CINEMA

For ease of reference, there's something below about the following:

Shawshank Redemption
Seven
The Player
Six Shades of Separation
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The Madness of King George
Dead Man Walking
Twelve Monkeys
Thelma and Louise
Good Will Hunting

Shawshank Redemption is my favourite film of all time, I suppose. I can watch it over and over again, and enjoy it almost as much as the first time I saw it. There is genuine drama, and I had no idea, first time around, how it was going to finish, which is a major bonus. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are both excellent, as you'd expect from such fine actors, but it's actually the story which is so compelling. If you haven't seen it, all I can say is, you should.

Seven is a class film, from beginning to end. Freeman and Pitt are excellent, the story is clever and the tension is genuine. Kevin Spacey - always the guilty party, have you noticed? - is also excellent. The only disappointing thing about the film for me was that I was obviously on the same wave as the scriptwriter, because I could see how it was going to end a long, long time before, and each successive murder gave rise to a sense of recognition rather than revelation. But I still hope, each time I see the film, that Brad Pitt won't shoot, and will break the chain.

The Player is a relatively unsung film, but I happened to see it one night when I was bored and have seen it twice more since. It's Tim Robbins again, which is a surprise because I wouldn't have marked him out as a favourite actor; he's obviously good at spotting the best scripts. There are parts of the film which are predictable, I suppose, but the story is incredibly clever. I shan't say more because it might spoil it for a future audience. I was intrigued, too, to see so may walk-ons by megastars playing themselves. One for the forecast, as they say.

Six Shades of Separation is another of those unsung films which I saw almost by accident, and fell in love with. This film made me think. Some of the ideas are weird, but some of them are interesting, and Will Smith is excellent in what I believe was his big-screen debut. The dialogue is well observed, and the ending surprised me, although it isn't the kind of film where the ending matters. I enjoyed it for the interaction between complex characters with different approaches to life, and the gradual awakening in some of those characters of feelings and beliefs they didn't even realise they held.

Four Weddings and a Funeral - well, we all love Four Weddings, don't we? Or at least, we did the first time we saw it. I love it because it's one of the few films which genuinely makes me laugh, as opposed to the occasional wry smile. The characterisation is excellent, Rowan Atkinson remains so inept that it makes me squirm with embarrassment and the jokes are funny more than once. I know this is a dull choice, but a film that makes me laugh is a rare thing so I thought it deserved its place on the list.

The Madness of King George is well scripted, beautifully acted and interesting from beginning to end, so it has to make the list. Nigel Hawthorne is outstanding, and came as a very pleasant surprise after Sir Humphrey. I often have difficulty with some of the action and some of the dialogue in this kind of film (how do they know? how much of this is realistic?), but I found this very credible. It was a very pleasant way of doing some history.

Dead Man Walking was gut-wrenching and, at the same time, avoided the seemingly inevitable sentimentality. I guess having a true story helped, but it still takes courage to make a film this gritty and honest, with over-dramatising or trying to lift the mood, especially given the apparent predilection of American audiences for the happy ending. Susan Sarandon deserved an Oscar for this, no question, it must have been a very demanding role, and I thought Sean Penn probably did too. I suppose the film is horrifying, but it manages neither to shock nor to delight, but simply to inform, which is no mean achievement given the subject matter.

Twelve Monkeys is another clever film. I had to see it twice before I really understood the full plot, and noticed some of the intricacies. It's one of those films where you need to know the basic outline to grasp some of the twists. The biggest compliment I can pay this is that I don't like Bruce Willis, and I don't particularly like him in this either, but it's still an excellent film. Brad Pitt is a revelation as a madman, though. The next biggest compliment is that I hoped they'd do a sequel, because I'm sure they could do more with this idea, whereas normally I think sequels are pretty pointless.

Thelma and Louise delighted me the first time I saw it. Now, OK, so perhaps we've all seen it now, but try to remember the first time, and the growing wonder as to how this was going to end up - were they going to be killed, or caught and somehow absolved? I suppose, once you've seen it once and know what's going to happen, you never get the same effect again, but I was certainly intrigued. Another Susan Sarandon film (I seem to have a fixation with the Robbins-Sarandon duo) with some nice touches, and I have to disagree with the critic who said that it was memorable only for the Brad Pitt cameo, good though that was.

Good Will Hunting is a film which surprised me, because it is a pretty soppy story and I still liked it. I think this was for three reasons. Firstly, Matt Damon is very good and does make his character come to life (and, of course, at that time he wasn't front page news). Secondly, it is a charming film. It succeeds in being sensitive without becoming twee. No doubt other people disagree about that. And thirdly, it made me think, specifically about our obligation to use our talents. (I might write something about that on my News & Views page, one day, but for now what I thought will remain a secret known only to me.) Of course it's predictable in places, but I did enjoy watching it.

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Written by Jon Renyard
Last updated 11 August 1999