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In 1971, following the release of Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery announced that he would "never again" play the role of James Bond. As a result, the producers brought in Roger Moore, and the series continued. 12 years later, in 1983,...

Dread – it’s the lifeblood of any good horror movie/ghost story. Blood, gore, and a high body count are all nice accompaniments, but for a film in the genre to work, it has to fill the viewer with an almost suffocating sense of doom. When ...

There is a scene in Nil by Mouth, actor Gary Oldman's directorial debut, that is excruciatingly difficult to watch. It's not especially graphic, since the gruesome details take place out of frame, but anyone with an imagination can conjure up ...

In all the years I have watched James Bond movies, I will confess to rarely having been shocked by a narrative development or twist. Prior to No Time to Die, there was one exception: the conclusion of OnHer Majesty’s Secret Service, when Bond...

Notes on a Scandal is an attempt to make a Fatal Attraction type thriller for the art house crowd. With a cast that features two of today's best actresses - Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett - and a screenplay of uncommon literacy, the movie nearly ac...

In Western culture, we are obsessed by the concept of celebrity. How else can one explain the plague of paparazzi that descends on public figures when they make appearances, or the popularity of gossip magazines and TV shows? Celebrities are l...

It's probably just a coincidence, but the two Bond films that Maud Adams appeared in -- The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy -- are easily the silliest entries in the long-running series (not counting the intentional spoof Casino Royale). In...

You know there's a problem when the most interesting character in a film called Oliver Twist is a supporting woman named Nancy. Technically sound and surprisingly faithful to its source material, Roman Polanski's version of Oliver Twist comes acro...

Oliver Twist has never been one of my favorite Dickens novels, so perhaps that’s part of the reason why I’m lukewarm about Oliver!, the stage musical-turned-Oscar-winning motion picture adaptation of the book. It’s an uneven film with a...

With the exception of one production aspect, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is by far the best entry of the long-running James Bond series. The film contains some of the most exhilarating action sequences ever to reach the screen, a touchin...