The Business of Strangers is an intimate film starring Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles. It's the sort of film that I usually love: a small cast, lots of character development, some twists and turns and the whole time, a sense that we, the audience, don't know completely what's going on, and need to pay attention throughout to follow the action.

American Beauty       D       29/1/00

Wow! This is a great movie. Kevin Spacey is, as always, fantastic; Annette Bening plays a great role. Actually, all the performances are spot on. The theme of the movie, a mid-life crisis for the 42 year old protagonist, seems old and done to death but in the hands of director Sam Mendes it is novel and interesting. It only missed out on an HD because of the two sexist scenes of the girls topless. Their inclusion in the movie seemed completely out of place and, hence, purely there to draw in the 16 year old males.

Double Jeopardy       P       22/1/00

The problem with Double Jeopardy isn't the movie itself but rather the marketing and naming of it. If you've seen the preview, you've seen the movie which is a pity because it's quite a well crafted, well acted show. Of course, having seen the preview, I still went to the movie because I thought there must be more to it than was shown; so, in some sense the preview worked 'cause they got my $8. Overall, a reasonably enjoyable film, some clever lines, good pacing, but no surprises in store.

Bowfinger       P       30/12/99

What a novel idea: a movie about the movie industry. What will they think of next? A book where the protagonist is an author? Still, in spite of the naval gazing nature of the film, I went along, fooled by so many favourable reviews. There were a couple of chuckles in the movie, but overall, it was pretty painful to sit through, feeling quite long, an achievement for a 98 minute film.