The Last Samurai (2003)
US; dir: Edward Zwick;
Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly
I'm Spartacus! Decent period drama but with gory battle scenes & decapitations. (Limer)
A Mighty Wind (2003)
US; dir: Christopher Guest;
Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, et al
Light-hearted mockumentary from the creator of Spinal Tap & Best In Show. (Limer)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
US/NZ; dir: Peter Jackson;
Viggo Mortensen, Sir Ian McKellan
Guess what happens in this one? (Limer)
The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)
US; dir: The Wachowski Brothers;
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett-Smith
All your questions will be answered except what happended to The Oracle? (Limer)
Kill Bill Volume#1 (2003)
US; dir: Quentin Tarantino;
Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica Foxx
Unrewarding first installment of 4th Big T feature. (Limer)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
US; dir: Jonathon Mostow;
Arnie, Nick Stahl, Clare Danes
"I'm back!" "She'll be back!" He's back. Mo' sequels. Mo' problems. (Limer)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
US; dir: Stephen Norrington;
Sean Connery
Ridiculously OTT literary dreamteam join forces to save the world from WW2. (Limer)
Underworld (2003)
US/UK/Germany/Hungary; dir: Len Wiseman;
Kate Beckinsale
Not even the tight black leather cat-suit can save this vampire vs werewolf farce. (Limer)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
US; dir: Wachowski Bros;
Keanu Reeves, Monica Bellucci
Think Empire Strikes Back of the Matrix series/The problem with sequels. (Limer)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
US; dir: ;
Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman
Fun, frolics & monkey jokes. (Jay K)
Gangs of New York (2003)
US; dir: Martin Scorsese;
Leo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis
All the time we spent waiting for that great Scorsese comeback film and he ended uop making Titanic 2!? (Limer)
One Hour Photo (2003)
US; dir: ;
Robin Williams
Robin Williams being creepy again. (Jay K)
Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2002)
US; dir: Robert Rodriguez;
Johnny Depp, Antonio Banderas, Eva Mendes
The concluding part of the El Mariachi trilogy? Ode to Sergio Leone? Or just plain disappointment? (Limer)
Audition (2002?)
Japan; dir: Takashi Miike;
Recommended Japanese horror: one part comedy drama, one part gory snuff movie. (Limer)
Auto Focus (2002)
US; dir: Paul Schrader;
Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe
More golden age of TV bubble bursting as Bob Crane alternates between Hogan's Hero & sex-swinging voyeur... (Limer)
Revenger's Tragedy (2002)
UK; dir: Alex Cox;
Chris Ecclestone
Cox's theatrical adaptation of a 300 year old tragedy written by one of Shakespeare's minions - exclusive from the B'Ham Film Festival(Limer)
Die Another Day (2002)
US; dir: Lee Tamahori;
Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Judy Dench
Possibly/hopefully Bond's last outing for some time as the franchise turns it's back on Britain & goes all Hollywood... (Limer)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
US; dir: Michael Moore;
Trey Stone, Marilyn Manson, Charlton Heston
Moore returns with a probing & thought-provoking insight into US gun culture & violence. (Limer)
One Night at McCool's (2002)
US; dir: Harald Zwart;
Matt Dillon, Liv Tyler, Andrew Dice Clay
Succinct, charming, playful, offbeat & damn funny (especially if you're into the Village People). (Limer)
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2002)
France; dir: Christophe Gans;
Hollywood: beat this! John Woo inspired Last of the Mohican's meets Romeo Must Die period horror romp. (Limer)
Sexy Beast (2001)
UK/Spain; dir: Jonathan Glazer;
Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley
Cult Brit gangster flick from the man who made THAT Guinness ad & THAT Levi's ad... (Limer)
Red Dragon (2002)
US; dir: Brett Rattner;
Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel
Pre-emptive strike & postmortem of possibly the most ludicrous idea for a remake ever... (Limer/Limer)
Thir13en Ghosts (2002)
US; dir: Steve Beck;
Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, F. Murray Abraham
More competent horror from the Silver/Zemeckis stable. (Limer)
28 Days Later (2002)
US; dir: Danny Boyle;
Decent British zombie flick from Trainspotting team feat deserted London streets! (Limer)
Road To Perdition (2002)
US; dir: Sam Mendes;
Tom Hanks & Sam Mendes - need we say more...? (Fogster)
Dogtown & Z-Boys (2002)
US; dir: Stacy Peralta;
Epic MTV-esque history of the 1970's Dogtown Zephyr Skate team who single handedly created the punk-skate phenomena we have today. (Limer)
Once Upon A Time in the Midlands (2002)
UK; dir: Shane Meadows;
Saviour of UK filmmaking's latest Nottingham based kitchen sink comedy... (Limer)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
US; dir: Doug Liman;
A remake that manages to be worse than the 3 hour TV movie original. (Limer)
Reign of Fire (2002)
US; dir: Rob Bowman;
Matthew McConnaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco
Dragons, castles, England & a post apocalyptic landscape: a soaring success that, on paper, sounds awful. (Limer)
Men In Black 2/8-Legged Freaks (2002) US;
dir:/;
Tommy Lee Jones/Kari Wuhrer, David Arquette, Tom Noonan
Two b-movies, one relatively successful, the other (feat. Smith & Jones) relatively awful. (Limer)
Resident Evil (2002)
US; dir: Paul W. S. Anderson;
Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Tim Henman
Welcome the world's first thrash metal movie... (Limer)
Minority Report (2002)
US; dir: Steven Spielberg;
Tom Cruise
Big Guns take on Philip K. Dick & produce best effort since Blade Runner. (Limer/Fogster)
Spiderman (2002)
US; dir: Sam Raimi;
Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe
Lukewarm adaptation of the beloved teenage comic-book misfit. (Limer/Fogster)
The Time Machine (2002)
US; dir: ;
Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons
Hatchet job editing & PG demands overshadow potentially exciting story & fantastic SFX sequences. (Limer)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
US; dir: George Lucas;
Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman, Temuera Morrison
A triumphant return to form for Lucas following the bitter disappointment of The Phantom Menace. (Limer)
The Panic Room (2002)
US; dir: David Fincher;
Jodie Foster, Forest Whittaker, Dwight Yoakam
Fight Club director's follow-up very much an Hitchcockian cat 'n' mouse as Jodie Foster fends off unwanted house guests. (Limer)
Collateral Damage (2002)
US; dir: Andrew Davis;
Arnie, Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo, John Turturro
He's back like he said he'd be but this time he's pissed off & fighting er, terrorists...again. (Limer)
Blade 2 (2002)
US; dir: Guillermo Del Toro;
Wesley Snipes, Ron Perlman
Lowest common denominator of video-game style exploitation that goes against everything that made the first film so great. (Limer)
Ali G InDaHouse (2002)
UK; dir: ;
Sacha Baron Cohen
Lowest common denominator of UK gross out that that goes against everything that made the TV series so great. (Limer)
Gosford Park (2002)
US; dir: Robert Altman;
Stephen Fry, etc
Darling to the stars Bob Altman comes across all prim & proper in his ode to Agatha Christie & our uptight English legacy. (Matt C)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
US; dir: Mark Pellington;
Richard Gere, Laura Linney
Genuinely frightening piece of X-plagiary that overcomes itself to give the Gere/Linney partnership another satisfying slap on the back. (Matt C)
From Hell (2002)
US; dir: The Hughes Brothers;
Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson, Ralph Ineson
Jack The Ripper gets the comic book treatment; slick story, dumb entertainment. (Limer)
Mulholland Drive (2002)
US; dir: David Lynch;
More dreamy madness & surreal mayhem as the master of all things odd turns his sights on the Hollywood dream. (Limer/Patrick T)
Training Day (2002)
US; dir: Antoine Fuqua;
Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke
Street spin on a classic noir thriller. (Limer)
Vanilla Sky (2002)
US; dir: Cameron Crowe;
Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Penelope Cruz
Conspiracy theory: Is the Cruise/Cruz on/offscreen romance a Hollywood PR stunt to disguise the resulting cinematic atrocity? (Matt C)
Enigma (2002)
US; dir: Michael Apted;
Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows
Confusing, confused tip of the hat to WW2 Bletchey Park codebreakers. (Limer)
Mean Machine (2002)
US; dir: ;
Vinnie Jones
Remake of the Burt Reynolds classic but with football & Vinnie Jones as the charismatic moustache. (Limer)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
US; dir: John Cameron Mitchell;
Trans-gender punk rock musical fantasy packed with daring, vision & er, songs. (Matt C)
Apocalypse Now REDUX (2001)
US; dir: Francis Ford Coppola;
Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Larry Fishburne, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford
The GREATEST film ever made is back...with nearly an hour of extra footage. (Limer)
Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
US; dir: Kevin Smith;
Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Shannon Elizabeth
The most outrageous film of the year - crass, funny, sick & homophobic! (Limer)
Scratch (2001)
US; dir: The Hughes Brothers;
DJ Shadow, DJ Qbert, Mixmaster Mike
Hughes Bros. return with an excellent peek in to the world of the turntablist. (Limer)
The Pledge (2001)
US; dir: Sean Penn;
Jack Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Robin Wright-Penn
More cine-poetic meanderings from Penn drawing fine performances from Nicholson, Del Toro, Rourke & Mirren. (Limer)
Ghost World (2001)
US; dir: Terry Zwigoff;
Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
Limer explodes the curious hype surrounding this much heralded indie favourite. (Limer)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
US; dir: Baz Luhrmann;
Nicole Kidman, Ewan MacGregor, John Leguizamo
Luhrmann's unrivalled modern pop epic fairytale love story tragedy. The Best Film of the Year! (Limer)
Ticker (2001)
US; dir: Albert Pyun;
Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Steven Seagal, Nas, Jaime Pressly, Ice T
Never, ever, see this movie - the reviews quite amusing though... (Limer)
Planet of the Apes (2001)/Crocodile Dundee in LA (2001)
US; dir: Tim Burton/;
Mark Walhberg/Paul Hogan
The two most anticipated and disappointing films of the summer. (Limer)
Cats & Dogs (2001)
US; dir: ;
Jeff Goldblum
Cats...dogs...pants! (Jay K)
Pay It Forward (2001)
US; dir: Mimi Leder;
Haley Jo Osmant, Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey, Jon Bon Jovi
Feel good hit of the summer? (Jay K)
Swordfish (2001) US;
dir: Dominic Sena;
John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Vinnie Jones
Travolta's big dumb anti-terrorism, pro-right-wing palavour now removed from cinemas for mentioning Osama Bin Laden. (Matt C)
Ginger Snaps (2001)
Canada; dir: John Fawcett;
Emily Perkins, Katherine Isabelle
Briefly clever female 'coming of age' teen werewolf shocker harking back to the 80's horror heyday. (Limer)
Best In Show (2001)
US; dir: Christopher Guest;
Parker Posey, Michael McKean
Spinal Tap with dogs. (Limer)
The Contenders: Series 7 (2001)
US; dir: Daniel Minahan;
Spot-on reality TV satire where contestants have to kill each other to progress to the next round. Indistinguishable from the real thing. (Limer)
Requiem for a Dream (2001)
US; dir: Darren Aronofsky;
Jennifer Connelly, Sean Gullette
Pi directors second film. Perfect. Harrowing. Sublime. Aronofsky is the best director on the Hollywod circuit at the moment. (Limer)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
US; dir: Stephen Sommers;
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Ferr
Enjoyable Indiana Jones style romp that relies on top-notch SFX to surpass it's dire original despite a shallow if complicated script & a finale monster created on a Commodore 64. (Matt C)
The Fast & The Furious (2000)/The Cannonball Run
US; dir: ; Vin Diesel/US; dir: ;
Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dean Martin, Jackie Chan
The lame and the tedious VS. one of the best race movies of all time. (Jay K)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
US/UK; dir: E. Elias Merhige;
John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Eddie Izzard, Cary Elwes
Loving homage to Nosferatu with a spellbounding Willem Dafoe as the all-too-real vampire and John Malkovich as fanatical German filmmaker F.W. Murnau intent on fulfilling his vision whatever the cost. (Limer)
Exit Wounds (2000)
US; dir: Andrzej Bartkowiak;
Steven Seagal, DMX, Tom Arnold
Assimilation of every action film of last 10 years thrown in with Seagal and the makers of Romeo Must Die. (Limer)
Brother (2000)
US/Japan; dir: Takeshi Kitano;
Beat Takeshi, Omar Epps
Americanization of earlier Kitano efforts Sonatine and Violent Cop. Yakuza gangster Aniki (Kitano) goes to the US to find his brother and begins a Godfather/Scarface-style rise to infamy. Loses it's style in the translation. (Limer).
Dark Days (2000)
US; dir: Marc Singer;
Is this the same Marc Singer who was in Beastmaster and V? B&W documentary detailing the lives of the inhabitants of New York's subterranean tunnel systems. Compelling viewing. (Limer)
Chopper (2000)
AUS; dir: Andrew Dominik;
Eric Bana
Often funny yet brutal dramatization of infamous (and celebrity) Australian gangster Mark 'Chopper' Read. (Limer)
Nurse Betty (2000)
US; dir: Neil LaBute;
Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock
LaBute's excellently played satire on the soap generation (Matt C).
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows (2000)
US; dir: ;
The inevitable sequel to the most hyped film of 2000 which is also one of those films you could never make a sequel to... (Matt C)
Felicia's Journey (1999)
UK/Canada/Eire; dir: Atom Egoyan;
Bob Hoskins
Egoyan's disturbing tale of cooking, immigration, first love & serial killers.
Bowfinger (1999)
US; dir: Frank Oz;
Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham
Witty take on guerilla filmmaking scripted by Martin with plenty of in-jokes as he sets about making 'Chubby Rain' with Murphy as it's reluctant star totally ignorant of his participation. (Limer)
Pi (1997)
US; dir: Darren Aronofsky;
Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Pamela Hart
Aronofsky's stunning first feature is a maths techno-fest that makes rivals & surpasses even Eraserhead. (Limer)
Walker (1987)
US; dir: Alex Cox;
Ed Harris, Xander Berkley, Peter Boyle
Scathing attack on US interventionism set in 19th century Nicaragua. A tour de force of punk filmmaking. (Limer)
Head (1967)
US; dir: Bob Rafelson;
The Monkees, Victor Mature, Jack Nicholson
The subversive, self-immolating, inspiration for MTV, Airplane! & David Lynch. "Channel-surfing on hallucinogenics". (Limer)
COMPLETE REVIEWS LIST (Chronological):