 

On the plus side, things improve a lot once the actual rugby begins. The final is exciting and dynamic in a way that little else in the film is.

Ondine (2009)

A drama that cleverly keeps you guessing until the end. 

Syracuse a.k.a. "Circus" (Colin Farrell) is an Irish fisherman. While out on his boat one day he catches a young woman in his trawling net. Remarkably, she's alive. 

Director Neil Jordan has fun playing with the ambiguity of Ondine's true essence. He cleverly has it both ways: she is both a mythological sea creature and a very real human with a very real past that inevitably comes back to haunt her. 

It works on multiple levels: as a gentle smalltown love story, as an escapist fantasy in the vein of Local Hero, and as a kind of modern fairytale. 

Alison Barry is absolutely wonderful as Syracuse’s young daughter suffering from kidney failure. It’s rare to see a child actor with such composure, wit and timing. And Alicja Bachleda gets it just right as the troubled, enigmatic Ondine, who never denies being a "selkie". 

The supporting cast are also excellent, including Stephen Rea as the local priest and Dervla Kirwan as Syracuse's alcoholic ex-wife.

Safe House (2012)

Ryan Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a CIA officer stationed at a safe house in South Africa. His relatively quiet life is shattered by the arrival of Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), a CIA operative gone rogue. Weston plans to deliver Frost to the agency, but slowly becomes aware that his faith in the integrity of that institution may be founded. 

This is a slick, efficient thriller that seems somewhat derivative. Certainly the Jason Bourne films were a major influence. Washington has presence; Reynolds less so. Better than either is Vera Farmiga as Catherine Linklater, the one CIA operative who doesn’t seem to be corrupt.

Plot-wise it’s all a little predictable. Of course the CIA bosses turn out to be baddies – a twist you could guess within just a few minutes. I also didn’t really enjoy the excessively filtered visuals, which at times masked what was actually going on. But it’s an enjoyable romp nonetheless.

You Can Count on Me (2000)

Absolutely brilliant drama written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.  

Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo star as Sammy and Terry, a sister and brother and sister who lost their parents in a car crash when they were young. Sammy has stayed in her home town and her family house, living as a single mother with her son Rudy (Rory Culkin). Terry is a troubled drifter who has spent some time in prison. When he comes to stay with Sammy, you see Terry form a bond with his nephew and Sammy’s increasing confusion as she tries to resolve her complicated love life – including a fling with her boss (Matthew Broderick) as well as wrestling with being a mother and a sister to a complicated brother and son. 

It’s tender and extremely moving. There’s gentle humour, and the script is perfectly judged. Linney and Ruffalo deliver astounding performances that feel incredibly real. Ruffalo in particular has such an expressive face that you can’t take your eyes off him.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Hugely charming romantic comedy.

Audrey Hepburn plays a princess from an unnamed country, who has a stifling life of rigid routine and protocol. While on a royal visit to Rome, she escapes her palace security in search of adventure. She meets an American journalist (Gregory Peck), who aims to write up the story and exploit it for money. But inevitably the pair fall in love. 

It’s very funny in places but it’s also tender and touching. Initially light and frothy, it acquires real emotional depth in its later stages – especially since you realise it can’t offer a simplistic happy ending.

Kelly’s Heroes (1970)

Baffling film set in World War II. 

Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas lead a group of American soldiers in France on a mission to retrieve a stash of Nazi gold, aided by Donald Sutherland. 

It tries to be a comedy, but isn’t funny. It completely lacks dramatic tension, too, so it can’t work as a war film either. The beginning is painfully slow. When the mission finally gets underway it improves a little but the ending is a major disappointment. 

I have no idea what the film was trying to achieve. Clint Eastwood is wasted in his part, and there’s even a fake “Western” scene added in to make the most of his popularity in that field. His 1970 haircut makes no attempt to look like it’s from the 1940s. Likewise, Donald Sutherland’s awkward, embarrassing hippy character is a deliberate anachronism. But why? Is it intended to be a subversive parody of contemporary (i.e., 1970) American culture?

There could have been a decent wartime comedy or satire in there somewhere, but director Brian G. Hutton fails to find it. 

One of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen, and not in a good way.

Melinda and Melinda (2004)

One of the better later-era films written and directed by Woody Allen.

Is life fundamentally comic or tragic? A group of writers sit around a table discussing it. We, the viewers, see their debate explored through two versions of the same story, both centred on the actions of Melinda (Radha Mitchell) – a woman with a complicated history who arrives unannounced at her friends’ New York home.

It’s an odd experiment. I found both of the stories engaging. Will Ferrell is good in the witty, self-deprecating role Woody Allen would have played if he’d cast himself, but Chloë Sevigny and Jonny Lee Miller seem merely wooden as Laurel and Lee. Glossy and a little shallow, parts of the film are a little like an episode of Friends, with relationship-based conversations taking place in luxury apartments.

There are some funny lines and some enjoyable moments. It’s worth watching for Radha Mitchell’s versatile acting and considerable charm.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

An unambitious salesman named Shaun (Simon Pegg) gets caught up in a zombie apocalypse. He has to save his mother (Penelope Wilton), get back with his girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) and deal with his friends Ed (Nick Frost), Dianne (Lucy Davis) and David (Dylan Moran). 

It has a fresh sense of humour, and the jokes never let up. But it also works as a horror drama, utilising all of the tropes associated with that genre in a witty homage to George Romero’s zombie classics.

Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Thriller starring Julia Roberts as a woman married to the controlling, abusive Martin (Patrick Bergin). She fakes her death and escapes to begin a new life, but he pursues her…

It’s a competent thriller with plenty of suspense and some real scares. The main flaw – and it’s a big one – is that Martin lacks charm and magnetism. You can’t imagine her ever having been attracted to him. He doesn't have any presence. The part would be so much more effective if he came across as funny, popular and confident – rather than an obvious weirdo with zero charisma. 

Julia Roberts is excellent, however. I like the understated way she plays her character. 

The title isn’t quite right, but perhaps was intended to give a “sexy” allure to a film with the very unsexy theme of domestic violence.

Deconstructing Harry (1997)

Written and directed by Woody Allen, this is one of his less impressive efforts. Harry (Allen) is a bestselling writer who has angered friends and family by putting them into his stories in only loosely fictionalised form. This indiscretion gets him into trouble again and again. 

The film tells his story, partly through visualisations of the stories he created, and it works on multiple levels in a very post-modern kind of way. As a narrative device, that’s welcome. But there are major flaws. There are some good lines but overall it’s just not funny enough. Some of the fantasy sequences (such as a trip to Hell) fall flat. There’s also something quite distasteful about it. We see Harry take off on a road trip with a prostitute, kidnapping his own child along the way – not exactly hilarious. 

Allen seems out of place against the glamorous Elizabeth Shue and Kirstie Alley, so the benefit of a skilled, all-star cast is diminished by that jarring mismatch. Also featured are Richard Benjamin, Billy Crystal, Paul Giamatti, Mariel Hemingway, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Robin Williams.

The most interesting aspect is the unusual editing, with sudden jump-cuts within scenes. As such, it seems to predict the annoying tic later used by countless YouTubers.

Oliver! (1968)

Remarkable musical adapted from the stage show adapted from the Dickens novel. 

Mark Lester plays Oliver Twist, an orphan expelled from a workhouse who falls in with a London group of pickpocket urchins working for the complicated, enigmatic Fagin (Ron Moody). But Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed) threatens the safety of their little society with increasingly violent criminal behaviour.

Lester is an odd choice for the main part. He has a girlish voice and little star quality, but somehow he works because of the way the events of the story revolve around him. Far more impressive is Jack Wild as the charismatic Artful Dodger. And Shani Wallis is perfect as the conflicted Nancy, caught between loving Sikes despite everything and wanting to do what's right for Oliver.

The real star of the film is the music. The songs, by Lionel Bart, are distinctive and memorable, and I was amazed how many of them I already knew simply because of their place in popular culture.

It's also good to see Leonard Rossiter as Mr. Sowerberry, even though he has minimal on-screen time.

Super Size Me (2004)

Scary documentary made by and starring Morgan Spurlock, who spends a month eating nothing but McDonalds fast food in order to highlight the health risks of doing so. The effects on his physical and mental state are dramatic and remarkable. He gains weight, damages his liver and experiences mood swings and depression. 

It’s a brave and quite reckless way to make a point, but you have to admire him for sticking to his plan. The various interviews with increasingly alarmed doctors and nutritionists provide a sobering commentary. 

Fascinating stuff, it would be quite difficult to watch if he wasn’t so engaging a character.

Deception (2008)

Thriller. 

Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) is a dull, socially withdrawn accountant who befriends Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a charismatic lawyer. Bose introduces McQuarry to “The List”, a secret club for people who crave the excitements of “intimacy without intricacy”. But it turns out that McQuarry is being scammed, and soon finds himself a murder suspect. Meanwhile, he falls for a mysterious woman (Michelle Williams) who goes missing. 

It’s tense and keeps you guessing. There’s a distinct Hitchcock influence to the plot, especially in the way we see McQuarry learn that everything he thought he knew was just an illusion devised to trick him. 

The three leads are all strong and McGregor performs better than usual, with more presence and a more believable character. The only thing that doesn’t quite convince is his character transformation. He’s too easily turned into a different kind of person for the final part of the story, which makes the ending seem a little silly. It’s also a shame that the plot thread about the investigating detective (Lisa Gay Hamilton) isn’t better developed.

Everest (2015)

Disaster/survival film about the true-life events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster involving two climbing groups, led by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal). Everything turns nasty when a storm blows in and the mountaineers find themselves badly underprepared. 

It’s an extremely tense drama that’s all the more affecting because these events actually happened. 

Josh Brolin plays Beck Weathers, who survives but loses his hands and nose to frostbite. Robin Wright plays his wife back home, hoping to coordinate a helicopter rescue attempt. 

Keira Knightley plays Rob Hall’s wife and does the “terrified spouse stuck at home” part better than most, probably because the role is fully developed and she’s given a character to explore. 

Also excellent is Emily Watson as Helen Wilton, the base camp manager. Her experience of the escalating horror conveys just what it must have been like to witness this nightmare and be powerless to stop it. 

The film doesn’t moralise or pass judgement on why the deaths occurred. Instead, it pieces together a narrative that lets you make up your own mind.