Review: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
Like a fine wine, Harry Potter continues to improve with age as each succeeding film version of Rowling's books seemingly surpasses the last. 'Goblet...
Review: “Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone”
Adapting a book into a movie is usually a very tricky business and in nine out of ten circumstances its a failure - some...
Review: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
On a technical level 'Close Encounters' remains even today a truly amazing achievement, on a narrative one the Spielberg sci-fi drama is for the...
Review: “Half Past Dead”
Under Siege clone #82, "Half Past Dead" manages to set at least one record - to be one of the worst prison movies made....
Review: “Bounce”
Sometimes a filmmaker dazzles us with a movie that their follow-up can be somewhat of a let down. A few years ago writer/director Don...
Review: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
With all the fuss of casting, faithfulness, and public pressure out of the way the filmmakers have gotten on with the job of adapting...
Review: “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”
One keeps waiting for Russell Crowe to slip up and star in a bad movie and so far he's gladly been able to disappoint...
Review: “Dogma”
There's the famous "Star Trek" curse which says every odd-numbered Trek movie sucks while the even-numbered ones kick ass. Some new formation of the...
Review: “Seed of Chucky”
In the post-"Scream" environment of the late 90's, self-referential sarcastic horror was all the rage for a few years until the likes of "The...
Review: “Derailed”
Most thrillers depend on an amount of 'suspension of disbelief' from the audience - one can forgive the occasional moment in a film where...
Review: “Monster’s Ball”
Surprisingly dull, "Monster's Ball" is a very obvious and ultra-slow family drama about racism, repeating mistakes of one's father, bad luck in life and...
Review: “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”
Only two solo male rap artists of late have really crossed over into the mainstream public consciousness - Eminem and 50 Cent. Three years...
Review: “Heist”
As a writer David Mamet is one of the strongest people in his industry, but like so many very successful writers he's not the...
Review: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
Don't be surprised if this live-action version of "The Grinch" sweeps a whole lot of the technical award nominations at the Oscars next year....
Review: “Love Actually”
If one country shines above the rest in the field of television comedy its the Brits. Never hounded by the sitcom formula or network...
Review: “Crackerjack”
A delightful old-fashioned Aussie comedy, "Crackerjack" takes a difficult subject - that of lawn bowls, and turns out a surprisingly consistent number of laughs...
Review: “Red Planet”
Call me nuts but I'm a sucker for action blockbusters with frantic pace. As long as the action comes thick, fast and with some...
Review: “Femme Fatale”
Overblown and overdone, "Femme Fatale" is Brian DePalma's muddled attempt at a Hitchcock thriller and one which never really works. The narrative is more...
Review: “The Siege”
One of the more surprising and intelligent films of the season is Edward Zwick's "The Siege". This film is a taught political thriller which...
Review: “The Matrix Revolutions”
The first Matrix may have been cliched but it took those old elements and reawoke them in a superb flick driven by an inherently...
Review: “The Insider”
Despite having no action scenes, a 2.5 hour running time, and based around the tired subject of tobacco, "The Insider" manages to be one...
Review: “Chicken Little”
When the computer animated family comedy genre hit it big, along came the inevitable result - what was once an almost guaranteed format has...
Review: “Jarhead”
War movies ranging from "Tigerland" and "Full Metal Jacket", to "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now", all usually examine a multitude of issues built around the...
Review: “Charlie’s Angels”
One of my favourite genres of films is 'trash cinema', the kind of movie which you know is bad technically (ie. weak acting, poor...
Review: “Shallow Hal”
There's something about Hal which is kind of sweet, but troubling. The Farrelly Bros. have created a comedy which, when you consider their previous...
Review: “The One”
Direct-to-video trash, "The One" is one of those high-concept projects which in two-sentence form on paper sounded great but in reality is a stinker....
Review: “Domestic Disturbance”
Short of Travolta's involvement there's nothing in this that separates it from a bad Hallmark TV movie of the week, indeed one wonders where...
Review: “Punch Drunk Love”
One of the most eccentric romantic comedies you're ever likely to see, "Punch Drunk Love" does for Adam Sandler what "The Truman Show" did...
Review: “The Santa Clause 2”
Overblown like most family film sequels, the second "Santa Clause" film tries to do too many things all at once and never truly succeeds...
Review: “I, Spy”
Every time you think Hollywood has finally got it figured out and is about to make a decent film again, along comes something like...