Idi i smotri

A boy is unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of war in WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly unequipped resistance movement against the ruthless German forces. Witnessing scenes of abject terror and accidentally surviving horrifying situations he loses his innocence and then his mind.

Gritty, and bizarre in equal measures. 'Come and See' went under the radar on its release, with larger profile Holocaust films such as 'Schindlers List' getting all the praise in the years following its release this small Hungarian film has an even stronger punch to the likes of 'Schindlers List'

The stand out scenes are the moor and the burning of the barn scenes, which are to this day still shocking. The scene of the burning barn and the boy dragged to the floor followed by a picture being taken with a group of German soldiers is such a striking image, it is totally unforgetable.  

The use of face profile thoughout the film are very affective and important, used from scene to scene for pleasure and pain during the coarse of the film, this is one of many stylist methods which will stay with you long after the credits.

Stunning and powerful an image of the Holocaust that could only come from eastern Europe, bravo. 

The Lovely Bones

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. From heaven, Susie keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

Even at a good two hours in length 'The Lovely Bones' seems to have large chunks of the story removed, strangely, and what is left is a mix match fragmented film thats not sure what it wants to be, with both emotion and style confused together. On one hand a thriller the next a fantasy film. 

There is a good central performance from Saoirse Ronan but both Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weitz are wasted, as for Mark Wahlberg, the actor doesn’t have the weight to carry the father role.

Surprisly from the guys who brought you the likes of 'The Lord Of The Rings and King Kong the special effects are bad.
The killer has killer written all over him, evil contact lens check, glasses check, parting hair cut check, to almost comic book prepositions, for a serious character and story tread a mistake.

There are scenes of beauty, the rose flower scene and ships in a bottles smashing against the rocks are both standouts. Still a miss step from Peter Jackson after his more serious work success of 'Heavenly Creatures' for example.

The Final Destination

After a teen's premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded their end.

The series may have a few tricks left up its sleeve, there is plenty of horror to be drained from the idea of death tracking down people who escape their natural death, with more sequels, but the fourth outing is rather lazy and dull in its execution. 

The acting has hit an all time low, the script is poor and when you don't really care for any of the characters you're in trouble.

Yes the series has always just really been about the odd ball idea of deaths vegenance, and new and fun ways to see each of the characters bite the bullet, but that is no excuse for a bad script and a bunch of bad actors that you will never see again.

Still some of the death scenes are inventive as always, and the sharpe quick slap dash style and the short running time keeps the film full of life and fast paced. 

The in production firth film should be better.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

A biography of Ian Dury who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founder of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.

'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' is all about Andy Serkis's performance as Ian Dury which is good. There are a number of interesting visual touches for the musical numbers also, including a nice underwater piece for the famous song 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'. 

A fault of the film maybe in the fact that the film is very focused on Ian Dury and maybe less about the music which is a missed opportunity to understanding the musical influences, especially for people who are not familiar with Ian Dury and the Block heads.

Still a fine performance and a spring in its flash photography and a zippy script is welcome, but a more focused film based around the music would have given the film an extra edge.  

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness" is an emotionally charged thriller set at the intersection of politics and big business. Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a veteran homicide detective for the Boston Police Department and a single father. When his only child, twenty-four year-old Emma (Bojana Novakovic), is murdered on the steps of his home, everyone assumes that he was the target. 

It's also good to see Mel Gibson back in front of the camera after directing for a number of years.
It is also great to see the actor take on the slightly lose cannon unhinged roles again, roles that made him famous with the likes of the 'Lethal Weapon' series and the Mad Max series, and this return includes an over the top growling Mel Gibson in Edge of Darkness, which is always a treat..
Still the returned vehicle for Gibson is an un involving slow drama, that manages to never gets off first base and has a laboured feel to it, similar to Gibson's other drama 'Ransom' which was intense without the tension. 

A return to form as such for its lead, but a by numbers thriller that never really gets going.

The Box

A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know.

‘The Box’ is a mixture of the weirdness of ‘Donnie Darko’ and the off key story telling of a David Lynch film. The film is full of odd ball characters, which builds to a conclusion which will alienate a number of viewers, but will be oddly satisfying to many.  

On the back of the cult hit ‘Donnie Darko’ It is a nice surprise that director Richard Kelly has not gone straight Hollywood, and has made a mind bending follow up to his previous cult hit with ‘The Box’. The film will split audience but the many ‘ Donnie Darko’ fans will eat it up.

The film was not a massive success at the box office, but lets hope that Kelly will be able to continue to produce interesting movies sure as 'The Box' in the future, and will not be forced to default to the average Hollywood film makers of recent times.

Zombieland

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) doesn’t have fears. If he did, he’d kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they’re about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.

'Zombieland' takes the spirit of the recent horror comedies such as 'Shaun of the Dead', and although not as funny nor as clever as this film is still good fun and original enough all the same.

Woody Harrelson steals the show, as the crazy lone Zombie killer. A performance which is by far the best we have seen from him in any film for years. 

The script is also lively and amusing, and a number of fun set pieces make the film worth the ride, including a great finally in a fairground.

All good fun in the end, and with a short running time you can't really go wrong with Zombie land and with the added bonus of one of the best cameos in years. Enjoy! 

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.