Reviews by James Benefield

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Some Guy Who Kills People (2011)

  Review preview for Some Guy Who Kills People

  Kevin Corrigan holds it all together with a brooding, anxious performance.

  Released from an asylum, a young man struggles to rebuild his life, but he's still threatened by the high school bullies who caused his breakdown. It's time to make them pay.
• 
  Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut (2008)

  Review preview for Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut

  Adds up to an almost magical experience.

  Kubrick-inspired animated pop video.
• 
  Samson And Delilah (2009)

  Review preview for Samson And Delilah

  The movie works by getting under your skin in ways that you only realise when the situation turns sour.

  Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, sees an Aboriginal couple drawn together after tragedy strikes.
• 
  Sea Of Love (1989)

  Review preview for Sea Of Love

  What the film does well is to provide an air of sheer unpredictability.

  A detective hunting a serial killer pursues a suspect by dating her, but finds himself falling in love.
• 
  Skin (2008)

  Review preview for Skin

  The film's power is found in its shades of grey and its tight focus.

  A youngster falls in with a neo-Nazi crowd.
• 
  Sleeper (1973)

  Review preview for Sleeper

  Flippant, clever and packed full of intelligence.

  After going into hospital for minor surgery, a health store owner awakens in a strange future world.
• 
  Small Time (1996)

  Review preview for Small Time

  We never feel the director dislikes or looks down on his characters; even at these people's most asinine or unpleasant moments, they're graced with light and shade, horror and warmth.

  A gang of small town criminals engage in petty crime.
• 
  Soul Boy (2010)

  Review preview for Soul Boy

  It is formulaic, but it's also bursting with conviction and insight.

  A boy goes in search of his father's lost soul.
• 
  Speed (1994)

  Review preview for Speed

  A heart-in-your-mouth experience.

  A blackmailer places a bomb on a bus. The bomb will explode if the bus slows down.
• 
  The Stressful Adventures Of Boxhead And Roundhead - Brothers In Arms (2008)

  Review preview for The Stressful Adventures Of Boxhead And Roundhead - Brothers In Arms

  Although it’s unique and the animation style interesting and effective in conveying its subject matter, there doesn’t seem to be quite enough substance to sustain the running time.

  The peace and quiet of B and R is shattered by the advent of war.
• 
  Swimming With Sharks (1994)

  Review preview for Swimming With Sharks

  Spacey is served by some wonderful lines, which could have come from a bloody pen of Satan.

  A frustrated studio assistant attempts to exact a violent revenge on his bullying boss.
• 
  Surviving Georgia (2011)

  Review preview for Surviving Georgia

  When the film's romantic and more cathartic strands start to emerge half way through, it nestles into the perfect smug of the sentimental and jagged edges the film previously creates for itself.

  The arrival of matching letters from their estranged mother Georgia turns the worlds of sisters Heidi and Rose upside down.
• 
  Surviving Life (2010)

  Review preview for Surviving Life

  The gradual slip into tragedy in the film's last few reels offer up a reeling pathos rare in a Svankmajer picture.

  Eugene prefers a life of dreams to everyday reality in surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer's extension of one of his own dreams.
• 
  The Time Traveller's Wife (2009)

  Review preview for The Time Traveller's Wife

  No more than fleetingly touching, rather than achingly romantic.

  A woman falls in love with a man who spontaneously travels in time.
• 
  Trailer Park Of Terror (2008)

  Review preview for Trailer Park Of Terror

  The decent cast, the unusual soundtrack and the imaginatively sadistic set pieces are all good value for money.

  A bus load of high school kids stumble upon a trailer park full of blood-thirsty zombies.
• 
  Thelma, Louise And Chantal (2010)

  Review preview for Thelma, Louise And Chantal

  This is the movie Sex And The City should have been.

  Three women discover shared passions and form a powerful bond as they go on a road trip together to an ex-boyfriend's wedding.
• 
  Urbania (2000)

  Review preview for Urbania

  Takes a while to settle down into a comfortable, consistent tone, however, it's wonderfully unpredictable.

  A lost soul wanders the streets of New York looking for a mysterious stranger.
• 
  Viva (2007)

  Review preview for Viva

  The film’s playful innocence seems somewhat cold and calculated.

  A frustrated housewife decides to explore her wild side in this sexploitation spoof.
• 
  Warlords (2007)

  Review preview for Warlords

  Although far too narratively dense to become the international crossover hit this is nevertheless a fairly engaging, visually sumptuous film.

  Nineteenth century battle epic about blood brothers who find their bond is tested.
• 
  Whisky With Vodka (2009)

  Review preview for Whisky With Vodka

  It's the sense of claustrophobia, and the tension emanating from it, which are key to the film's success.

  Dry comedy about the drunken antics of a past-his-prime star, which threaten to derail his latest movie.
• 
  The Woman In The Fifth (2011)

  Review preview for The Woman In The Fifth

  There's half of a good film here, but Pawlikowski approaches his material in a way that undermines the rationale and our perception of the film's third act.

  While in Paris an academic meets a woman who may be involved in a series of mysterious murders.
• 
  Without You (2008)

  Review preview for Without You

  It has no plot, dialogue or characters, yet is completely entrancing for its entire duration.

  Exploration of London's industrial suburbia.