War Horse – review
Spielberg's version of the equine first world war yarn is an unconvincing attempt at summoning up the spirit of the timeSuffused in a buttery-digital glow, as if shot on special film made of liquid fudge, Steven Spielberg's disappointing, coercively se...
Despair – review
Dirk Bogarde is on superb form in Fassbinder's eerie adaptation of Nabokov's novel about a Russian émigré's breakdownVladimir Nabokov's novel is adapted by Tom Stoppard into an icy, psycho-melodramatic nightmare in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1978 fil...
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – review
David Fincher has given Stieg Larsson the Hollywood treatment, and created a sleek but chilly thrillerDavid Fincher has given The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a very serious software and operating system upgrade. This new English-language remake, – ba...
Gilbert Adair: a man of letters for the cinema age
In another era, Gilbert Adair would have written on Herodotus. As it was he focused his energies on an exciting young mediumGilbert Adair was a unique and wonderful writer: a critic of elegance, brilliance, and unquenchable intellectual energy and curi...
The Rum Diary – review
The Johnny Depp-produced adaptation of Hunter S Thompson's semi-autobiographical novel is lovingly made, but it's bit of a vanity projectProducer-star Johnny Depp mounts a sincere but basically self-admiring homage to his hero, wildman gonzo-journalist...
Wuthering Heights – review
Andrea Arnold's adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic strips away all the period-drama cliches to create a passionate, elemental dramaHeathcliff: two syllables conjuring desolate space and dizzying altitude. The two ideas are well represented in this...
We Need to Talk About Kevin – review
Lionel Shriver's award-winning novel has become a superb film, with director Lynne Ramsay putting her finger on unpalatable truths about parentingWhat happens when bad children happen to good parents? Does it mean they are not, in fact, as good as they...
Everything Must Go – review
A rare straight role for Will Ferrell shows him to be a classy actor, even if the film he's in is a bit on the soft sideWill Ferrell dials it right down for this straight role in a gentle drama of male mid-life crisis, based on a Raymond Carver sh...
Franzen’s Freedom revives legend of The Dragon
A fictional date to see a 1950s Greek movie might yet restore the reputation of film-maker Nikos Koundouros and his dark, satirical masterpiece, O DrakosRecently I became what almost felt like the last person in the English-speaking world to read Jonat...
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – review
The new adaptation of John le Carré's novel is a brilliant study of the disenchantment, compromise and tension of the 1970s spy gameDirector Tomas Alfredson came to prominence with Let the Right One In, a story about vampires, but his instinctive, eve...
Jane Eyre – review
Mia Wasikowska shines in an intelligent, beautifully crafted version of the Charlotte Brontë classic, but it's a little too restrained for its own goodCool, temperate, finely wrought, this new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is enclos...
