The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

Trashy historical drama. 

Scarlett Johansson plays Mary Boleyn. Natalie Portman is her more famous sister Anne, the second wife of Henry VIII. The story details the two sisters and their ill-fated relationships with the king, who desperately craves a male heir. 

It’s a work of fiction, adapted from a novel by Philippa Gregory, rather than a slice of history. This allows it to explore what might have happened rather than what probably happened.

There are some entertaining moments. Portman is unusually strong in her role, while Johansson is typically weak. There are also solid performances by Kristin Scott Thomas and Eddie Redmayne. What lets it down is Eric Bana as Henry VIII. For the plot to work, he needs to be charismatic and magnetic. Bana is none of these things. You cannot believe that this rather weedy figure has so much influence because he completely lacks gravitas.

Lucy (2014)

Generally entertaining but extremely silly sci-fi thriller. 

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) gains extraordinary mental and physical abilities when the full capacity of her brain is unleashed by a wonder drug. Unfortunately, a bunch of South Korean gangsters want to kill her. Morgan Freeman, meanwhile, plays a well-meaning scientist who tries to help her. 

The plot, which includes dinosaurs and time travel, only works if you go along with the premise that unlocking brain power would essentially make you a superhero. And as with superhero films, it suffers from a problem – that is, once anything is possible, nothing really works as drama. Someone who can do anything is no longer a protagonist you can relate to. 

The main draw is the visual flair that director Luc Besson brings. It looks imaginative and psychedelic even if it makes little real sense. There’s also a lot of violence that we could probably have done without. 

A far stronger film on a similar topic is Limitless (2011), which not only keeps to its own “rules” but also creates engaging characters you can actually relate to.

Match Point (2005)

Excellent drama written and directed by Woody Allen. Critics were harsh on the fact that an American film set in London features some occasionally jarring turns of phrase (i.e., Londoners don’t call it "the" Tate Modern), but this in no way reduces the enjoyment.

Former tennis pro Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) tries and fails to balance his relationships with his wife (Emily Mortimer) and mistress (Scarlett Johansson). In addition he wants to hang on to all the benefits of marrying into a wealthy family, who have secured him a lucrative career and given him a comfortable life. 

The film cleverly juggles major themes – the role of chance, ethics and love vs. desire – while evolving from a personal drama into a tense thriller in the second half. 

As with a lot of Woody Allen’s writing, there’s not a scene you could add or cut to improve the storytelling, so well-constructed is the escalating plot. Initially, I thought that Rhys Meyers was weak in the lead role, but as you find out what his character is capable of you begin to understand that the actor is playing the role perfectly. 

It’s a strong cast overall, with impressive performances by Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton, as Chris’s new in-laws, and Matthew Goode as their son Tom.

The Black Dahlia (2006)

Confused and confusing mess of a crime thriller based on a James Ellroy novel. You think you know where it’s going and then it becomes a different sort of film – again and again, with so many twists and turns that fatigue quickly sets in. 

The performances are hammy and one-dimensional. The “1940s” look is self-conscious and over-stylised, but also inconsistent. None of the characters engage. You end up not understanding what’s happening and not caring either.

The Island (2005)

As the back of the DVD explains: “Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson lead an all-star cast as residents of an isolated, high-tech compound. But when they discover they’re actually clones, and worth more dead than alive, they stage a daring escape. Battling an unfamiliar environment and an armed team of mercenaries in hot pursuit, they’ll risk their lives and freedom to save those they left behind – and reveal the truth about The Island.”

This sci-fi thriller has similarities with 1984, The Hunger Games, Elysium and countless other dystopian stories. Its lack of originality wouldn’t have been a problem, though, if it had probed deeper into exploring the ethical issues it merely touches on. Unfortunately, it never feels very substantial. 

Ewan McGregor is as bland as ever as “Lincoln Six-Echo”. He can read his lines as well as anyone, but what else does he bring to the role? I found it bizarre to see him once again looking at a cloning facility, as he did in Star Wars Episode II. Scarlett Johansson (“Jordan Two-Delta”) isn’t given much of an opportunity to act, since most of the film involves the pair of them running around or being shot at. Sean Bean is OK as the supposedly sinister Dr. Merrick, while Steve Buscemi is likewise passable as a friend who helps the protagonists escape. 

The relationships in the film aren’t developed satisfactorily. A couple of scenes have fun with the clones’ naivety (they’ve only been educated to the level of 15-year-olds and know nothing of human society), but others allow them to be improbably worldly when the narrative demands it. As such, the plot only works if you don’t ask too many questions. 

The back of the DVD box warns: “Contains strong language, moderate violence and intense action”. It doesn’t warn about the excessive product placement. It’s intriguing that viewers needed to be warned about “intense action”, which surely is a selling point – especially since those sequences are expertly done. But maybe that’s how they justified the “12” certificate – action as a substitute for violence, or as a way of concealing it.

Visually, it’s striking – the colour has been ramped up and there’s a hyper-reality about the look of it. Yet there’s something missing. The Island hints at making wider points about social control but ends up sidestepping moral complexities to focus on exciting chase scenes instead.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Another masterpiece directed (and also written) by Sofia Coppola. It’s a gentle drama with comic elements. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is in Tokyo to film a whiskey advert. He meets a young college graduate called Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). They are both experiencing marital problems and get time alone in their hotel rooms to reflect on them. Bob’s wife faxes him home decor suggestions and posts him carpet samples, while Charlotte’s husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is an absent, immature photographer. Feeling alien, lonely and disorientated in a culture they don’t understand, the two develop a deep connection that goes beyond casual friendship. 

The film is poignant and touching. There are glimmers of romance between the pair, but it’s to the film’s huge credit that it resists that obvious option and instead focuses on the two characters and their far less predictable kind of relationship. Murray and Johansson each give the performance of a lifetime, perfectly handling the empathy and restraint evident in the sensitive script. 

Coppola creates a strange and lovely atmosphere, understanding that what goes unsaid can be more potent than the words actually uttered, and each successive scene builds upon that. By the end, you feel profoundly engaged with these characters in a way that doesn’t usually happen when you watch a film. 

There are too many perfect scenes to mention, but my favourite is the karaoke episode. Charlotte sings “Brass in Pocket” (The Pretenders) and Bob sings “More Than This” (Roxy Music). In each case, they seem to be using the song to communicate something to each other. 

A really special film. One of the very best.

The Horse Whisperer (1998)

Epic weepie. When Grace (a teenage Scarlett Johansson) and her horse Pilgrim are badly injured in a riding accident, Grace’s mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) drives them across America from New York to Montana to meet the gifted cowboy Tom Booker (Robert Redford). Magic ensues as the animal, Grace and Annie are all touched in different ways by Tom’s special healing qualities.

It’s a long, slow-burner at 170 minutes but it needs to be because it’s partly about the adjustment to a slower, more relaxed way of life. There’s an urban vs. rural thing going on, as well as a simple love story. Does Annie want to give up her hectic city life with the husband (Sam Neill) she’s not sure she loves? Or does she want to hook up with the country cowboy whose “whispering” has had such powerful effects on her and her daughter?

If there’s a criticism, it’s that Robert Redford – director as well as star – idealises himself in the role. He’s too good to be true: a super-sensitive genius with horses, but also wonderful with kids. He likes classical music and he’s full of wisdom. And despite being outdoors all day while working with animals, his jeans never get muddy. It’s very telling that the plot of the film deviates from that of the source novel, which offers a more complex set of events. If he could have allowed himself just one character flaw (short temper/heavy drinker, etc), he would have been so much more believable. Instead, he’s somewhat sanitised along with the plot.

Kristin Scott Thomas is intended to be unappealingly uptight and she succeeds a little too well in that, being downright unbearable for the first half of the story.

Overall, it’s worth watching for the huge landscapes and the gradual unfolding of several sets of relationships. I felt engaged, but not particularly moved.