<b>Not the movie of the week:</b> Barbet Schroeder has made some interesting films, but <i>Murder by Numbers</i> is not one of them, writes Shaun de Waal.
Shaun de Waal reviews David Bowie: <i>Heathen</i>
Guy Ramsay’s plaintive refrain about the rarity of oral sex in this column last week reminded me of a survey conducted a few years ago by one of those men’s magazines (read: pornography for straight men). In it, 100% of respondents moaned that they weren’t getting enough head. I repeat: 100%.
<b>Not quite the movie of the week:</b> For a movie that gestures towards <i>film noir</i>, <i>Mulholland Drive</i> would have been infinitely better had it been a tense thriller of an hour and a half, instead of two and a half hours that amble by at the pace of a bad art movie, writes Shaun de Waal.
<b>REVIEWS:</b>
<i>Christ: a Crisis in the Life of God</i> by Jack Miles (Heinemann)
<i>It Ain’t Necessarily So: Investigating the Truth of the Biblical Past</i> by Matthew Sturges (Headline)
<i>Doubts and Loves: What is Left of Christianity</i> by Richard Holloway (Century)<P>
Not the movie of the week: The quirky styling of The Royal Tenenbaumsis just a veneer over a rather ordinary, and extremely shallow, movie, writes Shaun de Waal.
<b>Movie of the week:</b> Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film <i>Amélie</i> has been a huge hit in its native France, and has replicated that success around the world, writes Shaun de Waal.
<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK</b> One begins to wonder, after <i>The Curse of the Jade Scorpion</i>, who the ageing Allen could cast in the Woody Allen role in his next movie, writes Shaun de Waal.
<b>Not quite movie of the week:</b> <i>Storytelling</i> feels as though it has a masterful first act, an overlong second act and no third act at all, writes Shaun de Waal.
<b>Movie of the week:</b> Skilfully and without mercy, <i>A Beautiful Mind</i> coerces one into feeling good, writes Shaun de Waal.