I remember on release critics trying to claim Gran Torino as the deconstruction of Eastwood's Dirty Harry character, in the same vein as Unforgiven was of The Man With No Name; however I have never seen the film in that way, to me, Gran Torino is Eastwood Melodrama, his male weepy. It is also the funniest film of his career.

It is obviously not a perfect film, Bee Vang does not give a particularly strong performance as Thao, it is…

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is an interesting film. However, that doesn't mean it is a good film. It is a great performance, from Maggie Smith, towering above a messy and mediocre plot.

The film, adapted from Judith Hearne by Brian Moore, is about middle-aged alcoholic woman who is overwhelmed by her loneliness, her pained turmoil with the church and with the men who ignore her. The novel was a favourite of Graham Greene, which doesn't surprise as the…

Gone Girl is a devilishly entertaing film, propelled by a sly script that plays serious but means hilarious, spiralled around two of the finest performances of the year; Ben Affleck subverting his square-jawed charm by focussing on his unusually untrustworthy face and Rosamond Pike attempting and succeeding at the perfect Hitchcock blonde, cold posion in champagne flute. It is the back and forth of a marriage, filmed like it is a thriller, but with the undertone of "aren't we all…

If there is a better American film from the 1970s than Blue Collar, then I haven't seen it. It is as political as All the President's Men. It is as funny as The Last Detail. It is as indignant as Network. It is as harsh as Taxi Driver. It is as energetic as Mean Streets . It is as nihilistic as Five Easy Pieces. It is as clear-eyed about industry as Chinatown. It is about the union and the bosses;…