Film Reviews by BS

...it was that good. Considering Jennifer Lawrence is in it, and she was amazing in Winter's Bone, it had the emotional depth of one of Peppa Pig's muddy puddles. Really really don't bother. Watch World on a Wire instead.

I made the mistake of starting to watch this with my 5 year old son, and a moment 5 minutes in made him run away screaming. However, I stuck with it, and enjoyed it. It was thoughtful, well constructed take on a very tired idea. I suppose I was hoping for more Hunter to come out in the story but it was worth the time, and I would recommend it.

A masterful comedy that mixes slapstick with depth effortlessly. The one bad thing about this film was that it made Nick cage look good. One of Cohen Bro's best.

Miles and miles ahead of it's time. The tightest, sharpest script. Fantastic performances all round. An unbelievably modern take on female equality that makes a lot of new films look oafish. Outstanding.

Paranoid and inventive take on the concept of virtual reality. If you love Kubrick's greats and Philip K Dick, this will feel like some sort of pilgrimage. It should be a cornerstone of any study around dystopia and science fiction in the way Metropolis is.

Pleasantly surprised by this nicely dark murder story from northern Sweden.

Peter Stomare (Fargo) was standout as the increasingly controlling local policeman, and the story had enough twists to keep you on your toes, although at 2'05" we were all getting a bit tense towards the end.

Having become a bit addicted to the atmosphere and tone of Scando murder-mystery, it is good to see things at film pace (just about) rather than as a series, and to get sucked into some pretty sharply drawn characters and disturbing scenes and ideas.

If you like The Bridge or The Killing, you'll really like this.

It is always slightly surprising when a US film takes a Republican angle. In this case, it didn't really add anything to the film, but neither was it in your face.

Apart from that, it was a standard US comedy of the Will Ferrell type. Both characters are amiably rotten, and both kind of redeem themselves. It was funny in a base, unsophisticated way. You don't feel cheated of the time you spent watching it, but you do kind of regret you weren't watching something a bit better.

Interesting film-of-the-book, which I feel left out much creative interpretation into the characters, or the deeper meaning of the journeys. Ultimately it became a series of rides and tableaux, and didn't actually take the viewer anywhere new or special.

Where do you start? Slightly surreal at the start, including some lovely Italian touches, but never leaving the dank studio. The characters are beautifully realised, and the style is wonderfully understated, with moody use of sixties and seventies soundscapes that fit perfectly with the story.

It does however get pretty weird by the end. The whole magpie thing is freaky - almost up to horror film levels.

If you can take odd and slightly creepy leftfield films, it'll hit the spot. It worked for me, but I liked Valhalla Rising and Holy Motors...