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Not very much. On the Japanese market, it buys you a film that could not be any more convincingly a huge blockbuster spectacle that looks great the entire way through and left me convinced that it's not the American studios who are being fleeced. It's us.

For ten of these you get one Godzilla vs Kong. A decent movie but that equation is a damning one. Arguments that it's a simplification of the moviemaking processes in two very different countries don't really fly for me. This is every bit the spectacle with a depth of feeling and character and history that its American counterparts simply do not possess, for all the talent involved in their making.

As Hollywood continues to see high budget film after high budget film flounder, when do we start getting value for money? People want accessible, intelligent entertainment. Something different from what we've been fed for so long now, or crammed down our throats since the 2021 cinema reopenings. Hollywood could make films like this again if it wanted to. It's just forgotten how to.

There's a total confidence in its story and pacing evident in Godzilla Minius One that makes it as admirable as it is enjoyable. A fully investible selection of human stories that matter and that I cared about, set against the backdrop of Japan suffering more devastation just as it starts to pull itself up off its knees following the war. A story about the people, pulling together to protect their country because their government is too scared of upsetting the world again by arming itself.

Solidarity and courage and the acceptance of individual mistakes but turning this into a learning process that can fix things down the lines. A train of thought and socio-political understanding that sees a country coming to terms of what's been done to it by others and by itself, but finding a way to ensure it doesn't happen again on the same scale.

The complete investment in a fully formed story and background *matters*. Because when Godzilla does ruck up and cause chaos, I find myself so much more invested in what happens to these people because they deserve to get on with their lives. The destruction is magnificent and devastating, the fightback rousing and thrilling, the excitement factor as high as anything I've seen at the cinema since the early summer. What a great film.

I recently bumped The Sting into my top 4 films of all time, so this was more of a confirmation watch than anything. I know, but when a film is as good as The Sting, you actually don't need a reason to watch it.

It's interesting that of the two Redford-Newman films, it has pretty much always been Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid that gets most of the attention. Yet for me, The Sting is clearly a better all round film. Then again, it's a better all round film than almost everything I've ever seen. At times it even borders on perfect. The sets, the costume design, the music, the pacing, the sub-plots - everything in this film is so good and absolutely everything in it seems to matter.

The Sting is one of those films that has its one or two iconic and widely remembered scenes, but it's also one of those films that has about 15 or 16 other scenes that could easily be remembered as such. They would be - in a lesser film.

There is absolutely nothing wasted in this film. Not every scene necessarily matters, as such, but it's as close as you will get in any film. Even the seemingly less intriguing scenes have something in them that will leave you guessing, especially when Paul Newman and Robert Redford's gang starts to put together its plans. Glances are cast, facial expressions change, and quite often the most important parts of this film are where no dialogue is spoken at all.

You can only imagine just how meticulously George Roy Hill directed the film. Quite aside from the intricacies in every scene, you then have the amazing attention to detail that goes into the set design, the wonderful costumes and trying to give the film an authentic 1930s Chicago feel. All this is helped by Marvin Hamlisch's score. Hamlisch was 29 when he did the music for The Sting.

I think the performances of Newman, Redford and the dominating Robert Shaw have been given exactly the level of attention they deserve - all three of them are exceptional here, but what a great supporting cast they get to work with. Charles Durning has always been a favourite of mine and here, as corrupt bunco cop Snyder, he pops up when you least expect it, trying and failing on several occasions to collar Redford. He has always been great value in this kind of role, but never more so than here.

Charles Dierkop's craggy faced and almost silent performance as Shaw's bodyguard is just about perfect as well, but my personal favourite is Harold Gould's dapper conman Kid Twist. Gould spent almost all of his career guest starring in almost every US TV series that you can think of but on the basis of this performance, you are left wondering if bigger and better things should have lay ahead of him.

What's most astonishing about The Sting is that I haven't a sodding clue about how to play poker - and yet that scene on the train still had me completely transfixed and on the edge of my seat. There are many other astonishing things about this film, though, and I wouldn't have any hesitation in recommending it to anyone, no matter what your mood. It's absolutely brilliant.

You can see why filmmakers and studios seem reluctant to make a good old-fashioned 90 minute action film these days.

The response to 65 was quite depressing to those of us who pine for blockbusters to go back to being that length. A predictable box office disappointment, a total dearth of positive reviews. It seems that we *can* have nice things but they have to be half an hour longer than 65. At least.

Look, I'm not asking for *all* the films to be this short, that would be unreasonable. But also nice. John Wick: Chapter 4 is nearly three hours long and I can't wait to see it. The more John Wick, the better. I hope the next Mission: Impossible film is 18 decades long. But some things clearly do need to shake hands with brevity and this is one of those cases.

There are those that have questioned why it's so short. We've been so starved of films where we have time to do other things with our days before and after that we're suspicious when something like this comes along. I didn't notice any huge gaps in proceedings here. It tells us what little we need to know and gets on with it. We're here for Adam Driver shooting dinosaurs and bonding with a kid. Proceed.

It stops off at the moments of expected trauma and character interactions, that much was to be expected. But there are plenty of moments of solid action and danger, nothing at all mindblowing but absolutely enough to make for a good time. Then it just ends and that's the end of that. Thank you very much, that's exactly what I left the flat for. And thank you Adam for gracing something that you're quite clearly too good for, much appreciated.