Reviews
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
A return to form after the routine TND
Top casting and exciting action make this one of the most entertaining Bond films for a while.
Some may disagree, but I think Brosnan has the edge over Connery now. Sophie Marceau is fantastic as Electra, one of the most interesting characters to grace the series for a while. Carlyle, although shortlived, is a very believable and even sympathetic villain and Robbie Coltrane makes a meal of his second appearance as Valentin Zukovsky.
The opening scene of TWINE is probably the best action scene ever in a Bond film and while the ones that follow cannot quite match up to it, they are still top class. Director Michael Apted shows that he has a real talent for dealing with these parts of the movie, and the excellent soundtrack can only improve them.
I went to see this movie on consecutive days and bought the soundtrack (Garbage&David Arnold) the second time, this is the best recommendation that I can possibly give it.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Positive and rather brief
Silence of the Lambs is one of the best American films I have seen in ages. It settles comfortably into the genre of "psychological horror" along with such modern classics as Seven and...The Game I suppose. It is true that the afformentioned genre has not been overly exploited, and in view of a collection of films described as having "a questionable degree of merit" that is probably a good thing.
Jodie Foster is excellent as a trainee FBI agent, but her performance is a little overshadowed by that of Sir Anthony Hopkins in the role of Dr Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lector. A lot has been said about Hopkins' portrayal of the cannibalistic serial killer, and as I'm limited for space all that I can say is that after seeing the movie, Lector seems a more believable character than Hopkins himself (that's a compliment by the way).
In short, an extremely effective movie, and one that has for many embodied the cinema of the '90s.