Search: Starring John

Flawed and tired without being completely unwatchable.

A cool, classic and creative action picture.

Slippery in terms of genre and form, the writer/director’s satire puts all his characters and, by extension, us under close scrutiny.

Strong leading performances and a handful of beautifully crafted scenes sit sit by side with much clunkier and more derivative material.

Digger is not a film that invites fence sitting.

It is part of Aussie tradition to kick the livings out of convention, in this case gangster flicks.

Ever cursed to wear a half-sealed translucent franju-esque mask that makes her scars even more visible, Jade is a single mother and an acid attack survivor.

Dirty Harry helps usher in a series of nihilist American thrillers that typified the 1970s.

Saturated as it is with unreliability and delusion, this is a film that relies heavily on atmosphere to keep viewers involved.

Distorted probably isn't the stepping stone back to stardom that Ricci needs, but her performance in it demonstrates why she still deserves to be seen as a serious contender.

We get to witness the birth of a new genre and are confronted with a violent American history that Hollywood fictions have previously not dared to tackle.

The film's restraints work in its favour, forcing all involved to deliver their best work and serving up some serious chills in the process.

It is the fear of the stigma, the unknown and the misinformation about HIV that Doin’ My Drugs makes its predominant mission to correct - a society where people can be open about their status, and more importantly one where they no longer fear being teste

Although beautifully photographed in rich locations, the film reverts to thriller cliches.

I think this is the best film made about the Mafia.

It's not exactly thought-provoking, but there is a teasing intelligence on display.

Belief is beggared and patience exhausted.

If you like your cinema challenging, uncomfortable, exciting and enlightening, check this out.

The madness and the badness is everywhere - the dangerous and the foolish

Constantly chilling and never less than eerie, this first colour outing for Vlad is undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares.

Long, slow and at times painful.

Although the film is played straight, there's a soap opera style edge of camp to it which mitigates against anyone taking it too seriously.

There's also enough mystery retained to allow a viewer the satisfaction of perhaps being just a moment or two ahead of the film's revelations without making them either overly obvious or obscure.

Sir Sean's blend of masculine charm and cold professionalism make him the perfect 007.

The Dukes Of Hazzard is what-you-see-is-what-you-has.

This film just flounders from one uninspired location to the next, with set-pieces that could be interesting were they not handled in such a ham-fisted fashion.

What the movie does best is gore and ickiness.

Dead Shadows is very much a case of style over substance.

Subjects as intriguing as this aren't always very interesting on camera. Dealt gets lucky.

Pretty much the first thing we see is one of the bikers grinding his hog's spinning rear wheel into the corpse of a dead nun, the blood drenching the spokes.

Darkly, grimly funny in places.

A sterling, if uncinematic adaptation, without pretence or frippery which could dilute the potency of performances or writing.

Death Sentence is a gritty throwback to the films of the Seventies like Death Wish, and it has you rooting all the way for this ordinary man to dish out his own brand of justice.

You cannot begin to understand what's going on, or not going on

Suture, have avoided every cliche of film noir.

The story is tragic, at times heartbreaking, always enthralling, never dull and ultimately ironic.

It is impossible to be down on the film when the many songs radiate such wit and style and keep the whole show rolling.

Plot holes, illogical moments and a general feel of immaturity bog it down.

This is a grown-up film not ashamed to ask its audience to think rather than mindlessly emote.

Lang's elegant expressionist imagery provides continuity and Dagover brings soul to her four characters, making them distinct yet connected through their passion.

This is gross-out without the gags (other than the stomach-churning variety).

The performances are brave; the script is not

For the first hour or so of its runtime, Devil's Gate smoulders with tension, piling on one horror after another as its spins out its central mystery.

Daniel's music is heard throughout, adding immeasurable depth to his story.

As hackneyed as the plot may be, the film remains engaging if not exactly riveting throughout.

Hitchcock's genius reveals itself in the way he can work with actors and the way he can build a narrative.

Like the best comedy, it's both wilfully stupid and deceptively clever, pushing buttons you may not expect.