The Bride! (2026)

On the one hand, kudos to Maggie Gyllenhaal for taking such a bold approach to what you could arguably classify as the full-bodied legacy of Mary Shelley. On the other hand, maybe she should have taken some more time to ensure that her bold approach and mix of ideas could be bundled up into something that would work as a satisfying and cohesive movie experience. This absolutely fails, and the bigger failings help to obscure any of the more praiseworthy elements.

Christian Bale plays Frank (the monster, having taken the name of his creator). He walks into the workplace of Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) and asks for her help in creating a companion. He's desperately lonely, and so unique that only another creation similar to himself will offer him any hope of a relationship. Enter the corpse of Ida (Jessie Buckley), a woman who ended up being shot by horrible gangsters mere moments after she was possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley (also portrayed by Buckley). While struggling to figure out whether or not they can have any kind of proper relationship, especially when trying to accept how it has all begun, Ida and Frank quickly become a notorious pairing, for their unique look and their behaviour. Seemingly unable to stop calling attention to themselves, although often due to calling out the behaviour of others, Frank and The Bride soon find themselves pursued by strangers, determined police, and some gangsters who are very surprised to see that Ida has somehow not stayed dead.

While a very divisive movie, I know there are some people out there who have really liked this. I don't know many of them, but I know one or two. So it works for some people. And I can see some of the appeal. It's very admirably bonkers, almost punk in the way that it makes use of some famous genre archetypes to crash through some other archetypes, all while commenting on misogyny and the constantly overlooked misbehaviour of men. Just typing out that sentence has made me wonder if I am about to be too harsh on the thing. But, alas, no. The ingredients aren't mixed together well enough, and the social commentary is picked up and dropped so casually that it may as well be a toy discarded by an over-stimulated child.

I guess that some of the visuals work, and the cast is full of considerable talent and/or people that Gyllenhaal knows well enough to get on board, but the overriding feeling is that this is a feature barely shaped into a tolerable form by someone seriously overreaching.

Some people appreciate the performance from Buckley, especially when considering the variety of personas that she ends up portraying, but I thought it was never nailed down. Perhaps that is the fault of the screenplay and direction, but Buckley certainly suffers most from the material given to the leads. Bale is okay, if a bit disappointingly low-key. The most interesting main character is actually portrayed by Bening, which makes it all the more frustrating when she is so underused. Jake Gyllenhaal brightens things up a bit with his role, playing a movie star from the era, but I cannot say the same for either Peter Sarsgaard or Penélope Cruz, who are disappointingly weighed down by the fact that their characters are more avatars carrying around some of the central themes than proper characters.

Some may love this, and I am glad that the movie exists for them. I suspect that most will dislike it though, and many will absolutely hate it. I find myself closer to that last grouping, and it's only the ambition and confidence of Gyllenhaal, however it was improperly channelled, that has me rating this just a bit higher than I otherwise would. 

4/10

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Death On The Nile (2022)

It took me long enough to get around to this, the second Poirot adventure starring, and directed by, Kenneth Branagh, and I was wondering if I should delay it any long as the earliest scenes played out (a sequence showing Poirot in wartime action that feels far too much like a superhero origin prologue). Things did not bode well. Thankfully, the rest of the film is much better, helped by a sprawling cast that has enough welcome performers to make up for those you may be less inclined to want on your screen.

Everything is basically summed up by the title. Poirot is invited to join the celebrations of a pair of newlyweds (Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot), as well as an assemblage of friends and acquaintances. There's trouble in the air though. An angry ex (Emma Mackey), who may be out for deadly revenge.

With Michael Green back for the job of adapting Agatha Christie's work into movie form, and Branagh very comfortable as the lead, there's very little here that should deter those who enjoyed Murder On The Orient Express. I would say that this is a more showy and beautiful film, helped in no small part by the setting, and Branagh has never been someone who could be accused of lacking confidence or the ability to add multiple cinematic flourishes to very traditional material.

Hammer is fine in his role, Gadot feels very much out of her depth, and Mackey is good fun, but the best moments come from many of the supporting players. Annette Bening and (returning) Tom Bateman are both on great form, a mother and son who both view Poirot in quite different ways. It's always nice to see Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders working alongside one another onscreen again. Rose Leslie does okay with a fairly anaemic role, and Russell Brand appears just often enough to make his inclusion feel unfortunate, but both Letitia Wright and Sophie Okonedo light up the screen with their presence. Branagh remains a lot of fun as Poirot, once the film moves beyond that unwanted opening sequence, and he's allowed, as usual, to showboat and relish his dialogue in the grand finale.

It doesn’t seem right to mention plotting in an adaptation of Agatha Christie, but fans should be pleased that this feels nicely in line with what you would expect from her. I haven’t read the source material (note to self, get back to exploring more Agatha Christie tales), but Christie is such a known institution that it would be very easy to tell when something felt . . . off.

Not great, not exactly cinematic throughout (despite Branagh trying his best), but comforting and enjoyable nonetheless. I may even get around to the next film very shortly, considering that has the bonus of Michelle Yeoh in one of the main roles. Or maybe I will take as long to get around to it as I took to get around to this one. After all, they don’t exactly set my little grey cells on fire with excitement.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Nyad (2023)

The start of any year is always the time when I try to catch up on all of the movies that have been doing well in the journey to the Oscars, which often forces me to watch films I can't get enthusiastic about. Nyad was one of those movies. I just didn't see what I might find to enjoy in the true story of swimmer Diana Nyad, an open-water swimmer who attempted multiple times to swim between Havana, Cuba and Florida, with her final attempt also being hampered by the fact that she was then aged 64.

As has happened before, and will undoubtedly happen again, I was wrong. Nyad had me riveted from start to finish, despite me knowing about the outcome, thanks mainly to the performances from three main cast members (Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans).

There's nothing here that is a surprise, whether you're considering what is shown onscreen or who is behind the camera, but it's all put together very effectively, with just the right reverence for the central characters accompanied by an acknowledgement of the self-mythologising that has been a part of Diane Nyad's character as long as she has been a figure in the public eye.

I would write a plot summary here, but it would just be repeating the end of the first paragraph. That's all you need to know. Bening plays Nyad, Foster is her coach, Bonnie Stoll, and Ifans comes onscreen just in time to be the integral third, a navigator/boat owner named John Bartlett. As well as the standard problem of swimming such a distance, Nyad has to deal with the weather, which can seriously affect the path taken through the sea, potential shark attacks, and dangerous jellyfish. There will also be a moment or two when such conditions start prompting hallucinations, something Stoll is well aware of and ready to deal with, as and when they occur.

Even if you know how this story ends, and I think everyone will have some idea of that (I mean . . . if I knew what happened, considering my limited knowledge of sports and athleticism, it must have been given some fairly substantial world-wide coverage), this is a great story of not only individual determination, strength, and courage, but the fact that it takes a whole team of like-minded people working together to help anyone even come close to achieving their life-long dream.

Both Bening and Foster have been deservedly nominated for awards already, and have already won a few accolades for their performances, and the film is carried along by both of them. With footage of the real Nyad and Stoll interspersed throughout the feature, there are easy points of comparison, and both leads feel like a perfect embodiment of their real-life counterparts, as well as a perfect embodiment of the main themes of the film. Ifans gives one of his most low-key turns, even dealing with an accent that he handles well, and his outsider view of the Nyad/Stoll dynamic is a great way to explore the good and the bad of the whole situation.

Co-directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi bring their skillset from a background in a number of celebrated documentaries, writer Julia Cox adapts Nyad's own book with a liberal attitude towards pesky things like truth and facts, "minor details" that would just get in the way of the cinematic journey, and the end result is as easy to dissect and criticise as it is to sit back and enjoy, or you could say . . . just go with the flow.

I was really impressed by this. And whether I completely believe Nyad, or whether she got away with printing her own legend, I was equally impressed by her journey (not just through the water, but moving from being so self-involved to realising how much help and support she received from others). I hope others end up feeling the same way, even if this is just a step on the way to discovering other athletic swimmers, and some documentaries looking at similar challenges (e.g. The Deepest Breath).

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Rules Don't Apply (2016)

A drama loosely based on part of the life of Howard Hughes, Rules Don't Apply allows the character of Hughes (played by writer-director, Warren Beatty) to cast a very long shadow over the lives of a driver/assistant named Frank (Alden Ehrenreich) and a newly-arrived potential film starlet, Marla (Lily Collins).

The main storyline begins when Frank picks up Marla, who has just arrived in town with her mother, Lucy (Annette Bening). The two start to get along right away, but Howard Hughes has strict rules forbidding staff from fraternising with one another. That doesn't stop these two youngsters developing stronger feelings for one another, however, despite the other factors that are working against them. Hughes takes a liking to Frank, asking more and more of him, and both viewers, and Frank, watch the downward spiral of a man who would become a virtual recluse for so many years.

Say what you like about Warren Beatty, and his reputation has preceded him for decades now, the man can put together a film. His sensibilities may be a little old-fashioned for people seeking out films with energy and/or challenging moments, but he picks material that he can work with. He then gives that material the treatment it deserves. Even the much-maligned Dick Tracy movie has a lot going for it, from the effects and production design to the casting. Rules Don't Apply takes two very familiar movie concepts, the "star-crossed" lovers and the legend of Hughes, and blends them together in a way that makes for one engrossing and enjoyable Hollywood presentation.

The script, from a story co-developed with Bo Goldman, is decent, if unspectacular. It keeps Hughes more enigmatic for the first third of the movie, eventually revealing more of the man, flaws and all, as his erratic behaviour is shown, and commented on by those trying to keep their jobs around him. The same goes for the technical side of things, with things like shot choice, soundtrack selections, and everything seen onscreen as well-made and polished as you would expect.

The big boost to the material comes from the cast, something Beatty has always done well with. Ehrenreich is superb in the lead role, and looks absolutely right in this era, while Collins is a very enjoyable female lead. Both deliver the right level of innocence and earnestness, only growing more savvy and cynical as time marches on. Beatty is a decent fit for Hughes, although this is the only role I would have been tempted to recast, and his performance is complemented by great little turns from Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, and many other familiar faces.

There's nothing new here, but what's here is done well. Really well. And sometimes it's nice to sit back and enjoy something that is so unabashedly old-fashioned and sympathetic to all of the main characters. You get a peek at a strange lifestyle of one of the most rich and famous figures of the 20th century. And you get a couple of young stars being allowed to truly shine.

8/10

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The Great Outdoors (1988)

The third, and final, collaboration, between writer John Hughes and director Howard Deutch, this is also their weakest. It's good fun, with two leads doing excellent work, but it's just a bit strangely divided between the storyline for the adults and a storyline following a smitten teen.

John Candy is Chet Ripley, the husband/father keen to give his family a proper holiday experience in a lakeside cabin. The Ripley family is unexpectedly joined by Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd), Kate Craig (Annette Bening), and their twin daughters. Kate is the sister of Chet's wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy), and it is very clear from the earliest scenes that the Craigs have a very different outlook on life than the Ripleys. 

The Great Outdoors works as well as it does for two reasons. First, the interplay between Aykroyd and Candy. Written as very opposite characters, Aykroyd revels in being obnoxious and having no class while Hughes very quickly becomes tired of his nonsense. Second, there are some very entertaining set-pieces spread throughout the runtime. There's the tale of an angry bear that was made bald, a restaurant that has a challenging steak on the menu, some thrilling time spent water-skiing, and a group of cute raccoons that just want to enjoy picking through the trash.

Although Aykroyd and Candy are both doing top work here, they're nicely complemented by Faracy and Bening, playing two sisters who have gone on very different paths in life. This was the theatrical movie debut for Bening, and it's arguably one of her simplest roles, but she's a natural onscreen presence. Faracy does well to avoid just being stuck as "the boring, nice one", and both women feel well-suited alongside their partners. Chris Young is the older of the Ripley sons, and he does just fine in his own storyline that sees him falling for the charms of a local girl, Cammie (Lucy Deakins), but both of these youngsters suffer from the teen movie dialogue jarring against the rest of the movie, which enjoys building and building the friction between the adults. You also get a fun small turn from Robert Prosky, and the other child actors do everything asked of them.

Deutch directs as competently as he usually does, and he once again stays nicely in line with the tone that Hughes provides. Although predictable from start to finish, the set-pieces work really well, and are given just the right of time to let the laughter build without overstaying their welcome. Lessons are due to be learned, different views clash with one another, and some of the one-liners are hilarious, helped by the performers delivering them.

Despite the better qualities, I'd still end up placing The Great Outdoors somewhere around the halfway mark if ranking the movies written by John Hughes. It's a lot of fun, yet nowhere near his best.

6/10

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Noir-vember: The Grifters (1990)

Roy (Joan Cusack), Lilly (Anjelica Huston), and Myra (Annette Bening) are three con artists, and they're working on different levels. They're also connected in ways they might sometimes wish they weren't. Lily is Roy's mother, although she hasn't been in his life for many years, and Myra is his girlfriend. There's trouble brewing when these three end up in the same space together, and a chain of events start to unfold that is both dark and tragic, and also sadly inevitable.

Directed by Stephen Frears, The Grifters remains one of my favourite neo-noirs and one of my favourite con movies, and I do love me a whole load of con movies. I was absolutely blown away when I first saw it, over two decades ago, and the passing of time has done nothing to dull the power of the final scenes.

Based on a book by Jim Thompson, the script by Donald E. Westlake (no stranger to writing some gritty crime fare himself) manages to consistently entertain and inform while viewers also see (and hear, thanks to the great score from Elmer Bernstein) those big storm clouds gathering. Even the earlier moments of darkness, such as a character receiving a blow to the stomach so hard that he develops some internal bleeding, have a lighter touch before the world that these characters inhabit starts to oppress and restrain them further, trying to forcefully imprint on them the fact that there's no escape for anyone who has spent so long living that lifestyle.

Despite his many iconic roles over the years, Cusack gives a performance here that easily sits alongside his very best, and it is always a pleasure to be reminded of the time he used to seem to care about his work. His effortless cool is tempered by his baby-faced looks, allowing him to maintain an innocent and friendly manner with anyone he decides to try and wring some money from. Bening is just as smart and savvy, in many ways, but uses her looks and sex appeal to get what she wants, and she also delivers a top performance. Then you have Huston, a veteran who knows that her days may be numbered. How much can she put away before then? Is it even possible for her to get out? This constant scheming, and desperation, informs the superb performance from Huston, and Lilly is one of many brilliant characters she's given us over her career, a devious monster that will turn your stomach by the time the end credits roll.

Stephen Frears seems to enjoy leading viewers into the world of these characters, showing us the art of the cons with no small amount of admiration for those with the skill and, well, confidence to pull them off. It feels like most of the work has been done before the cameras even started rolling, between the superb casting and the choice of everyone working behind the camera, from the writer to the editor, etc, and the final product falls just shy of being a flawless classic.

As a major bonus, you also get supporting turns from Pat Hingle (playing the boss Lilly works for), J. T. Walsh, Charles Napier, and small amounts of screentime for Stephen Tobolowsky, Sandy Baron, Xander Berkeley, and Jeremy Piven (blink and you may miss him though).

A tough film to recommend to people, due to the dark nature of the content, but I do so anyway. You won't be grinning and ready to skip back to the real world straight after you've watched it, but you may well find that you have a new favourite film.

9/10

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Captain Marvel (2019)

We've been here many times before. You'll have seen a lot of people singing the praises of Captain Marvel and just as many people calling it the worst film they've seen in years. The reality, as it so often does, lies somewhere in the middle.

Another origin story, but one that's a bit different from so many of the others that we've already been given by Marvel, this tells the story of a Kree Starforce member named Vers (Brie Larson), a young woman who may have once been a human being named Carol Danvers. The Kree are currently engaged in a war with the Skrulls, and one battle leads to Vers ending up on Earth in the 1990s. There she meets Nick Fury (a youth-enised Samuel L. Jackson), fights more Skrulls (they can take on the form of anyone they have seen), and starts trying to piece together her past on the way to fulfilling her potential future.

There's a lot to like here, but almost as much to dislike, and it's a shame that so many people on both sides of a dividing line completely separate from the actual quality of the movie itself have decided to use their stances to attempt to build up or tear down Captain Marvel (both the film and Larson).

Let me start with the good. The cast are almost uniformly fantastic, with Larson yet another perfect choice by Marvel. Jackson works very well alongside her, and there's a lot of fun to be had wondering just when he will need the eyepatch we're all so used to him wearing, and the other big names are Jude Law (a Kree warrior/mentor figure), Ben Mendelsohn (appearing in both Skrull and non-Skrull form), and Annette Bening (playing a scientist, a memory, and an incarnation of a Supreme Intelligence . . . it makes sense when you watch the movie). As good as they all are, there are also excellent supporting turns from Lashana Lynch and Akira Akbar, portraying a mother and daughter who have a strong connection to Carol. In fact, Lynch and Akbar have some of the best moments with Larson that emphasise the empowering message of the movie.

Which leads me on to the next big plus point. Although this has been promoted with a message of positivity and strength for women, it also has plenty of other messages in the mix, with some that feel constant, and fairly standard in the realm of comic book movies, and one that feels very relevant, and very well-handled.

What else works? The humour, for the most part. There are numerous laughs to be had here, with targets ranging from the older tech of the '90s to the cuteness of a feline named Goose, but they're interspersed in a way that doesn't tip the balance away from the essence of the story - the superhero origin. There's also a great soundtrack, including big tunes from Elastica, Nirvana, and No Doubt. And then you have the world-building, with fans being allowed a nice sense of satisfaction as you see pieces being moved into place that have already been shown established in previous films.

Now to the bad stuff. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who also helped to write the screenplay, seem as confused and unsure of themselves as the central character does. The opening act is a muddied and fractured collage of scenes that you know will have some context by the end of the film, which doesn't make the start any more enjoyable, and the ending is almost impossible to care about. You get a twist everyone knows is coming from the very start of the movie, you get a superhero up there with Superman (which means they're so powerful that there doesn't seem to be any real threat to them), and none of the action sequences are put together with the care and polish that we've come to expect from these movies in recent years. It's also a dull movie, in terms of both the light levels (unless they were projecting it incorrectly at my local IMAX) and the visual style. Things brighten up once we're on '90s Earth but other moments that should be treats for the eyeballs just don't feel all that spectacular or . . . shiny. And that soundtrack? As good as it is, only one song really works for the scene it is in. The rest feel either completely unnecessary or are just there to sell soundtracks and allow some viewers to enjoy a warm glow of nostalgia. The biggest mis-step may be the way a song is used in a third act fight scene, with no attempt made to at least match the rhythm of the visuals to the audio or actually use the song as part of the experience. It plays. People fight. That's all you can say about the scene.

Despite me sounding like a crotchety old man, I found enough here to have a good time at the cinema. And I'll buy Captain Marvel when it comes to shiny disc. There's a decent middle section, a nice nod to The French Connection, a pinch of The Right Stuff, a moving Stan Lee tribute, and a statement about heroism that proves more effective than many of the others (how many times do we really need to see Tony Stark have fun in his suit and defeat baddies before then feeling tortured and guilty?). It's not a terrible film, not at all. But it's not a great film either. Compared to many of the other Marvel movies, since they started their proper schedule of dominating the box office, it falls short. Not at the bottom of the pile, but maybe just below the other titles I would have ranked in the middle section.

6/10

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Americans will be able to get it digitally here.

Mars Attacks! (1996)

Mars Attacks! is a crazy sci-fi comedy based on a series of popular trading cards. It's quite a slight film, as you'd expect from such source material, but it's also very funny in places and full of great homages to sci-fi films of yesteryear. Jonathan Gems was the man who put a script together for the alien antics while Tim Burton was in place to direct the madness.

The plot is summed up by the title. That's it. Really. What the alien invasion premise does is allow Burton to deliver a number of amusing, and often visually striking, vignettes to the audience, be it a herd of flaming cattle or a number of warped experiments taking place on a spaceship. Many of the moments in the movie are inspired directly by images on the trading cards, but there are still a few characters allowed to develop in between the set-pieces. Jack Nicholson plays the President Of The United States, with Glenn Close playing his wife and Natalie Portman the fed up daughter. Jack Nicholson also plays a man setting up the business deal of his life. Annette Bening is the woman in his life, trying to keep her spirit positive while surrounded by the corrupting, garish influence of Las Vegas. Michael J. Fox and Sarah Jessica Parker are two very different TV personalities, Pierce Brosnan is a scientist optimistic about the aliens and Rod Steiger is a not so optimistic general. Jim Brown wants to get back to his family, Martin Short wants to use his position as Presidential advisor to get with women and Lukas Haas wants, well, very little as he's the generally content sort.

As you might expect from a movie based on a series of trading cards, Mars Attacks! is more a series of amusing vignettes loosely strung together than an entirely flowing, coherent movie. It's anarchic and fun in a way that may put many people off, but I happen to like anarchic and fun. Think of some Ed Wood movie fused with any cartoon that featured Marvin The Martian and you're close enough.

Tim Burton is in his comfort zone, the film certainly feels as if he was left to his own devices and he has fun bringing the vibrant, retro imagery to life. The handling of the material is affectionate, the handling of the cast less so as they're killed off or experimented upon with not even a second thought for A-list status or billing order. As well as those already mentioned, all of them admirably going along with every preposterous moment, there are appearances from Jack Black, Pam Grier, Danny DeVito, Christina Applegate, Lisa Marie and Tom Jones. Yes, THAT Tom Jones. Playing himself, amusingly enough.

If you grew up with imagery of flying saucers that were actually saucer shaped, little green men who flew around the universe looking for people to menace with their ray guns and sci-fi b-movies that were as colourful and inventive as they were, oftentimes, cheap and cheerful then this is the movie for you. It recalls all of those elements with love and then uses them for lots of silly gags. Whether or not you actually enjoy the gags is another thing entirely, but you will enjoy plenty of imagery reminding you of aliens as envisioned in decades gone by.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mars-Attacks-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B003IHVKR4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1365138034&sr=8-2&keywords=mars+attacks

The Siege (1998)

The Siege is an interesting thriller that may seem overly familiar to viewers now, but certainly seemed quite unique and daring when first released back in 1998. I'm not going to say that it was the first film of this kind, but I will say that after the real shock of 9/11 and then the subsequent escalating war on terror it has become a movie unfairly overshadowed by many more recent releases (including, for example, the thought-provoking Unthinkable).

The basic plot of The Siege concerns retaliation against America, on American soil, by a number of terrorist cells who want one of their leaders returned to them unharmed. That would be all well and good, but nobody is admitting that they actually HAVE the leader in their custody, which makes for quite a stalemate. Caught up in the middle of this tension is staunch federal agent Denzel Washington, working alongside his partner Tony Shalhoub, and a CIA operative (Annette Bening) who keeps clashing with them as she works on her own agenda. Bruce Willis plays Major General William Devereaux, a man who may prove useful or may, in fact, prove to be the most damaging individual in the city.

With Edward Zwick in the director's chair you know that this isn't going to be a vapid and glossy action movie, though perhaps they tried to market it that way when it was first released (I really don't recall). Zwick is the guy who will take a closer look at courage and morality and will make it interesting, entertaining and invested with emotion. That blend isn't always appealing to some, and he doesn't always get it right, but I've enjoyed many of his movies BECAUSE of the mix of emotion and intellect that I'm sure provides plenty of ammunition for his detractors.

Bruce Willis isn't given too much screen-time here, so don't let his presence put you off if you're not a fan (I usually quite like him, but realise that many don't). The main focus here stays on the triangle formed by Denzel, who is on his usual good form, Shalhoub, who is given one of his better movie roles and does great with it, and Bening, who is the weak link, despite how much more interesting her character could have been. I've liked Bening in a lot of movies and tend to think that her weak turn here is more the result of some poor writing than any major failing on her part. And it's not that she's bad, it's just that she should have been better. Sami Bouajila does okay as Samir Nazhde, who might be able to help the good guys stop further attacks if they can keep him in the game long enough, and David Proval does well as another agent doggedly trying to get information that will help break the case.

The screenplay by Zwick, Lawrence Wright and Menno Meyjes is surprisingly good. While the first half of the movie seems to hit standard beats and be walking a well-worn path, the second half takes a different direction and looks at things from a completely different angle. The fact that it was a very prescient movie also adds to its interest. Protests were held by many Muslims and Arab groups when it was initially released, but the film has an ace or two up its sleeve to counter the criticism it received. One of those comes in the shape of Tony Shalhoub's character, a Lebanese-American who is undeniably a good guy through and through. The other ace? Well, I wouldn't want to give too much away. Needless to say, the film shows racial profiling and stereotyping as both a tool used by government agencies and also a mistake made by people driven to distraction while something possibly much worse transpires before their very eyes.

It's a flawed film, as most of Edward Zwick's movies are, but it's also well worth watching, especially in light of events that we've seen since the turn of the 21st century.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Siege-Blu-ray-Edward-Zwick/dp/B002M4CF0A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1361828833&sr=8-5