FILM / Critical round-up

STRICTLY BALLROOM

'The sunniest, smiliest, 'feel-good' film of the year. A sort of Neighbours meets West Side Story . . . It's ballroom dancing as you have never imagined in your wildest dreams.' Pauline McLeod, Daily Mirror

'The spirit of snorting pastiche bounds through this delightful sequins-and-tinsel musical comedy from Australia, scattering cliches as it goes . . . See and delight. Come Dancing will never seem the same again.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

'The Australian film that dances all others off the screen.' Geoff Brown, Times

'With its dazzling energy carrying even the stoniest hearts through the outrageously OTT finale, this is terrific entertainment from start to finish.' Geoff Andrew, Time Out

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

'French actress Juliette Binoche plays Cathy, nervously lobbing her English accent at Ralph Fiennes' brooding Heathcliff, who flat-rackets it back with staring eyes and ee- bah-gum vowels. This pair generates as much excitement as a washed-out day at Wimbledon.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

'The scenery is spectacular, the actors are gorgeous, but the doom and gloom of Wuthering Heights is so unrelenting, it is more like Withering Heights.' Fiona McIntosh, Daily Mirror

'Something must be wrong with any adaptation of Wuthering Heights when it qualifies for a U certificate. Emily Bronte's novel invites the film-maker to push close to the edge, to probe the darkest recesses of obsessive love and sexual passion. But Peter Kosminsky's version of Heathcliff and Cathy's blighted romance prefers dull reverence.' Geoff Brown, Times

'Largely soulless, displaying all the raging passion of a well-made waxwork.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph

'The truth is the film gets worse as it goes on, having committed itself to a course it cannot properly sustain and an interpretation of the book that is only a little short of risible. Withering tights, in fact.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

THUNDERHEART

'Should be subtitled Bury My Brain At Wounded Knee. It starts as a murder thriller in an exotic setting, it ends up a stupefying slab of political piety about America's treatment of the Indian.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

'Tough-minded, intelligent and absorbing detective story set on a Sioux reservation in the South Dakota Badlands . . . Forget Political Correctness; this film goes a lot deeper than any current fads.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph

'The story boasts integrity and serves as a forceful indictment of on- going injustices.' Colette Maude, Time Out