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On this day: Cinema | Cirencester Archive

Cinema

• Eight Below (PG)

  America was taken by surprise with the success of last year's The March of The Penquins. The critics had been fairly lukewarm, but the audiences just loved it. It also did well here, but we are used to such brilliant wild life programmes from David Attenborough, so it didn't have quite the same impact. read more

• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (U)

  No one could have predicted the enormous success Ice Age (2002) was to have. read more

• Firewall (15)

  The awful truth is Harrison Ford is getting too old to play an action hero. There must be some role he could do that didn't involve so much gallantry. read more

• V for Vendetta (15)

  It is seven years since the reclusive Andy and Larry Wachowski exploded onto the big screen with The Matrix, and we saw a revolution in filmmaking. Though it was a pity the two sequels didn't quite cut the mustard. read more

• Capote (15)

  Truman Capote was a highly entertaining genius and among the many things he wrote was Breakfast at Tiffany's. The rich and famous adored having him to their parties, with his quick wit and acid tongue, but he wasn't a very attractive character. This film covers a vital period of less than six years of his life, when he wrote his best selling non-fiction novel 'In Cold Blood'. read more

• Inside Man (15)

  With such an excellent director as Spike Lee at the helm the lack of pre-publicity surrounding this film has been extraordinary. Given the stellar cast and Academy Award winner Brian Grazer as producer, one would have expected at least a month's build up of advertising and features about the shoot. Before I saw it I concluded it could be one of three things, either the studio was supremely confident, or Grazer was so wrapped up in the May release of The Da Vinci Code that this didn't warrant his attention, or lastly it was just a load of hokum. Fortunately it turns out to be a perfectly adequate thriller, however I still think a little more razzmatazz would have been wise. Relying on word of mouth to sell a film is always rather a risky business. read more

• The Pink Panther (PG)

  It's a brave man who will take on a role previously played by a legend. Though Steve Martin is hugely popular in America, the British have always been lukewarm to his charms. Whereas Peter Sellars was not only a national icon, but was dearly loved in America as well. So with that in mind one has to ask oneself, was a remake of The Pink Panther necessary or indeed wise? read more

• Two for the money (15)

  Like a good vintage wine Al Pacino just gets better with age. And thank goodness for that, because I really have had my fill of sports film and this one has an even bigger disadvantage. Personally I don't go much on watching sport, but here we watch people watching sport, which has to be the equivalent of watching paint dry. But after Pacino's masterly role as Shylock in last year's 'The Merchant of Venice', I vowed to cross coals to see him perform. read more

• The Matador (15)

  If ever there was an actor who is unfairly maligned it's Pierce Brosnan. Constantly I hear people say he is just a pretty face and can't act, which is frankly nonsense. He takes on a variety of scripts, and is never afraid of not looking his best. He also has great comic timing as seen in Mars Atttacks! (1996), which he should make better use of. read more

• Syriana (15)

  Stephen Gaghan, Oscar winning writer of Traffic (2000) has moved his sights from the drug world to the oil industry and the many crises in the Persian Gulf. As well as adapting the screenplay from CIA operative Robert Baer's biography "See No Evil", he is also making his directorial debut. read more

• Proof (12A)

  Proof is based on a play by David Auburn that had its West End run in 2002 and won the Pulitzer Prize on Broadway. While in London it starred Gwyneth Paltrow who takes on the role again here. John Madden, who also directed her in Shakespeare in Love, directs the film. The title Proof is the validation of a mathematical theory dealing with prime numbers, if that makes you any the wiser. But this film is more a character study than a mathematical one. read more

• Casanova (12A)

  It is hardly surprising that Casanova pops up every now and then with many distinguished actors taking the lead, like Donald Sutherland and Frank Finlay, to say nothing of gorgeous "Dr Kildare" Richard Chamberlain. read more

On this day: Cinema | Cirencester Archive