Being a good director is one thing. The ability to function as writer, director and actor all on the same film is about being on another level entirely. Not many attempt it: directors sometimes write and writers sometimes direct, but most filmmakers decline to step in front of the camera as well as call the shots behind it. And, those that do aren't always particularly successful.
Captain America: Civil War is such a star-studded, big budget affair that it was always a real danger that the actors involved might get lost in the sheer size of it all. It's massive, a globetrotting superhero epic that shifts in setting and focus every few minutes, throwing major actors into the mix with each new scene.
With a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Captain America: Civil War is - in the eyes of critics at least - one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. It's the highest-rated MCU movie to date and has been a killer so far at the box office; a hell of a way to kick off Phase Three of the Marvel Universe. It's also a damn weird movie when it wants to be.
This week sees the release of Eye in the Sky - Gavin Hood's drone warfare movie, playing now Stateside - in the UK. Already the film has been a hit with critics, with special notice going to one of the actors in particular: the late, great Alan Rickman.