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Gillian Anderson, shorn of make-up, gives a powerful raw performance as Gaynor, and Jason Isaacs is on equally fine form. With mostly hand-held cameras the film is fully immersive, making you feel as if you're rambling in this glorious landscape/seascape with them through weather that is not always glorious.

Like previous road-trip movies, this is full of the feel-good factor with moments of the feel-sad factor to break the mood. Anderson and Isaacs set out to milk every ounce of sympathy from you, and you are meant to emerge from this picture feeling that your life has been affirmed as well as theirs. I hugely enjoyed all the ups and downs of the coastal hike.

Both halves of SINNERS are brilliantly executed. The singing in the bar is at the level of Diana Ross's Billie Holliday, and the vampire slaughter is totally at Tarantino's FROM DUSK TO DAWN pitch. The highly talented, almost entirely Black cast all play their roles with total seriousness, which prevents the movie from sliding into camp, which often happens with OTT horror. The apocalyptic ending is up there with the latest adaptation of Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT. Special effects have come a long way since Christopher Lee fell to bits at the end of the 1958 Hammer DRACULA - still of hallowed recall.

Writer/director Ryan Coogler (whom I only know from the CREED movies) is at the top of his game. The sumptuous style and cinematography are in the league of Coppola's Dracula. All that gore, plus Singing the Blues - there's a whole lot going on here.

Gia Coppola hits the limelight with this near-documentary-style drama about Shelley, an ageing Las Vegas showgirl, played by Pamela Anderson in a raw and searing performance. The revue she is in, styled on Paris's Moulin Rouge is pretty tame by today's standards and earmarked for closure.

At 57, with no other skills, she faces a future of waiting tables and serving cocktails. Jamie Lee Curtis has a star cameo as exactly that, an ex-showgirl cocktail waitress. Curtis steals the movie with a show-stopping solo dance number that reminded me of Gwen Verdon's heart-rending routines in the original stage version of SWEET CHARITY.

Despite great acting and moody cinematography, THE LAST SHOWGIRL feels a little flat. The story is too slight and Anderson is the only character given enough development. And there's too long a wait to see Anderson's show routine, which is pitch perfect, with a few sad echoes of a tired old drag queen.