The Beach (2000)

An adaptation of the popular novel by Alex Garland. 

A young American traveller called Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes in search of a mythical island – and finds it. There, he joins an idealistic community led by Sal (a believable Tilda Swinton). But he soon discovers that this is far from the paradise he dreamed of.

DiCaprio is superb in the main role. His mixture of arrogance and vulnerability seems very real. 

I’m less keen on some of the stylings from director Danny Boyle, such as when Richard imagines he’s within a video game and the film becomes one. But the story and acting are so strong that you are swept along by the plot anyway.

Flood (2007)

Disaster film. 

A storm surge causes flooding and mass destruction in London. Robert Carlyle has to save the city with the help of his estranged father (Tom Courtenay) and his estranged wife (Jessalyn Gilsig). 

It’s nice to see familiar locations such as the Thames Barrier, but unfortunately – despite moments of genuinely gripping drama – parts of the film are unintentionally funny. There’s something oddly stilted and false about the whole thing, with a TV-like quality to the way it’s filmed and directed. It’s like an extended episode of Casualty. Nigel Planer is especially awkward as a guilt-ridden forecaster for the Met Office.

Enjoyably daft as it is, you're left wondering how the film attracted so many relatively big names. David Suchet, Joanne Whalley and Tom Hardy also pop up with varying levels of success.

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The third Pierce Brosnan James Bond film.

The pros:
• A better script than Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• A vulnerable villain (Robert Carlyle)
• M (Judi Dench) is given more of a part in the story
• Reasonably good theme song (by Garbage)

The cons:
• John Cleese is deeply unfunny as the successor to Q: not the right feel for the film at all
• The scene in which the baddie holds burning coal makes no sense. Even if he could feel no pain, as suggested, it would still have burned his flesh and destroyed his hand.
• The villain was dying anyway: so what was his real motivation? Love for Elektra?