Slow-burning, eventually gripping Canadian study of gambling addiction starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. His bank clerk commits massive fraud to fund high-roller trips to Vegas and Atlantic City, while girlfriend Minnie Driver's left in the dark. As comeuppance looms nearer, Hoffman's a junkie for one more roll of the dice. Well worth a flutter.
Oh dear. This blue-chip Stephen King adaptation (written by William Goldman, directed by Lawrence Kasdan) starts well but then transforms into an unwatchable mess. One of those terrible movies you just have to see to figure out where it went wrong. Highlights: fine ensemble work from Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis, Jason Lee and Timothy Olyphant. Lowlight: Morgan Freeman's worst ever screen performance.
Angst on the farm in the debut from young French auteur Damien Odoul, a simultaneously harsh and dreamlike account of the coming of age of Pierre-Louis Bonnetblanc, a confused, alienated teen trapped on his uncle's dilapidated spread, where older farmhands introduce him to liquor and mannish ways, with ruinous results. Shot in pristine monochrome, it's a memorable experience, aiming, albeit a little self-consciously, toward a surreal poetry.
A collaborative highpoint for director Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Chris Doyle. Happy Together's account of two gay Hong Kongers (Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung) adrift in Buenos Aires is one of the most visually striking films ever made, sadly only denied masterpiece status by the vagaries of Wong's leisurely narrative pacing.
The cult of Michael Moore reaches back to '94 for his non-documentary debut, a satirical comedy about a PR-inspired American war with Canada that pushes all the Moore-ish buttons (rapid-fire jibes about corporate domination, hawkish Republicans, arms proliferation and conspiracy theories) while remaining alarmingly unfunny.
With swashbuckling swordplay now back in style thanks to Pirates Of The Caribbean and Master And Commander, what better time to revisit a creaking, many-times-remade, 1959 classic of the genre? Directed by André Hunnebelle and starring Jean Marais, it throws us into the crazy court of Louis XIV, where the cut and thrust of rivalries and flirtations matches that of the duelling blades.
Beautifully played, smartly directed low-key change of pace from Ridley Scott. Nic Cage plays a neurotic compulsive-obsessive grifter who has to deal with the unexpected arrival of his teenage daughter (Alison Lohman) as he and his partner (Sam Rockwell) prepare to pull off an elaborate con. It failed to ignite at the box office, but is well worth catching now.
The Merchant-Ivory formula finds a few new flavours in this picturesque cultureclash comedy. Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson play American sisters in Paris, stumbling as they try to adapt to the French mores regarding love, sex, family and money. Subplots include Matthew Modine cracking up convincingly. Elegant and urbane.
This tender 1986 romance is generally considered one of Eric Rohmer's finest films, though you have to be in the mood: it's as slow as it is gently touching. A lonely secretary (Marie Rivière, who co-wrote) holidays alone, fails for a while to meet anyone special, then possibly does. Eventually, its charm and delicacy—and underneath them, realism—get you where it counts.
