Ian Nathan

It does slow down a bit too much for endless walking hither and thither scenes in the woods, as we ebb toward the grand reveal, but the mystery proves strong enough to hold you.

Despite the ridiculous premise and casting this is still a pacey little sci-thriller.

For exploitation-enthusiasts and Scorsese completists only.

This is a valiant but overcomplicated Western that aims to redraw the lines on Western mythology: with heroes as mere humans, and heroics as distortions of the truth.

Enough large-scale spectacle scenes to outweigh the inevitable religiose sludge that creeps in between them.

It is a complex and at times infuriating structure — it often helps to conceive of the film as the book of short stories it stems from — but simultaneously vivid and disturbing.

Even if you're not a 'fan' of the musicals, Oliver is so witty, so bright and so endearing that even the iciest viewer should start melting in it's corona.

The acting is all first base, the script a laughable stream of gung ho-isms, the action merely solid and the effects indifferent. Yet, you still stroll out with a grin a mile wide.

One of the greatest behind-bars movies ever, the result finds director Franklin J. Schaffner making the most of both his sun-drenched locations and his leading man, who squintily acts even co-star Dustin Hoffman well off the screen.

Perhaps, it was the choice of material, a much more internalised story despite its glossy Raj setting, or the absence of Robert Bolt as screenwriter (it was he who put the fire in Lean’s belly), but the film, for all Lean’s innate elegance, is strangely remote and unmoving.

It’s "Ferris Bueller" with an existential crisis. Very funny and very weird.

It’s juvenilia, straight-up goofballing, but there is a tittering innocence at work here.

More than an average thriller, but far from Lumet's finest hour.

Although evidently a rip-off — there were hints of Lucas even taking the matter to the courts — this spacebound wagon train, whose limits are readily apparent, is great fun.

Just as the film captures a world (Imperialism, hunting, colonialism) that has faded away, so this film feels like one of the last of it's kind.

Frantic is Polanski's most satisfying film since Chinatown, and one of the best traditional thrillers to come down the pike in quite some time.

A classic, of sorts.

A rerun of the first one but satan junior is now a teenager.

This no-brainer is fine if all you're after a bit of escapism, but don't look for anything deeper than that.

Unfortunately, half the time this feels more like an Omen parody than a chance to give it a great send off.

It picks up in the last hour, though this is a very minor compensation in an otherwise long and listless film.

The jingoism is blindingly awful, but by the time of the showdown, the film has descended into an unaware parody of itself.

Bond meets Star Wars in one of the series' sillier outings.

About the dumbest movie Clint Eastwood ever put his name to.

Running at just over four hours, it is as spectacular, lush and extravagant as the studio would have liked its audience to believe. But it also has moments of mind-numbing boredom as the plot,– slowed by extraneous dialogue, drags from Egypt to Rome.

Good intentions, vivid setting and TLJ on top form do not make up for a lack of anything truly compelling.

As earnestly as they have tried to continue the formerly excellent spy series, everything Gilroy and crew concoct only serves to mock the excellence and passion with which Greengrass delivered his films.

Only distinguishable from the original movie by its obvious cheapness.

As a light family sports feel-good this works but don't look for anything more.

This is supposed to be serious hard-hitting but with most prehistoric depictions, only manages either school reconstruction or parody.

Everything from the style to the casting feels grubby and worn.

Largely devoid of any charm or intelligence that made other Apes films entertaining, this one should be buried in the Forbidden Zone.

This has some very, very funny bits...interspersed with a very slight film.

Certainly not Raimi at his best, but some knowing genre nods and an array of great effects make up much of the deficit.

The CG does its part of the bargain, but even more than the brighter, breezier original this is a pale imitation of Potter.

With Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things, screenwriter Steven Knight has proved his ear for London's darker rhythms. Here, though, there's little to raise the pulse.

Arnie still swings that sword with aplomb, but with a story this ludicrous, he's on slippery ground.

It's mindless entertainment, but its critical and commercial failure doomed the pirate genre to a watery grave.

One of the dreariest outer space swashbucklers of all time.

The first of the silly VW Beetle with a cute personality comedies, is as childish dated and occasionally sweet as the others.

The film seems to be pitched at shrieking level, as if that’s the only timbre children can register.

However exotic the locations and starry the stars, there’s no escaping this is The Devil’s Advocate of online gambling. Fold.

Ridiculous premise and hilarious acting which is mostly famous for the Lolita-type Brooke Shields cavorting in tropical settings.

Unoriginal, unfunny superhero spoof with a bewildered cast and an obvious plot.

Moore just looks confused. He obviously wants to do his thing then hit the bar for cocktails, but John Glen is nagging him to add a roughness to the slick exterior. Equally, it just doesn’t fit. The news is clear, there’s only so far you can push a Bond before it breaks.

Overlong, it'll most likely try the patience of audiences now accustomed to a bit more bang for their buck, but it's a great deal of fun for those with a penchant for old-style action.

This was sweet and charming at the time but now it just lacks either the comedy or sophistication of kids' fantasy film that we've all become accustomed to.

Here is a film fully xenophobic, abhorrent film, touting guileless version of military honour, but with Jack Cardiff’s furtive camerawork and some excellent editing, it sucks you in to its disturbing heroic sweep.

An uneven debut from John Slattery that nonetheless shows flashes of flair and a jet-black sense of humour.

For all the special effects and half-starved A-listers, this is a sodden beast. Perhaps there’s a reason that Melville only told half the story.

Not even a decent performance from Richard Attenborough can save this disappointing production.

You end up with this perky but pointless rehash of the cute alien format that became embedded in the late ‘80s.

Deliberately provocative, infuriatingly melodramatic, this is a film that begs not to be taken seriously, and requires a ready suspension of moral discernment for maximum enjoyment.

Mind you, Eastwood went on the star with an orang-utan, twice, so this is only his third maddest film. Although, it could be his dullest. Which was one thing no one would of expected of this madcap enterprise, born of a what-the-heck attitude from its macho stars — that it would struggle so hard to be fun.

There were a few sci-fi movies in the 70s that managed to transcend the genre and become fairly well known in the mainstream. This weren't one of 'em and for good reason.

Star Wars it wasn't and still isn't...camp 70's space stuff but the TV series spin-off is a fond memory for 30-somethings throughout the Western World.

A spectacular misfire from a director who should have known better.

Despite DiCaprio’s prize performance, purists will fume, but even as lit-crashing razzle-dazzle entertainment Luhrmann’s adaptation is a candelabrum too far.

Should be judged in context but even then it's a bit high on the melodrama and low on subtlety.

As with all great spoofers, you can feel the love the director has for Hitchcock, the thoroughness of his jokes vouches for that and the entire plot is loosely based on Spellbound. Perhaps, he was too devoted, the film lacks daring, it’s soft, Hitch would have sneered at such weakness.

A general disappointment, but then with David Bowie and Patsy Kensit what did you expect.

Pointless re-make. One of (the once great) Carpenter's worst.

Despite the always-good Harvey Keitel, this is just embarassing sci-fi nonsense.

Okay, a couple of sniggers sneak out, but on the whole the effect is stone cold.