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.

Eye in the Sky (2015)

Interesting thriller about drone warfare.

The story dwells on one single operation in Kenya – primarily focusing on the moral questions regarding whether or not an international anti-terrorist strike team should destroy a building in which suicide bombers are preparing an attack. A little girl who lives locally is selling bread for her mother within the proposed impact zone and would be harmed if the strike went ahead. But refusing to act might allow the loss of many more civilian lives.

It’s a little hammy – especially Alan Rickman, who only ever seems able to act one kind of character. In fact I wondered if it was drawn from a play, such is the oddly stagey way it’s written and filmed. 

Helen Mirren is passable as UK military intelligence officer Colonel Katherine Powell, but she doesn’t get to spark off anyone because – like the other stars – she’s filmed in isolation at a different location from everyone else. Perhaps it’s this “remote” feeling that denies the film dynamism. That said, the simple question of whether or not the little girl will be harmed keeps you hooked until the end.

The Queen (2006)

Drama directed by Stephen Frears about the Queen’s reaction to the death of Princess Diana in 1997, and the new Prime Minister’s role in her subsequent actions. 

Helen Mirren plays the monarch. Martin Sheen plays Tony Blair, brilliantly capturing something of his personality. 

It’s subtle and surprisingly funny, working as social history, gentle satire and an insightful character study.

Of course we’ll never know how accurate it is in terms of the private conversations within the palace, but the general trend of events is backed up by actual news footage (as well as our memories of living through that remarkable period).

The Debt (2010)

Remake of a 2007 Israeli film called Ha-Hov. 

In 1965, three young Mossad agents attempt to capture a Nazi war criminal called Dieter Vogel. Their plans go wrong and he escapes. The agents choose to give a false account of what happened and live with that lie permanently. That is, until Vogel shows up 30 years later and their deception risks being exposed. 

This is an excellent drama that successfully tells parallel stories separated by three decades. It’s centred on Rachel, who is believably played by Jessica Chastain in the 1960s scenes and Helen Mirren in the 1990s sequences. Sam Worthington and Ciarán Hinds both play David Peretz, while Marton Csokas and Tom Wilkinson both play Stefan Gold.

Jesper Christensen is suitably creepy as the so-called “Surgeon of Birkenau”.

The Debt asks deep questions about morality, and the plot is pleasingly unpredictable. It's scary, too.

State of Play (2009)

Thriller adapted from a BBC TV series. 

Russell Crowe plays a Washington Globe journalist investigating a series of deaths that are linked to his friend, a congressman (Ben Affleck). 

It’s an exciting drama that touches on a lot of themes. There’s political and corporate corruption. There’s also a celebration of old-school news reporting, with a nice platonic relationship between the experienced journalist and the young recruit (Rachel McAdams), who represents the world of blogs and digital news. 

Crowe is as good as ever, but all of the main actors are excellent. Helen Mirren is the tough newspaper boss who is to Crowe what Judi Dench’s M was to Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Jeff Daniels is a Congressman with secrets. Robin Wright plays the politician’s wife, who has a “history” with Crowe. 

Director Kevin Macdonald had previously made films about mountaineering disaster, Mick Jagger and the 1972 Munich Olympics, and you can see a certain documentary style applied to this fiction too. 

Only the generic, interchangeable title lets it down.

Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991)

Dire. Had the feel of a stilted TV movie. Unbearable, despite the presence of Helen Mirren and Helena Bonham Typecast. The latter has gone a long way by pouting in a bonnet, but it’s not enough to redeem her here.