Bovie Movie

Daniel Craig effortlessly makes James Bond his own, and the 21st movie in the series goes back to basics for this resoundingly entertaining spy adventure. GoldenEye director Martin Campbell has obviously been watching the Bourne franchise, and here he gives the superspy a gritty makeover, upping the violence content (the opening sequence, shot in grainy black and white, is particularly brutal). He also strips Bond of much of the slightly camp humour — thus no appearance from gadget-man Q. The plot is essentially an origins story, as a rough-around-the-edges Bond gains his two zeros (the two authorised kills he needs for his infamous licence) before tackling villain Le Chiffre (a splendidly thin-lipped Mads Mikkelsen) in a game of high-stakes poker. Craig’s humanised, more flawed interpretation of the role balances Campbell’s physical direction and co-writer Paul Haggis’s sparing wit, while Eva Green provides an alluring love interest. Apart from a chaotic and overlong last act, this is a triumphant new beginning. 

Tirante the knight is as committed to fighting the Turks in Constantinople as he is to relieving Carmesina, the heiress to the Byzantine Empire, of her virginity.

Since making an unforgettable impression in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, the cinema’s favourite cannibal has gnawed his way into the popular consciousness. But this long-awaited sequel didn’t have a smooth journey to the screen, with both original Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and original director Jonathan Demme rejecting the project. However, Anthony Hopkins does reprise his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal Lecter, this time with his tongue in his cheek. Top FBI agent Starling — played with creditable conviction by Julianne Moore in the absence of Foster — is faced with the aftermath of a failed drugs raid. To escape the bad publicity, she’s sent to the house of a former victim of Lecter’s, Mason Verger (an extraordinary performance from an unrecognisable Gary Oldman), who hopes to revitalise her search for his attacker. Fans of the first film will be disappointed with the lack of mystery, suspense and psychological resonance here, but there’s loads more Lecter for the money (as the title suggests), and plenty of gory action and black humour. This film’s opening in the States was the third biggest in cinema history — it took ?40 million in three days.