Spellbound
Documentry following 8 contestants in the American national spelling bee.Nice to see accademic (?) prowess valued in a culture we tend to associate with pop muppets and sports scolarships but the amount of coaching some of these kids go through is scary. still the tension builds towards the inevitable climax. just two contestants left. One is 'our girl' the other a similarly nerdy character who the camera has failed to follow. who will win...

Intolerable Cruelty
Coen brothers foray into RomCom is set in the world of divorce lawyers and gold-diggers. Great comedey moments including the sight gag of at the conference of the National association of Matriomonial attourneys nationwide (let NOMAN put assunder!). Can anyone explain why they changed the lyrics of "the Boxer" to 'just a come on from the GIRLS on seventh avenue' but then used the word whores (as in the origianal) in the next scene? ok i am a sad Simon and Garfunkel fan

All the Real Girls
Disapointing tale of love against the background of friends disaproval and the general despondency of living in a small town. Some pretty shots of the american countryside though

Spirited Away
surreal japanese animation. Looked beautiful and lacking the cheesyness associated with disney/pixar etc.

Goodbye Lenin
German comedy about protecting dying mother from the news that Communism has fallen in East Berlin. As the film develops and the pranks needed to keep up the pretense get more and more bizzare I wondered what the point of prolonging someone's life is if it is in a false reality anyway. However the film is pretty good fun despite this flaw and the obvious continutity error by the wardrobe department. Matrix Tshirt, 1989?

Whale Rider
Beautiful coming of age drama set in a Maori community. This could also double as a New zealand tourist board advert of greenpeace campaign video, but the basic story of intergenerational misunderstandings and disappointments also works.

Buffolo Soldiers
This Dark comedy/drama about the perils of peace time military service had its distribution delayed due to Spetember 11th and then the War in Iraq (does it have a name yet?). The wait was worth it. Taught me more than I ever wanted to know about making crack cocaine. I could have doen with out the sugay ending but then I am Bitter adn twisted and think the everyone dies option is always a good choice.

Taxi Driver
I had seen this before when I was about 17, possibly my first 18 movie (god I was sheltered). Showing a very different side of New york to the jazz age inspired Woody allen movies, it still felt more of an atmospheric piece than an blockbusting story.

Yojimbo
Better than the Seven Samuri if only because it is less than 4 hours long. Beautifully shot in Black and white with lots of rain/wind. It seems I am getting better at coping with japanese speech patterns

Billy Liar
It is very strange watching a film about British teenagers in the late 50s. Lacking the glam of american rock and roll or the debourchery of the 60s free love generation the film feels a bit like an old episode of Coronation street. I am sure it has deep things to tell us about growing up, responsibilty, taking risks and living in dream worlds but I guess I'll remeber it for the sublime Julie Christie and the bizarre military sequences

The big sleep
Film Noir except it isn't (film course again, apparently too big budget, too much light relief and a romantic ending rules it out). I am still not quite sure what exactly was going on (have since bought the book to find out) but it felt good

Citizen Kane
This was rather spoiled for me by knowing the revelation at the end but not having a clue what the rest of the film was going to be about. Beautiful cinematography (well I saw it as part of my film course so I was looking out for that kind of thing) and an intriguing story lead to a masterful movie. not quite the best film ever made but still very good

Igby goes down
Maculay Culkin's brother grows up, Claire Dane's reverts to type with and punky student, and Jeff Goldblumn gets to smarm with the best of them. Amusing story of dysfunctional familys, teenage rebellion and growing up. nothing amazing but a nice diversion for a quite saturday afternoon.

Lila 4 ever
infinitely bleaker than Moodyson's previous works, together and fucking amal/show me love. Great choice of soundtrack to accompany this tale of life in post soviet USSR. Bizare use of languages (did it realy use Russian Swedish and English or did I imagine that). Not a film to watch alone a long way from your friends (oops) but very interesting, thought provoking and well made.

Johnny English
Rowan Atkinson gets to try on the spoof James Bond tuxedo after Woody Allen and Mike Myres have had their turn. Full of hairbrain schemes that we know are bound to fail fom the start (as we would expect from the star of Blackadder and Bean) but it was pretty amusing for a wet easter weekend, I am not sure why they bother making real bond movies anymore the spoofs are soo much more fun!

Bowling for Columbine
Oscar winning documentry detailing the idocy of American view on guns, He makes some interesting points on how american news reports violence and how high schools treat pupils (bowling for PE class sounds a much better than netball to me) and managed to convince KMart that selling bullets next to processed cheese wasn't a good idea but it is probably worth it for the south park-esque history of America in 3 minutes.

Magdelaine Sisters
Fairly disturbing dramatisation of the exploitation of 'fallen women' in Ireland. Well acted and rivetting to the end I still was left with a feeling that this as something I should have watched on channel four rather than at the cinema. The pope has apparently banned all catholics from seeing this movie, a good reason to buy a ticket in my book.

Once upon a Time in the Midlands
all your favourite british character actors, a story of love and loss, a country music singing cowboy in central England and a marriage proposal life on a Trisha-esque talk show. what more could you want? well quite a lot probably but this was a fairly amuzing way to spend a few hours and remind you that the British film industry does ocassionally make films that don't involve Hugh Grant look bashful or Vinne Jones looking mean.