Gary Oldman

Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

As much as I would like to believe that real-life spies jet around the world using their blow-dart pens and laser watches to prevent megalomaniacs from stealing Fiji, this film is probably closer to the truth. John Le Carré’s double agent vision (based on his own experiences working for the intelligence services) tells a less dynamic tale of political decisions, uneasy alliances and lots of sizing people up. And instead of a simple mission involving a casino, a volcano lair and a henchmen fight, this authentic spy-work is complicated as fuck.

Review: The Book Of Eli

Perhaps it's a reflection on the slightly darker times we live in, but cinema has come over all post-apocalyptic as we enter 2010: vampires preying on the few remaining living in Daybreakers; Viggo Mortensen battling for survival in a grim new world in The Road; and the forthcoming Legion will feature a retelling of the end of days. So much for entering the New year with a sense of optimism. The Book Of Eli furrows all too familiar post-apocalyptic territory with a grim vision of the future that is entirely bland and rather phoney.

Review: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is one of the most well-known and much-loved stories of all time - a story that's been adapted so many times that it's hard to get particularly excited about a fresh take. So, when it was announced that Robert Zemeckis was going to make yet another version, using the same motion-capture technology he used with The Polar Express and Beowulf, it registered with a tremendous meh. A Christmas Carol without the Muppets just doesn't seem right.

Review: The Unborn

Can we get a moratorium on horror films featuring scary children? Pale-faced kids are ten-a-penny and ceased being scary around about the time The Grudge started to get old (that's about eight years ago for anyone still counting). The Unborn is the latest chiller to put faith in a pint-sized spook, but it's a film so desperately...

Review: The Dark Knight

"Now, take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card." Before the casting rumours, the trailers, the endless posters, the death of Heath Ledger, the internet virals... before all that, way back in 2005, in the final moments of Batman Begins - that's when t...

Review: Batman Begins

How to kill a franchise: Lesson #1
Take one hard-boiled, well-established hero and dress him up in ill-fitting rubber, complete with cod-piece and bat-nipples. Strip away the cool Gothic vibe and replace it with super-gay neon and eye-rapingly cheesy special effects. Finally, have your newly camp crusader spout the kind of shit that George Lucas would balk at, and stand aside as your franchise digs its own grave and dies with its arse poking out of the soil.