FILM / Critical round-up

BOB ROBERTS

'Bob Roberts has nothing to do with the real world and much to do with a film star turned film-maker who fancies himself as the Orson Welles de nos jours.' Nigel Andrews, FT

'This is a film of broad strokes and obvious points: but its mischievous gusto makes you want to clap hands.' Geoff Brown, Times

'In parodying a phenomenon already prone to self-parody, (Tim) Robbins may have pushed things to such an extreme that he actually reveals little new about the real mechanics of manipulation.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE DISCOVERY

'The whole film is devised in cliche terms so that you and I can understand it. And, being dumb, we need everything either underlined or camped up as action adventure.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

'Fatally split between the swashbuckling values of the old-fashioned epic, a desire for historical accuracy, and the new shibboleth of Political Correctness.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph

LES AMANTS DU PONT-NEUF

'It doesn't just urge you to believe it. It twists your arm behind your back and forces you to do so.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

'Bliss is not totally unconfined . . . Past the half-way point, aggravation begins to creep in: we surfeit on Carax's exuberant ways and obsession with characters whose affairs might touch us more if the scale were intimate.' Geoff Brown, Times

'It may not have much to do with real life under the bridges of Paris, and it may not involve the audience too deeply in Alex and Michele's love affair, but it's a fresh-eyed, incandescent wonder . . .' Nick James, City Limits