A beautifully photographed film, suffused with a palpable sense of the tranquil. A temple floating on a lake is a spiritual oasis in a secular world. The...
As a committed atheist whose psyche is nourished by rich strata of biblical fables (laid down during a childhood immersed in a strict protestant religion) this...
When I said some time ago that 'Woody Allen' was my favourite director, what I really meant is that he used to be, before 'Lars Von Trier' was invented. This...
Well considering I haven't been to the cinema for two whole months, this list is hardly the definitive article. So it is basically my top ten films as seen at...
i loved "super size me". i haven't made a list yet but SSM and before sunset would also definitely be there. but i the best movie i saw this year was 2046....
There are so many interesting looking films which were released in 2004 that I have yet to catch up with. However, looking back on the ones I have seen, there...
I may not be a big fan of ballet – especially the traditional kind – and yet I found myself totally captivated with this film. I was partly won over by...
The slow, sinister, meticulous build up of tension throughout this film is unremitting and almost sadistic in its effect. And also quite brilliant. This is...
For a film with relatively modest resources to play with, this looks and feels like classy stuff. It's an elaborate, stimulating and cleverly photographed...
I'm not a huge fan of Mike Leigh. Some of his films tend to use caricature in a clumsy and at times patronising way. There are exceptions, though, like the...
I've not seen 'Vera Drake' yet but I know exactly what you mean about Mike Leigh films. I did however enjoy 'Life is sweet' which seemed to capture the odditys...
I cannot discuss of Mike Leigh however Vera Drake is, to summarise Mike, really good. I definitely like this kind of movie just showing the 'true' life of ...
Here's an interesting article from the UK newspaper, The Guardian, on how the popularity of the DVD format may be encouraging diversity in film tastes:- 'In...
The penny has finally dropped. My rather dull brain didn't fully appreciate Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, the only other Tati film I've seen. I think the rather...
Whenever I first see Leonardo DiCaprio in a film, I think `He just looks like a kid – he'll never be convincing in this role'. I usually change my mind...
It may be related to `In The Mood For Love' and other earlier Wong Kar-Wai films, but `2046' has a tone and rigorousness of approach all of its own. The...
i so agree with you on every point you made. it's a wonderful movie. i loved the way it felt. and the texture and the characters were very "well-made". +) Mike...
It's hard to forget the authorial voice in this film. You can almost hear the typewriter (or should that be word processor) in the background, spooling out its...
The central character in Hotel Rwanda has been described by many commentators as the African Schindler. This conjures up an interesting cinematic comparison:...
I have loved Wes Anderson's previous films, but after seeing the damn trailer a hundred times I had an awful sense of foreboding about this one. The opening...
A carefully controlled, intense, and utterly compelling film. Its story of witchcraft in a 17th century Danish village is bleak but, in its concentration on...
Hi Mike, I've seen this movie this week-end and I kinda agree with you. It is not a masterpiece indeed. Not the kind of movie with a special things. I was...
Hi PY Yes, the film does ask a lot of searching questions about the West's response to the situation in Rwanda. The part where an official refuse to confirm...
A kind of modern take on those grisly 70s and 80s slashers, I thought this horror film was genuinely gripping and well made. There is no time to relax in a...
How can you resist a film that boasts Elvis living in the `Mud Creek Shady Rest' home, with a growth on his `pecker', fighting rather large cockroaches, a...
This left me rather, well, indifferent. Straight-laced son embarrassed by free-spirited mother: it's a storyline that doesn't sound promising, and isn't. The...
Not only is this a vividly menacing thriller genre piece, but it is also a powerful and mature study of the corrupting power of revenge. Paddy Considine's...
Hi Mike This is actually the first film I have caught at the cinema in four months, so rather than right a review (namely yours ha ha) I will just follow on...
Hi Mike I have to confess that the first time I saw Royal Tenebaums, I was less than enthralled (partly due to the peculiar atmosphere in the cinema). When I...
