Cage is again on form following his Oscar nominated role (in Spike Jonze's Adaptation) as Roy- the head of a small company that swindles people out of money in telephone scams and confidence tricks.

Rockwell plays his partner in crime as the set up guy who does all the leg work in their web of tricks.

Sir Nicolas Of Cage is great in this movie as his troubled but loving character has so many issues that confuse his life; from obsessive cleaning disorder to his comical and sporadic funny ticks - you get the feeling this chap is bordering on the strange. But Cage manages to give this guy a big heart and as the film progresses you find yourself rooting for him as he establishes himself as the good guy, despite being a criminal.

Nitro favourite Sam Rockwell is as good as ever as the charming wild man who tends to steal the scene and turn it on whenever necessary.

But for me the star of this film is the new comer Alison Lohman, who plays the integral part of Cage's daughter Angela, she is a revelation! Ridley Scott has obviously taken a huge risk and probably fought against the studio to get her this part but boy, the gamble has paid off. She holds her own with the big boys and you can't help thinking about her ahead of her co-stars - wonderful!

Ridley Scott has made some fantastic films in all genres and this again establishes his position, living up to the likes of Gladiator and Hannibal, this can join them on his recently glorious cv.

Scott has given the look of Matchstick Men a 50's watercolour hue and the rat pack music on the soundtrack give it a feel of an early Levinson film in the same vein as Tin Men or Diner. As ever Ridley's eye is great and he has a knack of making the ordinary appear so cinematic - this proves his standing in Hollywood today!

Matchstick men could have been so formulaic in it's pace and delivery with predictability at every turn but the team involved have made a film that's memorable long after the credits have finished.

Is there nothing that this man can't do? Watch this if you can - you will not be disappointed, a cut above with the emphasis on character.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL REVIEW BY FLETCH...

Think Zorro, think Prince Of Thieves, add a dose of swash and a truck load of buckle and you're on your way to The Pirates Of the Caribbean.

This is a real treat from start to finish, great action set pieces, hilarious one-liners and a good script to boot. Johnny Depp plays the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow (pronounced Sparraahh) who is trying to find Captain Barbossa, (played by Geoffrey Rush), who wants to end an ancient curse held over him by stolen treasure. You can guess the rest, but this was never supposed to be 'The Usual Suspects'.

Johnny Depp out-rocks legendary space cadet Keith Richards in this homage to him, playing the over-the-top drunk who gets all the best lines and delivers them with such gall. He's hilarious as the highly skilled but highly flawed pirate that saves the day in such a unique way. (Think Keith Richards meets Dudley Moore's Arthur and you know where I'm going). The other main leads are all good with Knightley stepping into the big budget spotlight well, holding her own (Jerry obviously liked her in this as he took her onto his King Arthur project - she's kissed those mediocre Brit-flicks goodbye). Orlando Bloom loses the ears, and is dashing in the naive swordsman role.

The sets are great, and on a large scale with the money truly up on the screen. The special effects are good and out-Mummy 'The Mummy' - the half-dead pirates being particularly impressive as they charge in and out of the moonlight (changing as the light hits them), along with actual life-size pirate ships that get trashed throughout.

Director Verbinski has followed 'The Ring' with a completely different but equally accomplished Hollywood blockbuster as it is set to go toe to toe with the other studio fare. He's obviously got a great team around him because the cinematography is rich and classic with a heroic orchestral score - it gets your heart racing as the camera sweeps around the shoreline in an epic way.

A great summer blockbuster that truly surprises - if you want escapism and a good laugh queue up for this and get on the roller coaster!

Top stuff! GO AND SEE IT!

4/5

Fletch out.

HULK REVIEW BY TJ MACKAY - JIMMY'S FOLLOWS...

Finally, the jolly green giant makes it to the big screen - and it doesn't disappoint.

The Hulk takes a lot of risks, and thankfully, they pay off as it is made with intelligence, utter respect for the source material and humour.

Ang Lee has made an enjoyable comic strip movie that has at it's heart, the most important ingredient for super heroes - A darker than black back-story.

I won't go into the story as you should just see it but I will talk about the elements. Firstly - the direction, Ang Lee was a strange but wonderful choice. The film's only worry is that the initial hour is pedestrian and slow, although necessary. Lee's use of the comic book transitions is faithful, but overplayed toward the end.

The acting - Eric Bana, again a strange choice, was also a master stroke. Although he is not really given the best material that he can do. What he does do though, is excellent work. Jennifer Connelly is in the same boat - she's fine but not given a real stretch. The acting merits go to Nick Nolte, who is so deeply inside the body of David Banner that it is quite literally scary.

The Hulk - is wonderful, many whingers have remarked that the Hulk looks 'Cartoony'. People!!!! It's a friggin cartoon strip! He's ten foot tall by nine foot wide (and then some). It HAD to be animated - Lou Ferrigno will not do in this day and age. The Hulk is impressive but flawed in the shadows, but comes into it's own when in the daylight. The attention to detail is remarkable and it really has a 'character' that CG such as Playstation Neo could only hope to have. It's the size of a house, it's bright green with purple shorts - it's NEVER going to look real, our eyes just wont accept it.

The score - Danny Elfman has composed a very good, but forgettable theme for the Hulk, which is a missed opportunity.

The film really takes off when the Hulk goes nuts - witness the brilliant dog fight and the desert rampage. Also, big note to the brilliantly 'staged' scene between Bruce and his father - acting at its best.

Get mad and go see the Hulk, you'll have a great time.

Just call me T.J. Mackay.

HULK REVIEW BY JIMMY TWOTIMES

People who know me, know that I was psyched to love this film before I'd even seen it. But after sitting through it I found that I liked it for a whole host of other reasons than the ones I thought I would. Even a week later, it has elements that have stayed with me and in moments of calm I am still finding scenes playing in my head, and you know what scares me the most... I like it...

Most of us are familiar, either from the comic books or the 70's television series, of who the Hulk is and how he came to be, so I won't go down that road. Suffice to say this is definitely Ang Lee's Hulk. He has some how managed to combine the Hollywoodism of a typical superhero movie alongside a tense human drama.

At the end of the day Ang Lee is a filmmaker, whilst someone like Sam Raimi, for example, makes movies. Where in Raimi's 'Spider-man' you had a great night out, it did everything you hoped it would, plus a lot more - The Hulk is a different kettle of fish. This definitely isn't a fun Saturday "I'll have a large popcorn" night out. Darren and Sharon are gonna be upset!

Though one hell of a big event, it ultimately is a film, a film about the human condition, it's Ang Lee's film. This is more than evident in the opening credits alone. Lee has taken the comic book format and transferred those same images onto the screen via the use of split screen, multi imaging, and multiple angles and this is as close as you're going to get to see a living, breathing, comic book on film. The camera shoots from scene to scene, there are screen wipes from top to bottom, left to right, one scene morphs into the other with such rapidity that the viewer has trouble keeping up. Not since the opening credits of 'Moulin Rouge' have I sat so in awe. There is only one point that I can recollect that this 'comic book' technique certainly did not work, but I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it involves the character of Talbot (Josh Lucas), and heck you'll know it when you see it!!

Anyway, enough of kissing the directors ass, how are the main leads, and more importantly does the big guy himself pass the test?? The answers in short are that they are everything you really wanted them to be and "oh hell yes!". Eric Bana most notably remembered for a mesmerising performance in 'Chopper' is a dark and tormented Bruce Banner. Bana plays Banner (confused?) as one emotionally scarred individual and it becomes increasingly apparent that it would be difficult to imagine anyone else pulling the role off as successfully. Jennifer Connelly also adds solid emotional support as Bruce's ex, and the one person who can calm old purple pants down, Betty Ross. Sam Elliot as General Ross (Betty's pa) is great as the Hulks/Bruce's aggressive pursuer with a few guilty secrets of his own, but the real scene stealer/chewer upper is Nick Nolte as Bruce's obsessive dad. Though you sometimes get the impression that he might not actually know that they are filming... Nolte as the wild haired psychotic David Banner truly stands out and for a moment, actually has you believing him when he tells you he's sorry. It's only in the final act of the picture that he becomes a bit more of a pantomime villain and he starts to lose any credibility. Josh Lucas who plays Glenn Talbot, rival for Betty's affections and a man who is keen to get hold of some of Bruce's gammaed up DNA, has, I think, been unnecessarily slated in other reviews for being a 2 dimensional character. I disagree, Talbot is a sleazebag, a scum, the perfect man to quell Bruce's inner rage, and whereas he may not really forward the plot along at any greater pace, he is there as a good excuse for Bruce to 'Hulk Out' a couple of times within the movie, and for this we must be truly thankful.

Now the important part: The Hulk. In a word- awesome! In all honesty, to begin with, after his first metamorphosis I was a bit worried. He did look a little too cartoony. But again, if I may draw comparisons with 'Spider-man' it seems that as the film went on, the CG effects got better. You have to ask yourself how realistic a 15 ft Green man is going to look, and what is the alternative, some no-necker painted green, or a lumbering animatronic creation, with the emotional range of a carp?

Whereas The Hulk may not quite be at the same level as 'LOTR' Gollum for example, the way in that he is made to interact with the environment around him soon dismisses any qualms you may have. The set piece in the desert as he faces off against General Ross' army is 'incredible' (d-dum tsss) and after his, extremely brutal, (this film is not for kids) fight with the unjustifiably infamous 'Hulk dogs' I felt absolutely exhausted. Such is the fast pace and the savageness of this scene, you feel like you are right there with him, you can almost feel every punch and smash. All of the anger, all of the rage- you feel it as the Hulk does, and by the time Bruce is sitting there in a pair of torn trousers, you feel completely knackered, and you don't even have the luxury of Jennifer Connelly to wrap you up and keep you warm!!!

Aside from a few slower moments and a quite rushed and somewhat confusing final act (answers on a postcard) this is great cinema. A great night out, if a bit harrowing in places, and a film that is going to be talked about/argued about for quite some time.

If you want my opinion,(and if you don't what are you doing reading this anyway?), this is going to divide the cinema going public. On the one side you are going to get those that think this is another string to the bow of great Marvel movies, while on the other you are going to have those that wish it was a bit more like 'Batman & Robin' (yes you're out there).

Me: HULK SMASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimmy TwoTimes is getting the papers. Getting the papers.

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