Well I should have known better! After seeing the previews of this movie I thought “FINALLY… a Keanu Reeves movie I might actually LIKE!” (in the preview, he doesn’t talk much, does he?… THAT helps!) Alas, it was not to be! Poor James Spader’s efforts (he’s VERY good in his role) are overshadowed by Reeves and his by-now trademark deadpan, lifeless, in a total monotone delivery and character-free performance. The film descends in total stupidity in a scene where the ‘killer’ (just 2 murders in a whole movie!) meets the detective on the latter’s lover’s grave and… offers him a beer!!! What a bad actor… IF you could call him that! Why didn’t they get Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, James Woods or even Michael Keaton to play the killer? Why would anyone THINK that Reeves is convincing in ANY role? As for Marisa Tomei, she is hopelessly and criminally under-used and anyone could have played her character. My advice? Don’t waste time and money on this. It starts promising enough and the first murder is pretty well-worked out, but then the movie runs out of steam and ideas in a disappointing final scenario. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Released: 2000

Starring: James Spader, Keanu Reeves, Marisa Tomei, Ernie Hudson

Directed by: Joe Charbanic

As football (soccer) movies go, this is one of the best ever made! In this kind of movie, something has to be sacrificed, either good acting or believable match sequences! It’s VERY hard to have both, but this movie manages to get a good balance! Ally McCoist I thought was a revelation, and Wings Hauser’s son as the American goalie was pretty good. Of course, Robert Duvall was his usual solid self, with a very good mastery of the Scottish accent (although Billy Connolly would have been a much better and more natural choice for the role) and my fave actor of all-time, Michael Keaton, was very good in a limited role (he was maybe in the movie for like 15 to 20 minutes tops spread over the entire thing). Like I said, the match sequences are very believable, and the mix of real actors who’re quite knowledgeable about football with real footballers who can actually act works wonderfully well. A great little movie all round… enjoy!

Released: 2002

Starring: Robert Duvall, Michael Keaton, Brian Cox, Ally McCoist

Directed by: Michael Corrente

Michael Caine is, and always has been, an excellent comedian. He has done his fair share of action (the original ‘Get Carter’) and adventure (’The Man Who Would Be King’) movies, so his obvious comedic inclinations seem to be lost in the shuffle… unfortunately! THIS (and NOT ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ - good as that Frank Oz movie is, Caine is NOT cast in the comedy role, even though he plays Steve Martin’s frantic Freddie off the screen!) is the movie which brings it all back to us Caine admirers… the fact that when it comes to comic timing and delivery of hilarious one-liners, Michael Caine is the King par excellence. It also helps that he has a straight man such as the proud and majestic Ben Kingsley to bounce jokes off as well as a hilariously bumbling Lestrade (brilliantly played by American Jeffrey Jones - the scene where Kingsley directs Caine to ‘go through the routine’ with Lestrade in tow while he (Kingsley) does some proper investigating is near pain-inducing funny) in the background all add up to a marvellously hilarious comedy. What’s refreshing about this gem of a movie is the original angle from which the Sherlock Holmes persona is perceived. We realise that Dr John Watson (Kingsley), rather than Holmes (Caine), is the real brains of the outfit. Holmes is, in fact, down-on-his-luck-and-always-drunk-out-of-work-actor Reginald Kincaid. The funny scenes come thick and fast… the dead body near the lake which Caine kicks and prods with a branch in turn, slow crescendo of music in the background stopping dead for him to say “It is MY opinion… that this man is dead!” and the crowd mutter in awe “He’s a genius!”; playing the violin to a record; his ‘love-hate’ relationship with Kingsley’s landlady; final scene on the stage fencing with an umbrella (”Buffoon, is it?”) …these and many, many more too numerous to mention make this possibly Michael Caine’s best movie yet… but that’s just MY opinion!

Originally released: 1988

Starring: Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Jeffrey Jones, Lysette Anthony

Directed by: Thom Eberhardt