Running rings around the rest (From Western Telegraph)

Running rings around the rest

Western Telegraph film reviewer Vaughan Sivell continues his look back at the year's notable film releases - starting with the blockbuster season.

One of the summer's biggest hits of the year came from Stephen Spielberg. His sci-fi thriller MINORITY REPORT, starring Tom Cruise, was another of my favourites.

The biggest hit of the year so far though, not counting the films that haven't yet had time to accumulate, was of course SPIDERMAN. Tobey Maguire's quality brought a mediocre superhero action flick to a level higher than perhaps the film as a whole deserved.

Of the rest of this summer, you may have been a witness to Sandra Bullock's MURDER BY NUMBERS, and the UNFAITHFUL acts of Diane Lane, as wife to Richard Gere.

There was also the Prinze family's outing with SCOOBY DOO and Austin Powers' returned to fight GOLDMEMBER.

If you like seeing wriggly, slimy or multi-limbed things getting killed by humans then MEN IN BLACK 2, or the surprisingly popular EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, must have been right up your street.

This summer also saw the comeback of Ealing Studios, with its release of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST.

Not a bad modernised retelling, but an un-inventive effort for the studio's return to the international movie market place, I thought.

Just a month apart, the friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon went head-to-head in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS and THE BOURNE IDENTITY respectively. Who won that battle?

The critics were divided - but we all know who Jennifer Lopez plumped for. In September, Mel Gibson teamed up with Sixth Sense creator M. Night Shyamalan to show us the SIGNS, while American Beauty maestro Sam Mendes took a break from wooing Kate Winslet to take us slowly down THE ROAD TO PERDITION, alongside Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Soon after, came the third, and perhaps final, film for Hannibal Lecter. RED DRAGON lacked the visual splendour of Hannibal, but it was still a vast improvement.

DONNIE DARKO, a new millennium Harvey for the grungy youth generation, was undoubtedly one of the best films of the year - so don't be surprised to see it nominated in the new year. The same goes for THE QUIET AMERICAN, starring Michael Caine.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS is still taking big money, but deserves no prizes. I wish the franchise could produce something really special for our money.

The same goes for DIE ANOTHER DAY, the 20th Bond. Moments of real promise in Brosnan's fourth outing gave way to the silliness of a spy who drives an invisible car but uses old pliers to cut through a fence. Come on, Mr. Broccoli! Bond relies on sharp lines in wit and tailoring! Make the cars fast not fantasy!

Finally, leaving the best to last, there was/is the sequel that will surely feature heavily again at all the movie awards. The next Lord Of the Rings film has been improved since Peter Jackson and his band of brothers left New Zealand, having completed all three in one go. The first release went so well that he got 'a big tip' from the studio to go back and 'tart-up' THE TWO TOWERS. The classic middle section of a massive tale of good verses evil is quite simply that one thing for which all movies were, and always should be, made: Magic. So that was 2002. All that remains is to wish you a merry Christmas from the cinema department of the Western Telegraph, which consists of one. Me. Don't miss next week, when I'll be trying to pick out What To See In Zero-Three!