Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as "The Flare".

OK post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama aimed at a more adolescent audience has is mildly entertaining.

The Bookshop (2017)

England 1959. In a small East Anglian town, Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop.

Sad, melancholic tale is presented in a pedestrian pace, but has a good cast and period details and a heartbreaking ending.

The Party (2017)

A woman hosts a party to celebrate her new promotion, but once the guests arrive it becomes clear that not everything is going to go down as smoothly as the red wine.

Closed-room ensemble piece is a cleverly sinister black comedy so well directed and played you nearly miss recognizing the dark humour. 

The Untouchables (1987)

Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team.

Streamlined entertainment without any depth; quite enjoyable for ist sheer professionalism in all departments.

Halliwell**: "The long-running TV show is given a new polish in this showy, violent gangster picture, which seemed to please all classes."

Maltin****: "High-energy entertainment that packs a wallop...Fluidly (and flamboyantly) filmed, with powerhouse performances by Connery..., and De Niro, as a grandiose Al Capone. Climactic shoot-out, with echoes of POTEMKIN, will have you on the edge of your seat!"

All the King's Men (2006)

In the 50's, in Louisiana, a smart populist, manipulative and wolf hick is elected governor with the support of the lower social classes and erects his own corrupt regime.

Great direction, visuals and performances add up to a good movie that still can't surpass Robert Rossen's 1949 classic adaptation of the same novel.

On rewatching: still a good movie - that could have been better, but Penn's excessive performance seems true, now that we have a similar person as US president.

Maltin**: "Penn's histrionics never ring true, and his talented costars are wasted in this disappointing production...Zaillian wrote the ineffectual screenplay."

Far from Heaven (2002)

In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.

In all departments masterful reimagination of a Douglas Sirk melodrama contrasting its artificiality and the protagonists' superficial restraint with the lowdown of the issues that are still relevant even today.

Halliwell (no star): "Elegantly designed and shot and acted, and made in the style of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, this subverts the form by bringing to the fore what would have been the subtext of the movie in the 1950s; it is undeniably clever, but too often feels like an exercise in style."

Maltin***: "Fascinating filmmmaking exercise in which writer-director Haynes replicates the look and feel of a Douglas Sirk Technicolor soap opera, while tackling issues that would have been taboo in that era...Not so much a parody as a recreation, as if a 1957 movie were being made in 2002, with art direction, camerawork, costuming, music, and color that recall such films as ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS."

The Woods (2006)

Set in 1965 New England, a troubled girl encounters mysterious happenings in the woods surrounding an isolated girls school that she was sent to by her estranged parents.

Above-average horror movie which offers some spooky atmosphere, but disappoints with its solution:  a haunted forest.

Maltin BOMB: "One-note horror film is thoroughly unpleasant, when it's not dull or idiotic. A real ordeal to sit through."