Fair Game (2010)

Superb thriller. Adapted from the memoirs of the two protagonists, it tells the story of CIA operative Valerie Plane and her diplomat husband Joseph C. Wilson. The pair were responsible for exposing the US government’s fabrication of the evidence about Weapons of Mass Destruction that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. 

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn deliver remarkably convincing performances in the lead roles. There’s the political saga, but also the story of their marriage and family, and the strain that these events put on them. 

I admire the realism of it, such as the way that every scene featuring the couple’s children had them constantly asking questions and demanding attention. I also respect the film for delving into the moral ambiguities of the topic – should you tell the truth even if it puts loved ones at risk? – and not providing any simplistic answers.

Heat (1995)

Cop tries to catch criminal gang causing havoc in Los Angeles. Al Pacino is the cop. Robert De Niro leads the gang. 

Heat is a complex film that introduces multiple threads. At its worst it’s in danger of becoming an episode of Miami Vice or even The A-Team. At its best, it’s like a cut-price Scorsese imitation, albeit without the elegance and sophistication. The script is reasonable enough, but there are casting problems. Val Kilmer is jarringly woeful as one of the gang members. Furthermore, the gang guys have no chemistry whatsoever. Even De Niro seems to be struggling a little with the material. Plus, some of the music is intrusive. And the threads about the stand-in getaway driver and Natalie Portman as a troubled teen could both have been removed in the interests of tightening up the narrative.

On the plus side – and it's a big plus – Pacino rises to the challenge of his role and is every bit as cool as usual. The scenes featuring him and his wife (Diane Venora) are convincing, and there’s a depth to him that the other characters lack.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Remarkable drama that seems to consist of several films elegantly woven into one. It begins with a story about motorcycle stunt rider (excellently portrayed by Ryan Gosling), whose discovery that he has a son with his ex-girlfriend (a passable Eva Mendes) leads him into a spate of bank robberies. That, in turn, introduces a story about the cop (superb-as-ever Bradley Cooper) who tries to apprehend him. The consequences of their brief meeting ripple out across the years and affect the lives of several others. 

I love the way the film keeps surprising you with its various sideways turns. It’s also encouraging that rather than simply glorifying guns, there's an intelligent exploration of the ethics around them.

Bradley Cooper perfectly conveys a good man who makes mistakes that will always trouble him.

This is a multi-part tale that never sacrifices clarity to realise its ambition.

Ad Astra (2019)

Brad Pitt stars in an existential sci-fi mind-bender. He’s an astronaut who leaves Earth in search of his father (Tommy Lee Jones), who is fixated on seeking intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But that search has deadly repercussions for Earth and needs to be stopped.

The film asks intelligent questions about what’s important in life. It looks remarkably “realistic”, and there are moments of great beauty – especially around Jupiter. Pitt has never particularly impressed me with his acting, but he’s excellent here. He conveys the desperately lonely experience of being on your own in the vastness of space. 

Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland play supporting roles.

Dirty Harry (1971)

Crime thriller directed by Don Segal. Clint Eastwood is at his best as the monosyllabic San Francisco cop who takes the law into his own hands to defeat a crazed murderer. 

The locations are perfectly chosen. Eastwood is effortlessly cool. The soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin is entirely suitable for the action but also works in its own right. The night scenes are atmospheric and suspenseful. And the psychopath Scorpio played by Andy Robinson is convincingly mad. 

Four sequels would follow.

The Hours (2002)

The lives of three women from different eras form intriguing parallels. In Richmond in the 1920s, we see Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) writing Mrs Dalloway and dealing with suicidal thoughts. In 1950s California, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) reads Mrs Dalloway and faces her own fears and insecurities. And in New York in 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) wrestles with her feelings for an old flame who is dying of AIDS. 

Kidman, Moore and Streep are all fantastic in emotionally complex and challenging roles. Kidman looks absolutely nothing like herself – it’s difficult to believe it’s her – owing to a prosthetic nose. 

There are also strong performances from Miranda Richardson, Jeff Daniels and Ed Harris. 

In many ways it’s a depressing film, and it deals with painful topics. But it also addresses the value of life. 

Intense, sweeping, music by Philip Glass adds emotional depth.

Sea of Love (1989)

Brilliant, noirish thriller. Al Pacino is a New York cop investigating a series of murders. But unfortunately he’s falling in love with the main suspect. 

Pacino is effortlessly and endlessly charming in the main role. Ellen Barkin plays his girlfriend and handles the nuances well. Is she or isn’t she the killer? Even John Goodman, usually guaranteed to ruin a film, judges it about right as Detective Sherman Touhey.

A couple of plot holes keep it from being perfect. There’s something not quite tied up about the “Sea of Love” single that the killer plays – and Ellen Barkin’s relationship with the song. Also, the attempt on Pacino’s life comes too late in relation to the killer’s attacks on previous victims. Why does the killer wait so long to strike?

Those points aside, it’s hugely enjoyable.

Raging Bull (1980)

Martin Scorsese directs Robert De Niro again. This time, De Niro plays real-life boxer Jake LaMotta in an adaptation of the latter’s 1970 memoir. It works as a biopic, tracing his career and personal life from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. 

It’s beautifully shot in black and white. 

Joe Pesci is superb as LaMotta’s brother and trainer. Brilliantly, we never find out whether he’s having an affair with the boxer’s wife (Cathy Moriarty) or whether this is merely LaMotta’s jealousy and paranoia.

It’s brutally violent and every one of those punches looks like it really hurts. It’s excellently shot, in that sense. Being totally “method” about it, De Niro famously gained weight to depict LaMotta in his later years.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

A man and woman undergo special treatment to have their painful memories of each other erased so that they can forget the suffering they endured when their relationship broke down. But, mid-procedure, the man realises he’s making a mistake and tries to hang on to what remains of his precious recollections of the person he still loves. 

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are endearing in the lead roles, and their opposites-attract romance is offbeat and believable. What spoils the film is that the visual representation of memory – much of the story takes place in Jim Carrey’s mind – seems gimmicky and over-stylised. I appreciate that they were looking for a cinematic style that could resemble the way memories appear to us, but the fast-cut visuals are so full-on and relentless that they get in the way of the story. It could have been a far stronger film if the narrative and the editing allowed for some slower scenes that gave us the space to get to know the couple better. Indeed, the rare moments when they are simply talking or enjoying being together make up the best parts of the story. 

Oddly enough, a sub-plot about the boss of the company offering memory removal (Tom Wilkinson) and a woman who works for him (Kirsten Dunst) is better handled because it unfolds at a more natural pace. 

It’s so nearly brilliant, but the execution gets in the way. It’s a shame because the idea is a great one, and it enables the film to consider all sorts of ethical and even spiritual issues about identity and how much our pasts define who we are.

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) is training to be a naval officer. Debra Winger plays his girlfriend Paula. They both take their clothes off a fair bit, but – beyond a detailed look at the training itself – there’s not a great deal more going on until the drama suddenly ramps up for the closing minutes. 

Winger is one of the strongest actresses of this era, but she isn’t really given enough to get her teeth into. Likewise Gere, who is perfectly acceptable. More impressive than either of them is Louis Gossett Jr. as the drill instructor who teaches Zack discipline. 

It’s entertaining and the final third certainly pulls you in as the sub-plots about the secondary couple (Sid and Lynette) are developed. It would have been stronger if Zack’s father had either been made more of or ditched entirely. And a few laughs would have helped. 

The soundtrack is a little intrusive at times. One of the love scenes has what sounds like lift music playing all the way through it. At the end we get the big hit song, “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

Taxi Driver (1976)

A masterpiece. Robert De Niro is utterly transfixing as Travis Bickle, a New York cabbie who becomes obsessed with cleaning up the city – whatever the cost. 

Cybil Shepherd and Jodie Foster are excellent as Betsy (the campaign volunteer for a presidential candidate) and Iris (a child prostitute), while Harvey Keitel is suitably creepy as Iris’s long-haired pimp. 

It’s beautifully filmed: you could freeze almost any frame and make a poster of it. And Martin Scorsese’s subtle handling of tension was never better judged. 

The original score by Bernard Herrmann makes a compelling, noirish film even more so. 

You can interpret it as a film about PTSD or a story about isolation and loneliness. 

Disturbingly, this classic was an influence on John Hinckley Jr., who in 1981 attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster.

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Melodrama with moments of comedy. 

Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger play a mother and daughter who share an intense connection. We follow the evolution of that relationship, along with their couplings with Jack Nicholson and Jeff Daniels respectively. Then the plot takes a sideways turn and everything becomes a lot more serious. 

What makes this an absolute gem is the quality of the acting. All four leads are remarkable, but MacLaine and Winger are quite extraordinary. They convey such a strong sense of personality for their complex, fully rounded characters that it’s difficult to imagine they aren’t real people.

Mean Streets (1973)

Brilliant drama by Martin Scorsese. Harvey Keitel plays Charlie Cappa, a small-time criminal in New York who gets into trouble because his friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) owes money and is something of a loose cannon. 

De Niro is fantastic: genuinely unpredictable and hugely watchable. Keitel is sympathetic: you can relate to him because he seems to want to do the right thing, but he’s out of his depth. His epileptic girlfriend Teresa (Amy Robinson) is also likeable and convincing. 

While it’s a lower-budget, earlier film than most of the classics in his catalogue, Scorsese’s usual tricks and tics are all in place: the wall-to-wall use of music (including Phil Spector hits and the Rolling Stones), the distinctive dialogue and framing of shots, and the expert ramping up of dramatic tension.

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Remarkable adaptation of the popular stage musical by Norman Jewison, shot in a way that still seems fresh and lively. There are so many good things about this film...

The songs are strong and memorable. Plus, they work with and within the narrative. They aren’t merely irrelevant add-ons, as is often the case in lesser musicals. 

Topol’s warm, well-rounded character is extremely watchable. It's difficult to imagine anyone else filling the part so well or being so funny. He’s rolling his eyes and fourth-walling it constantly. And the device of him talking to God offers a useful way for him to directly address the audience and bring us into his inner world. 

Even when the film embraces dream sequences, it works.

Julie & Julia (2009)

Nora Ephron’s comedy-drama tells the story of two cooks:

• in the 1950s, we follow the fortunes of Julia Child, an eccentric American, who popularised French cuisine in the USA. 

• in the early 2000s, we see New Yorker Julie Powell being inspired by Child’s book to cook all of its 524 recipes in just one year – and blog about the experience. 

It’s a curious biopic in that neither of the women meet. Nor are their individual stories especially noteworthy. But the way the film alternates between their two lives really works. 

Meryl Streep effectively captures Child’s manner. I thought she was hamming it up ludicrously, but a look at archive footage of Child reveals that her strange exclamations and lurching around are an accurate impersonation. Only the accent (not American enough) slightly lets it down. Amy Adams is extremely charming, giving off a vulnerability and emotional depth that makes it very easy to identify with her. 

Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina play the two husbands. The former is especially strong as the diplomat continually being relocated. It’s refreshing that his love for Childs is so pure and uncomplicated.

The Notebook (2004)

Summer 1940: a young couple meet at a South Carolina carnival and begin an intense relationship. She’s from a wealthy family and her parents don’t want her associating with “trash” in the form of this poor lumberyard worker. 

Present day: an old man reads a romance story to an old woman with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home. Inevitably, we soon twig that they are the same couple and that the notebook he reads from is her journal. 

There are quite a few problems with this flashback device:

• despite being asked to accept this contrivance, I never once believed it was the same couple.

• more troublingly, the Alzheimer’s plot simply doesn’t work. It’s never explained how Allie can remember the story Noah is telling her, nor who she thinks he is for the majority of the time (i.e., when she’s forgotten he’s her husband). 

• the “miracle” ending is, frankly, ludicrous. 

The highly watchable scenes with the younger version of the couple seem to have greater emotional intelligence, almost as if two different films have been bolted together. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams have a degree of chemistry together, and they exchange some good lines about the complexity of relationships that confirm this isn’t merely a dumb script. Plus, Joan Allen and Sam Shepard convince as Allie’s mother and Noah’s father. 

There’s a sweetness to the summer romance and you do find yourself rooting for the young couple. But it could have been a far better film if we’d left them in the past.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) works at Life magazine as a “negative assets manager”. His world is humdrum but he daydreams incredible and heroic scenarios, often involving a colleague he has a crush on. When the magazine is threatened with closure and their jobs are endangered, Walter needs to locate a missing photographic negative for the image that will feature on the magazine’s final front cover. This takes him on a journey to Greenland, Iceland and Afghanistan in search of a photojournalist (Sean Penn), as his actual existence becomes as remarkable as his fantasy life. 

Stiller is charming as the “dull” worker who inevitably becomes a rugged hero. Kristen Wiig is hugely appealing as the woman he falls for (and she even gets to sing him David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”). Shirley MacLaine is a nicely rounded character as his mother. 

This rousing film is funny in places (such as Stiller’s ongoing conversation with a dating agency) and heartwarming in others (you root for him to keep his job and win over the girl). Often it looks like a mobile-phone advert (vivid colours, exotic locations, emotive music), but oddly that works because the idealised escapism of unreality is a central theme. 

It’s unusual, rewarding and refreshing.

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.

The Post (2017)

I’m not much of a Spielberg fan, as documented elsewhere, but I bought this without realising he was involved. 

It tells the story of how the Washington Post acquired and published the Pentagon Papers, which incriminated the US government in their handling of the Vietnam War. Meryl Streep plays Katharine Graham, who owns the newspaper. Tom Hanks plays Ben Bradlee, its editor. 

Hanks is terrific, giving one of his most convincing performances. I really believed in his character, rather than merely thinking “there goes Tom Hanks again” (as is usually the case). Streep was less impressive, perhaps because there’s too much of Graham being weakly indecisive in the first half before she suddenly finds her mojo and seems to become a different character in the second. In reality, it surely can’t have been that straightforward or simplistic. Likewise, the connection to Watergate at the very end seems abruptly and conveniently bolted on, while other threads are left dangling. What happened to Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), who first leaked the papers? And what happened to Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood), the Secretary of Defense, who was friends with Graham at the time of the leak?

The Post is interesting because of the historical moments it alludes to, but it’s difficult to accept it as an accurate account of events. And there’s something mannered and stilted about the way it’s filmed that prevents it ever becoming truly engrossing.

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Silly but amiable rom-com directed by Nancy Meyers. 

Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) is a womaniser in his sixties who only dates women half his age. Then he meets his girlfriend’s mother, the successful playwright Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), and discovers a deeper connection that surprises him. 

Keanu Reeves is passable but underdeveloped as the doctor who also falls for Keaton. Frances McDormand is oddly underused as Keaton’s sister. And Amanda Peet is the weak link as Keaton’s daughter, with a narrative arc that’s all over the place. For example, she’s distraught to learn that her father (Paul Michael Glaser) intends to remarry, but then this is never mentioned again. Indeed, Glaser’s character seems to have been pretty much edited out of the film – or never written into it in the first place. 

In some ways it’s as formulaic as its title, with daft slapstick and several improbable moments. But Nicholson and Keaton are such pros at this kind of thing that they make the most of the flimsy material and it ends up being highly watchable.

The Ice Storm (1997)

Superb drama directed by Ang Lee and adapted from Rick Moody’s novel. It details the interwoven fortunes of two neighbouring families in Connecticut across the Thanksgiving weekend of 1973. They are members of the wealthy middle-class, with designer homes and seemingly everything they could wish for, but somehow they have lost their way.

The cast is superb. Kevin Kline plays Ben Hood, a father of two who’s having an affair with his friend and neighbour’s wife (Sigourney Weaver). Bored and restless, the two couples have troubled children too – perhaps unsurprisingly. Everything comes to a head on one dramatic, frozen night, as the fractures in their marriages and issues relating to the children’s insecurities seem to point towards a horrifying and inevitable conclusion.

It’s harrowing stuff – more so than I remembered from seeing it at the cinema in 1997. 

Another disturbing thought: in 2021 we are as far from 1997 as 1997 was from 1973.

Funny Lady (1975)

Barbra Streisand is charming and endearing as Fanny Brice in this colourful sequel to Funny Girl (1968). I preferred it to that earlier film, as it seems looser and more playful. Brice is struggling to get over her marriage to Nick (Omar Sharif), but falls in love with impresario Billy Rose (James Caan).

There’s plenty of comedy and the script is sharp. The interplay between Streisand and Caan is especially watchable, even if you can never quite believe in their romance. Then again, that may be the point: these characters are rivals rather than soulmates.

The film slightly loses its way in the second half, becoming more of a conventional musical. The point at which Barbra sings from a small biplane is just ludicrous. Likewise, her attempt to sabotage a theatrical rehearsal in a swimming pool by clowning around in the water doesn’t really work as a scene or ring true with the story we’ve started to believe. Another oddity is Roddy McDowall cast as her gay friend Bobby. He hangs around and doesn’t say much in a way that suggests the film doesn’t need him at all.

But at her best, Streisand is hugely charismatic and when she gets a chance to really act – as she does in a few scenes – the results are impressive.

Frances Ha (2012)

Directed by Noah Baumbach, this is a poignant comedy-drama about friendship, growing up and loneliness.

Greta Gerwig stars as a 27-year-old New Yorker trying to find her way in life. We follow Frances as she flits between jobs and apartments, unsure of what she should do with herself. The common threads are her wish to be a dancer and her unconditional love for her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner). 

It’s charming and often very funny, but deeply melancholy too. It’s shot in black and white, and the street scenes of New York (and briefly Paris) look stunning. There’s a wonderful scene in which she runs across the streets to the sounds of “Modern Love” by David Bowie. 

It seems to be highly influenced by Woody Allen (see Annie Hall and Manhattan), but it has greater emotional depth. Gerwig is incredibly believable and endearing.

Unlike so many films, Frances Ha stayed with me for quite a while afterwards.

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Federico Fellini’s startling, iconic drama seems hugely innovative in terms of structure and subject matter. 

Rather than one linear plot, we see a series of connected episodes. Brilliantly, these episodes dovetail with the fact that the protagonist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) is a journalist. We observe what he observes across a few days and nights living and working in Rome. 

The section starring Anita Ekberg as the Swedish-American film star Sylvia (including the famous moment at the Trevi Fountain) is especially vivid. 

Its commentary on the invasive role of the media and paparazzi (the word itself comes from this film’s character Paparazzo, played by Walter Santesso) seems ahead of its time. 

It can be interpreted many ways. There are flashes of surreal humour and darker undercurrents – sometimes cleverly combined, such as a segment dedicated to a sighting of the Madonna by two children.

There’s also an appearance by Nico, looking younger and more radiant than you ever thought she could.

The Doors (1991)

I like The Doors (the group) and have always been curious about how they would be portrayed on film. Unfortunately, Oliver Stone’s “impressionistic” biopic of Jim Morrison (which shouldn’t really be called The Doors at all) is a bit of a disaster. 

Val Kilmer emulates Morrison’s bodily movements fairly well, and radiates a certain “rock star” charisma. I like Meg Ryan as his girlfriend, too, and she may be the best thing in the film. But in terms of a script, neither of these actors have anything to get their teeth into. There’s very little dialogue in general, and there’s way too much Doors music crammed into every scene. Even the courtroom moment, which was potentially an interesting change of pace and tone, is drowned out by more Doors on the soundtrack. The result is a complete lack of dramatic tension. 

I don’t mind it being deeply pretentious – what’s wrong with being pretentious? (as Brian Eno asked) – but I do mind it being lazy, clichéd filmmaking. The Doors offers an almost childish version of “the 1960s”. A scene featuring Andy Warhol and Nico is cartoonishly shoddy. Plus, there’s little sense of the group’s career arc. 

Ultimately, Oliver Stone seems to be too in love with Jim Morrison and his myth to even attempt to present a rounded portrait of him.

Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy is a beautifully filmed masterpiece. Unlike Casino, it’s presented from the perspective of a character that you can relate to. Through Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), we see inside the world of the mafia and – crucially – why it initially seems so appealing. 

It’s about many things; the mafia, obviously, but also family, marriage and changing times in the USA.

Scorsese manages to pull off certain effects (freeze frames, a tiny bit of fourth-wall speaking to camera at the end) without it ever seeming tricksy. The characters seem entirely real. It’s also improbably funny – see Joe Pesci’s character's relationship with his mother (played by Scorsese’s own mother), or the obsession with food (Henry asking his brother to keep stirring the sauce as his life’s falling apart). And Robert De Niro is at his very best.

Although it’s multilayered, it’s also superbly lucid storytelling. You know what’s going on and why, even as the film constantly surprises you. Fantastic music choices too.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Richard Kelly’s deeply enigmatic, fascinating film straddles psychological thriller and horror-tinged mind-bender. Donnie is a troubled teenager who encounters a creature in a rabbit costume. This creature tells him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. As that countdown progresses, he continues to visit the boy and advise him on his actions, which become increasingly extreme. 

Meditations on the nature of time, reality and identity are set against the backdrop of an American suburb. The film develops several other strands: Patrick Swayze is the too-good-to-be-true motivational speaker Jim Cunningham, who has a polarising effect on the town, while Drew Barrymore is a school teacher too open-minded for the culture of the school. There’s also lots about Donnie’s family, who love him without understanding him. 

The ending can be taken multiple ways and I’m not sure you’re even meant to fully “understand” it. Instead, you are left with a glimpse into a powerful, multilayered world beneath or behind the one we take for granted. 

Jake Gyllenhaal is superb as the main character. His face has to convey menace, fear, amusement and confusion, and does so brilliantly. Katharine Ross is excellent as Donnie’s psychiatrist, Dr. Lillian Thurman. But, as with all great films, there’s not a single performance that could be improved upon.

Casino (1995)

Lengthy, sometimes dense and extremely violent Martin Scorsese crime thriller. 

Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play mafia men sent from Chicago to Las Vegas, scamming money off a casino’s profits for the bosses back home. They become rivals and enemies, which is a problem because Pesci’s character is essentially a psychopath. Meanwhile, Sharon Stone is an ex-prostitute who marries De Niro but is still attached to her pimp boyfriend played by James Woods.

It’s similar to Goodfellas in terms of subject matter and tone, but that film is far more appealing because it has a character you can relate to. There’s no one in Casino that you can identify with at all. Also, the violence is really disturbing – especially the head-in-a-vice and buried-alive scenes. I’m not sure I will ever get those images out of my mind.

The use of music was a little excessive. Countless great songs are jammed in, which is fun, but sometimes it's at the expense of light and shade. I craved a little more space.

De Niro is as good as ever, but it remains a flawed film that seems like it could have been a masterpiece and somehow didn’t turn out that way.

A Star Is Born (1954)

Problematic yet enjoyable melodrama starring Judy Garland and James Mason. He’s Norman Maine, a successful actor with a drink problem. She’s Esther Blodgett, an up-and-coming singer. He makes her famous and they get married, but both of those life changes quickly become complicated. 

There are several odd things about it. Certain scenes have been lost and are represented on the DVD simply by on-set stills backed by the original audio. It’s very difficult to absorb these parts as part of the narrative. 

Also, Judy Garland’s fame as a singer means that the film-makers took every opportunity to cram in more of her singing. The extended “film within a film” interlude doesn’t really work, but it could have done if they’d simply cut back to Norman and Esther’s reactions as they watched the show from the theatre. 

Too little happens in the first hour: her talent and his drinking are established in the very first scene, then there’s a lot of filler before that story is picked up again. It’s oddly unbelievable as a romance, and there's very little chemistry between the pair.

On the plus side, the two leads are superb. Mason has just the right mixture of charismatic appeal and troubled “dark side”. You can see and feel his pain as his character declines. And it’s extremely colourful and vivid, with a particular emphasis on red and pink shades. But I was surprised to find that overall it was far less compelling than the Gaga/Cooper remake.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Highly likeable crime comedy. 

Eddie Murphy stars as the endlessly cool, magnetic Axel Foley, a Detroit cop investigating his friend’s shooting. His enquiries take him to a Beverly Hills art dealer who turns out to be dealing in other things too. Steven Berkoff is genuinely menacing as the villain, which is a surprise because he was so awful as General Orlov in Octopussy.

There are a lot of laughs, but it still works as a thriller. Murphy’s presence is so powerful that he’s just a pleasure to watch, and the film has wisely been constructed around his huge, warm personality. It’s worth seeing just to hear his laugh.

The theme tune, “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer, keeps popping up and is a welcome inclusion.

Water (1985)

Michael Caine plays the Governor of the (fictional) Caribbean island of Cascara. The generally quiet, happy life on this remote British colony is interrupted when it’s discovered that there’s a potentially lucrative natural supply of mineral water beneath the ground. Suddenly, everyone from US oil magnates and the British Prime Minister (Maureen Lipman as Margaret Thatcher) to Cuban guerrillas and a French water business want a stake in Cascara’s future. 

The cast features many actors known from TV roles, including Billy Connolly, Leonard Rossiter (in his final performance), Fulton Mackay, Ruby Wax and Fred “Herman Munster” Gwynne. 

I’m not a fan of Connolly, but thankfully he’s fairly restrained in this part – partly because his character has vowed to communicate only via song. On the down side, there’s a long, cringeworthy scene in which he plays on stage with a band including George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. Half of the Beatles and the world’s most famous living guitarist, and all they could come up with was a snug, dreary, tepid mess. 

That aside, it’s a playful, good-natured comedy that’s both intelligent and very silly. I like the way the various plot threads come together. At its best it recalls a less subtle and sophisticated version of Local Hero, particularly for the strong sense of community it develops.

Trading Places (1983)

John Landis comedy starring Dan Aykroyd as Winthorpe, a wealthy commodities broker, and Eddie Murphy as Valentine, a poor street hustler. The social positions of these diametrically opposed individuals are switched because of a wager – hence the clever pun in the title. Valentine rises up in the firm while Winthorpe becomes a down-and-out. This cruel bet is staged by the Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche), who own the business and treat their employees as mere playthings. 

Denholm Elliott is the smart butler who is initially in on the scam, but who then helps Winthorpe and Valentine to outwit the Dukes. Jamie Lee Curtis is a “hooker with a heart of gold” character who helps Winthorpe when no one else will.

It turns briefly ludicrous when we get to the gorilla episode, but otherwise the plot plays out in a very satisfying way – until the ending. I was slightly disappointed that when our heroes get their own back, they merely enjoy their millions. They don’t do anything to reject the privilege, injustice and racism that determined their fortunes. Instead, Trading Places takes a lazier path and observes the usual 1980s film tropes in praise of upward mobility. 

That point aside, it’s sharp and funny. And all of the leads are superb.

Shiner (2000)

Tough Brit crime thriller about a boxing promoter, Billy “Shiner” Simpson (Michael Caine), whose fortunes are hanging in the balance. Billy has gambled his (and his daughters’) financial future on a match that happens to feature his own son, the “Golden Boy”, against a tough US fighter. And his son is absolutely terrified.

A gritty, violent drama that quickly escalates into something harrowing, Shiner tackles issues of class, the meaning of family, and American versus British ways of life. It also works as a sort of Shakespearean tragedy.

The film was poorly received and that’s a great shame because Caine is stunning in the lead role – completely convincing as a tough guy whose life is beginning to unravel.

Without a Clue (1988)

Amusing and intelligent spin on Sherlock Holmes, starring Michael Caine as the famous detective. The twist is that this Holmes is a total buffoon – merely an actor hired by Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley), and it’s Watson who has to do all the hard work of solving mysteries. But of course Holmes wins all the public adoration anyway, causing a degree of tension between the two. 

The plot deals with arch villain Moriarty's scheme to print fake bank notes. It’s mainly set in London but there’s an inconsequential detour to Lake Windermere, possibly just to get in some “tourist brochure” scenery.

Lysette Anthony is reasonably appealing as the young woman both Holmes and Watson are attracted to, but of course Leslie isn’t quite what she seems.

It’s very amiable and surprisingly funny, with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments based on Holmes’ ineptitude.

The Statement (2003)

Directed by Norman Jewison, this drama was adapted from a novel by Brian Moore, which was itself based on events relating to real-life Vichy French police official Paul Touvier. 

Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine) was a Nazi collaborator, and has been at large in France for nearly 50 years. He has been protected by loyal Catholics and others, but when a lawyer (Tilda Swinton) and a colonel in the National Gendarmerie (Jeremy Northam) start to pursue him he’s forced to take more extreme measures.  

Caine is absolutely excellent as a man plagued by guilt and wracked with psychic pain, yet someone who is also still a self-interested racist bigot. I could totally believe his character as he lurches – with his fervent faith and his heart problems – from one crisis to another. 

The narrative works well, with some fairly dramatic moments. The only unsatisfying element is that it’s never quite explained why so many people go to such lengths to defend the indefensible. Yes, the various priests were worried that their own crimes might be revealed, but how does that apply in a wider sense? It seems like there’s a joined-up conspiracy to protect him, involving the Church, members of the police force and government officials, some of whom have little connection to the events of 1944.

The diverse cast also includes Alan Bates, Ciarán Hinds, John Neville and Charlotte Rampling.

Quicksand (2003)

Martin Raikes (Michael Keaton) plays an American bank investigator who is framed for murder by ruthless thugs using a Monaco film studio to hide their various crimes. Lela Forin (Judith Godreche) is a naive employee of the crooks, while Jake Mellows (Michael Caine) is a past-his-prime actor they are using to keep up appearances. 

For a direct-to-video thriller, it’s pretty good. The two Michaels both deliver to a reasonable standard. There’s drama and tension, and the plot offers a few surprises. Caine seems underused, but his increased presence in the final quarter adds humour and depth to proceedings. 

Kathleen Wilhoite is strong as Keaton’s pregnant PA. On the down side, the villains weren’t given much in the way of character.

I was hooked throughout, even if there were occasions when it was necessary not to ask too many questions of the plot.

Cabaret (1972)

A stunning musical drama.

The rise of the Nazi party forms the backdrop to the relationship between a couple who meet at a boarding house in Berlin in 1931 during the Weimar Republic. She (Liza Minnelli) is a talented cabaret singer who dreams of becoming a film star. He (Michael York) is an English academic. Then they encounter a wealthy businessman (Helmut Griem), who changes their whole dynamic and sets them each on a different course. 

Minnelli is radiant and magnetic. She inhabits every scene so fully that it’s impossible to imagine anyone playing the part better than she does. 

It’s brilliantly directed by Bob Fosse, with the musical numbers often cleverly juxtaposed with jarring images – such as someone being beaten by Nazis. 

The characters are sympathetic and three-dimensional, and there's really nothing you could add or remove to make this film any better.

Serena (2014)

Gripping drama that becomes progressively more hair-raising. 

It’s 1929 and George Pemberton (Bradley Cooper) runs a timber business in North Carolina. When he falls in love with a forthright young woman named Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) and brings her into the company, everything changes. She’s haunted by a tragedy in her past and also by the existence of George’s child with another local woman. He is haunted by a crime she encourages him to commit. Before long, everything falls apart. 

This film got heavily criticised for various reasons, none of which I would recognise as being flaws. The characters are perfectly drawn and their motivations are made clear. The storytelling is lucid, thanks to Susanne Bier’s solid direction. The remote location looks great, too, despite the use of the sort of filters I usually find distracting. The film does become melodramatic, it’s true, but that seems entirely in keeping with their situation as their problems swiftly escalate.

The International (2009)

Satisfyingly unformulaic thriller. 

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts play the cutely named investigators Salinger and Whitman, who try to bring down the International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC). 

It’s fast-paced and very nicely shot, with a stylish take on locations in Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. In the case of Istanbul, the exact same area – the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar – would later be used for a motorbike chase in Skyfall (2012). The most dramatic section is an extended shoot-out in the NYC Guggenheim Museum, painstakingly replicated just for this film. 

The script avoids cliché and it’s refreshing that the lead pair do not end up becoming a couple. Both in terms of their personal lives and the corruption their work exposes, there are no easy solutions offered. But the very existence of the film emphasises the immense, insidious power of global finance and the way banks drive the behaviour of governments and determine the outcome of global conflicts. 

Watts is always reliable, and impresses throughout. Owen, meanwhile, surprises with a blend of toughness and vulnerability that’s just right for this particular story.

An Ideal Husband (1999)

Charming and entertaining adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play starring Rupert Everett, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Minnie Driver. With source material and actors that strong it would be difficult to go wrong, and sure enough director Oliver Parker makes the most of both. 

Moore is especially good as the scheming Laura Cheveley, intent on blackmailing a government minister. Driver is appealing as Mabel Chiltern, although for some reason she seems too “modern” to fit into the era that was being evoked. Everett gets it just about right, pitching his character somewhere between affable buffoon and trusty good sort.

It’s wittily and nimbly constructed. It works both as a piece of lighthearted froth and as a fairly engaging study of human nature in its various forms.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Highly watchable drama that remakes and subtly updates the 1937, 1954 and 1976 versions of the story. 

Struggling singer Ally (Lady Gaga) falls in love with a famous musician (Bradley Cooper, who also directs). He’s on the way down, career-wise, and is struggling with tinnitus and drink/drug issues. She’s on the way up, helped by him but quickly becoming a superstar in her own right. 

It’s touching because Gaga and Cooper seem to convey real love for each other. I found it highly believable, even if he’s given greater psychological depth than she is. They both offer a touching vulnerability and plenty of charm, and so the scenes in which they appear together are always compelling.

There’s a lot of music in the film – perhaps too much for it to work as a “serious” drama – but the performance segments are all thoroughly enjoyable in themselves.

North by Northwest (1959)

Enjoyable Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. 

An advertising executive is mistaken for a dangerous agent, and ends up being pursued across the USA by a ruthless team of criminals.

As usual, Hitchcock makes the most of shadows and unusual angles to enhance the drama. But those tricks are slightly undermined by the unusually artificial-looking brightness of some of the scenes. Also, the silly “comedy” moments with Cary Grant’s mother (played by Jessie Royce Landis, who’s clearly too young) fall flat and stand out as awkwardly jarring. Likewise, a drink-driving scene ends up being oddly comical and you’re left unsure quite how you are supposed to take it.

The iconic Mount Rushmore is an inspired choice of location for the place where the action plays out and the ending is genuinely thrilling.

Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

Drama based on real events. 

Brad Pitt plays Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer, who abandons a pregnant wife to summit Nanga Parbat. But then World War II begins and he is held in a prisoner-of-war camp. His wife files for divorce, so he has little to return home to, but he escapes and makes it to the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa. There, he becomes tutor to (and friend of) the 14th Dalai Lama. The film details his gradual shift to a more caring, sharing kind of guy after years of living fairly selfishly. 

It’s rich and colourful, but there are flaws. Pitt is oddly unconvincing. Maybe it’s his accent. Or maybe it’s his haircut. But I struggled to believe he was an Austrian climber, and struggled further to believe the spiritual development the film told us (rather than showed us) took place. Also, the “action” moves too slowly. Parts of the narrative look nice but just aren’t very interesting. 

For much of the story, Heinrich is accompanied by colleague Peter Aufschnaiter – first a rival and later a friend – but that part too fails to come alive in the hands of David Thewlis, and their relationship never gains the gravitas it’s supposed to.

Given that Harrer’s actual life story seems fairly remarkable, it’s a shame that this account somehow fails to capture the essence of what makes it so notable.

A Shock to the System (1990)

Graham Marshall (Michael Caine) works as an advertising executive in New York. After losing out on a promotion, he sets off for home and ends up accidentally killing a man in a minor scuffle by pushing him onto the subway tracks. No one else witnesses what happens, so he walks away from the scene without repercussions. This is a moment that profoundly changes his outlook, offering him a strange kind of liberation. Before long, he’s considering murder as a way to get what he wants in his personal life and also in terms of his professional ambitions. 

Caine is suitably creepy as a seemingly reasonable man who turns into a killer. Elizabeth McGovern is believable as the naive, admiring girl who ends up getting a little too close to him. And Peter Riegert convinces as the cocky, competent boss who takes the job that Graham assumed was his. 

There’s both a delicious kind of grim black comedy and enough dramatic tension to keep you hooked. The film also makes a point about the difference between the wealthy and the very poor, and between the young and the old. 

The ending isn’t what you might expect, but it does satisfy.

The Romantic Englishwoman (1975)

Lewis Fielding (Michael Caine) is a successful novelist. When his wife Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson) takes a trip to Baden-Baden to “find herself” and meets a thief and drug smuggler named Thomas (Helmut Berger), Lewis experiences intense jealousy. Then after Elizabeth returns to England, Thomas invites himself into the couple’s home and slowly but surely begins to interfere with various aspects of their lives. 

Directed by Joseph Losey and co-written by Tom Stoppard and Thomas Wiseman, it’s a brilliant, play-like drama focusing on the relationships between three characters. Thomas is brilliantly ambiguous. We learn almost nothing about him other than how he affects the family he moves in with. At times it felt like it could turn into a sort of horror story, but it was too subtle and nuanced for that. It’s partly about gender roles. It’s also about how the veneer of a wealthy middle-class existence can hide discontent and despair. 

Caine is as watchable as ever, while Jackson is superb as a mother and housewife who seems to have everything and yet feels hopelessly trapped in her world of luxury.

Silver Bears (1978)

In this mildly amusing banking thriller adapted from a novel by Paul Erdman, Michael Caine stars as a monetary wizard who creates a Swiss bank to finance a silver mine in Iran. But all is not as it seems and he ends up having to out-scam the crooks who are attempting to scam him. 

It’s flawed but entertaining. On the down side, a couple of the characters are misjudged and could have been cut completely – for example, Jay Leno is awkward and almost entirely pointless as Albert Fiore. It’s also a little slow to get going, and for a so-called comedy it could have been a lot funnier. 

On the plus side, Cybill Shepherd is excellent as the kooky wife of an accountant. The film improves from the moment she steps into it. And Charles “Blofeld” Gray is easy to like as a millionaire precious-metals dealer. Louis Jourdan and Joss Ackland are also fairly strong. The Swiss locations look good, and there’s a nice soundtrack by Claude Bolling.

King Kong (2005)

Peter Jackson’s epic remake of the monster classic is every bit as big and bold as its subject. 

The generally underrated Naomi Watts is superb as the woman captured and then befriended by the giant gorilla. The empathy and understanding between the two forms the emotional core of the film. Both are lost and misunderstood until they find each other. Jack Black seems miscast as Carl Denham, the ambitious, canny film director who has the map to Skull Island and wants to achieve fame and fortune by filming the extraordinary mysteries there. He’s not quite right for the role, somehow, and there are too many close-ups of his face looking “perturbed”. 

The visuals are impressive, even if I don’t really like the garish/ugly aesthetic style Jackson adopts. Some of the CGI scenes – such as Kong fighting dinosaurs as they tumble into a valley – are remarkable, even if he sometimes favours an ugly “high style” that doesn’t even try to be “realistic”. It’s more like a homage to a cinematic golden age that embraces its own artifice. 

Kong himself is motion-captured from Andy Serkis, who would provide the same function for Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and its 2014 and 2017 sequels. You instantly relate to his predicament, and it’s heartbreaking to see him ruined by the greed and selfishness of the humans who seek to exploit him. 

The famous Empire State Building sequence (faithfully reconstructed from the 1933 original) is terrifying and genuinely disturbing.