My rating: *** Imdb link This is an entertaining time travel thriller where a butterfly accidentally trodden on by a time traveller in prehistoric times leads to catastrophic results for the present. It is a race against time, re-evolution, monstrous plants and dinosaur-like animals for our scientist heroes to get back to the past and …
My rating: **** Imdb link Recently I had an interesting discussion with a couple of friends about the complete disappearance of the twentieth century futurist vision, a vision which perhaps reached its culmination in the 1980s. 2001 is a reminder of that vision. The camera lingers languorously over the beautifully designed sets and models. The …
My rating: ** Imdb link Mild spoilers This film is a real disappointment after the excellent Casino Royale. It is forgotten five minutes after walking out of the cinema. Daniel Craig, however, remains first rate and cuts a stylish figure in every scene. He handles himself with exemplary cool and poise and whatever he wears …
My rating: **** Imdb link This film is the result of a collaboration between writer Neil Gaiman, artist Dave McKean and the Jim Henson Company. It is about a British teenager whose parents run a circus. Her mother falls ill in Brighton and she enters into a parallel dream-like world which is made up of …
My rating: **** Northern Lights (His Dark Materials I) Tenth Anniversary 1995-2005 by Philip Pullman My review I enjoyed this book a great deal. Well-written and well-plotted with interesting characters. It also created a most convincing alternative world. Of particular interest is the idea that humans have souls which manifest themselves in physical animal form …
My rating: *** Imdb link Although the film starts off in a gripping and exciting way, the shaky hand held camera and super fast editing are even more in evidence than in the previous film and soon started to give me a headache. These stylistic elements constantly draw attention to themselves at the expense of …
My rating **** Imdb link This second entry in the trilogy is directed by English director Paul Greengrass. It is well and truly up to the high standard set by the first. I’m glad I saw it on a small screen however, as I find the use of choppy camera movements and editing a bit …
My rating **** Imdb link This is an excellent character driven action spy thriller which races across Europe but spends most of its time in Paris. Although those involved in the production keep repeating in the DVD extras what a new kind of film this is, it actually harks back to the style of 1960s …
My rating: **** Imdb link This is one of my favourite World War II spy dramas starring William Holden as a Swedish industrialist coerced into spying for the British during World War II. The film is a fictionalised account of the exploits of a war-time spy Erik Erickson. Holden’s character Erickson is very much on …
My rating: ** Imdb link The characters and story in this science fiction film directed by Michael Winterbottom are of no real interest and the film doesn’t offer much that is inspiring either on what appears to be its main themes of memory and identity and otherness. But what is interesting about this film are …
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