THE FRENCH DISPATCH **

 It's being described as the most "Andersonian', (am I making these words up just the way Wes does), of Wes Anderson's films and yes, "The French Dispatch" really is the synthesis of everything that's come before but rather than his masterpiece it looks like he may finally have run out of ideas. It's certainly his most visually striking film; image after image dazzles the eye and the technique is typically sublime but this most overt homage to 'The New Yorker' and its ilk is seriously short on substance.

We're meant to be somewhere within the pages of the magazine known as 'The French Dispatch' and yes, this originally based Kansas publication is now situated in the city of Ennui-sur-Blase, (so Wes can pay homage to Tati). What we get is an obituary, a brief travel guide and three stories. The obituary is for the editor, (Bill Murray, one of the few performers in a massively starry cast to actually make an impression), and the stories are taken from various sections of the magazine.

The first one, about a painter, (Benicio Del Toro), incarcerated in an asylum for the criminally insane, is a visual treat and is 'narrated' by its author, (a sublime Tilda Swinton). The bits with Tilda are in colour, the rest in black and white but the tale itself is even more inconsequential than what we're used to from Anderson. It's followed by a piece by Frances McDormand based around student revolt and starring a dull and seemingly disinterested Timothee Chalamet. I wasn't quite sure how long this story lasted but I was seriously bored by the end.

The third, (and best), is the work of a James Baldwinesque writer, very nicely played by Jeffrey Wright and is both the most frivolous and the most complex of the three stories with Anderson making brilliant use of animation to bolster the visual effect. There are moments here worth the price of admission; indeed there are moments scattered through this most Andersonian of films as good as anything in his canon but ultimately this is a film to look at rather than listen to. It would make a great coffee-table book as the covers of 'The French Dispatch' which accompany the end credits clearly shows. As for the movie itself, it certainly scores an A for effort but for everything else I'm afraid it's only a C+ this time round.

HOLY MATRIMONY **

 John M. Stahl's "Holy Matrimony" isn't much of a movie but it's a great vehicle for its stars, Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields. Based on Arnold Bennett's novel "Buried Alive" it's a comedy of mistaken identity. When his butler dies, painter Woolley allows everyone to think that it was he who died and when the butler is buried in Westminster Abbey Woolley assumes his identity and later marries the widow, (a splendid Fields), the butler was courting by correspondence. It's very funny in its daft way and is splendidly cast throughout. Nunnally Johnson was the producer and wrote the screenplay and does a very good job on both accounts. Minor it may be but it's very likeable.

LIMBO ****

 Ben Sharrock's absolutely superb new movie "Limbo" manages to be politically prescient while still channelling all the attributes of an Ealing comedy. The setting is a fictional Scottish island, as remote as they come, where asylum seekers wait, in a kind of limbo, to find out if their applications to come to live in the UK are successful. It's hero is Omar, (Amir El-Masry, excellent), a young Syrian who finds his new, hopefully temporary Scottish home, a place as alien as any on the planet. His loneliness is alleviated when he falls in with three other asylum seekers. He also has a gift for music, (he plays the oud), and it is this that finally sustains him and lifts him beyond the bleakness of a Scottish winter and the situation he finds himself in.

This is definitely a minimalist movie, a throwback in its way to the days of Bill Forsyth, and it certainly won't make anyone rush off to visit the islands of North and South Uist, Berneray and Benbecula, (whatever beauties they may have are hidden in the mist, the rain, the snow and the sea-spray). It's also very funny at times in its surreal fashion as well as heartbreakingly sad and it's superbly shot in the Academy ratio which gives the enclosed, claustrophobic feelings of its characters room to breathe but exploding, magnificently, into widescreen at a crucial moment and is further proof, should you need it, that British cinema is alive and kicking.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS ***

 Using an almost totally static camera director Dietrich Bruggemann divides his film into fourteen chapters, each one based on a particular station of the cross as young Maria prepares for confirmation. She's Catholic but belongs to a particular branch of the Church, (based on the Society of Saint Pius X), that believes some of the current Catholic teaching is wrong, a branch of Catholicism that is, perhaps, closer to puritanism. It is a rigorous approach to a rigorous subject and in filming it this way, Bruggemann puts his actors centre stage, particularly Lea can Acker who, as Maria, is never really off screen. Also by shooting it this way he could be making a documentary or simply filming a play. When the camera finally does move it comes as something of a shock.

You also know from the film's title, "Stations of the Cross", that Maria's journey will be a physical one as much as a spiritual one and will involve pain of one kind or another and Bruggemann certainly puts us through the mill. You can't make a film based on the stations of the cross without making your audience suffer. Mercifully, we aren't talking Gibson's The Passion of the Christ" here but this is still a disturbing picture. It's also a superb one and it does mark Bruggemann out as one of German cinema's most prodigious talents. See this.

KAJILLIONAIRE ****

 Miranda July's sublime, off-the-wall comedy stars an almost unrecognizable Debra Winger, (she's become the new Ruth Gordon), and Richard Jenkins as the world's seemingly two worst petty criminals, Evan Rachel Wood as their sullen, withdrawn daughter known only as Old Dolio and a superb Gina Rodriguez as the Puerto Rican girl they recruit or rather who recruits them.

Being a Miranda July picture you know this won't conform to other movies about crime or criminals. It's very funny in an almost surreal fashion and its LGBT subplot fits perfectly into the scenario. It's also surprisingly touching and while it may not appeal to a multiplex crowd it's still a little gem that has cult movie written all over it.

THE DRY *

 I'm sure the Australian outback isn't quite as bad as it's painted in the movies but in film after film it seems to be a landscape full of ignorant rednecks, or whatever the Aussie equivalent is, who are capable of the most extreme violence at the drop of a wide-brimmed hat. The latest addition to what is now almost a genre in its own right is Robert Connolly's "The Dry" which begins with an apparent murder/suicide and continues with the subsequent investigation by city cop and friend of the family involved, Eric Bana, still looking remarkably fresh-faced at fifty-two. It's an investigation that's tied up with the death of another girl years before and in which Bana may have been involved.

It's a slow-paced, reasonably well-acted movie, beautifully shot by Stefan Duscio. The problem is we've been here before. I know there's nothing new under the sun but a good murder mystery needs originality  and a bit of a kick and this doesn't really have either. It's certainly very watchable and it never insults our intelligence; it's just never very exciting. The title, "The Dry", refers to the fact that it hasn't rained in almost a year.

TROUBLE IN MIND no stars

 If you can imagine a cross between "Bagdad Cafe" and "1984" done as a gangster flic you might be half way to getting Alan Rudolph's "Trouble in Mind", that is if you really want to get it. Most people didn't which is hardly surprising since this virtually plotless film smacks of the worst kind of art-house pretentiousness that mid-eighties American cinema could come up with. Rudolph directs it skilfully enough; the problem lies with his dreadful screenplay which doesn't allow talented performers like Kris Kristofferson, Genevieve Bujold, Keith Carradine, Lori Singer and Joe Morton the opportunity to develop their one-dimensional characters though Dirk Blocker and an almost unrecognizable Divine make for a couple of entertaining gangsters.

It's all set around Bujold's coffee-house in Rain City, (Seattle, actually), where the lives of the various characters come together but these aren't lives you can get involved with. This is a movie that doesn't work as a comedy, a drama or a thriller; it's nothing really except a waste of two hours of your life. The only plus is another splendid Mark Isham score and Marianne Faithful's voice on the soundtrack.

NO TIME TO DIE ****

 They tried to tell us it's too long and at 163 minutes "No Time to Die" is indeed the longest of the Bond movies but don't let that colour your judgement; this is still one hell of a rollercoaster ride and if Daniel Craig, in his final appearance as Commander Bond, is looking his age, remember he's now 'retired' and probably closer in demeanour to a middle-aged spy than at any time in the franchise. You must also remember that the Craig Bond's, unlike those of his predecessors, have followed a trajectory from "Casino Royale", (the first of the Ian Fleming novels), right through to the present, each one a kind of sequel to the one before and while Craig may not be everyone's favourite Bond he is, at least, unique in that respect. You might even say the entire Bond saga belongs to him.

The next point to consider, of course, is is it any good or rather is it as good as the others and the answers to both questions is a resounding yes. This is an action flic of the first order, exciting, funny and, for the most part, intelligent. It's also surprisingly old-fashioned. Here is a Bond movie that goes back to the roots of the franchise, all the way to "Dr. No" in fact. The gadgets are still there and used to good effect but this is a much more character driven piece and in Rami Malek it has one of the great Bond villains, (could Malek become the first Bond villain to pick up an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor?).

Admittedly the plot is quite far-fetched. We may not be in "Moonraker" territory but you may still have to see the film twice just to figure out what's going on. Also in keeping with previous Craig Bond's it's not afraid to introduce plot twists that should have a lasting impact on the series, presuming, of course, that the producers wish audiences to take any forthcoming films seriously. In what we now know will be his last appearance in the role it would be nice to say that this is Craig's film and while he certainly brings gravitas to the part it is Malek who steals the movie and if the film itself isn't quite the best of the series it's certainly up there. If this doesn't bring the punters in, nothing will.

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE *

 "East Side, West Side"; the title, of course, refers to New York but this is no "Street Scene" and there's hardly a tenement in sight. This is Manhattan and these are the socialites whose apartments overlook the park and the river. Yes, we're in high society where James Mason is married to Barbara Stanwyck but is inclined to dally with Ava Gardner and yes, this is a star-filled Manhattan that also includes the likes of Van Heflin, Cyd Charisse, Gale Sondergaard, (as Stanwyck's mother despite being only eight years older), as well as a certain former First Lady. Mervyn LeRoy directed and Isobel Lennart wrote the screenplay from Marcia Davenport's best-selling novel. It's also a very studio-based New York and the tale, which also involves murder, never rises above the level of soap-opera. The classy cast just about saves it.

THE GREEN KNIGHT no stars

 You would have to go back to "Excalibur" to find an Arthurian movie that looked or sounded remotely like David Lowery's "The Green Knight". This is the Middle-Ages as gritty and downright dirty as they come, (think Richard Lester or "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"), while still aiming to deliver the fantastical, magical goods a genre picture like this requires.

The hero of our tale is Gawain, (Dev Patel, excellent given the material he has to work with), who, in the film's opening scene, becomes something of a hero after defeating the Green Knight who has challenged him to a Christmas duel in what appears to be the court of King Arthur but there's a catch; there's an addendum to the duel and Gawain's life isn't quite the same afterwards as he rides off to meet the Green Knight for round two the following Christmas.

Lowery's film is certainly no "Ivanhoe" but an adult fairy-tale that deliberately sets out to alienate a mass audience. This is an art-house movie that might please the critics but is unlikely to prove popular at the box-office. Indeed it's hard to figure out exactly what audience it's aimed at.

Visually, it's often remarkable, again mixing fantasy and realism to good effect. The cast are also well chosen but, Patel aside, are given very little to do though that most brilliant of young Irish actors, Barry Keoghan, has no trouble stealing the movie in his couple of scenes. The real problem lies both in the film's length and almost total lack of action. Gawain's adventures are singularly unadventurous and ultimately the film comes across as both boring and pretentious, unforgiveable sins in a film of this kind. Still I can see Razzie glory come the awards season.

BROTHER ***

 This Russian film about a young hitman in St. Petersburg could just as easily have been set in London or New York; killing for profit's the same everywhere, isn't it, and yet Aleksey Balabanov's terrific thriller "Brother" seems peculiarly Russian. You wouldn't really find these characters in London or New York and what happens here wouldn't necessarily happen there, at least not in this fashion.

Danila, (Sergey Bodrov, excellent) is a young ex-soldier who gets into trouble at home so his mother packs him off to live with his older, well-off brother in St. Petersburg. The thing is, however, big brother is a hitman and very soon Danila is, too. The thrills Balabanov serves up aren't the ones you expect. This is a character study like Melville's "Le Samourai" but our young anti-hero is a rank amateur compared with Delon, although he does know his way around a gun. Danilo thinks he's a big shot but he's just another young boy with a passion for rock music, (the film has a terrific score). Even the ending isn't the conventional one. See this.