Last Orders (2001)

Written and directed by Fred Schepisi, this is a disappointing adaptation of Graeme Swift‘s Booker Prize-winning novel. 

When Alex (Michael Caine) dies, his friends and son honour his final wishes by travelling to Margate to scatter his ashes from the end of the pier. In undertaking this journey, they consider their memories of him and their feelings for each other, past and present.

Somehow, what works beautifully on the page fails to translate to the screen.

Graeme Swift's elegant weaving together of different times and places makes perfect sense in a written context. But filmed, the multiple time frames and young/old juxtapositions seem clunky. Plus, the cheesy music by Paul Grabowsky is jarring and inappropriate. 

Helen Mirren is solid as Jack’s wife Amy. Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Tom Courtenay just do what they always do.

Beyond the Sea (2004)

Intriguing but flawed biopic of Bobby Darin, written and directed by Kevin Spacey, who also stars as the singer. 

It’s a baffling film. The set pieces featuring the songs are expertly created and Spacey inhabits the role brilliantly. But things come slightly unstuck with the “magical realist” element of him talking to his younger self. There’s no attempt to describe his rise to fame, but there’s lots about his health problems and his ambiguous parentage. 

John Goodman and Bob Hoskins are on screen too much. Brenda Blenthyn is excellent as his mother. Kate Bosworth is underdeveloped as Darin’s wife. It’s suggested that she drinks too much but the question of alcoholism is never explored further. 

In terms of storytelling it’s disappointingly shallow and inconclusive, despite moments of brilliance.

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

An expert Russian sniper, Vasily Zaytsev (Jude Law) plays a cat-and-mouse game with German sniper Major König (Ed Harris) during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Vasily, who becomes a national hero, is aided by his lover Tania (Rachel Weisz), his friend Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) and Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins), who realises the marksman's value in terms of propaganda. 

Some of the sets don’t look especially realistic (not sure if that’s because it’s early CGI or whether it’s something to do with the models they used), but the scenes of soldiers being shot down in their hundreds look all too plausible. 

The relationships between the key characters are convincing, and Law and Weisz in particular create a strong chemistry together. 

It’s one of the more compelling war films because it makes you care about the characters and understand their motivations – including those of the villain. And while the love story is touching, the overall narrative never gives way to sentimentality.