Reviews by Scott Macdonald

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Almost Famous (2000)

  Review preview for Almost Famous

  An immaculate little prayer for the youth and creators of our time.

  Autobiography of a suburban Californian boy's rites of passage.
• 
  Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1982)

  Review preview for Blade Runner: The Director's Cut

  It is among the most unwavering make-believe worlds I have ever seen in cinema... I can only wish the film's story lingered anywhere near as much as it's artistry.

  Rick Deckard is a Blade Runner, an elite cop trained to hunt down and ‘retire’ rogue replicants, android beings designed to be ‘…more human than human’.
• 
  Alien (1979)

  Review preview for Alien

  Scott wrings out every last drop of suspense from the film.

  Ridley Scott's fabulously frightening grimy spaceship classic.
• 
  Gretchen (2006)

  Review preview for Gretchen

  [Collins'] story and screenwriting need a lot of work - at present, they resemble a collection of strung together sketches.

  An awkward teenager seeks revenge for a broken heart.
• 
  Mr Pilipenko And His Submarine (2006)

  Review preview for Mr Pilipenko And His Submarine

  The subject probably lends itself to a better short than feature film.

  A wet-behind-the-ears sea captain and his obsession.
• 
  Someone Else (2006)

  Review preview for Someone Else

  The film feels real, and of the moment.

  A young man struggles to do the right thing after falling in love with someone other than his girlfriend.
• 
  Special (2006)

  Review preview for Special

  The cool, detached, yet paranoid tone is impressively held, both through visual design and music, until around halfway through.

  An unexpected reaction to medication persuades an ordinary man that he's developing superpowers.
• 
  Superman Returns (2006)

  Review preview for Superman Returns

  Clever writing by Singer, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. It's also the finest popular entertainment since King Kong.

  The Man of Steel returns to save lives - but can he salvage his own?
• 
  Election (2005)

  Review preview for Election

  The most interesting characters, ironically, are those with the least screen time.

  The power struggle of a Triad election in Hong Kong.
• 
  Down In The Valley (2005)

  Review preview for Down In The Valley

  I was no longer watching a story about people. I was watching an uninvolving exercise in cross pollination of themes and story constructs.

  A pure love story goes dark in the shadow of the gun.
• 
  When A Stranger Calls (2006)

  Review preview for When A Stranger Calls

  Driven to the edge, where sentences silently suicide, this uneventful, thoughtless and infantile pap has beaten me.

  Babysitter is stalked by mysterious phone caller.
• 
  Mission: Impossible III (2006)

  Review preview for Mission: Impossible III

  In MiIII, the plot is just a waiting game of follow-the-breadcrumbs.

  The Ethan Hunt franchise gets personal, while chasing a psychopathic arms dealer half way round the globe.
• 
  Freedomland (2006)

  Review preview for Freedomland

  Freedomland attempts to touch as many storytelling bases... as possible and misses the respective targets by miles.

  A kidnapping in Jersey uncovers personal demons.
• 
  Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)

  Review preview for Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

  An often delightful and entertaining essay on the anthropology of heavy metal.

  An enthusiast for the music delves wrist deep into the dark corners of heavy metal.
• 
  Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul (2005)

  Review preview for Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul

  A superb and impassioned documentary.

  The diverse and surprising scope of modern Turkish music sympathetically explored.
• 
  Final Destination 3 (2006)

  Review preview for Final Destination 3

  The film is unnecessary, crude and unrefined, but takes its place in the entertainment black hole that is Friday night, as the cinematic equivalent of a fried Mars bar.

  Third time unlucky for the youthful victims of G Reaper, Esq
• 
  Lady Vengeance (2005)

  Review preview for Lady Vengeance

  Park's delicious sense of storytelling doesn't take long in presenting itself and the humour, as you might expect, is of the gallows variety.

  Revenge is ugly and intricately planned in South Korea. Now out to own as part of the Vengeance Trilogy box set.
• 
  The Matador (2005)

  Review preview for The Matador

  It is hard not to be entertained.

  The last fling of a burned out hitman and his uncommon friendship with a failing businessman.
• Point Pleasant: The Complete Season (2005)

  Review preview for Point Pleasant: The Complete Season

  One of those hideous television guilty pleasures.

  Is the girl, saved from drowning, the daughter of the Devil and will the good people of Point Pleasant change her for the better?
• 
  Frozen (2005)

  Review preview for Frozen

  [Henderson] holds this difficult movie together in a powerhouse performance of quiet steel.

  Searching for a lost sister. Debut feature that blends mystery, horror and filial bonding.
• 
  Rumor Has It (2005)

  Review preview for Rumor Has It

  I could count the intentional chuckles on one hand and still have enough fingers to check my watch.

  The Graduate - 20 years on? Or boring and uneventful rubbish.
• Underworld: Evolution (2006)

  Review preview for Underworld: Evolution

  The much promised rubbery rumpy-pumpy raises laughs, instead of passion.

  The vicious mythology of wars between Vampires and Lycans continues.
• 
  The Truth (2006)

  Review preview for The Truth

  Co-writer/director George Milton keeps a solid hand on the tone, if not the script.

  Darkly comic self-help murder mystery in the Scottish Highlands.
• 
  Just Like Heaven (2005)

  Review preview for Just Like Heaven

  A love story that, despite my sincerest cynicism, allowed me to invest for the slender 90-minute runtime.

  Ghostly love story that explores the difference between bumping into furniture and walking through walls
• 
  Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

  Steve Martin's slide into cash-grabbing continues..
• 
  Merry Christmas (2005)

  Review preview for Merry Christmas

  The script's immaturity compares to a high school short story, serving to dilute the true stories.

  A recreation of the 1914 Christmas truce in the trenches during the first winter of World War One.
• 
  Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)

  Review preview for Grave Of The Fireflies

  It is one of the most shattering anti-war movies ever made, a masterpiece so deeply sad and unrelenting that some may find it hard to watch.

  Isao Takahata's fiercely beautiful anti-war animated classic. Out for 25th anniversary re-release.
• 
  The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

  Review preview for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

  It is a red-blooded, beautiful and brilliant fantasy film, as quintessentially English as Wallace & Gromit.

  In a magic kingdom beyond the wardrobe four children, with a lion's army, do battle with a white witch.
• 
  The Polar Express (2004)

  Review preview for The Polar Express

  The film has the stunning look of a living, breathing three-dimensional oil painting... visually majestic.

  A sceptical boy rides on a magic train to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Out on re-issue.
• 
  Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005)

  Review preview for Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

  This is an entertaining enough movie, although there are missed opportunities.

  It's darker now and Voldemort is close. Can Harry triumph at the Tri-wizard Tournament and save the world?
• 
  Titanic (1997)

  Review preview for Titanic

  It wears its heart on its sleeve, with pride, and delivers exactly what it promises - a startlingly realised film, an extravaganza for the eyes, ears and the heart.

  An epic disaster movie, with added passion and icebergs. Re-released for its 25th anniversary.
• 
  The Fly (1986)

  Review preview for The Fly

  An intriguing science-fiction movie, a solid and believable romance, a meditation on disease and mortality, and a superb monster movie.

  A scientist invents a teleportation device, but accidentally splices his DNA with that of a housefly when testing it.
• 
  Back To The Future Trilogy (2005)

  Review preview for Back To The Future Trilogy

  Each of the films in all their glory.

  Box set release of the time-travel trilogy.
• 
  Back To The Future (1985)

  Review preview for Back To The Future

  A treat, written and directed to a heartfelt formula of universal appeal.

  A time travel classic of supreme comic invention, involving Marty McFly, a mad scientist and a DeLorean motorcar.
• 
  Nathan Barley (2005)

  Review preview for Nathan Barley

  Its first two episodes suffer from a lethargic lack of quality drama and comedy, but from episode three onwards, it digs its heels in and occasionally stuns with cleverly observed satire.

  TV sitcom that satirises celebrity media types and pretentious art.
• 
  Into The Blue (2005)

  Review preview for Into The Blue

  The appeal of the film is as obvious and as shallow as Alba-in-a-bikini and Walker's chiselled six-pack.

  Underwater treasure evokes a moral dilmma for fit diver.
• 
  A History Of Violence (2005)

  Review preview for A History Of Violence

  The unique signature of the film is its stunning mood, created by Peter Suschitzky's cinematography and the uniform excellence of the cast.

  Violence begets violence in a study of retribution and small town defiance.
• 
  Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

  Review preview for Howl's Moving Castle

  Miyazaki finally frustrates.

  A magical tale in a troubled kingdom on the brink of war.
• 
  4 (2004)

  Review preview for 4

  It's a far more interesting movie to think about than to watch.

  An enigmatic story of modern Russia, given the flavour of myth.
• 
  The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2004)

  Review preview for The Beat That My Heart Skipped

  Jacques Audiard's film isn't intended as a replacement for Toback's wild-eyed and masterly [Fingers], but rather a deliberately assured take on the same material.

  A young heavy, following in his father's violent footsteps yearns for something more.
• 
  A Bittersweet Life (2005)

  Review preview for A Bittersweet Life

  All it does is liberally steal pieces from superior films and cobble them together without realising just why those movies worked.

  A tale of revenge, infidelity and gangland warfare in South Korea.
• 
  The Sun (2004)

  Review preview for The Sun

  A fascinating film, rich in unspoken detail.

  One of Emperor Hirohito last days before the Japanese surrender in 1945.
• 
  The Holyrood Files (2005)

  Review preview for The Holyrood Files

  A superbly constructed and solid amalgamation of evidence and opinion

  Expose of the building of the Scottish Parliament.
• 
  Serenity (2005)

  Review preview for Serenity

  Knowing, loving, kidding and one of the year's best films.

  Buffy's creator does battle with the Reavers in space, as earthlings move off their overcrowded planet.
• 
  Pucker Up (2005)

  Review preview for Pucker Up

  Hard to recommend, really, unless you enjoy hearing classics, such as Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo, being murdered.

  A competitive whistling documentary from Louisburg, North Carolina.
• 
  George A Romero's Land Of The Dead (2005)

  Review preview for George A Romero's Land Of The Dead

  Appallingly developed characters and situations decay and rot onscreen.

  The creator of the zombie genre returns with an allegory of Bush's abuses in Iraq.
• 
  One Long Winter Without Fire (2004)

  Review preview for One Long Winter Without Fire

  A startling work that teaches the redemptive power of self-forgiveness

  A beautifully composed tale about redemption and coping with loss.
• 
  Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

  Review preview for Mad Hot Ballroom

  The film goes a long way on charm alone.

  Competitive ballroom dancing for the ethnically diverse pupils of Washington Heights.
• 
  Morke (2005)

  Review preview for Morke

  A good 25 minutes could have been trimmed off the length without anyone noticing.

  Danish mystery about serial suicides.
• 
  Shakespeare Behind Bars (2005)

  Review preview for Shakespeare Behind Bars

  Stirring and creatively wrought

  Murderers and rapists perform Shakespeare and learn forgiveness.