Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and The Iron Lady

Although Tom Cruise is beginning to show his age, he is still able to impress with some of the spectacular stunts on offer in the new Mission Impossible. The fourth outing for Tom and his crew is as good an action thriller as can be found these days. Only let down by a weak last half hour, it is elevated above it's predecessors by the contribution from Simon Pegg who has never been better. Well directed by Brad Bird, for sheer rollercoaster entertainment, it does not get much better than this.

Alison came with me to see the latest Sherlock Holmes adventure, having really liked the first with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. But be both came away somewhat disappointed despite the almost universal positive reviews for this sequel. Neither of us thought A Game of Shadows as good as the original. There seemed to be too much repetition and it was all too obvious. OK, it was quite fun in parts, and Stephen Fry is brilliant as Mycroft. Guy Ritchie directs with his usual verve, he is just let down by a silly plot and a flimsy screenplay. If there is a third, I might avoid.

Despite Oscar worthy performances from Meryl Streep and, particularly Jim Broadbent, I found The Iron Lady to be wholly unengaging. Probably not surprising when the director was Phillida Lloyd of "Mama Mia" fame. I had nothing against the central device of showing Margaret Thatcher as she is now, suffering with dementia with her memories shown in flashback. But the scenes at her home between the history are far too numerous and far too long. So we only get glimpses of her past which is overwhelmed by her present decline. There were glimpses of the movie it could have been. Alexandra Roach is terrific as the young Maggie, setting out so young to become an MP. And there are hints at how Thatcher's standing up to a hugely male dominated House of Commons led to her dominant personality as Prime Minister. So we are left with Jim Broadbent's wonderfully humorous Dennis to show that if he loved her, then that said the most. I wonder if Harvey Weinstein had any imput as a distributor? Maybe not.