The Descent

Release date: 11 March 2005 (Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films)

Neil Marshall, who directed the excellent, cheeky horror, Dog Soldiers, takes a stab (pardon the pun) at a gaggle of gals who meet gruesome ghouls while spelunking ... and doesn't quite pull it off. Marshall kicks off the film with the death of lead character Sarah's husband that is supposed to have us identify with her loss (it doesn't) and provide the thread on which to construct the caving story that ensues (it does ... though poorly). It also provides Sarah's daughter, little Jessica, some reason to constantly appear (dreamlike) wearing a pretty dress and blowing out birthday cake candles (like huh?!). While you have to give prompts to Marshall for the filming here (there's some great scenes in very tight corners), the ghouls when then finally arrive are just Nosferatu knockoffs. What floored me was Marshall's decision to have Sarah turn vigilante at the end. (Spoiler alert) ... the scene where Sarah hobbles Juno on suspicion she purposely stabbed Beth (or whoever it was ... I was beyond caring) comes out of the blue and is, in a word, stupid. This film is an hour of tiresome plot building that ends with thirty minutes of thrills and is not worth The Descent.

My rating 4 out of 10.

The Believer

Release date: 23 August 2001 (Russia)

Written and directed by Henry Bean, The Believer spins a - frankly - utterly unbelievable story (purportedly inspired by a true story) of a young Jew, Danny Balint (played by the latest 'it' guy - Ryan Gosling) who's turned his back on his jewish heritage and spun headlong into neo-Nazism. While Gosling is brilliant in this film, the supporting crew, and more so, the rather pieced together story riddled with long philosophic ramblings about race and religion, a foiled assassination attempt on a Jewish politician, a (sort of) love story, neo-Nazi training camps and a synagogue desecration just don't add up. What's worse, despite the fine, fine performance by Gosling, Bean ends the film with a redemptive afterthought ... almost as if he got so far in, he suddenly realized, 'oh my, how am I going to get out of this?'. All that said, however, the film is worth a viewing to watch Gosling's excellent performance as an antihero you simultaneously hate to love, and love to hate.

My rating 6 out of 10.

Music Within

Release date: 6 November 2007 (Toronto)

Last Thursday I attended the Toronto premier of Director Stephen Sawalich's film, Music Within, starring Ron Livingston and Michael Sheen. Music Within tells the story of Richard Pimentel, who while not well known in North America, can be credited with bringing people with disabilities, their cause and their issues into the mainstream. His seminal training program, based on his 1981 book Tilting at Windmills, was mandatory training for all bureaucrats in the US government, and his efforts led to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (something which shamefully, Canada has yet to legislate nationally). I wanted to like this movie and think it would have been better served had Sawalich focused less on Pimentel the man and more on what he accomplished. While I appreciated getting to know more about someone who's story rightly needs to be told, I think this film would have done better as a PBS documentary than the Sunday-Night-at-the-Movies plodding film (with plodding storyline and poor production values) it is. Worse, I felt I spent 90-odd minutes hammered by a public service announcement on an issue I already wholly support.

For raising awareness on this issue, my rating 3 out of 10.

Maria Full of Grace

Release date: 2 April 2004 (Columbia)

Directed by Joshua Marston, Maria Full of Grace shows us a sad side of the Columbia drug trafficking story - the use of young women as drug mules. Maria, a pregnant seventeen year-old, fed up with life in her small village supporting her mother and sister on a pittance of a wage de-thorning roses, ends up swallowed (pardon the pun) within the drug world. Soon, we see her and two friends ingesting large pellets of cocaine (in Maria's case sixty-two) then boarding a plane and heading to New York City. What was interesting about this film was how sorry you felt for Maria (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, who garnered a rightful Oscar nomination for her role). The story get meaty as Maria and a surviving friend wander the streets of New York and become integrated into the world that is an illegal immigrant's lot. In the end, with the drugs returned to the dealers, Maria receives her epiphany... and perhaps her grace? Despite the topic and storyline, Maria Full of Grace is a very quiet movie that delivers on character development and plot and is well worth viewing for Moreno's performance and to understand the (warning: preachy moment) evil drugs continue to wreak on South America's poorest peoples.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Beowulf

Release date: 16 November 2007 (USA)

The master of digitalized actors, Robert Zemeckis, directs this retelling of one of the Western world's greatest poems, the Song of Beowulf. Like all good stories of long ago, Beowulf has heroes, monsters, a dragon and curses. If you want a full telling of the tale, visit McMaster University's good site here. The story is a great romping ride of exhilarating excitement on its own. However, what makes this film over-the-top fun is Zemeckis use of performance capture technology where filmed sequences and digitalized animation are woven together to give the film a rich, if creepy, look. Add to this, seeing it in IMAX 3-D and OMG, hold on to your fur-lined caps. I thoroughly loved this film despite its liberties with the story and the bigger-than-Graceland acting by everyone involved: Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins, to name but a few. Special mention to Brendan Gleeson as Wiglaf however. Beowulf is two hours of mossy, thick and rich film adrenaline and should not be missed by anyone who likes a good quest/monster adventure.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Apocalypto

Release date: 8 December 2006 (USA)

Mel, Mel, Mel ... Mel Gibson's latest films all seem to use the same tactics, namely, sickening violence and the focus on one man destined in some manner (usually religious) for 'greatness' within his community. I cite Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ as recent examples. In Apocalypto, Mel takes these two themes to their usual extremes following Jaguar Paw, a young man taken from his forest village and trekked to the Mayan capital to become a human sacrifice to the Gods. Destiny intervenes in the form of an eclipse and thereafter the film becomes the story of Jaguar Paw's odyssey back to save his wife and child, all the while being pursued by his Mayan captures. As a reflection of Mayan history at the time of the conquest, this story is aesthetically accurate and utterly breathtaking in its cinematography. As virtual history, it is hogwash and is simply a setting for the grander story Mel is filming. The violence in the film is horrific on many, many levels and I wonder if the film could have been a 10 out of 10 had Mel reduced it? ... That all said, I would still highly recommend Apocalypto for those of strong stomach who want a glimpse at a world long since gone.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Half Nelson

Release date: 11 August 2006 (USA)

Though Ryan Gosling's performance as the strung out junior high school teacher, Dan Dunne, won him an Academy Award nomination this year, the real star of this film is Shareeka Epps, who plays Drey. When Drey catches Dan smoking crack in the washroom one day a secret bond is formed between them. A bond and story which then carries the movie. Half Nelson is a film about the crash between reality and hope as seen through Teacher Dan's eyes. Caught between his hope to make the world better for the black and hispanic kids in his class and the reality he can't, Dan takes to drugs to find a new reality in which to cope. It is classic stuff and in the hands of director Ryan Fleck is all done quite well. My only problem with the film was Gosling's performance, but perhaps I just don't get the subtlety of his acting? Surely the Academy can't be wrong, right?! Half Nelson also seemed to me one of those films that just goes on and on and on ... and not in a good way.

My rating 5 out of 10.

Blood Diamond

Release date: 8 December 2006 (USA)

Two interlaced love stories masquerade as a hunt for a very rare pink diamond in this great film from director Edward Zwick. The stories centre on Archer (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who realizes all his wrongs as a Zimbadweian ex-mercenary and diamond smuggler when he meets and falls for the lovely American reporter Maddy Bowen (played by Jennifer Connelly), and Solomon Vandy (the always exceptional Djimon Hounsou), who, kidnapped from his family and forced to work in the Sierra Leone diamond mines, uses the love of family to make his way home. Leonardo's laughable Zimbadweian accent and stiff acting aside, Blood Diamond spins a great story that will keep your interest throughout. Watching it made me realize how much I don't want to go to Africa any time soon, mind you.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Address Unknown

Release date: 2 June 2001 (South Korea)

Director Ki-duk Kim's Address Unknown essentially tells is all about the post-Korean War realities of the American presence. Taking place in 1970, it follows the story of three young misfits - the mixed race son of a Korean mother and black American GI, Chang-guk; Jihum, a frail, abused teenager who is fixated on Eunok, a teenage girl with a wonky eye. The lives of these three individuals intertwine as only Korean dramas can. In the end, the violence and discrimination each faces takes its toll, the result: tragedy for each. The problem with this film is its relentless despair ... there are no happy moments, not a one unless you count Eunok's implied masturbation scene with her puppy (which is something else altogether). The other problem is you see it all coming, Ki-duk Kim exercises no subtlety. Dog lovers will also recoil at the brutal scenes of dog cruelty (the film does note no dogs were harmed in the filming). What you're left with is an overwhelming malaise and a clear understanding that the American involvement in Korea has left deep societal scars.

My rating 6 out of 10.