Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Shoddy sequel that’s simply not funny. The plot is a mess and it’s tonally all over the place. The worst crime, however, is that it’s simply not very funny. 

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.

Gangs of New York (2002)

One of Martin Scorsese's lesser works. As a fan, I found this a big disappointment.

Fragmented and unfocused, it tells the story of the feuding Catholic and Protestant groups in the New York of the 1860s. At the same time, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks revenge from William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), who killed his priest father (Liam Neeson).

Scorsese tries to tell too many stories and loses track of the multiple threads.

There's slightly naff Irish music running through the film, which drags on for 167 minutes.

DiCaprio doesn't get to act much, which is a missed opportunity, and Cameron Diaz (who plays his pickpocket girlfriend) doesn't bring a great deal to the role.

There was possibly a great film in here somewhere, but possibly it got lost in the edit.

Little Voice (1998)

Drama starring Jane Horrocks as “Little Voice”, a talented singer who – following the death of her father – hides away in her room owing to her intimidating mother Mari (Brenda Blethyn). But when Mari takes up with shifty promoter Ray Say (Michael Caine), the latter sees a fortune to be made by exploiting the reclusive young vocalist. 

Horrocks and Blethyn are both excellent. Jim Broadbent is suitably seedy as club owner Mr. Boo. And Ewan McGregor is more likeable than usual as the telephone engineer Billy. It's appealing and gritty, like Brassed Off, but I found the styling of LV's father (a sort of ghost or imagined visitor) oddly naff. I can see why he was portrayed in black and white – it was how he was shown in LV's treasured photo – but as a visual treatment it looked silly.

That point aside, it's engrossing and Horrocks' vocal impersonations of Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Bassey, and so on are compelling. Likewise, it's fascinating to hear Michael Caine's desperate, deranged version of "It's Over" by Roy Orbison when he realises that his various problems have all caught up with him.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Romantic comedy directed by Sharon Maguire and starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. It’s co-written by Richard Curtis and adapted from the popular 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. It’s also a sort of reinterpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

It’s funny in places, although Hugh Grant is given all the best lines. Colin Firth seems less well catered for in terms of the script, with the unfortunate result that you aren’t rooting for him when the plot suggests that you should be. Zellweger has a bumbling charm, and is perfect as the heroine everyone can relate to, even if her English accent doesn’t sound quite right. 

Some of the references wouldn’t have made it to a modern-day film, which makes it all the more interesting now. 

Gemma Jones is absolutely awful as Bridget’s mother – a misconceived role, badly handled. Jim Broadbent is marginally better as her father, but he’s not given a great deal to go on.

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.

Brooklyn (2015)

Romantic drama adapted from a novel by Colm Tóibín. 

Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) lives in a small town in southeast Ireland until a priest (Jim Broadbent) arranges for her to travel to New York and begin a new life. There, she falls in love and begins to thrive  – until family matters bring her back to Enniscorthy in County Wexford, where she’s faced with various ethical and personal conflicts.

It’s a sweet and touching story. Ronan is highly engaging in the lead role. Julie Walters is superb as the owner of a Brooklyn boarding house. 

Ireland looks too sunny and dry to be entirely convincing. Possibly those were the scenes filmed in Canada. 

Simple, lucid storytelling makes it powerful and affecting. I was put off by learning that Nick Hornby was involved in the screenplay, but thankfully he doesn’t manage to mess it up.

Another Year (2010)

This heartbreaking domestic drama by Mike Leigh focuses on a fundamentally decent but rather self-satisfied suburban English couple, Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), and their various relationships. We get to know Gerri’s troubled work colleague Mary (Lesley Manville), Tom’s unhealthy, unhappy old friend Ken (Peter Wight), Tom’s widowed brother Ronnie (David Bradley) and their son Joe (Oliver Maitman). 

Although there are flashes of humour, a bleak thread of tragedy runs through it. Lesley Manville’s acting is astonishing as she expertly conveys a lonely desperation. It’s very rare that you see a performance that seems so incredibly real. Every facial expression counts. Even the way she holds her wine glass (there’s a lot of wine in this film) serves as a reflection of her inner suffering.

Iris (2001)

A biopic of Iris Murdoch, a love story and a study of the great writer’s decline into Alzheimer’s, this is a gripping and sad drama.

Adapted from John Bayley’s book about his dying wife, Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch (1998), it cleverly flits between young Iris (Kate Winslet) and old Iris (Judi Dench) in order to show you the strength of talent and personality being eroded by the disease. The two eras dovetail perfectly, often connected by visual signifiers (such as the couple swimming “then” and “now”) that make them flow together seamlessly.

Jim Broadbent plays Bayley as a bumbling figure who remains deeply in love with the brilliant, unconventional woman he met in Oxford. My only criticism of the film is that this almost comically awkward characterisation gives little sense that he also had a remarkable intellect of his own.

Winslet and Dench are both highly convincing as the celebrated writer – painfully so in the case of the latter. It’s almost unbearable to watch her “sailing into darkness”, as she puts it, as she slowly but steadily forgets everything she ever knew and even who she is.

I also found it deeply uncomfortable to see the appalling mess in the couple’s home. They were truly living in squalor with no outside support.

Penelope Wilton (of Ever Decreasing Circles fame) is excellent as Iris’s friend Janet Stone.

The Iron Lady (2011)

Not just a biopic of the British Prime Minister. It’s also a portrait of Alzheimer’s and mental decline, a history of late-20th-century Britain and a love story. 

Mark Thatcher comes out of it badly (as he did in real life), but Carol (Olivia Colman) and Dennis (Jim Broadbent) come across very well. Meryl Streep is highly convincing as Margaret Thatcher. It can’t have been an easy role to play. The film focuses on telling her story rather than passing judgement and as such seems very forgiving of her, despite offering plenty of evidence of the terrible damage she did.