Oldboy (2003 Chan-Wook Park)

South Korean.

Fabulous performance by Min-Sik Choi.

Mix of Shakespearean tragedy and ultra-violent comic book is a bit silly really, but truly memorable, fascinating and nasty.

The Anniversary Party (2001 Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh)

.. who as well as directing, wrote and starred in it, with Kevin Kline, John C Reilly, Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates.

Interesting, apparently.

Lantana (2001 Ray Lawrence)

 With Anthony LaPaglia, Rachel Blake, Kerry Armstrong.

DP Mandy Walker.

Excellent. Good music.

Anger Management (2003 Peter Segal)

Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler, Marisa Tomei, Luis Guzman.

Got funnier as it went along, apparently.

Bringing Down the House (2003 Adam Shankman)

Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright.

Good fun. (Can't remember a thing about it now.)

Edited by Jerry Greenberg

The One and Only (2002 Simon Cellan Jones)

Newcastle kitchen builder with cute African child wins pregnant girl. OK.

Justine Waddell, Richard Roxburgh, Jonathan Cake, Patsy Kensit.

DP Remi Adefarasin, composer Gabriel Yared, editor Pia di Ciaula.

I didn't realise at the time it's a remake of Susanne Bier's original Den Eneste Ene (1999) with Borgen's Sidse Babett Knudsen and The Killing's Sofie Gråbøl (not, unfortunately, subtitled for English).

Hable Con Ella / Talk To Her (2002 Pedro Almodóvar & scr)

 Javier Camara good in the lead, good story. Screenplay won Oscar.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999 Stanley Kubrick)

At the cinema in High Wycombe.

The Aristocats (1970 Wolfgang Reitherman)

Is this film about single parent families? I dunno. Nicely animated but dramatically limp. Guest appearance by Coo-Coo Pigeon Sisters.

The Anniversary (1968 Roy Ward Baker)

Bette Davis, Jack Hedley, James Cossins. Hammer.

Flashes of humour enliven artificial, stagey presentation of despotic mother's attempts to ruin lives of three sons. Supporting acting dodgy.

Black Rainbow (1989 Mike Hodges & scr)

Rosanna Arquette, Jason Robards, Tom Hulce.

Despite cast and performers*, we thought this supernatural thriller was awful. But then, we were somewhat "superannuated". No wonder Goldcrest flopped.

*Ed. A fine distinction, to be sure, to be sure.

Bird on a Wire (1990 John Badham)

Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn

Very entertaining Hitchcock update with stars in good form. (Film is long advert for Goldie Hawn's legs.)

Apocalypse Now (1979 Francis Coppola & prod, co-scr)

Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, Jerry Zeismer (also First AD!)

Written by John Milius, Coppola and Michael Herr (narration), inspired by Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'.

"Who's in charge here?"
"Aint you?"

Psychedelics, pyrotechnics in the jungle, helicopters, the most beautiful explosions, Wagner and helicopters. I mean, who cares about the plot?

Music by Carmine and Francis Coppola.

Photography by Vittoria Storaro in Technovision and Technicolor won Oscar.

Walter Murch on how the film was edited: 'So in general, Richie Marks took the second half of the film, and I took the first half, and Lisa Fruchtman did the Playboy concert and some of the other scenes here and there.  With the notable exception of the helicopter battle scene, which Jerry Greenberg was already working on, which is a feature film in itself." I don't know what Evan Lottman did on the film - maybe the assembly? They were Oscar nominated.

The original cinema release with that amazing end credits scene, 153 minutes. 

Watched it at the Odeon, Cemetery Junction, and smoked like a chimney. First time I'd heard The Doors 'The End' - bought the album immediately. Went back to the cinema and saw it again thirteen days later. It made quite an impression. Also on 7/10/82 and in 70MM on 25/3/92, from when my review reads 'Series of wonderfully executed set pieces filled in with monotonous narration and pretentious bullshit. More a dream journey into Conrad's Heart of Darkness than a war film, it takes itself rather seriously. Sheen is a blank centre'!

The legion of stories about its making are insane. There's a whole documentary about it, Hearts of Darkness and the stuff about it in Jerry Zeismer's book 'Ready When You Are, Mr Coppola, Mr Spielberg, Mr Crowe' is fascinating, especially about pristine white-suited Storaro in the jungle and his loyal team of Italian technicians.

Walter Murch in conversation with Anne Coates:

WM: In Apocalypse Now, I came on in August '77 after they finished shooting, and we didn't know it but we had two years to go -- it was two years in post-production. Most of the material had already been assembled. I came on and took over from the beginning through that massacre in the sampan in the middle, which is roughly halfway through. With the notable exception of the helicopter battle scene, which Jerry Greenberg was already working on.

 AC: Just that scene.

WM: Just that scene, which is a feature film in itself. I think there were 300,000 feet of dailies for that, with many thousand-foot loads of multiple cameras, eight cameras shooting simultaneously. And then Jerry left the film in the spring of '78. By that time it was in very good shape. So I continued to work on it, but in the overall interest of cutting things down. In the end it was a 25-minute sequence. So in general, Richie Marks took the second half of the film, and I took the first half, and Lisa Fruchtman did the Playboy concert and some of the other scenes here and there.