Ian Nathan

Fairly routine western makes a disappointing swansong for Hawks. Still good fun though, if you like this kind of thing.

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

Weightless, but not without its enchantments, this is Woody Allen coasting. But where better to coast than the loveliest coast of all?

Lewis Gilbert, and two career best performances from his leading actors, give this film such energy it leaves the pleasant aroma of life and possibility.

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.

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

Not a masterpiece, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's pleasing to see a sequel strive so hard to reach the same heights. That it fails is through no fault of its own - the original simply raised the bar too high.

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

For all it boasts in ingenious style, this genial American yarn lacks the delicious bile of Jenuet’s early days.

A sci-fi which balances big themes and claustrophobic action with apparent ease.

A flawed work held together by Alwyn’s tender presence.

Only distinguishable from the original movie by its obvious cheapness.

A pretty craven attempt by Disney to cash-in on Star Wars blockbusting success, this lightweight but well-written sci-fi adventure movie is well pitched at the very young. More discerning fans of the genre would do well to smother their indignation at the levels of general plagiarism floating around the deck of the supership Cygnus.

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.

The Net entertains but is unlikely to hang around on the cerebral hard disk for too long.

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.

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

That it is a cartoon that takes kids right out of the equation is the best recommendation of all.

Imagine if Stanley Kubrick had made Ghost and you're some way to this classily restrained oddity, but its morbid preoccupations and ambiguity might prove too cuckoo for most.

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.

An insanely effective no-brainer of a film, sparkling with a simple charm and energy rarely witnessed this side of illegal substances.

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.

Vallée’s post-traumatic stress comedy is more scientific than genuinely moving. Nevertheless, Gyllenhaal continues his post-Nightcrawler upgrade with another vivid performance in the key of strange.

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

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 gritty sci-fi is undeservedly neglected and underrated.

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

A sequel confident in what it's about - bigger, better, funnier, without stretching the joke.

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

Very hit and miss and not a patch on the first spoof but when a joke strikes home it'll have you going for a while.

Willow is not without its charms - the effects are more than special, the set-pieces suitably epic but it just doesn't fulfill the promise of certain other fantasy films.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Those with the patience to sit through a slow first half will be rewarded with another gutsy ending.

One of the dreariest outer space swashbucklers of all time.

It’s ragged round the edges, but then Fritz Kiersch is working with a budget Roger Corman would laugh at, and he does a good job.

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

Never managing to look more hi-tech or further on from 1987 than, well, Hi-tech trainers, this Arnie vehicle still runs it's bloody course without dropping many gears. A brainless, breathless thrill.

Clint doing roughneck humour with an orang-utan, what's not to like?

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

A most fascinating disaster of genre making.

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

Unwieldy and flawed, but Stone remains a tornado in an era of airless formula and -- to paraphrase our Ptolemy -- its failings are greater than most films’ successes.

For much of its slowburn build there is a classy, intelligent thriller at work, something closer in tone to The Odessa File. Still, you must remain guarded to how over the top and quasi-horror events will finally turn.

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

Christopher Walken sleepwalks his way through playing smarmy Nazi geneticist Zorin, where you would think he would have a ball hamming it up as a Bond villain. Indeed, it is a rare moment when Grace Jones makes the biggest impression as an Amazonian (naturally) henchman called May Day.

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

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.

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

Shadowy political trickery is one thing, fabricating an entire NASA mission is near impossible to credit. Get over that and it’s a whole lot of fun watching Hal Halbrook’s — who played supergrass Deep Throat in All The President’s Men — wicked scheming unravel thanks to the gutsy work of Elliot Gould’s tatty hack.

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

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

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

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

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.

A stunner of unrelenting tension interrupted by action, violence and gore.

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

What saves the movie is its relaxed sense of self-awareness. Reynolds all but winks at the audience with his collection of Dick Dastardly sneaks and dodges, but holds onto that winning, hangdog warmth that got him to the top of the pile in the seventies.

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

Highly-evolved it ain't, but this Stone Age slacker is a lot of fun.