Un prophète

Condemned to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena, part Arab, part Corsican, cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is 19 years old. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang currently ruling the prison, he is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. Malik is a fast learner and rises up the prison ranks, all the while secretly devising his own plans.

The scene that has really had tongues waging is the razor scene. The scene itself and also the build up to the events around the razor are great, and the tension and execution of the scene is never really eclipsed, thoughout the movie.

The visual flourishes including an effect of partial sight, ghost and dream styles that are also well done.

At two and a half hours the story doesn’t have enough expansion to warrant the epic gangster length.
Also a film poster blurb has quoted that the film is 'Scarface' meets 'The Godfather', these blurs are normally just cheap marketing tricks to bring the right audience to watch the film, also as the film is French attempts to bring more people into subtitled films. But that is an issue with 'Un prophete' the film is very similar in it back bone story line and is ultimately the mixture of these two classic gangster films.

Still a good central performance and enough visual flair, makes Un prophète one of the stand out crime dramas of the year.

Talaye sorkh

For Hussein, a pizza delivery driver, the imbalance of the social system is thrown in his face wherever he turns. One day when his friend, Ali, shows him the contents of a lost purse, Hussein discovers a receipt of payment and cannot believe the large sum of money someone spent to purchase an expensive necklace

Talaye Sorkh benefits from a nice central performance from Hossain Emadeddin, who carries the film well, and keeps the interest during the rather slower sections of the film.

The political areas are covered ok, but the twist, which actually opens the film, throws the film off balance, and when the film try’s to run with that central scene and build around the reasons for it, and a political Israel story which although very realistic, does'nt quite all string together.

Where the Wild Things Are

The story follows Max, a young boy who wears his wolf suit, behaves badly and is sent to bed without any supper. Once there, he escapes to a forest where he is joined by the monstrous-yet-cuddly wild things for their wild rumpus. Adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story.

The story is a very short kid’s book which is low on words and big on visuals, a beautiful piece. The problem with the film is yes it does have the escapism of a boy trying to find a voice and discovering adventures which he isn’t getting in the real world, and a lot of heart at its centre, but the film is defaulted to an American drama. The American slacker, everyday characters of  the wild things are odd and in reality nothing happens with regarding plot, which every story needs.

Another gripe for me is the soundtrack which has defaulted to an indie soundtrack which started with the likes of ‘Juno’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ which was perfect for those films but just takes you out of the wonderland, in this movie.

At the end of the day ‘Where the wild things are’ is a nothing film structurally and yes a short story in paper back perfect, hour and a half film not so.

W

Oliver Stone has made Presidential films before ‘Nixon’ and to some extent ‘JFK’ with the assassination of the former president, and has been successful with them, JFK is still his masterpiece.

There are flashes of the old director brillance with W.,  with a number of key scenes, one involving a lunch conversation with the vice president which is a great scene, and a immersive scene in the war room with tense escaladed discussion to invade Iraq.

Still the slightly comic approach to the film is slightly misleading, and despite a great central performance from Josh Bolin and a number of great supporting roles, the film seems rushed the the usual emotional hard noise Oliver Stone films not there. The film also ducks from the political anguish that the director does so well.

W. does not hold up to early Oliver Stone films such ‘Platoon’, Born on the 4^th July and JFK, which are still his best work. 

Still with a massive dip in quality in film making from the likes of  the dire ‘World Trade Centre’ and monster disaster of ‘Alexander’ its nice to see a if only slightly back to form Mr Stone, and lets hope the director can up his game even more for his next film. 

35 rhums

A widower is cared for by his daughter, who also becomes a "step-wife" for him.

Sadly 35 Rhums is the definition of a dull film which does'nt really has anywhere to go. It’s not down to the performances which are fine, but the actors just don’t have anything to run with, which is down to a fragile slow script and blandly written characters. 


A pretentious piece of cinema, which highlights amount to a breaking down of a car, and a death of fat cat. Go figure. Pedestrian, mundane and not as clever as it thinks it is..

Monsters vs. Aliens

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young girl and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.

Good fun, good characters and the film zips along nicely. The homages to other SC-FI classics are worked in ok, everything from 'Dr Strangelove' to E.T. Still the body of the story is slightly auto pilot with other animated movies of this type, and there is nothing here that you have hav'nt seen before visually.

Big River Man

Following Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles in what is being billed as the world's longest swim. Strel, who hails from Slovenia, previously completed record swims in the Danube, Mississippi and Yangzte rivers and holds several Guiness World Records.

This documentary can been seen similar to Hearts of Darkness the documentary which supported the film ‘Apololaypse Now’ as it depicts man against the elements of the rain forest, in ‘Big River Man’ the Amazon River.

A lot is lost with the narration of the son of the swimmer rather than the emotions of Strel. Still entertaining although, in experience can been seen in the making of the documentary with a theatrical approach over the more interesting doc approach this can been seen in a bombardment of music all the time and dramatic staged scenes which are not needed.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.

Well made drama from debut director Lee Daniels. The dream sequences are well integrated on screen with the horror which ignites them. Still this is standard story telling exercise, the real talking points are the performances.

When a performance is a source for acting, various award winning performances have defined the word of actor, recently Daniel Day Lewis in ‘There Will Be Blood’ and Jamie Fox ‘Ray’. 

In order to be accounted as a performance the person needs to show a difference in personality to display character. As great as Gabourey Sidbe is as the lead, the young girl on the streets of Harlem trying to find a voice, and build a life round her abusive mother and troubled school life. Without belittling the actress her performance is no better or worse than a performance from say the television show ‘The Wire’ from the street kids, an everyday person you will pass on the street. Strong but natural all the same and many young woman could adlib a performance such as this. Not taking anything away from the actress but her performance as well as a number of other performances in the film stretch the definition of acting. This is important as 90% of the film is subjected to the young lead, the title ‘Precious’ is the girls name, that you have to really feel for the character, which you do but its an everyday approach, the point i guess but can leave the viewer cold.

The real standout performance is from the mother played with real nasty menace from Mo’Nique the closing scene of her and a social worker is just as powerful as anything before it.

Overall a hard watch and a hard sell. The film is powerful but can be drawn out and could be seen as slightly exploitive, the abrupt ending also leaves the film with mixed messages.

Los cronocrímenes

Hector (Karra Elejalde) is relaxing on a lawn chair outside of his new country home, surveying the nearby hillside through a pair of binoculars, when he catches sight of what appears to be a nude woman amidst the trees.

The fun with time travelling films are the revaluations of events or objects that you remember at the beginning section of the film popping up again, a good example are the events in the film ‘Triangle’ or events from back to the future being played out again Back to the Future 2, but from different angles or scenarios. 

The problems with 'Time Crimes' are that, everything you see once the time travelling has happened is being played out and you know what will happen before it happens because of the restrictions of both the script and the performances, also a restriction to a number of small locations. Why does the lead ring himself when he knows he got a call from himself before? pretty dull time travelling repeats. The film does have an interesting premise being that you can play with time to your own ends, but is not well executed. The repeat double repeats as the film raps up are also not that exciting. 

Another issue is the lead character is not interesting enough and generally not liked, which is ok a bit more meat with his character could of improved the film for motivation,  for a complex style of movie such as the time travel genre.

Junebug

A dealer in outsider art threatens the equilibrium of her middle-class in-laws in North Carolina. Madeline is a go-getting art gallery owner from Chicago, recently married to George, a near-perfect Southern beau.

Its safe to say that Amy Adams, keeps the film afloat, the story is so mudane and uninteresting that every time she is on screen she is a breath of fresh air and a joy to watch.

The reasons for the flatness of the film is the fact that the dysfunctional family rountine has been seen before, and 'Junebug' plays like a mixture of ‘Meet the Parents’ and a second rate Wes Anderson film, a strange mix that does’nt really work.

There is plenty of heart trying to breakout of this film but a number of quirky scenes example a scene of a lead character flapping her hands whilst nail vanish is drying, and an inclusion of an odd ball painter in the location the south of America is just too weird. 

The stand out, tear jerky hospital scene staring you guessed it Amy will knock you for six and only highlights that Adams given the right role will knock everyone out of the park.

Life in Massena is as harsh and barren as the frigid landscape. In this bleak terrain, two hardened single mothers are trying to make lives for their children. 

The Sundance festival winner of 2008 and also oscar nominations for Melissa Leo and screenplay, a relatively small film was raised to great highs on release.

The acting is solid and Leo deserved her praise. Still the ordinary feel of the drama, and the everyday events surrounding family life would suit more a hard hitting drama, rather than a hard hitting thriller which the film has been pitched at and attempts to execute.

The film has a grounded style and is ultimately more suited as a TV film feel rather than the full cinema experience. 

4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile

A drama set in Bucharest during the "golden" years of Communism, about the horrors of the Securitate, and the brutality and absurdness of its methods used.

The Golden Palm winner of 2007, the abortion narrative will strike cords but also shock and disgust.

The acting is first class, especially from Anamaria Marinca, as the friend of the girl having the termination.

Strangely the story never really vers away from the central story and the communism environment, apart from being mentioned on a few occasions it is never really addressed.

Still this is a finely made film.  Nice touches include beautifully framed opening and closing shots as well as good structured use of bathrooms to create atmosphere and portray emotion.

Although a film that will not be to everybody’s taste, this is without doubt a powerful film with strong ideals and ideas, well made and well acted.

Still for a film to be truly great there needs to be that connection with performance and story, still for a film that is so strong on trueness and realism for a subject matter of this type, this can leave the viewer shocked, but not moved if the characters don't connect enough with the viewer.

Aliens of the Deep

James Cameron takes audiences to the depths of the ocean to encounter some of the strangest life forms on Earth, while inviting us to imagine what future explorers may someday find on other planets.

Beautifully shot and there are moments of stunning cinematography, both the jelly fish scene and the octopus scenes are stunning.

Still there are issues here, James Cameron cannot resist a theatrical approach to the documentary, the build up to the dive is similar to the opening scenes of the film ‘Titanic’ and some of the dialogue is obviously staged and scripted, this is not Cameron’s fault he is a film maker at the end of the day, but this approach takes the edge of the realism off the film, and one cannot help but think there is a slight ego in Cameron's approach and reasons for making this documentary. 
The narrative of the documentary also goes off track, computer generated animation of space travel and exploration is interesting but nothing to do with what has come before, in investigating the earth’s seas. 
There is just not enough of the earth’s animals and too much time spent on off track storylines and the Earths crust.

A stunning visual feast, and the scenes of the Earths wild life is amazing but an attempt to expand the narrative of the documentary and the theatrical approval leaves the film in limbo somewhat.

The Road

From Cormac McCarthy, comes the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Expectations were high for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and with a stella cast what could of gone wrong. ‘The Road’ is by no means a disaster, but as book adaptations go it is not as successful as one would have hoped. The issue is pacing and a number of check list ‘end of the world movie scenes', watching society collapse (check), never give up hope (check). These are all ok but the pace and mundane execution of a number of these scenes all seems to take along time to get there. The scenes of our leads dragging a trolley down an empty road is how you feel the film is dragging at time. A bit more tension and pace would of made all the difference one feels.

Still what really works is the chemistry between the father and son which is spot on, Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee are exceptional.  Kodi is a real star, a one to look out for in the future. The scenes of Mortensen and Smit-McPhee sharing a coke or eating dinner in candle lit are stunning and extremely heartfelt. This relationship between these two is the core of the film, the glue that keeps everything together. 
In conclusion whilst other assets of the movie could have been improved, the acting is faultless, also a worthy note is a wonderful cameo from Robert Duvall.

The Hangover

Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three friends drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out bachelor party they'll never forget. But, in fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing. For some reason, they find a tiger in the bathroom and a six-month-old baby in the closet of their suite at Caesars Palace.

The film does have a few laughs but overall, another nail in the coffin of these endless lads go wild genre pieces. The inclusion of a cameo from Mike Tyson is a mystery, it brings nothing to the film. These adolescent comedies that are being produced by Hollywood are the norm at the moment, look at for the likes of both 'Role Model' and 'Sex Drive'. The sad thing is the group of guys in the film work well together, but the Las Vegas hedonist image has been done before but better.

The most overrated comedy and possibly film of 2009.

Gangster No 1

Chronicles the rise and fall of a prominent and particularly ruthless English gangster.

Director Paul McGuigans follow up to the surreal film 'The Acid House' is very much your standard rise and fall gangster film which have paved the genre for many years.

'Gangster No 1' is famous for Paul Bettany's debut performance but apart from a few impressive scenes involving the actor, the stand out being between Bettany and Eddie Marsan in Marsan's kitchen which is impressive.

Bettany doesn’t really have much to do. The best acting goes to the brilliant Eddie Marsan.

Overall 'Gangster No 1' is allot of style and very little originality, as well as the viewer never really caring for these nasty gangsters and other dull characters.

Iron Man 2

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armoured superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military.

The Marvel flagpole franchise fly’s in for yet another instalment. Picking up straight after the big reveal of Tony Stark as Iron Man, the series has new goddess and villains to step up to the plate. Allot of the material for the sequel is dark, a hero not wanting his powers, fighting with inner demons, standard comic book context, still the director moves towards the all out crash bang wallop action at times and only skims on the dark material which is a shame.

The best of the new villains is surprisly not Mickey Rourke who although fun relies too much on visual gags to give menace the real star is the ever fantastic Sam Rockwell who plays the corporate villain to a tee.

Still the film works on the chemistry between Robert Downey Jar. and Gwyneth Paltrow, which bounce off each others lines and create a number of the most entertaining scenes. Once the inevitable robots fighting robots scene takes centre stage the film switches to auto pilot.

A fun piece of popcorn no brain entertainment and sets up nicely for a possible final third film.

44 Inch Chest

The 44 Inch Chest story unfolds when a jealous husband and his friends kidnap his wife's young lover, seeking retribution for his wounded ego. The film is a darkly funny and confrontational drama about a wronged man trying to rebuild his self-respect, aided only by a motley crew of his old friends.

A character study rather than a fully rounded film as such. A great full English cast and strong performances pull the film though.

The story thread lacks any real drama or excitement, but the film is great at flexing its acting chops. John Hurt is especially grizzly and bad tempered, and Ian McShane is showing that he may of starting his film career late but is still a perfect character actor and sadly over looked.

The script is solid and also unpleasant, the film grabs its 18 certificate purely over the foul language.

Still and play visual set up of mostly using one location and great acting, is enough for its short running time and to see the best of British.

Mulholland Drive

Along Mulholland Drive nothing is what it seems. In the unreal universe ofLos Angeles, the city bares its schizophrenic nature, an uneasy blend of innocence and corruption, love and loneliness, beauty and depravity. A woman is left with amnesia following a car accident. An aspiring young actress finds her staying in her aunt's home

David Lynch's head f&ck of a movie, plays along his interest in Hollywoodand has a kind of 1950's feel to it, a homage as you will.

The story jumps around and as expected from a Lynch movie we have dwarfs, musical numbers and extreme close-ups a plenty, as well as Lynch's normal obsession with female characters. The two leads Naomi Watts and Ann Hill are particularly great. Both having that look in their eye of not quite knowing what will happen next, and what is going on, a piece of acting which is justified in a Lynch movie where pretty much anything could and does happen.

Naomi Watts Is the most interesting performance on show, her rather amateur performance at the beginning is enhanced to a more mature professional performance as the film progresses.

The odd ball quality is strangely effective in creating some un expected comic moments also. 

Visually Lynch knows his stuff and the film looks great as well as some well staged creepy and beautiful shots.

The film will not be for everyone, and as with most of David Lynch's films the use of too many characters, odd plot lines can confuse and tire the film. 

As always with Lynch's movies Mulholland Drive is a unique piece of cinema and despite the oddness of it all, one of Lynchs most user friendly film in a while.

Whiteout

Carrie Stetko, the lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica, is investigating the continent’s first murder, which draws her into a shocking mystery. Now, with only three days until winter, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into darkness and she is stranded with the killer.

'Whiteout' is a mixture of 'Cliffhanger' in story, and in visual style and atmosphere 'The Thing' but is never as good as either in story and visual. Once you have seen Kate Beckinsale's shower scene entrance you kind of know you are on to a low par or out right loser of a film.

Failures of the film are the over use of flashbacks, the film has flashbacks for the main story, flashbacks for back stories and even flashbacks for what the viewer has just seen. The stop start action is mis guided, mixing serial killer action and plot detective points.

The film is not bad in any real way, but with a story that would be suited for a Televison series as a hour episode for maybe CSI for example, the cast is wasted because of this.

'Whiteout' just comes and goes without any real event or impact.