Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (161 words left)

This year’s Little Miss Sunshine but hipper.  Funny, yes, but also poignant and entertaining thanks to a snappy script and the acting talents of Ellen Page.  Juno’s fresh take on teenage pregnancy is heartening as it does not wallow in the usual platitudes but shows us that there are options and that the learning experience can be a rich one even with all the hassles.  I liked Diablo Cody’s script and Jason Reitman’s direction as they keep the pace going and deliver something just that little different but very human too.  Page is a star and gives not only a great comic performance but also loads of depth.  I loved Michael Cera as the dorky boyfriend and Alison Janney as the mother in a fine cast.  I don’t think it is film of the year but it is an all-round success and could happily be seen a second time.

Read the rest of this entry ... (1 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (47 words left)

This film has big names: Curtis Hanson as the director, Eric Bana , Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall.  It’s set in Las Vegas and the story revolves around a pair of poker players and their fortunes.  They happen to be father and son!  The son needs a love interest, hence aspiring dive singer Barrymore, etc etc. Regrettably, neither the story nor the performances really get you going and while it is a perfectly anodyne entertainment for a wet Sunday, your life is hardly enhanced by seeing it, nor does it really capture any excitement.  The two leads seem miscast and while they do their best, the only actor who seems to be really enjoying himself is Duvall.

Read the rest of this entry ... (2 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (38 words left)

This film has its super fans and its detractors but for my money it is the best I have seen so far in the pre-Oscar race.  The ever-fascinating Cronenberg dispenses with some of the fantasy but not all the gore to present us with one of his most solid works featuring some superb performances by the male actors.  Set in London and in the milieu of the Russian mafia, this is the story of Nikolai, a chauffeur and assassin who has various tests to perform during the film in order to satisfy his superiors.  Nikolai’s willingness to do this and his psychological attitude is what we get to observe here and Cronenberg gives us a plot in which all is not quite what it seems.  Most of all, the mood he creates and the way he films the set pieces like the fight in the sauna and the Christmas singing in the restaurant show his immense skill as a celluloid storyteller.  Viggo Mortensen gives a towering performance as Nikolai and seems born to this daring role complete with accent and the whole mafia act.  Armin Mueller-Stahl as the genial and creepy mafia granddad also plays the part of his life and I liked the drunken excesses of Kiril, played by Vincent Cassel as Semyon’s son.  Another complete character.  The women have less to do although Naomi Watts is sound in the central role of Anna, the naïve nurse who gets into a world beyond her worst dreams.  Howard Shore’s music, the intelligent script and good photography make this a wholly satisfying film, even if we do not get the same innovation we might expect from Cronenberg or a masterpiece in itself.  Just a very good movie worth seeing for Mortensen alone.

Read the rest of this entry ... (2 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (67 words left)

Tony Scott`s latest action movie starts intriguingly enough and takes us through the concept of using high tech satellites and cameras to find the perpetrators of crimes and the like by changing angles and discovering clues that are later rubbed out.  As the movie goes on, we move to relocating ourselves into the past to change the future!  I got lost at this stage, which was a bit of a shame.  Denzel Washington is as efficient as ever and a chubby Val Kilmer, Jim Caveziel and a couple of future female stars do what is expected of them.  My score is for special effects and the promise of novelty more than anything.

Read the rest of this entry ... (1 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (90 words left)

One of the hyped-up films of the year – BAFTA Best Film winner etc.  I somehow expected more.  There are many plusses.  Dario –Martanelli’s music is a very good accompaniment to the film, we have the usual intelligent Christopher Hampson script, great photography and lush landscapes.  The scene of the Dunkirk beach is very well constructed and the acting and choice of how to film a scene marks Toby Wright as a very astute and talented director.  And yet …at times I felt the film moved too slowly and at times things were almost too calculated.  Undoubtedly, a very classy film in a long line of period pieces that the Brits do so well, but not a film that I would rate a classic.  On the acting front, James McAvoy shows why he is so highly regarded.  He extracts the nuances from his character that I feel Keira Knightley is less successful at.  She has enormous presence and great beauty and is perhaps a little too 21^st century.  You can’t fault the accent and the like but this is not such a memorable character.  Saoirse Ronan as the 13 year-old Briony is a delight and has a superb face for the camera.  Romola Garai is also very good as Briony at 18 and it is always a treat to have Vanessa Redgrave in a film and she does not let us down here.  A good score then and maybe I will consider it more favourably in future.

Read the rest of this entry ... (1 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (25 words left)

A real slew of nominees here showing how many directors used young and amateur actors to great effect.  There could have been more nominees as the overall level this year was one of the highest ever.

Read the rest of this entry ... (167 words left)

Nominees:

Read the rest of this entry ... (297 words left)

Merchant and Ivory may be no more but there are plenty of film makers who can live up to their heritage.  It is a watchable and at times deeply authentic movie about the relationship between Kitty and Walter Fane, especially when at a Chinese outpost in the 1920’s fighting cholera.  Based on a Somerset Maugham story, the film is about our expectations of a relationship, trust and the qualities we see in each other.  The fact that the couple who are dealing with the fallout from her adulterous relationship and their own lack of spark are stranded far from anywhere and left to their own devices only heightens the poignancy of their situation.  Despite its lack of punch, ultimate predictability and languid pace, I never felt bored and this was to a great extent due to the leads, Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.  Norton does another of his slightly off-centre characters who masks his shyness with aggression while Watts is up to her usual best showing us the transformation in her young home counties bride to a much more grounded and worldly woman in rural China.  Nice to see Toby Jones in a supporting role and Diana Rigg back on the screen as the Mother Superior.  John Curran directs and Stuart Dryburgh is again in charge of the lush photography.

Read the rest of this entry ... (1 words left)

Fewer films this year thanks to house moving.  85 only (!) but maybe the dross was absent as I have decided not to award a lemon of the year award for this year.

Read the rest of this entry ... (501 words left)