Reviews

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a fantastic performance once again singling him out as the brightest hope in his generation. If you were wondering where the real movie stars have all gone, this guy is up there with the greats.

Nightcrawler is a dark and brilliantly made film which perfectly satirizes American culture and society. Through the flawless creation of a monster: Lou Bloom - a relentless and dangerous sociopath - we are taken on a breathless journey into the madness of capitalist society's worst characteristics brought to life.

This work is an heir to 'Taxi Driver' but is a better film in many ways. They both share the conceit of following a mentally and socially dysfunctional central character, who literally drives his way through the darker side of American urban life.

I was reminded of Kirk Douglas's character in 'The Bad and The Beautiful' and the evil which drives some people under the guise of ambition.

This film is about voyeurism in many ways, but also simply about evil and how it can seep into people's lives without them expecting it until it is too late.

From a technical point of view Nightcrawler is outrageously good, surely in time its true worth will be acknowledged, neither a small indie art-movie nor a big-budget action film, this is undoubtedly one of the best films to ever come out of Hollywood.

John Wick is a triumphant return to action cinema for Keanu Reeves. I won't say any more than this or mention the other films in his career but I saw it this morning and had a great time. Reeves is brilliant in this film, which is about an infamous retired hit-man (one-man killing machine) who plunges back into the underworld in the pursuit of revenge. If you've seen the trailer the story is as simple as it appears: a pretext is to give Keanu the opportunity to be entertaining-as-hell as a gun-wielding bone-crunching badass. Luckily the magic works and a cheesy, tongue-in-cheek, actioner becomes a breathless explosion of Russian-hit men and mobsters. Yes, Russians are back on the menu. Why is this entertaining? Because it's Keanu, and he's back. No offense to Arnold but we all know who's cooler. The movie is superficial adrenaline-fueled fun and has the style and skill to keep you involved in the mayhem. Personally, I thought that there was just the right amount of everything. It doesn't avoid cheesiness but it doesn't matter when you're here to have fun. I'd like to make the point that the Russians portrayed in this film are purely fictional representations of mafia-members and I hold a deep respect for the dignity and integrity of the true Russian people.

Sofia Coppola's best film to date. A brilliantly judged film which deftly balances satire and kindness. What comes across is a form of sadness and nostalgia, ironically the world of fashion and celebrity ages the fastest; the five minutes of fame becomes five seconds of notoriety. The actors are brilliant, the choice of shots inspired. I particularly enjoyed the long shot of the robbery, reminded me of Gun Crazy where the camera stays in the car for the bank job. Emma Watson is excellent as ever and Leslie Mann hilarious as a clueless new-age mom. The story is a crime spree with a twist, the true-life crooks were stealing celebrity designer clothes and 'bling'. What is great is that these teenage outlaws are following their obsession to its natural conclusion, it's like a dream, like when the limits have been removed, like being a naughty kid, there is a true thrill and pathos here. I really enjoyed the ride and stepped into a different and surreal world.

Naomi Watts is incredible in Diana. The cast is perfect, the story wonderfully told, in every way this is a superior film.

The time frame is from Diana's BBC interview telling her side of her breakup with Charles to her tragic death.

What is portrayed with sensitivity and brilliance is her love story with a heart surgeon and her struggle to assert herself in the tangled plot which her public life was.

She is portrayed as an independent-minded and sympathetic person who tried to transcend her unique circumstances of fame and public scrutiny.

We discover a sensitive and fragile human being with incredible natural strength and bravery, in the context of a biopic this is rewarding to anybody truly interested in a good well-told story.

Highly recommended. Please try to ignore the rubbish printed to defame this film, one of the year's best. http://www.IMDb.com/Copyright#posting

Prisoners is a thriller which achieves a rare level of intensity and resonance thanks to the director's ability to invest the story with authenticity, emotion and originality. Compared with, say, 'The Silence of the Lambs' this slow-paced (a compliment, as the usual hyperactive pacing of Hollywood is almost a sickness) bleak mainstream film is hands down a better movie, making Demme's seem trivial, in hindsight. What I loved about Prisoners is the way that it was all about the story and the characters; the visual style was invisible and never imposed itself on the viewer. It was wonderfully directed in a manner that recalled classics by Nicolas Ray(They Live By Night), William Wyler(Desperate Hours), Billy Wilder(Double Indemnity) or John Ford (The Searchers). You could just walk into this terrifying film and feel the emotions portrayed flawlessly by the cast. The best example being perhaps Maria Bello who is my choice for best supporting actress this year with special mention going to Gyllenhaal whose idiosyncratic performance is at the heart of this film; his effortless charisma and skill place him among the very best, he is also a natural audience favorite capable of earning a very high level of empathy for his work.

The Butler looks at the civil-rights movement from the point of view of ordinary African-American people. The genius of this film is the choice of a white house servant and his life as a focal point to the historical events portrayed.

The drama is both absorbing and emotionally rich. What is surprising is the way that sympathy for Whitaker's central character, Cecil Gaines, is so strong that the events, though sprawling, always resonate as intricate pieces of his life; because of this anchor, the film remains intimate and personal, even when the fate of an entire nation is involved.

Each actor excels here, the reason for this is that they, while obviously being highly talented individuals, are led by a commanding director who knows exactly what he's saying at all times, while keeping all the complexity of his subject matter.

You could say this is an African-American Forrest Gump: the story of an everyman whose fate collides repeatedly with historical figures and events, but The Butler is far more mature and subtle work which, beyond race, questions our roles as men and women in our daily lives. It questions and explores moral responsibility and how from generation to generation we can all search for what is the right moral conduct in the face of opposition, oppression and evil. It also shows how we can make a profound difference in life through dedication, integrity and love.

Soderbergh is a genius; the skill shown in this film is pure magic. Any director in the world can watch this and learn. The actors are given the gift of a camera which moves invisibly close to the emotions expressed while never imposing.

As a director of photography and camera operator Soderbergh occupies a rare position as an artist with complete control of his images. This vision is entirely focused on opening the viewers eyes onto the world he conjures up.

Michael Douglas gives his best performance here, no mean feat, he seems to be wonderfully liberated from his usual persona (pretty obviously, as a gay character, but also in the emotional register) he makes the gift of a part wonderfully deep and moving.

Damon is fearless and captivating as the toyboy, brilliant acting.

This is a masterful film, behind the homosexual subject matter, which is potentially marginalizing for some, a classic love story, a transcendent work of art.

What is wrong with critics? I read the usual critics online for this film and was put off seeing it despite the fact that I was a fan of Kim Jee-Woon and many of the cast; Arnold was hopeless in it, apparently and the film was a mess.

The truth is that this is the American film you could hope for from Kim Jee-Woon the most exciting filmmaker in the world today.

How is it possible that in a robust violent action thriller you actually care about the characters, not just the main characters even the nameless guards and cops?

When Arnold holds a dying character as though he were his own son or Jamie Alexander is scared of being shot you feel actual emotion, these moments almost have to be clichés devoid of sincerity by definition and yet they transcend our expectations. Noriega's drug baron is another example, without actually hamming it up he brings vitality and spontaneity to a stock villain. Forrest Whittaker is equally disarming in another stock character playing the out-witted FBI agent.

If Arnold's magnificent performance wasn't enough - John Wayne would have been less good in this role less profoundly human and down-to-earth - there is the fact that the film is shot like a dream!

I cannot emphasize enough how this was a truly brilliant experience, what more can you ask for?

Redford is in fine form as a director and also as an actor in this old- fashioned yet infinitely relevant film.

What drives this film is its emotional depth rather than the manic pacing of more pulpy entertainment. The impatience of the modern audience means that a rich and extremely good film is hard to sell. In fact, the internal generational dialogue between Redford and LeBeouf's reporter shows acute awareness of the divide between the idealism of the 60's and today's flippancy.

Probably the fault - other than being a bit teachy - in terms of impressing itself on the average modern viewer, is in the inclusiveness of Redford's art, there is no jumping up and down and saying 'look at my film, it's arty and cool!' only classical film-making focusing on the actors and the story at all times. It is also a political movie, 'Zero Dark Thirty' is always going to be pushed forward ahead of this liberal- minded and reflective movie.

At the end of the day this film has soul and the enjoyment it brings will shine on when the flash of many modern thrillers has long faded.

If you like those kind of Sunday afternoon movies that glow warmly and treat you well, this is for you.

Knowing Philly and having lived there I got an immediate satisfaction from the familiar atmosphere and settings, right down to De Niro's character planning on opening a cheese-steak restaurant!

Aside from this personal note, I loved Silver Linings Playbook, it seems very much a companion piece to The Fighter in structure and tone (if you can look beyond the difference in genre: sport movie and romantic comedy/musical comedy).

It's funny, upsetting, honest and romantic. The actors are adorable, the whole story takes you in and has you rooting for the characters in a very down-to-earth way.

We are all vulnerable little beings with breakable hearts and this is one from the heart. Thank you for the contagious optimism and hope to everyone who made this film.

The Tarantino film promised to the world since Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction first caused such a commotion all those years back has arrived.

What defines the cinema of Quentin Tarantino, strangely enough, is not - for me, anyway - not so much what goes on on screen, as the feeling you get walking out at the end; you walk tall, you have diamonds on the soles of your shoes, you feel euphoric.

This is fun, this is populist, this is a cartoon, this is where a shootout is a Jackson Pollock painted red, this is history, this is fantasy.

Django's wife 'princess' Brumhilda (played by Kerry Washington) has her hair up on the sides of her head like Princess Leia in Star Wars; do you remember the thrill of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo disguising themselves as Storm Troopers ("Aren't you a little short for a Storm Trooper?") and braving the danger of a whole Death Star full of mortal enemies to save the conceited royal damsel in distress? The fantastic moment where Luke gets to say "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!"

Django is all about the suspense inherent in a dangerous rescue mission, Leonardo DiCaprio plays our Darth Vader here, a truly frightening slave plantation owner and sadist in a brilliant turn.

Han Solo was a bounty hunter and Luke a young knight looking for a quest, this is also a film about a bounty hunter and a knight with a quest: Django's quest is to rescue his wife.

In fact, you could say that by focusing the film on chivalry the bag of loot or treasure becomes the damsel (his true love) in distress and our hero can be purified by his violent actions motivated by love rather than damned by violent actions motivated purely by greed.

Beneath the swagger Tarantino's narratives are grounded in a fervently moral universe where the evil that men do is, if not punished, condemned.

Tarantino's own cameo is one of the funniest I've ever seen - this is mostly because of the explosive punchline - although it is also an amusing Australian accent!

Righteous anger, the basic urge to destroy and revolt against injustice.

This is a beautifully made film, well-structured, suspenseful, funny, inventive, the world created is seamless, the acting rich, the photography glorious, and the violence is sickening and brutal but justified.

Hope Springs is a fantastic film.

Last year had a lot of exceptional films and this was one of the very best.

To put it in perspective, I'll say that I am not of the target demographic and that I also saw Marley and Me, a masterpiece worthy of Capra, cunningly disguised as a Jennifer Aniston rom-com with a dog in it, which prepared me in some way for an exceptional piece of work.

Although Carrell and Streep are at their best, Tommy Lee Jones is in a state of grace for this film. He is brilliant, funny, fiercely believable. If you know him as an actor it's obvious that he is capable of effortless brilliance; as in The Fugitive where he stole the movie without having a great deal to do. Here he finally gets his teeth into a subtle and substantial lead which asks him to give it his all. He delivers an Oscar worthy performance (that means 'exceptional' not 'his character goes through hell and is either disabled or a historical figure').

In fact Hope Springs is a mind-blowing life-altering kind of film, the subject matter is plain as a daytime talk show what sets it apart is the delivery of the simple story, the care and attention and sensitivity afforded the characters everyday lives and feelings.

Thrilling work.

Carlos Sorin is a name that will get me into the cinema, simple as that. Fa tih Akin and Pablo Trapero are two other directors that have the same effect.

This new movie is in the same vein as Broken Flowers and The Straight Story, I would rate this even higher than those two excellent films. The brilliance is in Sorin's eye for detail and his sensitivity to life and all its subtle under-currents (excuse the slight fishing metaphor, this is not a specialist fishing movie).

There is a continuation of Sorin's earlier fascination with Bergman's Wild Strawberries in the subtle dream references and the general plot, but this is a grounded and simple story with wonderful pathos and charming naturalistic humor, nothing pretentious or self-important here.

Who wants to see a movie about an aging guy going fishing in Patagonia and visiting his estranged daughter? If you've read this review then I hope you do now.

The feeling evoked in the corny but moving Dead Poets Society is also present in Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson's best film to date. It's a nostalgia and also a deeply felt rebellion against sadness, in favor of the individual.

The subtle work here is tempered by flippant deadpan humor and hint of fantasy in the events portrayed. It's the way you remember the crazy ideas you had as a kid and the ruthless pursuit of your plans, weird and dangerous plans, but a matter of life and death to you at the time; like the need for something, however small, when you're drunk; the uninhibited desire or obsession that spirals out of control.

Two weird young kids elope. That's the story. Again, as in The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore there's more than a wink towards Salinger's heroes.

The whole film is a delight. It's funny moving and divine. Anderson has got to what he was trying to express and nailed it here.

Bruce Willis and Edward Norton are particularly brilliant. This is really a fairy tale in essence. A fairy tale for weird awkward quirky kids.

My favorite part is how, in a year full of superhero movies, Suzy's binoculars become the most moving superpower on film: the downbeat confession is priceless.

See this film if you haven't yet, it's a gem.

Life of Pi is ultimately a flawed film because the writing fails to involve the viewer enough in the story.

It is a very enjoyable film but fails to be great. The reasons are related to the story and, since I prefer not to discuss specifics, I'll just say that the decisions made in presenting this story are awkward and lack the brilliance and daring required to make the viewer believe in and truly root for the central character (let alone believe in God). The over-reliance on visual style and beautiful photography means that, however hard everyone tries, the film grabs your attention but can't win your heart.

The technical skill on display is brilliant, don't get me wrong, this is a good moment at the movies, just that, in the end, it rests on the surface of things much like the raft Pi himself floats on.

There was possibly a beautiful love story or a brilliant fable somewhere to be polished enough until it shone through (Shyamalan would have brought it out for sure, shame he dropped out...) the skill would have been in finding the madness and the bravery in faith and giving the whole thing a profound meaning.

The tiger is very cool... but it's still not quite enough. You can almost hear the Hollywood execs' pencils scribbling equations like: 'Titanic' meets 'I Bought a Zoo' meets 'Slumdog Millionaire' oh yeah and throw in some 'The Usual Suspects' for a adapted screenplay Oscar bid, oh yeah, and it's from a critically acclaimed bestseller, yippee! Add it all together and throw in some 3D and fluorescent glowing nature scenes to remind everyone of Avatar! 20th Century Fox have created a prestigious blockbuster fry-up screw story or character, or actually making a good film, that's why I hate those business school grads and their Venn diagrams and powerpoints!(sorry for the rant)If only those jerks died out and got replaced by real people we'd have even more good films to watch, oh yeah, and we'd need less advertizing, lobbying, brainwashing, propaganda... A miracle, then. We'd better all start believing in God, quick!

Life of Pi, in conclusion, is not so great after all; that's why everybody is off to see The Hobbit!

Virgine Efira is a class-act. If Hollywood is looking an actress who has the complete package they need look no further. She is funny quick and gorgeous; a distinctive personality and screen presence. I've seen her steal another movie effortlessly 'Mon Pire Cauchmar' by Anne Fontaine in a small throw-away role up against seasoned pros. She's a much better bet for the money than more high-profile European actresses such as Audrey Tautou (no offense, she is a great actress but less well- suited to mainstream cinema).

This is an excellent high-concept romantic comedy which works. The two leads have great chemistry and carry-off a film which could have struggled with forced gags. It is a distinctly commercial and classical film which relishes the Hollywood style of comedy.

Laugh-out-loud comedies are rare and French cinema struggles often with its fear of being like American cinema and seeming dumb, this contempt for popular American cinema leads them nowhere fast and we have to sit through a lot of boring pretentious stuff, which is trying too hard to be either better or just different to Hollywood. The bottom line is that 'funny is money' as a Hollywood shark once explained to me, this is funny: enjoy!

Wreck it Ralph is self-consciously retro (Ralph even says so himself). In a year where animated films come into their own, this is a particularly brilliant entertainment.

The animation is delightful, the jokes are funny and smart, the characters brilliant, the story soars.

I was reminded of another retro Disney film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' which wasn't really for kids, in fact I don't really know who it was for... In comparison this gets it all right; it's cute smart funny moving: fabulous. Sugar Rush is so brilliantly delicious that I just felt like living there, the observations and the details throughout the film are priceless.

You'd think that maybe you'd be encouraged to dislike Ralph's nemesis Fix it Felix Jnr. - the good guy - but instead he almost steals the show! Great work with the script and voice-actors whose work shines through here.

John Lasseter proves again that he is even better at knocking Disney projects out of the park, than with his sometimes more strange and awkward projects at Pixar. Bravo!

'Om Shanti Om' is, simply, one of the best films ever made.

'Singing in the Rain' is the closest reference cinematically and thematically, both films are about the inside of the movie business Hollywood and Bollywood respectively. Baz Lurhman was going for the same kind of thing with 'Moulin Rouge' and - despite hyper-active trickery and bombast - managed to express romance, art and music pretty well, though not as well as is done here.

'Om Shanti Om' manages to combine drama, high emotion, nostalgia, fantasy, romance and self-referential humor to perfection.

Simply told, this is a film about fans. What it is to love an idol on the big screen and the unbreakable fantasy of stepping up onto the big screen. This is also a metaphor for love and the film is also, suitably, wildly romantic.

Anyone who truly loves cinema intelligently will adore this film. Shah Rukh Khan is on his own today, with perhaps Denzel Washington, as a leading man with infinite appeal and effortless charm, intelligence, humor and presence; a movie star at home with the all-time greats.

Deepika Padukone is both a stunning beauty and a complete actress, incredibly, managing to match her brilliant co-star in comedic and dramatic range.

Farah Khan is a director of extraordinary technical and artistic skill and the vision she exerts in Om Shanti Om is breath-taking.

Leave your preconceptions about Bollywood aside and embrace a true classic.

Dany Boon is a genius.

This is a great romantic comedy, the framing device is brilliant and surprising, the narration spotless, the acting first-rate, the comedy: funny!

The success is that while drawing from the finest of comedies in cinema history : Capra (It Happened One Night) Lubitsch (Ninotchka) Sturges (The Lady Eve) Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle) this brings new breath to a well-worn genre.

An example off the top of my head is the way in which Diane Kruger struggles to seduce Boon and the dose of pragmatic realism she brings to this difficult task, which makes her all the more sympathetic and funny. She is miles away from Claudette Colbert in The Palm Beach Story, who so easily puts her adventuress plans into action, almost purring with pleasure.

Yes, this film is French but you can still enjoy it even if sound comes out of the actors mouths when they speak and it isn't English but French, I promise you it is a million miles from stereotypical French cinema, this deserves an international audience! (got that off my chest)

This is entertainment, get it while it's hot! (no there isn't any explicit sex in it and no existentialism either, a truly different French film)

From its first moments The Rise of The Guardians is clearly something special. The birth of a super-hero is exquisitely rendered; Jack Frost's introduction is a truly poignant moment.

This animated feature begins brilliantly and then struggles a little in trying to keep the younger audience members hooked while establishing its characters and story. In the first half there are times when the pace is somewhat frenetic although it remains constantly enjoyable, but in the second half it pulls out all the stops to confirm itself as a heartbreakingly wonderful film about faith, hope and friendship.

What sets Guardians apart from other movies of its genre is the depth and originality present in the story-telling and characters. The emotions are tender and everything seems personal and real; close to the bone and human.

Watching Guardians you realize how even the best family entertainment relies on manipulative and predictable story-telling. Guardians is a breath of fresh air, you can watch with fresh eyes like a child unpolluted by expected dramatic cues sign-posted as they arrive. It is also often like going on a roller-coaster ride, visually the 3D is used to best effect without feeling like a gimmick. The shots supervised by the great Roger Deakins are out of this world. Music by Alexandre Desplat, brilliant as ever. The animation state-of-the-art, serving the story perfectly.

A great movie which pays off marvelously. (grown men will cry, I did!)

The Impossible exists for all the untold stories.

It is a horror film. What is brilliant is that it frees the horror film of its chains by confronting real-life horror.

People are jaded by constant exposure to shocking images on television, the horror is safely held on a small screen and even the most empathetic and sensitive soul becomes disconnected from what they are watching, that person, those people, far away, not me...

The Impossible brings humanity and genius - the director, writer, actors - to a subject it seemed 'impossible' to elevate above the expected melodrama, emotional detachment and voyeurism.

Tracy Chapman sang 'All that you have is your soul', that sums up this film; a work of the soul, bared, stripped and beautiful.

When the bottom drops out of your life we are reminded that empathy, human kindness and love are pure and miraculous, and worth celebrating.

When I was a child I remember playing out in my garden, on my own because the best fantasies are when we are solitary, I would imagine I was in a shootout or crawling through a blizzard something out of a western or Star Wars.

Argo is an excellent film. What about the politics? The message here is that America should get out of Iran in a hurry, this applies to the current political climate although it is set safely enough in the past. Otherwise the opening explanatory sequence which denounces American interference for the sake of oil is balanced by a condescending(racist) approach to Iranian fanaticism, the politics are half-baked and balanced to please as many people as possible but ultimately glorify America, a child's fantasy to please the paternal nation and the President and those good-at-heart fellows at the CIA. What's wrong with this? Nothing really, the intentions seem good enough and Argo is an excellent film...

Argo brings to mind Super 8 by J.J. Abrams. Both films are about movie-making that acts as a vehicle to bravery and heroic actions in the real world to save people (Americans).

If a patriot makes a work of art which is an expression of their beliefs and prejudices is that propaganda? Is Argo as innocent and childlike as it appears to be? Americans love playing dumb, it allows them to keep their cards to their chest and remain under-estimated, a secret to their success because if your enemies regard you with contempt they are liable to slip up on their own superiority complex. Get out of Iran is a good message though, leave other nations and their oil alone is a good idea, not invading people is an honorable proposition.

In Dog Day Afternoon Al Pacino is trapped in the bank he has robbed for a sex change operation for his lover, the audience is breathlessly dragged through his ordeal and its oppressive atmosphere of suspense and tragedy, in Midnight Express Brad Davis is caught in Turkey trying to smuggle hashish back home, his nightmarish imprisonment is a harrowing succession of miseries that make Romero's zombie films seem like a day at Disneyland. The seventies and early eighties were a time for movies which threw us into nightmare situations with an alarming intensity. The danger infused in these films was rooted in the cold-war era, where the instability of the political world was keenly felt by the post-war generation of filmmakers who had seen the horrors of Vietnam rise up in front of their eyes and create a cultural revolution.

Ben Affleck takes the central role in his well-made, involving and highly suspenseful drama. He gives himself a very good part and acts extremely well in it. This is a vanity project of the kind that Warren Beatty and Robert Redford have made in the seventies; low-key acting and serious dramatic subjects. Despite his skill and poise I felt that Chris Messina in a smaller role threatened to steal the show, maybe all this false modesty has a limit and if you keep underplaying for long enough the audience will want something more substantial. An ego trip is a personal affair in the end it pleases you more than anyone else.

The film-making here is excellent - although, however accurately copied, at the beginning the 'seventies' visual tics (framing the actor way off to one side and then the other way round) are a little distracting - the acting is wonderful, the script full of energy and good lines, the music sensitively composed, the editing is particularly good; especially the montage sequence cutting between the preparation of the fake movie and the real events taking place in Iran.

At heart the theme of popular art being a vehicle to saving lives is both the subject of the film and its purpose. Through the drama played out the audience is sensitized to the dangers of profiteering foreign policy and warned against the arrogance of the colonial spirit by spending two hours in virtual house-arrest. Above all at the end we all just want to get home safely and stay home if we can.

Have you ever dreamed that you were trying to catch a plane and that you couldn't manage and the whole thing turned into a nightmare of suspense and tension? Welcome to Argo Airlines!

Compared to Dog Day Afternoon or Midnight Express Argo is a sort of regressive child-like fantasy where we can escape the worst if we put our faith in the good hands of benign Hollywood producers, make-up men and earnest CIA guys who love their sons and country in equal measure.

Music can change your life.

Everyone has experienced this at one time or other and this is the heart of Pure.

In this edgy immensely engaging drama a working-class girl with a borderline personality finds her life's passion in classical music.

The story is not what you could call enticing however the film is a triumph. Next to more prestigious and lauded films, such as Black Swan and Fish Tank, Pure is hands down the easy winner in terms of acting, directing and all round film-making. Alicia Vikander is now breaking out internationally as an actress in Anna Karenina and Royal Affair but once you see this film it is no surprise, she is heart-breaking and awesome in this.

I actually applauded in the screening I saw, this was during the film because of a plot twist and reflected the quality of the film and the brilliance of the script.

Catch this underrated gem as soon as you get the chance. Ken Loach should be worried, there's a new kid on the block and her name is Lisa Langseth.

Blackthorn is one of those films. The kind that you discover and fall in love with. It exists and this is already a miracle.

Between The Good, The Bad, The Weird and Walter Salles is Blackthorn. The meditative beauty, poetic narration and sublime photography of Salles and something of the supercool bravura of Kim Jee Woon's masterpiece.

Everything pays off here: the unexpected flashbacks which actually work dramatically and interact with the central story, the performance of Shephard which is Oscar worthy - this sounds like a cliché but he is really wonderful in this film and deserves recognition for his brilliant work - Eduardo Noriega is also back to being the resolutely appealing actor able to make you feel for him even when his character is unsympathetic, which he proved in the classic Abre Los Ojos.

Blackthorn is a sad film which tells the story of an aging outlaw's attempt to make up for the things he regrets as he's nears the end of his life. It is exciting, beautiful, sensitive and true. See it if you can and be glad you did.

What do we expect from a Bond film? Above all, we expect the self-satisfied aura of invincibility the titular character exudes and a parade of dazzling consumable goods (women included). Generally speaking Bond films are bad even when they are good; stale.

Since Daniel Craig took the role the general idea seemed to be dragging the franchise and its hero into a brave new world, with Skyfall they succeed third time lucky (Casino Royale was in many ways excellent but dragging too much baggage from the past it narratively veered from episodic melodrama to gratuitous sadism not knowing quite what it was doing in the end)

What makes Skyfall different? The boldness of the narrative vision, the dramatic presence of Craig, the balance between humor and pathos, the brilliant cinematography, the weight of the cast... In all areas Skyfall is a departure from our expectations while still remaining the story of James Bond: a daring British spy pitted against a master criminal with action, romance, drama and humor; all the expected ingredients are present, except the staleness which is replaced with true excitement, a welcome sense of danger, and suspense.

The director Sam Mendes deserves special mention for his versatility which helps the whole film gel and gives us a classic film which is bound to finish as one of the biggest blockbusters of the year.

The Avengers gave a similar buzz of fresh popular cinema earlier this year and exceeded expectations, even for a much-hyped super-production, I think this will be a definite turning point for the Bond franchise.