Reviews - 2008

Burn After Reading

Once again the Coens have come up with a slick, knowing and thoroughly enjoyable take on an established genre of filmmaking and subverted it inside out just for the hell of it. This is a lovely little spy comedy that's typical of your Coen Brothers Lite production. Disgruntled CIA agent John Malkovich decides to write some tell-all memoirs of his time with the agency, a back-up disc of which soon ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt first to blackmail him then when that fails try to sell it to the Russians (who don't seem too interested). This is chock full of delicious performances, from well-known stars like the goofy Brad Pitt, hyper George Clooney and pompous John Malkovich to less well-known but just as effective turns from the likes of Richard Jenkins, Tilda Swinton and a magnificent J.K. Simmons who just keeps getting better every time I see him. The scenes featuring Simmons trying to keep track of where everyone is, who's killing who and what he's supposed to do about it all are absolutely priceless. Burn After Reading is slight, knockabout comedy but it's still head and shoulders above your average movie and proves, if any further proof were needed, that the brothers Coen are pretty much incapable of putting out a bad film, no matter what genre they're playing around with.

Butterfly On A Wheel

I found this film utterly depressing and frustrating for a couple of reasons. Firstly it doesn't have an original bone in its body: Happy couple with lovely kid gets thrust into a series of terrible situations by a bad man out to get them. Why he's doing this becomes clear after not too long and everything is as predictable as next week's lottery numbers aren't. Same old movie by numbers which is all Hollywood seems capable of these days. Throw in a twist at the end and you're set - except they do this 'twist' thing all the time now so there really is no twist - it's just a standard modern thriller ending. The other thing that's really bugs me is the fact that they cast Gerard Butler in the lead role of an ordinary American businessman despite the fact that he a) can't act , and b) is not American - he's Scottish. Why go with someone who's obviously struggling to find a suitable accent when there are hundreds of excellent American actors to choose from? This film once again illustrates who's in charge in Hollywood; not artistic people but money men. Butler was cast because he's flavour of the month, and for no other reason. And just like this film, that's not good enough.

Che Part 1

The first half of Steven Soderbergh's epic treatment of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara focusses on his participation in the successful Cuban Revolution of the late 1950s in which Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship was overthrown. Intercut with these scenes of life as a guerilla fighting alongside Fidel Castro is stirring footage shot in striking black and white of his 1964 trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York as Cuba's minister of industry. The unsuccessful attempt, nearly a decade later, to spearhead an uprising in Bolivia is also covered. The performances are good - particularly Benicio Del Toro who really inhabits the role of Che Guevara, which combined with the documentary style of shooting makes it very easy to forget you're watching an actor at work - the sign of a truly great performance. Mexican actor Demián Bichir is also very good as Castro. Technically the film is beyond reproach so I'm at something of a loss as to why this film didn't hold my interest. Maybe it's because I knew the outcome of these events ahead of time, or maybe I'm just not as interested in the mechanics of leading a revolution as I thought I might have been, but I never really connected with this film. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from watching it though because there's really nothing wrong with it at all.

Cloverfield

Is there any room in this modern age for a an old-fashioned monster movie? Not for me there isn't. This isn't much more than a computer age version of the old Japanese Godzilla movies, and it's exactly the kind of film I no longer have any interest in. The idea is kind of silly and revolves around a malicious scaley, reptilian looking monster on the loose in New York City and all the hell that's breaking loose because of it. That's about it really. It's filmed as if someone just picked up a video camera and is filming events as they unfold. You don't see much of the monster and what little you do see is standard cgi frippery. So you're left with a lot of people running around screaming and gasping and a lot of very shaky camerawork, which gets really old very quickly. I'm not at all sure who this film is supposed to be aimed at (which possibly explains it's poor performance at the box-office) because there's not nearly enough of the monster shown to satisfy kids these days, and its no good for most adults as there's no story and none of the action makes much sense. Another damp squib of a movie that doesn't live up to the boat-load of publicity lavished on it.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This film, along with Slumdog Millionaire I think are the two to beat at this years Oscars. David Fincher certainly knows how to put a film together, and this film is a sumptuously shot, mesmerising dreamlike fairytale of a film. Adapted from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald we follow the tale of Benjamin, a child born in his eighties who is deserted by his father who, fearing he's spawned a monster abandons the mis-shapen old tot into the care of a kindly young black woman in 1918. From the time he's born Benjamin ages backwards - while everyone around him gets older he gets younger, with interesting consequences. For the majority of the film Benjamin Button is played by Brad Pitt and he delivers a quiet, believable performance as an old, middle-aged, and finally young man, and anchors the film nicely through the shifting landscapes. The great love of his life is played by Cate Blanchet and their ultimately tragic situation is very moving for the viewer as everyone by that time is aware that it can never be the fulfilling relationship we wish for them, as do they themselves. Technically, this is Fincher's most impressive film to date; the scale of the production, the attention to detail, the rhythm and timing of the scenes - everything about this film oozes quality and a deep understanding of the medium and of the art of telling a good story well. Despite the gimmicky premise of the film it doesn't feel contrived or overtly stylized or show-offy like Fincher's previous films. This is a polished product from a mature filmmaker, and I'll be looking forward to his next project for sure.

The Dark Knight

Second of the next generation Batman films featuring Christian Bale and a really excellent performance by the late Heath Ledger. Looking back at his short career it's impressive to note the variety of parts he played and played very well. Shame. An Oscar nomination is very probably on the cards what with him being dead and all and I wouldn't object to that; winning would be pushing it depending on who else is nominated, but Ledger does play a fascinating and entertaining villain in this film, and he plays it to the hilt. Anyway, the film: I liked this much more than Batman Begins which itself was pretty good, except the action scenes weren't great and it lacked a good villain. It's true of Batman as it is any comic-book movie that you have to have a great villain for the film to work and The Dark Knight has that in spades. The plot is rudimentary, but the psychology of it all is very interesting; the script goes into more detail than you would expect about the motives of the characters and this was the most interesting aspect of the film for me. Apparently director Christopher Nolan based the character dynamics on Michael Mann's 'Heat' and it does have those overtones, and is much richer for it. Although I do still have a soft spot for the two Burton/Keaton efforts, of the six Batman films made thus far this is definitely the most accomplished, polished, entertaining, and psychologically interesting. In short it's a better Batman film than anyone could have reasonably expected. Here's hoping Nolan is in the mood to complete the trilogy.

Felon

After about twenty minutes or so watching this I started to get a nasty feeling this was just going to be another 'prison is hell' movies. The protagonist - ably played by Stephen Dorff - get's into a situation where he's facing some serious jail time for something that really wasn't his fault. Unused to how things work in a jail environment he flounders, the justice system lets him down badly, his money on the outside is running out, his wife's having their first child, his fellow inmates all seem to be either out to kill him or at the very least are completely apathetic to his plight and no-one believes he isn't a good-for-nothing scumbag same as all the other men around him. Standard stuff, and a bit over the top as far as credibility goes. However, once he's convicted and sent to jail proper things get more far-fetched while at the same time become weirdly more believable. The prisoners are forced to fight each other to survive, while the guards watch on. Having the head warden look on with his staff while the inmates knock hell out of each other reminded me of the old biblical epics where the Roman Emperor decides the fate of the gladiators in the arena - kind of unbelievable, but I've since found out that it's disturbingly close to the truth in a few penitentiarys in America. So I ended up really quite liking this film - it's unrelentingly brutal and becomes more silly as it nears the end but it's entertaining and realistic enough to be quite alarming. The film also benefits immensely from an excellent performance by a bulked-up Val Kilmer, who plays the part of a dangerous man walking a tightrope in a scary environment with a brilliantly calm intensity.

Frost/Nixon

Based on the play by Peter Morgan adapted from the real interviews David Frost conducted in 1977 with the ex-president Richard Nixon that shocked the world at the time, this is a straightforward accounting of events from Ron Howard - a director that has a tendency to make the most fascinating encounters seem somehow contrived and pedestrian. It's always been a source of irritation to me that Howard is such a popular and highly regarded director because there's no spark of originality or creativity in his films; nothing unexpected ever happens in a Ron Howard film. He seems to me like a very diligent and conscientious student who's worked hard and always produces a professional product in the end but who's films never get your blood rushing through your veins or your adrenaline pumping no matter how exciting the events he's portraying sounded on paper. That aside this film is perhaps more suited to Howard's style, such as it is, as it's basically a recounting of events that have already been committed to tape. There is a bigger problem than Howard's bland presentation however, and that is that its a little cavalier with the truth, presenting as it does Frost as a rank amateur with no experience of political interviewing so as to more easily generate a sense of the underdog triumphing in the end. The fact of the matter is that by the time of these events Frost had already interviewed a couple of British prime ministers and a few American presidents, all of which proves my point of this movie-by-numbers approach Howard is comfortable with. So it's all down to the performances of Frank Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost and to be fair they're both very good - but in different ways; Langella does a fine job of acting, but doesn't really capture the essence of Richard Nixon and Sheen does an excellent impression of David Frost but seems a little lightweight in the acting stakes. Still, the script is good and that coupled with the nice performances should be enough to hold your interest, as long as you can forgive the film its conceits.

Ghost Town

Ricky Gervais seems to be one of those people you either really like or you just don't take to and although I would probably fall into the latter caegory I have to say that he's absolutely perfect for the part of Bertram Pinkus in this film - an unsociable dentist who starts to exhibit an ability to see dead people. Fair enough you might think - just another Sixth Sense knock-off, but the twist is the way Pinkus behaves around said dead people; they just really annoy him - even more so than the live people he has to cope with every day. This is what Gervais does well - his dry delivery is perfect for the material here and his onscreen presence is one of someone who's already been the star of dozens of movies, instead of it being his first starring role in a major film. Ghost Town isn't the most original film you've ever seen; once things get rolling beyond the fact that Pinkus sees dead people there's a standard love triangle scenario that plays out in a very predictable fashion, but it's a little more engaging due to the fact that Gervais is such an unlikely romantic lead. This film's certainly not going to change anyone's life but it has a higher than average quota of laughs, good performances all round, a smart script, a little dollop of pathos and no cloying sentimentality so it's not too bad really.

Gran Torino

Probably the last we're going to see of Clint Eastwood the actor and judging by his performance it's probably a good thing, overall. His performance here is perilously close to a parody of some of his earlier roles, so if he gets an Oscar nomination for this it would surely only be for old times sake. The setting is modern Los Angeles and Clint's an extremely grumpy old curmudgeon in a neighbourhood that's gone to the dogs. He's outrageously racist (but not really) and very unsociable (but not really) and his wife's just died so he's not in the best of moods. Along comes a bunch of Asian good-for-nothings (or zipperheads as he's so fond of calling them) who are terrorising the neighbourhood and are certainly not improving his mood. You get the idea. All his talk of chinks, gooks, and zipperheads gets old pretty quickly - it seems quite affected; as if he's just talking that way for the sake of being contoversial and anti-pc, but it just comes across as false and a bit embarrassing. As far as the story goes this is basically a poor man's Unforgiven updated for the modern generation and with none of the pathos or depth. Anyway, once around the block for that story was enough - this is just rehashing something that at the time was original and fairly insightful. It would have been nice for Clint the actor to go out on something with a little more depth than Gran Torino has to offer, but it's not a total disgrace - just painfully mediocre and a big disappointment after the high quality of the last few films with which he's been involved.

Happy Go Lucky

Mike Leigh's new film, and you could never accuse him of style over substance. This is another grass roots slice of life in modern Britain. It features a beautifully down to earth performance from Sally Hawkins as Poppy - a freewheeling primary teacher, and a magnificent turn from Eddie Marsan as a lonely driving instructor who's headed for a nervous breakdown. The two meet up when Poppy decides to take some driving lessons and some of the exchanges between them on these lessons range from absolutely hilarious through to heartbreakingly sad and quite disturbing. It really doesn't matter too much what Leigh's films are about as the pleasure of them usually derives from his ability to capture genuine human emotions in believable situations by selecting the best actors for the job then letting them get on with it. Even though you may be tempted to dismiss Poppy as merely vacuous and annoying, as the film progresses you really begin to understand that she's a much more rounded person who most times takes life with a pinch of salt, but is serious when the situation merits it. It's a deceptively good performance and should at least earn her an Oscar nomination. Although not for everyone Leigh's films are consistently interesting, incisive and subtle, and your average Hollywood film school graduate could learn a lot from him. Another quiet triumph from a seasoned filmmaker doing what he does best - and what is cinemas loftiest ambition - chronicling the human condition.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Visually this film is as impressive as anything you'll see today, and the special effects are impeccable too - director Guillermo Del Toro is a superb visual stylist - but the story here is a bit of a muddle, and the characterisation is a bit hit and miss. Del Toro is certainly a man on the move though and the only way for him is up - he obviously has a head bursting with ideas and one of the annoying things about this film is that there are too many potentially interesting characters and ideas buzzing around that the film doesn't have the scope or running time to encompass, and so in the end it doesn't focus on any of them properly. Much of what happens in this movie ends up centring around Mortal Kombat style fist-fights when all's said and done, so at its core this is really a very sophisticated kids film, which is not something I really signed up for. I'm loathe to slate the film though because it's been invested with such a tremendous amount of visual imagination, verve and style and it very nearly manages to pass muster as a grand fairytale in the classic tradition. Ron Perlman is excellent once again as the laconic title character. Even though there's much I didn't care for in this film at the end of the day it's impossible to hate it.

In Bruges

Definitely not the best title ever dreamed up, but let's not judge a book by it's cover. This is a little gem of a film, and don't be put off by the fact that Colin Farrell is the main star here. Of the three actors in this film, I've always liked Gleeson and Fiennes, and I've always really hated Farrell. However, I'm starting to think I've just seen him in the wrong things because I reckon he's a very good comedy actor - he certainly is very good in this film. Both he and Gleeson portray hitmen hiding out in Bruges, waiting for news of their next job - or so they think. Farrell is excellent at portraying the cheeky young upstart with a dark past, and Brendan Gleeson is magnificent as the calmer, wiser, less impulsive hitman who's seen it all and is getting a bit world-weary. For a knockabout comedy caper the performances are surprisingly subtle, as is the perceptive and nuanced script. Don't get me wrong - this is no Citizen Kane, but it is witty, lovely to look at, well acted, occasionally thought-provoking and a lot of fun, and you don't get many comedies like that to the pound these days.

Incredible Hulk

There's good and bad in this film (hey - I suppose that's ironic), but there's a lot more bad than good as far as I'm concerned. I didn't have a problem with the Ang Lee Hulk a few years back - in fact I thought it was one of the best comic-book adaptations there had been, but this one is a bit of a mess. David Banner is now played by Ed Norton rather than Eric Bana and out of those two actors I prefer Norton, but I'd much rather watch the original Hulk film with Eric Bana than this turgid affair. When Norton is on screen as Banner he's as good as he always is but it's a Hulk film - he doesn't have much of any substance to say and the situations he finds himself in are rather unbelievable, and not very interesting. He makes a good job of acting the part but what's the point? There's not enough serious dialogue and situations for any adults to get much entertainment from. Really I don't think the filmmakers intended this film to be for adults anyway. No, the people who'll be watching this film will be kids - and they could care less about good acting; they're just waiting for Bannner to get mad and bust some heads as the Hulk and that doesn't happen, so the kids will all be bored until near the end when there's some really ridiculous super-hero versus super-villain battles. But by that time the kids will have either dropped off to sleep or wandered away in search of something more exciting to do. So it's pretty unsatisfactory no matter who you are. As it happens I don't think this film is any good at all but even if I did I wouldn't have any idea who to recommend it to.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

This was a bad idea from the word go. Harrison Ford is far too old and crusty to be involved in a fourth Indiana Jones film as anything other than a quiet little cameo.The Last Crusade (erroneously named as it turns out) was pushing it and that was nine years ago. Now, there's a lot to be said for a big Hollywood film that has a sixty five year old as it's main star - most big films star pretty boy teenagers in parts that should really be played by someone who you think has lived a little - but if you're going to put an old aged pensioner in your movie for goodness sake don't have him running around like a twenty year old. That's the first problem with this film, but certainly not the only one. Problem number two is said pretty boy teenager Shia Labeouf who's on the fast track to WoodenTop-hood and is irritating in the extreme here. The third problem is the even-dafter-than-your-average-Indy-film plot which is by turns dumb, boring and dumber. While I've got the boot in I might aswell add that it's also quite annoying, now that I come to think about it, that a filmmaker of such obvious talent as Spielberg chooses to devote so much time and energy to flogging such an obviously dead horse. I barely made it to the end of this dross and I must admit to a couple of naps along the way.

Iron Man

I think most comic-book adaptations are pretty poor as a rule, so I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. The main reason I found it so enjoyable was the amusing and charismatic performance of Robert Downey Jr. Downey stars as Tony Stark - a billionaire arms dealer who concocts an armoured suit to escape a tricky situation in Afghanistan then discovers it's true potential for combatting evil as a hig tech superweapon. It's tremendous fun watching Stark with his new toys experimenting his way to being a super hero, and Downey's arch humour shines through in every scene. I've never been a fan of comic-books so I can't comment on whether this film is faithful to the source material but what I can say is that it's smart, funny and it's ably directed by Jon Favreau. Everything looks slick and the cast all seem to be having lots of fun, especially Jeff Bridges as the evil baddie. Unlike the insipid Spiderman movies they keep churning out this superhero movie does what it says on the tin and does it very well. Definitely one of the best Marvel fiilms I've seen.

John Rambo

Okay - I have to get this naming business off my chest once and for all; This is the fourth film in the First Blood series, the first film being First Blood, the second being Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and the third being Rambo 2 although it was erroneously called Rambo III and this one is mostly being referred to as Rambo IV although technically it's First Blood IV, or Rambo III. One thing that's fairly certain though is that this will be the last film in the series because as of this writing Stallone is the ripe old age of 62 and although he does a fine job convincing us he's a much younger man surely there's very little gas left in his tank. Anyway with all this talk of nomenclature and such you can probably guess that there really isn't much to say about the actual film. It's very violent, as you would expect if you've seen any of the other Rambo movies, and it's enjoyable enough I suppose if you're into that sort of thing.

Milk

I've been a fan of Sean Penn's work as an actor for a long time now, and it's my opinion that he should have won an Oscar before now. If not for his brilliant portrayal of a man on death row in Dead Man Walking then at least a best supporting nod for his sleazy lawyer in Carlito's Way. Here he plays Harvey Milk - Americas first openly gay elected official who ends up being assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by a vengeful colleague. Penn's performance as a gay man is certainly very good, but I don't think it's any stronger than the two I've mentioned. There's something just a tiny bit too effete about Penn's portrayal of Milk, which kind of bothered me. As a result I feel I devoted too much attention wondering how the real Harvey Milk acted instead of focussing on the story being told. The story too bothered me a little as it took an awful long time to get going. After about forty five minutes though things start to get a little more interesting and I found myself drawn in and engaging with the characters and incidents, so that by the end I felt a sense of genuine sorrow at the way things turned out. Director Gus Van Sant captures the feel of the emerging gay movement in San Francisco in the seventies very well, and the supporting cast are good too.

Outpost

Very much like a remake of Michael Mann's 1983 film The Keep, this is pretty enjoyable and for the most part disguises it's ultra low budget origins very well. The plot isn't too important here and obviously doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny but the atmosphere of tension, dread and fear from a group of mercenaries sent to an eerie spot in the woods is handled pretty well. The acting is variable but if you like the sound of a bunch of hard men soldiers reduced to blubbering scaredy cats in the face of an all powerful force of seething nazi zombies that can't be killed then this film's for you. If, on the other hand you'd prefer not to think about such gruesome goings-on and would instead like some intellectually stimulating material, with top-notch acting and challenging themes about human nature then you'll have to look out some Shakespeare or something.

Pineapple Express

This one didn't hit the mark for me at all. It started off well enough. Seth Rogan stars as a working stiff who really likes smoking pot but isn't keen on getting mixed up with the people he gets it from, which is of course what happens in the film. James Franco - in a really nicely observed performance - is the small time dealer he gets his weed from and the two get mixed up in all sorts of shenanigans surrounding stolen money/missing drugs/gangsters and murder but none of that really matters too much - it's just an excuse for the stoned innocents to bumble from one sticky situation to another. And that's the problem with this movie - neither the performances nor the jokes are funny enough to distract the viewer from the fact that nothing of any interest is happening. As the film progresses it gets more and more silly and in the end it's a pretty tedious affair. I eventually lost patience and found myself sorely tempted to just forget the whole thing and go do something else. I suspect that you really have to be on the same wavelength as the filmmakers for any of the onscreen nonsense to resonate at all and that means you'd really have to be about as stoned as the two main characters, and even then it's all been done to death already. Having done the Cheech and Chong thing I can honestly say this movie had far fewer funny jokes and a lot less charm than those old chestnuts.

Quantum of Solace

This hasn't had the glowing reviews that Casino Royale got - in fact a lot of critics have been quite mean to it. I don't think it's half bad. It's not as glamourous as Casino Royale but then Casino Royale was centred round a high-stakes poker game in a fancy Eurpean hotel - it doesn't get much more glamourous than that these days. It's not as polished as it's predecessor either, but again it's not really supposed to be - it's a kind of diamond in the rough if you like - a much more rugged affair. Carrying on pretty much where Casino Royale ended Bond is off to find out who was behind Vesper's death and why she betrayed him. On the way he gets tangled up in the world of high finance and dirty politics but tends to steer clear of doing much talking in favour of extreme violence. He's still ruthlessly efficient and clinical in his pursuit of revenge, M still doesn't quite trust him (but really does), and there's no stupid super-villains trying to take over the world. One Bond girl; I can handle that - she at least has something to do with the plot, such as it is. Lastly, there's no daft gadgetry and no silly quips so as far as I'm concerned this new re-tooled Bond franchise is still on track and looking healthy. Solace does suffer by comparison with Royale in a few areas though: The plot is servicable and no more - a bit convoluted and not that interesting. It's a little lacking in humour, but really I'm not going to argue in favour of a lot more humour - that's a dangerous road to go down in the Bond films (as the Roger Moore series proves). This time round though Bond's quite vicious and never smiles. Of course this is a revenge thriller at heart, so Bond doesn't have much to smile about I suppose. A more serious issue than these niggles though is that the villain of the piece isn't very scary at all and is a really poor nemesis for such a driven and capable Bond as portrayed by Daniel Craig. Like the Batman films, having a really strong villain is vitally important to any Bond film, and Solace falls woefully short here with the white-collar criminal Dominic Greene. Despite these flaws I'll just reiterate though that I liked this film a lot - in my opinion it's the second best Bond film - and the third best is way behind it. It's hard to say what's next for the franchise - as far as I'm aware there's not much in the way of original Fleming source material left so the next one will be tricky. Maybe they could go back and remake some of the earlier Fleming novels properly - who knows? Fingers crossed they keep on track whatever they decide .

Revolutionary Road

Sam Mendes directs his real life wife Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in a dark and depressing tale of a young couple trying to come to terms with turning into their parents in their humdrum life in 1950s America. They each seem to have their own very different ways of dealing with the crushing banalities that life serves up and they dream of leaving it all behind and going off to live in Paris. Very soon after they announce their intentions you realise that these dreams and ambitions will ultimately come to nothing because they're stuck in this cycle of bickering, recriminations and general dissatisfaction with their lot in life and their self-loathing for not having the courage of their convictions. It's one of these well-executed, worthy Academy Award friendly films, but it may come unstuck this year because there's a much more interesting crop of films looming on the horizon that seem more appealing and less dreary than this. Both Winslet and particularly DiCaprio are very good in some intense and emotional scenes but I was left with an empty, unsatisfied feeling when it was all done. It just didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular and it was a bit of a struggle getting there.

Righteous Kill

No no no no no. It's been a long time since I saw a film as embarrassing and cringeworthy as Righteous Kill. This film is so bad it reminded me of that other DeNiro embarrassment 15 Minutes. Here he's a parody of his former self aping parts he's played a long time ago. Pacino is really struggling to stay afloat amidst the train wreck of a script he's been handed from someone who obviously just fished it out of the nearest wastepaper basket. The plot is every police procedural you've ever seen shoe-horned together into some mad Airplane style parody mash-up. The filmmakers patently think they've made some dark, hard-hitting gritty drama with clever twists and a shocking ending, but everything is telegraphed (as if anyone cares what's happening after about five minutes of this trash) and every cliche you've ever come across in a cop flick is paraded as if they're radical new ideas. It's just all so depressingly dismal to see two titans disgrace themselves with this hack work. It breaks my heart to see Pacino and particularly DeNiro feed off themselves in such a cynical way when they could be doing something worthwhile, or even at a pinch doing nothing at all - which would have been better than participating in this waste of everyone's time.

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle's new film and a hot contender for this year's Best Picture Oscar. Dev Patel gives a convincing turn as a young man who ends up on the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and is on the final question when he's hauled off and interrogated by the police because the producers are convinced he's cheating. I don't know about that - the final question is ridiculously easy, as are most of the other questions - one of the issues I had with the film. In fact the whole premise of the film is very contrived, but if you can ignore that then this is a breath of fresh air - Danny Boyle directs with a lot of visual impact and a restless camera and the cinematography is vibrant and lush. The whole production exudes great visual flair and is bursting with vitality, and it's one of the best feelgood movies you could hope for. The performances are all very good, from the little kids who play the young versions of the main players all the way through to the smallest supporting roles played, presumably, by non-professionals. Notable too is the excellent choice of modern Indian rap and Bangra songs used to great effect during the more frenetic set-pieces. Even with all the hype that was building up around Slumdog Millionaire I really wasn't expecting much as it sounded too cheesy on paper, but Boyle pulls it off and has produced a thoroughly entertaining movie with a lot of personality and humour.

Step Brothers

Another month another successful Apatow production. Truly this is the Apatow Era. Right now the man can do no wrong it seems - the films he's involved with are either very funny and make a ton of cash or they suck and still make a ton of cash. Step Brothers belongs in the former catergory, but differs from the likes of Knocked Up or The 40 Year Old Virgin in that it's not got anything terribly meaningful to say about relationships as such - it's just revelling in it's silliness and it's not sophisticated in any way shape or form. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are obviously having a whale of a time exhibiting all sorts of inappropriate and offensive behaviour - much of it seemingly improvised - for almost the whole movie. I've always been a big fan of John C. Reilly - he's one of those actors who's always fantastic even if the film itself isn't great. He's a terrific all-rounder, but recently has concentrated more on comedy - to great effect. I must admit I've also become something of a fan of Ferrell's ever since I saw his inspired turn in Anchorman, followed by a string of hilarious performances, culminating in the genius that was Stranger Than Fiction. Step Brothers is really silly, extremely jeuvenile and the whole thing would undoubtedly be really annoying if the two leads were in fact children, but because it's Ferrell and Reilly acting like children it's frequently hilarious. These guys gave me a few good belly laughs and that doesn't happen often these days so more power to the Apatow juggernaut.

Swing Vote

Not much of a surprise that this particular film should be released in this particular year in America. It's a very topical but also very silly idea for a movie: Kevin Costner stars as Bud Johnson - an irresponsible old slacker thrust into the glare of the world's publicity machine when he's discovered to be the one voter who's ballot will decide the presidency of the United States. Costner puts in a winning performance and there's plenty of familiar faces on show all of whom are well aware of how silly it all is but they all play it completely straight. Funnily enough the most serious performance comes from Madeline Carroll - a twelve year old actress who plays Bud's informed and conscientious daughter Holly. The film certainly has a message and is none too subtle about getting it across, but if you can ignore it's heart on its sleeve sentimentality, its somewhat preachy tone and its pointing out the obvious - that your average politician is not to be trusted - then there's a decent Frank Capra type movie to warm the cockles of your heart. Mind you, if you don't like Kevin Costner then I wouldn't bother if I were you.

Taken

In which we see the indomitable Die Hard hero side of Liam Neeson who's off to Paris to rescue his daughter who's been sold into drug-addled prostitution at the hands of some evil Albanian scumbags (none of whom seem to be able to shoot straight or hold their own in a stand up fight). So the scene is set for Liam to wreak untold havoc and destruction on more nameless foes than you can shake a stick at. Much death, a bunch of hand to hand combat, a couple of explosions, a car chase - the usual action fare ensues. It's done with a degree of professionalism to be sure, and Liam Neeson is pretty good as far as it goes, but this is nothing you've not seen before. If you're just starting out on your movie-watching journey you might appreciate this as the proficient actioner it is, but if you've already seen a hundred and one other action flicks this really doesn't bring anything fresh or new to the table at all, and you may want to give it a miss. But if you're in the mood for some mindless violence with high production values and above average performances then give Taken a whirl. There's a lot worse out there, I can assure you.

Tropic Thunder

Well, this is a bit of a mixed bag. I thought this looked pretty bad from the trailers I had seen beforehand but I had also heard some people saying it was hilarious. Recently there's even been talk of Robert Downey Jr. being nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar so I had to see it for myself. Downey Jr. is actually very good as he always is and he provides most of the laughs here. Ben Stiller - who also directed and co-wrote this is playing pretty much the same character as he always does. If you like Stiller then you'll like him here just fine. As an added bonus Jack Black is a lot less annoying than usual. The pre-title trailers are slick and funny for the most part and the war movie takeoffs - Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and a whole bunch more - are pretty much spot on for the most part. There's even some proper explosions and action scenes if that's your bag. A lot of Tropic Thunder isn't funny, some of it's even cringeworthy, but it's clever enough to cover over the holes and there's enough chuckles and a couple of proper guffaws to justify watching it, and that's not even counting the hilarious extended cameo from Tom Cruise as a sleazy movie producer with a penchant for jiggin to rap songs.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen's latest starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson and of course Scarlett Johansson and it's a classy affair dealing with his usual concerns like infidelity, unrequited love and the thorniness of relationships in general. Bardem and Cruz are both very good here - Cruz has always been excellent in Spanish speaking roles and Bardem is every bit as good as he always is - he's all sleepy-eyed charm and latent sexual energy here. Scarlett Johansson as Cristina really isn't that bad this time round; she doesn't have an awful lot to do but what she does have she does well. Rebecca Hall as Vicky was a bit of a find for me in a very natural and authentic performance. There's not much in the way of a storyline with this film, but it's really more of a mood piece and a rumination on the perils and pleasures of relationships and the complications that can ensue. As an added bonus you also get to see some nice scenery and sights around Barcelona. With the usual high quality script and acting on show it's hard to feel short-changed here, regardless of the lack of incident.

The Visitor

Nice second feature from full time actor/part time director Thomas McCarthy (his first was The Station Agent) featuring a lovely, understated performance from the very talented and currently very busy Richard Jenkins. Jenkins stars as Walter Vale - a college professor who on return from a conference finds his apartment occupied by a young Syrian musician named Tarek and his Senegalese girlfriend who have moved in in his absence due to some housing scam they got mixed up in. Rather than turf them out on the street he decides to accommodate them and the three live together in a sort of uneasy harmony for a while. Tarek and Vale form a firm friendship quite quickly and Tarek starts to teach Vale the art of street drumming. Of course you just know it can't last and sure enough the immigration folks track down Tarek and whisk him off to a detention centre. The film's quite affecting from that point on , as Vale fights to try and get Tarek released and also begins his own drumming odyssey and really re-examing his whole way of life. It's an extremely accomplished and touching performance from Jenkins that's well worthy of inclusion at this years Academy Awards. It would be nice to see a good character actor getting a bit of recognition for a quality independent film for a change.

Wall-E

New Pixar offering and as always it's lovely to look at. It's also very impressive when you understand the computing power and technical talent that's been poured into it. For the first fifteen minutes or so I was quite disappointed in this film because it struck me as being similar to the hopping spotlight demo that Pixar touted round Hollywood as their calling card in the early days - it seemed to be merely showing off CGI technology rather than telling a story, but as the film progresses a story of sorts does emerge and things get a little more interesting, but not really interesting enough to fully engage my attention. It's kind of funny, and kind of engaging, and kind of sad in parts, but it's not fully anything in particular. It's more of a spectacle and demonstration of how clever animators are than a film you can really focus on and enjoy fully on it's own merits as a story. Too much of what makes the film amusing or sad is to do with subconsciously appreciating the fact that the animators have managed to capture just the right expression on their CGI characters face. Once the mothership with its human crew enters the film things get a little more enjoyable because of the voice characterisations and you get a clearer idea of what's going on, but I still had a problem fully engaging with the film - the story's not great so it's hard to keep caring about what's happening to the characters. Better luck next time guys.

Wanted

Wow. There's certainly no shortage of films that stretch credibility to the breaking point in Hollywood, but Wanted has taken bonkers to a whole new level. James McAvoy plays a boring guy with a boring life until he's whisked away to get trained up to be a hitman for a secret society run by Morgan Freeman. Fair enough you might think - but everything's notched up to eleven - no make that a hundred and eleven. Now, anyone that knows the kind of films I like would probably assume that I hated this film, but really it's all done with such technical skill, verve and panache I must admit I found myself just saying 'hey - go for it' each time something mental happened, which on average was about every two minutes or so. I also found myself laughing hysterically whenever one of those bullets went whizzing round a corner, or some car violated the laws of physics for the sixth time in ten seconds. Honestly, this is the closest you'll get to a live action roadrunner cartoon. About twenty minutes into this film McAvoy smacks a co-worker with his keyboard, and that scene along with the opening sequence tells you everything you need to know about this film - if they do nothing for you then you'll hate the film, if you love the audacity of them then you'll probably like it. Either way this film, as silly as it is, is imaginative, features some stunning cinematography, a decent script, and pretty good performances if you don't count Angelina Jolie.

Wendy And Lucy

This is a slender tale indeed; we follow Wendy - a young woman journeying through Oregon on her way to a new job in Alaska, accompanied by her dog Lucy. Her car breaks down and she finds herself trapped in a small town through a series of unforeseen circumstances, the upshot of which results in her losing her dog. The rest of the film is concerned with her trying to find Lucy and get on her way again, with little or no funds and many obstacles to overcome. The performance Michelle Williams gives is really intense, very down to earth and quietly emotional without being overly dramatic or showy in any way. It's definitely worthy of inclusion in this years Best Actress category at the Oscars but the slightness of the film as a whole, and the lack of any extended juicy dialogue scenes will reduce dramatically her chances of actually winning. As good as Michelle Williams is however, it wasn't enough to stop me from falling into a bored stupor after a while - the pacing is almost stationary at times and most scenes linger much longer than necessary for no other reason, it seems to me, than to pad the running time to feature film length. Director Kelly Reichardt does raise the topical issue of how different people behave in times of financial hardship, but doesn't really seem to have anything much to say about it other than to observe that it's a shame when it happens to decent people. As a first film this would be a decent effort, but for someone who's been directing for over ten years now it's not great.

X-Files: I Want To Believe

The title is the biggest problem this film has. First of all it's called X-Files, but the plot doesn't involve the investigation of an x-file. Secondly, there isn't really anything of note that happens in the film that would require someone to believe in anything out of the ordinary... maybe a tiny hint of psychic powers from one of the characters, but they're not investigating that so all in all it's a very curious choice of titles. I kind of liked the first film - it had the ingredients that made The X-Files so popular - paranormal activity, alien abduction, government conspiracy, but this film has none of these elements. It's pretty much just a manhunt movie. Mulder and Scully are both present, but really don't need to be - neither of them are FBI agents anymore and neither has any special knowledge about the matter at hand. Scully's involved in some unrelated medical matter that just distracts from the main story - such as it is, and Mulder's not doing much of anything except brooding about being kicked out of the fibs. If you're a fan of the X-Files television show then this movie will probably disappoint you as it's not paranormal/aliens/conspiracy/action enough. If you forget it's an X-Files movie then what you've got is an awkwardly put together mood piece featuring familiar characters not doing much. There's some sly humour for the X-Files regulars and a very good performance from Billy Connolly as a paedophile priest, but aside from that it doesn't rise above a below average X-Files episode. In short, if this film didn't feature Mulder and Scully (and we've already established that it needn't) it would be lost among a dozen other serial killer whodunnits doing the rounds and would probably never be heard of again. It's not terrible; it's just not what it says on the tin.