All Reviews
Transporter 3
2008
Olivier Megaton
Whether or not Transporter 3 was given the greenlight just so next year a trilogy boxset could be released and producer Luc Besson can survive the credit crunch on its sales, it’s not going to do Jason Statham’s career any favours. After the first movie in 2002 proved he could bulk up as an action star and the second three years later was an uncomplicated sequel featuring more high speed chases, frenetic shoot outs and hard-hitting fight scenes, here Statham returns as beefcake delivery driver Frank Martin following a four year gap in the series.
The Warlords
2008
Peter Chan, Wai Man Yip
Jet Li’s reputation was put under strain when he started focusing on Hollywood movies. Following the success of Lethal Weapon 4, the once renowned martial artist became increasingly mocked as each new English language feature seemed to utilise less and less of his martial arts skill and render his attempts at acting in a foreign language laughable. Romeo Must Die, The One and War were some of the forgettable movies he lent his name to until he returned to China for Hero in 2002 and delivered one of the performances of his career. Chinese battlefield epic The Warlords has won a string of awards in his home country, and is further proof of his abilities away from the fat paychecks available in the States.
Max Payne
2008
John Moore
Mark Wahlberg should have been around in Hollywood long enough to know movies based on videogames rarely give an actor’s reputation any kudos, yet here he is taking up the mantle of cop Max Payne from a games series long forgotten about. The game had a film noir style as Detective Payne blasted all the bad guys he came across in a bullet time slow motion a la The Matrix: it might be expected the transition to screen might be a painless one as at least it gives the basis for an enjoyable no brains action flick. Yet no, there’s hardly any action as the story falters and Wahlberg struggles to get a handle on the titular character.
Quantum of Solace
2008
Marc Forster
Daniel Craig’s triumphant debut as James Bond in Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006) dragged the series out of a tired rut induced by run-of-the-mill glossy Pierce Brosnan excursions with grittier action and a more emotional 007. Expectations are high for this follow-up, the first sequel in the long-running franchise which starts almost immediately from where the last finished off. Bond is on the hunt for revenge as he seeks to find out why his one true love, Vesper Lynd, died. In doing so director Marc Forster, normally known for capturing drama for the big screen, delivers a surprisingly action-packed movie which brushes aside any gadgets, the dwelling on exotic locales or chatting to minor characters. It may not be the Bond we are used to, and verges on a Licence to Kill (John Glen, 1989) detachment from the super spy many might expect, yet provides another instalment where Craig continues his excellent form.
Tropic Thunder
2008
Ben Stiller
Tropic Thunder wants to be a satire on Hollywood action blockbusters that spiral out of control and the larger-than-life actors and money-grabbing producers whose egos fuel the cash-draining fires. For a while it works: the opening 25 minutes manages to hit the bullseye as the mega bucks production of a war film goes awry in spectacular fashion. Then, as attention turns to the characters involved, they are exposed as being little more than makeweights for a bright idea wasted in the wrong hands.
Eden Lake
2008
James Watkins
Hoodie horror hasn’t made it onto the film genre list just yet, but Eden Lake does a good job of suggesting loutish teens knifing unsuspecting victims could become a recurring image. Taking inspiration from Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972), a couple make their way to a small backwater town en route to a former national park that has been fenced off for new a new development in the hope of having a romantic getaway. Their peaceful break is soon shattered though as a group of youths do their utmost to make their lives a painfully miserable.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2008
Guillermo del Toro
Hellboy’s nonchalant approach to fighting the bad guys in a beleaguered and workman-like way while smoking a cigar is quite the opposite to Batman’s tortured soul searching for a meaning to his life. Yet the widespread acclaim heaped on The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) this summer would be just as apt for this follow-up to an original which showed much promise even if it doesn’t take itself quite as seriously. Aided by the imaginings of Del Toro, the director of films featuring fantastical delights such as Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy II builds on the modestly-budgeted original with a dazzling display of creatures and worlds without losing any of its heart or sense of fun.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
2008
Rob Cohen
Anyone hiring Jet Li to star in a blockbuster movie would probably be considered a mug if they didn’t take advantage of his considerable martial arts skills. Rob Cohen wouldn’t care though: for this belated third Mummy outing he brings us Li to provide a menacing look without a kick or punch in sight. The rest of the cast put in about the same level off effort in what will surely kill off this franchise.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
2008
Chris Carter
Who wanted another X Files movie? C’mon, own up! Hardly seen on television screens anymore, Lost and Heroes provide the all multi-faceted storylines we need to see these days and even manage to make more sense than the tiresome Files “mythology”. The latter was used to spearhead the 1998 movie Fight the Future, but for I Want to Believe creator Chris Carter has left that long and winding subject to the series finale and moves on to focus on how FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are getting on with life outside the bureau.
WALL-E
2008
Andrew Stanton
Pixar movies were once invincible pillars of the CGI animated world. After Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) they went on to make hit after hit and usher in the age of CGI as the animated method of choice. Even Disney gave up on hand drawn characters in favour of their 3-D counterparts. With WALL-E, Pixar have won widespread acclaim for their depiction of love, innocence and heart starring a Short Circuit (John Badham, 1986) inspired robot. Touted as a modern classic, the first 45-minutes is a refreshing piece of cinema with only minimal dialogue somehow makes a robot’s ultimately thankless and depressing life humourous and, to a degree, enchanting. Then the twist comes and WALL-E develops into a disappointing offering dedicated to a worthy cause of saving the planet but never recapturing the originality that precedes it.
The Mist
2008
Frank Darabont
When a freak storm erupts over a small town and a mysterious mist descends on it from nearby mountains, the community heads to the local store for supplies in the wake of power cuts and damage to their homes by uprooted trees. But as soldiers from the nearby army base appear on the roads, it becomes clear the pea soup visiblity outside is no ordinary low cloud. A bleeding old man warns there is something meancing in the mist — and suddenly the one-stop shop becomes a refuge for the scared and mystified community.
Wanted
2008
Timur Bekmambetov
Silly season continues at the box office with the special effects action bonanza Wanted. A hyperactive comic book adaptation only in its stride when rival assassins are trying to literally shoot holes in each other thanks to its preoccupation with CGI, this blockbuster may have 18-rated kills but it is about as interesting as a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers episode. James McAvoy stars as a shy loser catapulted into the high octane life of a hitman by the endlessly sultry Angelina Jolie answering to a typically authoritative Morgan Freeman. Delivering their lines without breaking out into laughter after every line is the extent of the challenges to their acting talents in this schoolboy yarn.
The Incredible Hulk
2008
Louis Leterrier
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. A saying taken to heart by Marvel who felt Ang Lee’s vision of their giant green superhero in Hulk released in 2003 was not a resounding success as it struggled to make more than 100 million dollars at the American box office. Their solution was to bring in a new creative team, cast and crew to revive the franchise fortunes. It would have been a wise move had they known what was wrong with Hulk for it to underperform so badly. On this showing, they didn’t as they’ve taken a step backwards from the deep and brooding atmosphere of Lee’s version to a dumbed-down crowd-pleaser. Hardly a surprise when they put Louis Leterrier, the director of The Transporter 2 and Unleashed (both 2005), in the hot seat.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008
Steven Spielberg
Delays, disagreements over scripts and a general concern that Harrison Ford would be too old to be Indiana Jones nearly 20 years after the last in what was a classic trilogy of adventure films should have been enough to suggest a fourth entry could be too difficult to bring up to the high standards George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had set for themselves. Now, here it is on the big screen, but only following close scrutiny by all parties that this package did the famous franchise justice. Ford, Lucas, Spielberg, a script by Spider-man and War of the Worlds writer David Koepp and a cast including Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf and Karen Allen gave us hope they were right. Sadly it’s not the case as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull only just manages to better its own copycats The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). What a sad state of affairs.
Speed Racer
2008
The Wachowski Brothers
Whether they like it or not, the Wachowski Brothers will always have to live with the achievement of spectacularly losing their army of fans when the pompous sequels to The Matrix (1999) failed to return anywhere near the same level of originality and energy. Although the special effects and action sequences delivered in the main, they were not the massive step up everyone hoped and the story descended into philosophical mumblings best saved for an academic text book. Family-friendly Speed Racer, an adaptation of a Japanese cartoon popular in the west at various times from the 1970s to 1990s, should have been an easy ride for them, but they stale badly before getting round the first lap.
In Bruges
2008
Martin McDonagh
Don’t go in to watch In Bruges with the usual expectations for a film about hitmen — you won’t find the usual cold-blooded killers stalking heads of state or well-connected businessmen. No, based in the most well-preserved medieval city in Belgium, Bruges, it’s as quirky and surprising as you might expect from debut writer/director McDonagh who is famed for his Olivier and Tony award-winning plays. Eschewing typical story archs and using an introspective, character-driven approach, this tale of a guilt-ridden failed Irish hitman Ray (Colin Farrell) and his minder Ken (Brendan Gleeson) will have you chuckling away, especially when a cocaine-fuelled discussion of who the Vietnamese might side with in a fight between all the blacks and whites in the world takes centre stage.
Awake
2008
Joby Harold
The chilling thought of being awake but paralysed through a major operation, known as “Anaesthetic Awareness”, is used to disappointing effect when powerful business man Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) undergoes a heart transplant. Just married against his mother’s wishes to her beautiful assistant Sam (Jessica Alba), he has also already angered her by choosing to trust short-term surgeon friend Dr. Jack Harper (Terrance Howard) rather than a leadering expert on the proceedure. However, as he lays on the operating table, things take a turn towards the distrurbing when the anaesthetic puts him in a state where he cannot move or talk, but hears and feels everything. It’s a high concept thriller which hampers itself by ignoring the possibilities of an inventive direction by going with an unsurprising twist.
The Orphanage
2008
Juan Antonio Bayona
The phrase “Presented by Guillermo del Toro” on the advertising for The Orphanage is obviously intended to draw in the crowds wowed by the director’s Oscar-nominated hit Pan’s Labyrinth. While it does share an interest in the imagination of children and uses an orphanage as the centre of the action like another of his films, The Devil’s Backbone (2001), The Orphanage is a far more straight-forward affair. As a ghostly thriller with plenty of hair-raising moments as director Bayona presents the eerie goings on in the life of a mother who becomes convinced ghost children have kidnapped her son it is effective — he just drifts too close to being overly generic by the time the events shuffle into place via the closing twist.
The 4th Dimension
2006
Tom Mattera, David Mazzoni
Musings on time and space take a turn to the leftfield with indie movie The 4th Dimension. Clearly inspired by early David Lynch efforts such as Eraserhead (1977), writer/director team Mattera and Mazzoni have made a hypnotic introspective of an obsessive compulsive genius trying to figure out a way to get a grasp on the elements of living beyond our control. Stripped down to black and white with a patiently absorbing approach to the storytelling, the movie is a rewarding experience stylistically, however can’t quite match its engrossing atmosphere with the pay-off it deserves.
10,000 BC
2008
Roland Emmerich
This movie is preposterous and awful. There’s no nice way to say it. 10,000 BC is classic Hollywood trash, landing in the traditional dumping ground of March and not even in the braindead blockbuster sense despite the presence of a big budget director — it just plain sucks. Roland Emmerich can normally be relied upon to bring us good, clean family entertainment. With a CV including Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), The Patriot (2000) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004) you’d think he could at least have the decency to paste top line CGI and set pieces to even the most far-fetched screenplay for us. Oh no, 10,000 BC is not only light years away from being an accurate history lesson as a period piece, it also wimps out of trying to paper over its failings. It’s just bad.
Diary of the Dead
2008
George A. Romero
Just two years after Land of the Dead (2005), zombie movie mastero George A. Romero is back in the director’s chair with another horror film laden with social commentary. He has averaged a zombie film a decade until now, but the proliferation of Internet blogging and the miss-truths of the mass media have galvanised him into making two in the space of two years. Using this entry as more of a series reboot as is the in thing these days in Hollywood, Romero has also pitched us in the heart of the flesh-eating action as we witness events through various video cameras as a group of film students attempt to document all they see. Coming so soon after Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008), there are obvious comparisons to be made, even with his unique vision of the undead walking on Earth being very different from the Godzilla-inspired adrenaline rush JJ Abrams produced. Yet it is within the genre he is supposed to be so adept in that Romero manages to falter badly and let his admirers down.
Be Kind Rewind
2008
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry has won himself a loyal following with his inventive storytelling seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and The Science of Sleep (2007). His delving into the psyches of fragile, quirky characters have resulted in visual treats of special effects and the sight of a keen imagination at work. Gondry’s visions have been the centrepiece of his films, so when it was revealed his latest, Be Kind Rewind would involve a pair of movie fanatics making bootlegs of major Hollywood blockbusters and award winners using only limited props and a handful of friends as extras, anticipation for seeing how he had re-interpreted Robocop, Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy were high. Yet, while these trademark Gondry sequences are clever and very funny, they don’t provide the gloss to an already smart and witty offering. Rather, they pull the weight of a lethargic story.
Cloverfield
2008
Matt Reeves
A mountain of well-controlled hype was the precurser to Lost mastermind JJ Abrams’ retake of the Godzilla genre. Not only was the story kept under wraps for as long as possible, but also the experience movie-goers would be treated to when they finally arrived. The knowledge that it was filmed from the point of view of eyewintesses using a camcorder led to associations with The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999) and when we were told it would involve the army taking on a giant maraudering monster smashing the head off the Statue of Liberty and knocking down buildings, it was hard not to think of 9/11 connotations combining with popcorn entertainment. In essence, it was the film everyone wanted to know about. But with the dust settling on the furore, what’s left?
Lust, Caution
2007
Ang Lee
Steamy, rough sex is the last thing you might expect from a slow-burning wartime drama directed by Ang lee, but when it arrives in Lust, Caution there is more to it than just arousing the attention of the audience. The carefully measured pace of the two-and-a-half hour film weighs an immense amount of depth and understanding on how the two leads come together, and the turmoil in its final 10 minutes is a harsh lesson in the laws of love.
I Am Legend
2007
Francis Lawrence
The sight of a lone survivor wandering the abandoned streets of a famous city riddled with monsters is becoming a frequent sight on cinema screens and apocalyptic scenarios putting the fate of humanity in the hands of one potential saviour have been doing the rounds for decades. So what makes I Am Legend, based on a novel already put to film in the form of The Omega Man (Boris Sagal, 1971), worth the retread of so many popular themes? Probably the ability of Will Smith to single-handedly keep a film together no matter how many times it might threaten to fall apart.
St. Trinian's
2007
Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson
British comedy shoots itself in the foot once more with a naff resurrection of a movie series started in the 1950s with The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954). When the Ronald Searle cartoons about England’s famous and prestigious ‘School for Young Ladies’ were first brought to the screen, they were considered fun examples of learning life at an institution known for its playfully rebellious nature. For this update, rebelliousness gets swapped for delinquency as these girls show all the moral fibre of a prison full of serial rapists. Deceiving, thieving and generally showing no respect of authority may be ideal for film where the villain is the hero, but to suggest a schooling of stereotyping and lessons in the vices seems an irresponsible use of UK Film Council money.
Southland Tales
2006
Richard Kelly
Released to howls of derision from the critics at Cannes, Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly has been trying to make his sprawling story set in an apocalyptic 2008 make enough sense us laymen can understand what on Earth is going on in his head. It’s been to no avail. Months of work and the removal of subplots later, the two-and-a-half-hour results remain incoherent and indulgent. Lucky for him, there is a smackering of silky smooth style to make up for the lack of bite, but only just enough to put up with Kelly’s pompous thinking that he has sculpted a movie to be long adored like Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) or even his own Donnie Darko (2002). No chance.
Hotel Harabati
2007
Bruce Cauvin
Frenchman Bruce Cauvin’s debut feature is an elusive thriller which will entice and stimulate some, though no doubt frustrate and irritate others. Much less aggressive in its cryptic nature than a David Lynch work like Mulholland Drive or Inland Empire (as review comparison has actually been made so far) Hotel Harabati (De particulier a particulier) sits naturally within the recent history of angular French thrillers such as Hidden (Cache , Michael Haneke) or Lemming (Dominik Moll). The fact that the film’s male lead is played by Laurent Lucas, the star of Lemming and several other similarly thrilling and sometimes elusive films like Harry He’s Here To Help and Who Killed Bambi? also aids this comparative grouping.
The Nines
2007
John August
Van Wilder, I mean, Ryan Reynolds, proves he can act in the metaphysical directorial debut from seasoned screenwriter John August. A three-time collaborator with Tim Burton and also the writer of the two — ahem — Charlie’s Angels movies, he puts Reynolds at the centre of three stories interconnected by the same cast playing very similar roles. He doesn’t manage to quite clear the final hurdle of making it all come together at the end, but the existential ponderings don’t detract from this being an insightful and rewarding experience.
The Darjeeling Limited
2007
Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson’s quirky and understated comedy has given him a reputation of being a filmmaker not suitable to all. He does not draw attention to his humour, rather he puts it on-screen for audiences to take on board or wash over them. This is why many find it hard to digest his offerings despite having varied and interesting characters driven by often bizarre desires. In The Darjeeling Limited he brings together three brothers in India for a spiritually-awakening train ride to their mother. It’s a typical Anderson journey with the terrific trio of Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman making it a trip to remember.
Planet Terror
2007
Robert Rodriguez
When Quentin Tarantino’s half of the Grindhouse exploitation movie double bill, namely Death Proof, was finally released in the UK, his promise of an insightful throwback to films of the 1970s fell well short of his claims. Overlong, rambling and a gimmicky narrative undermined his attempts to nod back to the trashy midnight movies of old from a contemporary perspective proved unsuccessful. There was always more hope for Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. His unashamed direction of high octane actioners such as Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn had a whiff of exploitation in their approach, loading up with over the top set pieces. It transfers perfectly to Planet Terror, but is weighed down by trying too hard to replicate movies from the past.
Eastern Promises
2007
David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg steps back into the gritty underworld following immense success with A History of Violence (2005) to deliver another satisfying slow burner. It marks a continuing shift away from his once-famous visceral fascination with the flesh and delves further into a more subtle approach to his screen interests. Apart from one scene destined to be crowned another Cronenberg classic, Eastern Promises simmers with fine performances and a glossy exterior to its dark centre.
The Kingdom
2007
Peter Berg
Political thriller-turned-actioner The Kingdom wants to do two things: make a statement about American foreign policy in the wake of 9/11 and ensure audiences get a dose of gung-ho anti-terrorist action. The result? A laboured investigation into a Saudi Arabian terrorist bombing which seems to be teeing up an incisive assessment of the USA’s desire to be at the forefront of international issues but morphs into a mindless bombs and guns finale. This puerile approach to making people think about issues arising from the Middle East wants to enforce America’s lofty ambitions of being an effective global peacemaker, but distracts from the real issues blighting its War on Terror. I felt sorry for all involved.
Halloween
2007
Rob Zombie
Has it really come to this? One of the truly iconic slasher villains is brought back to life in a remake of the John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Along with Jason Voorhees and Freddie Kruger, Michael Myers has long been tormenting teenagers to thrill audiences for decades in mindless sequels to the infamous originals. With a couple of grizzly horror movies under his belt in the form of House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Reject, heavy metal musician-turned-filmmaker Rob Zombie had a stab at a new origins story for Myers. It’s got all the elements of the horror classic, but none of the lasting character that made it so popular.
Superbad
2007
Greg Mottola
Not satisfied with writing, directing and producing the comedy hit of the summer, Knocked Up, Judd Apatow treats us to another side-splitting production in the form of Superbad. He’s fast becoming the king of modern gag-fests, reliably putting together movies that combine gross out with a more tender, rom com attitude to give a well-rounded side-swipe at personal dilemmas. For Superbad, Apatow steps back to solely the producer as he did with Will Ferrell comedies Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Talladega Nights (2006), giving room for the new talent to make a name for themselves in an American Pie-style coming-of-age film about a trio of high school seniors out to score booze so they can score with the girls for the first time.
Hairspray
2007
Adam Shankman
John Travolta in a fat suit, playing the role of a middle-aged, married woman. Sounds like another wacky, but doomed to fail, way of getting his career back on track, right? Especially given it’s a the adpation of the Broadway musical based on a 1988 John Waters film of the same name. Yet, despite all the reasons Hairspray might be expected to go terribly wrong, it succeeds largely because all involved understand and love being part of what it is: a camp song and dance to lose yourself in.
Transformers
2007
Michael Bay
It’s been more than 20 years since 80s toy phenomenon The Transformers hit the big screen. Back then it was the first time a range of children’s playthings had been made into a TV programme and then movie, chiefly to sell more of the Hasbro products. The Japanese company is one of only three credits before the film starts here, the others being production company Dreamworks and studio Paramount. To say this is just another elongated advert for a new line of Transformers may be very true, especially given the 143 minute runtime, but director Michael Bay has lavished a budget in the region of $200 million on a glorious visual feast to ensure it isn’t a dull promotional video.
The Simpsons Movie
2007
David Silverman
More than 400 episodes after its debut, The Simpsons finally comes to the big screen with a hefty weight of expectation. The shows have been going downhill since its peak years ago, partly because of such high standards set in the early seaons, but it remains a highlight to any evening’s viewing. There was never a worry about whether The Simpsons Movie would be financially successful, but there has always been a fear that the end product would lack the freshness it once had in abundance. I’m happy to say, on the evidence here, The Simpsons is still as strong as ever but the feature-length time takes its toll as a classic opening 45 minutes leads to a laboured second half.
This Is England
2007
Shane Meadows
Well worth the forty-minute drive down the 405 freeway and having to endure the sight of 40-year-old men dressed in costume for a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, This Is England is a compelling, heartfelt and comical coming-of-age tale of a young boy getting to grips with the loss of his father.
Sicko
2007
Michael Moore
In Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Sicko, he exposes the corruption of America’s private medical and pharmaceutical industry. The film follows in the footsteps of Moore’s pervious films, Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) which showcased the ills of the American way of life and the greatest perversion of the American public since the Nixon administration.
Die Hard 4.0
2007
Len Wiseman
The long awaited return of Detective John McClane and his rough ‘n’ ready approach to fighting terrorists brings with it high expectations. Die Hard launched Bruce Willis’ action hero career in 1988, the follow ups proved to be fun additions to the series. More than 10 years on since the last outing, whether Willis was still up to the task has been questioned, especially with Sylvester Stallone returning to his John Rambo and Rocky Balboa characters as well as Harrison Ford grabbing his hat and whip once more as Indiana Jones. Die Hard 4.0, in that repsect, is a lot like Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006): not a classic by any means, but certainly a good effort at recycling a character well past his best.
Riviera Cocktail
2006
Heinz Butler
The golden years of Hollywood gave us the first cinematic stars of a lifetime in the shape of Orson Welles, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Photographs of these famous faces in their prime have turned heads for years and what better backdrop to their seemingly effortless style than the French Riviera? That is where renowned photographer Edward Quinn snapped them at the Cote D’Azur in the 1950s. Riviera Cocktail is a documentary, out now on DVD, exposing his vast library of work during a decade when celebrities always looked their best — especially when captured by Quinn’s expert lense.
Conversations With Other Women
2007
Hans Canosa
This gem of a film has been knocking around for ages, but has only just seen the light of day here in the UK after festival appearances and general releases elsewhere. Perhaps people are finally understanding what a brilliant indie actor Aaron Eckhart is away from the blockbuster tosh he took on a few years ago. Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2006) showed us he still had the knack for being the fast talking but loveable rouge and here he stars opposition the beautiful and very Englsh rose Helena Bonham Carter in a tender relationship comedy that reflects on past lovers rather than pokes fun at them.
Sacred Heart
2005
Ferzan Ozpetek
Witnessing a double suicide in an opening scene is normally the preserve of horror movies or mystery thrillers, here it is an understated moment of drama in another of Ferzan Ozpetek’s examination of personal histories. Out on DVD now, in Sacred Heart Barbora Bobulova delivers a award-winning performance as Irene, a property developer who realises there is more to life than squeezing every last penny from transforming old buildings into rabbit-hutch flats. Her journey will bring her closer to those she would normally avoid in the street on the way and, in a way, literally shedding her former identity.
Magicians
2007
Andrew O'Connor
Splashed all over the media, Robert Webb and David Mitchell only need step out of their doors for instant recognition. They have made the bold step of moving into cinema, bringing the Peep Show creators with them for what you might expect to be a sure-fire hit. But away from their popular sitcom characters the humour has never flowed so easily and it is sad to say two of Britain’s hottest comedians have wound up in a sub-standard, tv-style movie which doesn’t belong on cinema screens and fades quickly due to inevitable comparisons with previous magician outings The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006) and, less so, The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006).
This is England
2007
Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows has been steadily building a strong career in British independent cinema and his latest, a coming-of-age drama set in the summer of 1983 England, has lofty expectations on its shoulders. Based on Meadows own experiences growing up, newcomer Thomas Turgoose plays 12-year-old Shaun. Bullied at school for wearing flared trousers on non-uniform day and unhappy living with his mother, he is befriended by an older, oddball bunch who promise to make his summer an enjoyable experience. Although he initially has fun, when ringleader Combo (Stephen Graham) is released from prison and returns to the group armed with a racist attitude, Shaun finds he is lured into a dark and shadowy side of English society fuelled by BNP propaganda.
Spider-Man 3
2007
Sam Raimi
Spider-Man is back in what could the final instalment from director Sam Raimi and starring the original cast. Pulling out the big guns with a rumoured 300 million dollar budget, he pits Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) against three foes while still having relationship problems with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). A guaranteed hit at the box office, but does it have the same level of human drama to engage us between the many action sequences needed to round out the Raimi trilogy and justify the many villains?
Fast Food Nation
2007
Richard Linklater
In 2001 Eric Schlosser’s bestselling book Fast Food Nation lifted the lid on the the horrorible truths of fast food: dodgy meat, immigrant workers paid pittence greedy corporations and a global industry keeping the public in the dark. How do you turn a fact-based book into a fictional film? Make it into a series of character studies that not only removes much of the direct impact, but is too cool to tackle all the issues head on.
Shooter
2007
Antoine Fuqua
Remember when Antoine Fuqua had just directed the Oscar-winning Training Day (2001) and looked to be hot property in Hollywood? Five years and two major blockbuster flops (the turgid Bruce Willis war movie Tears of the Sun in 2003 and dull historical epic King Arthur in 2004) later, he is still failing to find any kind of form to replicate that success. Shooter borrows from just about every wrongly accused man on the run story there has ever been for a Mark Wahlberg action walkthrough.
Curse of the Golden Flower
2007
Zhang Yimou
Following up Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004) was always going to be a tough prospect for director Zhang Yimou, having proved himself adept at capturing majestic martial arts fighting to go with his lush visual style and twisted personal histories. Here he focuses on the 10th Century Tang Dynasty in China as Emperor Ping (Chow Yun-Fat) returns to his palace in the Forbidden City to a plot to force his abdication.
Close To Home (Karov La Bayit)
2005
Dalia Hagar and Vidi Bilu
Close To Home is a very accomplished debut full-length feature from Israeli directors Dalia Hagar and Vidi Bilu. Coming out of their own experiences the pair have crafted a personal tale around the relationship two young women, however, this is not just about friendship or growing up — the film follows the women through their compulsory military service: this is a film which takes a personal route to touch on both individual and also more wider issues, though steering carefully clear of any preaching.
Sleeping Dogs
2006
Bobcat Goldthwait
“Everybody has a secret. What’s yours?” asks the tagline for the new film from Bobcat Goldthwait (best known to the world for his classic display as Zed in the Police Academy franchise), Sleeping Dogs. The film is a cheeky and slightly twisted romantic comedy, breathing new life into a much trodden and often rubbish genre.
After The Wedding
2007
Susanne Bier
After the Wedding was nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Academy Award but lost out, alongside the hotly-tipped Pan’s Labyrinth, to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others. This winner was a bit of a surprise to some of us in the UK, although probably just because it was only Pan’s Labyrinth which had played here and as that was an undoubtedly impressive film it seemed a strong bet. However, the category was generally pretty strong throughout, with Deepa Mehta’s Water and the French/North African WWII drama Days of Glory also both recieving much positive press; and After the Wedding from director Susanne Bier, is accordingly a worthy nominee.
Frostbite
2006
Anders Banke
Frostbite is the first feature from Swedish director Anders Banke and pits horror against comedy within a narrative pitting a seemingly dull northern town’s folk against a band of fierce vampires. Frostbite takes place in Swedish lapland, the land of the polar night, where there’s a whole month to wait until sunrise — the perfect dwelling zone then for creatures of darkness.
Sunshine
2007
Danny Boyle
Why do so many thrillers have to build up so well only to throw in the towel at the very end and feel the need to resort to stupid plot twists? Previous outer space thrillers Red Planet (Antony Hoffman, 2000) and Mission to Mars (Brian De Palma, 2000) are prime culprits but there are countless others I don’t even want to think about. Thankfully Sunshine doesn’t suffer quite the same dire fate as those mentioned but it is a space thriller that verges on greatness before pulling the rug out on itself in search of a dramatic climax.
TMNT
2007
Kevin Munroe
The euphoria of turtlemania now just a distant memory from the early 1990s, those heroes in a half shell are back on the big screen boasting a new look and fan base. Gone are the rubber suits and real actors to be replaced by a hip CGI look that gives this series reboot a more accomplished look. Sadly the charm has also been sucked dry in what is at best an exercise in advertising for ancillary markets and surely numerous sequels.
300
2007
Zack Snyder
When 300 Spartans confronted an advancing Persian army of tens of thousands in 480BC, it became a legendary battle. Despite overwhelming odds, the few fended off the many for three days and, with their extreme strength and courage, secured their place in history. 300 captures the story as a bloody and violent conflict laced with lashings of style aided by CGI backgrounds and enough six packs for the whole of England to get drunk.
The Science of Sleep
2007
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was one of the films of 2004, it’s surreal moments as Jim Carrey’s mind had Kate Winslet deleted from it providing startling imagery fuelled by a director’s imagination hard at work. To follow it up, Gondry has produced another uncanny and tremendously amusing story featuring spurned lovers, enabling him to enter the dreamy mind of Stephane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) — a creative thinker caught between fantasy and reality.
Ghost Rider
2007
Mark Steven johnson
If riding a burning motorbike as a flaming skeleton dressed in leathers sounds cool, you can be envious of Nicolas Cage doing just that in Ghost Rider. But any envy is burnt away to despair when this un-engaging attempt at starting a franchise misfires with bland acting and non-event set pieces.
Hot Fuzz
2007
Edgar Wright
After the incredible success of 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright had audiences and critics waiting with bated breath and high expectations. And so arrives Hot Fuzz, with the team this time turning their attention to the action genre and, unsurprisingly bearing in mind the closeness of the Pegg/Frost friendship, the buddy-cop film. As with the previous effort though this is not just a parody and there’s no straight piss-taking, instead it’s a carefully crafted homage, celebrating as well as hamming up the conventions of films obviously held dearly, though with at least a vaguely wry smile, by the filmmakers.
School for Scoundrels
2007
Todd Phillips
Jon Heder, eh? The Napoleon Dynamite (2004) star has been lumbered in uninspiring copycat roles since his breakout success and here’s another one. Despite co-starring Billy Bob Thornton and having Todd ‘Old School’ Phillips at the helm, there was barely even one memorable moment.
Satan (Sheitan)
2006
Kim Chapiron
Kim Chapiron’s debut feature is an engaging one, no mean feat when considering that the premise is of city folks going to the country only to encounter some unnatural types and situations on the weird and nasty side of normal — a story which has oft been trodden out and, in works like Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972), The Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven, 1977) and Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971), hit some impressive highs. Chapiron’s tale is obviously influenced by these and the similar yet crafts a modern feature with some distinctive characteristics and impressive twists.
Epic Movie
2007
Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
If someone out there has written a thesis or considers themselves an expert in ‘epic movies’, I ask on behalf of film fans everywhere: explain to Friedberg and Seltzer what an ‘epic movie’ really is, because they have no idea. A more accurate title for this would be something like Blockbuster Movie to describe the majority of the spoofs here, or Epicly Bad Movie to describe its (lack of) quality.
Blood Diamond
2006
Edward Zwick
A blockbuster action film with a political message, Blood Diamond is the kind of popcorn movie that wants to make you think not just on your way back to the car but also when you visit a jewellers. Its incisive commentary on the African conflict diamond trade blended with fast-paced chases, shoot-outs and a high level of mistrust ensure you are entertained as well as educated.
Babel
2006
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Are barriers of language and nationality forcing us all apart and making us disconnected from others? Acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu believes we are with Babel, inspired by the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel which was built by mankind seeking to reach unto Heaven. Angering God, he destroyed the tower and forced us to speak different languages — ultimately scattering us across the planet. Inarritu wants us to see the confusion caused the lack of cross-cultural understanding and does so in a heartbreaking yet frustrating fusion of four narratives.
Old Joy
2007
Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt’s award winner and festival favourite Old Joy is a triumph of minimalism, a near sublime amble into a relationship between two old friends via the gorgeous surroundings of Oregon’s Cascade mountain range. Its bare narrative is presented softly and smoothly, in fact the film is almost an essay on subtlety.
The Fountain
2006
Darren Aronofsky
I’m sure you’ve all heard the critics slate The Fountain, suggesting it is writer/director Darren Aronofky’s folly and booing it at the Venice Film Festival world premiere. Harsh reviews may have done irreparable damage to its reputation, yet a more accurate indication to its quality is the 10-minute standing ovation that met it at the close of the public performance at the Venice festival. The Fountain is an exceptional piece of cinema aiming to be true to a vision rather than pander to those unwilling to engage with it on every level.
The Illusionist
2006
Neil Burger
Neil Burger’s first project since his interesting debut Interview With The Assassin back in 2002 is a artistically directed piece of intrigue and romanticism, bringing, after The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006) magic once agin to the fore of our cinema screens. Based on Stephen Millhauser’s short story, the film is a period piece shot through a period lens — the story taking place in Vienna at the turn of the century and being made to look like that through various filters and effects — soft focuses, sepia tones and irises — sometimes giving a similar feel to John Huston’s literally artistic portrayal of Toulouse Lautrec in turn of the century Paris — Moulin Rouge (1952).
The Pursuit of Happyness
2006
Gabriele Muccino
Writing this post-Oscar nominations, you will probably be aware that star Will Smith has scored his second nomination for Best Actor. He first was for an impressive portrait of Muhammad Ali in Michael Mann’s Ali (2001) and is again in line for one of those golden statuettes with The Pursuit of Happyness, a depressing yet uplifting true tale of one man’s bid to break free of a life going nowhere fast and see out a seemingly impossible dream.
Rocky Balboa
2007
Sylvester Stallone
Seventeen years ago we all thought Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) had put the veteran screen fighter out for the count. A lame story about Rocky taking fighter Tommy “Machine” Gunn (Tommy Morrison) under his wing and culminating in a street fight climax was a knock out blow to the franchise. No one thought Rocky would be making a comeback. Yet, to many people’s amazement and the joy of many others, here he is back in the ring for what probably will be the last round.
Smokin' Aces
2007
Joe Carnahan
After the gritty and gripping cop thriller Narc in 2002, writer/director Joe Carnahan was looking like hot property. He was signed onto Mission: Impossible 3, but left due to creative differences with star Tom Cruise to make Smokin’ Aces with full control. I, for one, was relieved he was holding true to his beliefs…until I saw this disjointed and rather self-indulgent sub-Tarantino tosh.
Ghosts
2007
Nick Broomfield
There are more than three million migrant workers living and working in Britain today, in key roles on which our economy depends yet with no rights or protection. Ghosts documents the harrowing experiences many of these face — forced into near-slave labour to fill our supermarket shelves for little reward. Although fictional, it is based on fact and the tragedy of Morecombe Bay when 23 Chinese workers lost their lives cockling in February 2004.
Apocalypto
2006
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson angered plenty of people when he released The Passion of The Christ back in 2004. It was expected to be a flop by many as not only was it a brutal piece of cinema on a controversial subject, it also relied on subtitles as it was shot in Aramaic and Hebrew. Yet it grossed millions. Even so, eyebrows were raised once when Gibson announced his next directing project would be a foreign-language epic about the Mayan civilization. But this is not another historical lesson; rather it is a blockbuster action film. Placing emphasis once again on visual imagery and human defiance, the links with the Mayan civilisation are just the basis for a kidnap-escape-chase movie. On those terms, it is excellent popcorn fare.
Black Book
2006
Paul Verhoeven
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, best known for Hollywood action spectaculars such as Robocop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997) as well as the flesh-filled Basic Instinct (1992) and Showgirls (1995), marks his return to the Netherlands with an intelligent and gripping World War Two drama. Set against the dying months of the war, Black Book is a fast-paced thriller about young Jewish singer Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) who joins the Resistance in The Hague after her parents are brutally murdered in front of her. Verhoeven clearly wanted to produce something special after the 23-year wait for him to produce another Dutch film, and the great news is this is one of his most accomplished pieces of work.
Flags of Our Fathers
2006
Clint Eastwood
Fresh from winning an Oscar with Million Dollar Baby (2005), Clint Eastwood turns his attention to historical drama with two films about The Battle of Iwo Jima. This first release tells the American side of the fight through an examination of the famous flag-raising photograph which came to symbolise a nation on the verge of victory. The reality of the shot was very different: it was not the first flag to be raised, the battle continued to rage long after it was taken and the resulting publicity was primarily used to raise war bonds for the cash-strapped American armed forces during World War II.
Night at the Museum
2006
Shawn Levy
Family entertainment usually falls into two categories: fun for all or fun for only those young enough to ignore leaps of logic, pacing and character. Sadly, Night at the Museum, despite all its effort to win over the adults with it’s “A” grade comic actors, will be remembered by the children more interested in CGI trickery including a dinosaur made completely out of bones.
Black Christmas
2006
Glen Morgan
It is Christmas Day and a group of sorority sisters are gearing up for their seasonal celebrations at their house — but so is Billy Lenz (Robert Mann). He used to live at the house with his parents, where he was locked in the attic for years. One day he broke out, murdered his parents and got locked up at an asylum. Now he wants to come home for Christmas…and carry on where he left off.
Scoop
2006
Woody Allen
Eyes perhaps tired of Woody Allen over the years were ignited with a fresh enthusiasm over Match Point, a welcome return to top form after a track record which had been somewhat mixed of late. The veteran director is essentially a comic though and so after this more serious filmmaking effort, the audience’s reinvigorated eyes looked towards a return to humour, and to the lofty heights of classics such as Annie Hall and Manhattan. And so we have Scoop — full of promise: again filmed in London, capitalising on this successful change in Allen’s previous film, and again starring Scarlett Johansson — but after this build up how does it fare?
The Covenant
2006
Renny Harlin
Director Renny Harlin follows up the terrible The Exorcist: The Beginning with another no-brains movie: horror/action hybrid The Covenant. Its mix of typical late teen school life and mystical mumblings about ‘The Power’ are about as exciting as after school detention. You really will think you did something wrong to deserve to be put through this dire piece of work.
Stranger Than Fiction
2006
Marc Forster
What would it be like if your life was the subject of a novel being written, and you could hear every word as it was being typed? Government taxman Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) wakes up one day to exactly that: an all-knowing narrator perfectly describing his actions to only him.
Jackass: Number Two
2006
Jeff Tremaine
You may recall in my Dirty Sanchez: The Movie (Jim Hickey, 2006) review that I said I hoped the Jackass boys could do better stunts and pranks with their second offering than the MTV Europe guys managed with their debut. Thankfully they have, avoiding the general reliance on bodily fluids and nastiness in favour of a frat pack flavour that ensures much hilarity ensues.
Pan's Labyrinth
2006
Guillermo Del Toro
Pan’s Labyrinth marks the third effort of Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro’s 1940 Spanish-based films and is a much welcome return to his more substantial ‘art-house’ film flavourings after Hollywood efforts Mimic (1997), Blade 2 (2002) and more recently Hell Boy (2004).
Casino Royale
2006
Martin Campbell
Bond is back and he is better than ever, if you listen to the hype and the advanced publicity. Has Daniel Craig really managed to stick two fingers up at the doubters by turning in a debut Bond performance to match Pierce Brosnan’s excellent first outing GoldenEye(Martin Campbell, 1995)?
The Prestige
2006
Christopher Nolan
Director Christopher Nolan follows up last year’s Batman Begins with a period piece about two Englsih magicians battling it out to learn each other’s secrets and perform the most amazing trick: ‘The Transported Man’.
The Break Up
2006
Peyton Reed
A break up can be the source of brilliant, moving and heartbreaking drama, as Neil Jordan’s wonderful The End Of The Affair (1999) proves, but there is absolutely nothing innovative, entertaining or sympathetic about watching two pricks arguing about lemons and behaving in such a fucking despicable way. If you’re planning on seeing The Break Up I suggest you go home and piss in your partner’s shoes because you’ll have an equally shit time without having to pay for the privilege. An absolute travesty.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006
Larry Charles
What must be one of the most-hyped comedies ever finally hits screens with what may come as a surprise — believe the hype. Borat could never surpass expectations as they have been built so high due to close on overexposure across the world. It at least meets the expectations as we witness Sacha Baron Cohen’s fake Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev get sent to America to research its culture and improve his own country. While the Kazakhstan government may have been up in arms about the way it was perhaps unfairly portrayed in the trailer, Borat is far more subversive towards American culture than any made-up facts about Kazakhstan.
Saw III
2006
Darren Lynn Bousman
The annual Halloween treat of another set of Jigsaw’s tricks brings more grizzly deaths to the mega popular shock horror series. Tobin Bell returns as the game of death mastermind, ready to set his victims with the choice of a horrible death or the pain of survival by inflicting hurt on themselves. But he is not alone in his schemes. Still joined by former victim Amanda (Shawnee Smith), he brings one of his most elaborate schemes ever to fruition — one that places even his fate in the balance.
The Grudge 2
2006
Takashi Shimizu
I really have had enough of these Hollywood Japanese horror remakes, and Hollywood horror in general actually. There seems to be a never-ending torrent of bland drivel on a monthly basis with each offering eating into my sanity, as I sit through another 90 minute slog of well-worn plot contrivances. At least Freddy vs Jason (Ronny Yu, 2003) had the decency to throw in a bit of fun as two of the most overused characters dueled it out for the finale. Grudge 2, on the other hand, barely makes any attempt to be original or new either within the confines of the franchise or the perception of Japanese horror. As long as there is a grey girl showing up in creepy places unable to walk in a straight line we are supposed to be scared. Well, those producers need to realise that while we all lapped up what was new in The Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998), the original that is, has fast become one of the most roll-eye inducing moments in modern horror history.
London To Brighton
2006
Paul Andrew Williams
Hailed as one of the highlights of the Edinburgh Film Festival this year, first time feature writer/director Paul Andrew Williams has crafted an uncompromising urban thriller in London to Brighton. A seedy tale of revenge set in the back street underground, it sees badly beaten London prostitute Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) flee with 11-year-old Joanne (Georgia Groome) to Brighton with her pimp Derek (Johnny Harris) in hot pursuit. As the exact events of the night before unfold through a fractured narrative and flashback, it is revealed millionaire paedophile Duncan Allen (Alexander Morton) and his cold and brutal son Stuart (Sam Spruell) have fuelled the search for the two girls. It won’t be a happy reunion.
Accepted
2006
Steve Pink
What do you do when you don’t get accepted by any college you apply for? Well, start your own, of course! That is the set up for the latest American teen comedy, and you’ll forgive me for not jumping for joy as I sat down to watch this sometimes ludicrous offering.
The Departed
2006
Martin Scorcese
When a Martin Scorcese film comes around, you sit up and take notice. When a Scrocese picture with Robert De Niro was released, it was like being treated to a extra Christmas. So what about a Scorcese movie with the legendary sinister smile of Jack Nicholson? Well The Departed treats us to ol’ Jack at his nastiest best — a mob boss with an devilish attitude, and the perfect subject for Scorcese’s specialist topic: gangsters.
World Trade Center
2006
Oliver Stone
Following the critical praise that met the first film about 9/11, United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006), many predicted that Oliver Stone would deliver a heavy-handed and inappropriate interpretation of the tragic events. Having built his reputation on flamboyant and politically-charged work it seemed these would be reasonable assumptions given the sensitivity of Word Trade Center.
Children of Men
2006
Alfonso Cuaron
In the year 2027 all women have become infertile and the world’s youngest person, 18-year-old “Baby” Diego, has just died. With the global population slowly dying out there are no children for adults to care for and schools are abandoned shells. In England, the setting for Children of Men, refugee camps hold all those who are not British as the country tries to retain some form of structure while other nations have given up hope completely. There are rumours of a group called The Human Project that is seeking a solution to the problem away from the public eye, or any official existence. But when Theodore Faron (Clive Owen) is asked for help by ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), he becomes embroiled in a mission that may offer a future for the human race: the delivery of 8-month pregnant girl Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) to The Human Project.
The Black Dahlia
2006
Brian De Palma
Once upon a time in Hollywood, Brian De Palma was a cutting edge director favouring the gritty and stylish with offering such as Scarface (1983)and The Untouchables (1987). More recently he has struggled to find a project with the same conviction. Snakes Eyes (1998) and Mission to Mars (1999) were largely ineffectual and confirmed a downturn in quality that suggested he may never replicate the form he showed earlier in his career. The Black Dahlia offers de Palma a chance to prove the critics wrong be returning to the crime capers he once so effortlessly brought to celluloid. Based on a James Ellroy novel that uses the murder of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Short in 1947 as its foundation, this has a similarly classic film noir tone to one of the best Ellroy adaptations, LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). However, heavy handedness proves to be its downfall.
Click
2006
Frank Coraci
One day on a search for a universal remote controller to make his life that little bit easier Michael comes across a bizarre company specialising in the most up to date experimental technology, run but a scientist called Morty (Christopher Walken). Morty takes pity on Michael’s hectic life and gives him a remote control that he can use to revisit moments of his past, pause time or skip right through the everyday tedium and concentrate on the good times. However whilst it’s all fun and games to begin with, the remote control develops a life of its own and problems quickly start to arrive.
Dirty Sanchez: The Movie
2006
Jim Hickey
If challenging your mates to, say, tattooing phrases only normally found scrawled on school desks to their bodies and then drinking beer laced with fag butts is your regular source of entertainment, then Dirty Sanchez: The Movie is sure to be like a night out down the pub. Crude, crass and almost unwatchable at times, it occupies a strange position as a cinematic release that is probably only comparable to Jackass: The Movie (Jeff Tremaine, 2002).
The Queen
2006
Stephen Frears
It also offers an suggestion as to the communications Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), the new Prime Minister at the time, had with Queen Elizabeth (Helen Mirren). While it never tries to pretend that it is an accurate work of non-fiction, The Queen is an intriguing affair mixing light hearted humour with drama and the facts of the British public’s frustration with its silent monarch.
Clerks 2
2006
Kevin Smith
Shortly after the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) Kevin Smith shocked fans by announcing that he was never going to make a film starring Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) again. The he made Jersey Girl (2004). Now Smith is back, doing what he does best and attempting to make up for his most disappointing film yet by giving the fans what they want and returning to his much loved indie debut, Clerks (1994).
Little Miss Sunshine
2006
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
“Everyone pretend to be normal” Richard (Greg Kinnear) shouts to his family as they await the attention of a police officer at the roadside — a line that will have you in stitches by the time you have seen the often too real depiction of a family on the verge of meltdown. Little Miss Sunshine provides us with a view of the hopes and (some-already shattered) dreams of the Hoovers’ as they attempt a 800-mile drive to get seven-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California. There are the usual fractured domestic problems, but they are handled so well and with a close attention to detail that this American indie comedy has become the highlight of the late summer.
Snakes on a Plane
2006
David R. Ellis
After all the hype from the internet Snakes on a Plane finally took off in the hope of box office glory to rival The Blair Witch Project’s (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999) lucrative result when it was the focus of similar media attention. Well it failed miserably, landing the number one spot in key territories such as America and the UK, but no where near the blockbuster status many were predicting. The reason? Perhaps because when you take away the enthusiastic talk from this B-movie with two good ideas, that is exactly what it is: a B-movie with two good ideas stretched out across its runtime. One, have snakes attack people on a plane. Two, get Samuel L. Jackson to swear the best way he can following months of demand from the said internet hype. The fact that one of the best things about this film came from those eagerly anticipating the film, rather than the makers themselves, gives some idea as to how much of a missed opportunity Snakes on a Planeended up.
Crank
2006
Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
High concept is flavour of the season at the box office with Crank following in the path of Snakes on a Plane’s simple yet amusing set-up. Crank sees everyones’ favourite action hitman Jason Statham as gun-for-hire Chev Chelios who is injected with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops to a restful pace. Cue a relentless pursuit of adrenalin pumping chases, crashes and gunfights as Chev tries to call his doctor for an antidote, save his girlfriend from the gangsters on his trail and get revenge.
Miami Vice
2006
Michael Mann
After an undercover FBI drugs bust goes horribly wrong, Detectives James ‘Sonny’ Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jaime Foxx) of the Miami police department receive a phone call from an old friend in serious trouble. Having been exposed by a leak in one of the FBI’s many subdivisions, they find their contact has given up all knowledge of any undercover operations to an extremely well-informed gang of Aryan drug pushers holding his wife hostage. Of course, the contact and his wife quickly end up dead and the FBI is left with a completely uncovered operation. As they are unaffiliated with the FBI, Sonny and Ricardo therefore take it upon themselves to impersonate drug runners, infiltrate the drugs cartel, expose the leak and take the bastards down.
Superman Returns
2006
Bryan Singer
As one of the biggest releases of 2006, Superman Returns had both the reputation of the previous films to live up to and a need to bring in fresh ideas in the face of more recent spin-offs The New Adventres of Superman and Smallville. With Bryan Singer at the helm, the man who brought us The Usual Suspects (1995) and introduced cinemagoers to the world of X-Men (1999), there was every reason to be confident.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2006
Gore Verbinski
Yes Captain Jack Sparrow (Johhny Depp) is back, reprising his humourous, Oscar nominated role along with Orlando Bloom’s bland hero Will Turner and Keira Knightley’s spunky heroine Elizabeht Swann for the second film of what will be the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Dead Man’s Chest places the trio in another high seas adventure in which Sparrow is trying to locate the aforementioned dead man’s chest which will allow him to avoid repaying a blood dept the villain of the piece, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).
Fearless
2006
Ronny Yu
Supposedly Jet Li’s final martial arts ‘epic’, Fearless attempts to build on the success of Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002) and House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004), combining the Chinese history lesson of the former with the Eastern traditions of the latter through carefully choreographed fight sequences.
2001 Maniacs
2005
Tim Sullivan
Anderson (Jay Gillespie), Corey (Matthew Carey) and Nelson (Dylan Edrington) are three lazy students preparing to head down to Dayton Beach to celebrate spring break. However, in their last lecture they are pulled to one side and informed by their tutor that for slacking they must complete a stunning assignment on the American civil war or get kicked out of college. Of course this bares no relevance to their spring break but ironically the students find themselves and six other people as ‘northern’ guests of honour at a quaint guts and glory five day festival in the small out of the way town called Pleasant Valley after taking a detour from the main road. Unbeknownst to the crew however, Pleasant Valley is actually a ghost town and the sinister Mayor Buckman (Robert Englund) and his wife (Lin Shay) plan to murder the nine youngsters in retribution for the Union Army destroying their town in a civil war massacre of 1865.
The Cave of The Yellow Dog
2006
Byambasuren Davaa
In many ways The Cave of the Yellow Dog is a similar foray to The Weeping Camel: the focus looks back to Davaa’s native Mongolia, at a nomadic family, and uses a mix of documentary and drama — the film naturalistically shoots the family in their everyday life, although the story that unfolds within this appears more fictive, but only slightly. Soon into the film the camera follows the older daughter Namsaa and as she leaves the home one day on a mission to get dung for the fire, though becoming distracted and finding a stray dog alone in a cave. Adopting the animal she names it Zochor (which translates as Spot!) and takes it home, although her father tells her it can’t stay, believing it to be partly responsible for the killing of some of their sheep. From here onwards the film offers poignant insight into the life of the family through following their relationship with the dog.
Thank You for Smoking
2006
Jason Reitman
Could you like a man who protected the interests of big tobacco companies by hiding the true harm cigarettes can do to your body behind a smokescreen of complex statistics and clever comparisons? Well in Thank You for Smoking Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is that person — and you will like him! For Jason Reitman’s debut feature he has turned Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel of the same name into a contemporary and very funny satire on one of the most popular vices of the world: smoking and the lobbying needed to keep it an active leisure pastime of the masses. It does not stop there, though, as there are digs at numerous other big business strategies that seek to delude us everyday.
Hard Candy
2006
David Slade
Hard Candy has been knocking around since 2005 when it was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January and then at the Cannes Film Market. With its contentious subject of paedophilia, it has been pushed on some shores as a challenging psychological thriller that will shock and keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The sad fact is that the use of a paedophile as the focal point of the film could easily be substituted for a serial killer: this is not as cutting edge as the makers would have you believe.
The Omen
2006
John Moore
As the list of horror remakes grows ever longer, each new version of a classic is going to need some kind of spin on why it is being remade as it is getting a little tiring paying to see films you have seen before. For The Omen the marketing push has been the date it was released: June 6th, 2006 or 6/6/6 to give it the significance the money men need it to have. Just as the date suggested the rising of the devil, so we have a remake of the film about the devil’s son being raised by an American family. What lets it down is the neglect for making the project into something relevant to today’s audience other than a date.
Poseidon
2006
Wolfgang Petersen
Director Wolfgang Petersen’s latest entry in the territory of Hollywood blockbusters that have served him so well during his years working in America is a return to the sea-based disater film with which he stormed the box office with The Perfect Storm in 2000. Then the story was based on a true account of a terrible storm trashing a fishing boat and Petersen effectively generated some empathy for the doomed sailors. Now, for Poseidon, the story has also been told already: in the form of 1972 Oscar-winner The Poseidon Adventure (Ronald Neame). However, Petersen fails to provide much excitement this time, preferring to serve up an increasingly dull series of set-pieces and an even duller selection of heroes.
X-Men: The Last Stand
2006
Brett Ratner
It’s fair to say The Last Stand has become one of the most divisive films in recent years. The absence of series director Bryan Singer (who could not resist absconding to direct his dream project Superman Returns (2006)) and the rumour of one or two shock twists has lead to a mixture of apprehension and excitement. Now that the film has arrived, it continues to split general audiences and fanboys alike in much the same way as the arrival of a miracle mutant cure has divided the characters in the story. The result leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth. There is much to enjoy, but for every riveting action sequence and nifty special effect, there is an abandoned storyline or the sidelining of a character we had grown attached to.
Mission: Impossible 3
2006
J. J. Abrams
Finally, J. J. Abrams was announced, which most of us thought was, well, nice. His creation of TV hits like Lost and Alias may have boded well for those of us who wanted a return to the complex, gadget-filled, super-spy antics of the original, but he was far from a tried and tested director. More good news was to come, however, in the shape of an excellent trailer and the announcement of a superb supporting cast including Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishbourne, Billy Crudup (Big Fish (Tim Burton, 2003)), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point (Woody Allen, 2006)), Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)) and (mouth-wateringly) Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the villain.
All the elements seemed to be in place: the return of an actual IMF team sorely lacking from M:I 2, the promise of a complex plot with the presence of Abrams and, as evidenced in the trailer, an upping in the action stakes. And has it all paid off? Mostly, it certainly has.
United 93
2006
Paul Greengrass
Why are people so scared of Paul Greengrass’ United 93? Are they afraid of being confronted with the painful memory of the terrorist strikes on September 11, 2001? Are they anxious that it’s going to pledge allegiance to political agendas not their own? Are they concerned it’s going to distort the facts surrounding the day more than the government and media already have? I was, for the most part, worried that it’s going to be a bad Hollywood movie, capitalizing on the tragedy of the worst day in recent American history.
Silent Hill
2006
Christophe Gans
Horror has become the genre of choice for many production companies as the movies do not cost a lot to make, yet have the potential to earn big bucks from bloodthirsty teen audiences. Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005), Saw II (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005) saw sub-$5 million investments balloon into $50 million and nearly $100 million returns in the States alone so it is the wise man’s choice to make a fast dollar or two. So Silent Hill’s $50 million budget might seem reasonable when you consider that it is a popular video game adaptation with an excellent premise and in the horror genre. It is all a case of what could have been.
Lassie
2005
Charles Sturridge
Fresh from the tired mind of writer/director Peter Sturridge bounds Lassie, yet another remake of an old TV series attempting to cash in on the nostalgia of old audiences and in doing so creating new audiences in the younger generations. However, veering away from the original American TV series Lassie is given an English makeover as the loyal dog of Joe (Jonathan Mason), a 1930’s Yorkshire lad who’s father has just lost his job in the coal mines.
American Dreamz
2006
Paul Weitz
Writer/director Paul Weitz takes a swipe at the ego-inducing producers of reality television and the incompetence of a certain Whitehouse resident in this satire that is as composed as arriving at a funeral in your underwear, and then finding you were at the wrong funeral in the first place. Dreamz simply takes the most obvious references to popular culture today and feeds it into a blender to create a messy, confusing and downright unfunny picture.
Scary Movie 4
2006
David Zucker
When the Wayans brothers ran out of steam after Scary Movie 2 (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2001), it was left to new writers and director David Zucker of Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker) to inject some life into the franchise. They certainly did, bringing in just over $110 million at the US box office alone, and now return for more of the direct parodying of recent horror hits and Hollywood blockbusters the last film favoured over spoofing golden oldies.
The Ordeal (Calvaire)
2004
Fabrice Du Welz
Laurent Lucas plays Marc, a talented singer/performer who has a strange allure over the women in his audience, a gift that tends to present him with more problems than benefits. After performing a show in Southern France he travels down to his next venue for Christmas, only to find his truck breaking down on a lonely road in the deep South. Fortunately he comes across local dimwit Boris (Jean Luc Couchard) who takes him to a nearby inn run by Bartel (Jackie Berroyer). Marc then finds himself stuck at the inn for a few days with the simple warning never to go down into the village.
She's the Man
2006
Andy Fickman
A teen comedy adaptation of William Shakespeare’s gender-bender Twelfth Night may seem like an accident waiting to happen but, fortunately for She’s the Man, the light-hearted comedy capers will raise the same faint smile as the daft title. In this modernisation, hot shot footballer Viola (Amanda Bynes) arrives at school to discover her team has been cut due to a lack of interest from the girls. Since her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) will be away for the first two weeks at his new boarding school, Viola gets a male makeover to try out for the boys football team at Sebastian’s school. If that is not complicated enough, Viola falls for her unknowing roommate Duke (Channing Tatum) who is in love with a girl that fancies Viola-as-brother-Sebastian. Misunderstandings abound in this silly but amusing fluff.
Basic Instinct 2
2006
Michael Caton-Jones
Here it is then, the sequel that Sharon Stone’s career has been screaming out for, to get her back in the headlines and cinemagoers back into the cinemas. Well this is definately the biggest release since the acclaimed Casino (Martin Scorcese, 1995) but the impact on her credibility is more likely to resemble that of her recent disaster Catwoman (Pitof, 2004).
Tsotsi
2005
Gavin Hood
Tsotsi is not director Gavin Hood’s first film, although it’s probably the only reason most of us have heard of him. The South African film just won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, which makes it small fry no longer and stamps a fairly high expectation on it. Unfortunately an expectation a little too high. The film is by no means bad in fact it can be engaging, it just seems to lack something like a real message instead choosing to meander around through several ideas with no real definition.
Inside Man
2006
Spike Lee
Race is always brought to the fore in a Spike Lee film, however with Inside Man his talents for telling often very personal stories are mapped onto a genre movie to make what would have been a routine heist thriller into a more engaging tale that crosses ethnic border without getting bogged down with moral messages. It is, after all, aimed to be thrilling.
V for Vendetta
2006
James McTeigue
Hollywood got political last year with several ‘serious’ films that went on to win Oscar recognition. V for Vendetta binds the political with action, but was denied a release alongside such thought-provoking hits such as Syriana (Stephen Gaghan) and Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney) when its November release was delayed, rumoured to be because of the London bombings in July. Its narrative use of Guy Fawkes and the gun powder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament were perhaps too contensious so soon after the London terrorist attacks — certainly disappointing for the marketing department. While that may have been cause for concern for the distributors, what should also have been preying on their minds was how silly the whole film is even if its graphic novel roots are taken into account.
The Hills Have Eyes
2006
Alexandre Aja
Horror lends itself to being remade over the years with sequels, remakes and spoofs continually rehashing the same material over and over again because it is still finding a relatively popular place among audiences. The Ring and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are two of the more distinguished horror films that have been remade recently, and now Wes Craven’s 1977 ‘classic’ gets a new lease of life. Should this be an exercise actively encouraged at the cinema? Well if its aim is to supply gore fans with a regular dose of blood and axes to the head that keeps them happy, The Hills Have Eyes is fulfilling a worthy tradition.
The Proposition
2006
John Hillcoat
Unapologetically confronting its history head-on, this “Australian Western” (as it has been termed) takes a classic age-old dilema (a man has to kill his older brother in order to save his younger sibling) and plants it on the backdrop of racial tension and the fragile formulation of Australian identity. Consequently, director Hillcoat and writer Nick “Bad Seeds” Cave (who previously collaborated on Ghosts of The Civil Dead (1988) have fashioned a superb rendering of the time with a totally engaging story and refreshingly subtle characters.
Syriana
2005
Stephen Gaghan
Political films have become all the rage in Hollywood recently with The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 2005) and Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, 2005) finding popularity among audiences and winning over critics with their portrayals of politicians doing wrong. Here Clooney is again involved in a film that tackles the subject of the oil industry and the corrupt attempts by big corporations and governments to control the extraction and distribution of oil from the Middle East. Based on a non-fiction novel by Robert Baer, writer/director Stephen Gaghan has swapped the truth for fiction in what becomes a interesting but vaguely unsatisfying movie that fails to achieve what it seems to want to do.
The Weatherman
2005
Gore Verbinski
After being roped into the hugely successful action based glamorama that is Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), soon to be the Pirates trilogy, it makes a thoroughly nice change that director Gore Verbinski should take time out of his busy schedule to make a strange, quirky and lower budget indie film that seeks to impress by content rather than charming good looks and minimal narrative.
Lucky Number Slevin
2006
Paul McGuigan
Well, Lucky Number Slevin avoids that well-trodden road in favour of the twisty, mistaken identity story, but seems to have learnt from Ritchie’s mistakes. In effect, it bends over backwards to help the viewer understand the plot intricasies that you would be forgiven for thinking that maybe it trying too hard to win approval. It is that darn nice.
Good Night, and Good Luck
2005
George Clooney
Anyone familiar with the Senator Joseph P. McCarthy era of the ‘Red Scare’ in America during the Cold War will be aware of the tension his witchhunt against Communists caused. As America battled out a war of political manoeuvring with Russia after World War II, at home the main cause for concern was the activities of possible Communists attempting to disrupt the American way of life and overthrow its Capitalist ideology. In hindsight there was no real threat from these ‘Reds’, but at the time scaremongering had made it practically illegal to be a Communist in America.
Lady Vengeance
2006
Park Chan-Wook
Park Chan-Wook is probably the hottest name in world cinema right now. The South Korean director made it big in his own country with the record-breaking Joint Security Area in 2000, an engaging effort about the no man’s land between the two very different Koreas. He then began his revenge trilogy in 2002 with Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, before astonishing the world (and collecting a Palme D’Or at Cannes) for his next offering, 2004’s Old Boy, a film so original that critics and fans the world over immediately split their popcorn and sat up sharply in their seats.
Final Destination 3
2006
James Wong
The film series with the inventive grisly deaths returns for a third outing, this time involving a group of high school students who cheat death by not riding a rollercoaster that subsequently crashes and kills their classmates. Soon death comes knocking at each survivor’s door — in the order they were sitting on the ride.
Munich
2006
Steven Spielberg
Munich is in bare basics, a hit-man film, and a relatively bog standard one that has somehow achieved credibility through veiling itself in some kind of historical and political significance. Spielberg is undoubtedly one of the most successful directors in Hollywood, regularly overtaking the golden $100 million in the box office, usually as a result of his predilection for High Concept storylines that can be written on the back of your hand and quickly and simply absorbed by the masses.
Walk The Line
2005
James Mangold
John R. ‘Johnny’ Cash is one of the biggest figures in the history of popular music and the biopic Walk The Line from director James Mangold (Cop Land (1997) and Girl, Interrupted (1999)) offers all the highs and lows of the most spectacular emotional rollercoaster, with both Johnny Cash’s rise from farmland to stardom, and the twisted love story of Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) put to screen to great effect.
A Cock and Bull Story
2005
Michael Winterbottom
Director Michael Winterbottom is not one to shy away from the unconventional or unexpected, in fact you could say that to expect anything apart from something different when a new Winterbottom project is announced is slightly misguided. And after David Cronenberg’s The Naked Lunch (1991) and Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) among others, Winterbottom has now turned his hand to putting a classic ‘un-filmable’ novel to celluloid, in this case Laurence Sterne’s canonical The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
March of the Penguins
2005
Luc Jeunet
Its nature-documentary format allowed it to travel from its native France to a worldwide audience, on a journey far longer than that of its protagonists, with different narrators recording commentaries for different countries. The English-speaking world was treated to the gentle, soothing tones of Morgan Freeman — a choice which complimented the film perfectly.
Brokeback Mountain
2005
Ang Lee
It is a film in which every scene and sequence has meaning and every moment counts towards a later revelation or character motivation. Attention has been drawn to its central love affair between two men, but to allow that to preclude any judgement on the film would be to attribute controversies which needn’t exist. Rather, this is a superb rendering of a time and a place through image and thematic recollection.
Russian Ark
2002
Aleksandr Sokurov
What follows is a biopic of around three epochs from the seventeenth century onwards. There are portrayals of some ceremonies that occured during their respective epoch, and every prolific character that had a say in the bizarre history of Tsarist Russia and beyond is featured
Fun With Dick and Jane
2006
Dean Parisot
This remake of a George Segal/Jane Fonda caper film of the same name sees a yuppie American couple turn to crime to fund their high-spending lifestyle when they lose their jobs. Step up Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni to fill the roles of Dick and Jane Harper in what becomes a generally enjoyable comedy, even if it is short on morals and clarity of focus.
Underworld: Evolution
2006
Len Wiseman
Vampires and werewolfs: are they really an exciting subject for movies? Well, if they are Nosferatu(F.W. Murnau, 1922) or An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981) then maybe so. If a filmmaker can be bothered to inject some life into the characters and make us care about them then bring me a library full.
Jarhead
2006
Sam Mendes
The pointlessness of war is a continuing debate with the war on terrorism and calls for troops to pull out of Iraq. With Jarhead, the first film to deal with the Gulf War, that debate is foregrounded with a groups of fresh-faced marines signing up and being shipped off a desert war with nothing for them to kill.
Memoirs of a Geisha
2006
Rob Marshall
After the huge success of directing Oscar-winner Chicago (2003), former choreographer Rob Marshall returns with a period drama that demands more than just a series of scenes tied together with elaborate dance routines.
Just Like Heaven
2005
Mark Waters
Love does not get any more sugar coated than Just Like Heaven, a sickly sweet tale of in the vein of Ghost (Jerry Zucker, 1990). David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) moves into his new flat with the hope he can wallow in his own depressive life. Sadly for him, former tenant Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) thinks she still lives there
Hostel
2006
Eli Roth
The first thing that needs to be made clear about Eli Roth’s Hostel is that it is not a horror film; it is a torture film, teetering on the border of being a snuff film. To quote every bad review of a scary movie ever written, “The only truly frightening thing about this movie is that it was made.”
Running Scared
2006
Wayne Kramer
Astonishing in its sheer jaw-dropping randomness, Wayne Kramer’s follow-up to The Cooler (2003) is one of the most violent films in recent years. Scrapping an intriguing p