Big Sleep, The

An awful movie on a subject that deserves — and has received — a lot better

The movie itself is at best routine, but it is interesting to watch the rather un-p.c. reactions of the audience

The Thin Red Line, adapted from James Jones’s novel of Guadalcanal by the “legendary” Terrence Malick, director of Badlands and Days of Heaven, represents an “historic” return to movies for its director after a 20 year layoff. It is a mess — a classic case of what happens when you work on something for too…

Shall We Dance? by Masayuki Suo is a Japanese film with all the charm and delicacy of the best French movies. It surprises and delights with the subtlety of its observation and the skill of its construction, and it moved me deeply at several points. Koji Yakusyo stars as Mr Sugiyama, a rumpled and tired-…

Once again the Coen brothers show themselves to be master craftsmen of the cinema without anything much to say

Guess what? Shakespeare is once again “our contemporary.” Yet how much more interesting he is when he is allowed to be out of date.