The Green Mile
Directed by Frank Darabont Starring Tom Hanks, David Morse, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Bonnie Hunt, Doug Hutchinson, Barry Pepper
Writer-director Darabont follows The Shawshank Redemption with another sturdy Stephen King adaptation set in a prison, this time on the Death Row wing of a Louisiana penitentiary in the 1930s. The remarkably expressive Michael Clarke Duncan plays a huge, simple and uneducated new inmate with apparently supernatural powers who causes the compassionate head guard (Tom Hanks) to reconsider his beliefs. This compelling three-hour drama unfolds at an unhurried but perfectly measured pace and with impeccable craftmanship as it re-affirms Darabont's storytelling skills.
The Bone Collector 15
Directed by Philip Noyce Starring Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Michael Rooker
In this initially intriguing thriller the always interesting Washington invests his character with charm, intelligence and authority, playing a quadriplegic forensics expert who teams up with a glum rookie police officer (Jolie) to trap a serial killer who deliberately leaves cryptic clues at the scene of each crime. However, the drama is ultimately conventional, peppered with some ludicrous coincidences and steered towards an all too obvious resolution.
Agnes Browne 15
Directed by Anjelica Huston Starring Anjelica Huston, Marion O'Dwyer, Ray Winstone, Arno Chevrier
Set in Dublin in 1967, Huston's film based on Brendan O'Carroll's novel The Mammy is permeated by crude attempts at humour, an air of forced jollity, and a distinct whiff of Rare Ould Times phoniness. Huston herself takes the title role, as a consistently radiant Moore Street trader struggling to raise seven children after the death of her husband, but it is O'Dwyer, as her closest friend, who gives the movie's most plausible performance. Singer Tom Jones makes a cameo appearance as himself, looking altogether more haggard than he did back in '67.