Lincoln review

Directed by Steven SpielbergWritten by Tony Kushner, adapting Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns GoodwinI walked into Spielberg's newest historical epic expecting a handsome, serious and somewhat sentimental movie (thanks to the director's undeniable skill and irrepressible mushiness), beautiful to see (thanks to cinematographer Janusz Kaminski) with an acting clinic…Read More

Silver Linings Playbook review

Written and directed by David O RussellSelfishly, I think it's great to see talented writer/director Russell pick up his pace. The first movie of his I saw was the brilliant, anxious comedy Flirting With Disaster (his earlier, first feature film, Spanking the Monkey, remains unseen by me). FWD was in 1996. In '99 came Three…Read More

The Sessions review

Written and directed by Ben Lewin, based onan article written by Mark O'Brien in The Sun magazineA drama giving us a look into the lives of people who we don't see often on the big screen—the disabled—the tale told in The Sessions (when shooting it was entitled The Surrogate, but I suspect they changed that…Read More

Skyfall review

Directed by Sam Mendes Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan based on characters by Ian Fleming James Bond returns for the 23rd time (in an EON Productions film), the third time for Daniel Craig. Since he took the mantle of the most famous secret agent in the world (something of an obstacle…Read More

James Bond 007: The Pierce Brosnan Era

For years, even before he was Bond, Pierce Brosnan seemed a natural choice to have a licence to kill. The story is that he visited the set of For Your Eyes Only to see his wife Cassandra Harris, who was playing the Countess who is romanced by Roger Moore's James Bond. Producer "Cubby" Broccoli immediately…Read More

Flight review

Directed by Robert ZemeckisWritten by John GatinsFor the first time since 2000, when he had Cast Away and What Lies Beneath in cinemas, Zemeckis directs a live action drama. Originally a Spielberg acolyte, he's one of Hollywood's most reliable purveyors of widescreen entertainment. I certainly don't love all his work, but I can't deny the…Read More

Cloud Atlas review

Written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, from the David Mitchell novel I should confess right off the top that I haven't read the book, so am coming to this film fairly blank slate. But I was impressed by the achievement here, which maybe I shouldn't be given the pedigree of…Read More