The movie loses its way, piling on pointless narrative twists and relying more and more on very contrived coincidence. [07 Apr 1995, p.13]

Bruce Beresford's film of William Boyd's first novel, A Good Man In Africa, intermittently hints at the comic absurdity with which the book reputedly abounds. However, even though Boyd himself adapted his novel for the screen, only those hints survive in this heavy handed, shapeless movie.

A penetrating picture of big city loneliness. [14 Mar 1995, p.10]

North shows all the signs of being one of those movies that get "straightened out" in post production, with any life they have being squeezed out in the process. [29 Jul 1994, p.9]

Here [Bertolucci]'s desire to communicate simply has become simplistic as he skims the surface of ancient ideas of reincarnation and nirvana. [20 May 1994, p.11]

It was riveting, not for any great insider insight, but because Carville turned out to be a much more interesting, more complex and more "authentic" character than Clinton himself. The cliches real, messy candidate and ersatz, cold-eyed handler - were reversed. Clinton made brief, bland appearances on the sidelines. Carville was the - heart of the drama: intense, passionate, emotional, funny. Carville laughed, cried, shouted. Clinton just smiled and waved. [10 Nov 1993, p.12]

The remake succeeds in recapturing the suspense of key sequences such as the tense bathroom scene and the restaurant assassination, but most of the time it's a pedestrian piece of work unimaginatively directed by John Badham who lacks Luc Besson's skill for distracting us from disbelief. [2 July 1993, p.11]

For all its cleverness it remains a dubious exercise...If none of this strikes you as very funny, even in the blackest of comedy, just wait for the rape scene later in the movie - not only is this not remotely funny, it is simply repulsive and indefensible whatever the context...Ultimately shallow and unconvincing and the result is a movie that is even more acutely disturbing than it was meant to be. [12 March 1993, p.11]

This riveting film is a sad coda to one of cinema's most fruitful partnerships. [30 Oct 1992, p.12]

A film that turns the savagery of apartheid into a crisis of conscience for one relatively privileged white boy. Worse yet, it suggests that his crisis is a matter of urgent concern for countless South African blacks. [9 Oct 1992, p.11]

Rich in imagination and ambition, and highly original as it explores the darker, sexual side of familiar fairytales, chiefly Little Red Riding Hood. [04 Nov 2005, p.9]

Once Upon a Time in America remains the most “problematic” of Leone’s major pictures. It is enveloping, operatic and slightly mad. We can forgive the confusion and the non- synchronised dialogue. But to this day the misogyny remains indigestible. [2014 re-release]

Mirror is much copied, but as the recent run of Terrence Malick films demonstrates, eschewing time and plot for flotsam and psyche is much harder than Tarkovsky makes it look.

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s movie has a strange, magical aura for cineastes.

Husbands longueurs and wobbly shots of improvised tangents never congeal into anything as satisfying as Cassavetes s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Gloria or A Woman Under the Influence. But, in contrast with director s mean-spirited inheritors, the film does own that husbands even rubbish ones are people too. [28 Sep 2012, p.13]

Mandabi’s playful grammar and arresting camerawork are as exciting and politically charged as anything that emerged from the contemporaneous Nouvelle Vague.

Revisiting many of the master’s favourite themes – familial obligations, intergenerational frictions – Ozu’s 54th film delicately maintains its post-war critique.

Effectively employing and expressive performances from his three actors, and subtle symbolism, Polanski fashions an engrossing drama in which the mounting sexual tension is palpable. He and his crew make remarkably resourceful use of the movie's severely confined locations, and the hand-held black-and-white camerawork is dextrous. [25 Jun 1993, p.11]

By way of contrast, Imitation of Life and its predecessors really poked their noses into the ratty, fetid spaces behind the plush curtains.

It’s all very superficial, but carried off with impeccable style.

In short, the third best Christmas film ever.

Maybe, Morgan’s Creek does not have the ironic grit of Sullivan’s Travels or the suave perfection of The Lady Eve, but, as a showcase for Sturges the comic impresario, it can hardly be bettered.