Reviews

Balanced between the past and the present, The Note Book tells the story of Noah Calhoun, who while at an amusement park, spots the girl of his dreams. After risking his life to ask her out (by hanging off a ride), the two fall madly in love. But disapproving parents, love rivals and a world war, all help make their love live as much a roller coaster as the amusement park they met in. Playing the loved up couple are Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, who help bring to the story the passion and worry that seems to fill the script. However some scenes feel so sickly sweet that diabetics should think twice, as director Nick Cassavetes goes for broke while trying to convince us of their love. Anchoring the film to the present day is James Garner and Gena Rowlands, as an old couple reading the story that unfolds. Garner is more Rocking Chair that Rockford File, and his scenes with Rowlands leads to a climax that even the most unobservant viewer would have guessed on page 1. However the film will please many who like reaching for a tissue, but for those who don't, this may be one notebook with pages not worth turning

Horror films today have largely become lampoons of what was once a respected genre. Films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer turned the familiar traits of a horror film to comic effect, but in the long run made too much light of a dark genre. Director Takashi Shimizu made "The Grudge" in 2003 but like an artist, has stripped the canvas bare and remade his masterpiece with incredible results. The Grudge quite simply is a deeply unsettling journey into a world of evil spirits which seeps into your subconscious long after the film has finished. Ever since Nosferatu in 1922 (a film that had it's prints and negatives burned on release, although some copies survived), cinema audiences have enjoyed being scared, an adrenalin rush being as much a part of a cinematic event as the popcorn on your lap. Now The Grudge can count itself amongst the true horror classics, stripped of any light relief and making fun of nothing, least of all itself. The plot of The Grudge takes place in Japan where American couple Karen and her boyfriend are living. Karen is a nurse and visits a house where a woman resides, almost in a comatose condition. Karen then hears a noise upstairs. When she goes up to investigate she comes face to face with a horror that soon terrorises anybody who comes into contact with the house. Passing like a virus, a curse stems from a violent act of horror that occurred in the house many years before. Karen must now try and stop the curse once and for all, but can she? Played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Karen is a well written character never over played or lost in fiction. The fact that she is a stranger in a foreign land gives her a fish out of water mentality helping the western audience identify with her. The horror is placed with expert precision and sounds such as a monstrous noise from a mobile phone is enough to make Robert Shaw's scrapping of his fingernails down the blackboard in Jaws seem like a walk in the park. The act of having a famous actor die early on in the film (played by Bill Pullman) is a trick that Hitchcock used to great effect, when Janet Leigh took a shower at the Bates Motel, the result being a death that sent the audience's emotions into a tailspin in which their heart rates never recovered. Indeed Hitchcock would have been very proud of the Grudge which manages to play on its audience's nerves without ever getting on them. A film that will haunt you for as long as you remember it, The Grudge is a film that makes you realise that although there most likely isn't a monster under your bed, it's probably best to check

Not a lot of people know this, but Terence Stamp first played the role of Alfie on stage over thirty years ago. He was then offered the film role, but turned it down. His flatmate, a struggling up and coming actor, tried to convince him to take the part, but Terence was not budging. And so his flatmate took the role. His name, was Michael Caine, and that film, Alfie, spring boarded the young actor to be the most famous cockney in the world. Of all Caine's films this ranks alongside Get Carter and The Italian Job as his best, and so why re-make it I hear you cry! Hollywood had a go at remaking The Italian Job and Get Carter but only came out with turkeys so big you couldn't fit them in your oven. But instead of remaking a Michael Caine film that wasn't good (THE SWARM, BLAME IT ON RIO!) Caine's golden classic Alfie has had the makeover, with pretty boy Jude Law bought in to ask what it's all about. Well for those who don't know what it's all about, Alfie's world is women, pulling them and dumping them. Sounds a little cold, but that is Alfie, a bird puller extraordinaire who lives for the conquests, but soon bores of them whenever commitment rears it's ugly head. Of course Alfie has to be bought down a peg or two, and this happens as a result of another conquest, which has further reaching consequences than Alfie can realize. But should Alfie have been dusted down for the 2004 audience? Well the answer is no. But why? Well, to analyse this we have to go back to the beginning and what Alfie was in Caine's day. Alfie was a man about town stuck in the poor end of London, sleeping his way through a never ending supply of 'birds' while fighting his working class shackles. Back then women were not the powerful sex they are today, at least not on the cinema screen, and were happy to get Alfie's dinner and scrub his floors. Now lets look at Jude Laws Alfie, living in present day New York, and sleeping with a seemingly never ending amount of stunners, who all seem to be getting as much out of him as he gets out of them. And so what's he got to fight against? Not his surroundings (he's in glamorous Manhattan) and his job isn't that bad (still a driver, but look at the perks), and he even likes the kid of one of his girlfriends. And so he's a nice guy, and there is problem 1, bang goes Alfie's cold side. And so what we are left with is a man who lives in New York and finds it hard to commit. Hardly a rare phenomenon. Problem number 2 is the original Alfie movie's use of the shock factor. Denholm Elliott turning up to do a back street abortion was enough to make some walk out the cinema in 1966. In this film the subject of abortion, although delicately handled, has lost it's cinematic impact, which is no doubt due to the three decades that has passed between films. And so we come to problem number 3, the films flaw being that the Alfie of today is simply not as relevant to the Alfie of yesterday. Today we have 'Sex and the City', empowered women, whom one can't help but feel would eat Alfie up alive. Indeed, the film would be more realistic if the lead was a female, although that would send traditionalists (like myself) running up the nearest tree. The makers of this re-make obviously think that illnesses has to be stepped up, and so while Caine's Alfie was given shadows on his lung to make him give pause, Law's Alfie gets a lump on his…erm…'Big Ben' (I hope to God that's not the new word for it) But what about performances? Well, Law as Alfie is fine, giving emotion where its needed, although his performance does not bounce along like Caines did. When Caine spoke to the camera, immediately breaking the fourth wall and bonding with the audience, it was the height of cool, when Law does the same it feels cheesy, and like cheese, it soon starts to grate. Susan Sarandon, as the sexy older woman, certainly fulfils her characters description, while Sienna Miller gives a promising portrayal as a young women who looks like a young Marianne Faithful (circa 1965) minus her Rolling Stone. And so the blame for the films failure cannot be left at its actors doors, nor its director. The film is simply a victim of its time. Alfie belongs in the sixties, when the world (or London at least) was swinging. Right now the only thing swinging is the cinema doors, and that's because I've just left.

When Bridget Jones opened her diary to the world, the result was a comedy classic, heralding a new heroine for every woman who was fat, thought she was fat, or was both. Any woman who lacked confidence in love also found in Bridget a saviour, and throwing in Colin Firth and Hugh Grant into the mix didn't hurt the box office either. And so, in the true tradition of a money making film, Bridget Jones 2 had to be made, and you get the feeling, if she didn't compose a new diary, the film makers would write one for her. The time is 6 weeks on, Bridget is with her dream man, Mark Darcy, whom she proudly tells everyone 'Is a human rights lawyer you know' Bridget herself is a now a roving reporter, jumping out of planes, and jumping to conclusions with the same crashing result. Loved up to the max, the only cloud is her inability to fit in with Darcy's ultra conservative crowd, a bunch of uptight lawyers with whom she is hopelessly out of depth. If that is not enough, Bridget is convinced Darcy is having an affair, and her suspicions lead her to splitting with him and falling back into the sights of Daniel, her former lover who is now a television reporter with whom she is now teamed. But will Bridget get back with Darcy, or shall Daniel have his wicked way? What works for the film is the mirrored casting which follows the previous film and wisely playing it safe, avoiding introducing too many new characters that could throw the film off balance. However, the films tendency to play safe does cause it to feel like a re-run of the first film, with Bridget's bottom, fights between Daniel and Darcy and a certain pair of large knickers making you feel like Bridget has not written a new diary but simply re-written the last one. The films emphasis on physical comedy is also too heavily drawn upon, with free falling from a plane and skiing down a mountain a sign of desperation by the writers to fill up a blank page where a witty script should instead reside. However Zellweger is once more on top as Bridget, giving her a lovability that could easily wear thin in the hands of another actress. Firth as Darcy is on good form, although if his character was anymore dull, one wonders just how long Bridget would stay. The most winning performance is by Hugh Grant, back once again as the skirt chasing bounder, now a roving travel reporter with an equally roving eye. Grant plays the role with the same smoothness that made him almost slide of the screen in the first film, and his scenes breathe fresh air into a film that sometimes feels stale. This sequel's worst fault however is its complete reality loss that begins and ends with Bridget and a Thai jail. Every scene there is ludicrous, with Bridget singing Madonna songs with other inmates in a cell that looks like a Thai holiday camp for innocents abroad. You sense the truth is probably a little different, and for the Thai section of Bridget Jones it is one entry in the diary that has to be listed under fiction. Although paling in comparison to the former, Bridget Jones-The Edge of Reason is a date in your diary you'll want to keep.

George Clooney stars as a self-loving whiter than white toothed lawyer who is becoming bored with his never-ending success. A challenge comes in the shapely form of Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta Jones) who wants to marry (or preferably divorce) her way to riches. With Clooney hired to represent her soon to be ex husband, he inevitably falls for the gold diggers charms.

Directed by the Coen brothers, a directorial team who have helmed oddball comedies such as 'Fargo' and 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' this is the team's first branch in to a high profile Hollywood film. Clooney, as the sharp suited lawyer, is excellent. Like Cary Grant or David Niven, Clooney is able to mock himself without compensating his screen appeal. Catherine Zeta Jones as the money hungry Marilyn is as sexy as her character demands from the scripted page. However, despite the quick fire dialogue, Intolerable Cruelty is simply not as funny as it thinks, it's cynical message of love and money taking away the romantic push it needs to place it in the league of the Tracy/Hepburn films the movie aspires to. Clooney's character also suffers from an over enthusiastic plot that later drives his character to attempt to commit a crime that totally contradicts the audiences perception of him. A battle of the sexes comedy that has sex appeal but no romance, Intolerable Cruelty is a film that reaches for the golden age of Hollywood but only touches the bronze.

With Spiderman, The Hulk, and The X Men crowding up the box office, you may not think there is room for another hero. But the superheroes will have to make space, because there's another hero in town, and he may just be better than all of them. But why should the Hulk be green with envy? Because director Guillermo del Toro has put together a film that is an incredible mix of adventure, romance and good old fashioned Satanism topped off with a huge red monster with a fondness for cigars. What more could you want!!! Hellboy begins in 1944 with the Nazis conjuring up evil forces to aid Hitler. However, after a confrontation with Allied Forces, the demon made for world domination falls out of a portal and lands in the arms of a scientist on the side of good. 60 years on, and working for the FBI, the small red horned baby is now a giant red monster. Although regularly saving the world from paranormal invaders Hellboy's very existence is only one of rumour to the average citizen. To keep this up, an FBI agent John (played by Rupert Evans) is drafted in to keep an eye on the horned one, while Hellboy himself keeps an eye on Liz (Selma Blair), a hot young woman who can turn herself on fire by thought alone. But trouble soon begins when evil baddie Rasputin rears his ugly head and makes a deal with dark forces to take over earth. And so it is up to the horny hero himself to step in and save the world. Without doubt one of the greatest transfers from a comic book page to the cinema screen, Hellboy delights in it's brilliant script, explosive story and romantic subplot that never feels strained or out of place. Scenes sparkle and the director of photography relishes the religious imagery that shadows over the films every reel. Tough, funny, with a genuine heart, Ron Perlman, as Hellboy, brings a depth to a role that could easily have been one dimensional. Rupert Evans lends good support as a rookie young agent and David Hyde Pierce is terrific as Abe, the fish man.

Comic book action heroes are sometimes hit and miss, but for this reviewer, Hellboy was heaven sent.

If there is a king of Hollywood then it is a fair bet Tom Cruse would be the man putting in his time on the throne. Sure, there has been times when he has been a little light in his duties (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, THE LAST SAMURAI), but whenever the crown has been in danger of being taken away, our man with the million dollar smile has always pulled a winner out the hat to avoid abdicating his throne. But with so many young pretenders crowding up Toms space, a plan was needed to make sure that no one, least of all George Clooney or Brad Pitt, would try on the crown. And so what better plan was there to dye Cruise's hair grey, ditch the nice guy image and play a contract killer? Grey hair never did Buddhist favourite Richard Gere any harm, and although Scientologist Tom may not be jetting off to Tibet just yet, he has certainly taken the mantle from Gere for the 'coolest grey haired star in Hollywood'. So what is the film about? Well, I'll tell you. A loner cabbie called Max drives around Los Angeles while harbouring a pipe dream of someday running a limo service. His first fare of the night is a young female lawyer who leaves him with more than a tip, i.e., a promise of a date which puts a spring in his step. However his next fare is Vincent, a man who is on a mission, to kill five people in one night. Max doesn't know this until one of Vincent's victims has the bad manners to fall on his cab from a great height. With his job occupation no longer a secret Vincent makes Max drive him to hit after hit while Max himself tries to find away to flee Vincent's grip, as the bodies begin to pile up. Cruise is simply Mr Cool, all grey suit, grey hair with a black and white attitude to life. From the opening shot to the last frame Cruise plays his character to the hilt delivering the most iconic performance of a hit man since John Travolta teamed up with Tarantino for some Pulp Fiction. However, you can't bang the drum for Cruise without giving huge credit to Jamie Foxx who more than holds his own as Max, the put upon cabbie who finds himself being chauffeur to a man who could teach The Grim Reaper a thing or two. Credit also has to go to director Michael Mann's depiction of Los Angeles, shown to be a dark and animalistic place, where the real inhabitants come out at night and the city's true colours are seen. Indeed when two coyotes run in front of Max's cab, there is a sense of there being four animals in the scene, two coyotes looking into the eyes of a killer fox (Vincent), while a deer caught in the headlights (Max) tries his best to cope in the situation. With an excellent script, and skilfully directed , Collateral proves that Tom Cruise is still Top Gun at the box office.

With a great story idea (MONSTERS IN THE WOODS, VILLAGERS DARE NOT GO IN!), a promising central character, (SHE'S BLIND!), and actors such as Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver, it would take a special kind of director to screw it up. Step forward M Night Shyamalan, who amazingly enough, has made a film that has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and put his audience to sleep into the bargain. But how can this be? Admittedly, it still seems hard to believe. Shyamalan is a competent director, who, after the success of The Sixth Sense, had Hollywood, if not at his feet, certainly in that general area . His follow up 'Unbreakable' was a good effort. But his next film 'Signs' was distinctly average and now with 'The Village' his golden touch has certainly worn off. So what is The Village about? The story goes like this, in 'the village', a collection of people all live together with a simple rule, this being to never go into the woods that surround them. For in the woods are 'those we do not speak of', monsters who are attracted by the colour red, hence that colour being covered up in the village whenever it may appear. However one man, Lucius, wants to walk through the woods to get medical supplies. However when he is injured, it is up to his blind fiancé to step into the unknown and risk the wrath of the monsters. Where The Village fails is its cardinal sin that it commits. That is being boring to the viewer. The pace of the film crawls at an unbearably slow count, with no end in sight. This would be acceptable if there was a twist in its plot to compensate for your two hours of seat twitching, but its mild conclusion leaves you with one word on your lips, and it isn't 'classic', it's REFUND! Joaquin Phoenix, an excellent actor, is wasted in the role of Lucius, a man of mercifully few words. Sigourney Weaver is virtually ignored in her role as Alice, and Adrian Brody, as the simple minded Noah, plays perhaps the singly most annoying character EVER! It is left to Bryce Dallas Howard, as the brave blind girl Ivy, to turn in a performance of distinction. But Shyamalan, as director, fails to deliver any real suspense, with his monstrous woods being, well, a walk in the park to the bored viewer. The Village could have been a wonderful film, but it wasn't, and maybe all the critics who thought it was couldn't see this particular wood, for the trees

If you've been climbing the walls waiting for the new Spiderman film, then your wait has been worth it. Without doubt the finest superhero film to ever be put on screen, Spiderman 2 encapsulates every frame from the best comic book/graphic novel you've read and more! Tobey Maguire returns as the love torn Peter Parker, who is caught between his love for Mary Jane Watson and his role as the crime stopping superhero. Parker knows he can never reveal his identity to Mary Jane as his enemies will go after her. And so he has to co-exist in two worlds, in one a masked avenger for good, the other a put upon photographer whose world is one of broken promises and missed opportunities. And so Parker decides to leave the mask and tights for good and try a life without crime solving. But he doesn't reckon on Doctor Octopus, a genius scientist, who after a freak accident is transformed into a super-villain with four metal tentacles coming out of his body. And so the fight is on, as Peter battles the evil of Doctor Octopus while wrestling with his feelings for the girl he loves. Directed by Sam Raimi, Spiderman 2 manages to outdo its predecessor on every level. Not one scene is wasted, not one character feels misplaced. Maguire as Parker/Spiderman gives the role a deeper quality than its creator Stan Lee must have envisioned when he penned the character. Kirsten Dunst, as Mary Jane Watson displays a chemistry with Maguire that makes her scenes full of passion, while Alfred Molino as Doctor Octopus brings the right touch of evil mixed with good that makes such characters so tragic. And JK Simmons as J Jonah Jameson is magnificent as the Spiderman hating newspaper editor whose opinion of the wall crawler changes with every newspaper headline. If you only watch one super hero film in your life, watch this one. A film that brings out the hero in all of us

Yeah Baby, Mike Myers returns as the shagadelic British spy Austin Powers, here taking on the rather aptly named Goldmember, a crazed Dutch disco villain who is so called because…well you figure it out. Before long Dr. Evil, Austin's seemingly regular foe, has escaped from prison, and on top of that, Austin's father is kidnapped, leaving it up to our secret agent to save the day, stopping off in 1975 to pick up Foxxy Cleopatra and groove through time to stop world domination. As usual, the real star of the show is not Austin, but the diabolical Dr Evil, coming out with lines as polished as his bald head. Also Verne Troyer as Mini Me is hilarious, and appears in some of the funniest scenes. The opening moment of the film is a testament to Myers' pulling power in Hollywood, some of it's biggest players coming out to get involved in a party where the hangover can be box office failure. Michael Caine stars as Austin's father, joyfully sending up his Harry Palmer character from the sixties and tying it in with a fast Mini and a wink at the audience. Caine looks comfortable in the role, knowing that he can well afford to appear in such a film, when he already has a mantelpiece full of Oscars. The humour is as basic as usual, the style being to throw as much at the audience and see what sticks, the majority of the gags work, and what doesn't quickly passes. The actual character of Goldmember is not one of Myers' best, but he compensates this with many of his other characters appearing in one scene at the same time, meaning if you're not laughing at one, you're laughing at the other. The DVD has deleted scenes, music videos and commentary

Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier and directed by Nicholas Roeg, Don't Look Now is a master class in suspense and horror, a film bound by a psychological tension that pulls at the viewer within seconds of the opening scene. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play John and Laura Baxter whose young daughter drowns in a freak accident. Devastated by their loss, they travel to Venice in an attempt to forget, but soon meet a clairvoyant who claims to have made contact with the dead girl. As the couple are drawn deeper in, their frantic search for their daughter is signposted by omens of doom and premonitions, leading to a climax that guarantees it a place as one of the greatest British horror films. Sutherland and Christie are excellent in their roles, totally convincing as a couple torn by grief. What separates this film from its rivals is it's sheer originality; the brilliant camera angles that almost make you breathe the characters, and the highly charged (and controversial) sex scene. This could have been like any other, but the directors use of inter-cutting the scene with shots of the couple dressing is as clever as it is original, familiarising the viewer with the couple on a far deeper level. The result is a film as complex and deep as Venice itself, with a catalogue of emotions that leaves it's mark on the viewer's memory.

Hollywood has spent so much money on their latest offering that there probably isn't a sofa in La La Land that hasn't been checked for loose change. With film fans being left with dry mouths since the conclusion of the first film this sequel was as hotly anticipated as the next instalment of a Star Wars movie, only without the annoying Ewoks. The idea of the Matrix is, if you remember, that the world as we know it is just a computer simulation, and our heroes Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus must fight to overthrow the machines that are taking over the earth. Now there is a new battle as the city of Zion, where the remaining enlightened people of earth inhabit, is under threat, and armies of sentinels (don't ask) are burying through the planet with mass destruction being their primary goal. But before you know it, Neo, Trinity and Morpheus mount a defence while fitting in some nifty kung fu fighting that even Bruce Lee would have raised an eyebrow at. Among those fighting Neo and Co is Agent Smith, who plagues Neo like a swarm of wasps at a picnic, the trouble is you never know which one to swot. This is because Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is now one of hundreds, and his fight scenes with Neo provide some of the best moments of the film, as they exchange fists and one-liners with equal relish. However, one does beg the question as to why Neo doesn't simply fly off, as his new ability to fly everywhere would make it easier to avoid getting punched, a risky thing to happen, especially as Neo's sunglasses look particularly pricey. Among all the fighting and soul searching Neo finds time to meet the Oracle who informs him he'll have to find the Source, but for that he'll need the help of the Keymaker, a funny little fellow who reminded me of the character of Penfold caught up in a episode of Danger Mouse (albeit one with a slightly larger budget) And so before long there is more action than you could shake your popcorn at, in particular an incredible fight on a highway with characters jumping from truck to truck in jaw dropping style. And so is this film worthy of all the money and fevered attention? The answer is yes and no. The film works fabulously on the level on which it is being sold, that of an incredible computer game with Keanu Reeves as the main player. Reeves, along with Laurence Fishburne and Carrie Anne Moss are brilliant, as is Hugo Weaving, although their characters are not strongly enough written for you to worry for the hero's safety, the whole MTV feel of the film suggesting it maybe wouldn't be cool to do so. This is a film that has more money spent on it than the national debt but is also one that has no heart (although your own heart will beat so fast that you probably won't notice) And so this is where the film's weakness lies, this being that if you look past it's glittering surface you might just find it rather empty, a film much like the Matrix itself, something that gives the illusion of being one thing while being entirely another.

Quentin Tarantino may have been off the Hollywood radar for six years but the former ‘Reservoir Dog' has shown he's lost none of his bite with a film that is truly a masterpiece of cinema. Proving that you can't define a film by one genre, Tarantino has put together a samurai sword fighting, spaghetti western, part kung fu revenge thriller, which is the work of a director at the top of his game. The story goes like this. Uma Thurman is `The Bride'. A former member of an elite assassination squad, she is viciously gunned down (along with the rest of the wedding party) by her former employers. Awakening after a coma of 4 years, The Bride extracts her revenge, going after each member with `Bill' the boss, at the top of her list. Thurman as `The Bride' is astonishing, her performance maintaining a hardened femininity in the mist of all the violence. Her costume, deliberately reminiscent of Bruce Lee in ‘Game of Death', is iconic, her samurai sword as sharp as her beauty. Tarantino's use of anime to tell the background story of a character is effective, while the black humour that punctuates any grim scene is classic Tarantino, proving he can bring out two emotions from an audience that was only reaching for one. Other performances live up to the last with Daryl Hannah perfect as the seriously short tempered Elle Driver (codename: California Mountain Snake), while Vivica A Fox is a high kicking mean machine whose fight with The Bride is interrupted when her daughter comes home from school. Lucy Liu here is no ‘Charlie's Angel', more ‘Bill's Devil', now a gangland leader who is in the bride's sights for her part in the wedding day massacre. This is a film that has incredible style with substance to match, made by a director who is a film fan's filmmaker and not just a cog in the Hollywood machine. Some critics have attacked the film for it's violence, but this is being blind to its story. Yes it is gory, but it is shown in a cartoon manner, and while most films have stories set in the real world `Kill Bill' is set in the movie world where real time is exchanged for reel time. With a cool seventies soundtrack, and the promise of a Kill Bill volume two to come, Kill Bill is a movie fans dream.

Hollywood has spent so much money on their latest offering that there probably isn't a sofa in La La Land that hasn't been checked for loose change. With film fans being left with dry mouths since the conclusion of the first film this sequel was as hotly anticipated as the next instalment of a Star Wars movie, only without the annoying Ewoks. The idea of the Matrix is, if you remember, that the world as we know it is just a computer simulation, and our heroes Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus must fight to overthrow the machines that are taking over the earth. Now there is a new battle as the city of Zion, where the remaining enlightened people of earth inhabit, is under threat, and armies of sentinels (don't ask) are burying through the planet with mass destruction being their primary goal. But before you know it, Neo, Trinity and Morpheus mount a defence while fitting in some nifty kung fu fighting that even Bruce Lee would have raised an eyebrow at. Among those fighting Neo and Co is Agent Smith, who plagues Neo like a swarm of wasps at a picnic, the trouble is you never know which one to swot. This is because Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is now one of hundreds, and his fight scenes with Neo provide some of the best moments of the film, as they exchange fists and one-liners with equal relish. However, one does beg the question as to why Neo doesn't simply fly off, as his new ability to fly everywhere would make it easier to avoid getting punched, a risky thing to happen, especially as Neo's sunglasses look particularly pricey. Among all the fighting and soul searching Neo finds time to meet the Oracle who informs him he'll have to find the Source, but for that he'll need the help of the Keymaker, a funny little fellow who reminded me of the character of Penfold caught up in a episode of Danger Mouse (albeit one with a slightly larger budget) And so before long there is more action than you could shake your popcorn at, in particular an incredible fight on a highway with characters jumping from truck to truck in jaw dropping style. And so is this film worthy of all the money and fevered attention? The answer is yes and no. The film works fabulously on the level on which it is being sold, that of an incredible computer game with Keanu Reeves as the main player. Reeves, along with Laurence Fishburne and Carrie Anne Moss are brilliant, as is Hugo Weaving, although their characters are not strongly enough written for you to worry for the hero's safety, the whole MTV feel of the film suggesting it maybe wouldn't be cool to do so. This is a film that has more money spent on it than the national debt but is also one that has no heart (although your own heart will beat so fast that you probably won't notice) And so this is where the film's weakness lies, this being that if you look past it's glittering surface you might just find it rather empty, a film much like the Matrix itself, something that gives the illusion of being one thing while being entirely another.

Lets begin straight away with the news that The Return of the King is a triumph. The concluding chapter in a story that has captured the hearts of both film fans and bookworms alike, Peter Jackson's epic third instalment has blown away the competition with the sheer scale of imagination, design and limitless scope. The story continues with Frodo and Sam making their way to Mount Doom, with the devious Gollum guiding them. The fellowship meanwhile, does battle as Sauron makes one final attempt to go to war against Middle Earth. The performances by Elijah Wood as the tasked Frodo and Sean Astin as the loyal Sam are incredible, their characters becoming a central piece of Hollywood history, involved in scenes that will live forever in the minds of film fans the world over. Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf once more rides high, his wise portrayal of the wizard perfectly complementing the talents of Viggo Mortensen as the heroic Aragorn. The special effects breathe life into monsters that are torn from Tolkin's novels, while the music score of Howard Shore surrenders the audience to the terror, excitement and passion that dominates it's structure. But the biggest bow has to go to director Peter Jackson who has made a trilogy of films that have each exceeded the last and set a whole new benchmark in the world of film. The only problem for this talented filmmaker is the shadow that the trilogy will now cast, reaching far into any future film that has his name attached. But this a price one pays for perfection, and that is what the Lord of the Rings trilogy is, which like the greatest of stories, takes you into a world that when once viewed, you never quite leave.

Kill Bill Volume 1 was a film that proved that Tarantino's self imposed exile from film had not been a wasted. A Rip Roaring Rampage of Revenge shouted the posters for Kill Bill volume 1 and indeed it was, telling the story of the bride (Uma Thurman) who, after being shot by her former employers, awakens after being in a coma and vows revenge. This film gave a karate kick in the pants to Hollywood and the film fan with the most iconic female lead in a movie this side of Alien. But when the film finished it was not the end, merely the close of a chapter. And so Kill Bill Volume 2 beckoned, but where the former was an tightly edited piece of cinematic wonder, Kill Bill Volume 2 is a frustration, a film that has smacks of genius that are on display, yet saddled with self indulgence. Indeed self indulgence is what dominates this film from it's characters over written scenes to the films very creation, with the studio agreeing to let Tarantino split the pie into two and hoping the second portion is just as sweet. It isn't. And let me tell you why. Kill Bill Volume 2 makes several fundamental mistakes that makes it inferior to the first instalment. This is due to the films centring on characters that, with the exception of Daryl Hannah's California Mountain Snake, simply do not grab the viewers attention as Vivica Fox and Lucy Liu did in Volume 1. The character of Bud, one of the Brides assassins, is not of interest no matter how much back story is developed, feeling like someone that could have been knocked off quickly in Volume 1. Flash backs to before the bride became ‘The Bride' manage to destroy a little more mystique that served her so well in Volume 1. Here we find out her background, how she came to be, just who was at her wedding, and even her name. These mysteries are what served the first film so well, but here all questions are answered, stripping the film of suspense. But there is still much to savour, Tarantino filming with the style of a true film auteur, with fight scenes that draw from just about every kung fu-spaghetti western film that ever hit a video shelf. Daryl Hannah steals her scenes as the one eyed assassin and Uma Thurman once more puts her heart and soul into the character of the bride. And then we come to Bill himself, so much an unseen presence in the first film and a dominating visual threat in the second, played with a cold icy charm by David Carradine, who brings the qualities that make Bill worth killing. But Tarantino milks too much from each scene giving an enforced importance to scenes that need less time and more punch. Kill Bill Volume 1 was a film that was lean and mean, and stripped of any fat. Volume 2 inherits that very fat and feels padded in places. But there is still much here to enjoy and Tarantino once more proves that even with a weaker second film, no-one kick ass quite like Quint.

3 stars. Kick ass Tarantino

Moonraker is a film that is loved and hated by Bond fans depending on how you like your Bond. If your idea of Bond is that of an eyebrow raising secret agent who is a saint to some and a persuader to others than this is for you with Roger Moore managing to do what few others have achieved, looking good in a safari suit. Bond here is taking on Hugo Drax, who like most Bond villains, isn't content to take a simple nine to five job down at Tescos and instead wants world domination, building a new super race of humans on his own space station in space. Helping Bond is the lovely Holly Goodhead, whose name alone is enough to make our Roger raise at least one eyebrow. On the villain front, the walking skyscraper that is Richard Kiel drops back in for a quick bite as Jaws , whose role this time is more of a humorous giant, which was probably due to the kids all writing letters about Jaws after The Spy Who Loved Me. Because of this, Jaws is not as menacing as he was before, and this takes away the edge to his character making him seem more at home with The Munsters than in a Bond film. Michael Lonsdale is suitably evil as Hugo Drax, although one does wonder how he managed to assemble a space station in outer space without anyone noticing. There are plenty of lovely bond beauties in this film, which gives Roger Moore a chance to live up to his name! Moonraker is a fine addition to the Roger Moore series of Bond films, and is guaranteed to leave you shaken and stirred.