Miss Sloane (2016)

In the high-stakes world of political power-brokers, Elizabeth Sloane is the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in D.C. But when taking on the most powerful opponent of her career, she finds winning may come at too high a price.

It's mainly Jessia Chastain's outstanding performance that carries this well-made, tense political thriller with a much too implausible twist ending.

Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past, but one day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.

Memento-like psychological thriller with no depth, but with a disappointing ending;  Nicole Kidman, however, is very good in the lead role.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

A spy organization recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Entertaining homage/parody of the James Bond spy spectacles is very well produced, but definitely a bit too long.

Oliver Twist (2005)

An orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London and joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.

Old-fashioned, but vivid, and at times dark adaptation of the classics Dickens novel; period detail is excellent.

Maltin***: "Stark, literal adaptation...Polanski offers a sobering portrait of the muck and grime that engulf the poor in any era. Well done, but still no match for David Lean's 1948 masterpiece."

Emma (1996)

While matchmaking for friends and neighbors, a young 19th-century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.

Very competent made-for-TV adaptation of Jane Austen's novel needn't hide behind the cinema production from the same year.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

The classic Victorian detective downgraded to contemporary cinema blockbuster standards; the sets are quite spectacular, though.

On second view: I still stay with my initial evaluation and must add the movie is quite boring despite all the spectacle.




On renewed viewing: still not thrilled about it, bit it's watchable.

Maltin**: "Murky, noisy, overproduced claptrap ...Annoying in the extreme - and unintelligible at times - the film gets better in the second half as an actual story emerges, but the overuse of Ritchie-branded editing and CGI effects is deadening."