Haywire (2012)

Dreadful thriller. 

Private intelligence agent Mallory Kane (a fundamentally miscast Gina Carano) is double-crossed by the people who recruited her, and has to go on the run. 

Directed self-consciously by Steven Soderbergh, it has an excessive use of filters and intrusive “funky” music by David Holmes in place of dialogue. Plus, despite all the fighting (Carano was a mixed martial artist), most of the “action” scenes are surprisingly dull. 

It’s remarkable that big names such as Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas and Michael Fassbender got themselves involved in such a clichéd mess. The script – what there is of one – is extremely poor. The plotting is confused. The complete lack of a character for the main part is conspicuous. Carano simply doesn’t have the screen presence or acting ability to carry off the lead role. She was better as a supporting character in The Mandalorian, except that Lucasfilm sacked her after she made anti-mask, pro-Trump statements.

There’s literally not one good thing about Haywire – that title bears no relation to anything in the story – except that parts of it are unintentionally funny. The worst film I’ve seen for quite a long time.

Heartburn (1986)

Adapted by Nora Ephron from her own novel, this is a slightly disappointing drama about the ups and downs of a relationship. Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson play Rachel and Mark, and the film focuses on the couple's story from first meeting, through marrying, having children and facing up to Mark’s history of infidelity. 

There's some intriguing casting. Stockard Channing seems underused as a friend (she's too charismatic to be given such a minor part). Jeff Daniels is credible as Rachel’s editor. In his first film role, Kevin Spacey plays a thief on the subway.

Split between New York and Washington, D.C., the bittersweet narrative has comic moments but isn’t a comedy as such – despite what’s presented on the DVD box.

Carly Simon provides the theme song in “Coming Around Again”, which also recurs as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. 

It’s not quite as engaging as you might hope. Streep and Nicholson are always excellent, but it could have been sharper, more poignant and more funny.

Fury (2014)

Brad Pitt stars as Collier, a tough American sergeant commanding a Sherman tank (named Fury) on missions through Germany towards the end of World War II. The film focuses on his relationship with his crew and how they adapt to a new, naive young recruit (Logan Lerman) joining their team despite having no military experience.

The set pieces are violent and dramatic. An extended scene set in a house with two German women is especially powerful. 

It’s atmospheric and it looks convincingly grey, bleak and muddy.

Brad Pitt has rarely impressed me as an actor but he’s at his best here, finding a depth and charisma that sometimes eludes him in lesser roles.

Flight (2012)

Brilliantly directed by Robert Zemeckis, this drama starts with the absolute terror of an aviation disaster and then gets even more harrowing. 

A drunk, coked-up pilot (Denzel Washington) crash-lands a jet in a miraculous style but struggles to control his addictions during the legal investigation that could clear his name. 

It’s moving, and doesn’t end how you might expect. Washington brings real depth to the part. I especially liked his recovering heroin addict girlfriend played by Kelly Reilly. 

Not even the presence of John Goodman as a clownish drug dealer can ruin the film, although Goodman still gives it his best shot. His appearance changes the tone and risks making the whole thing into a farce. But thankfully his scenes are brief. 

No Escape (2015)

Engineer Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) relocates to Southeast Asia with his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and two daughters. But soon after they arrive, they become trapped in local riots and a revolution. Certain to be murdered, they have no option but to attempt to flee.

It’s an exceedingly well-made action thriller that never lets up. There are some harrowing sequences and I will never forget the scene in which Jack – moments from being shot with his family and faced with an impossible choice – has to hurl his children between two buildings. 

Pierce Brosnan is excellent as the British intelligence agent who helps the Dwyers. He exudes charisma and charm, even with a silly London accent that makes him sound Australian. 

Director John Erick Dowdle favours jerky, semi-documentary edits that give the scenes a sense of urgency – although the effect may be overused. 

Critics complained that the film is xenophobic, but it's deliberately positioned from the Americans' perspective and as such conveys how terrifying such a situation might have seemed to them.

Casualties of War (1989)

Directed by Brian De Palma, this tells the story of an American soldier in the Vietnam War (Michael J. Fox) who reports the other members of his squad for kidnapping, raping and murdering a Vietnamese woman. It’s loosely based on the 1966 “incident on Hill 192”, although names have been changed. 

Fox turns out to be fairly convincing as the squeaky-clean Lutheran who resists his sergeant (a believably on-the-edge Sean Penn). He just looks a little too fresh and healthy, even when he’s sent to hospital, and his hair never seems to get ruffled. In contrast, the war scenes are scary and realistic. 

The music is by Ennio Morricone and – despite its appeal – seems a little too prominent for certain scenes.

Red Sparrow (2018)

An oddly awkward thriller. 

Manipulated by her evil uncle in the SVR (Matthias Schoenaerts), a former ballerina for the Bolshoi (JennIfer Lawrence) becomes embroiled in Russian intelligence and is assigned to entrap a CIA operative (an underwhelming Joel Edgerton) via methods of “sexpionage”. 

The plot is complicated, with countless twists, but just about hangs together if you don’t ask too many questions. What makes the film overwrought and even embarrassing to watch is the excessive violence, torture and rape. It seems to revel in all those things. Yet, incredibly, it’s still a “15” certificate. 

Jennifer Lawrence is unable to make much of her character because the part is so cold and robotic. The sections set in Sparrow School, with Charlotte Rampling as the Matron, border on the ridiculous and farcical – with a gratuitously pervy quality. It makes you wonder why an actress as well-established as Lawrence would have chosen to be associated with the film.

Beaches (1988)

Bette Midler is middling in this musical comedy drama that’s neither funny nor dramatic. 

Beaches tells the story (in flashback) of two childhood friends who keep in touch by writing letters and meet up again as adults. Cecilia Carol (“C.C.”) Bloom (Midler) is a singer who finally makes it big, while Barbara Hershey plays her pal Hillary, a well-to-do lawyer. When Hillary gets ill, C.C. abandons a headlining concert to drive a long distance to be by her side.

The film is also a sort of musical, with Midler performing several songs. The problem is that I found her singing and acting completely devoid of appeal. She’s like a cut-price Barbra Streisand with none of the charm or charisma. 

If you like Midler’s voice and brash persona, you’ll probably love the film. If you don’t, you’ve had it. The big “emotional” conclusion doesn’t move you because the characters don’t seem real enough. It’s difficult to believe they would ever have been friends, such is the lack of chemistry. The film also fails to chronicle C.C.’s rise to fame. We’re shown at the beginning that she’s a big star because she’s sold out a stadium show, but there’s nothing about how she made it to that point. Indeed, the storytelling is oddly patchy throughout, with too much time given to certain events and then significant happenings skipped entirely. Did they simply film the first draft of the script, before someone could take a look at the pacing and rhythm?

Beaches is also notable for especially weak and underwritten male roles. I know the focus is meant to be on the two women, but did their boyfriends and husbands really have to be so one-dimensional?

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

Alex Kerner (Daniel Brühl) lives with his mother (Kathrin Sass) and sister (Maria Simon) in East Germany in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Alex takes part in an anti-communist rally at which he meets his future girlfriend (Chulpan Khamatova), but his mother – shocked by events – falls into a coma. When she awakes, Alex needs to protect her from further shocks and takes it upon himself to prevent her discovering that the revolution has taken place. 

The comedy of the film comes from the extraordinary lengths he goes to in order to preserve that illusion.

It’s a sweet and sensitive drama that manages to be poignant and often hilarious.

It makes serious political points about nationality, family and the changing times, but in a gentle way that never feels dull or worthy. At its heart is an examination of Alex's relationships – with his mother, his girlfriend and his sister, but also with his father and his country.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

When the North Norfolk radio station is taken over by a multinational corporation, DJ Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney) is sacked – partly because of the urging of self-centred rival Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan). Farrell then holds the station to siege, and unexpectedly it seems that only Partridge can save the day.

On first viewing, at the cinema in 2013, this was a huge disappointment to me as a fan of various Alan Partridge TV programmes. Whereas those allow the slow, painful comedy of Alan’s vanities to unfold, this film-length adaptation loses that excruciating magic through its fast-cut scenes and rapid dialogue. The story is OK but the other characters are too prominent to be left so undeveloped. Michael (Simon Greenall) and Lynn (Felicity Montagu) seem to be there only as a nod to their TV roles, and not because the plot requires them, so the comic talents of both are wasted.

There are a few good chuckles, but it isn’t the glorious study of ego and insecurity that Partridge delivers at his best. A second viewing reveals more to admire, and you notice how clever a lot of the writing is, but it still lacks the outright hilarity you might be hoping for.

Looper (2012)

Sci-fi mind-scrambler that involves time travel and telekinesis. Retired assassin Joe (Bruce Willis) is sent back from 2074 to 2044 to be killed by his younger self (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). But of course things don’t go to plan. 

It’s an intriguing premise but the first half of the film gets a little bogged down in explaining the complicated "rules". It improves in the second half, when farm woman Sara (Emily Blunt) appears as the love interest for the younger of the two Joes. She is also the mother of a boy who will grown up to be an evil future ganglord if the course of events is not disrupted. 

It’s best if you don’t ask too many questions about the time travel aspects of the story. There are some exciting moments, but the film didn’t make me care about any of the characters. It was difficult to believe that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would ever become Bruce Willis, so different were the two actors in terms of charisma. Gordon-Levitt seems to have barely any character at all. I'm no fan of Willis, but he does at least bring a basic presence to his scenes.

On the plus side, it’s not every day that you hear Richard and Linda Thompson’s "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" on a soundtrack.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

Brilliantly tense thriller. 

Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) and Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) strike up a brief but intense affair in New York City. It soon transpires that Alex is slightly mad, and rather than allowing herself to be merely being dismissed after their weekend fling instead wants more commitment than Dan is prepared to offer. Events escalate and soon become nasty, and Dan’s wife (Anne Archer) and daughter find themselves in serious danger. 

Having heard lots about this film over the years I was surprised at how exciting it was. It’s excellently directed by Adrian Lyne, with perfect pacing, and the camera work makes it especially edgy. I like the fact that the story is so simple, without any distracting sub-plots or unnecessary back-stories. It’s a pure, fast-moving narrative that’s handled with great skill. 

The two leads are both superb, and Close is all too convincing in her demented/obsessive role. Something about her smile and her eyes makes you believe she’s capable of anything. Douglas is also pretty good as the harassed lawyer trying to hold his life together but watching it slide out of control.

The film sidesteps ethical issues – presumably to focus on being a taut thriller. We’re left unsure how to feel about Dan’s actions. Should his wife forgive him? And didn’t Alex have a point when she accused him of using and discarding her? But the decision to keep strictly to the plot may have been a wise one as Fatal Attraction rattles along excitingly, without any misjudgements, and ends in a satisfying, conclusive manner.

Indecent Proposal (1993)

A young couple struggling for money, David (Woody Harrelson) and Diana (Demi Moore), are offered a million dollars by wealthy businessman John Gage (Robert Redford) if he can spend a night with Diana. The pair are faced with a choice that will have huge implications for their lives. 

It’s an intriguing premise and the fall-out on the couple’s relationship makes up the bulk of the story, even though the initial premise itself is hardly explored at all. Details of the million-dollar night in question are discreetly avoided after the initial set-up in which we see Diana being whisked to a private yacht. You could argue that this is a wise move – we experience the same doubt and confusion about what went on as David – but it seems an oddly evasive approach for a film constructed on the very premise of that night.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, the film isn't sure whether it wants to be a thriller or a drama. I expected more running around, more psychological warfare and more peril, but the stakes remain disappointedly low. 

I liked the notion of Robert Redford as the villain, since he so rarely plays baddies, but the plot ultimately decided to show him as a nice guy. And it didn’t examine the more intriguing question of what kind of nice guy offers to buy a woman. By raising interesting ethical and personal issues and then shying away from them, Indecent Proposal ends up seeming merely glossy and a little shallow.

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Historical drama detailing a celebrated set of 1977 TV interviews between David Frost (Michael Sheen) and US President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). Adapted from a play by Peter Morgan, it’s directed by Ron Howard. 

The film focuses on the relationship between the two men, who undertake a sort of psychological boxing match as Frost tries to get Nixon to acknowledge his wrong-doing and law-breaking during the events that famously became known as Watergate. 

It has character and depth, with both men emerging as more complex figures than they first appear to be. 

One major anachronism is a character using the phrase “comfort zone”, which – according to the internet, was not coined until 2009. 

The only other flaw is that Frost’s girlfriend (played by Rebecca Hall) has very little to do. But maybe that’s intended as a comment on gender roles in what was clearly still meant to be a men’s world.

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.

The Crying Game (1992)

Unusual, original and adventurous thriller directed by Neil Jordan. 

Stephen Rea plays Fergus, an IRA soldier who grows attached to a hostage named Jody (Forest Whitaker) he is ultimately expected to kill. After events turn even more nasty for the unit, Fergus flees and ends up making a new life for himself in London. He seeks out Jody’s romantic partner, and everything he does is guided by having had that intense relationship with him. Before long, his old life starts to come back to him. 

It’s a tense drama with welcome moments of humour and whimsy. 

Miranda Richardson is excellent as the oddly terrifying Jude, an IRA member who is used to snare the hostage. It’s also good to see Tony Slattery and Jim Broadbent in the cast.

I like the way The Crying Game manages to subvert all expectations by turning into a different kind of film about halfway through but then ultimately bringing the two threads back together. Race, gender, sexuality, nationality and morality are all considered, but never in a heavy-handed way. Instead, these themes grow naturally from the engrossing plot and convincing characters.

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Romantic comedy musical starring Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford.   

A widowed matchmaker seeks a husband in (and around) New York in 1895, employing a number of outlandish schemes to secure his affections. 

On the down side, with the exception of the annoying title song, none of the music is memorable and the plot is thin indeed. Also, Matthau is so unappealingly grumpy as the millionaire Horace Vandergelder that you can’t imagine why Dolly (or anyone else) would ever want to marry him – however rich he was. Some of the big, lavish set pieces drag on, despite being “technically” impressive. 

On the plus side, it improves a little after a slow start. Barbra oozes star quality, as always, and is very funny in her own way. Michael Crawford is exceedingly watchable, too. He demonstrates his “Frank Spencer” physical comedy, but with a silly American accent. Marianne McAndrew is likeable as his love interest, Irene Molloy, and you wonder why she didn’t have a more successful career.

August: Osage County (2013)

A dysfunctional family get together for the occasion of a funeral. The unhinged mother (Meryl Streep) has mouth cancer and a pill addiction. Her three daughters (Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis) all have domestic problems of their own. And their attempts to draw together as a family end in bitter recrimination. 

Adapted from a play by Tracy Letts, this is a hugely OTT drama. The all-star cast also includes Sam Shepherd, an oddly miscast Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper and Dermot Mulroney. 

They all deliver solid performances, but the problem is that it’s so overwhelmingly overwrought that it’s almost farcical. And not in a comical way, either. The endless screaming became a chore and the refusal to allow even a glimmer of positivity was wearing indeed. It was such a bottomless pit of misery (with no contrasts or light and shade) that it couldn’t really engage as a drama. 

Streep seemed to be wearing a facial prosthetic to make her look older and sicker, and I found that offputting. 

Another flaw was that I couldn’t believe someone as vindictive, mentally unstable and chemically unbalanced as Streep’s character could have kept the family’s big secret for all those years, only to casually reveal it at the moment she did. 

A far stronger family drama is The Family Stone, which had wit and subtlety on its side.

Withnail and I (1987)

I couldn’t make it to the end of this. 

Richard E. Grant striding around barking like Rik Mayall in The Young Ones – but with none of the timing or comic flair that made Mayall so hypnotically watchable – made for a drab and tiresome beginning. For characters to be interesting, you have to be able to relate to them or care about them. 

It didn’t help that the DVD sound and picture quality were also terrible. I know it was set in the 1960s, but it looked like it was made in the 1960s as well – a cheap and nasty, faded-TV-drama feel. 

I always wanted to know what all the fuss was about with this film, but I’m still none the wiser.

The Town (2010)

Ben Affleck (who also directs) stars as Doug, a member of a gang of mask-wearing robbers in Charlestown, Boston. While doing a bank job they briefly take a female hostage, Claire (Rebecca Hall), but their situation is complicated when Doug forms a romantic attachment with her. It’s also messy because Doug’s intense gang partner Jem (Jeremy Renner) won’t let him leave the group to start a new life, and nor will Irish mobster Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite). 

It’s a tense and exciting thriller that keeps you guessing. Can Doug escape his past and his criminal associations to run off with the woman he loves? Or is he destined never to leave Charlestown except by following his father into prison?

Cleverly, it gets you to empathise with Doug rather than with the FBI agent investigating him (Jon Hamm). And the romantic story is all the more affecting because you know it’s doomed. The only criticism is that Affleck looks too healthy and well-presented to be as desperate as his character is supposed to be.

Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)

Directed by Mike Nichols, this is based on a true story. 

A US congressman takes it upon himself to assist the Afghan troops suffering at the hands of Soviet invaders by raising the funds to equip them with weapons.

Tom Hanks is ideally cast as the charming, heavy-drinking Wilson. Julia Roberts is good as an influential socialite Joanne Herring, but doesn’t have enough scenes to really shine. Better is Amy Adams as Wilson's personal assistant Bonnie Bach. Philip Seymour Hoffman is charismatic as CIA operative Gust Avrakotos. Emily Blunt is weirdly underused in a role that gets very little screen time.

Hanks is deliberately ambiguous and the film steers clear of passing judgement on his character. The story is excellently told, so I’m not quite sure why I didn’t enjoy it more. Perhaps it's because it aims at comedy in places but could have been much funnier.

Shadowlands (1993)

Biographical drama about the relationship between author C.S. Lewis and an American divorcee who is dying of bone cancer. Directed by Richard Attenborough, it’s adapted from the stage play (which was itself adapted from a TV drama). 

Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger are absolutely superb as the two leads. Their unusual love story is more believable because of the restraint with which it’s demonstrated. The film picks up on every nuance of their speech and behaviour. 

It’s extremely moving, firstly when Lewis surprises himself by discovering that he’s in love and secondly when he finds out how much he now has to lose. 

The film tackles big questions about the meaning of life, too. How can we love when the end of love causes such pain? And what value do spiritual beliefs have in the face of seemingly godless events that lead to overwhelming grief?

There’s gentle humour too, such as in Joy and her son’s observations of English life in the 1950s.

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

A fairly intelligent rom-com – a silly but charming on-off love story boosted by a strong soundtrack and some funny lines. 

Violet (Emily Blunt) and Tom (Jason Segel) are a happy couple living in San Francisco. They get engaged and hope to marry. But when Violet begins a post-doctorate psychology course at the University of Michigan, the couple move away from their friends and family. Tom’s career as a chef suffers as Violet’s academic prospects improve. This puts strain on their relationship and their wedding is repeatedly delayed.

Emily and – in particular – Alison Brie, who plays her sister Suzie, are pretty good. Segel is less convincing, but then again it may just be that his character’s persistent unease makes him a little uncomfortable to watch.

The Five-Year Engagement starts with Dexys Midnight Runners singing Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said”, which puts you in a good mood from the beginning. In fact, most of the soundtrack is made up of Van Morrison songs – a smart choice. I was especially pleased to hear his “Sweet Thing”, as it’s not every day an Astral Weeks track gets used in a film.

One continuity point: Violet’s character’s childhood bedroom wall is covered in Wham! posters, but she would have been a baby when Wham! were popular. Did someone overlook this? 

Another oddity is a thread of violent humour running through the story. Tom’s boss at the restaurant slices part of her finger off. Violet is shot in the leg by a crossbow. And Tom jumps on a fire hydrant obscured by a snowdrift. I’m not sure why this was introduced, although it does add a sense of “real life”.

While it’s all fairly flimsy and forgettable, it does make you feel better about life for a couple of hours – which is presumably what rom-coms are for.

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.

Windtalkers (2002)

Nicolas Cage stars as a battle-damaged US Marine tasked with protecting a Navajo code talker (Adam Beach) during the conflict between the Americans and Japanese at Saipan during World War II. John Woo directs, and Christian Slater, Mark Ruffalo and Roger Willie boost a strong cast. 

It’s a violent and bloody drama that occasionally seems trashy (I would have ditched the slow-motion shots and intrusive music), but gains depth from focusing on strong characters and introducing some philosophical and ethical questions. 

Cage is highly watchable, as always. He just “has it” – whatever “it” is. 

Surprisingly, the film lost $38 million and received mixed reviews.

Atonement (2007)

Adaptation of Ian McEwan’s popular Booker-shortlisted novel. 

England, 1935. A precocious girl named Briony blames her sister’s lover (the housekeeper’s son) for a crime he didn’t commit. This simple act of immature cruelty has vast implications for the rest of their lives.

Briony is played by three actors – at the ages of 13 (Saoirse Ronan), 18 (Romola Garai) and as an elderly lady (Vanessa Redgrave). Keira Knightley plays her wronged sister and James McAvoy plays Knightley’s lover, sent first to prison and then off to war. Benedict Cummerbatch and Brenda Blethyn also feature. I’m not especially keen on the aesthetic, but the soundtrack – with rhythms built around the pounding of a typewriter – perfectly suits the mood and builds tension when needed. 

A lengthy, unedited shot showing the soldiers on the beaches at Dunkirk is incredibly panoramic and impressive.

The film cleverly jumps around in time and perspective, but the storytelling is so lucid that this never becomes tricksy or confusing. It tackles issues of class and social inequality, along with deeper questions about morality. It’s to the credit of McEwan and director Joe Wright that no easy answers are given and religion doesn’t even get a look in. There’s no easy “forgiveness” to be had here. The bleaker message is that you can spend a lifetime atoning for a moment’s misjudgement and never erase the damage you have done.

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Semi-biopic of Billie Jean King (played by Emma Stone), who campaigns for equal rights for women in tennis while juggling her own messy love life involving her husband Larry (Austin Stowell) and new lover Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough). Matters get even more complicated when King is challenged to a “battle of the sexes” tennis match by Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), who is eager to drum up money and publicity with a male-vs-female publicity stunt. 

The leads are all superb and the world of 1973 is convincingly evoked. With the focus on personal matters and the politics of the game, there’s surprisingly little actual tennis until the last quarter of the film. But when you do get to see the pivotal game, it’s dramatic and excitingly shot.

I was slightly disappointed to learn afterwards that the role of Marilyn was changed from secretary (real life) to hairdresser (the film). Surely the truth is interesting enough that a biopic should reflect it rather than mess with the facts.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, this is an absolutely superb family drama full of smart comic observation. 

Julianne Moore and Annette Bening star as a lesbian couple whose lives are turned upside down when their children get in touch with the sperm donor who fathered them. 

It’s like a play in that almost everything relates to conversations between the main five characters. 

Moore and Benning are brilliant at playing absolutely insufferable know-it-alls. It’s quite painful to watch their self-importance, expertly rendered through gestures, phrasing and body language. 

Also brilliant are Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson playing the children who seem wiser than their mothers, and Mark Ruffalo who plays their newly discovered father. 

It’s a fascinating exploration of how relationships and family units work – and don't work.

The Maze Runner (2014)

Dystopian drama for teens. 

A bunch of boys find themselves in a grassy glade surrounded by an ever-shifting maze that’s populated by killer alien robot monsters. A new child arrives every month with no memory of their prior life. When Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and then Theresa (Kaya Scodelario) appear, everything changes. 

It’s a fascinating premise but the wider story arc – explored across two further films (adapted from the novels by James Dashner) – is too silly to be believed. 

The characters are strong, though, and the interplay between them makes for the most engaging elements. It’s heavily influenced by Lord of the Flies and there’s a fair bit of interesting stuff about how the boys live together and the society they’ve evolved, with all its rules and rivalries. 

Genuinely impressive sound design and visuals also lift the film into something you can watch and enjoy more than once. The maze itself looks terrific and its physical presence and psychological influence are expertly conveyed.

A Walk in the Woods (2015)

Film version of Bill Bryson’s travel book about walking the Appalachian Trail. 

The author is played by Robert Redford and his friend (a wheezing former alcoholic) is played by Nick Nolte. Meanwhile, Emma Thompson plays Bryson’s wife left at home. 

It’s gently funny and wise, with some poignancy and melancholy. It’s probably intended for the older viewer. 

Redford is always easy to like, although his character doesn’t really develop. Nolte steals the show, with a performance that grows in depth as the film progresses. 

The scenery looks good and it makes you want to go walking, even if their bags never seemed to be heavy enough.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

A ludicrous mess. Part four of the popular series stars Mark Wahlberg as an inventor, Nicola Peltz as his daughter and Jack Reynor as her boyfriend. The baddies are played by Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer. 

The plot (borrowed from the internet): “The Autobots, a faction of robots from the planet Cybertron, are hunted down by an elite CIA black ops unit and a ruthless bounty hunter. They turn to a struggling inventor and his daughter for help.”

It turns out that it was the Transformers, and not a meteorite, that caused the death of the dinosaurs. 

The robots have been given silly voices and accents, which makes them a lot less scary. One of them even seems to have a beard and a cigar. Why? It’s nice to see them transform out of cars and lorries, but it’s utterly exhausting to see so much “impossible” CGI so quickly unfolding for such a long time. The running time of 165 minutes is wildly excessive. 

Everything is so big, loud, fast and explosive that the film quickly finds it has nowhere left to go. In dramatic terms, it’s a disaster: you are left completely numb by the relentlessness of it. But on the plus side, it’s unintentionally funny and some of the daft dialogue is absolutely priceless. For example: “Autobots, we’re going to prove who we are! That’s why we’re here!”

Duplicity (2009)

Former CIA and MI6 secret agents Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) work as corporate spies. They become romantically involved and decide to pair up as a team. The stakes are raised when they have the chance to earn themselves $35 million, but the problem is that they simply cannot trust each other. There are hints of The Thomas Crown Affair, but it’s less skilfully handled. 

It’s nearly an engaging comedy thriller, but the “funny” bits really aren’t funny enough. Also, there are so many bluffs and double-bluffs that it can be tricky to follow. Ultimately, the whole scam scenario is so unlikely that it’s difficult to believe. 

Owen and Roberts always appeal but they can’t really shine in such a self-consciously tricksy, disjointed narrative. In fact, the film’s flaws are built in from the very beginning: the characters have a deliberate coldness to indicate their professionalism and mutual distrust. But that coldness makes them – and their story – a lot harder to like. One solution would have been to spice up their encounters with a little more passion (which worked in The Thomas Crown Affair), but Duplicity, which has a “12” certificate, opts not to take that route. 

On the plus side, it’s refreshing to see a thriller that doesn’t include any guns or killing.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)

Based on a true story, this is a gripping and desperately sad drama starring Sean Penn. He plays Samuel Bicke, a furniture salesman who is suffering at work and in his personal life and who – amid a mental breakdown – decides to kill the president. 

Penn is absolutely superb, making you feel his utter isolation and his heartbreaking descent through a series of personal tragedies. He is estranged from his wife (Naomi Watts) and children, is bullied by professional colleagues and sees his plans to set up his own business rejected. 

Nixon himself is cleverly woven into the story through the use of archive footage shown on news broadcasts. 

When Bicke finally undertakes his assassination attempt we really feel for him. It’s not that you’re rooting for him to succeed – history already tells us that he will fail – but you yearn for him to be happier and to find peace.

Election (1999)

Excellent comedy set in a high school in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Matthew Broderick plays a popular school teacher whose life unravels when he gets involved with running the election for the student body president. Reese Witherspoon plays the ambitious Tracy Flick, who is determined to win it – whoever the cost. And Chris Klein and Jessica Campbell are the siblings who run against Flick. 

It’s fresh and funny, and you can easily relate to the characters and their predicaments.

Black Book (2007)

Towards the end of World War II, a singer named Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) attempts to flee the Nazis in the Netherlands. She is tricked by a traitor who has set a trap for those escaping, and her family are killed. Joining the Dutch resistance movement and adopting a new identity, she becomes a spy, tasked with getting close to SS commander Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch) to gain access to strategic information. But matters are complicated when she develops real feelings for Müntze.

This is a brilliant thriller, with so many twists and turns – as various betrayals and double crossings abound – that it makes your head spin. 

Carice van Houten is superb in the lead role and by making her relationships with both sides believable the film does a good job of blurring the good/evil divide and building in shades of grey.

Director Paul Verhoeven moves away from the gleefully violent style of RoboCop and Starship Troopers, but his accomplished storytelling is still evident. 

The only criticism is that the final scene (set on a kibbutz in 1956) doesn’t make much sense without any historical context.

Copycat (1995)

An academic specialist on serial killers (Sigourney Weaver) lives a life of agoraphobic terror after being attacked by a psycho 13 months previously. But she has to face her worst fears when two San Francisco cops (Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney) seek her help in tracking down a brutal “copycat” killer. 

It’s tense and dramatic, and there’s a fairly major twist about two thirds in that I certainly didn’t see coming.

Weaver and Hunter are both excellent, but the latter is particularly strong and brings real depth to the role.

Raising Arizona (1987)

Unusual comedy drama about a couple who kidnap a quintuplet.

Beneath the slapstick humour there’s a real tragedy about a desperate, childless pair and the lengths they will go to to make a family.

Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter are superb in the key roles. You feel Hunter's longing and completely identify with her, despite the criminality of their actions. It’s just a shame that the usual Coen brothers grotesques appear (John Goodman features as an escaped convict), turning this into a sort of farcical black comedy and robbing it of poignancy.

About a Boy (2002)

Uneven comedy/drama adapted from a novel by Nick Hornby. 

The clunkily named Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a moneyed-up consumer who lives a selfish life alone, protecting himself from commitments. He begins preying on single mothers in order to find a date (a quite disturbing trait that the film seems OK with) and ends up making friends with a 12-year-old boy with a suicidal mum (Toni Collette). The boy/man relationship, inevitably, teaches him to be less selfish and ultimately helps him to find a meaningful romance – with Rachel Weisz. 

Hugh Grant is as appealing as always but the big problem is the boy, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), who is both unconvincing as a character and oddly difficult to like. Several elements in the story lack the all-important ring of truth. In particular, it’s never explained why Will is so disengaged from society. Is he depressed? Why? What’s the unresolved issue with his father that’s briefly alluded to but never explored? The script is too shallow to get inside these questions and make the characters three-dimensional and “real”. It seems like a fifth-rate imitation of a Richard Curtis film. 

The soundtrack is by Badly Drawn Boy and works well.

Larry Crowne (2011)

Strange – and strangely enjoyable – romantic comedy that’s neither especially funny nor romantic. 

Tom Hanks plays a middle-aged man who loses his job and goes to college to educate himself. There, he develops a friendship with a much younger woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and also with his teacher (Julia Roberts). Both of these relationships transform him. Before long, he’s riding a scooter with a gang, wearing more fashionable clothes and sporting a less fusty haircut. 

It’s odd because the tone is so unusual. Parts of it are like a gentle drama. There’s subtle wit, but it doesn’t really emerge until the second half – and even then there are few laughs. Also, there are elements of the story that simply don’t ring true. 

But Hanks and Roberts are appealing and you find yourself rooting for them to get together, so the film must be doing something right. I found myself liking it a lot, despite not thinking it quite worked.

The Bodyguard (1992)

Surprisingly poor and amateurish thriller. It earned millions, but it has a "made for TV" quality about it.

Kevin Costner plays an ex-Secret Service agent hired to protect a singer named Rachel (Whitney Houston). 

Unfortunately the plot is full of holes, the characters lack motivations for their actions, and the acting is mostly terrible. Gary Kemp is particularly awkward as Whitney’s brash English publicist. Houston is oddly unlikeable throughout. The film would have worked better if you could relate to her. Only Costner impresses. 

The plotting is leaden and you can see the twists before they arrive. I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about but I couldn’t. And to add insult to injury you have to hear Whitney murdering Dolly Parton’s once-beautiful “I Will Always Love You”.

The Favourite (2019)

Costumer with a refreshing lack of that genre's conventions.

It's 1711 and England is at war with France, but Queen Anne of England (Olivia Colman) is unwell and depressed, comforted by 17 rabbits that act as a replacement for the children she lost. Her aide and secret lover Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) tries to influence her and – by extension – run the country. But this uneasy balance is upset when Sarah's younger cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, and begins her own intense relationship with the queen... 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos takes this volatile situation and mines it for maximum drama and the blackest comedy. It's both horrifying and very funny. Shots are framed from odd angles, so that even someone walking down a corridor carries a sense of menace. There's also a highly effective soundtrack that uses elements of drones and ambient noise to build atmosphere – sometimes disturbingly so.

The acting from all three leads is first-rate, with Colman, Weisz and Stone delivering performances of a lifetime. You can totally believe all of them.

It's a sharp, intelligent and innovative film that should be treasured.

Once (2007)

Sweetly touching drama set in Dublin. 

An ambitious busker in his thirties (Glen Hansard) meets a Czech girl in her twenties (Markéta Irglová), and they are mutually attracted – despite complicated romantic histories. He was cheated on by his girlfriend, while she was left to care for her baby after her husband left her. They grow closer through a shared passion for music, and begin coming to terms with the past.

It works because it seems so incredibly real. That’s partly because of the low budget and partly because of the high quality of the actors and the script. The songs are perfectly suited to the story, too. Irglová is particularly compelling. She conveys so much depth in her facial expressions alone. And her shy, understated dialogue has the ring of truth – for example, a scene in which they discuss a final meeting that she declines: “We’d just hanky panky if I come now…And that would be nice…Very interesting.”

It’s full of surprising, funny and revealing moments like this. And it’s emotionally rich and open without resorting to sentimentality or standard “love story” tropes.

It was later adapted into a stage play, which I saw performed in London, but the film feels more fresh and original.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Unusual comedy thriller directed by Shane Black. 

An inept private eye (Ryan Gosling) and a brutal enforcer (Russell Crowe) investigate a missing girl in late-1970s Los Angeles. 

It’s a strange film. The humour is as dark as it gets, with an uneasy violence behind it. Crowe’s character seems equally capable of cold-blooded murder and compassion, and that makes for an awkward mix – probably deliberately so. The emotional development, based around Gosling’s relationship with his teenage daughter, cones across as shallow and unconvincing.

The party section was especially well done, and the action is expertly presented, but overall – despite some genuine laughs – it’s little too slick to fully engage. And off-puttingly, a tubby Crowe looks uncannily like John Goodman throughout.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Remake of the bizarre 1974 film by H. B. Halicki, directed by Dominic Sena. 

Nicolas Cage plays Memphis Raines, who has to save his brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) from dangerous gangsters by stealing 50 cars in one night. He’s helped by his old criminal pals (who of course are all good guys really) and his old flame (an awkwardly awful Angelina Jolie). 

It’s extremely silly, but – unlike the original – it has a proper plot and characters with motivations and interactions, even if those characters (like villain Christopher Eccleston) are ridiculous. There’s even a script, albeit one that might have been written by a 12-year-old boy. 

The lighting is conspicuously styled with lots of blue and yellow shades, and while that might be atmospheric it makes the film less “realistic”. The original looked far more real, mainly because it was built around actual footage of real situations. 

What holds it all together and makes it worth seeing (once) is Nicolas Cage, who has a bottom-line charisma and presence.

Changing Lanes (2002)

Superb drama directed by Roger Michell.

Samuel J. Jackson plays Doyle Gipson, an insurance salesman and recovering alcoholic fighting for custody of his children. Ben Affleck plays Gavin Banek, a lawyer engaged in shady dealings in the firm of his father-in-law (Sydney Pollack). The two men’s lives collide, literally, when they have a minor road crash in New York. This event sets in motion a sequence of escalating dramas, giving them both the worst day of their lives. 

It’s extremely powerful because it engages on a moral level, exploring what happens to reasonable people in unreasonable situations. Jackson and Affleck are at their best. The supporting characters, including Gipson's wife Valerie (Kim Staunton) and his AA sponsor (William Hurt), are also excellently drawn. 

I couldn’t imagine how the ending could satisfy, but somehow they pulled it off.

Submarine (2010)

Comedy-drama about Oliver Tate, a 15-year-old boy (played by Craig Roberts), his life at home and school, and his relationship with his classmate Jordana (Yasmin Paige). In parallel, the film examines his parents’ failing marriage and his mother’s relationship with “mystic” Graham. 

It’s quirky and unusual. Some of the narrative is handled in a slightly tricksy manner, but it works because it’s from Oliver’s perspective. 

There’s a huge emotional range. It’s funny and sad. It’s realist and also fantastic. Not really like anything else I've seen.

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Superb escape drama directed by Don Siegel. 

Clint Eastwood plays Frank Morris, who plans to escape from the maximum-security prison island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. 

It’s tense and atmospheric, but also compassionate. Eastwood doesn’t say much, as usual, but he conveys a lot with his eyes and face. Patrick McGoohan plays the sadistic warden.

It’s based on a true story, making it more fascinating. And I really like the open-ended nature of the ending.

Notting Hill (1999)

Romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis. 

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) works in a travel bookshop in Notting Hill. One day a famous actress (played by Julia Roberts) walks in. They begin an unlikely romance, but fame and other matters complicate their relationship.

It’s a sweet and funny love story. Grant and Roberts are both excellent. As with other Curtis narratives, a bunch of friends and relatives act as a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on the action and helping to move it along. These are all excellent in their own right. 

Grant is particularly appealing in this role. He seems so relaxed and at ease that his scenes are just a pleasure to watch. 

Rhys Ifans is a little too silly as his flatmate, and you cannot believe that someone as sensitive and gentle as Thacker would like or tolerate him. 

Also on the down side, there’s conspicuous product placement. And the music (Boyzone, Ronan Keating) is often terrible enough to take you out of the story. 

But ultimately it’s slick and charming. The characters come alive and the romance is touching.