Jeremy Freemantle

If you liked Initial D, you might like Tokyo Drift for the parts with Japanese tuner cars drifting, but really that's all there is to this movie, you're not watching it for the "deep" characterisations or the "engaging" plot. We start with a hotheaded 30 year old high school kid race a jock in a Viper for the affections of a girl. If racing for a girl wasn't cringey enough, he ends up totalling his car just to win the race. This whole scene then gets repeated in Japan, but this time it's a new girl and a drift race. Again our 30 year old student protagonist totals the car, but he was only loaned it for the race. At this stage any sane person should have walked away, but he's loaned another car so that he can win a car to replace the one he wrecked. Thankfully the movie picks up a little bit in the second half with a great chase through Tokyo, but the contrived plot really proves that there's limits to the types of stories you can tell around street racing. For better and for worst, the Fast and Furious franchise has pivoted from its street racing origins into overblown action heist flicks. Around Fast 5-7 was the sweet spot for these movies.

(minor spoilers) A forgettable comedy that is focused on a jilted lover (Broderick) stalking his ex, and is joined by another stalker (Ryan) as they creepily spy on their exes from a neighbouring apartment. A predictable storyline that uses childish humour like releasing cockroaches in a restaurant when a reviewer is dining in and then there's the sign-posted coupling of Broderick and Ryan that happens in a more forced and formulaic way than ever growing naturally (I personally did not like Broderick in the lead role, he seemed too boyish to be a male romantic lead). They just happen to fall in love, well because of their common interest in obsessing about their ex partners of course. It's not bad, and fans of the flood of rom-coms made in the 90s may find it entertaining. It's just not one of the better comedies from that era. I'd suggest When Harry Met Sally instead.

A green tint and government agencies does not a political spy thriller make. Spider's Web is a Macguffin story that fizzles with action scenes planted every 10 minutes or so, to give the audience a sense that something is happening. The reality is the story progresses at a snails pace and the movie could have been cut by 30 minutes. I haven't read the books, but I felt the movie script was badly written and blandly acted, Stephen Merchant gave an amateur performance and the audience was informed about the Macguffin through a youtube video that Lisbeth watched - after accepting the job! I guess she just trusted the random man was telling her the truth, as she agreed to hack the NSA for him. It tries so hard to be Jason Bourne-esque, but there just wasn't any sense of tension in the movie. It's watchable with decent production values, but it's a shame that it's soulless and forgettable. I feel like the character could be so much more than this movie presents.

Dark story (I don't mean visually). Very gory violence performed by both heroes and villains make it difficult to reconcile characters with future Batman era counterparts. The grim story and violence is covered with a 1960s UK veneer that adds much needed character. If this series took place in the present day, and wasn't about Alfred, I think it would lack any charm and just be another overly violent tv show.

Dramatic and emotionally charged scenes are counter-balanced with some off-beat lighter moments. The story does strain itself as it builds to the finale, but the episodes are short and quickly paced over-all. This is a character driven road-trip adventure, where we follow Meg and Lucky, polar opposites who are brought together by chance. Despite their differences, the pair develop a connection as they have a series of misadventures travelling across the Australian outback to Perth, where Lucky seems extremely anxious about reuniting with his estranged family.

A woman (Meg Ryan) unhappy in her current relationship, stalks a widowed man (Tom Hanks) and his young child after hearing him on a call-in radio show under the pseudonym "Sleepless in Seattle". Although she continues to string along her current partner, she develops an obsession with "Sleepless in Seattle", taking photos and following him around, until - surprise! a misinterpretation of a hug between Hanks and a female friend leads her to abandon her pursuit. The movie ends with a pre-arranged encounter on the rooftop of the empire state building on valentine's day - just like a scene from the movie "An Affair to Remember". With call-backs to "Love Affair" (1939), the viewer is left feeling like they should have watched that classic movie instead of this bland (if somewhat more accessible) remake.