The Talented Mr Ripley
Directed by Anthony Minghella Starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport
There is some lovely stuff in Minghella's version of Patricia Highsmith's novel, particularly in its first, jazzy, golden hour. But the film loses much of its panache and energy as attention shifts more to Ripley himself - Damon just doesn't have the acting chops to convey the ambiguous amorality of Highsmith's chameleon-like anti-hero, and Minghella strains too hard to make him sympathetic. Still well worth seeing, especially for Law's star turn as charismatic playboy Dickie Greenleaf.
The House on Haunted Hill
Directed by William Malone Starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter
When notorious Z-movie director William Castle released the original House on Haunted Hill in 1958, he billed it as being in "Emergo", a new process which apparently consisted largely of dangling luminous skeletons over the audience's heads. Unfortunately, this new version doesn't attempt anything so spectacular, but it lives up to its trashy roots with a vengeance. If you like your gore by the bathful, and your victims shrieking all the way to their demise, then you'll love this cheap, cheerful junk, directed with unpretentious energy by Malone.
The Bachelor
Directed by Gary Sinyor Starring Chris O'Donnell, Renee Zellweger, Peter Ustinov, Edward Asner, James Cromwell
Maybe it's those little dimples at the corners of his mouth, leaving him looking like a particularly smug chipmunk, that make O'Donnell such an unappealing romantic hero; maybe it's his extremely limited range, but he would have difficulty carrying the sassiest and sharpest of scripts. Here, he flounders around in the joke-free mud as a young man who discovers he must marry within 24 hours if he is to inherit $100 million. This deeply unfunny "comedy" follows his erratic progress towards an underwhelming climactic sequence, in which he is chased through the streets by a thousand wannabe brides, all dressed in white.
