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I went to see a couple of films this week. The Bourne Ultimatum and The Simpsons Movie (both have good sites).

I love the Bourne films. Robert Ludlum is my favourite writer of thrillers, and I have read many of his books - including the Bourne ones. The film was great - Paul Greengrass’ caffeine-fuelled style has created a relentless experience that really needs to be caught on the big screen. It’s action all the way through, and while this is often said about action films, trust me, this IS action-packed.

One of the best features of the films is that they follow a different narrative to the books. The books were written decades ago, and while many of the same characters are present and the underline storyline is similar, the books follow a different course. This means Bourne fans get a whole new story to wallow in (I seem to remember Bourne couldn’t speak Russian in the books, but speaks it fluently & accent-free in the movie - FYI the original Bourne was a linguist and an expert in Oriental languages).

If you haven’t seen the first two movies (The Bourne Identity & The Bourne Supremacy), you should watch them before you see the third installment - they’re all really well put together and Matt Damon plays the complex Bourne incredibly well.

So, The Bourne Ultimatum perfectly closes one of the action genres very best trilogies. It rocks. 5/5

I’m also a big Simpsons fan, too. Matt Groening’s creation must stand as the best television show of all time. The continued quality of the writing, and the impeccable character development, has meant that the show has remained fresh and inventive almost twenty years after it was first aired.

The movie is good. The main storyline keeps you interested, and all the characters from Springfield are present. And it’s funny. There really isn’t that much more to say. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t wait for the DVD. The big screen doesn’t really add much to the experience (save for the riot scenes when you can pick out many of the series’ characters, but even this would be better with rewind), so all in all, while the film was enjoyable, it wasn’t anything exceptional. 3/5