Reviews

The most entertaining thing about this film is trying to guess who's supposed to be whom.

The phrase that kept coming back to me is 'cartoon punks'. In fact, it would be better as animation rather than having real actors.

My guess is before they shot this, they decided to see if they could make Film Noir with current technology.

The film is set in 50s California with all the paranoia then around, even UFOs.

It's shot in mono with hard lighting and interesting shadows.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Ed Crane, amongst life's losers, who gets conned again and again throughout the film. Though he's bitter about it, he's remarkably unmoved about anything, perhaps fatalistic.

As with all Coen Brothers films, the casting is superb. The leads all acting convincingly and the lighting is top notch.

A very different sort of film to previous Bonds, whereas they were secret-agent doubling as super-hero, this is more a detective story, with clues being thrown at Bond and the audience. Before Spectre was merely a source of ultra-rich megalomaniacs, here the baddies are far more sinister.

Bond himself looks old and tired, though the possessor of a superbly-sculpted physique.

The only thing that let it down was the opening theme song, by Billie Eilish, both weak and dismal.

A subtle class-based satire is only the starting point.

So good that no doubt a witless, celeb-packed, Enlish language Hollywood version is on its way.

Only problem is it suffers from the Curse Of Kensington Gore - unrealistically-coloured fake blood.

I suspect it's not more highly rated as it contains no celebrities.

Mind-bogglingly bad, provbably the worst film of the old giard of Star Trek. Some appallingly cheesy sections, particularly the scene on board a sailing ship - they could've cut that out and reduced the length of the film by about 15 minutes, which would've gone some way to making it less overlong.

Like a cross between the Dark Knight and Phantom of the Opera with loads of black humour thrown in, with effects reminiscent of Hitchcock's Spellbound.

With a few laughs on the way. The move of Tintin from 2D to 3D is a little jarring.

Only thing questionable is Andy Serkis's Scots accent - what has Hollywood got against casting Scots actors as Scots?

The scriptwriter deserves special mention for whittling down a lengthy, detailed novel to an eminently watchable film.

Edward Fox is superb as the stony Jackal.

Even dismal compared to the original.

Several distinguished actors in this - I hope they got paid a lot as none of them would ever want to be remembered for it.

That was the phrase in my head while I watched it.

Not brilliant but OK. Unfortunately Clunes in this greatly resembles Harry Enfield, so I was never sure I wasn't seeing comedy.

Moody monochrome.

Love the ironic music behind the execution.

Amazing opening sequence to the sounds of Bauhaus, then it's downhill all the way. Style over substance.

Amazing film, as a detective thriller so-so, but what elevates it is the acting, most notably between the two leads, Poitier and Steiger. There's an understated electricity crackling between them throughout the film (ham actors would've overplayed their roles). The supporting actors are absolutely fine, too.

Competent but overly long. Much of Mann;'s style but otherwise unexceptional.

To some extent you have to be a middle-aged Englishman to truly understand this film. A starchy Englishman gets involved with laid-back Greeks, particularly Zorba, who's even more laid-back. Outstanding acting. That Rex Harrison got an Oscar for My Fair Lady rather than Anthony Quinn for his role as Zorba is one of the greatest travesties in film.

The final scene, "I say, Zorba, would you teach me how to dance?", is one of the most marvelous in the whole history of cinema.

I found the 1st Iron Man film great, the 2nd a bit disappointing but this one tedious. The main problem, I think, is its lack of any idea of pacing. Instead it has sci-fi style action followed by a scene that attempts to outdo its predecessor. The net effect is just a whole load of action scenes strung together with the vaguest semblance of a plot.