Films and other general wonderings

The Borrower Arrietty

2010-06-12T21:18:00.000+01:00

The trailer for the new Studio Ghibli is here! Excitement! I'm actually halfway through watching Ponyo right now, and I'm amazed at how well chosen (and what profile) actors they manage to get now. I guess the English version of Arrietty won't be with us for a while, but it will have some trouble being anywhere near as good as BBC's adaptation of The Borrowers with Beverley Callard's daughter, Shaun of the Dead's mum and Spiller's half-scissor...

Speidi breaks up

2010-06-02T22:11:00.000+01:00

Heidi Montag poses for a photo shoot to commemorate the fact.

SADFACE

Where The Wild Things Are

2010-06-02T21:04:00.000+01:00

You wouldn't think that the director behind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation could fuck up the film that produced one of the most amazing-est of trailers of ever. But he did. I watched Where The Wilds Things Are last night and despite the consistent brilliance of Catherine Keener (who had all of 10 minutes screen time) and some pretty stunning monster designs, this was a colossal waste of time. After watching this and Away We Go last week, I just wish Dave Eggers would steer clear of my film-viewing experience.

The Brothers Bloom

2010-05-08T17:20:00.000+01:00

Rian Johnson's follow-up to his high school noir Brick is a looser, more accessibly film that its predecessor. Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are Stephen and Bloom, con artists and brothers, whose cons are as complex as "Russian novels", complete with symbolism, complex plot arcs and a wide array of supporting characters. That old staple, the "one final job" (Bloom longs for "an unwritten life"), involves a jaunt across Eastern Europe with eccentric, lonely millionaire Penelope (Rachel Weisz), during which the Brothers Bloom will fleece her of her fortune.

The problem with most con movies is that the number of twists the plot manufactures precludes feeling for its characters, a problem that The Brothers Bloom isn't immune to. However, much like he did with Brick, Johnson marries two disparate genres with considerable success. His second film is shot through with a Wes Anderson-like sensibility but, unlike Anderson and his numerous imitators, Johnson has a broader palette to work from and a willingness to cut loose that works in his favour.

Whilst not without its faults (the first 10 minutes detailing the brothers' first con stick too close to the Anderson formula and the ending lacks any real emotional punch), there much to love in the detail, not least a marvellous comic turn from Weisz and a typically relaxed, amusing one from Ruffalo.

Urban Legend

2009-12-31T14:11:00.000Z

One of the spate of tongue-in-cheek thrillers that proved so popular in the wake of Scream. A group of pretty university students are being picked off by a serial killer obsessed with urban legends (of “the calls are coming from inside the house” variety). The opening scene strikes the appropriate balance between laughs and scares, but it’s all downhill from there. Led by a gormless Alicia Witt, there’s some fun to be had watching the hot teen stars of the late 90s that never quite made it (Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Tara Reid) get slaughtered in predictably “inventive” ways. But when the only thing you take away from a movie is how bad Joshua Jackson looked with blonde hair, you know there’s something wrong.

Avatar

2009-12-30T22:06:00.000Z

Let me say straight off the bat that I'm a big James Cameron fan. Not only do I love The Terminator and Aliens but I'm also a sucked for True Lies and had a year-long obsession with Titanic when it was first released, one that hasn't dimmed as considerably as it perhaps should have done. So I was looking forward to Avatar with bated breath.

The story, effectively a Dances with Wolves/Pocahontas-type story wherein disabled army recruit Jake Sulley (Sam Worthington) is tasked with improving relations between Earth and a race of aliens called the Na'Vi. With the help of an initially-curmudgeonly-but-not-for-long Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), Jake's mind is transferred into an avatar to aid his integration into the alien race. Of course, Jakes begins to have second thoughts about his objective (to persuade the Na'Vi to move so that Earth can extract a valuable mineral - Unobtanium - from underneath them) as soon as pretty Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) bats her big blue eyelashes at him. Lessons about the importance of environmental awareness and true love across all boundaries ensue.

On a purely visual level, Avatar is spectacular. The claims that this film will change the face of cinema aren't wrong. The 3D effects are eye-poppingly impressive, never more so than in the stunning climax which demonstrates an incredible flair and attention to detail that you just can't find in your typical Michael Bay hack job. Also impressive is the level of care that has gone into rendering the Na'Vi's facial expressions, which is certainly realistic enough to make it feel like you're watching a performance rather than a CG-rendering.

The story is trite but so are most of Cameron's films. But what made Aliens, The Terminator and T2 stand out was the director's myth-making ability, to create an immersive, interesting world around a military horror film in the first instance, and a chase narrative in the second. Even the Upstairs Downstairs love story in Titanic was told with such confidence and bombast that resistance proved futile in being swept away by the self-consciously "epic" nature of the love story at its centre. Unfortunately, this director isn't much in evidence here. The Na'Vi are a jumbled mess of Hollywood's ideas of "ethnicity" and the audience is asked, at various points, to identify them with Native American, Aboriginal, Middle Eastern and New Age culture. These broad strokes are crippling, meaning that the Na'Vi never really seem to have a coherent belief system and comparisons to the similar but far superior Princess Mononoke don't do Cameron any favours.

To Avatar's credit, it never drags over its three hour run and works as high-octane entertainment, but after a twelve-year wait it's a disappointment to Cameron fans and, one suspects, that once cinema has caught up with the special effects on display here, the film itself will fade fast in the memory.

Children of Men

2009-08-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

Based on a short story by PD James, Alfonso Cuáron's dystopian fiction is yet another interesting change of pace for the Mexican director following his successful stint on the Harry Potter series. Set in the near future, Children of Men imagines a world in which human beings are no longer able to reproduce. The world has collapsed and only Britain soldiers on, albeit in a rather beleaguered fashion; in the opening ten minutes we see a bomb going off in a coffee shop, illegal immigrants being kept in cages and billboards covered in ominous graffiti such as "Whoever dies last, turn out the light".

Persuaded to help join his activist ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), Theo (Clive Owen) agrees to assist in gaining a young refugee woman, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), safe passage to the coast. Although it is hidden from Theo at first, Kee reveals that she is pregnant and that she hopes to make her way to the Human Project, a group of scientists based in the Azores that hope to find a cure for human infertility.

The film drops us straight in the action, smartly offering us little in the way of exposition and instead positing itself as a franctic chase narrative as Theo and Kee attempt to make their way to the coast. Cuarón's vision of the not-too-distant future is spot-on. Murky, depressing and grey, it's not too far removed from today's London which, of course, makes the movie's political subtexts all the more apparent. Although the action scenes are undeniably impressive - especially a couple of outstanding one-shot sequences - the layered characterisation and performances (Owen in particular) help to invest the viewer in the outcome of the story. Technically flawless, this is testament to what a skilled writer/director Cuarón has become over the course of just six films.

Hamlet at Wyndhams Theatre

2009-08-06T19:19:00.000+01:00

After buying backseat tickets many many months ago, I finally got the opportunity to see Jude Law as Hamlet last night at the Wyndhams Theatre. I've not seen Hamlet performed before and, of the Shakespeare I've seen, I do tend to prefer the comedies. I've got such entrenched ideas of the tragedies - which I read and studied to death at university - that any variation angers me. I've also got a thing against people in the audience that laugh because most people tend to be a laughing in a "I understood that particular play on words because I know, read and understand Shakespeare. Therefore I must laugh to make sure everyone around me knows that I got the joke even when the joke isn't laugh-out-loud funny." But that's just my cross to bear and I realise I can be a bit of an arse about these things.

Anyhow...this was a solid Hamlet. Nothing spectacular of life-altering but a respectable stab nonetheless. Jude Law was great in the lead role. At first I was put off by his performance, which begins loudly and only increases in volume. He also has a propensity to move his arms about a lot and hop about the stage. Before the First Act was over it seemed as if Law's Hamlet was stark-raving mad already when at least part of the play's tragedy is its central character's sure descent into insanity. What become clear is that underneath this bravado, pomp and circumstance is something altogether sane. During his soliloquys, Law exposes this part of the character to the audience and makes them understand the sadness behind the broken man. The "to be or not to be" soliloquy, delivered by a barefooted Law as he wanders in from the snow, is, as expected, a highlight. This great speech about the gap between thought and feeling is so haunting on the page and just as effective in performance.

The set is regal and bare, plain even but it suits the mood of the play. The lighting is used in particularly effective ways and the production is notable for its careful use of shadow and darkness. Unfortunately, given Law's impressive central performance, the rest of the cast don't really deliver. Penelope Wilton plays Gertrude as a dowdy, nervous woman, thoroughly modern and utterly out of place amongst the other players. I don't necessarily have a problem with Gertrude being played as a sympathetic character (indeed, most of her "crimes" could be read as symptoms of Hamlet's burgeoning madness), but such a homespun interpretation jars completely with the tone of the play itself and ensures that her onscreen death and Hamlet's sudden outpouring of grief as he holds her corpse carries very little emotional weight because of it. Gugu Mbatha-Raw also botches her part and lends precious little to the part of Ophelia.

The underwhelming effect of the rest of the cast does tend to dampen the power of Law's astonishing central performance. It's a solid, impressive production on many levels but, Law aside, it doesn't quite shine.

Hush

2009-08-01T21:35:00.000+01:00

Adequate low-budget Brit thriller. A young couple, Zakes and Beth (William Ash and Christine Bottomley), are driving down the M1 when they see something scary in the van up ahead, a woman chained up and screaming. When they stop at the next service station Beth gets snatched and Zakes begins a dangerous pursuit of the man in the white van. Writer/director Mark Tonderai manages to muster a few good scares and keeps things moving at a fast lick. Ash's believable performance helps as well, although the now predictable "fleshing out" (Beth had a one-night stand with another man and is considering calling off her relationship with Zakes) of the characters before the film drops them into peril is poorly written and, in the end, serves little purpose. There are also one too many genre clichés to make Hush stand out against the likes of, say, Eden Lake.

Far From Heaven

2009-07-31T14:16:00.000+01:00

A masterpiece of American cinema, standing at the pinnacle of Todd Haynes' career so far and featuring a career-best performances from Julianne Moore. Cathy and Frank Whitaker (Moore and Dennis Quaid) are, to all outward appearances, the perfect couple. He the successful businessman, she the doting wife and mother; the very image of familial bliss in 50s Hartford, Connecticut. Yet beneath this facade lies a different truth. Frank is a closeted homosexual and when Cathy catches his in the arms of another man she requests that he seek medical assistance in "curing" his condition. As Frank struggles with his sexuality, Cathy also reaches crisis point. Increasingly alienated from her husband, she turns to her black gardener, Raymond Deagon (Dennis Haysbert) for friendship. The close-minded residents of Hartford are quick to judge, and Raymond's daughter Sarah is forced to bear the consequences when a group of boys knock her unconscious after taunting her about her father's "white girlfriend". Meanwhile, Frank has fallen in love with a young man he met whilst holidaying in Miami and the Whitakers divorce. After her best friend turns her back on her, Cathy returns to Raymond only to discover that he is leaving town, believing it to be in Sarah's best interests.

Haynes is clearly inspired by the films of Douglas Sirk, specifically All That Heaven Allows. The colour palette, Elmer Bernstein's score and direction all point towards 50s melodrama. By recreating the feel of these so-called "women's pictures" today, Haynes is able to bring to the surface the various sexual, social and pyschological tensions that Sirk implied but was never able to say outright. The danger with any reworking is that it can come across as a smirking pastiche, something which this most definitely is not. It's a wonderfully constructed homage to Sirk, one that is able to make explicit all of his more troubling themes.

As such, this is a movie about surfaces. Not only the surface of a person's skin, or that of a "perfect" marriage but of how we perceive ourselves and each other as individuals. Both Cathy and Frank subject themselves to similar kinds of self-dellusion, that they are in love. Frank's revelation to Cathy that he has fallen in love for the first time and that he had no idea "how that felt" is heartbreaking, not just because it exposes the lie behind their marriage but because it exposes how Cathy feels towards Raymond. The Whitakers' separation is handled with an appropriate restraint; their final conversation with each other is over the phone and concerns Cathy's carpool days. The relationship between Cathy and Raymond is similarly subtle. The audience understands their connection (on a physical, emotional and an intellectual level) without their being any need of the script spelling it out.

The performances are all top-notch. Quaid and Haysbert have perhaps been overlook, both providing stellar work here, but Julianne Moore's Cathy is so perfectly realised, both by writer/director Haynes and by the actress herself, that she pretty much overshadows everyone else here. Never once drifting into camp, it's a masterclass in composed melancholy which has drawn comparisons to her (actually very different) performance in The Hours, which was also partly set in the 50s.

This was the movie that made Haynes, one of the most prominent figures of New Queer Cinema with Safe and The Karen Carpenter Story, respectable in Hollywood. No doubt it helped him enormously in gathering together an A-list cast for I'm Not There, his experimental take on the life of Bob Dylan. This, however, is likely to be the film for which he is remembered for some time, the perfect combination of director, writer and star.

Trailerwatch: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009-07-30T21:46:00.000+01:00

It looks sort of...endearingly cheap? The first few shots of this film kind of creeped me out but I'm pretty sold on it after seeing this trailer. It looks like something you might have seen on CBBC in the late 80s. There's a few good jokes in there as well, and it's nice to hear Meryl sound all motherly ain't it?

I Love You, Man

2009-07-27T19:40:00.000+01:00

A "bromance" that is more entertaining than it has any right to be, largely thanks to the effortless chemistry between its two leads. Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) has just proposed to his loving girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) but she's concerned over his lack of male friends. Keen to find a best man for his wedding, Peter begins interviewing potential candidates, leading to a couple of humorous misunderstandings before meeting Sydney (Jason Segal), a slacker type who encourages uptight Peter to let loose. What follows is a comical reappropriation of rom-com clichés as played out by two straight men. It's a solid concept, although the relationship's inevitable complications, thrown in towards the end of the movie, feel cursory and aren't explored with any real depth. I Love You, Man also, on occassion, feels a little too loose. The actors have clearly been given free rein to improvise, leading to some dialogue that is very funny indeed, but there are a couple of scenes that run on longer than they need to.

That said, this has more belly laughs than your average romantic comedy and the lead performances are just as good as you would expect. Rudd is particularly impressive. Mining The Office and other comedies of embarrassment, his Peter Klaven may be cringe-inducing (his attempts at giving Sydney a nickname are especially funny) but he's also instantly likeable and the movie pretty much coasts by on his charms alone.

Trailerwatch: Dorian Gray

2009-07-26T09:05:00.000+01:00

Only a teaser and a fairly poor one at that. Whilst Colin Firth looks like he'll make a decent Henry Wooton and Rebecca Hall's presence can only be a good thing, this looks like a goth romance that completely ignores the source material. I mean, Dorian Gray is meant to be gay right? I know there's that thing with Sybill Vane but to anyone who's read the book it's pretty obvious that Dorian's interests lie elsewhere. The casting of Ben Barnes doesn't thrill me either. He was wet in Easy Virtue and can't see him being a good fit for Dorian but I suppose I'll wait and see.

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

2009-07-25T19:13:00.000+01:00

A marvellous contemporary update of Shakespeare's tragic romance. Building on camp aesthetic, hectic editing and beautiful visuals that marked his earlier film Strictly Ballroom and went on to play an even greater part in Moulin Rouge!, Luhrmann's MTV-inspired masterpiece displays an uncanny understanding of his source material. Exposition is kept to a minimum. Instead we're treated to ecstasy-infused dances in drag (a glorious interpretation of Mercutio's Queen Mab speech), a colourful gas station brawl and a soundtrack that includes Prince, The Cardigans and The Wannadies.

Wisely choosing to preserve the original language of the text, Luhrmann's "Verona Beach" setting (actually a mixture of Miami and Mexico City) highlights the melodrama of Shakespeare's story, something which this movie has in spades. The hot young cast are perfectly spearheaded by DiCaprio and Danes, both of whom have never been cast better. Fast, furious and gloriously watchable.

Trailerwatch: Alice in Wonderland

2009-07-22T20:58:00.001+01:00

I flip-flop between being excited about this and realising that Tim Burton hasn't made a good film in ten years. In theory, Burton's aesthetic is perfectly suited to Alice. I just hope it doesn't have any gothic trappings, because it really doesn't need any. Mia Wasikowska should make a good Alice (she's ace on In Treatment) but why does this trailer make it seem like Johnny Depp is the only star on show here? The Mad Hatter isn't that big a part in the books and whilst I don't have a problem with A-list cameos from Depp, Anne Hathaway and the like, it's Alice's story, not theirs. The CGI looks a bit ropey too.

Pleasantville

2009-07-21T14:27:00.000+01:00

A charming, clever satire of 50s American ideals and the need for self-liberation. Brother and sister David and Jennifer (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) are transported from the present day into a 50s black-and-white TV sitcom called Pleasantville, a world of good manners and happy families. As the teenagers' liberal attitudes and ideas spread amongst the population, the monochrome world of Pleasantville springs gloriously into Technicolour. As a metaphor for the importance of liberal thinking, it's inspired, and it becomes even more pertinent when the town's moral majority begins to separate out from the "coloured" population.

Joan Allen, as a suburban housewife discovering her sexuality for the very first time, is particularly moving and provides the movie's emotional touchstone, embuing director/screenwriter Gary Ross' enterprise with genuine feeling. A masturbation scene to better anything shown in the American Pie movies and Fiona Apple's cover of Beatles classic "Please Send Me Someone To Love" stand out, but this is a film to savour on almost every level.

A few of my favourite actors

2009-07-19T23:46:00.001+01:00

Actors by ben1283 on Polyvore.com

Almost Famous

2009-07-19T19:02:00.000+01:00

A whimsical, semi-autobiographical take on early 70s rock 'n' roll by Jerry Maguire director Cameron Crowe. Fifteen year-old aspiring rock journalist William Miller (Patrick Fugit, earnest) is hired by Rolling Stone magazine to write a piece on emergent new band Stillwater. Travelling on the road with the group, he falls in love with "Band-Aid" (distinguished from groupies by their love of the music rather than the musicians) Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), who is carrying on a one-way affair with lead guitarist Russell (Billy Crudup).

As far as dewy-eyed nostalgia flicks go, this is very good indeed. Primarily a coming-of-age story, William's gradual disenchantment of his idols, their petty in-fighting and, in particular, Russell's poor treatment of Penny, provides a nifty mirror into a world that was, as William's mentor, rock journalist Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) puts it "dying out". Crowe's ear for good music serves him well here too, as evidenced in a rousing group rendition of Elton John's Tiny Dancer. Hudson's playful, enigmatic performance as Penny Lane is the jewel in the film's crown but it's rounded out by some impressive ensemble performances from Hoffman, Frances McDormand (as William's concerned mother), Fairuza Balk and Zooey Deschanel.

17 Again

2009-07-16T14:23:00.001+01:00

Sometimes it goes to show that a film needn't be original to succeed. The screenplay for 17 Again, the latest Zac Efron vehicle, doesn't have a jot of originality but still manages to be sharp, funny and heartwarming. Matthew Perry stars as Michael O'Donnell, a star basketball player at high school in 1989 who packed in his chance of a scholarship to marry his girlfriend Scarlet (Leslie Mann) when after she tells him she's pregnant. Fast-forward to the present day and Scarlet has kicked him out of the house, bored with his constant complaining that he never got to fulfil his potential. Magically transformed by some kind of janitor-cum-spirit guide (the one plot element that the script bungles) into his old seventeen year-old self (Efron), Michael re-enrolls in high school with the idea of re-living his glory years and attending college. Along the way he befriends his son, who's being bullied, and his sulky teenage daughter who is dating the school bully.

It's as cheesy as you'd expect, with Michael realising the importance of his wife and children just as it seems to be too late (it isn't, of course). However, Efron's winning central performance and some spot-on pop culture references help make 17 Again shine. There's also something undeniably entertaining about a prudish, moralising middle-aged man trapped in Zac Efron's twinkish body. Whether he's preaching abstinence in a sex education class or trying to convince a trio of admiring girls that they need to respect their bodies, he's consistently amusing. Some nice supporting turns from the ever-reliable Leslie Mann and Thomas Lennon as Michael's sci-fi obsessed best friend help round things out nicely. A surprising winner.

Trailerwatch: An Education and Percy Jackson

2009-07-15T15:50:00.000+01:00

An Education. Seems like a pretty straightforward story this. Young girl who plans to go to Oxford meets a dashing young man who shows her a different life, packs in her plans for academia much to the chagrin of her older, wiser parents before realising that glamour ain't quite what it's cracked up to be and learns a few life lessons. In the past. The trailer is well put together, but this glamorous "other" life that the young girl is being offered seems to amount to having drinks with Dominic Cooper. Not that that isn't a pleasant experience in itself but...I'm presuming there will be more to that in the film itself. Carey Mulligan's already won herself some awards buzz and her roles in Public Enemies and the upcoming Brothers can't harm her chances. I've only seen her in Bleak House so can't really say much but the supporting cast is reliable. Peter Sarsgaard, Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson and personal fave Olivia Williams (she's wearing glasses so I'm guessing she'll be playing the role of "Stern Task Mistress"). Not sure how I feel about Nick Hornby scripting. My fond memories of High Fidelity were muddied by the so-so adaptation, About A Boy and his rubbish YA novel but this looks more serious than lightly playful. And at least it has a woman at its centre rather than one of Hornby's patented manboys.

The second trailer is only a teaser and not a very exciting one at that. Percy Jackson and The Olympians. I believe this one is based on a series of children's books but until they bring out a more exciting trailer then I'm not that bothered for looking it up. "From the director of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" doesn't exactly bode well, Chris Columbus not being the most inspired of directors. Are Greek myths coming back into vogue? Sam Worthington (still not seen him in anything and I'm not that fussed for Terminator: Salvation so I'll wait until Avatar to form a judgement) has Clash of the Titans on his plate so maybe they are. Hope so. This looks pretty CGI-tastic though.

Coraline

2009-06-28T12:15:00.000+01:00

A creepy, hugely imaginative story about a young girl, Coraline (Dakota Fanning), who discovers a door into a world of seeming perfection. Her parents aren't the boring, uninterested people she knows in the real world; they treat Coraline like a princess. Trapeze artists, jumping mice and cannons that shoot out cotton candy are just some of the pleasures in this Other world. The fact that all of its inhabitants have buttons where their eyes should be seems a little strange, but that's easy to overlook with everything else the Other world has to offer.

For a children's film, Coraline sure is suspenseful. We know there's something wrong about this world but what is it? And when will Coraline realise it? As with all films aimed at children though, it does have a message, this one being "be careful what you wish for". Behind that though there's something more subtle at work. Like Coraline, the viewer also has to come to an understanding of her parents. The Other world seems so seductive because, in part, we agree with Corlaline: her parents are boring, obsessed with work and slow to show their feelings. Selick turns the table on his viewer by suggesting that a retreat to dull normality is, in fact, the preferable option. All of a sudden, Coraline's parents don't just seem dull, they seem safe. Which is important when your Other mother has turned herself into a creepy spider lady.

I can't rave enough about the design of the film. The Other world is colourful and exciting but there's an eeriness that suffuses every single scene. A frightening, hugely imaginative children's film, much like the sort of children's films we used to get in the 80s (but that could be the rose-tinted glasses talking).

Birth

2009-06-26T17:01:00.000+01:00

Ten years after the death of her beloved husband Sean, Upper Manhattanite Anna (Nicole Kidman) is engaged again. However, at a party to announce her engagement to solid, understanding Joseph (Danny Huston), a young boy (Cameron Bright) appears who claims to be Sean's reincarnated spirit. This might sound like a hokey supernatural drama, but Jonathan Glazer has created a thoughtful mood piece and managed to extract one of Kidman's finest performances.

Sean's arrival at first extracts only laughs from Anna, but when Sean becomes more insistent in his advances, a glimmer of uncertainty opens up within Anna that expands as it becomes apparent that his knowledge of her dead husband extends far beyond the trivial and into the thoughts, feelings and secrets they shared when they were together. Or does it? Both Glazer's script and Kidman's careful performance are attuned to the possibility that she is quite capable of fantasising the boy into something he is not. Indeed, a plot twist towards the end of the film would seem to suggest that their relationship might not have been as perfect as Anna remembers it. This is reflected in the ickier implications of Anna's relationship with Sean, which rears its ugly head several times but is ultimately something which Anna is unable to meet head-on.

Glazer's evocation of mood here is excellent, bolstered by an appropriately eerie score from Alexandre Desplat. The increasingly disturbed nature of this central relationship becomes quite a bug to bare within her privileged family; the arrival of an eerily self-possessed child from downtown into their upper middle-class world seems to be more of a problem than Anna's possibly paedophilic tendencies. It is unfortunate that the film is forced to show its hand at the end of the film, which spoils some of Glazer's subtler work earlier on. However, Birth is definitely a worthwhile watch and Kidman has never been better.

Definitely, Maybe

2009-06-21T21:54:00.000+01:00

A likeable, smart romantic comedy with a rather uncharismatic Ryan Reynolds playing Will, an ad exec who has just received divorce papers from his wife. Prompted by the imminent separation of her parents, daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin, irritating beyond belief) asks to know how they first met and fell in love, hoping for a reconciliation. Will agrees, but on the condition that Maya has to guess which of the three women Will has loved, ended up becoming his wife (he's changed their names). The choices are college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks), intelligent sophisticate Summer (Rachel Weisz) or fiery free spirit April (Isla Fisher)?

Will's story begins in the early 90s as he works on the Clinton campaign and the passing of time is marked by obvious political signifiers rather than the fashion or the music. The first third of the film is the least successful. Elizabeth Banks is stuck in the same cute-but-dull role that she's mined to better effect elsewhere. Definitely, Maybe is much more interesting when we're in the company of Summer and April. Rachel Weisz manages to make a potentially irritating character sympathetic and believable. Meanwhile, Isla Fisher demonstrates that she's the most gifted comic actress this side of Anna Faris with a totally lovable, sparkly performance that's equal amounts flinty wit and vulnerability.

It's obvious from a fairly early stage who Will truly loves out of the three women, but the script has some fun with themes of storytelling, pointing out Will's ability to write and rewrite his own destiny. Or perhaps that's reading too much into a film that is, ultimately, just some good-natured fun.

The Class

2009-06-20T15:05:00.001+01:00

A supremely confident movie, based on François Bégaudeau's semi-autobiographical novel Entre Les Murs and starring the author himself as the teacher at the centre of the story, it's easy to see why Laurent Cantet's movie has been such a critical success. Spread out over the course of an academic year, the film documents François' time as a French teacher, following his interactions with both the students and the faculty.

The first hour or so of the film feels almost loose, as the viewer is invited to observe the dynamics of the classroom and François' interactions with the class. These scenes are electric. Certain abrasive students come to the fore, not only as a way to avoid work but also as a way to confirm their standing amongst their peers and to question the socio-political prejudices of their teacher; at one point, a student asks him why he only ever uses Caucasian names when he writes out examples of French on the blackboard. However, this improvisational feel belies the work that has gone into the incredibly nuanced screenplay. We witness the ebb and flow of the classroom. A girl who was friendly the previous summer is sullen when she returns for the autumn semester, two friends fall out only to make up again a few weeks later, the more academically gifted students struggle to make themselves heard above their noisier classmates. François is aware of all of this but the students' private lives remain hidden as, indeed, does that of François himself. A parent/teacher evening provides the viewer with some context as to the students' home lives but the script acknowledges the impossibility of the teacher ever "knowing" his students and vice versa.

The climax of the film comes when two girls hear some disparaging remarks François makes about a Malian student, Suleiman, during a teachers' conference. When they inform Suleiman of what the teacher has said, François calls them both "pétasses", a word that that, in certain contexts, can mean "slut". This leads to a confrontation in class and Suleiman storms out of class, accidentally striking another student with his backpack. It is here that Cantet's fascination with language - how it can be used and misappropriated - comes most obviously to the fore. Although François tries to qualify his use of the word "pétasses" he eventually finds himself fighting with the girls in the playground, symbolically battling it out on their turf. His intellectualisation of the confrontation is of no use here and, as far as the two girls are concerned, he has shown his true colours. The additional possibility that Suleiman may be sent back to his home village in Mali adds a further dimension to the school's decision as to whether to expel him or not, and another layer to François' troubled central character.

The Class also involves a hugely moving final scene, which not only radically alters François' assumptions about his students but those of the viewer themselves. We are just as prone to the prejudices and second-guesses of the teacher. A student we had previously thought as sullen and disruptive reveals that she has not only read but understood Plato's Republic and another girl, one who we had barely noticed, reveals that the school year has taught her nothing, that she doesn't understand any of her lessons and that she is frightened about what her future might hold. It's a bold, upsetting final scene and one that lingered long in my mind.

How To Lose Friends And Alienate People

2009-06-16T14:34:00.001+01:00

An aimiable enough romantic comedy based on Toby Young's memoir detailing his stint at Vanity Fair. Simon Pegg - all flailing limbs and pratfalls - plays Toby, here offered a job at the fictional celebrity magazine Sharpes, run by media legend Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges). Desperate to land a date with glamorous up-and-coming actress Sophie Maes (Megan Fox), Toby is paired up with sober junior editor Allison (Kirsten Dunst) with whom, of course, he's destined to fall in love with.

Knowing where a story is going doesn't have to be a problem if we enjoy the journey but, although likeable enough, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People is almost completely devoid of both laughs and charm. A cast of such good actors (and Megan Fox) are ultimately unable to do much with the limp material (including a dead chihuahua, a transsexual and a Polish landlady), although Kirsten Dunst again shows how good she can be even in middling rom-coms such as this. Even if the ending was a bit of a cop-out, at least The Devil Wears Prada had a bit more bite to it...

Confessions Of A Shopaholic

2009-06-14T10:15:00.000+01:00

Based on a book by Sophie Kinsella and relocated to New York, Confessions Of A Shopaholic is much more satisfying and funny than it has any right to be. Nearly all of this is down to Isla Fisher, whose perky, adorable performance gives the so-so script a spark that few actresses outside of Anna Faris could have managed. Fisher plays Rebecca, a self-confessed shopaholic whose love of Louis Vuitton and Prada have helped her mount up a rather tremendous amount of debt, a debt she's unable to pay off given that she's just lost her job. Luckily, she finds a new job at Successful Savings magazine (irony alert!) under the tutelage of dreamy-but-penside Luke (Hugh Dancy, rather damp). Rebecca puts financial problems into language that people can understand, namely shoes and handbags apparently, and successfully manages to fib her way not only into the boss' affections but also to catch the eye of Alette Naylor (Kristen Scott Thomas), editor-in-chief of a top fashion magazine.

Even for a frothy romantic comedy, this spends far more time on its protagonist's not-wholly-honest rise to the top than it ever does on the inevitable downspiral and life lessons learned, which works much more in its favour than you might expect. Although there are several questionable elements to the story (would Luke really be duped by Rebecca, for instance?), the amount you're prepared to forgive if there's a good central performance is considerable. After scene-stealing roles in Definitely, Maybe and Wedding Crashers, Isla Fisher seizes her first lead role with both hands, not letting go for a second. The pratfalls and humorous misunderstandings that make up 90% of the film would've felt lame and clichéd in other hands, but they are handled so endearingly here that it's difficult not to be swept away in it all.

In The Bedroom

2009-06-13T21:20:00.000+01:00

Surely on the most impressive debut films of the last decade, Todd Field's study of suburban grief is the kind of film that welcomes hyperbole. The story is focused on a middle-aged couple, Ruth and Matt Fowler (Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson), whose son Frank (Nick Stahl) is carrying on an affair with an older woman, Natalie (Marisa Tomei), who is still in the process of divorcing her abusive husband. How serious is Frank about Natalie? It's a question of great concern to Ruth, who is worried that the relationship will impinge upon his plans to study architecture at college. Matt is more benign about the situation, perhaps because he seems to harbour regrets of his own about pursuing a career in medicine rather than following in his father's footsteps as an offshore fisherman.

The first third of Field's movie is concerned with establishing location and character. The cast are given plenty of room to inhabit their characters, perfectly displaying the small tensions and concerns underlying the family dynamics. At the forty minute mark, the movie takes a tragic and unexpected twist. What follows is a study of the different ways in which people grieve, with the emphasis firmly on small details (Ruth's sureptitious glance as her husband helps himself to another glass of wine, a hand run over the ladder of an abandoned treehouse). A blazing row between Ruth and Matt in which truths are told and unkindnesses traded prompts a further, yet more unexpected twist.

Of the four main players, Sissy Spacek arguably makes the biggest impression. Her struggle not only to make sense of her own emotional reaction but also that of her husband's is palpable in every facial twitch, every gesture. Tom Wilkinson is almost as impressive, stoically providing the movie's necessary emotional core.

What is most remarkable about In The Bedroom is how both of its twists work so well in colouring your view of the remaining segment. The first third, a study of a New England family, is subtle, relaxed almost, giving the characters time and space to burrow their way into the viewer's subconscious. The second third is emotionally draining, horrifying, laced with the eerily beautiful Eastern European folk music that Ruth teaches at her school. Field's final act is one of tense manipulation. We know what's coming but we're uncertain as to whether we want to see it. Like David Cronenburg's later A History Of Violence, this is a study of suburban living, of how any disruptions, no matter how horrible, can be quelled, repressed and forgotten so that life as we know it can continue. As such, this is a chilling masterwork in grief and the reassertion of middle-class "normality" after a tragedy.

Blindness

2009-06-13T15:51:00.000+01:00

Fernando Mereilles has created a visceral film out of José Saramago's allegorical novel about an unnamed city that suddenly becomes blind. Unfortunately, and in spite of its obvious good intentions and faithfulness to the original source, the overriding impression is one of a rather clunky post-apocalyptic thriller. Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore play an opthamologist and his wife. He is one of the first people to go blind and she remains the one person who is unafflicted. Inititally, the blind are swept into an isolated facility so as not to infect the rest of the population. Moore's character claims blindness in order to stay with her husband and it's through her eyes that we see the ensuing descent into chaos.

Although the rest of the cast is strong, Julianne Moore is riveting. It's such a pity that she gave two such strong performances in 2008 (the other being in Savage Grace) that won't be seen by a wider audience. As the script doesn't seem overly concerned with character, its through Moore's expressive face that we feel the burden that she has to carry.

For a film that didn't really satisfy me, this gets an awful lot right. The direction and cinematography, both designed to emulate the sensation of blindness are varied and expressive, although those who have seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly might note some similarities. Mereilles' vision of social degradation is remarkably convincing, scary even. It certainly helps that the location is so carefully established as an oppressive, frightening metropolis bleached of both colour and familiarity. This helps the movie to establish itself as an allegory, but it is this very thoughfulness that ultimately cripples the movie. In spite of Mereilles' careful use of location and a well-chosen cast, certain story elements don't carry over well from the source material. In the novel, the fact that none of the characters had names seemed conducive to Saramago's style of writing but here it appears obvious, patronising even; Danny Glover's voiceover doesn't help. The message of Mereilles' movie seems like one we've heard before, and the script doesn't have enough subtlety of expression to make us really care for these characters.

Having said that, the best scenes (notably an attack on Gael García Bernal's tyrannical inmate) are tense and frightening and any fans of Julianne Moore are bound to want to check this out.

The Painted Veil

2009-06-11T23:06:00.001+01:00

1920s London and Kitty (Naomi Watts) is nearing an age where she will be deemed "unmarriagable". Desperate to escape her stifling family home, she hastily marries dull bacteriologist Walter (Edward Norton), who just as hastily whisks her off to Shanghai. There, Kitty has an affair with a married man (Liev Schrieber) and when Walter finds out he punishes his wife by taking her with him into the middle of a cholera epidemic in rural China. What begins as a battle of wills between the mutually resentful couple turns into a love story as their difficult living conditions force Kitty and Walter to see each other in a different light.

Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are well matched, both offering powerful, complex performances. Stuart Dryburgh's cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's score are equally impressive. There are clear parallels drawn between the cholera epidemic and the diseased marriage between the central characters. Whether this conflation of national problems with Kitty and Walter's problems is offensive will probably depend on your point of view but, this problem aside, The Painted Veil is a deeply felt period film about the darkness of the human condition.

Shutter Island Trailer

2009-06-11T14:34:00.000+01:00

How bloody awesome does this look? I knew next to nothing about Scorsese's new movie other than its name, which put me off for some strange reason. I had no idea it was a thriller/mystery film, for instance. Or that it had people going mad. I did know that Michelle Williams was part of the cast, which is always a good reason to see anything. And DiCaprio is pretty much a given for Scorsese now. I had no idea that Patricia Clarkson was in it either and, from what we see of her here, she's looking pretty mental. Shutter Island is based on a Dennis Lehane novel and though I didn't enjoy Mystic River nearly as much as a lot of other people did (Laura Linney + rubbish Lady Macbeth role = FAIL), I'm more than interested to see this. Shame it probably won't hit the UK until the end of the year though...

Sliding Doors

2009-06-04T20:41:00.000+01:00

Every once in a while, I'll notice that Sliding Doors is on Film4 and I can't help but be taken in all over again. Basically a romantic comedy with a twist, at the start of the movie Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is sacked from work and misses her train home. Or she doesn't. In another, alternate reality Helen catches the train in the nick of time and gets home to find her boyfriend having sex with another woman. Whilst one Helen blithely continues with her miserable life, the other gets a hair cut, sets up her own PR company and meets-cute with James (John Hannah), a guy she shares a lift with.

How much of our lives are mapped out for us? Can we really turn our lives around just by looking at things differently? Although Sliding Doors addresses some interesting themes, it's essentially a romantic comedy with a neat twist. Thanfully, the twist serves the story well and it's a credit to director Peter Howitt that he keeps both stories up in the air with relative ease. What's fascinating about the film is how perfectly it manages to capture the late-90s.

Gwyneth Paltrow was busy in 1998; six of her films were released, one of which was multi Oscar-winner Shakespeare In Love. Since then she's mostly been known for a couple of brilliantly dour supporting roles (The Royal Tenenbaums, The Talented Mr. Ripley) and a string of embarrassing failures (Shallow Hal, View From The Top). Sliding Doors shows her at her most likeable and personable, which is still a pleasant surprise given the way that public opinion turned against her after her blubby speech at the Oscars. There are some lovely supporting performances here, notably John Hannah (where is he?), but it's Gwyneth that really shines here.

Another one of the big reasons why I love this movie is its soundtrack. Blair, Dodgy, Jamiroquai and Olive all achieved the peak of their fame at the time, just as Britpop was ending. Their inclusion on the soundtrack helped encapsulate Sliding Doors in the late 90s. The obligatory female singer/songwriter component comes from Aimee Mann, Abra Moore and Dido. Both Mann and Dido were to become ubiquitous on movie soundtracks within the next couple of years so their appearance here might come as a surprise. Aimee Mann's Amateur is a particularly good song choice, played just after Helen discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Abra Moore's Don't Feel Like Cryin' comes later on, when alterna-reality Helen is putting her life back together.

And, of course, no discussion of Sliding Doors would be complete without bringing up the sucker-punch of an ending. It's here that the film's high concept ideas really gel with the story. In both realities, Helen discovers that she's pregnant before being involved in an accident. In both realities, Helen loses her baby. Whilst our expectations of romantic comedies have led us to believe that the happier Helen will survive, the film does a neat little U-turn. James' final moment with Helen's body is all the more moving because we weren't expecting it. Instead, it's the "other" Helen that has survived, but the film's final moments hint that the two realities aren't as distinct as they might first appear. She finally sees her boyfriend for what he is, orders him to get out of her life and, as she leaves the hospital, runs into James. Her anticipation of James' non-sequitar (the same non-sequitar that he baffled her with in the "other" reality) suggests that Helen's alter-ego might not have died after all, that she has in fact merged with this Helen. It's here that the movie's twin themes of fate and self-determination dovetail perfectly, giving the perfect ending to one of the most impressive romantic comedies of the 90s.

He's Just Not That Into You

2009-06-01T15:48:00.000+01:00

A rather strange ensemble romantic comedy adapated from a self-novel that was, in turn, adapted from a one-liner in Sex and the City. Earnest, optimistic Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin, cute as a button) frets when Conor (Kevin Connolly) doesn't call after their first date. Seeking advice from Conor friend, bar-owner Alex (Justin Long), an unconvincing lothario willing to dispense more honest dating advice than her co-workers Janine (Jennifer Connolly) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston). Meanwhile, Conor wants Anna (Scarlett Johannsson) to commit to him, but she's too busy having an affair with Ben (Bradley Cooper), who's married to Janine. Beth is also having relationship problems; although they've been together for seven years, her boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck) remains adamant that he's not interested in marriage. In yet another plot strand, Anna's friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) is trying online dating without much success.

The film starts off promisingly, in part because several of the observations it makes about dating and relationships are true. The problem is that they never feel painfully true. He's Just Not That Into You treads a sort of middle ground, unsure whether it wants to offer up a self-help guide or heart-warming romantic comedy. There are far too many plot threads, with Aniston and Barrymore (both such naturals at this sort of thing) feeling particularly under-utilised. A lot of the stories feel like they could've been feature length themselves, which means the movie feels crammed and overlong.

The one character that really resonates is Janine. Jennifer Connolly's buttoned-up performance is irritating at first, but her slow combustion as she realises that she may have married the wrong man feels like it's wandered in from a much better movie. It's a shame that such a fine actress (and an Oscar-winner at that!) should be reduced to flabby rom-coms like this.

And In The End...

2009-05-31T14:20:00.000+01:00

ER finally breathed its last on UK television screens last Thursday. As the summation of fifteen years it was a restrained finale, with little of the sentimentality that has marred the show in its later seasons.

The plot is reminiscent of an episode from season one or two; plenty of plot threads, long takes down the hospital corridors, the focus spread evenly between the characters, some screwball humour, tragic deaths and uplifting survival stories. There were even a few more definite nods to early seasons: the opening shot of Lydia (hooray - Lydia's back!) waking up Morris is stolen from the pilot episode, as is the clock counting down twenty-four hours. The one new character, medical intern Julia Wise (Alexis Bledel), was clearly meant to remind us of Carter's early days in the ER and her motivational talk with Brenner echoed a similar conversation Carter had with Greene back in the day. We also got the opening credits back, which was a lovely lovely touch.

Throughout Season 15, we've seen the return of several old characters. This has, for the most part, worked well. The focus has been, wisely, kept on current cast members, ensuring that Season 15 never felt like one long goodbye. The one exception to this was Alex Kingston's misjudged reappearance as a wise advisor to Neela and I was pleased to see her redeem herself here. Although it was great to see Kerry and Susan again, the brief sequence that Corday and Benton got to themselves was one the episode's highlights. THE CHEMISTRY'S STILL THERE. DUMP CLEO, BENTON! I NEVER LIKED HER ANYWAY.

I was thankful that there was at least one happy ending. Despite furiously hating Gates for quite some time now, the moment when Sam held his hands was perfect. We assume that they get back together but the point wasn't rammed home. The reappearance of Rachel Greene was also a real pleasure. Frank's face when she tells him that she's Mark's daughter made we well up. It also added a great deal to what was the main theme of the episode, that of rotation, of looking back whilst still looking forward. Mark may be dead but, as Carter says, there's another "Dr. Greene" at County General. The death of the pregnant woman but the survival of the twins she gave birth to, which may have been a reference to seminal Season 1 episode Love's Labours Lost. The appearance of Julia Wise, a character that we immediately identified and sympathised with, mostly due to Bledel's standout performance. The disaster that we never get to see. The final shot of County General as the familiar credits return...

As a longtime fan of the show, even during its later seasons, I really don't think I could fault And In The End... Sad without being sentimental, providing us with some closure but not so much as to feel like a frantic tying-up of loose ends. Excellent performances all round. It was pretty much everything I loved about the show giftwrapped into a single episode.

Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

2009-05-23T15:08:00.000+01:00

In the tradition of all great children's films, Brad Silberling's adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events offers a dark, scary vision of adolescense. No sooner do we meet Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken) and Sunny Baudelaire, then they are orphaned and packed off to their distant cousin, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey in a rubbery, OTT performance). It soon becomes apparent that Olaf wants nothing more than to get rid of the children and claim the family fortune. Pursued by Count Olaf in a variety of guises, the Baudelaires stay with their herpetologist Uncle Montgomery (Billy Connolly) and then with their paranoid Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep).

Adapted from the first two Lemony Snicket novels, Silberling's film feels very episodic, and those who find Jim Carrey irritating will find nothing here to win them over. However, the imaginative set design and some excellent performances from Browning and Aiken really make this stand out. Both of these elements, plus a brilliantly macabre sense of whimsy, combine to give the film a real emotional weight that is lacking from the majority of children's movies.

Lantana

2009-05-20T15:53:00.000+01:00

Ray Lawrence's movie, adapated from Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues, drew comparisons to Magnolia upon its release. Both films have a set of disparate characters who are interlinked in a number of unusual ways, both films play with "big" themes such as love, loss, marriage, betrayal and fatherhood. But whilst Magnolia never quite steps out of Robert Altman's shadow, Lantana quietly confirms itself as the superior film.

The story roughly revolves around four couples. Married police detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is having an affair with Jane (Rachael Blake), who has recently separated from her husband Pete. Whilst Leon is investigating the disappearance of psychiatrist Valerie (Barbara Hershey) he discovers that his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) was one of her clients. Valerie had recently published a book about the murder of her young daughter, an event that had crippled her marriage to John (Geoffrey Rush). A high-heeled shoe thrown into the bushes across from Jane's house leads her to believe that her neighbour Nick, happily married to Paula, may be linked to Valerie's disappearance.

Lantana's greatest strength is in the way it misleads its audience at almost every turn. Although all four couples are connected to Valerie somehow, things are much less complicated and more mundane than any of the characters at first believe. Just as Valerie imagines her husband to be having an affair with a male client of hers, Leon believes John to be involved in his wife's disappearance and Jane believes her neighbour to be a murderer. Each and every character deceives themselves, imagining complex answers to the questions they ask but more often than not faced with their own ordinary lives. What at first seems like a labyrinthine murder mystery transpires to be a slow-burning, sophisticated drama about four suburban couples and the lies they tell themselves.

The performances are uniformally stunning. Anthony LaPaglia has never been better and he's easily matched by Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey. The real stand-out though is Kerry Armstrong, in her feature film debut. Everything about her seems perfect, from the slightly over-exaggerated embarassment when her salsa teacher dances with her, to her moving monologue about being middle-aged. It's a beautiful, empathic, intelligent film which is, along with Japanese Story, possibly the best movie to come out of Australia in the last ten years.

Joshua Jackson

2009-05-17T19:20:00.000+01:00

He's an awful lot hotter in Fringe...

...than he ever was in Dawson's Creek.

United States Of Tara

2009-05-17T14:49:00.000+01:00

I rushed through the final four episodes of Toni Collette's new Showtime star vehicle, United States Of Tara this morning and I've got to say that in spite of its flaw, I've enjoyed all twelve episodes immensely. Collette plays Tara, a 35 year-old wife and mother with dissociative identity dissorder and whom, at the most inconvenient of times, is prone to slip into one of several personalities: T, a rambunctious 16 year-old, Buck, a beer-guzzling homophobic male and Alice, a prim and proper housewife.

What makes the show more than just a gimmick is its strong supporting cast. Tara is surrounded by a loving, suitably dysfunctional family: her husband Max (John Corbett), daughter Kate (Brie Larson), gay son Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) and sister (Rosemarie DeWitt). Each has their own story, which helps this to feel more like an ensemble drama rather than a star vehicle for Collette. Created by Juno's Oscar-winning scriptwriter Diablo Cody, some of the arch, affected dialogue of that film has filtered through. Kate and Marshall especially often come out with expressions that seem too adult or unrealistic. Thankfully, this is tempered by the writers' keen observations of the family unit and a hefty dose of heartfelt sentiment that gives the show the kind of genuine warmth that Juno was lacking.

Although Collette is impressive in the central role, once we've seen all of her alternative personalities (or "alters") she doesn't have much else to show. She's not bad by a long stretch. The way her body movement and facial expressions change whenever she transitions into one of the alters is fun, clever even. But her performance doesn't have the same subtlety that, say, Michael C. Hall exhibits in Dexter, another Showtime series where the protagonist/antagonist (depending upon which way you look at it) is required to play more than one version of themselves. The real breakout star is bound to be Keir Gilchrist, whose romancing of Jason, a bi-curious pastor's son is the series' sweetest, most finely-written and acted storyline. The marvellous Rosemarie DeWitt, so fantastic in both Mad Men and Rachel Is Getting Married, also brings an enormous amount of depth to her discordant relationship with Tara.

Some of the dialogue may grate and the soundtrack might veer a little bit too close to whimsy for some people's tastes, but this is an adorable, occassionally very funny drama series that easily transgresses its gimmicky central concept.

Dollhouse Renewed

2009-05-16T09:53:00.000+01:00

After being in Devon for a week, I didn't have a chance to watch the Dollhouse finale until yesterday and then I wake up this morning to find that the show, previously thought to be dead in the water, has been renewed by Fox for a second season. The surprise move by the network that previously cancelled Firefly is supposed to have come because of the strong online viewing figures and the hoped-for strong DVD figures. The series is set to return in the autumn with a thirteen episode run, each of which will be cut down to 42 minutes rather than the slightly longer episodes in series 1. This is said to be one of the ways in which Joss Whedon will be reducing costs on the show, although there's whisperings that some of the cast might be axed. Please not Sierra. Or Victor. Or Adelle. Or Whisky. Especially not Whisky because I don't think I can stomach TV without Amy Acker in it.

So Episode 12. The final episode unless we're counting Epitaph One, the post-apocalyptic "coda" episode that will only be available on DVD. Bloody good wasn't it? I had a few minor quibbles. Mainly Alan Tudyk, who I love and adore and was so good in the previous episode, didn't really shine here. After all the build-up to Alpha, now we finally get to meet him he's not as fun to watch as I'd hoped he would be. That final chase sequence, with Alpha dangling Caroline's identity "wedge" over a railing and her chasing up the stairs to catch him wasn't really dynamic enough and was poorly directed.

These two episode aside, this was a stellar episode and it does now feel that we're nearly there, that Dollhouse has almost fulfilled its early potential. I've been championing Eliza throughout the show's run, although a lot of critics have pointed out what they believe to be her limited acting abilities. What's thrown people is that the show's concept seems to offer an acting showcase for one actress when, as the past six episodes have shown, Dollhouse is much more of an ensemble piece. There have also been precious few "actorish" moments, y'know, all the tears and drama stuff that you might expect from a show where the supposed lead plays a different character week in and week out. She's been quietly convincing in every episode, particular as the blind woman in True Believer, Patton Oswald's dead wife in Man On The Street and as a middle-aged woman in Haunted. One of the show's major story arcs has been the derailment of nearly all of Echo's assignment. She doesn't get the fun Alias moments like Sierra, or the suave James Bond-ish moments like Victor in A Spy In The House Of Love. I digress. Anyway, Eliza's great.

The finale also did a good job of tying up loose ends whilst also creating new stories and rearranging its story elements to a sufficient degree to make us want to know what happens next, much like Angel did at the end of season 4 with Home. One thing that I'm thankful for is that Paul Ballard seems assimilated into the Dollhouse. His hunt for the Dollhouse was beginning to get tiresome and at least now he's inside, he can have relationships with characters other than November. We've also got a sentient Doll, Whisky. I was intrigued by her statement "I know who I am", her decision not to look at who she was before she entered the Dollhouse and her question to Topher, "Why was it important that I hate you?"

Other things that were generally awesome:

Composite Echo. The moment when we witness all of Echo's previous personalities assimilating was a big pay-off to all of the procedural episode we had to slog through at the start of the season.

Sierra coming onto Paul Ballard. Big lulz there.

Ballard's sacrifice for November. This was perhaps the first moment in the entire run where I was genuinely moved and who else was expecting him to save Caroline? The use of Beck's cover of Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes, was a nice touch.

"I'm not anyone because I am everyone."

Nine Trailer Now Up

2009-05-14T20:37:00.000+01:00

The trailer for Rob Marshall's new musical Nine is now available and, boy, does it look exciting. I'm not familiar with the Broadway show, being British and all, but the 2003 revival starred Antonio Banderas (never really done it for me) and Jane Krakowski (who: LOVE). The trailer doesn't really tell you what the film's about, only that there's lots of glitter, singing, pretty ladies and Daniel Day Lewis being sprightly.

The ensemble cast include - hold your breath - Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Fergie and Kate Hudson. Pretty amazing, huh? If you discount Fergie. Although I quite liked her in Planet Terror...maybe she'll surprise? She looks dog rough here though, that's for sure. From the look of the trailer, the emphasis will be on Day Lewis, but I hope Nicole gets a look-in. She badly needs a hit. I can't remember the last commercially successful movie she was in. Maybe The Golden Compass? Even that wasn't successful enough for a sequel (read: FAIL).

I'm not hugely enamoured by Rob Marshall though. Chicago always seemed very by-numbers to me and I'm still not entirely sure how he managed to turn Memoirs Of A Geisha into such a borefest. Regardless. There's singing, and actresses being all throaty, crying and shit. I'm in.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

2009-05-12T15:35:00.001+01:00

I was reading a review of Charlie Kaufman's first film as writer/director, Synechdoche New York (which I'm glad is spelt phonetically on the posters because otherwise I'd be a wee bit unsure how to pronounce) and saw Jennifer Jason Leigh among the credited cast. Then I though, where has she gone to? Is she busy mothering her babies with Noah Baumbach in what one can only hope is a better environment than what we're led to believe Daddy Baumbach grew up with? Does Hollywood not want her anymore? Is it her age (47)?

After an eye-catching, body-ripping turn in road movie-cum-horror classic The Hitcher in 1985, Jennifer clocked up a string of critical and commercial successes in the early 90s. Roles as diverse as prostitute Tralala in Last Exit To Brooklyn, as writer and poet Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and psychotic roommate Hedy Carlson in Single White Female showed her range. She also got to work with some on the 90s most respected auteurs, Robert Altman in Short Cuts and Kansas City, the Coen brothers in The Hudsucker Proxy and David Cronenburg in eXistenZ. Possibly my favourite JJL performance, and one that seems to have passed a lot of people by, is the emotionally scarred Selena St. George in Dolores Claiborne, easily one of the best Stephen King adaptations and featuring a trio of fantastic female performances from Leigh, Kathy Bates and Judy Parfitt.

So what happened? She didn't exactly disappear off the face of the earth, but after The Anniversary Party (a film she wrote and directed with friend Alan Cumming) met to a mixed reception in 2001, JJL seems to have been offered smaller and smaller roles, despite the fact that she's a proven leading lady and a talented character actor. Her supporting roles in the 00s have been unfortunate, collaborations with good directors who pick Leigh to star in a not-terribly-good film. Small roles in Road To Perdition (I know there are plenty of admirers out there but Paul Newman and Conrad Hall's cinematography aside, I found this a particularly vacuous movie), In The Cut and Palindromes went largely unnoticed. Likewise, JJL's performances in independent films The Machinest and The Jacket were ignored, with most of the attention going to Christian Bale's emaciated lead and a confusing, twisty plot respectively. Both Brad Anderson, director of The Machinest, and John Maybury, director of The Jacket, has produced fine, interesting work previously, notably Love Is The Devil, so it's easy to see why Leigh chose to work with them. But something didn't click.

Likewise, her return to leading lady, alongside Nicole Kidman in Margot At The Wedding (directed by her husband Noah Baumbach), didn't quite meet expectations. Both Kidman and Leigh are on fine form, but Jack Black is hopelessly miscast as Leigh's dopish husband, and the dialogue feels too arch, the family dynamics too fucked and the characters even more unlikeable than in Baumbach's previous film The Squid And The Whale. Not that any of these things are necessarily indicative of a poor film, but they might go some way to explain its poor performance at the box office and the lack of award nominations.

According to Wikipedia, Leigh has turned down an impressive selection of roles, including sex, lies and videotape, Pretty Woman, Boogie Nights and LA Confidential. She was also considered for the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns, Ada McGrath in The Piano and Sarah Connor in The Terminator. Any one of these films could've consolidated her fame and given her the star quality that she clearly deserves but perhaps doesn't want or need.

The Night Listener

2009-05-10T18:25:00.000+01:00

A turgid thriller based on a potentially fascinating story. Adapted from Amistead Maupin's autobiographical novel of the same name, The Night Listener tells of a gay radio broadcaster, Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), who is sent a disturbing memoir. It tells of the extensive sexual abuse suffered by Peter Logand (Rory Culkin), a fourteen year-old boy with AIDS now living with a social worker, Donna (Toni Collette). Gabriel begins to talk to Peter over the phone and quickly becomes attached to the boy and to his tragic story, and the relationship takes on a creepy co-dependent air in the wake of Gabriel's long-term boyfriend Jess (HIV-positive and intent on living his life to the full) moving out of the house. When Jess notices the similarity between Peter's voice and Donna's, and when it transpires that nobody besides Donna has ever seen Peter, Gabriel becomes suspicious.

In spite of its interesting subject matter, Patrick Stettner's film is almost a complete failure. Anyone who is familiar with the real-life story upon which this is based or has simply seen the trailer will hardly be surprised by the "twist" in the story. This wouldn't be a problem if The Night Listener had anything else to say but any commentary on the nature of the relationship between Gabriel and Peter is lost in a half-baked thriller that doesn't go anywhere. Robin Williams delivers a restrained performance but the usually reliable Toni Collette hams it up something awful. Flat, dull and, in the end, rather pointless.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

2009-05-06T18:38:00.000+01:00

Another funny, slightly overlong, sentimental-in-a-good-way film from the Judd Apatow stable. Peter (Jason Segal) is dumped, whilst naked, by his TV star girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). A vacation in Hawaii that is supposed to take his mind off the break-up starts badly when it transpires that Sarah is staying at the same hotel with her new boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

Although Judd Apatow only shares a producer's credit on Forgetting Sarah Marshall, his influence is palpable. Like Knocked Up and Superbad, this is less of a comedy and more a drama about a slacker-type twentysomething growing up. Writer and star Jason Segal has created a well-rounded, oddly likeable character in Peter, who may be self-pitying and unmotivated but at least he's a nice enough guy. It's a pity then that the female parts are written in such broad strokes. Unlike Alison in Knocked Up, we're not meant to see Sarah as a responsible, intelligent counterpoint to Peter. Instead, we're encouraged to see her as the needy girlfriend who doesn't appreciate Peter's support when she has it but is ready to fall back into his arms when it all goes tits up with her next boyfriend. The real object of Peter's affection turns out to be Rachel (Mila Kunis), the kind of free-thinking, sympathetic ideal girlfriend we've been seeing in movies ever since Natalie Portman listened to The Shins in Garden State. Whilst both Bell and Kunis make the most of their material, the accusations of misogyny that have been levelled at Apatow's previous productions in the past are pretty hard to deny here.

That isn't to say there aren't any laughs, although these mostly come from the stellar supporting cast, particularly Paul Rudd as a dim-witted surf instructor. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is an aimiable, ambling comedy that has plenty of big laughs in it. It's just a shame that it doesn't have the emotional weight of its predecessors.

News and Linkage

2009-05-05T19:23:00.000+01:00

Season 3 of Mad Men will be premiere on August 16th in the States, with production beginning yesterday. Excitement. Overload.

Fox has picked up JJ Abrams' Fringe for a second season. This comes as no surprise since it was the second-highest rating new show in 2008-9 behind The Mentalist.

There's a really interesting interview with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner in Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.

No news yet on whether Dollhouse is going to picked up for a second season, although it seems unlikely at this point given its poor ratings. Here's an interview with TV Guide's Matthew Roush that helps explain some of the reasons why the show might not have been successful.

Here's an early review for Sarah Michelle Gellar's new TV show, The Wonderful Maladys. I'm officially excited now.

Rather belatedly, here's the trailer for Emma Caulfield's new romantic comedy TiMER:

The Ruins

2009-05-04T14:29:00.000+01:00

A nasty little film, Carter Smith's The Ruins has several similarities to David Cronenburg's early body horror titles. Two young American couples are taking a holiday in Mexico when, on their final day, they meet a German tourist, Mathius, who posseses a map that will lead them to a Mayan temple where his brother, an architect, is working. When the group arrives at the temple they find it covered in vines and surrounded by Mayan villagers who won't let them leave. It soon becomes apparent that the reason for this is that they are scared of the vines themselves, underneath which Mathius finds the remains of his brother.

The concept sounds silly but, wisely, it's played completely straight. It's a deft mixture of survival and body horror, mostly playing on the fear of penetration (the vines enters mouths and open wounds, insiduating themselves into their hosts' bodies). The first half of the movie is concerned with the group's dynamics, as they bicker amongst each other, trying to think up an escape plan. Like most horror films, the eventual fate of the protagonists is as much decided by their own mistakes as by the more obvious threat. A little bit more time spent focusing on the dynamics of the friendship group before they entered the ruins would've been welcome, as this would have created a better pay-off later on. However, the performances (led by the willowy Jena Malone) are strong and the gorey bits are sufficiently stomach-churning.

Lakeview Terrace

2009-04-30T19:05:00.000+01:00

A so-so throwback to the kind of "yuppies in peril" movies that were popular in the early 90s. Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) are a young interacial couple who have just moved into their first property on the seemingly serene Lakeview Terrace. They soon receive the attention of Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), an LAPD officer who has very fixed views on interacial couples, especially when his two kids peek into their neighbours' backyard to see Chris and Lisa having sex in the pool. Tensions escalate in a believable fashion. From Abel's security lights that keep the Mattsons awake at night, to an uncomfortable housewarming party and some barbed conversation about the rap music that Chris listens to and the cigarettes that he hides from his wife, all of these confrontations are scary because they feel like they could happen.

Things fall apart in the final act, where Abel's behaviour is explained simplistically and the movie veers into more obvious thriller territory. Director Neil LaBute is also fond of some rather obvious metaphors, most notable the bush fires that are constantly raging in the background, threatening to destroy the suburbs where Chris and Lisa have made their home. What's most frustrating, however, is that evidence of a more intelligent film exists here. Lakeview Terrace flirts with ideas of boundaries (both social and political) and the screenplay does offer some interesting views on racial tensions in the 21st-century. Jackson offers up a fierce performance, but you can't help but feel that we've seen it all before. Both Wilson and Washington are impressive but are given precious little to work with. An intriguing thriller, all the more irritating because it could have been so much better.

Bolt

2009-04-28T17:10:00.000+01:00

Ever since Lilo And Stitch, Disney has steadily produced a long list of disappointing films, from Brother Bear to Chicken Little, whilst Pixar was making qualtiy family entertainment such as The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. The quality of every Western animated movie is measured against that of Pixar's output and finally Disney has come up with something that comes close to delivering the goods. Bolt (John Travolta) is the adorable canine star of his own TV series, where he's gifted with powers such as laser eyes and a "super bark". In order to ennsure a realistic performance from Bolt, the TV studio go to great lengths to keep him convinced that he's a real-life super dog. When Bolt escapes the studio and is mistakenly packed off to New York City, he must find a way back to Hollywood and his owner/co-star Penny (Miley Cyrus) without the aid of his superpowers.

On his journey across America, Bolt meets up with a wisecracking alleycat, Mittens (Susie Essman), and Rhino (Mark Walton), a hamster who also happens to be a big fan of Bolt's TV show. One of the best things about this movie is that all of the characters are so fully realised, funny, just the right side of cute and performed energetically. Even the human characters are well-rounded, which is rare for films concerning animals. The influence of Pixar may loom large (Bolt's story arc isn't dissimilar to Buzz Lightyear's in the first Toy Story film) but, unlike recent Disney efforts like Chicken Little, this never feels like it's trying to hard to be hip. It's good, simple storytelling. The action sequences are fun and exciting, the relationship between Bolt and Mittens genuinely touching. There are no surprises here but this is solid, well-crafted entertainment.

Milk

2009-04-28T13:48:00.000+01:00

After four loose, experimental films (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, Paranoid Park), Gus Van Sant makes a return for the mainstream with his biopic of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the US. As biopics go it's fairly conventional, detailing Harvey's move to San Francisco, his battle for gay rights, eventual election and assassination.

Despite this conventionality, it's an expertly crafted film. Van Sant uses real news footage and grainy camerawork to create a verité feel to the endeavour and Dustin Lance Black's empathic screenplay is structured so as to ensure that the audience feels the momentum of Milk's campaign. Much has been made of Sean Penn's nuanced lead performance, but he's aided by one of 2008's most impressive ensemble casts. Josh Brolin, rounding out a stellar year after No Country For Old Men and W., plays Supervisor Dan White and brings real pathos to a difficult role. James Franco is beautiful, heartbreaking even, as Milk's long-term boyfriend Scotty and Emile Hirsch give yet another brilliantly realised turn as Cleve Jones, a young runaway who finds drive and purpose in Milk's campaign for equal rights.

Several negative reviews have pointed to the fact that Gus Van Sant seems to reluctant to acknowledge Milk's promiscuity, since the film alludes to only two relationships, with Scotty and, later, with Mexican Jack Lira (played with maniacal energy by Diego Luna). Yet a catelogue of Milk's hook-ups would, I think, have distracted from the main narrative drive and made for a much more scattershot production. As it is, Gus Van Sant's return to mainstream cinema is an unmitigated success. The parallels between California reinstituting Proposition 8 today and Milk's own battle against Proposition 6, an initiative that sought to prohobit all gay men and women (and those that supported them) from working in public schools, are obvious. Indeed, Dustin Lance Black's moving speech at this year's Oscars as he accepted his award for Best Original Screenplay showed how timely the movie's release was.

Where Are They Now? Part 1

2009-04-27T18:47:00.000+01:00

It's been 5 years since Buffy The Vampire Slayer left our TV screens. The cast have had varied degrees of success but what have they got in the pipeline as we speak?

Sarah Michelle Gellar

After a string of so-so horror movies such as The Grudge and The Return, Sarah Michelle Gellar has a different film due out later in the year. Her new role, in Paul Coehlo adaptation Veronika Decides To Die (trailer below), looks like it plays to her strengths, i.e. sad and lonely, rather than scared or ditzy. SMG will also be returning to the small screen sometime next year in The Wonderful Maladys, a new dysfunctional family drama for HBO. An early reviewer of the pilot script claims it's the best thing they've read in years.

Role Models

2009-04-27T09:43:00.000+01:00

Very funny comedy about two thirtysomethings, Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Sean William Scott), who are court ordered to work for a big-brother-type charity called Sturdy Wings after running their truck into a school building and obstructing a police officer. Danny, recently dumped by his attorney girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks) for his negative attitude, is given Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a role-playing enthusiast with unsupportive parents. Wheeler is given a ten year-old, Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), with a particularly foul mouth.

Role Models has the feel of a Judd Apatow comedy in that it successfully mixes vulgarity with sentiment. There might be no surprises here but almost every joke here sticks. After giving scene-stealing performances in everything from Knocked Up to Anchorman, Rudd finally lands his first leading role. He is, unsurprisngly, excellent, affable, amusing, but so is everyone here. Following on from his engimatic performance in Southland Tales, Sean William Scott shows that he's more than capable of restraint. Jane Lynch, as the former cokehead founder of Sturdy Wings, is priceless and gets most of the movie's laughs. Mintz-Plasse's Augie is the film's heart, offering Danny an opportunity to see his own life differently. Yes, it's predictable, corny even, but by the time director David Wain cranks out ELO over a montage of Danny and Wheeler enjoying themselves with the kids all of your cynicism will have disappeared.

Red Sorghum

2009-04-25T11:40:00.000+01:00

A masterful 1930s-set debut from Zhang Yimou also featuring the first performance from his muse Gong Li. On the way to meet her new husband, a leper, a young woman is seduced by one of the servants carrying her sedan. After the mysterious death of her husband, the woman takes over his winery and enters a relationship with the servant. The optimism of the film's first half is nicely counterbalanced by the film's sudden shift into a more tragic register when the Japanese invade.

This is an examplary examination of peasant life in China during the 30s and features a typically radiant performance from Gong Li. As with his later films, former cinematographer Zhang makes expressive use of colour here, in particular a couple of beautiful sunsets. Above anything else it's a story of resilience. No-one attempts to understand or explain the barbarism of the Japanese invasion, they react in the only way that feels appropriate. This is a bold, striking movie that shows both director and muse firing on all cylinders.

The House Bunny

2009-04-24T16:33:00.000+01:00

Fluffy comedy about a Playboy bunny, Shelley (Anna Faris), who's unceremoniusly kicked out of the Playboy Mansion for being too old. 27 is "like 59 in bunny years", so we're told. Homeless and alone, Shelley stumbles onto a college campus and becomes the sorority mother to a group of misfits (short girl, fat girl, girl with piercings, pregnant girl and girl with glasses are all covered). The girls need 30 pledges to their sorority house if they don't want to be turfed out and Shelley convinces them that she can help. Her mixture of enthusiasm, hair straighteners and pastel-coloured clothing help win the girls popularity but is a new wardrobe and attention from the opposite sex really what they want?

There's an interesting movie here...somewhere. Rather than present a good looks and popularity vs. intelligence and integrity dichotomy, The House Bunny settles for an uneasy middle ground. In this respect it treads similar ground to Mean Girls, although it's nowhere near as clever. Indeed, nearly all of the laughs come from Anna Faris' inspired redefinition of the dumbe blonde. She's a marvellous comic presence in need of a better movie. Subplots involving a conspiracy inside the Playboy mansion and a romance with Colin Hanks' drippy Oliver don't go anywhere and the influence of Adam Sandler (the movie was produced by Happy Madison productions) hangs heavy over several scenes. This has a few funny moments and is worth seeing for Faris alone, but it's no Legally Blonde.

Cannes Line-Up

2009-04-23T14:40:00.000+01:00

It's Auteur Heavyweight Heaven at Cannes this year, with the likes of Michael Haneke, Park Chan-Wook, Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodovar, Jane Campion and Ang Lee all up against each other. Here's a full line-up of what will be playing at the festival in May.

Opening Film:

Up (dir. Pete Docter and Bob Peterson). Pixar's latest about a 78 year-old man who ties a bunch of balloons to his house and flies to South America, accompanied by an earnest eight year-old who stows along for the ride. Surely one of the most reliable production companies, Pixar are good at turning strange-sounding concepts into cinematic gold.

Closing Film:

Coco Avant Chanel (dir. Anne Fontaine). Biopic of the French fashion designer, starring Audrey Tatou in the lead role. It's nice to see Tatou nab a juicy role as ever since her star-making performance in Amélie, she's struggled to really make much of a mark, which is a pity to anyone who saw her troubling performance in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things.

In Competition:

Bright Star (dir. Jane Campion). Another biopic, but this time a more focused one. Campion's film will concentrate on the final three years of John Keats' (Ben Whishaw) life and his romance with Fanny Browne (Abby Cornish). Campion previously won the Palme D'Or for The Piano, and although she's been a bit hit-and-miss since then, she's consistently made interesting, challenging movies. Both Whishaw and Cornish have enjoyed Next Big Thing status for some time now; it's be nice to see them break out.

Spring Fever (dir. Lou Ye). Don't know much about this. He's played at Cannes before and is no stranger to controversy. His last film, Summer Palace, a romance set during the time of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, saw him receive a five year ban on filmmaking from the Chinese government.

Antichrist (dir. Lars Von Trier). Willem Defoe stars as a psychologist who takes Charlotte Gainsbourg into a cabin in the woods where spooky things start happening. Billed as a horror film, anyone who's seen the trailer can testify that this looks distinctly bizarre (hopefully in a good way). Trier has his detractors - he can certainly be heavy-handed sometimes - but a return to the same area he pursued in his miniseries The Kingdom has got a lot of people interested.

Enter The Void (Gaspar Noé). Another controversial figure but one that I feel doesn't have much to back it up with. His last film Irreversible, with its brutal eight-minute rape scene, was, to this viewer at least, obvious, almost completely lacking in intelligence and slammed its point home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. There are plenty of admirers though so maybe this will do well.

Face (dir. Tsai Ming-liang). Malaysian-born Chinese director whose last film, I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, I've been wanting to see for ages (primarily 'cause I love the title but also because the front of the DVD showed people having cuddles). The plot concerns a Taiwanese film director who travels to Paris to shoot a new film about the Salomé myth. Previously won the Golden Lion at Venice for Vive L'Amour in 1994.

Les Herbes Folles (dir. Alain Resnais). New film from the French New Wave director. My "extensive" search of the internet, which basically includes wikipedia and imdb doesn't give much info apart from much-respected director blah blah blah.

In The Beginning (dir. Xavier Giannoli). From the director of The Singer, which did very well at the Césars a couple of years ago. This new film, again, stars Gérard Depardieu, who I've never had much love for but can never put my finger on exactly why that is.

A Prophet (dir. Jacques Audiard). From the director of The Beat That My Heart Skipped, which did good business and won a fair amount of international awards, including a BAFTA for Best Film Not In The English Language. I admired the movie rather than truly liked it - the interplay between violence and art was much better examined in Haneke's The Piano Teacher in my opinion, but it did boast a firecracker of a performance from the not-ugly Romain Duris.

The White Ribbon (dir. Michael Haneke). Bloody love Haneke. He's probably one of the most interesting directors working at the moment, although his own remake of Funny Games into English didn't exactly receive glowing reviews. Set in Germany in 1913, this is said to explore the evolution of fascism. Definitely looking forward to this one.

Vengeance (dir. Johnnie To). Thriller from a prolific Hong Kong director. When a hit man for an organised crime syndicate is suspected of being a double agent for the FBI, a kill order is placed, but the hit man survives the attempt on his life.

The Time That Remains (dir. Elia Suleiman). Palestinian-Israeli director who won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2002 for Divine Intevention. His new film is described by imdb as "An examination of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day".

Vincere (dir. Marco Bellocchio). Italian movie about Mussolini's secret lover and their son Albino.

Kinatay (dir. Brillante Mendoza). Filipino film of which I know nothing.

Thirst (Park Chan-Wook). The Korean director of the excellent Vengeance trilogy has followed up with a vampire movie. The trailer makes it look immense and after the success of Let The Right One In, bleak films about bloodsuckers definitely have an audience. After an onslaught of American remakes of great Asian horror flicks, I'm hoping that Park Chan-Wook can show everybody how it's really done.

Broken Embraces (dir. Pedro Almodóvar). Always a winner, Almodóvar is reteaming with Penelope Cruz for his latest film, which debuted in Spain a month or so ago. Time Out has a positive review if you're interested, which claims this to be more of an ilk with Bad Education than Volver. This might prove difficult, as international audiences have tended to prefer Almodóvar's human dramas such as Talk To Her more than the Hitchcockian gayness of Bad Education, but I loved the latter so will be looking forward to this.

Maps Of The Sounds Of Tokyo (dir. Isabel Coixet). Another Spanish director, whose last film, Elegy, was almost universally panned. However, anyone who saw her low-key movie My Life Without Me starring the always-reliable Sarah Polley and Mark Ruffalo will surely be keen to see if she can pull another gem out of her hat. Maps Of The Sounds Of Tokyo is a thriller, centered on a contract killer who also moonlights as an employee at a fish market.

Fish Tank (dir. Andrea Arnold). Second feature from the director of Red Road, which I thought was good but over-hyped, although her eye for the grittier side of suburbia is certainly impressive. This new film focuses on a fifteen year-old girl trying to come to terms with her mum's new boyfriend. It stars Michael Fassbender, an actor who is everywhere all of a sudden, and rightly so. This follows on from starring turns in Angel, Hunger and Eden Lake, all in which Fassbender displayed impressive versatility. Rising star + rising director could = win.

Looking For Eric (dir. Ken Loach). Surely the strangest-sounding film on the list, at least on paper. It concerns the friendship between a postman and Eric Cantona. Loach won the Palme D'Or for the ridiculously overrated The Wind That Shakes The Barley but I can't see a movie about a well-known football player doing well at Cannes. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino). The amusing/irritating trailer doing the rounds suggest that Tarantino is still going down the Kill Bill/Death Proof route of tongue-in-cheek, intentionally offensive homage to the movies of his youth. Those that love him (and I'm one of those people) will probably love this, but it's got an unusually starry cast for a Tarantino film. Okay, so it's got Brad Pitt, but that is a wee bit odd isn't it? I like Brad Pitt as much as the next homosexual man who saw Thelma and Louise but he's not given a particularly impressive performance in anything for about ten years.

Taking Woodstock (dir. Ang Lee). I'd walk over hot coals for Ang Lee and was wet with anticipation about his new film concerning the origins of Woodstock. Starring an unknown actor in the lead role (Elliot Tiber) has worked wonders before (look at Tang Wei's phenomenal performance in Lust, Caution) and the supporting cast includes Liev Schrieber, Imelda Staunton and Emile Hirsch. Big love for Emile Hirsch. Then I saw the trailer, which is quite possibly one of the most revolting trailers I've ever seen. Horrible. But, The Hulk notwithstanding, Ang Lee has produced one of the most consistent body of films of any director working today. I hope this lives up to the promise.

Out Of Competition:

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (dir. Terry Gilliam). This will get less attention because it's a Terry Gilliam film than that it's the last film made by Heath Ledger. The story, involving a travelling theatre group that allows its audience members to enter their own imaginations through a magic mirror sounds a real treat. Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp will all be playing incarnations of Ledger's character.

The Army Of Crime (dir. Robert Guédiguian). French film starring Virginie Ledoyen, who for some reason I really like, although I'm not exactly sure why. A supporting performance in The Beach and a L'Oreal advert really shouldn't be doing it for me.

Agora (dir. Alejandro Amenábar). This is Amenábar's second English-language movie after The Others, and his last movie, the Javier Bardem-starring The Sea Inside, was well liked so this could get a pretty decent reception. The plot concerns an Egyptian slave (Max Minghella) who falls in love with his mistress, Hypatia of Alexandra (Rachel Weisz). Weisz is luminous, and needs a hit after husband Darren Aronofsky's ridiculous The Fountain. Also, Minghella was hyped to the max about a year ago and then pretty much disappeared. Never seen him in anything but surely pretending that you fall in love with Rachel Weisz can't be much of a stretch for anyone.

Romantic Serial Killer

2009-04-22T17:12:00.000+01:00

Although it's got no release date over here yet, Julie Delpy's new film The Countess certainly looks interesting. Billed as a biopic of famed serial killer Elizabeth Bathory, who supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins in an attempt to look young, the trailer makes it seem like a gothic romance. We don't get to see any actual murders, just a rather chaste-seeming affair between Delpy and Daniel Brühl. Could be interesting, although I'm unsure that the "a Julie Delpy film" at the end of the trailer is really warranted. This is only her second feature length film as a director and much as I liked 2 Days In Paris, it seemed impossible to separate from Before Sunrise/Sunset. I'm intrigued by the international cast. Everyone loves William Hurt and after her affecting performance in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, I'm excited to see Anamaria Marinca in something else.

Anyway, here's the trailer...

State Of Play

2009-04-22T10:43:00.000+01:00

Confidently-mounted conspiracy thriller adapted from Paul Abbott's miniseries and relocated to Washington. When Congressman Stephen Collins' (Ben Affleck) mistress and research assistant Sonia Baker is found dead in an apparent suicide, his former college buddy Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), a grizzled reporter for The Washington Post investigates the circumstances of the death. Along with eager young reporter Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), Cal uncovers a link between Sonia's death and two other murders carried out the night before.

Whilst Kevin Macdonald's follow-up to The Last King Of Scotland doesn't offer any surprises, it delivers of almost every other level. A tight script, excellent cinematography and solid performances all help to make this a solid entry in a crowded genre. There were a few story elements that I'd have prefered to see teased out a little more: the differing reporting styles of oldschool McAffrey and earnest blogger Frye, the friendship between Collins and McAffrey. The score can also be, at times, a little over-insistent. These minor quibbles aside though, this is exciting, pacy stuff.

Doubt

2009-04-21T14:27:00.000+01:00

John Patrick Shanley's serious adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a complex meditation on Catholic guilt that veers between being tense and compelling in certain scenes to po-faced and obvious in others. Set in a Catholic school in 1964, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) suspects the friendly Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of sexually abusing Donald, a black altar boy. Acting on the shyly-voiced suspicions of the idealistic Sister James (Amy Adams), Aloysius attempts to hound Flynn out of the parish, insisting that she doesn't need proof, all she needs is her "certainty".

There's plenty to admire here but not an awful lot to love. What Doubt excels at is character motivation. We're not sure on why Aloysius pursues Flynn with such vigour or whether Flynn is guilty of what she accuses him of. There's one particularly memorable scene with Viola Davis as Donald's mother. To say any more would rob the scene of its dramatic impact but suffice to say that it's uncomfortable and provocative in the way that good cinema should be. Shanley's direction is unfussy but he's unable to overcome the stagey-ness of his central conceit, and is too reliant on metaphor to get his point across (the storm constantly raging outside, a lamb placed in a Nativity scene with an air of significance). He is, however, ably served by four actors all on the top of their game. Davis and Streep are especially electric, whilst Hoffman and Adams provide nuanced, intelligent riffs on similar roles in their back catelogue. It's a clever film but it's also one that is, for the most part, distant and emotionally uninvolving.

Death Proof

2009-04-19T20:25:00.000+01:00

Gloriously offensive on almost every count, Tarantino's sixth film continues in the same vein as Kill Bill. Whilst the latter movie homaged Bruce Lee and Westerns, Death Proof plays as a violent, leery tribute to the grindhouse pictures of the 70s. The story is slim. Three nubile young women go out drinking, pursued by Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike, an old dude with a "death proof" car that he uses to crash into cars full of pretty Southern gals. The same story is then played out again, only this time the girls fight back, eventually beating Stuntman Mike at his own game.

The dialogue couldn't have come from anyone other than Tarantino; it's sweary, sassy and full of pop culture references. The violence is, predictably, a mixture of the cartoonish and the gory, and the crash sequence in the film's mid-section is particularly shocking, even by QT's standards. Death Proof's mysogyny is underlined with tongue-in-cheek humour and larger-than-life turns from the likes of Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan (especially memorable in a small supporting role) and real-life stuntwoman Zoe Bell. It's likely to offend several viewers and offers further proof that Tarantino is a one-trick pony, endlessly recycling old ideas and offering up sexism and hyper-violence as irony. However, the movie's sheer relentlessness, dynamic stunts, staccato dialogue and sense of unadulterated glee are often exhilirating and fans of Tarantino's previous films are sure to lap this up. As they should.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-04-16T16:25:00.000+01:00

Danny Boyle's assured adaptation of Vikas Swarup's Q & A is his best since Trainspotting. Dev Patel of Skins fame plays Jamal, a boy from the slums who wins the top prize of 20 million rupees on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The smarmy host, believing Jamal to have cheated, turns him over to the police, where he is tortured extensively before being given an opportunity to explain how he knows for the questions he was asked.

It's a solid concept from which to hang a movie, as we witness Jamal's difficult childhood living in the slums of Mumbai, his fractious relationship with brother Salim and love for his friend Latika. The choreography, editing and sound design are peerless, fully deserving of the various technical awards the film has won. It's a colourful, vibrant vision of India and one that doesn't shy away from the harsher realities of poverty, be it police brutality, prostitution or gang warfare. Broadly, Slumdog Millionaire could be said to be about the part that chance has to play in life, and how chance can sometimes present itself as something more profound. Whether you buy into this will depend upon how much you can stomach the finale's lurch into absurdly optimism as Jamal and Latika are reunited and the cast partake in an out-of-the-blue Bollywood-style dance number.

Thankfully, due to Simon Beaufoy's smart screenplay and some great performances from Boyle's young cast (Jamal, Salim and Latika are all played by three separate actors through their childhood and adolescense), the optimism on display in the film's final third feels grounded in the rest of the movie through Jamal's make-the-best-of-it attitude. Moving, lively cinema.

Eden Lake

2009-04-15T20:16:00.000+01:00

Genuinely scary, thought-provoking Brit horror. Nursery school teacher Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and her outdoorsy boyfriend Steve (Michael Fassbender) go on a romantic weekend break camping by an isolated lake. Not long after arriving they are disturbed by a group of teenagers, their loud music and angry-looking Rottweiler. Through a series of all-too-believable confrontations, friction between the two groups escalates to such a level that Jenny and Steve find themselves being hunted as they desperately attempt to make it back into town.

Eden Lake follows much the same pattern of other recent successful horror movies such as The Descent or The Strangers in using its first half hour or so getting to know its protagonists, thus making the inevitable nasty ending all the more effective. Plot-wise, it's not hard to see where this going, but James Watkins' intelligent script asks some pertinent questions of his audience. At several points during the movie we hear characters maintain that the antagonists are "only children" and Jenny's first act of retalliation against her tormentors is one filled with tears and remonstrance. Watkins is also careful to demonstrate the bullying and peer pressure that goes on within the young gang.

Once the chase begins, the pace is relentless. Reilly gives a shivery performance as Jenny, emerging at the end caked in blood and slime. The ending may not be hugely convincing but it's effective, as is the whole movie. Lean, tight and terrifying.

The Aviator

2009-04-14T22:50:00.000+01:00

A complicated biopic of Howard Hughes, here presented as a crackpot genius. Scorsese's movie covers Hughes' (Leonardo DiCaprio) life from the troubled production of Hell's Angels through affairs with Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett, firing on all cylinders) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) to his decline into paranoia and obsessive compulsive behaviour.

The tone of the movie changes constantly. When we first meet Howard he's the underdog entrepeneur who's laughed at by his contemporaries. After whipping through his feisty relationship with Hepburn, Scorsese touches briefly on the more infamous aspects of Hughes' life (locking himself away with bottles of his own piss) before allowing his hero one last moment of glory in the courtroom, before leaving us on an ambiguous note.

As biopics go this is much more complicated and unconventional than, say, Walk The Line. This doesn't necessarily mean that this is a better film than James Mangolds', but it acts as a real return to form from Scorsese after the disappointing Gangs Of New York. DiCaprio gives a layered performance and does well not to be outshone by the starry supporting cast that also includes Alan Alda, Jude Law, John C. Reilly and Alec Baldwin. There are also a couple of spectacularly mounted airplane sequences and beautiful set designs that make up for the lack of narrative drive during the film's mid-section.

Rachel Getting Married

2009-04-13T17:03:00.000+01:00

Jonathan Demme's return to the limelight provided a doozy of a role for Anne Hathaway as Kym, a former drug and alcohol addict who's just got out of rehab in time for her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. Arguments, revelations, tears and reconciliations follow.

The first half of the film is its most effective, where we get to see Kym struggle with her return to family life. She's attention-seeking, irritating, lonely and quick to take offence, often all of these things in quick succession. Thanks to a finely-tuned script from Jenny Lumet and the excellent performances from Hathaway and DeWitt, we completely understand why the two sisters rub each other up the wrong way. It's this central dynamic that powers the film, and whether they're tearing bits off each other or, in a tender, silent moment at the end of the film, reaching some sort of understanding, it's difficult to take your eyes from them.

Whilst Demme's naturalistic direction works wonders in the early, more troubled scenes, it becomes aimless, even dull later on. The seemingly endless wedding speeches are nothing compared to the wedding itself. It's sentimental and boring, the way these events often are, but they lack the dramatic fizz that made the movie so compelling beforehand. These portraits of troubled family life have become a staple of independent American cinema, but this is an interesting, astute addition to the canon and one that will no doubt cement Hathaway's place in the A-list.

Happy-Go-Lucky

2009-04-13T00:02:00.000+01:00

An surprisingly upbeat film from Mike Leigh but one that, on reflection, sits neatly alongside his bleaker productions. Sally Hawkins plays Poppy, an irrepressibly cheery primary school teacher who refuses to let anything or anyone bring her down. Like Naked, Leigh's movie is primarily concerned with character rather than plot. Not an awful lot happens in Happy-Go-Lucky; it's more about how other people respond to Poppy's giggle, effervescent personality.

The biggest ask that the film makes of its audience is to believe that somebody like Poppy might actually exist. Somebody who quite happily chats to tramps in the dead of night, whose only reaction to a stolen bike is a slight sigh and a shrug of the shoulders. Many reviewers have responded warmly to the character of Poppy, but would anyone respond so warmly were they to meet this person in real life? Watching Poppy interact with her sarcastic flatmate and younger sister is almost like watching a sketch from The Catherine Tate Show. You keep waiting for the punch line, but the whole thing is gleefully free of any irony.

Leigh's message appears to be that by thinking happy we can be happy. Poppy might not have a mortage and pension scheme planned out, like her pregnant, sensible younger sister, but she's got her friends and she likes her job. Life's how you look at it, innit? If this is meant to be a cheer-giving message adroitly sent to us in the midst of the recession then it's an awfully glib one. By setting its cap against all hte cynics out there, Leigh has ensured that any critics of Happy-Go-Lucky can easily be branded as miserable, glass-half-empty-type people.

Hawkins' energetic performance goes a long way in helping you take Poppy at face value, but there's a troubling aspect to her personality that is hard to dispel, something that's evident in two of the movie's sadder, more poignant moments. In the first, Poppy is concerned for a pupil who is a victim of family abuse, but this quickly turns into an opportunity to net a dishy social worker. In the second, Poppy has a heated confrontation with her racist, homophobic, deeply insecure driving instructor (Eddie Marsan, terrific). He crumbles in front of her, but Poppy doesn't seem to bat an eyelid. Is this down to Poppy's inherent ability to always look on the bright side, or is it a coldbloodedness that allows her to skip through life without becoming deeply involved in other people's problems? It's a question that's not really answered, and one that I kept thinking about after seeing the film. Although Happy-Go-Lucky ambles along rather nicely, it's still a conflicted work and one that feels more smug than anything else.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2009-04-10T18:07:00.000+01:00

A warm, clever, sexy film from Woody Allen and a real improvement on his last "return to form", Match Point. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are two Americans summering in Spain. Vicky, studying Catalan culture, is reserved and cynical, engaged to a smarmy man called Doug. Cristina likes to see herself as a free spirit, impulsive and interested in photography. When they arrive in Barcelona they are propositioned by a handsome Spanish artist, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Whilst Cristina is all too keen to take Juan Antonio on his offer of a weekend in nearby Oviedo where they will "make love", Vicky is outraged at his brazen proposition. Both girls end up falling for Juan Antonio, but in very different ways. The arrival of his fiery ex-wife, María Elena (Penelope Cruz) complicates things further and both Vicky and Cristina are forced to rethink their positions on love and life.

Like Allen's British films, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is full of national clichés, but what was grating and offensive in Match Point feels much more tongue-in-cheek here. In part this is doubtless down to his actors, in particular Penelope Cruz, whose Oscar-winning turn as a Latin firebrand hits just the right note. Likewise Hall and Johansson strike just the right contrast together. When we meet them they appear as counter opposites - as head and heart - before the script complicates their two very separate set of ideals for amusing results. Breezy and good-humoured, Allen's summery romance is hard to dislike.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

2009-04-09T20:46:00.000+01:00

Delightful screwball comedy based on Winifred Watson's 1938 novel. Set right before the onset of World War II, Frances McDormand plays Miss Pettigrew, a governess who's constantly being fired on account of her prim, judgemental behavious towards her employers. In order to keep off the streets, Miss P. masquerades as a social secretary to a young American actress, Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). Delysia, a flighty thing, has three men on the go at once: Nick, an arrogant nightclub owner, Phil, who she's hoping will cast her as the lead in his new play, and Michael, who loves Delysia for who she is not who she pretends to be.

During the course of a day, Miss Pettigrew helps Delysia understand the important of true love, meanwhile beginning her own tentative romance with lingerie designer Joe Blomfeld (Ciaran Hinds). Plenty of silly, fluffy mishaps, break-ups and make-ups follow. It's silly and slight, but anchored by the performances of its leading actresses. Adams is typically enchanting, whilst Frances McDormand's quiet, sad reflections on the last war add a more serious counterpoint to all the frippery. No classic perhaps, but good frilly fun all the same.

The Reader

2009-04-07T21:15:00.000+01:00

A thoughtful, moving examination of the Holocaust and how successive generations have tried to come to terms with it. The film begins in Neustadt in 1958, where a fifteen year-old boy, Michael (David Kross), begins an illicit affair with an older woman, Hanna (Kate Winslet), who works on the trams. For Michael, this is a sexual awakening, but for Hanna it is something different. Before sex she asks Michael to read aloud to her - Homer, Lawrence, Hergé - but just a few months after meeting him, Hanna disappears.

Michael doesn't come across her again until 1966, whilst he is studying at university. There he discovers that Hanna worked as a guard at Auschwitz and stands accused, alongside several other women, of allowing 300 Jewish women to die in a fire during the death march that followed Auschwitz's evacuation. What follows is an analysis of national guilt and of the difference between thought and feeling. Michael holds a key piece of evidence that could help Hanna in her trial but should he present it to the courts? As Hanna is singled out by her fellow guards as the one who was in control, David Hare's intelligent screenplay infers that it is not just Hanna that is guilty. One angry student rails against his professor (Bruno Ganz, previously so effective as Hitler in Downfall) for "letting it happen", whilst Michael ponders the ramifications of a successful conviction so that successive generations won't forget what has happened.

A fair amount of criticism has been levelled at the film for what is perceived to be a certain amount of sympathy for Hanna. This, I think, misses the point. Hanna is singled out not as a victim but as something tangible for the second generation to pin their blame to. It's tempting to say that Hanna represents Germany's national guilt but this isn't really true either. She is representative of a need by the second generation to intellectualise and understand something so heinous that any explanation, in the end, remains elusive. As the film enters its final stretch, detailing Hanna's interment in prison, we see her movement from somebody who is able "not to think" about the crimes she has committed to someone who is able to feel them. It is at this point that the character becomes completely unknowable, slipping out of the fiction altogether.

The film's final scene involves Michael traveling to America to meet with a camp survivor Ilana Mather (Lena Olin), offering her money that Hanna left in to her in her will. Ilana refuses the money and, one must feel rightly, refuses the request for absolution. There is, she explains, no meaning when it comes to the camps; there is nothing there.

Of course, the movie isn't without its flaws. The fact that the entire film is in English (apparently at the request of the novel's author Bernard Schlick) with the actors speaking in German accents feels unnecessary but it's to be expected of prestige dramas with Oscar possibilities. Accusations of sentimentality wouldn't be entirely unjust either, but these are minor quibbles when taken as a whole the movie is so rich and interesting. As one would expect, both Winslet and Ralph Fiennes (as the older Michael) are very strong indeed (although the former's performance in Revolutionary Road is better, at least to my mind) but David Kross is the real standout. At eighteen, he's required to take on a great deal of the film's weight and he copes remarkably well. It's a pity he wasn't up for Best Supporting Actor, as this is a much more complex role than that of Michael Shannon's in Revolutionary Road, which everyone raved about.

This won't be to everyone's tastes, but it's a provocative movie that raised very conflicted feelings for this viewer and, as such, it should be applauded.

James Marsters and Son

2009-04-07T09:42:00.000+01:00

The song's a bit blah and the quality isn't great but, but, but James Marsters! And a son! Is it me or does James Marsters look younger than when he was on Series 7 of Buffy?

Buffalo 66

2009-04-06T10:37:00.000+01:00

I first saw this film when I was sixteen or something, back-to-back with The Virgin Suicides, a film which I've watched multiple times. This film, Vincent Gallo's directorial debut, I've only watched twice since. Once, about a year ago with a friend of mine who really loved it and then again last night with my housemate. It's a peculiar film, and one that I found myself liking a great deal less than when I initially saw it.

Maybe it's because since I first saw Buffalo 66, I've read what he's had to say about other actors and director, he released The Brown Bunny and tried to sell his sperm online, but would only accept Caucasian buyers. It was apparently tongue-in-cheek, but if it was a joke it wasn't a very funny one.

Buffalo 66 is about Billy Brown (Gallo), a troubled individual who's just got out of jail following a five-year sentence for a crime he didn't commit. He then kidnaps a beautiful young girl, Layla (Ricci, making the most out of an underwritten role), and takes her home to introduce to his parents as his wife. Billy's disinterested parents (played by Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara, both excellent) go some way to explaining his aggresive, childlike mentality. What's most striking about the story is that Layla almost enjoys the roleplay and fosters a deep attachment to Billy, allowing him to open up to her. It's a male wish fulfilment fantasy and mysogynystic to boot. Gallo's creative control - he wrote, directed and scored the movie as well as casting himself in the lead role - suggests that this is a personal film and, on this level, it's rather fascinating. The comical, romantic script takes the edge off the film's more unlikeable qualities.

Once

2009-04-05T13:56:00.000+01:00

Charming Irish film about a musician (Glen Hansard) who seems to be a stuck in a rut, still writing songs about his ex-girlfriend who's moved to London. A chance encounter with a Czech immigrant flower seller (Markéta Irglová) gives him the boost he needs to put a record together, leave his humdrum life in Dublin and travel to London to win his girlfriend back.

This is a testament to how even the simplest of stories can work wonders if told well. Hansard and Irglová, both unprofessional actors, convey their loneliness and sadness convincingly that from the moment the two sing a duet together over a shop piano we want them to be together. The songs themself are the real story as the script itself is relatively bare. They're great songs as well. Emotive, longing, even humorous at times. What really impresses though is the refusal to sentiment and the movie's realistic (but never overtly bleak) setting. The most genuinely heartwarming romantic film I've seen since Before Sunset.

Top 10 People Who Are Adorable

2009-04-03T22:57:00.000+01:00

1) Amy Adams as Giselle in Enchanted

Indisputable really. Adams completely understood that Enchanted was intended as a homage, rather than a pisstake, of Disney's fairytale adaptations. Her slightly exagerrated gestures perfectly mimic countless animated heroines. The big eyes, the megawatt smile - she wasn't just a charismatic leading lady, but a gifted comic actor. Helped by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz's hugely enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek musical numbers, and a well-chosen supporting cast, Enchanted helped Adams move from indie darling onto the Hollywood A-List.

2) Drew Barrymore as Josie Geller in Never Been Kissed

If asked to pick a favourite Drew Barrymore performance, my bet is that most people would go for The Wedding Singer. It's a better movie, for sure, but Never Been Kissed has a special place in my heart after watching it for the first time during a particularly painful work trip. The concept (a reporter goes undercover as a high school student, hoping to achieve the popularity that evaded her first time around) is stretched since Barrymore looks neither young enough to still be in school, nor old enough to be a reporter entrusted to such a delicate assignment. But then that's part of the fun. Drew does goofy just as well as she does lonely. That last scene where she's waiting on the baseball pitch for Michael Vartan to come and give her her very first kiss is flat out adorable.

3) Jennifer Garner as Jenna Rink in 13 Going On 30

Okay, so 13 Going On 30 is by no means a classic of the bodyswap genre, but it would fall flat on its face were it not for the believability that Jennifer Garner brings to the role of a thirteen year-old girl trapped in a thirty year-old body. And, okay, so I'd happily shoehorn Jennifer Garner into any Top 10 list I could because I love her a little bit, but she shows serious comic chops for an actress primarily known for dramatic. Or, y'know, being super-serious Sydney Bristow. I prefer her pratfalls to Cameron Diaz's anyway, an actress who just seems to get less and less likeable as time goes on.

4) Jayma Mays as Cynthia in Red Eye

This is a gem of a movie. Tight script, interesting direction and able acting from its two leads, but Jayma Mays really makes this movie for me. Playing the ditzy receptionist at the hotel where Rachel McAdams works she provides a valuable comic counterpoint to her boss' airbound escapades. It's difficult not to succumb to Jayma's big doe eyes whilst she deals with irritating customers, room switches and a terrorist plot. I wish this actress had been in more than Ugly Betty and Epic Movie.

5) Mark Ruffalo as David Abbott in Just Like Heaven

Better known now as a "serious" actor in films such as Zodiac, Collateral and Blindness, Ruffalo has long since lent his special brand of adorableness to several romantic movies. From playing Sarah Polley's lover in Isabelle Coixet's weepie My Life Without Me to more upbeat roles in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and 13 Going On 30, he's proven that his talents stretch to a variety of different genres. However, it's in Mark Water's supernatural follow-up to Mean Girls that he really shines. The material is fairly lightweight, even with the twist at the end of the movie, but both Ruffalo and co-star Reese Witherspoon act their socks off. Ruffalo plays a guy who's just moved into his appartment, unable to get over his previous relationship. The scene where he finally opens up to Witherspoon's Dr. Elizabeth is heartbreaking to watch. His little bit of extra weight also help in making Ruffalo almost unbearably huggable-looking.

6) Robby Benson as Beast in Beauty and the Beast

One of Disney's best films and one of it's best characters. Belle was the first in a long line of more enlightened animated heroines, wisely choosing the difficult, brooding Beast over vain, barge-sized Gaston. Beast's gradual change from snarling loner to eager suitor is so winningly animated and acted that it's impossible not to be won over. Who wouldn't want a boyfriend (Beast or otherwise) who grants them with their own library, saves them from wolves and has their own ballroom. Like Enchanted, music plays a big part, in particular Something There, in which Bella and Beast engage in a snowball fight, each on the brink of acknowledging their fledgling affections for the other.

7) Glen Hansard as "Guy" in Once

Because he tells his pain through his music. Once doesn't have much in the way of script - it's all about the songs. And boy does Glen Hansard sing his heart out. I've always been a sucker for anyone who can sing and the music here is particularly effective. He's lonely, desperate to reach out and touch somebody. His final decision to head off to London and win back his girlfriend is laudable but it's his final gift to Markéta Irglová's "Girl" that really resonates. When I first saw this film I cried tears of actual happiness, which are damn hard to come by.

8) James McAvoy in Starter For 10

I hated the book but loved the film, which is unusual. I've been a fan of McAvoy since Shameless, so his seemingly inevitable ascent to Hollywood stardom and Angelina co-starring was A Good Thing. He launches a full-on charm offensive in Tom Vaughn's 80s nostalgia fest, lusting after ditsy Alice Eve before getting it on with Rebecca Hall's beret-donning girl with smarts. The combination of endearingly naive and cringiliy recognisable has been a long-standing tenet of lad lit for a long time now, but while John Cusack's turn in High Fidelity didn't really do it for me, James McAvoy really did here. Best scene is undoubtedly when he cries on his first date with Eve.

9) Alicia Silverstone as Cher in Clueless

Pretty much the only thing anyone remembers Alicia Silverstone for these days (her performance as Batgirl in Batman and Robin is best forgotten), but what a role to be remembered for. Amy Heckerling's smart adapation of Emma is winningly led by Silverstone's pouty performance. Her Cher is as well-meaning as she is shallow and completely adorable. Whilst co-star Brittany Murphy shot to stardom after Clueless, Silverstone has struggled with naff TV shows (Miss Match) and supporting roles in naffer movies (Stormrider, Scooby Doo 2). It's a shame, because she's clearly a good comic actress. And she gets to be with Paul Rudd as well. Biatch.

10) Gael García Bernal as Stephane in The Science Of Sleep

Michel Gondry's follow-up to Eternal Sunshine sometimes feels a bit hit-and-miss, especially on a second viewing but there's no denying the adorableness of Bernal's central performance. In a rare English-language role, and after more sexually aggressive performance in Bad Education and Y Tu Mama Tambien, he's surprisingly innocent-seeming here. Cast alongside a floaty Charlotte Gainsbourg, he exudes vulnerability. Paired with Gondry's typically imaginative set designs and hand-made special effects, Bernal's enjoyment is plastered all over his face. Especially coming from an actor better known for serious roles his performance, like that of Mark Ruffalo's in Just Like Heaven, is all the more effective. And he has great hair in this too.

13 Going On 30

2009-04-03T19:56:00.000+01:00

Fluffy escapist nonsense helped considerably by immensely likeable performances from its two leads. On her thirteenth birthday Jenna Rink wishes that she was "flirty, thirty and thriving" before waking up in Jennifer Garner's body. Jenna, now an editor for an ailing magazine, is a bit of a meanie as an adult and comes complete with credit card, bitchy best friend and a jock boyfriend. Panicked, she tracks down her childhood best friend Matt (Ruffalo), who her adult self has lost touch with. In what is essentially a retread of Big, Jenna's childlike enthusiasm manages to save the magazine she works for, she learns that love and friendship are more important than money and status and enjoys a fairy tale ending with Matt.

Garner is pitch perfect as the girl trapped in a woman's body. Awkward, dorky and loveable, she makes the most of the workmanlike script. She's ably supported by Ruffalo, who's just as endearing here as he was in Just Like Heaven. There's a slight tendency for the film to bombard its audience with 80s nostalgia, but at least that does give us the following scene:

Released Today

2009-04-02T14:31:00.000+01:00

The Boat That Rocked - New movie from Richard Curtis about a ship off the English coast broadcasting pirate radio in 1966. Richard Curtis' previous films have either really done it for me (Four Weddings, Bridget Jones, Emma Thompson in Love, Actually) or they really don't (Notting Hill, The Edge Of Reason, the rest of Love, Actually). The cast is a mix of the predictable and the interesting. No doubt Bill Nighy will be doing his usual deadpan schtick, although I would happily follow January Jones to the ends of the earth. Reviewers have been unimpressed but no doubt I'll catch this on ITV2 in a few years time.

Monsters Vs. Aliens - Self-explanatory 3D-animated feature from the Dreamworks stable. The first thing I thought when I saw the trailer for this was "Reese Witherspoon hasn't been in anything for ages". I don't count Four Christmases. She looks to have set her default setting to "perky" for this one. Reviews have been positive.

Religulous - Michael Moore-esque documentary about religion in the West. From Larry Charles, director of Borat.

Modern Life - Documentary about the decline of tradition in the French countryside.

Top 10 People Who Kill People

2009-04-01T13:51:00.001+01:00

Following my recent obsession with Dexter, I've decided to put together my Top 10 "People Who Kill People":

1) Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs

Despite the character falling into self-parody in Hannibal and Red Dragon, Anthony Hopkins' first portrayal of the liver-quaffing serial killer is as grimly fascinating as ever. Although his break from prison is memorable, it's his scenes with Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) that linger. Hopkins' best-known roles since then have tended to be period films (The Remains Of The Day, Howard's End, Shadowlands) but he'll always be remembered as Lecter. Baring in mind that Hopkins has stiff competition from Brian Cox, who played Lecter previously in Manhunter, and from Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill, that's one heck on an achievement.

2) Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2

A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that Quentin Tarantino can't write female characters, which is baffling given that three of his movies have centered around strong, memorable women. Uma Thurman gives the best performance of her career, finding the ultimate role in The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo. The intense physicality of her performance (the scene in Kill Bill: Volume 1 where she has drag herself into the Pussy Wagon without using her legs springs to mind here) is impressive, but it's Thurman's mixture of gutsy independence, raw emotion and deadpan humour that make her so watchable. After punching her way out of a coffin, covered in dirt and bleeding from a shotgun wound she walks into a cafe and simply says "Could I have a glass of water, please?" Genius.

3) Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures

Pauline is perhaps the most sympathetic character on the list. Kate Winslet may have been the breakout performer from Peter Jackson's luminous, unhinged biopic but Melanie Lynskey is every bit as memorable. As well-meaning adult figures attempt to put a stop to the intimate friendship between Pauline and Juliet Hulme, Pauline's ambivalence towards her kindly mother turns to rancour. Her diary entries, surprisingly matter-of-fact in their delivery - "Tomorrow morning Mother shall be dead. How odd" - are taken from the diaries of the real Pauline, who now lives in the Orkney islands.

4) Scar in The Lion King

One of the few Disney characters who we actually see kill somebody, here the mighty James Earl Jones-voiced Mufasa. Scar might not be my favourite Disney villain (I tend to prefer the women: Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella), Jeremy Irons' sarcastic tone suits the character well. The moment when he throws Mufasa off the cliff, which comes right after the stunning stampede sequence, is one of Disney's most dramatic moments. Of course, Scar meets a sticky end when he's eaten alive by hyenas, but he's perhaps the most memorable character in a film jam-packed with great ones. Although technically Scar's not so much of a person who kills people, but a badass lion with a black mane denoting his evilness, but no list would be complete without a Disney character.

5) Michael Myers in Halloween

Michael Myers is the ultimate stalk-and-slash killer. Black Christmas may have been the first horror film to show the murders from the killer's point-of-view, but Michael Myers remains iconic. The mask, the troubled childhood (recently mined in Rob Zombie's pointless Halloween remake), his fascination with sister Laurie Strode, his seemingly supernatural ability to survive what any would-be plucky heroine throws at him. All of this and more made him a slasher movie template for years.

6) Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct

No list would be complete without Sharon Stone's icepick-wielding, lady-part-flashing serial killer. Sexy and smart, she's more than a match for Michael Douglas. In a later movie, Scream, Rose McGowan's character cites Catherine Trammell as the only female serial killer in the movies and she's not wrong. Most female killers in film tend to kill as acts of revenge, such as Beatrix Kiddo, Sally Field in An Eye For An Eye or Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female.

7) Kit in Badlands

Tempting as it is to put either Bonnie and/or Clyde here, Kit is probably my favourite killer on the road, even if he doesn't wear killer berets like Bonnie Parker. Paired with a pre-Carrie Sissy Spacek, Martin Sheen's gun-toting, back-to-nature serial killer on the run was perfect for Malick's typically intelligent film, which takes in themes of love, death, innocence and the conflict between man and nature. Despite being completely amoral, Kit is a supremely likeable antihero and part of the reason why the movie works is that you're constantly rooting for Kit and his goodtime gal to stay one step ahead of the cops.

8) Patrick Bateman in American Psycho

In the past year it would seem as if Christian Bale has done everything he can to tarnish his reputation in Hollywood. After an alleged assault on his mother after the UK premiere of The Dark Knight last July, in February Bale was then caught on audio ranting at a DOP on the set of Terminator Salvation who had wandered into his shot. It's worth remembering that his performance as the eponymous protagonist of Mary Harron's Brett Easton Ellis adaptation that broke him in America. It's a snarling, humorous performance set to a perfect soundtrack of 80s classics. Best moment? His moonwalk right before he chops off Jared Leto's head.

9) Darryl Revok in Scanners

I'm a big Cronenberg fan, especially his earlier body horror movies and Michael Ironside's performance as Daniel Revok is purely here for the manner in which he kills his victims. The opening sequence, where a press conference gasp as they witness somebody's head explode is brilliantly effective and for this reason alone he deserves a place on this list.

10) Peyton Flanders/Mrs. Mott in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

"Cuckoo in the nest" films were all the rage in the early 90s, with both The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and Single White Female making big bucks. Whilst my love of Jennifer Jason Leigh is almost enough to make me want to put Hedy Carlson here, Peyton Flanders is just that little bit more devious. Wanting to extract revenge on the woman who accused Peyton's obstetrician husband of molesting her, thereby causing him to hang himself and for Peyton to lose the baby she had been carrying, Flanders poses as a nanny to Annabella Sciorra's Claire Bartel. Once inside she feeds Claire's baby with her own breast milk, accuses the gardener of paedophilia and kills Claire's friend Marlene (Julianne Moore) WITH A FUCKING GREENHOUSE. Not that I don't love Heady's "death by high heel", but Peyton really takes the biscuit.

Dollhouse Episode 7 - Echoes

2009-04-01T09:29:00.001+01:00

Carrying on from last week's brilliant Man On The Street, this is another compelling, complicated episode. A strong narcotic developed by the Rossum Corporation has been infecting students at a local university, causing them to lose all their inhibitions. DeWitt puts Victor and Sierra on the case, as security personnel and sexy disease expert respectively. Meanwhile, Echo is on assignment with the same guy we saw in the first episode but when she sees the university on the news she begins having flashbacks to her life as Caroline, who attended the same university.

Much of the episode is comprised of flashbacks. We learn that Caroline was an animal rights activist who, along with her boyfriend, broke into the Rossum Corporation's secret lab and uncovered a heap of information about experiments that they had been doing on humans for the Dollhouse. We also discover that Caroline's boyfriend was killed by Rossum's security guards and that this somehow led to Caroline being initiated into the Dollhouse.

Meanwhile, the narcotic begins having a funny effect on Topher (later Pantless Topher) and DeWitt and Mellie/November is withdrawn from active duty. We also get a glimpse of a new potential active, Sam.

All in all this was a solid episode, and the first one that's really blended drama and comedy together effectively. Olivia Williams was hilarious in her drugged state and there were so many quotable lines in her exchanges with Topher. We also got to learn a bit of Caroline's backstory and a suggestion of how she came to live in the Dollhouse - what happened in the two years between Caroline's break-in to the Rossum Corporation and her internment in the Dollhouse? DeWitt has been almost protective towards Echo for several episodes now and I hope we get to see exactly why this might be. The show finally seems to have found its feet after some major stumbles. Let's hope it continues the momentum.

Wilde

2009-03-31T18:28:00.000+01:00

Fascinating and multi-faceted biopic of Oscar Wilde (as played by Stephen Fry) that focuses on his destructive relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, or Bosie (Jude Law). Wilde's marriage to Constance Lloyd (Jennifer Ehle) and the unfurling of his sexuality are passed over quickly, perhaps too quickly, but the film benefits from the tight focus on its central figures. It's a film of peaks and troughs; Wilde's creative output coincides with his numerous breaks from the increasingly selfish Bosie. As a comment on fame and of Victorian hypocrisy, this is interesting, but it's when the film moves into its final, tragic register that it really hits home. After being accused of sodomy by Bosie's tyrannical father Lord Queensbury (Tom Wilkinson), Wilde sues for libel. He withdraws the case but the Court still prosecutes him for gross indecency and Oscar is forced to serve the two years of hard labour during which he wrote De Profundis. Fry is perfect as Wilde and is nicely counterbalanced by Law, who is by turns capricious, needy and sympathetic. The two leads are ably supported by an excellent supporting cast, particularly Ehle, whose prison visit to her husband is the film's emotional touchstone. A witty, intelligent tribute to Oscar Wilde's legacy, this functions equally well as a three hankie period weepie.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

2009-03-27T21:53:00.000Z

Adapted from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Fincher's latest is about a man, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who ages backwards. His mother dies in childhood and his father, repulsed by his haggard baby boy, leaves him on the steps of an old people's home where Benjamin is brought up by Queenie (Taraji P. Hensen). There he meets a young girl, Daisy, who later grows up to be Cate Blanchett, a ballet dancer who is later crippled in an accident and who becomes the love of Benjamin's life. Twee, sentimental, maybe even a little condescending at times, Fincher's film works in fits and starts. The stunning cinematography, set design and special effects are captivating, although the latter become distracting by the time Benjamin hits his early 20s and the audience is left staring at Brad Pitt's eerily unlined face. There are definitely some longeurs, in particular an unneeded story involving Benjamin witnessing Pearl Harbour. The acting is erratic also. Benjamin is little more than a cypher, leaving Pitt little to work with and Blanchett is surprisingly uninvolving but Tilda Swinton and Julia Ormond, as Benjamin's lover and daughter respectively, bring a bit of emotional heft to the material. The movie ends by offering up a message that we must try new things, that it's never too late to become someone new. It's trite (and hardly unexpected from the writer of Forrest Gump), but delivered with enough sincerity to ensure that when we witness the elderly Daisy caring for Benjamin through his infancy and up to his death as a baby in her arms, that I was left with a few sniffles. As a follow-up to Fincher's marvellous Zodiac, this is a disappointment, but it's not entirely without its charms.

Dollhouse Episode 6 - Man On The Street

2009-03-23T18:00:00.000Z

Okay, so this is what we've been waiting for. Dollhouse finally delivers on its promise and delivers what is easily its best episode to date courtesy of show creator Joss Whedon.

The episode begins with Ballard tracking down a potential Dollhouse client, Joel, an Internet billionaire. When Ballard tracks Joel down he finds him with Echo, only of course she's not Echo here. She's Rebecca, happily married wife of Joel who, hilariously, suspects that her husband is involved in pornography. Whilst Ballard is busy getting rid of Joel's security taskforce, Boyd nips in and whisks Echo back to the Dollhouse. Ballard then sits down and has a nice chat with Joel who, it turns out, is hiring out Echo to live out a fantasy he had of his dead wife coming home and finding out he'd made it big with the money and bought her a house. Ballard is quick to point out that this would be pretty touching were he not also using Echo for sex as well.

Ballard then does the not-very-sensible-perhaps-in-retrospect thing of telling Millie everything he knows about the Dollhouse. Millie, the girl who waits at her door with a dish of homemade lasagna waiting for the rattle of keys in a door, takes everything he says at face value. Shame that, unbeknowst to Ballard, DeWitt has a hidden camera in his appartment that's recording his conversation with the trusting Millie.

Meanwhile, back at the Dollhouse itself, Sierra has an unusual reaction to Victor, screaming when he touches her shoulder. After examining her, Dr. Saunders reveals that Sierra has had sex since her last assignment. Boyd, in full-on policeman mode, finds a blind spot in the network of cameras across the Dollhouse. Victor is taken off active duty, only for it to be revealed that it is, in fact, Sierra's handler Hearn. Just as Hearn asks Sierra to "lift up your dress", Boyd comes out of the shadows, throwing Hearn throw a glass door. Boyd's rationale for allowing Victor to be blamed for the assault on Sierra is that Hearn needed to be "flush" with his success before he would try anything again.

DeWitt offers Hearn a way out from The Attic (said with enough import to make us assume that this is a Very Bad Place). She places a photo of Millie on Hearn's lap, telling him that she needs to be killed and that she doesn't require a "clean kill". DeWitt also tells Topher to prep another identity for Echo, revealing ominously that it's time she and Ballard had "a second date".

The action then cuts back to Ballard and Millie, who have just finished having mind-blowing sex. They decide to get some Chinese food to fortify themselves for the next round. Whilst Ballard is in the Chinese restaurent, which is oddly (i.e. conveniently) empty, he's attacked by Echo. They have a badly edited fight in the oddly (conveniently) empty kitchen and then a slightly better edited fight in the street outside. Now for the twist. Echo has Ballard at gunpoint and reveals that there is a Dollhouse. Not just one but several around the world with ties to government and major political organisations. She reveals that the Dollhouse has someone on the inside who altered the parameter of her imprint in order for her to give Ballard a message: allow the Dollhouse to believe they've won. It's too big an organisation to fight in this way; a more imaginative approach is required. Echo tells Ballard that whilst the Dollhouse won't want to kill an FBI agent, they won't hesitate to kill anyone close to him.

Right on cue, Hearn enters Ballard's appartment and attacks Millie. The phone is ringing and we assume it's Ballard, who's racing back home in true hero fashion, but it's actually DeWitt, who says something about there being three flowers in the vase. It's a trigger. Turns out Millie is a sleeper agent who kills Hearn without batting an eye. DeWitt, after seeing on her hidden camera thingie that Hearn is dead, deactivates Millie just in time for her to run into Ballard's concerned man arms. Ballard is put on suspension from the FBI and DeWitt believes that she's done a good job.

A lot to take in here. After five disappointing episodes, it seems that this is where the show was heading all along. Plenty of twists, some of which I didn't see coming, and some good acting from everyone across the board. The focus was less on Echo and more on the ensemble, which is definitely a good thing. This isn't to denegrate from Eliza Dushku's skills as an actress - I actually think she's given a very solid, unshowy performance week after week - but the show as a whole feels a lot more coherent now. It feels not only like it's going somewhere but that it's able to engage with its more complex questions about morality, good, evil, the usual Joss Whedon favourites. It wasn't totally unlike Alias, not that this either is a bad thing, unless of course it's Season 4 of Alias...

There were lots of little things to enjoy here too. DeWitt's distinction between playing a "good hand" and "a bad hand very well" was marvellous and perfectly delivered by Olivia Williams, who seems to be coming into own now after her rather clipped and terribly English delivery in the first few episodes. Of course, I just love her in Rushmore and Miss Austen Regrets so I could be biased.

Of course, anyone who saw Dichen Lachman as Katya Kinski on Neighbours will love her unconditionally.

Trademark Whedon humour was to be found in abundance, in particular the phrase "moral spankitude", and I liked the captions of LA people discussing what they thought about the "urban legend" that is the Dollhouse.

All in all a great episode and hopefully a sign of things to come, if Fox don't cancel it.

Movie Of The Day: Pride and Prejudice (2005)

2009-01-30T14:00:00.000Z

Joe Wright’s adaptation of Austen’s much-loved classic aims for a naturalistic approach to the material. Keira Knightley’s Lizzie Bennett is girlish, prone to giggling and sulking. It’s not a bad performance – far from it – but she’s not well served by Deborah Moggach’s script. The focus is almost entirely on the romance between Lizzie and the proud Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen; he’s no Colin Firth). Moggach concurs with popular academic opinion in highlighting Lizzie’s longingly long tour of Pemberley as key in changing Lizzie’s opinion of Darcy. However, this switch in feeling just doesn’t sit right with the rest of the movie and any pleasure to be had in the interactions between the two leads is from the novel.

The liberties that Moggach takes with Austen’s story is certain to anger purists. Wickham is reduced to a handful of scenes and the devastation that Lydia’s elopement has on the Bennetts is glossed over. What really impresses here is Wright’s direction, which conveys a feeling of intimacy which is far removed from the chocolate box visuals of other Austen adaptations. Whether it’s Lizzie and Jane talking underneath the covers at night, or the long shot through the movie’s first ballroom sequence, Wright’s direction at first seems at odds with the period setting but does, finally, make a sort of sense. As we see Knightley stomping through a muddy backyard after her best friend Charlotte has informed her that she is to be married to the uptight, unwittingly humorous Mr. Collins (a particularly well-observed turn from Tom Hollander), it’s clear that Wright is clear to highlight the gulf between Lizzie’s romantic expectations and the very real possibility of her family’s inherent poverty.

An interesting, if flawed, adaptation of a popular novel. Wright’s flourishes were to seem ostentatious in his second movie, Atonement, but this proved an effective stepping stone for Knightley as the yoof’s answer to Helena Bonham Carter.

Twilight

2009-01-09T10:59:00.000Z

Following the phenomenal success of Stephanie Meyers' quartet of vampire novels, the film adapation of the first book in the series, Twilight, was bound to be a success. In a year oddly barren of teen movies, Twilight had teenage girls queueing up in their thousands to see their favourite characters brought to life on the big screen. What's perhaps more surprising is that Catherine Hardwicke's (Thirteen) adaptation is actually pretty good.

Bella Swann is a sixteen year-old girl with emo trappings who has moved from her mum's place in Arizona to stay with her father in the small town of Forks, Washington. Not quite the cheerleader-type, Bella is nonetheless bright and pretty enough to make friends easily, although she is unable to feel any real connection to her new friends. She quickly draws the attention of Edward Cullen, an intense young man who has the disquieting habit of staring at her throughout biology class from underneath his perfectly perfect eyelashes. As Bella is soon to discover, Edward is a vampire. But it's okay; he's a vegetarian. The Cullen family live on woodland animals rather than succumb to their predatory ways. However, any burgeoning romance between Bella and her vampiric beau might just prove too much of a temptation for Edward, who's all too aware of his desire to rip his girlfriend's throat open and drink of her pure virgin blood.

What follows is a chastened romance, full of brooding glances, swooping camerwork and an overwhelming sense of teen angst. Several reviews of the books pointed out their seemingly pro-abstinence agenda. However, coming from a director such as Hardwicke it's difficult to see the film in this way. As she showed in Thirteen, Hardwicke isn't afraid to show teenage sexuality in all its mucky details and although Bella and Edward don't "get it on" per se, the question of sex is never far from the surface and by (wisely) choosing to play the whole thing straight, Hardwicke creates a sense of malevolent sexual tension that is often absent from other movies aimed at a teenage audience.

The performances are rooted in reality, especially Kristen Stewart's jumpy, self-conscious Bella, and Robert Pattison (who's clearly been taking notes from the David Boreanaz school of acting) looks all set to be the new Zac Efron. There are some faults to the finished product, not least of all an occasionally clunky script and some dodgy special effects, but Twilight is a brave move away from the sort of glossy teen cinema we're used to seeing.

Perfume

2008-02-06T14:47:00.000Z

Literary adaptations are often tricky things, not least those adaptations of novels that are perceived to be 'unadaptable' or have a solid fan base. On most levels Tom Twycker's (Run Lola Run) film is a success. It tells the story of a young man, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), with an unusually acute sense of smell. Obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect scent Grenouille first ensconces himself at a Paris perfumier's (Dustin Hoffmann in yet another befuddled/disgruntled pater familias role). Frustrated that old Hoffers can't teach him how to capture the scent of a living being Grenouille travels to the picturesque town of Grasse to learn more about the perfume trade. There Grenouille finally learns how to preserve scent and begins murdering the young virgins in his hope of attaining the most heavenly perfume on Earth.

The early sections of the film are the most successful, with Twycker flashing a variety of images in front of his audience in order to convey Grenouille's pervasive sense of smell. Whishaw also makes for a fine lead. He plays Grenouille as eerily detached but with a dash of cute naivité that makes him almost sympathetic in places. Whilst the director pushes this sympathy too far in the final scenes (having Grenouille cry for the first girl he murdered feels like it's too much), Whishaw's performance is incredibly intense and at time almost haunting. It's a shame then that both Hoffmann and Alan Rickman (playing a doting father) are typecast and offer little new, although Rachel Hurd-Wood - so marvellous in PJ Hogan's live-action version of Peter Pan - here playing a virginal teenager surely has a long career ahead of her.

What's most noticeable about the film is how very different it is from Twycker's most famous film, Run Lola Run. Gone are the flashy images and loud techno music, replaced by beautiful locations and stirring strings. In fact, the nail-biting tension that was such a dominant feature in the previous film is nowhere to be seen here. Indeed, as the police begin to close in on Grenouille and he comes closer to making his perfume, the movie steers dangerously close to becoming just another chase thriller. Of course, any concern that Perfume may become something generic are rapidly swept away by its audacious closing moments. No classic perhaps, but an intelligent and thoughtful take on a difficult novel.

Sherrybaby

2008-01-15T17:40:00.000Z

Sherrybaby wasn't the first independent-y recovering drug addict film of 07 and it does suffer slightly be being in the shadow of the superior Half Nelson. Sherry (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a 23 year-old young former heroin addict coming out on the other side of a three year stint in prison. Returning to the home of her brother and his wife she finds that not only has her daughter been instructed not to call her 'Mommy' but she also seems to have developed a certain fear around Sherry. Desperately yearning some normality, Sherry finds that reality and her ideals rarely come into contact with one another.

Writer/director Laurie Collyer has written Sherry a rocky road to redemption, shoehorning in backstory of parental abuse that does disservice to Gyllenhaal's flawless performance. It's not a typically grandstanding role, which is perhaps why she was ignored in last year's Oscar noms, but it's a performance that stays with you long after you've seen the movie itself. By turns childlike, frustrated, sexy and desperate it goes to show that Gyllenhaal may just be able to edge past her more famous brother in the acting stakes. It's this performance that lifts the film above the mediocre and marks out Gyllenhaal as one of the best American actresses working today.