Shake your hair girl with your ponytail

Film reviews from father and daughter this time

Firstly, father. His most recent sojourns to the cinema have been to see Burn After Reading and Body of Lies. Since I've seen Burn After Reading too, we were actually able to have a bit of of a discussion about it (rather than me just saying "Why did you go and see that?"). And he enjoyed it. Thought it was funny, than John Malkovich was particularly good in it, thought begrudgingly that George and Brad were quite good, but that the guys playing the CIA agents (or whoever they were) were the best. I did have to warn him beforehand that the film was improbable, but that that was the point. He got it - he's a smart guy, my dad.

Body of Lies also met with his approval. Well-acted and enjoyable, although he was somewhat bemused the Leonardo di Caprio's character was able to travel in and out of various Middle Eastern countries undetected, when he looked so much like a Westerner.

He's taken to phoning me up to check what films are on at his local cinema, so I can warn him which ones he should avoid. He's still amazed that Mamma Mia is on.

So, my turn. I unexpectedly watched Flashbacks of a Fool, starring Daniel Craig, earlier this evening. The film is about a washed up English actor, living in Hollywood, and we see his the last few weeks of his life in England through a flashback. I'm not going to say any more about the plot, as that's lazy. It was really superb - the cast were great (lots of really good British actors, including an Archers actress), it was beautifully shot, there were some apposite injections of humour, and it used music brilliantly to set the mood. It could so easily have picked the easy road at the end (and perhaps a less well-made film would have), resulting in an unsatisfactory ending. But it didn't and it made for a rather moving film.