ol66

Ben Affleck has a great cameo at the beginning of the movie as a hard-driving supersalesman. After that, it is unbelievably dreadful. Giovanni Ribisi mugs and grunts his way through the rest of the movies in order to persuade us that stealing money off idiots cannot satisfy your need to be loved. How original. Insultingly bad.

93 _96%

Nikita (1990) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Brilliant action thriller starring the compelling Anne Parrillaud as a junkie-turned-supercop. You don't even wonder whether its believeable or not, you're too busy enjoying it. Great plotting and storytelling allows for a lot of different flavours - the love story (or stories) work a treat - while the action sequences are rarely bettered by anything in cinema. Tcheky Kario is mesmerising as her driven, emotionless controller while Jean Hughes-Anglade plays his mirror character really movingly.

31 _20%

The Grifters (1990) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

You want to like this, what with all the talent on display, but it doesn't really work. Looks good but is lumpy, ill-formed and somewhat forgettable.

12 _5%

Collateral (2004) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Stupid, emotionally-vacuous, irritating and tedious two-hander where Tom Cruise tries to prove he's even worse than Jamie Foxx as an actor. I won't ruin it by telling you whether he succeeds or not. That said, I'd just come back from Los Angeles when I saw this and I recognised quite a bit of it in the background, so that was quite nice.

93 _96%

Goodfellas (1990) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Brilliant mob movie that is heavy on mood and authenticity. Packed with brilliant performances, side-splitting jokes and superbly shot and choreographed musical sequences, it even gives an accurate account of the sort of brutality that is a mobster's stock-in-trade. Best mob movie I've ever seen.

60 _72%

Blazing Saddles (1974) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Brilliantly funny attack on US racial politics - and its got fart jokes ! Mel Brooks' funniest film. Harvey Korman is great and there's plently here for adolescents of all ages.

71 _83%

12 Angry Men (1957) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Psychological thriller. Convincing ensemble piece set in a jury room as the 12 good men and true decide and open-an-shut case ... or is it ? Fonda plows the loneliest of furrows and is matched brilliantly by Edward G Marshall and Lee J Cobb. Looks like a stage play but there are enough visual moments to satisfy. A great story carried through to a satisfying conclusion.

51 _44%

Three Colors: Red (1994) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

The best of the trilogy. The story is well-told and the characters live on in the memory. The ending doesn't really work, but there's enough in here to keep you interested.

56 _64%

RoboCop (1987) - Rated 08 Sep 2008

Clever satire on traditional sci-fi. The effects and action sequences are good, its darkly funny, there's a nice take on the viciousness of corporate life, and a couple of the sequences are genuinely moving. But just when the film is starting the wonder what it is to be human, there's another car chase, exchange of gunfire, etc. Good, but could have been great.