Along came a spider, starring Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter and Michael Wincott was first released in 2001 and is a tense and engaging thriller based on the popular book by James Patterson. I have to admit, Morgan Freeman is one of my favourite actors, as you can probably tell from my review of his performance in The Shawshank Redemption

Following the hugely successful ‘Kiss the girls’ back in 1997 it is a continuation of detective Alex Cross’s long line of dark and deadly cases as he uses his brilliant mind to solve the clues laid out for him.

This time Cross finds himself drawn into the kidnapping of the wealthy senator’s young daughter Megan, and soon realises he has no choice but to help track down the madman himself and keep Megan alive.

What then follows is a cat and mouse like chase throughout the film, which eventually leads us to an intriguing web of lies, and the kind of plot twists and unexpected revelations that you genuinely don’t see coming until it is too late.

Morgan Freeman and Monica Potter both give fantastic performances and manage to keep you perfectly poised on the edge of your seat. Michael Wincott also delivers one of the best performances of his career since his role as ‘Top Dollar’ in the cult classic ‘The Crow’ as he plays the cunning and psychotic kidnapper Gary Soneji.

The great thing about this movie has to be the strength of each individual character, everyone has an important role to play and even the seemingly helpless Megan (Mika Boorem) has a few tricks up her sleeve as she manages to outwit the bad guys time and time again. Along came a spider is a clever, tense and thought provoking thriller that will not leave you disappointed. It is a rare gem of movie that deserves to be appreciated, so catch it on film four or buy it for your own collection on DVD, as this one is definitely a keeper!

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Full cast list for Along Came A Spider: Aaron Joseph, Anna Maria Horsford, Anton Yelchin, Billy Burke, Brian Arnold, Campbell Lane, Carter Jahncke, Charles A. Lindbergh, Charles Andison, Charles Andre, Chris Robson, Christopher Shyer, Claire Riley, Craig March, Darryl Dillard, Darryl Scheelar, Debra Donohue, Donna Lysell, Dylan Baker, Greg Cool, Ian Marsh, Jay O. Sanders, Jill Teed, Jim Hild, Jonathan Walker, Kevin Hayes, Kimberly Hawthorne, Kyley Statham, Michael Moriarty, Michael Wincott, Mika Boorem, Mila Dobrozdravich, Monica Potter, Morgan Freeman, Nathaniel DeVeaux, Ocean Hellman, Paul Carson, Penelope Ann Miller, Raoul Ganeev, Ravil Issyanov, Rick Kain, Ronin Wong, Samantha Ferris, Scott Heindl, Steve Makaj, Suzette Meyers, Tamara Taggart, Tarie Tennessey, Tom McBeath, Wynn Hall.

Battle Royale is a brutal and often terrifying film that became the latest in a long line up of controversial films to be shown on Film 4. Definitely not for the faint hearted or easily offended Battle Royal is a non stop, no holds barred violent action thriller set in Japan in which a group of unruly schoolchildren and two lethal transfer students must fight a battle to the death on a secluded island to become the last one standing.

Trapped on the island and fitted with devices that explode when the boundaries are breeched they have no choice but to brutally kill all of their other classmates if they want to survive.

If you are into horror films and don’t mind watching the odd dubbed or subtitled movie then Battle Royale will appeal to you, however you should be warned that some of the scenes are quite disturbing - even for a horror film, and the film’s 18 certificate is completely justified.

There are some touching moments between some of the classmates who try to stick together to survive, and you will find yourself completely drawn into this engaging and bizarre storyline after the first five minutes of the film.

The acting is fantastic throughout and mostly stars relatively unknown actors but there are a couple you will recognise if you know your movie history, such as Chiaki Kuriyama (Chigusa) who played Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill Vol 1 and the iconic Japanese actor and comedian himself Takeshi Kitano who portrays the teacher who runs the Battle Royale program.

Although this film is without doubt violent, tense and dramatic I think those of you who take the time to watch it will definitely see what a great piece of filmmaking this truly is and find yourself compelled to purchase a copy on DVD for yourself.

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Full cast list for Battle Royale: Ai Iwamura, Ai Maeda, Aki Inoue, Aki Maeda, Akihiro Ugajin, Akira Yoshizawa, Anna Nagata, Asami Kanai, Ayana Noguchi, Chiaki Kuriyama, Daisuke Yazawa, Eri Ishikawa, Goshi Matsuhara, Gou Ryugawa, Gouki Nishimura, Hajime Yoneda, Haruka Nomiyama, Hideaki Kawashima, Hideaki Kojima, Hidetsugu Okumura, Hirobumi Seki, Hirohito Honda, Hiroshi Kitagawa, Hitomi Hyuga, Junichi Naitou, Junichi Nashiki, Kanako Fukaura, Kanji Okumura, Kazuhiro Yokokura, Kazuo Araki, Kazutoshi Yokoyama, Ken Nakaide, Kenzo Shirahama, Kiyoyuki Matsumoto, Koji Tokuhisa, Kotaru Kamijou, Kou Shibasaki, Mai Sekiguchi, Masanobu Ando, Michiko Yamamura, Mikiya Sanada, Minami, Misao Kato, Mitsuaki Tachikawa, Nanami Oota, Naoki Iwasawa, Nobuki Baba, Osamu Ohnishi, Reiko Kataoka, Ren Matsuzawa, Ryoji Sugimoto, Ryota Nakamura, Ryou Nitta, Satomi Hanamura, Satomi Ishii, Satoshi Yokomichi, Sayaka Ikeda, Sayaka Kamiya, Shigehiro Yamaguchi, Shigeki Hirokawa, Shigeki Homma, Shin Kusaka, Shirou Gou, Shoji Takano, Sousuke Takaoka, Suzuka Tonegawa, Takako Baba, Takashi Komori, Takashi Taniguchi, Takashi Tsukamoto, Takayo Mimura, Takeshi Kitano, Takeyuki Hirai, Tamaki Mihara, Taro Suwa, Taro Yamamoto, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Tetsu Masuda, Tomomi Shimaki, Tomu Asakawa, Tsuguharu Niizaki, Tsuyako Kinoshita, Umiji Tasaki, Yasuomi Sano, Yoichi Murakami, Yousuke Shibata, Yukari Kanasawa, Yukihiro Kotani, Yuko Miyamura, Yutaka Shimada, Yuuki Masuda, Yuya Nakahara. 

I went through a phase with my sons of buying as many James Bond DVDs as we could, so our DVD rack now has an almost completely formed 007 Walther PPK (the spine of each DVD case shows a segment of the gun) that until recently only had a few notable exceptions, specifically, we never got round to buying any of the Timothy Dalton films. And I now think that this was a major mistake because he’s actually got a lot more depth, and is more consistent with a real world MI6 operative than the other Bonds.

Timothy Dalton as Ian Fleming’s James Bond struggles with his conscience, and is willing to lie in order to achieve his goals, which is a character trait that I don’t remember in the other Bonds. I’m referring specifically to when he tells a big complicated lie to Maryam d’Abo playing the part of Bond Girl Kara Milovy to get her to work with him. The film locations are very good, his gadget filled Aston Martin fits the bill, and Joe Don Baker plays a good baddie. Even the title music by a-Ha is bearable! It’s also worth noting that Maryam d’Abo doesn’t scream a lot, a characteristic in a lot of the Bond girls that I find frustrating, although she is a little weak, unlike Rosamund Pike, Halle Berry and Judi Dench (although I guess it’s stretching the point to say Judi Dench is a Bond girl!).

Anyway, why am I reviewing a Bond film now? It’s partly because of the release of the new James Bond Ultimate Editions series released by Sony Entertainment in July 2006 that, like me, you’ve probably seen in your local Tesco’s gradually replacing the original DVD series in their flash new cardboard covers. Check out the best price at Amazon UK.

Having made such a big investment in Bond DVD’s already I was in no mood to rush out and replace my existing copies with the new Ultimate Edition versions in the hope that the higher quality screen transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (and a bunch of new special features) would be worth my money.

But it did make sense to buy missing titles from the original DVD edition at a knock down price (so I bought From Russia With Love, which turned out to be a great, complex film, one of Sir Sean Connery’s best) and to experiment with the new high quality edition where there were gaps in my collection, and this is what made me buy The Living Daylights Ultimate Editions Series DVD.

There is another reason for reviewing the film here though, apart from comparing Bond actors and marvelling in the high quality of the new DVD series (particularly the visual quality).

I actually watched the film twice when I got it, the first time with the whole family on Saturday night eating tortilla chips and hot chilli dip, and then again the following afternoon. Why? Because I had trouble following the plot. There aren’t many Bond films where the plot twists confuse me, and I like to think I’m reasonably intelligent, but there were events that I really couldn’t get to grips with the first time. Luckily on second watching I felt I had a complete grip on things and my self respect was restored. Was this something to do with my concentration, or the directing by Director John Glen, or just the sheer complexity of the story? Certainly, it made me think some more about the art of story-telling.

I won’t ruin the plot for you, and certainly won’t give the film ending away, but in summary, Bond is involved in a training exercise on the Rock of Gibraltar that goes wrong because of a rogue agent. Bond then helps a Russian general Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe) escape from behind the Iron Curtain, who is then miraculously sprung from a magnificent country home in the UK guarded by MI6. Bond?goes to Vienna, Morocco and Afghanistan to track down the baddies and uncover their evil plot.

In summary, I definitely recommend this film, it has character, is interesting, has a surprisingly good Bond in Timothy Dalton, and fits in the Bond series very well. It’s just a pity I now have a whole row of the old DVDs with one cardboard cased Ultimate Edition disc stuck in the middle.

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Full cast list for James Bond The Living Daylights: Alan Talbot, Andreas Wisniewski, Antony Carrick, Art Malik, Atik Mohamed, Bill Weston, Carl Rigg, Caroline Bliss, Catherine Rabett, Cela Savannah, Chris Webb, Derek Hoxby, Derek Lyons, Desmond Llewelyn, Dianna Casale, Dulice Liecier, Femi Gardiner, Frederick Warder, Geoffrey Keen, Glyn Baker, Gregor Gruphoffer, Hanno P?l, Heinz Winter, Jeroen Krabb, Joe Don Baker, John Barry, John Bowe, John Rhys-Davies, John Terry, Julie T. Wallace, Karen Seeberg, Karen Williams, Kell Tyler, Ken Sharrock, Leslie French, Maryam d’Abo, Mayte Sanchez, Michael G. Wilson, Michael Moor, Michael Percival, Michel Julienne, Nadim Sawalha, Nick Wilkinson, Odette Benatar, Patricia Keefer, Paul Weston, Peter Porteous, Richard Cubison, Robert Brown, Robert Miranda, Ruddy Rodrez, Sharon Devlin, Simon Crane, Sumar Khan, Suzy Herman, Thomas Wheatley, Timothy Dalton, Tony Cyrus, Virginia Hey, Walter Gotell, Waris Walsh.