The Informers (2009)

Muddled adaptation of short stories by Bret Easton Ellis about a bunch of loosely associated dysfunctional, alienated Los Angeles people in 1983.

It completely lacks charm or intrigue. The sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll feels forced and clichéd. None of the characters seems to care about anything, so why should we care about them? It makes the mistake of being every bit as empty, vacuous and depressing as the world it portrays.

There’s an all-star cast including Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke and Chris Isaak, and some of the individual performances are reasonable enough. But none stand out and the film doesn’t really hang together. What works well on the page seems flat and even annoying in this jarring, unrewarding mess.

Never Say Never Again (1983)

An “unofficial” James Bond film in that Eon were not involved. Sean Connery, however, was. He reprises the 007 role in a remake of Thunderball. It’s quite interesting to see that 1965 film recreated with a fair few differences. 

Edward Fox plays the irate M. Pamela Salem makes for a rather bland Miss Moneypenny. Rowan Atkinson plays a comedic Foreign Office representative named Nigel Small-Fawcett. Kim Basinger is Domino and Barbara Carrera plays SPECTRE agent Fatima Blush. Max von Sydow is underused as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, with the real villain being Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo. Irvin Kershner directs.

There are some enjoyable action sequences, including a motorcycle chase and a tokenistic jet-pack interlude, but the ending peters out somewhat. The bomb doesn’t even have a countdown display, so that removes any tension. 

It looks lower-budget than the official Bonds of this period. But if you like the sillier aspects of 007, there’s plenty to enjoy.

The Sentinel (2006)

Michael Douglas stars as Pete Garrison, a secret service agent who is both protecting the US president and having an affair with the First Lady (Kim Basinger). But when an assassination plot emerges, Garrison ends up being the chief suspect – investigated and pursued by his colleagues Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria. 

It’s a fairly exciting thriller with a few surprises. On a technical note it was odd that certain outside scenes were heavily filtered in the way that the bulk of the film wasn’t. In terms of the plot, it was difficult to believe that someone as old as Michael Douglas could still be doing a job so dependent on physical strength, coordination and reaction times. But then Clint Eastwood was even older in In the Line of Fire, which is a far superior treatment of similar themes. Also, the motives behind the assassination plot aren’t really explained and the characters aren’t really developed. The flawed presidential marriage isn’t explored. If the First Lady is unhappy enough to have an affair with her bodyguard, wouldn’t the president be at least aware that there were cracks in the relationship? And Keifer Sutherland’s initial dislike/distrust of Eva Longoria isn’t really referenced again after it’s first introduced.