"Drive"

Nicholas Winding Regn is a mystery to many North American audiences, yet he's made a name for himself in Europe with his killer visuals and well thought out soundtracks. Well guess what, he roars into our neighbourhood with Drive - a B movie fetish film with not much dialogue, Pop Art images, gory violence and a lack for linear narrative. People are ready to castrate Drive for its obvious artsy ambitions and the way it doesn't succumb to Hollywood formula. Well, screw them. This is my kind of movie. Filled with sexiness, violence and a great cast. Ryan Gosling is so calm, cool and collective as "The Driver" that you'd think he's Steve Mcqueen. Hell, this movie is semi-inspired by all those great Steve Mcqueen flicks of the 70s except it's set in the 80s.

Dig the killer soundtrack inspired by 80's synth pop formula and the way it blends seamlessly with the haunting images Refn gives us. Case in point College's A Real Hero, which ends up being more than just background music for a film about a Travis Bickle-like anti-hero. "The Driver" is dead set to save Carey Mulligan's Irene from the misery she has in her life ala Travis Bickle but if Drive doesn't necessarily have the substance of that said Scorsese Masterpiece it does however have incredibly tense scenes to electrify our nerves. Check out the killer opening as our anti-hero tries to evade the cops in a silently done cat and mouse game or check out a botched heist that leads to dire consequences. Did I mention the elevator scene that everybody seems to be talking about? Or a violent strip club attack that makes our man look possessed? These are the 4 scenes that stuck with me but there are plenty more and they're all tightly edited to get us hooked on its cinematic juices.

Of course Drive is not a perfect movie but it has all the traits and reasons that had us watch movies in the first place. Or at least the majority of us. It's a violently artsy action picture that doesn't meander to a particular audience. It has a way of being unique and uncompromising in its visionary dreaming. It knows what it wants to be from the get go and goes along with it. Its 100 minutes zip by like a bursting fuel drag-racing at night & Gosling -along with an incredibly villainous Albert Brooks and a heartbreaking Bryan Cranston- brings a kind of coolness that lacks in most pictures these days. By the time The Driver puts on his stunt mask and makes all hell breaks loose in the film's over the top but scattering finale, it is clear that Drive is a movie that can haunt your dreams.

Best of 2011 (so far) ...

Pretty average year thus far but some great ones still to come out within the next few weeks .. months? Anyways I'm counting on it cause I don't even think half of these belong on an annual ten best list. Here's what stuck with me so far this year

Tree of life
Malick. What else can you say. An experience, a frustration, a poem, a trip and a sense of wonder in its soaring -almost too good to be true- images.

Drive
Just beautifully shot and gripping in many spots. A review to come in the next week or so. Director Nicholas Winding Refn is an interesting fella.

Incendies
Yea yea yea I know this already made my top ten list last year but it actully got released in the states this year, so I'm counting it in + it's just really damn great.

Source Code
It ain't perfect but wholly original and interesting til a botched finale. Duncan Jones is the real deal.

Midnight In Paris
Woody Allen toasts Paris in a fluffy, breezy romantic comedy. The movie hits a high during its middle.

Certified Copy
An ambiguous film that really embraces its ambiguousness + a great performance from Julliette Binoche. Maddening as hell.

The Lincoln Laywer
What can I say, I'm a sucker for Legal dramas and this one comes from a solid source material - a good book.

Uncle Boonnmee
Talk about maddening -I guess I like those kind of films- here's a Thai film that really demands attention and requires conversation afterwards.

Limitless
I'll get some heat for this one but what can I say, it worked its craziness on me & Bradley Cooper was not annoying in any way.

Bridesmaids
Just really fun and refreshing to see a comedy with female soul and heart + these chicks really outranked those Hangover guys this summer in terms of raunch.

Super 8
Didn't really like the ending but its first 2/3 are pure Spielberg-influenced movie magic + has a great train wreck scene.

An unnecessary remake

I do get why director Rod Lurie would want to remake Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, it is an under seen, ugly but futilely exhilarating film experience that came out more than 40 years ago but is still remembered for how it pushed buttons back then (and still does today) However I suggest a slight pass on Lurie's film because it has nothing new to say and is just as ugly as the first one -without the artistic integrity or sheer balls of the original. The rape scene is tamed down, the characters much less focused and the cast -Kate Beckinsale?- slightly miscast. What made Peckinpah's original so great was how bold it was and the questions it was asking. What constitutes rape? Is the main heroine actually being raped or is she somewhat enjoying the feeling of being physically hurt by an ex? The audience was never really given any answers and had to figure it out on their own, whereas in this version Beckinsale's performance leads towards a more negative direction.

Peckinpah did not just tackle rape, he wanted to know what exactly it meant to be a "man" - masculinity was an incredible part of his classic. Does not defending yourself when the time needs be and just walking away make you a coward or just plain smart & mature? The Lurie version seems to be celebrating violence, whereas the Peckinpah version -although having its main hero played by Dustin Hoffman kicking ass- had you cheering for blood in a very ugly way. Did it really have to be like this? did Hoffman's character have any other choice but to take the law in his own hands? It's questions such as these that are missing in the remake but also a sort of freshness that made it incredible to watch Peckinpah's version for the first time. Lurie follows the story and doesn't change much of the structure, which is a real shame cause imitating Peckinpah is practically near impossible. Lurie should stick to doing his own stuff, such as the underseen but valuable Nothing But The Truth from just a few years ago.

Summer Movie Weekly Roundup

The Devil's Double (R)
Saddam Hussein's son -Uday- had a body double that followed him around in every one of his coked up, girl raping, partying ways. It was only a matter of time before a movie would come out about this spoiled, nonsensical brat. What director Lee Tamahori does here is run excess on everything. The gestures are over exaggerated, the violence is over the top and the sex is kinky. It's a wild, mind numbing time at the movies and should not be taken very seriously or as a true document of Uday. Which doesn't mean it's not trashy entertainment. Tamahori knows he's doing every scene over the top and with flashy style but it's not his direction that caters the movie through, It's Dominic Cooper's sensational double performance as both Uday and his body double Latif - the fact that you can tell both characters apart at all times is a testament to his talent. Watch Cooper - a firecrackingly good actor- run through his own portrayals of both good and evil in one of the best performances of the entire summer. ★★½

Our Idiot Brother (R)
Paul Rudd nearly saves this film. Notice, I said nearly. Rudd is one of the most underrated comey actors working today, especially when he's working with writer/director Judd Apatow. In Jesse Peretz' Our Idiot Brother, Apatow is nowhere to be found. This is a movie that blindly riffs off of the Coens' The Big Lebowski in all its hipster, trippy glory. Yet, I wouldn't even think twice about putting that cult classic alongside this rehashed, slight affair. Rudd plays the role of the hipster, naive brother perfectly but the rest of his female sisterly castmates can't compete. Zooey Deschanel -usually great- seems lost and Emily Mortimer -an indie Darling- tries her best in an underwritten role. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and continues the angering trend of having average Sundance favourites hit theatres over the past few years. It's turned into a festival that has replaced mavericks with sun-shined, holy business. Gone are the days of Memento and Reservoir Dogs. ★★

30 Minutes Or Less (R)
Fresh off his triumphant performance in The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg decided to choose a Hollywood action thriller as his next project. In 30 Minutes Or Less the action comes out blazing at you in a relentless pace. The screenplay might be midly tired out but the cast makes it a vibrant, joyous 86 minute ride. (Loosely based) on real life true events that involved the kidnapping and bribing of a pizza delivery guy, the film boasts some of the better comedians out there at the moment. Aziz Anzari spurts out dialogue in such snazzy style and Danny Mcbride -fresh off the debacle of Your Highness- redeems himself in a performance that had me itching for more of his perverse, unscripted lines. In fact, the whole film feels like a loosely improvised treat. There's isn't much that stays with you once the lights dim up but here's a film that doesn't think too highly of itself and just want to have fun. ★★½

Tough subject matters finally inhabit the Summer Movie season

If the last planet of the apes has showed us anything, its that apes are super smart and you don't fuck with them. OK, that's not the best way to start this review but I found James Marsh's Project Nim an entertaining and rather sad documentary. The titular subject is a primate that was part of an experiment in the 70s done by scientific hippies setting him up from birth with a family and watching his every move, trying to find a correlation between his and human behaviour. Did it work? the report was inconclusive but what we see is some amazing footage of the primate taking part in conversations through sign language with the scientists and showing real feeling and humanistic behaviour in the process. BUT did he really mean his sign communication? or was it just a way for NIM to repeat gestures and signs that he's learned by hard through humans. It's an interesting question that doesn't fully get answered but Marsh -a talented filmmaker- gets us involved through recreated scenes, found footage and interviews on the people that NIM touched along the way. It's an experience like no other that makes you think about our relations with primates but also our connections and similarities to animals themselves. It's a cry for help and -despite minor missteps- Marsh does the subject proud.

Based on Kathryn Stockett's best selling novel about black maids in a bigot-riddled Mississippi of the 1940's, The Help is a botched job of an adaptation, a mess that never fully comes together even though the pieces are there. Those pieces have to do with the great cast starring with the maids themselves -indelibly played by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer - and the white housewives - a never better Bryce Dallas Howard as the racist, a radiantly comic Jessica Chastain as the one with a heart of gold and Emma Stone as Skeeter, a wide eyed young author with good intentions. It's a film that had potential, a story told from the black housemaid's point of view, but darkness never lingers, there's too much sunlight and not enough hard truths. What this adaptation needed was a bit more black coffee and a little less cream .. and a competent director to give us better filled frames and a real sense of auteur-ship. The scenes are brightly lit for such a heavy subject matter. Director Tate Taylor was handpicked by the author to helm the film, problem is this was her first movie and the job is not competently done. It's a TV movie with a solid subject matter but without the necessary execution to complete it. High expectations towards the film's release will please the book's female fans but won't win awards or won't leave a lasting mark.

"Apes" and a second "Earth"

If summer 2011 has taught us anything it's never go in to a movie with high expectations. There have been enough disappointments to cover an entire year's worth of releases. Which is why I dug Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. Everything was supposed to go horribly wrong with this latest reboot of the franchise - Tim Burton's much maligned reboot in 2001 starring Marky Mark has been consistently mocked. This latest version is directed by Rupert Wyatt, a relative unknown that made his feature filmmaking debut in 2009 with the rather mixed reviewed The Escapist. Haven't really heard much about that movie but suffice to say he does a remarkable job here with the rather slim material he has at hand. It's a popcorn movie through and through even if I couldn't care less for the romantic subplot that the movie slightly invests in but as I said Wyatt only slightly invests in it and it's a smart decision. The real star here in Andy Serkis who plays Cesar, an ape that is at the central part of the film's dilemma. Caesar is raised by Will (James Franco) a scientist that has a father suffering of a severe case of Alzheimer's - the always great John Lithgow plays the said father and he is the driving force for Franco's Will to break the rules and test out a chemical called ALZ 112 on both he and the ape. It works, but not through and through. I won't spoil much but I will say this; Serkis deserves an Oscar nom for the way he brings real feeling to what is essentially a CGI based character, just like he did with Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings. It's a tour de force performance that elevates the movie into something more than just crass entertainment. Twentieth Century Fox has a real winner here and word of mouth will surely bring much mula to the movie's box office. Well deserved might I add.

However, for some Wyatt's movie might be too big, conventional and bombastic for their tastes (I don't blame them) .. which brings me to Mike Cahill's small, low budget Sci Fi enigma Another Earth. A rather flawed but thought provoking journey into a guilt ridden woman's head. She's haunte by a night when she killed a pregnant mother and her son while driving under the influence - the father survives and when she finishes her 4 year jail stint she tries to correct the ties back by masquerading herself as a cleaning lady and developing a risky friendship that could result in dire consequences. Oh and all in the while, in the background, a mysterious second earth has been discovered and is slowly being dissected. It's of course not even close to being scientifically possible but who cares, the film is interesting to a certain point, despite all of its flaws. The ambition is high despite the familiarity of the story. The Conclusion is a satisfying head scratcher despite occasional lapses into dullness. The actors are incredibly intense, especially newcomer Brit Marling who co financed the film with her director Cahill, an ex flame - both worked on the project for years and both are finally getting rewarded for their efforts. The film won a prize at Sundance and the reviews are considerably positive. It's a worthy effort that shows real promise despite the bumps.

Mini Reviews (The Trip & Crazy Stupid Love)

People have been bitching how I've practically liked nothing this summer. Well, continue bitching. It's not my fault that we have to endure such miserable quality produce. If you want the good stuff you'll have to go to your local art house and watch Terrence Malick's masterful The Tree Of Life or Woody Allen's playful Midnight In Paris -more on that one next week-

Crazy Stupid Love (PG-13) ★★

Here's a movie that tries to be too much. You can't fault ambition this summer, it's a plus. Directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra try to get to the bottom of love in a much different way than their underrated effort I Love You Philip Morris from last year. They overreach but get prime performances from Ryan Gosling and my current Hollywood love thorn Emma Stone. Steve Carrell and Juliann Moore also star in otherwise underdeveloped roles. The movie grabbed me in its first half only to pile on the cliches in its second. This to me is the worst feeling possible to have in a movie -one with promise that ultimately fails. Back to Stone. She's a natural Hollywood beauty with acting chops to boot. As Easy A showed us last year, she has mass potential and even if a movie such as this one doesn't fully show it, you know it's bound to happen with the right script.

The Trip (R) ★★★

A film export from the U.K starring the great Steve Coogan and British comedian Rob Brydon. Coogan is asked by The Observer to tour the country's finest restaurants, he sees it as the perfect romantic getaway for he and his beautiful American girlfriend. However, she backs out on him, he has no one to accompany him but his best friend Brydon. A competitiveness starts to build up between the two as they try to one up each in conversations involving impressions. all in the while trying to grasp each others company throughout the trip. It's a simple formula and it works. There aren't any special effects or overcooked plot lines. Just two actors, great food and a real sense of wonder at some of England's best locations. Definitely not for everybody's tastes but here's a real zesty, underrated treat.

It's not that Horrible Bosses isn't worth the R rated hype it's been getting the past few weeks, it's more the fact that it's a skecthed out R rated comedy that features hit and miss jokes. The plot, involving three guy that each plot to kill their own dead beat bosses, is so over the top that at some point during the movie I was telling myself "Is this actually happening?" - not a bad thing to say in a summer movie season filled with dread. However, incoherence is at work here. What saves Horribles Bosses is its performances. They are enjoyable because they feel so natural in an unnatural setting. Jamie Foxx is a highlight as Motherfucker Jones -that's right Motherfucker Jones- a hired assassin that helps our boys get through their tough ordeal. Props must also be given to Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as our beloved, main dim wits. Sudeikis' over the top, stretchingly funny performance doesn't feel as inspired as Zach Galafanakis' turns in the Hangover movies but does bring some much needed looniness. Watch out for the scene in which he accidentally sniffs cocaine. How about our main villains? The bosses. They also keep the movie alive, even when it falters flat. Kevin Spacey is at his snarky best, Colin Farrell -check out that hilarious combover- hits a comedic peak and Jennifer Aniston gives one her sexier, better performances. Well then, after all this positiveness why do I not recommend Horrible Bosses? Its script -by Jonathan Goldstein- is a lost case, a story that doesn't know where to go and ends up going nowhere ditto the bland filmmaking from director Seth Gordon. It's a film that could have worked but instead does the job in a half assed kind of way.

★★½

Transformers 3 and why I'm allowed to say whatever the hell I want to say

Megan Fox, where art thou?

It takes a lot of bad to make a movie practically unwatchable. Michael Bay has had a knack over the years to make the unwatchable jump out on screen. His lack of cinematic subtleness is completely overdone and - combined with his knack for never having a a single shot lasting more than a few seconds - almost mind numbing. But don't worry little kiddies, Transformers 3 is primed and ready to fit the needs of horny teenagers all around the world and give hard-ons to macho juiced car crazy dumb asses with an IQ lower than 70. There's no concrete plot here, just bitches, robots and cars. Sounds like fun? it sure isn't. Combine that with the absence of Megan Fox, the only reason that made me give that damn single star digit rating to the first two films and you got a recipe for prime Michael Bay disaster. My question is what exactly is the limit to bashing such a money hungry enterprise? Should I have even reviewed such a film or just let it go and spared the filmmakers my two cents. I mean seriously, what were the chances I'd even like this film? Then again this is a free democracy we live in and we are allowed to give our two cents about any damn thing we experience. I'm reminded of a time when Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers bashed Bay's very own Con Air in a review so scathing it got Bay himself to write a letter of complaint to the Rolling Stone editors. Bay wanted Travers fired and said there was a clear bias in his review. They stood by Travers and his right to say what he wanted to say. Bay lost his war to shut down an opinion (and thank the heavens for that). Bay's movie has a kind of deliberate brainwash aspect to it that can easily infuriate the most adevnturous of movie goers. Add to the fact that its a mind numbing 157 minutes and is -of course- in 3D. Then again why wouldn't it be? This being a cash cow enterprise that wants to suck every possible penny out of its customers, the 3D is just an excuse to get the extra 3 bucks from its customers. This is the kind of movie that is not art at all, it's business as usual.

Why suck it out and even write a concrete description of the plot when it all feels just so useless. Bay is probably in bed with some hoes, burning 100 dollar bills as we speak and I'm here in my laptop writing about a movie that most likely represents the end of civilization as we know it. It's a discouraging image but one that most truthfully represents the Hollywood state of mind. Movie companies are paying bloggers and writers to like this shit. They're brainwashing the mainstream to buy into a formula that has long been dead and that surely belongs in the anal of cinema. However I do believe Bay is hating the negative critical reaction that has been thrust upon him following the release of his beloved Transformers 3. One can definitely see that with his bout against Peter Travers. A Cash cow doesn't just want money but also wants to be loved. Forget about it. He might be a Box Office darling but Bay is a critics nightmare - he's a director that has made a name for himself by treating his slam bam action in such a pornographic matter that it makes his sleazy, sexist depiction of women look tame in comparison. He loves to get close ups of female asses, bright glossed lips and perky tits. He's a male perv that is talking to the subconscious of all pubescent American teenagers. They dig this stuff. It's like soft core porn to them. Me? I'd rather watch paint dry or go to a seven hour workshop on customer service than get stuck in this movie hell hole ever again.

The first great movie of 2011

It isn't for me to actually call a movie a "masterpiece" or "great" but Terrence Malick's The Tree Of Life is just that - a mosaic of a film that tests an audiences limitations but more importantly the cinematic medium's limitations. No matter what faults you may have with Malick's movie, you cannot deny the sheer chutzpah and originality that went into its creation. There has never really been anything quite like it and I highly doubt there ever will be. Malick tries to transcend the boundaries of life itself by trying to find a kind of meaning that can possibly bind us with a higher power. His search is for transcendence, in the little moments that make and shape us. Death, morning, rebirth, transcendence are just a fraction of the themes being tackled here, suffice to say I don't think the Transformers 3 crowd will very warm up to the film's non linear narrative and constant use of abstract shapes and colors representing a kind of big bang.

This is a welcome return for Malick, who's last picture -The New World- I hadn't so much warmed up to as much as was just puzzled by its mystical nature. The Tree Of Life I got. I understood what Malick was aiming for, what his obsessions were and what he was trying to get at. The spiritual nature of the film is undeniable. Here's a film so ambitious that it sets out to find the meaning of life in its images and contrasting colors. It sets out to bring a kind of ecstasy to its audience, a maddening one in fact, that can resort to turning off the most austere, ignorant of audiences and puzzling the more adventurous ones. This is basically Malick refusing to please us with any easy answers and deciding to please his own subconscious in creating something that turns him on and that makes him curious about life itself. He is not only tormenting us but tormenting himself in saying there is no easy answer to be found in all this.

Malick tries to find his answers though the simplicities and cracks of life. He evokes memories of his own childhood into the life of an American family going through life's trials. Brad Pitt is Mr. O'brien, an overbearing, aggressive father to three children and husband to a quiet, fearful wife. She is played indelibly well by Jessica Chastain in a performance so incredible it will be talked about for ages upon ages in every film school imaginable, ditto the film of course. She is quiet because she has no power in the house, she is controlled and so are her children. The rare time we see her smile is when her husband is out of town and she celebrates with such giddy, exuberance, running with kids around the house. The scene is memorable because it shows darkness leaving and light entering. Every scene Pitt is in brings fear and trouble to the settings. He is a controlling, failed man that has lost touch of who he is. It's an incredible performance that might win him an Oscar nomination just like Chastain.

The Tree Of Life is a groundbreaker because it brings out a dimension to life we never thought existed. We get to see things we couldn't possibly imagine with Malick's poetic eye. Frustration might at times linger and it is nowhere near a perfect film (Why Sean Penn? What's with the ending?) but I'm reminded of a great quote by late film critic Pauline Kael who once said "great movies are rarely perfect movies" - that's how I feel about Malick's visionary mind fuck. It is such an inspiring work of art that you can't help but break out a smile at its originality. There hasn't been a more thoroughly breathtaking cinematic vision on screen in -it seems like- forever. People might hate it, people might curse it but they cannot deny its importance to the way we view the way we live and the way our world is shaped. Through the infinites of our deepest subconscious Malick asks us to take his hand and jump along with him, hipsters and tipsters might dig the hell out of his ideas but so could you. Go along with him.

★★★ ½ (PG-13)

A few more movies to prove that this summer movie season is a total disaster

Did we expect The Green Lantern to be any good? I didn't. Yet I still went to a screening hoping for it not to be a total disaster. Sadly it was. You can put it on the long list for worst movie of 2011. Director Martin Campbell -who did a solid job with Bond in Casino Royale- doesn't have much to work on here. Who are we kidding here, the Green Lantern was never one of the more exciting superheroes. The film adaptation proves it. It doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it an outer space film? is it a monster movie? is it a comedy? is it a drama? What if I answered none of the above .. anyways you get the picture. Add to the fact that I was never a big fan of Ryan Reynolds' -how shall I put this- acting chops and you got a movie recipe made in hell. The character's are hilariously sketched out in an unintended way and the space scenes are ridiculous. It's a great comedy. Seriously though, is there anything worth watching here? maybe the 3D which is better than most of the other 3D I've seen this summer (Cars 2 below) - However, I'd rather look at paint dry than watch this movie again.

I love Pixar so damn much. The classics they've released over the past 10 years are tremendous (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, Toy Story 3) yet there's always been much hate directed towards 2006's Cars which -I'll admit it- did not have the inventiveness of the previously said titles but had a sweet, good natured simplicity to its Americana colors. I loved every second of it when I saw it 5 years ago at a screening room in Alberta's Lux movie theatre. Cars 2 I did not love. It is by far the worst movie in Pixar's short 17 year history. While the original had a sweet, simplicity to it, this one is all flash and turns into a predictable spy caper. The characters are wooden and the marketing for Cars products is all over the map. Not surprising considering Cars has become a billion dollar industry, from lunchboxes to toys Pixar has been milking it ever since the original's release. Another big mistake is concentrating the center of its plot on red-neck talkin Mater, a caricature that ranks amongst Pixar's worst. Here's to better Pixar in 2012 when Brave rolls out amidst great buzz.

Cameron Diaz does wonders with her role in Bad Teacher - a raunchy comedy that delivers in some scenes and drags in others. The film comes out after a slew of "Bad" films have been released over recent years, sadly this doesn't rank in the same bogusly outrageous MVP league as Bad Santa or Bad Lieutenant. At times the film earns its R rating and at others it's just too bland to be anywhere near PG. Yet Diaz nails her role as a slutty teacher that has always looks for the guy with the big paycheck. Low and behold a new teacher shows up -played geekily well by Justin Timberlake- a heir to a french watch company and the perfect target for Diaz's ambitions. From there on in it's hit and miss. When the jokes work they work well, when they don't it's a complete mess. As for what passes as a so called plot, well it's thin. The story is more sketch than actual movie and resorts to sap in its finale. The usually great Jason Segal can't do much for an underwritten role. It's Diaz that's the only one that comes out of this one alive, she's dynamite. I guess in Summer 2011 you just can't win them all.

The Green Lantern (PG-13) ★
Cars 2 (G) ★★
Bad Teacher (R) ★★½

JJ Abrams & "Super 8" try to lift up a summer filled with bummer

Here's a film that shares a distinct commonality to some of the great science fiction movies of the last decade such as Spielberg's War Of The Worlds and Neil Blomkampf's Distrct 9: Its ending sucks. You know what I say? It's just the ending. Before that Super 8 is really just a blast and is carried off by its young lead actors who show a remarkable presence on screen. I won't give too much away cause this is really just one of those movies you got to see without knowing much about. There's a train wreck in a small town and it's caught by these film obsessed kids shooting a movie of their own. The tragdy twists everything around in an otherwise quietly simple, mundane town. It's really in its mysteries that the film works best -- the guessing game is relentlessly inventive with a sly approach to not giving too much away to the audience and their hungry appetite for answers. Of course once the audience is fed the said mystery Super 8 crumbles in its own pretentious Hollywood formula, which is a real shame cause it really is just tremendous fun.

This nifty little -or actually big- project comes to us from Spielberg protege JJ Abrams, who always has nifty little tricks up his sleeves - The Lost finale anyone? -but has a knack to sometimes outdo his own ambitions such as what in fact happened in Lost's preaching finale and this film's final 20 minutes. Which is really all good since I'd rather have an artist strike out and miss with something fresh than watch the same, same old retreads weekend after weekend - Pirates Of The Carribean 4 anyone? The Green Lantern? What it really comes down to is ambition and none of the big studio movies out there right now have Super 8's ambition. Acknowledgment must be given to the true stars of the film, who aren't big names but in fact teenagers that have a natural way of showing to the camera what it really is like to be young and frightened. Elle Fanning -Dakota's younger sister- is a standout and really just knocked me out in an emotional scene at the beginning.

We still haven't found that one great movie of Summer 2011. Usually every summer brings us a film that will combine both artistic integrity with mass appeal (The Dark Knight, Wall E, Up, Inception) to create a work of art that almost everybody can agree upon. Super 8 tries to be that film but its too simple a concept and too familiar to really warrant a mark of greatness or a place in sciene fiction history. What it does have is heart and I wouldn't even be able to name you 1 movie so far this summer that has had enough heart and smarts to capture an entire nation hungry for the next big thing in theatres. It ain't coming folks, unless you're -of course- looking forward to Transformers 3, then you shouldn't even be reading this blog in the first place.

Super 8 (PG-13) ★★★

X-MEN FIRST CLASS

Matthew Vaughn's followup to Kick Ass doesn't have the same inventive, original storytelling he infused in last year's surprise R rated hit. In that film Vaughn took Nicolas Cage and reinvented the Hollywood superhero movie for our modern era of graphic violence. Then again tackling the origins of X-MEN won't necessarily qualify as high art or a daring realization. Vaughn wants to seek the origins of these popular mutant heroes, where they come from and what shaped their destinies. It works -or at least most of the time- and is a sheer delight to watch. Sure there are flaws but why quibble when the fun comes in plenty of mutating forms. Predictability starts to creep in as the film reaches its final third but X-MEN FIRST CLASS is what a summer movie should be all about- brainless fun.

Of course some may be disturbed by the holocaust themed revenge story that is at the center of our main protagonist Erik's struggle for revenge -a solid Michael Fassbender. I dug it but others might not. Erik saw his mom shot to death by Nazi Sebastian Shaw in the Warsaw Ghetto of 1939. Sensitivities will most likely get touched but I found it wholeheartedly intriguing ditto Kevin Bacon as the bad ass Nazi lieutenant. Vaughn has taken the origins of the X-Men comic books and possibly made the best movie in the series. before this bad boy, 2002's flawed X-MEN United took the crown as best. I'm not an X-Men fan but I couldn't help but be taken by these freaks and their pursuit for acceptance, in fact I rather like them more as hipster young ins from the 60's rather than their current, perfected forms.

This doesn't have the landmark fingerprints Sam Raimi brought to his great Spider-Man 2 or Christopher Nolan brought to his masterful The Dark Knight. One might go as far as to say that those movies had an auteuristic feel to them, which is what gave them their finely tuned edge. Vaughn isn't an auteur, he's just a filmmaker that wants to entertain. His movie won't move mountains or change the way we watch movies like Nolan and Raimi's films did but instead it's just there, an entertainment that does justice to the comic books and is a welcome relief from the failed comic book adaptation that was Thor earlier this summer.

★★½ or ★★★

Raunchy is BIG this summer -- The Hangover 2 and Bridesmaids

Look what you've started Judd. I'm of course referring to Judd Apatow a filmmaker/producer who first burst out into the scene with 2005's The 40 Year Old Virgin and consequently launched a plethora of smart, adult raunchiness to mainstream theatres (Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express). In the producers chair for this summers' Bridesmaids, Apatow launches a film that has been dubbed "The Hangover with women" uh oh here come the naysayers. The problem with comparing The Hangover to an Apatow movie is the fact that there really is no comparison. Apatow produced or directed films have a knack for character development and story that the guys at The Hangover strive for. In Bridesmaids Kristen Wiig's Annie lives a life of formidable singleness that as almost become a struggle for her to get out, things get worse when her best friend played by the great Maya Rudolph gets engaged. It's a setup that lets the many talented actresses on screen rip it out and deal with their own femininity.

Compare that to The Hangover 2, Todd Phillips' sequel to his 2008 hit and a film that can't help but bring out the raunchiness in full display. There's dick jokes, drugs, sex and an unusual high amount of racism to boot. Is it funny? at times it is but it's nowhere near as substantial as Bridesmaids which tries to bring humane femininity to a multiplex lacking it. Of course there's pussy jokes too and a hilariously disgusting wedding dress sequence but what The Hangover lacks in human emotions Bridesmaids more than makes up for it in its witty, keenly written script by Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Phillips' Hangover sequel has a sense of deja-vu that ultimately relegates it to cliches, whereas Bridesmaids has a contemporary freshness that brings it all the way home. No wonder it's made more than 85 million dollars so far at the box office and has been a critics darling since its initial release more than 3 weeks ago.

Apatow has started a trend since The 40 Year Old Virgin's release more than 6 years ago. It seems like Hollywood got a wake up call and decided to make adult oriented comedies that had emotion and substance in their scripts. Problem is not everybody can be Judd Apatow and many of these movies forgot rule # 1 in an Apatow movie; Story comes first. The Hangover 2 seems to have forgotten that and decides to concentrate on a sketched out screenplay that sadly resembles the first one, however the freshness isn't there and is replaced by the same old same old. In trying to please the masses director Todd Phillips and his team of writers have struck out and sunk themselves in a pool of no inspiration. If this on makes a lot of money -and I'm sure it will- we'll have to endure another one of these sequels. Better luck next time.

Bridesmaids (R) ★★★
The Hangover 2 (R) ★★½

Summer Movie Week 2 -- FAST FIVE

Fast Five comes out gunning with an opening that open your eyes up and kicks out your adrenaline. It's a sequence that involves cars, guns and a prisoner heist. Too bad the rest of the film is a sort of Jekyll and Hyde action movie. It's all hit and miss from there as our boy Vin Diesel and his posse which includes a more ripped than usual Paul Walker escape to Latin America as the FBI -lead by The Rock- chases them through tunnels and streams in beautiful Rio De Janeiro. I'm a sucker for heist pictures but this one didn't quench my thirst at all. Its preposterous screenplay is juggled with lots of testosterone fueled muscle/action. I had a few chuckles here and there whenever one of the main protagonists would open his or her mouth and say something that is supposed to be deep? or profound? You won't find deep or profound in this film, all you'll find is a by the books Hollywood formula.

Not to say that I was a big fan of the series. I didn't like any of the first 4 movies. But the somewhat positive reviews that came out with this one had me expecting an entertaining ride. Suffice to say this is definitely not the movie I was expecting. Its characters are filled with pompous air and are not sketched out enough to even bring a glimmer of excitement. If you want real good action check out a great 80's buddy cop flick like Lethal Weapon 2 or Die Hard on DVD. Summer 2011 has not had a very kind start in terms of quality and this new film won't help its cause any further. On a side note; Has Vin Diesel ever made a good movie? The answer is yes but you have to go way back more than 10 years ago to find our man duking it out with darkened creatures in Pitch Black. His spurts of quality have been DOA ever since.

Report Card - ★★

Not much to say about Priest except that I saw it in 3d and it was most clearly the most useless 3d one can watch in a movie theatre these days. These studios really need to stop shoving this cinematic medium down our faces. Unless you shoot with 3d cameras -such as is what James Cameron and Robert Zemeckis are doing- don't release your movie in 3d just to have audiences churn out an extra 3 bucks for stupid plastic glasses that were probably made by Taiwanese children and should actually cost a quarter. As for the film itself, it sucked.

Report Card - ★

Summer Movie Week 1 -- THOR

Summer movie season kicks off with a dud in Kenneth Branagh's ambitious but mildly entertaining Thor, which -to tell you the truth- is a total disappointment. Not to say that it's a total failure but Branagh's film starts and ends in dreadful fashion, its middle is passable but not entirely satisfying enough for what we've come to expect from a comic book movie; escapism. I presume the real problem with Thor is the fact that it is based on a superhero that is one of the least interesting of the Marvel canon, not to mention one of the least humane and more far fetched ones too. Then again there was potential, Branagh is a scholar of Shakespeare and the plot -involving father & son betrayal- is very Shakespearean. Why doesn't it work? well first off there are plodding devices that hammer it down, case in point the uninvolved and frozen love story involving our main man and a heroine ever so lovely played the Black Swan herself Natalie Portman. There's also the intertwining story lines that move back and forth from one realm (A.D) to the other (modern day earth), this gives the movie no time whatsoever to build up its characters so that you care for them at film's end.

Maybe I'm over analyzing everything and I should have just checked my brain at the door but we had good reason to expect much much more from a director like Branagh and a big budget superhero adaptation like this one. Not to say everything fails. The action is there and is sometimes intensely made and compatibly drawn out. The way Branagh directs Thor's maze-like sneak attack on government feds to get his beloved hammer is as gripping as anything else that comes before or after it in this below average comic book hero adaptation. Chris Hemsworth plays the titular charcter with enough charisma to hope for better results when he teams up with Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man & Mark Ruffalo's The Hulk to name a few in next summer's sure to be blockbuster The Avengers. In the meantime, we are left with a sour aftertaste, a kind of introductory movie that tries to be everything at once but ends up being nothing nothing at all really. Better luck next time Kenneth.

REPORT CARD - ★★½

Kiarostami & CERTIFIED COPY

Certified Copy (NR) ★★★

It's rare to find a movie as fearless as Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy. What with it being thin of plot and high in talking. One might look back on Richard Linklater's very fine Before Sunset to find something as similar as Kiarostami's fresh film. The fun that comes with this film is in trying to differ what's fact and what's fiction. Telling the plot details would only spoil or ruin a movie that should be white paper in your head as you walk into the theatre. All I will say is that Julliette Binoche plays a French woman that befriends and English writer as they wander in the beautiful streets of San Gimignano in Italy. Be warned this is delicate, almost quiet material Kiarostami deals with here and it will surely not interest mainstream audience that wants action and overacting in every frame. Certified Copy is more than that. It's a frustrating but emotionally well built film that deconstructs the connections and the ties that bind. Binoche in an incredible performance that will surely stand as one of the best this year is a powerful presence ditto William Shimell as her counterpart to this incredibly layered adventure. Kiarostami has never been one to hug Hollywood bull, instead he breaks the rules as one can attest to watching his 1990 film Close-Up. Certified Copy is no exception.

SOURCE CODE and ADJUSTMENT BUREAU try to be this year's INCEPTION

Of course when a movie as popular and smart as Christopher Nolan's Inception gets released you're bound to find others that will try to copy the smartly layered formula that it created in 2010. In fact -along with Limitless- Source Code and The Adjustment Bureau are just the beginning of what will probably be a deluge of post-Inception films released in Hollywood. Smart is cool again. That doesn't mean of course that these supposedly smart films are actually, you know, smart. The thing that made Inception so brilliant is the fact that it got better with repeat viewings because of its numerous layers; the more I saw it, the more I liked it. The three 2011 releases mentioned above are somewhat brainy but not landmarks by any stretch of the imagination.

In The Adjustment Bureau (★★) Matt Damon stars in a film that is much less complex than it thinks it is, you get the whole picture in one viewing and you're not really tempted to watch it again once the lights dim. Based on a Philip K Dick short story, it's a movie that is manufactured by a Hollywood system through and through. If In Inception Nolan trusted his audience to follow a complicated plot structure, in Adjustment Bureau the filmmakers seem to have simplified everything in order for people to better understand. Nolan gave no mercy to his audience, he didn't care if his movie was too complicated for them. The Adjustment Bureau's filmmakers look down on their audience and prefer to Hollywood-ize and conventionalize everything.

In Duncan Jones' followup to Moon -a great movie- Jake Gyllenhall is a dead American Soldier who's brain is used to go back to the past and find clues as to where a terrorist might be. It doesn't help he has to repeat the same 8 minutes throughout the whole film in a train, which has the said terrorist as a passenger. Have you lost me yet? Don't worry. Jones infuses his movie with enough smarts and entertainment to justify its mediocre third act. Here's a film that not only trusts its audience but rewards it with some extra high octane action in the process. Gyllenhall's Captain Colter Stevens does not really know where he is yet he keeps getting transported back in time to the same event. Think Groundhog Day meets Minority Report and you might see what Jones is aiming for here. I doubt there's a smarter, more visually appealing big studio film out there. Source Code (★★★) is the kind of layered science fiction I like best; brainy and entertaining.

Best Movies 2007

(1) No Country For Old Men (Joel Coen)

Coen Brothers movies have always had a kind of ambiguity but none more so than in their masterpiece No Country For Old Men. Just like all the movies in my top 3, it is a difficult effort to grasp but one that shows its brilliant colors the more you think about it. The Coens craft a cat and mouse game that is exhilarating and gripping that the films 2 hours fly right by. It helps that the performances are top notch starting with Josh Brolin as Llewlynn Moss and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh (pronounced Sugar) a movie villain for the time capsule. The climax featuring a speech from Tommy Lee Jones' Ed Tom Bell is a head scratcher to say the least but the more you look, listen and feel the sheriff's words the more you might find the film's true mystery lingering in his words. Pay attention.

(2) There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The first time I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, I was so overwhelmed that I felt pummeled by the film's images and woozy camerawork. The second time around it was a little better but the third time around I knew this was a masterpiece of the highest order. It's epic running time flashed before my eyes because of the filmmaker's wizardry and Daniel Day Lewis' landmark performance as oil tycoon Daniel Plainview. The film starts off as a piece of silent cinema as our main protagonist pours heart, soul and all his strength to find the oil that will make him the evil human being that he shall become. It is a film about the industrial age but more importantly about family and how Plainview shuns off the orphaned boy he came to take as his son. Flawed but incredible.



(3) Zodiac (David Fincher)

A movie about obsession. A movie about an true unsolved case that lead to obsessions for both the film's characters and us the audience. I wasn't wrong in stating that the three best movies of the year were also frustratingly brilliant depictions of male obsession. Here, Fincher paints a vivid picture of a time and place in 60's San Francisco when the Zodiac killer was looming free with the police not having reasonable idea who it might be. The film gives us clues but they don't necessarily lead to hard proved evidence is any sense of the word. What Fincher is interested in is the atmosphere of dread that was happening in California at the time. He should know it, he was a kid living in the area when the murders happened. He stages the killing scenes based on evidence and witness testimonials. His Zodiac is a movie to keep you up nights.



(4) Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)

There is nothing that meets the eye in Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton. Surprise after surprise infuses Gilroy's drama, which is populated by great tuns from George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and an incredibly evil Tilda Swinton. Clooney tries to find the backstabbing, corrupt happenings of a law firm and the reason why he is a killing target everywhere he goes. It's an electrifying performance but more importantly a compulsively watchable, entertaining film in the same vein as the great political thrillers of the 1970's. Here's a film that can get you mad and entertained at the same time. In other words, old school filmmaking at its finest.



(5) Ratatouille (Brad Bird)

Brad Bird's Ratatouille is a great Pixar movie. It has the charm that Bird has always used in his work (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, TV's The Simpsons) yet it's also a film that is greatly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in its acrobatic, synchronized set pieces- many of which take place in a restaurant kitchen. The visuals are hallucinary and need to be seen in the biggest screen you can find. Entertaining and highly artistic, here's an animated movie from an animated company that keeps puhing the genre's conventions to its limits and giving us brazenly incredible product.


(6) Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet)

Leave it to old school filmmaker Lumet to give us a scathing look at how the ties can bind and -of course- unbind. The violence in this film is unflinching and the characterizations even more so. Ethan Hawke and Phillip Seymour Hoffman's brothers are nothing more than losers trying to find a get rich quick scheme to fit their needs. The heist goes wrong and so does everything else, which 0in true Lumet fashion- does go into very Shakespearean territory. Lumet, 83, hasn't lost his touch for cinematic flair nor has he lost his touch for churning out some great movies. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is a great movie.


(7) Superbad (Greg Mottola)

Here's a Dazed And Confused for our generation. In Superbad, Mclovin' steals the show and a new cinematic classic character is born. The kids in Superbad just want to get laid. Is that too much to ask? Their adventures -or actually misadventures- to get de-virginized are what makes the movie so damn good. They are losers yet we root for them in all their loser-isness because they are so gullible and, in a way, innocent in the way they look at life. The same can be said of the cops they befriend (played hysterically by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader) a bunch of losers that try to have a little too much fun in the job. The party that climaxes the film is hilarious and the final note touching. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldbeg's screenplay hits all he right notes.



(8) American Gangster (Ridley Scott)

How can a film starring Denzel Washington as the first black gangster, Russell Crowe as the cop that chases him and directed by Ridley Scott turn out to be any bad? This is knockout Hollywood entertainment by professionals that know what they're doing every step of the way. The screenplay might hit familiar territory but there's something incredibly exciting in watching Crowe and Washington playing cat and mouse games with one another and to learn about the biographical accounts of this true to life story of the drug empire Frank Lucas built up in the 1970's. American Gangster will be remembered in time.



(9) The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Julian Schnabel)

The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed. Despite his handicap he ends up writing an autobiographical book which inspired this move to get made. Julian Schnabel -a talented director- flourishes us with visuals that catch the eye and capture the essence of living out our small, unpredictable lives. Although the film might be pummeling, considering it is told through that one eye that isn't paralyzed, you might come out of the it with a renewed sense of hope and with the feeling that you've just seen something truly special, a kind of work of art that can move mountains and change your perspectives on things. Amen.



(10) Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton)

Tim Burton's best movie since Ed Wood back in 1994. A ghastly entertaining movie musical about a barber that slashes his clients up in pieces and sells them in meat pies. Johnny Depp is jaw droppingly good and as usual the visual flair the Burton gves us is astoundingly beautiful. A kind of gothic, darkly lit world that only Burton can achieve in his own uniquely warped mind. The musical numbers are outstanding and based on Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical of the same name.

11) The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik

12) Into The Wild, Sean Penn

13) Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg

14) A Mighty Heart, Michael Winterbottom

15) I Am Legend, Francis Lawrence

16) Live Free Or Die Hard, Len Wiseman

17) Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino

18) The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson

19) The Mist, Frank Darabont

20) Black Book, Paul Verhoven

21) Rendition, Gavin Hood

22) The Simpsons Movie, David Silverman

23) The Lookout, Scott Frank

24) Lust, Caution, Ang Lee

25) Interview, Steve Buscemi

26) The Brave One, Neil Jordan

27) Breach, Billy Ray

28) We Own The Night, James Gray

29) Knocked Up, Judd Apatow

30) Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi

Best Movies of 2008

I might have called it the worst year in movie history or claimed the Oscars should get cancelled. Of course they didn't. And I -with hard work- found ten movies that tried to break the rules and that didn't suck. It was harder than you think. Never in my 10 years of reviewing movies on a weekly basis have I had a harder time to find diamonds in the ruff.



(1) The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)

Director Aronofsky's pitch perfect masterpiece is about the limits an artist can push himself in order to achieve his artistic goal. A breathtakingly intense drama that features Mickey Rourke's best performance in years -or of his career?- and another great turn by Marissa Tomei (looking good naked as usual). Rourke's wrestler is a man that has hit he lowest of lows in life, a man that has shunned off family for drugs and a sickening work habit in the ring. We feel for him and wish him the best comeback possible, even though in the back of our heads we know there's no chance. One of the great endings of the last 10 years in cinema.



(2) WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)

It isn't far off to call Andrew Stanton's WALL-E -along with Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away- the best animated movie of the past 10 years. This rule breaking cinematic dreamscape starts off with its first half hour without dialogue, evoking a mix of prime Chaplin and hell, even Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's the riskiest thing I've seen animation do since probably Fantasia's trippiness close to 60 years ago. Which isn't to say the other hour of the film isn't as good, it's actually quite spectacular and moving in its portrayal of a harmless robot that is earth's only chance at survival. A masterpiece.

3) Hunger (Steve Mcqueen)

Now this is one of hell of a feature directing debut and rightfully won the New York Film Critics Best First Film award in 2009. Recounting the events that led to IRA prisoners going on a Hunger Strike during the 70' and 80's- it is an immensely powerful experience of the limits one can do to its body just to prove a point or political purpose. Watch out for Mcqueen's next movie, especially if it's half as good as this one. Reviewed right here & featured in a double review with -of all films- Antichrist.

(4) The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)

If you haven't heard of Christopher Nolan's superhero classic then you don't live in this planet. Nolan along with an A list cast headed by Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as a Joker to haunt your dreams triumph in this blockbuster. Many have evoked the film as a post 9/11 depiction of a world going to hell, they might not be far off as a caped crusader does bad in order for good to triumph. Ledger's joker is so real and so intense but it's Nolan's eye for detail that puts this film over the mountain. This is his dark, twisted take on a misunderstood superhero.



(5) Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood)

As conventional as Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino might be, it evokes classic shades of a cinematic genre long gone dead in the woods. Here Eastwood is the racist neighbour next door who can't help but assist a Vietnamese kid in his neighbourhood who has problems with local gangs. It's a sentimental film but one with such big heart and flair that it had me at hello from it's very first frame. It's sense of humor is also dead on and a sort of relief to the dark corners Eastwood has built her. You think you know where Gran Torino is going but you really don't and it's with this unpredictability that Eastwood triumphs with his sleeper hit.



(6) Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)

Like almost every Danny Boyle movie, a mess .. but one that is so damn entertaining and visually appealing. Slumdog Mllionaire is the epitome of a crowd pleaser and the pure and exhilarating nature of cinema. Its haters refuse to admit to its entertainment value and instead keep focusing on the film's plot holes and flaws. Easy to do guys but try to look closer and let yourself be transported into a rural India full of darkness but shot with real light and colors and maybe just maybe you will understand the true value of this movie. It is no Best Picture deserving film but what it is instead might knock you for a loop.



(7) Changeling (Clint Eastwood)

Clint Eastwood keeps churning out one great movie after another that people keep shunning off some of the smaller, more intimate fare he seems to be an expert at delivering. Gran Torino was one, Changeling is the other. One was male driven, this one is female driven as Angelina Jolie plays a woman unfairly institutionalized after her son disappears by a corrupt LAPD in the 1930's. Intense doesn't even begin to describe what Eastwood has in store for us in this picture. Jolie, looking ever so frightful behind the beauty, gives the kind of performance that is so good it doesn't even get nominated for an Oscar.



(8) Funny Games (Michael Haneke)

I was such a big fan of Michael Haneke's last movie -Cache/Hidden- that I was somewhat disappointed he decided that his followup would be a remake of his own 1998 film ! No worries, Funny Games is as resonant and provocative as ever. If the first film revealed gruesome, almost unwatchable violence this one is no exception as a family gets taken hostage in their own home by masochistic, young, preppy murderers. It's not an easy ride to take but if taken results in one of the most memorable experiences of 2008. Not to be missed and highly underrated. Michael Pitt scares as one of the psychopaths.



(9) Christmas Tale (Arnaud Deplechin)

Family dysfunction done the French way. Arnaud Deplechin's sprawling family dramedy is a focused effort that has so many characters and so many storylines in its hands that it threatens to derail. It doesn't. Instead what we get is a memorable family sketch that makes us think about our own life and sets the pace for a long but highly entertaining gem which features quite possibly the best cast of the entire year. Did I already mention it's French?




(10) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)

Excellent, engrossing movie. Shot, as far as I could tell, with one skillfully deployed camera, every composition had to have that camera perfectly placed. It's no mean achievement to have risen to this challenge so well. There's one scene in particular, set at a birthday dinner, which is breathtakingly well done with the camera static and the actors brilliantly positioned around it managing in spite of this limitation to not only give all the necessary information, but also to do so with the maximum emotional intensity.

11) Doubt, John Patrick Shanley

12) Tell No One, Guillaume Canet

13) JCVD, Mabrouk El Mechri

14) Iron Man, Jon Favreau

15) Ip Man, Wilson Yip

16) Wendy And Lucy, Kelly Reichardt

17) The Flight Of The Red Balloon, Hsiao-Hsien Hou

18) Lakeview Terrace, Neil Labute