Elizabeth
Directed by Shekhar Kapur Starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, Kathy Burke
Kapur draws on the gangster movie, in particular the first two Godfathers, to good effect for this powerful historical drama, which plays fast and loose with the facts but delivers a gripping entertainment. Set almost completely in dark, ominous medieval castles, the film never becomes claustrophobic or visually uninteresting. Blanchett is superb in the title role, believably progressing, Corleone-style, from naive youngster to cold-blooded executioner. She is surrounded by a superb cast - Geoffrey Rush is wonderful as the queen's amoral, worldly confidant Walsingham, and Kathy Burke is remarkable in the relatively small role of Mary Tudor.
My Name Is Joe
Directed by Ken Loach Starring Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, David McKay, Annemarie Kennedy
Mullan deservedly won the Best Actor award at last year's Cannes Film Festival for his recovering alcoholic whose attempt to regain some stability in his life are endangered by the harsh realities of life at the bottom of the social scale in working-class Glasgow. Loach, as usual, is at pains to emphasise the deep-rooted inequality and injustice which make his protagonist's situation so bleak, but he also touches on other questions, of what happiness and fulfilment might mean for his characters, and his film is illuminated by Mullan's superb performance.
18
Directed by Stephen Norrington Starring Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson
Snipes has a wonderful time hamming it up as a vampire superhero in this splendidly over-the-top fantasy, based on the Marvel Comics character. Dorff makes an agreeably languid villain and, unlike so many other recent examples, the plot is not subordinated to the excellent effects. All in all, a more grown-up exercise than you might usually get in this particular genre, which is not to say that it isn't also good, campy fun.
