Boring and Silly, Ronin is a better example of Frankenheimer's direction.

Somewhat dated now but still occasionally gripping.

As an outing to complement study of the book the film is worthy enough but curiously less than the sum of its parts.

Despite magic moments, this is so lop-sided in conception it's really only worth seeking out as a folly.

As Lowe systematically dismantles Spader's antiseptic existence, Hanson and writer David Koepp handle the thriller plot well, with Lowe effective as the plastically beautiful but deeply dangerous bad influence of the title.

Comes across as a TV movie and overall, a disappointment - a high calibre cast and concept completely squandered.

Director John McTiernan rigorously avoids anything that might conceivably be exciting.

Every bit as enchanting as you remember. Molto, molto bene.

The background is more intriguing than the stumbling up-front story, and monster watchers will get full use of the freeze-frame facility.

Exceptionally well-rendered and emotive war drama.

It's not just the saturated ultra-violence which make this film difficult to watch - there is something just not convincing about this vehicle for Costner's darker side. One thing is for sure though, driving a Jeep will never be the same again.

Gauged on a count of wit or originality this doesn't even register.

One for fans only.

Erman could have made a movie that left the Bette Midler stereotype in the eighties where it belonged, but he didn't. Great if you're a Bette fan, somewhat trying if you're not, though thankfully some of the sheer hamminess has been dulled with time.

The plot unravels in unwieldy dollops, and, despite some adequate special effects (for the time), the whole thing is really a bit of a bore.

It has grown a little thin with age, especially Gere’s yuppie baiting speeches, but there’s a hardness here, an aversion to the dumb action thrills of the genre, that keeps it respectably high up the scale.

A spare and authentic screenplay unfolds in an almost documentary-like enviroment, there are no histrionics and the acting is of the highest order, but the film shocks and disturbs as much for its morally questionable purpose as in its ugly subject.

As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, Akira the film is teeming with incident and detail.

Stallone and Russell play well off each other, and with Palance lurking in the background, this buddy-breakout never loses its way.

Some will find it overly long, but with such a pivotal performance by Cruise and a veritable platoon of Hollywood elite supporting, who can begrudge a bit more screen time?

An affecting, impressive debut from a filmmaker with an innate taste for modern America's clashes of conscience. An important document.

It gets to its hugely emotional destination without ever having to put the foot down; a poignant and provocative road movie.

Unexpectedly raucous comedy which trades off a few laughs for an interesting religious spin. Jordan can thank his lucky stars, but give himself a massive, stubborn pat on the back while he's at it.

The three lead characters end the film as isolated as they began it. As with the plot, there isn't quite enough in the throwaway humour to hold them together.

An all-star lineup with some kookie moments, but a bit limp overall.

Quite shocking, almost avant-garde in the way it constantly confounds expectations built up over years of formula pictures.

If it doesn't make you at least giggle, then you clearly don't understand the true meaning of the festive season.

Directed and played with terrific verve, this moves so fast from one special effects set-piece to the next that there's no time at all to reflect on the basic ridiculousness of its Chinese box of a plot.

It may be unfair to compare a film with its stage source, but the fact remains that the film, while retaining a great deal of both humour and pathos, is a less persuasive work and more obviously a vehicle for a starry ensemble.

Making no secret of the fact that he has "freely adapted" the novel, writer Jean-Claude Carriere and Milos "Amadeus" Forman have come up with a visually mouthwatering epic treatment: beautiful, opulent, sumptuous.

Self-serving, storyless tripe.

Jim Jarmusch's first colour film is less understated and more inviting than those he made before, which may have as much to do with the constant presence of Elvis (in one form or another) as the rich seam of oddball humour and stylish cinematography.

The rebirth of Disney in the modern era and due to superb songs, enduring humour and a touching plot it remains an animation classic.

A rounded portrayal that leaves an overwhelming sense of the miraculousness of life.

Branagh's Henry V must, however, be counted a success - it might never be as famous as Olivier's, but it should carry considerable clout for years to come.

Certainly worth seeing for its care, authenticity and the central performances, but the suggestions of collective guilt and responsibility, and the pushing of humanity towards the brink are just too coy to ever be really effective.

Despite the amiable charms of the central couple of Cheers' Kirstie Alley and a back-from-the-dead John Travolta, it is director Heckerling's goofy willingness to let her imagination run riot that prevents her film from sinking into soap.

The luxurious feel of the film is a perfect counterpoint to the painful truths drawn on each brother's face, whilst Pfieffer is much more than eye candy.

Don't bother.

Outdated and predictable revenge saga.

The film falls into the gap between the manifestly unique qualities of the musician in performance and the near complete mystery of an intensely withdrawn private life.

New Orleans looks as photogenic as ever but ultimately Johnny Handsome never quite leapfrogs over its fundamental cracks.

No matter how well dressed, the movie can’t escape the gravitational pull of formula. Without a convincing subtext, Black Rain is pretty dull fare indeed.

A thumpingly didactic script, but Palcy has crafted a watchable - if not particularly important, given its competition - one.

Never revealing too much, Becker keeps us intrigued to the end, whilst Pacino and Barkin unexpectedly sizzle.

Sweetie is a deeply uncomfortable, distressing yet wholly rewarding experience.

Middle-aged scouse housewives and Willy Russell is a bread and butter combination: no frills, a tad repetitive, but plenty of substance nonetheless.

Reasonably gripping.

Five stars for cute and courageous Milo and the intrepid and loving Otis, but any adult who isn’t a devoted animal lover is warned to stay away.

Michael J. Fox is a revelation as the mouse that roared, whilst the score, the direction, and the rest of the cast turn a risky film into a solid addition to the Nam canon.

Despite an impressive bag of special effects tricks, old Fred is starting to resemble one of those dead horses that studio execs insist on flogging.

Weirdly, the film’s problem is that it revs up the tension so much that, like one character’s submersible sinking into the high pressure of the titular Abyss, it finally bursts. The climax – as Bud descends to defuse the nuke and meet the aliens – just doesn’t work.

Startling is the fact that a film so light on action and heavy on chat can be so achingly funny without having being crafted by a young Woody Allen.

A hard-boiled version of Rocky, with enough anti-Balboa brutality to keep our interest.

A funny and touching look at the joys of family life.

A terrific alternative to the diabetic's nightmare that is most of Disney's output, Kiki's Delivery Service takes pride of place in Miyazaki's exceptional body of work.

Hanks, it seems, is good enough to survive any film. The dog, too, works wonders with a standard script.

A devastating heart-stab of a movie, this certainly isn't a family film. It is, however, a beautifully constructed, animated drama.

There's some likable energy to the performances and a strong soundtrack, but the lack of sustained dancing make this more of a nostalgic fantasy than a proper musical, whereas 'Shagging' itself seems far too complicated to catch on.

He may look the part, but Timothy Dalton fails the boots, the scuba gear, or the automobiles left him by Moore and Connery.

The joy comes not from the will-they-won't-they romance between the two leads, but from the sharply written humour from the pen of writer Nora Ephron.

Unlike most sequels Lethal Weapon 2 is neither predictable nor conventional. It's just pumped full of juice.

Dire, B-movie cheese throughout, this gives no clue that Pitt - or anyone else involved - could ever have a career in Hollywood.

Morita still charms, Macchio still tightropes between petulence and raw optimism, whilst the fight scenes are competent enough to offset the woeful romantic sub-plotting.

A loud, careering thunderbolt of a bipoic, that leaves behind an imprint of the myth, if not enough of the man.

As before, Lee's acute observation distils humour from accuracy rather than caricature but his growth as a filmmaker is impressive.

Jack Nicholson as The Joker helpfully provides all the colour.

A bold but ultimately doomed effort that will irritate all but cultists of the bizarre and the most rabid fans of Mr. Cage.

There is a great deal of action in Renegades, yet it still manages to be a faintly boring film.

Lovers of no-taste splatter movies will be in hog heaven.

Half-an-hour too long, but still a fun ride.

An immensely enjoyable slice of romanticised fisticuffs, this is a Western in every respect except the stetsons and six guns.

Wonderfully acted by a large cast of star bit-players who were obviously just keen on being in this particular movie - and with Edwards amply making up for his criminal appearances in Revenge of the Nerds and Top Gun.

Badly scripted, hackneyed, cliched, deaf/blind comedy.

Captures the brash boldness of the novel, but not the literary wit. A misguided affair.

The comedy is hit-and-miss but this is a vibrant, watchable movie.

The world can only hope The Swamp Thing's abode is now bulldozered and turned into a shopping mall.

A scabrous, somewhat wayward anti-80's rant that, whilst providing Grant with a few moments of high farce, lacks the wit and social surety of Withnail & I.

Millar's warmth for literary influences continues to buoy his filmmaking, whilst a sturdy British cast and faultless period settings do Dahl proud.

This is actually better than it may sound, though rather less charming than it would like to, and needs to be.

Powerhouse cameos, just enough sauce and extra anchovies that no one will be complaining about.

Highly amusing and well paced, an engaging fairy-tale with a slightly sinister underbelly.

What it's really about is taking a second chance to make good on old regrets and dead hopes. Never mind the baseball, this is one for the heart, made beautifully.

This is simply the finest jazz documentary ever made.

One of the problems is that King usually writes about cliche subjects so well that you don’t notice the hackneyed aspects of his books, and so when all the character detail, precise backgrounding and elaborate plot setting-up mechanisms are pruned away, all you get is a dumb TV movie with characters doing insanely stupid things to prolong the agony.

It's watchable enough in a nothing-better-to-do sort of way, but comparison with a contemporary movie, say, Uncle Buck, shows just how thin it really is.

If you're looking for sophisticated wit keep going, but Major League is pleasant, undemanding fun and the most likely of the baseball movies to hit over here. You don't need to know what they're doing on the field, there are some amusing supporting performances, and everybody likes to see losers make a dream come true.

Initially, the film works well as a tense, teasing suspense vehicle. But one of Dead Calm’s major problems is that it brings to mind ideas and plot similarities from so many other films that you are constantly being reminded of its own rather humble status.

A well-put together team performance, with enough in-jokes and self-effacement to steer clear of any detours into bad taste.

Avoiding the 80s staple of angsty adolescence, Crowe has constructed an intelligent, witty yet undeniably cute tale, showing the potential that would be realised in Singles and Jerry Maguire, and giving Cusack's warm-hearted Lloyd the perfect foil in Skye's prissy model of student perfection.

Michael Lehmann’s feature debut introduced the world to Christian Slater at his Jack Nicholson, subversive best and gave Winona Ryder a career-high role.

Funny and inventive vehicle for Chevy Chase's hapless and genuinely funny comic creation.

A safe, effectively jumpy transfer of Alien to the depths that restores the fear of Jaws into an environment momentarily softened by The Abyss.

Weird to the Gilliamth degree, Munchausen just might making being an 'uneven' movie a compliment.

This is probably worse than you’d expect, even from a sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a sequel.

The only romantic comedy out there which spans two lifetimes, Chances Are you'll wind up wishing it didn't.

An unsatisfying conclusion, but an inspirational story deftly handled by Freeman.