5 out of 10   Basically I tricked my wife and her sister into watching this one, saying it was a period costume drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo di Caprio. As a consequence my wife spent more than half the film in the kitchen, pottering about. 

Plot: Daniel Day-Lewis wants to kill everyone with his giant moustache

Romance: There is some kind of half-hearted romance between Leonardo di Caprio  and Cameron Diaz’s characters. But the true frisson and chemistry is that is that created by Day-Lewis as Butcher Bill and Brendan Gleeson as Walter McGinn. Verdict: An outrageously high 5 out of 10, which was down to Irishy style music and nice sets of 19^th Century New York.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo di Caprio, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson

6.5 out of 10
The fact that we had to watch this sci-fi thriller in separate rooms suggested that it would score low on my wife's chick flick scale. While I perched on the edge of the sofa, craning my neck (I had lost my glasses earlier in the day while carrying our youngest child down the hill), the missus sat in the dining room and hid behind her laptop. However, due to the connecting doors being open this in her mind qualified as "watching the film". Every so often I had to pause the action while she came in and asked what was going on. But I only had to say "I think this next bit will be really scary" to send her scurrying back to safety.

Plot: The sun is going out so a load of good looking actors go up in a space ship to fire a nuclear bomb into it.

Romance: There are two women on board but no romance. Though one of them is in love with a garden. 

Verdict: A suprisingly high score of 6.5 out of 10, probably due to the beautiful imagery, lovely score and lack of classical Hollywood all-action narrative. An extra mark was possibly gained due to the presence of the guy who was in The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Chick Flick points lost at the end due to the slasher style fight scenes. Would have been better if it had been a fight over the attentions of the attractive female pilot.

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Alex Garland

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Mark Strong, Michelle Yeoh