Film Reviews by Steve

Caper film about a heist carried out by street magicians is exciting until, typical of illusion, it all falls apart when the trick is explained, upon which it becomes a frustratingly idiotic anticlimax. Maybe worthwhile for the ride, but be prepared to be hugely disappointed.

Handsome, touristic (set in Greece), leisurely psychological thriller is well acted and well set up, but suffers for lack of an interesting conclusion. Good for enthusiasts of Patricia Highsmith. Better watch the similar Plein Soleil with Alain Delon.

Shallow and rather voyeuristic indie from the point of view of a kidnapped mother and son is probably a sincere recreation, but has little to say, and fails to follow though on its ideas. Well acted by Brie Larson, who deserved a better script.

Starts off with a nostalgic recreation of seventies dystopian post nuclear event films, but Saoirse Ronan's alienated teen lead made it difficult to care.

Very long, poorly scripted, pointless revisionist western. I'm still angry. Maybe ok for lovers of gratuitous violence.

Utterly ridiculous, implausible melodrama somehow crosses Fame with Full Metal Jacket. Works a bit if you find some elements of allegory in what is at face value an unbelievable situation. Well made (hence three stars) but not actually worth making.

James Franco, what have you done. You were in 127 Hours. You were great.... But this... Obviously a heavy amount of money was thrown at this piece of US religious right propaganda, in which a load of actors playing frat-jocks and nerds/etc get to meet their maker for having sinned. The stars rather smugly play themselves as stars, but that's the least of its problems. One day, will they have to answer for this?

All horror films ask you the same question. Is it right that I should be watching people reenact suffering and fear for my own entertainment? Good horror films leaven this guilt with intelligence, imagination and sensitivity. This piece of trash just offered torture for it's own sake, just to push the experience of screen brutality that little bit further. With no reward. Just the sensation of humanity bumping along the bottom of the extremes of possible depravity.

Time travel film for computer engineers, surely proves that not everything that notionally make sense in a flow diagram is a suitable subject for a cinema release, and really, a multiverse what-if film too far. The talented Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Bruce Willis, chase versions of themselves through the future. There was a memorable scene in a field of corn that made me wish I was watching North by Northwest.

Bleeding obvious culture shock comedy in which Simon Pegg plays a tough city cop (see, it's already not working) sent to a rural village in order to stop annoying everyone, and to be teamed up with slowpoke yokel Nick Frost. What follows is at the level of obviousness suggestive of late period French and Saunders, with a slow motion gunfight a key nadir. Two bloody hours long!

Or the death of feminism. Playmate gets kicked out of Hefner's mansion for being too old. She moves into a University sorority house occupied only by plain looking girls and teaches them how to be babes. A Pygmalion for the end of civilisation. It seems a little harsh to be cruel to a film that Anna Faris dieted so hard for, but really, her fab waistline is this film's only saving grace.

A classic that changed the way films look. A hyper-kinetic, friction free ride through three decades of gang conflict in a Rio slum. If only those who it influenced could make a film half as authentic, creative and intelligent as this. Its plot actually evokes Manhattan Melodrama (1934) which feels right; this is a classic crime film, for the ages.

Relationship drama, loosely constructed around the investigation into the death of a young women, is an atmospheric mood piece about the sadness and loneliness of the city (Sydney). A contemporary film noir. Features a wonderful cast (Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey...) and an unusual, original plot twist.

Herzog investigates the life of Timothy Treadwell, a conflicted loner who had spun some minor celebrity out of his close cohabitation with grizzly bears in Alaska; and he and his girlfriend's death by them. A story of two obsessives, Treadwell and the dry, inquisitive Herzog, with a brilliant narration from the director.

Documentary (with extensive reenactments) about the extraordinary experiences of two mountaineers. At first I I was alienated by the prospect of watching two rather smug Brits talk about extreme leisure activities. Then I was transfixed by a journey into the heart of an amazing fight to survive.