FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

pc95 (spoilers)I enjoyed watching director John Marsh's "Shadow Dancer", an espionage suspense movie set in UK with a story of a Irish woman emotionally scarred by her young brother's tragic death in the 70s during English/Irish conflicts in Belfast. Most of the movie is set in early 90s Ireland when the IRA fought against English rule. Headlines and fighting in this civil/domestic war have been burnt out for good measure since then, but this story features competent acting and satisfactory suspense. The couple of twists were mixed, one well done, and one predictable. Andrea Risborough is a gorgeous and expressive actress, with wide expressive blue eyes. Her Irish accent is spot on (dont know if she herself is actually Irish). She led the movie with quiet expressive resilience. 7/10

SnoopyStyle Collette (Andrea Riseborough) grew up with the Troubles in Belfast. In 1993, she plants a bomb in the London tube and gets caught. MI5 operative Mac (Clive Owen) gets the single mom to turn. She reluctantly gives Mac some intel and MI5 stage an ambush. The IRA is suspicious and Collette could be in danger. Meanwhile, Mac's boss Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson) seems to have her own agenda. Also the burgeoning peace plan is dividing the republicans.This movie is very low key and slow paced. Also I haven't noticed Andrea Riseborough in her other works. She seems to be very plain and plays her character very close to the vest. The emotions come out only in a couple of scenes. It all gives this movie a sense of realism. However the slow pace does take its toll. The tension is on a slow boil for most of the movie. The suspense is limited because there is no mystery here. There is a big twist in the end but the story generally lays out everything. The only thing left is a character study. Riseborough seems to be a good actress, and it's a functional movie on that basis.

Jafar Iqbal Set during the start of the 90s Irish peace process, an active member of the IRA is forced to become an informant for the MI5 after they use her young son as bait. She moves back home to Belfast and reimmerses herself into the world of violence and terrorism, all the while worried for her – and her son's – safety, in case she gets found out.Movies about the IRA, and The Troubles in general, always interest me. I think it's because that whole period is based in a country so close to me, about a time so close to me, that it resonates. So I was quite pleased when 'Shadow Dancer' arrived on my desk. And, for the most, I was quite impressed by this British movie.Problem is that it's not the actual story I was impressed by. It's not bad, to be fair of it. This is set at a time when the Troubles were coming to an end, so the portrayal of how this causes fractions in an Irish family is an intelligent and somewhat fresh one. However, despite the very good actors playing the family (Riseborough, Gillen, Gleeson, Brennan), I just never feel emotionally attached to them. The ending is a very powerful one, but it's more the visceral impact than the emotional one which stuck with me.What actually impressed me was Andrea Riseborough's performance. As she demonstrated in Madonna's 'W.E.', Riseborough has the ability to be brilliant in average films. Okay, 'Shadow Dancer' is a bit better than average, but she was so much better than the film deserved. From her very first scene, where the camera follows her along a train journey, the silence of it all permeated by a very expressive face, she commands the show. Clive Owen tries hard to keep up and, while he's also very good, he's no match for her. Everyone else has too undeveloped a role to really get invested in, which is a shame.'Shadow Dancer' is a great movie for those of you who love meaty characters, power shifts and twists and turns. The execution isn't perfect, but this film has all of that. But why you should really want to watch this is if you like seeing a powerhouse performance from one of the best British actresses of recent times.

bob-rutzel-1 MI5 Agent Mac (Clive Owen) gives Collette (Andrea Riseborough) a choice: go to prison and lose her son for planting a bomb on English soil or become his informer to take down members of the IRA. She accepts to protect her son, but Mac soon discovers his superior, Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson), is also using Collette to protect "her" informer within the IRA. Mac needs to find the identity of that informer. I like Clive Owen movies, but this one was not ready to come to the gate. When the movie ends there are questions that should have been answered within. Didn't happen. We didn't get an inkling that there was a love relationship between Mac and Collette, yet she spontaneously kisses him at one point and nothing happens thereafter. Why did she do that? How did the IRA know that Kate's informer was the mole who they killed? We had no clue to that. Were some scenes cut that we never saw? The surprise ending regarding Mac made absolutely no sense. Again, perhaps some scenes were cut? Huh?I believe directors have a responsibility to allow the audience to hear what is being said. When English and Irish accents are involved the men have a great tendency to talk into their chests, talk so fast the road-runner couldn't keep up, whisper in conspiratorial tones that rewinding the DVD many times just exercises the wrist. This doesn't happen with the women actors. We can hear them fine. The movie centered too much on Collette and that led me to believe that Mac was second fiddle in here. He had no control over anything. And, the contentious relationship with Kate, his boss, didn't help matters. James Bond wouldn't allow things to get this out of control (you really wanted Clive Owen to be the next James Bond, didn't you?) When our hero (Mac) loses control, we don't know what to expect anymore. See?This movie should have been wrapped in suspense and tension but, they were not in evidence. The best part of the movie was the first 20-minutes. After that it all ran downhill with Collette's side of things. Yes, Andrea Riseborough, as Collette, performed well, but we went to see a Clive Owen movie. Oh, he also performed well, as usual, but his Mac lost control. I like going to Clive Owen movies. I hope the next one is better. (3/10)Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Torture: Yes. Language: Yes, mostly in the beginning.