Instinct (1999)

Intriguing psychological drama directed by Jon Turteltaub. The credits say it was “suggested by” a novel by Daniel Quinn, which sounds like legal speak for something more ambiguous. 

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.

Space Cowboys (2000)

Four elderly test pilots are brought out of retirement to save the world from an armed Russian satellite. This unlikely premise unites Clint Eastwood (who also directs), Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner. 

During the training process there are age-related jokes aplenty (Eastwood seems obsessed by the topic) before the four guys actually go into space and things get (relatively) serious. 

A few flaws. The Russian plot is never really explained. Also, the despatching of the bombs is oddly never shown. Were those graphics outside of the budget? Or did something get mangled in the edit? 

James Garner seems underused. 

Marcia Gay Harden is good as the scientist Sara Holland, who becomes Tommy Lee’s unlikely love interest. 

Hardly a classic, but it’s a good-natured romp with some enjoyable comic moments.

Cold Mountain (2003)

Truly excellent drama set during the US civil war. It’s a war film, a love story and a historical epic. 

When the war breaks out, the quiet, inarticulate Inman (Jude Law) is one of the young men from North Carolina who has to fight with the Confederate army. But he has just fallen for Ada (Nicole Kidman), the daughter of the preacher (Donald Sutherland), and has to leave her – just as their relationship is beginning. Injured in battle, he attempts to make his way back home to Ada while being hunted for deserting. 

All of the leads are on excellent form. Renée Zellweger plays Ruby, a plucky free spirit who helps Ada salvage her farm and her self-respect. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a crooked preacher. Natalie Portman is a widowed mother. There are also parts for Jack White, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson and Cillian Murphy. 

It’s an emotional and affecting work that avoids cliché, especially since the romance is unconventional to begin with. The couple barely know each other, but their connection is overwhelmingly powerful. As a result, the film is too.

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.

Outbreak (1995)

Disaster film detailing the outbreak of a deadly virus brought from Zaire to the USA by an infected monkey. Army virologist Dustin Hoffman and scientist Rene Russo play a divorced couple who team up again in their attempts to save the world. They are helped by Kevin Spacey but hindered by army generals played by Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland. 

It’s a fast-paced thriller that’s a little trashy but nevertheless exciting. A surprising number of helicopters feature, with James Bond-like copter chases providing some of the action. Unlike Contagion, it’s not especially illuminating in regard to the Covid-19 pandemic. The focus is more on the military response to the problem rather than individuals’ experience of it.

Script-wise it could have been stronger, but there’s so much happening, so quickly, that you don’t really notice.

Ad Astra (2019)

Brad Pitt stars in an existential sci-fi mind-bender. He’s an astronaut who leaves Earth in search of his father (Tommy Lee Jones), who is fixated on seeking intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But that search has deadly repercussions for Earth and needs to be stopped.

The film asks intelligent questions about what’s important in life. It looks remarkably “realistic”, and there are moments of great beauty – especially around Jupiter. Pitt has never particularly impressed me with his acting, but he’s excellent here. He conveys the desperately lonely experience of being on your own in the vastness of space. 

Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland play supporting roles.

Backdraft (1991)

Chicago in 1971. Two brothers lose their fireman father when he is killed on duty. Twenty years later they are both firemen too and find themselves working within the same division, as resentful older brother Stephen (Kurt Russell) starts to train younger brother Brian (William Baldwin). 

Robert De Niro plays the Inspector of Fire Investigation. Donald Sutherland is a serial arsonist who wants to burn down the entire world. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Brian’s former girlfriend (it seems inappropriate to write “old flame”). And Rebecca De Mornay is Stephen’s estranged wife. 

Ron Howard’s film has plenty of drama, and the fire scenes are scary. It’s a tale of two brothers that sometimes suffers from the fact that neither is especially likeable. In fact – with the possible exception of De Niro – that goes for everyone in it.

Don't Look Now (1973)

Based on the story by Daphne du Maurier, Nicolas Roeg’s psychological thriller verges on horror and is genuinely terrifying. 

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are in Venice, trying to come to terms with the death (by drowning) of their young daughter. But when they meet a woman who appears to have the gift of second sight, their lives are changed all over again. 

Roeg is brilliant at building tension. Visually, it’s striking too: recurring motifs come to carry great significance as the inevitability of the conclusion draws closer. 

Sutherland and Christie are all-too-believably “real” as the grieving parents. In some ways this is a film about bereavement and what it does to the mind and soul. 

The closing moments are unbearably tense and chilling, leaving you with an enduring feeling of being deeply unsettled and disturbed.

The Eagle (2011)

Historical drama set in AD 140 based on Rosemary Sutcliff's novel The Eagle of the Ninth (1954). After being discharged for injury in battle, a Roman officer (Channing Tatum) travels north with his slave (Jamie Bell) to the wilds of Scotland to seek the lost Roman eagle standard of his father's legion.

The film explores powerful themes of honour and freedom. It’s incredibly violent and bloody for a “12”, and the barbarian “seal people” are terrifying. One criticism is that after an impressive lack of cliché the film’s ending somehow doesn’t ring true, hinting at “bromance” action-hero tropes. The DVD has an alternative ending included as a bonus element that initially seemed far more satisfying as it allows for character development and a more multifaceted moral outlook. On reflection, I was unsure whether enough time has passed for that perspective to have shifted. So either way, the ending isn't quite right.