He plays a bounty hunter whose task it is to bring in dangerous criminals. The plot is enjoyably open-ended, with several threads interwoven. McQueen acts more than usual, which makes for an enjoyable watch.
There’s also a lot of humour and some genuinely exciting scenes. I especially liked the running joke about his inability to park a car.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford star as two sisters, Jane and Blanche, with a deeply troubled relationship. Davis was once the popular child star “Baby Jane” Hudson, while Crawford is a former Hollywood star who, we learn, lost the use of her legs in an accident. Jane is increasingly unhinged and begins holding Blanche prisoner in their shared house.
Directed Robert Aldrich nicely ramps up the tension, turning a bizarre situation into a terrifying one. It's difficult to predict how the film can be resolved, but the ending is hugely satisfying.
A huge killer crocodile is on the loose in Maine. The local Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda), sheriff (Brendon Gleeson) and an eccentric professor of mythology (Oliver Platt) try to track down the beast.
The film can’t decide if it’s meant to be funny or scary and ends up neither. There are hints of Jaws and Crocodile Dundee in there, but with none of the ingredients that made those films so engaging.
Fonda has a degree of charm, as always, but the script is weak and you long for wittier lines. Gleeson seems entirely miscast as the grumpy sheriff and you can only wonder exactly what the actor or character was meant to contribute to the film. There are a couple of laughs but with some tweaking it could have been so much better.
High-powered businesswoman Margaret (Sandra Bullock) will be deported and lose her job at a New York publishing firm unless she gets married to an American. She forces her assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) to go along with the plan. They travel to his family home in Alaska, where – in trying to convince his family and immigration agent that they’re in love – they inevitably fall in love for real.
It sounds formulaic but there are some genuinely funny moments and the script is finely tuned enough to sparkle.
Sandra Bullock is likeable as a hard-edged bully who slowly reveals her vulnerabilities. A ludicrous scene in which a small dog is carried off by an eagle actually works.
The strong cast also includes Mary Steenburgen and Betty White.
Mark Ruffalo plays the cop investigating. Robert Downey Jr is a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. And Jake Gyllenhaal is Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist at the same paper who becomes obsessed with the case and intent on solving it, no matter what.
Ruffalo and Gyllenhaal are such sensitive performers that they build huge depth into their characters. Downey Jr. is less impressive. Nothing wrong with him as such, but he makes less of an impact.
I like the way the film charts the passing years, and keeps the narrative on the ongoing quest to resolve the case rather than veering off too much into the personal soap operas of the main characters' changing lives.
Emma Bovary (Mia Wasikowska) finds her marriage to a village doctor stifling and lifeless. She seeks more exciting distractions, with disastrous consequences.
Wasikowska is excellent, as is the supporting cast. My only criticism is that Emma's character seems to change too quickly, with her downward spiral beginning rather suddenly after years of quiet restraint. This sort of character development can be handled more subtly across a novel but can seem rushed in the 118-minute running time of a film.
Anthony Hopkins plays anthropologist Ethan Powell, who is now held in a high-security prison and refusing to speak. Earnest psychiatrist Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr) attempts to get to know Powell and uncovers the true story of what happened when he spent two years living in the jungle with gorillas. It should really have been called One Flew Over the Gorilla’s Nest or The Silence of the Lambs in the Mist, since there are hints of those Hannibal Lecter, Dianne Fossey and Randle McMurphy stories wrapped up in this narrative.
There are interesting themes about freedom and social control, but there’s too much about the dysfunctional prison society (and inmates) and too little about Powell’s psychological development. It’s also hammy in places. Plus, the music is somewhat jarring.
Donald Sutherland is a wasted as a professor who the plot doesn’t really require. Gooding is so-so: one-dimensional until a sudden and unexpected outpouring of emotion is unleashed at the end. But that emotion doesn’t seem warranted by what has gone before. Hopkins is as magnetically watchable as ever, even with a silly beard and even when the material is plain silly.
On the plus side, the three stars remain watchable no matter what – Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant all exude undeniable screen presence, but they can’t improve the wobbly script. There are long patches without any amusing lines at all. Loud music drowns out the dialogue in a few places.
The film gets worse in the second half, seemingly just stringing out a weak premise to make up the full running time. Especially wretched was the gaggle of friends who make up the “Greek chorus” (a standard Richard Curtis tic) offering advice and commentary. Very old-fashioned gender politics, too, and we’re repeatedly told that life is worthless if you don’t have a handsome boyfriend.
A group of middle-class Iranians to go the Caspian Sea for a short holiday, staying in a run-down house on the beach.
Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani), the organiser, has invited her daughter's nursery teacher, Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti), who she is trying to match up with one of her friends, who is also part of the group. Events take a darker turn when one of the couples' children nearly drowns. Then Elly goes missing. Has she gone home because she was so uncomfortable with the social situation, or did she get swept away by the strong tide while trying to rescue the boy?
The ensemble aspect of the film is expertly handled, offering multiple perspectives on the events. Farhadi really understands how to mine the interactions for maximum interest, while also revealing flashes of the darkest comedy.
When a middle-class couple (Leila Hatami and Peyman Moaadi) split up, the daughter stays with her father and grandfather. The latter has Alzheimer's disease, but the carer hired to look after him becomes the centre of a dispute that threatens to shatter multiple lives.
Masterfully directed by Asghar Farhadi, the story brilliantly leads up to one key event and then examines the fall-out. It richly considers multiple perspectives and takes an impressive non-judgemental view.
The acting is highly convincing and the situation seems all too real.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow, it’s a fast-paced wartime thriller that’s full of action. Matthew McConaughey is excellent as the man who unexpectedly finds himself as captain after his boss, played by Bill Paxton, is killed. Harvey Keitel does his usual thing (as the Chief Gunner's Mate) and has some presence. In an odd casting decision, Jon Bon Jovi portrays Lieutenant Pete Emmett, but brings nothing special to a minor role that could have been played by anyone. The other major failing is that the music is loud enough to obscure the dialogue at a couple of points.
At times you can clearly see the influence of the submarine masterpiece that is Das Boot. But where that film had long, brooding scenes that built up a claustrophobic tension, this one races from one dramatic moment to another. It does that very well, but ironically – given the subject matter – there’s a lack of depth.
Darwin (Paul Bettany) attempts to complete On the Origin of Species while dealing with the grief of his daughter Annie’s death. He’s also semi-estranged from his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), and his theories about the beginnings of life on Earth are inflaming tensions in the God-fearing community.
There are impressive scenes of nature, illustrating the idea of evolution as Darwin perceives it.
Bettany’s compelling performance lifts the film and makes it highly watchable. Connelly brings a welcome complexity to her part as she tries to reconcile her love for her husband with her love of the God his life’s work debunks.
It’s an emotional story, extremely well-handled. Firth and Kidman are both excellent. You can really believe they are in love, and the scene in which they first meet, on a train journey, exudes warmth and charm. I wanted more of that. You can also believe how damaged Firth is.
The younger and older depictions of the key characters work well, and the time transitions are elegantly managed.
The ending is unexpectedly satisfying.
Frances McDormand portrays Mildred Hayes, a grieving woman drawn to increasingly extreme behaviour by her sense of loss and frustration because she feels the police gave up trying to solve the case of her daughter’s rape and murder.
Given the subject matter, it’s remarkable how funny this film is – a dark, deadpan wit that’s full of empathy for a cast of strange and desperate individuals. Gritty and unsentimental, it refuses to offer a single ray of hope.
The quirky tone takes a little getting used to, but once you acclimatise, the film is highly enjoyable.
Zellweger is excellent as always – highly watchable and sympathetic.
There are hints of Woody Allen (especially his Blue Jasmine) crossed with the parent/child drama of Anywhere but Here.
Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin star as a young couple whose romantic adventure quickly turns into a nightmare. Woodley is superb; Claflin less so.
It’s difficult to endure in places – especially when Northup is forced into acts of cruelty against his fellow slaves – but Ejiofor is so compelling that you keep watching anyway.
For a relatively lightweight comedy it's surprisingly enjoyable. Zellweger is always a joy to watch, such is the multi-dimensional way she inhabits a character. And while there's nothing much that truly surprises in the storyline, it keeps you engaged until the end.
Thomas Sangster plays Romulus Augustulus, who is descended from the Caesar bloodline when his parents are killed. He is taken in by the kindly Aurelianus Ambrosius (Colin Firth) and Mira (Aishwarya Rai), and guided by the wise – and oddly bearded – Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley).
It’s quite entertaining in a fairly silly manner. The only real criticism is that Sangster could’ve been more of a hero, instead of someone that things merely happen to. That way, you might have found yourself actually rooting for him.
