Reviews by Donald Munro

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Shaolin Martial Arts (1974)

  Review preview for Shaolin Martial Arts

  Shaolin Martial Arts is characterised by Chang Cheh's trademark use of fast pans, tilts, pushes and pulls, superbly choreographed but overlong fight scenes and some fairly gentle comedy.

  When the ruling dynasty in China sends soldiers to destroy the Shaolin Temple, students use their martial arts to defend the school.
• 
  Shatter Belt (2023)

  Review preview for Shatter Belt

  Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

  A collection of interconnected stories that follow the mysteries surrounding awareness, intention, desire, free will, and the uncanny nature of consciousness.
• 
  Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011)

  Review preview for Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

  Released for the Christmas audience, this film does have a touch of the pantomime about it.

  Holmes and Watson confront a nefarious plot that threatens world stability.
• 
  Stoner (1974)

  Review preview for Stoner

  Stoner has all the pieces in place for a really fun Hong Kong action flick.

  Two cops acting outside their jurisdictions team up to bust a drug lord.
• 
  Straw Dogs (2011)

  Review preview for Straw Dogs

  Everything that was wrong with the original is wrong with the remake. Everything that was right with the original is wrong with the remake too.

  Remake sees a couple under siege in an isolated farmhouse.
• 
  Strongroom (1962)

  Review preview for Strongroom

  Sewell's camera is claustrophobic. The lens is in the actors' personal space, the interiors are dark and shadowy.

  A bank robbery goes awry, the manager and cashier locked in vault. The robbers return after a failed rescue attempt, racing against time to free the hostages before police arrive.
• 
  Subway (1985)

  Review preview for Subway

  It is about the counterpointing of the popular with the stuffiness of well respected art, the harsh cold fluorescent light of the Metro station with the more humane darkness of the interconnecting conduits and forgotten spaces.

  A thief stumbles on a Parisian subculture after he robs a house and takes the loot into the Paris Metro.
• 
  Supervixens (1975)

  Review preview for Supervixens

  As the film progresses so does the level of farce and surreality. The mundane is juxtaposed with the ridiculous and there is a deliberate subversion of narrative flow.

  Clint Ramsey must quit his job at Martin Bormann's gas station and flee after his wife is killed by psychopathic cop Harry Sledge, who tries to pin the murder on him.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series Four (1978)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series Four

  The stories become more sensational. The writing is still there but they seem less grounded than those in the first three series.

  The fourth series about hard-edged detectives in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series One (1975)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series One

  Subtextually The Sweeney is about police corruption and malpractice. On the surface it stays withing the broadcasting code of the time.

  Jack Regan and George Carter are hard-edged detectives in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. They pursue villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal, frequently violent and - more often than not - successful.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series Two (1975)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series Two

  A few of the episodes have a more comic tone than any in the first season.

  Jack Regan and George Carter return as the hard-edged detectives from the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. They pursue villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal, frequently violent and - more often than not - successful.
• 
  The Sweeney - The Complete Third Series (1976)

  Review preview for The Sweeney - The Complete Third Series

  By series three the formula, now tried and tested, is, for the most part, followed. But there are changes.

  The Flying Squad takes a third turn around the block.
• 
  Tokyo Tribe (2014)

  Review preview for Tokyo Tribe

  Like rap without rhythm, Tokyo Tribes is missing something vital: plot and characters.

  Hybrid of Yakuza gang action and hip-hop musical.
• 
  Triple 9 (2016)

  Review preview for Triple 9

  The film is confused about what it is trying to be - is it a high octane thriller, a gritty police drama or a tragedy? It certainly isn't all three.

  A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
• 
  Taken 2 (2012)

  Review preview for Taken 2

  There is a lot of action but it is tame, predictable and repetitious.

  Ex-CIA man Bryan finds himself taken hostage by a man bent on revenge.
• 
  There's Something In The Barn (2023)

  Review preview for There's Something In The Barn

  The script is funny and knowing but it wavers between a straight out kids' movie and horror aimed at an older teenage audience.

  An American family fulfils their dream of moving back to the old country after inheriting a remote cabin in the mountains of Norway.
• 
  The Three Musketeers (2011)

  Review preview for The Three Musketeers

  The characters in the film are very much 2D.

  The Musketeers of legend must unite to thwart an evil plot that threatens to plunge Europe into war.
• 
  The Tournament (1974)

  Review preview for The Tournament

  The driving narrative has been parked in a garage, covered in a tarp and forgotten about.

  Protection money is 'owed' to a gangster. A disastrous attempt to win the money in a kickboxing tournament shames kung-fu. Two students of the art travel to Bangkok to regain its honour.
• 
  Tower Heist (2011)

  Review preview for Tower Heist

  Tower Heist hangs on its fast pacing, its glossy look and the performances of the actors.

  When a group of hard working guys find out they've fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.
• 
  The Traveller (2019)

  Review preview for The Traveller

  Cantona is a good choice of lead. He has the presence to be able to just be still or just be quiet.

  A detective travels around France investigating cases which nobody has been able to solve.
• 
  The Unborn (2009)

  Review preview for The Unborn

  The script is bland and unimaginative, giving the actors little room to give personality to their characters.

  A young woman is gradually possessed by a malignant spirit that has haunted her family since her grandmother was in a concentration camp.
• 
  Les Vampires (1915)

  Review preview for Les Vampires

  Feuillades indoor sets are still cluttered but outside he makes more use of the openness and of the trappings of modernity: the car, the train, the tram, the movie theatre.

  An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
• 
  Vixen! (1968)

  Review preview for Vixen!

  Exaggerated acting and an over-the-top script keep the darker elements of the film from being upsetting. It gets its social message across whilst maintaining a light and vigorous tone.

  An everyday story of a bisexuual nymphomaniac from the Russ Meyer stables.
• 
  War Horse (2011)

  Review preview for War Horse

  A good yarn well paced and well made.

  A young man signs us to try and stay close to his beloved horse during World War One.
• 
  The Watch (2012)

  Review preview for The Watch

  Can anything save this film? No.

  Members of a neighbourhood watch scheme attempt to see off an alien invasion.
• 
  Weapons Of Death (1977)

  Review preview for Weapons Of Death

  Caiano's expertise at directing action in westerns really comes to the fore.

  A police commissioner tries to bring a gangster to justice as the kingpin's out-of-control crimes set even his own underworld allies against him.
• 
  Winter Of The Crow (2025)

  Review preview for Winter Of The Crow

  As a director Adamik is good when it is close up and claustrophobic.

  A psychiatry professor gets caught up in Poland's instigation of martial law during a trip to Warsaw and ends up in a cat-and-mouse chase to escape.
• 
  WW2 - Saving Norway's Gold (2022)

  Review preview for WW2 - Saving Norway's Gold

  It is not just the bare facts that are explored but the personalities of those who were involved. Throughout there are little touches of comic flair.

  A documentary series about how the Norwegian government, through a covert operation, managed to smuggle 49 tons of gold out of the country during Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway in April 1940.
• 
  X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

  Review preview for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

  If you read the comics you are probably used to shaky continuity but it shouldn't be this way in a film.

  An exploration of the origins of X-men mutant Wolverine.
• 
  Young Adult (2011)

  Review preview for Young Adult

  The script by Diablo Cody is a real gem, painful and darkly funny throughout.

  Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.
• 
  Yakuza Wolf (1972)

  Review preview for Yakuza Wolf

  With its sensationalist approach it is always trying to out do its predecessors.

  The son of a murdered crime boss exacts his revenge by pitting two rival clans against each other.
• 
  Yakuza Wolf 2: Extend My Condolences (1972)

  Review preview for Yakuza Wolf 2: Extend My Condolences

  The latter two thirds of the film are a perfectly paced sequence of fights and interludes.

  A lonely, clifftop mansion is attacked in no-holds barred massacre.
• 
  Yojimbo (1961)

  Review preview for Yojimbo

  Kurosawa's masterful synthesis doesn't stop with the script. He weaves a late Edo period samurai film, in its painstaking historic detail, into modernity.

  A mysterious ronin finds his services are popular in a town where two gangs are trying to wipe each other out.
• 
  Zen And Sword (1961)

  Review preview for Zen And Sword

  Musashi is no American action hero. He does not need a kidnapped daughter of murdered wife to justify violence. All he needs is becoming spiritually one with the sword.

  An adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji's biography of Miyamoto Musashi, swordsman and author of the Book Of Five Rings, who fights his way through many opponents while developing his philosophy of swordsmanship.