Breach

Release date: 16 February 2007

While Chris Cooper gives a great performance in this movie based on the true story of the American FBI computer guru, Robert Hanssen, who sold secrets to the Russians for years, I found this movie (yawn) boring. It is capably directed by Billy Ray in a tight, mechanical sort of way and co-stars Ryan Phillippe who's basically there to look pretty and provide some reason for a story. It's proof spy thrillers do need a dead body or three to make things interesting. Hanssen, apparently, in real life was as flat and boring as you see him in the movie, and that, coupled with Ray's decision to film everything in varying shades of greys, doesn't make for much excitement. All that aside, Cooper does a fine job showing us the eccentricity of a supposedly 'good' guy gone bad, even though Ray never let's us understand why he did it.

My rating 5 out of 10.

The Fountain

Release date:4 September 2006 (Venice Film Festival)

Oh boy. Where to start with director Darren Aronofsky's latest work? The films stars Aronofsky's fiance, Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman and moves amid three stories. In the first we have a 16th century Spanish conquistador named Tomas (Jackman) searching for the Tree of Life (that famous tree that Eve plucked the apple from only to have us all fall from Grace). In the second, Thomas (Jackman) is a modern-day scientist trying to find a cure for his terminally-ill wife, Izzy (Weisz) and doing all sorts of odd experiments on a monkey. And a third where Jackman is now a Buddha-like character living in a bubble containing the tree of life. Did I just type that?... In short, while the visuals in the film are gorgeous, the convoluted, pretentious story, ponderous dialogue, and frankly, stupid (yes, stupid) Zen-bit at the end where Aronofsky is trying to achieve his own screen immortality alla Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey fails miserably. And that is probably the best buzzline for this plodding, sorry film: miserable.

My rating 2 out of 10.

No Country for Old Men

Release date: 19 May 2007 (Cannes Film Festival)

This is the Coen brothers latest opus based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. While many viewers will see the rather simple story (brilliantly told) of a rancher who stumbles across dead bodies, a stash of heroin and $2 million dollars in the vast spaces of Texas, the beneath-the-surface stories woven amid this main theme make No Country for Old Men one of the greatest American films in some time. Violent, vastly strange, funny and oh-so-subtle in its messaging about America in her current state, the film is as close to an American masterpiece as you can get. The film stars Javier Bardem (as Anton Chigurh, the creepiest serial killer you'll meet in sometime), Woody Harrelson, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones, all perfectly cast; especially Bardem who should get an Oscar for his role. The Coen's editing and framing of each scene is, in a word, magnificent. In particular I was mesmerized by the scene at the motel in El Paso where Brolin chats to the sunbathing girl at the pool, and the encounter our villain Chigurh has with the gas station attendant near the beginning of the film. While many folks will see these two scenes as simple, and perhaps boring, they are two of the most perfect examples of perfect film-making in some time.

My rating 10 out of 10.

Blades of Glory

Release date: 30 March 2007 (Canada)

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star in this irreverent tale of two single men's figure skating champions who team up as a couple in a pairs competition. Will Speck and Josh Gordon direct this madcap caper that has plenty of laugh-out-loud scenes. As a satire of the figure skating world in America is doesn't quite hit the mark, partly because the figure skating world in America is so befuddled and amusing in itself. That aside, the sheer silliness and zaniness of the film and Ferrell's subtle knack of knowing just how far to go with his usual shtick make this film an amusing ride for a Saturday night after one too many glasses of chardonnay.

My rating 7 out of 10.

3:10 To Yuma

Release date: 6 September 2007 (Russia)

Ah, westerns, gotta love them. Despite our perception this is a dying genre, it has been a big year for them with: 3:10 To Yuma, No Country for Old Men, Sukiyaki Western Django and The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford. Initially, you would think casting an Englishman and a Kiwi in an American Western would be a recipe for disaster but with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the saddles, damn, it works well. The film is based on the short story by Elmore Leonard, and is a remounting of the 1957 film. The 2007 version has James Mangold directing and it's a romp-roaring ride. Poor Dan Evans (Bale) sees himself caught up in escorting the mean and murderous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) with a ragtag group of marshals and deputies (and eventually his son) to the railway town of Contention so Wade can be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma for his hanging. That is essentially the plot but, of course, there's a whole lot more going on here ... all of it brilliantly done. This is Crowe's movie for sure and his self-deprecating approach to playing Ben Wade is a joy to watch. Long live the westerns!

My rating 9 out of 10.

Happy Together (aka Chun gwong cha sit)

Release date: 17 May 1997 (Cannes Film Festival)

While I do adore director Wong Kar-wai's work immensely, his 1997 'classic' Happy Together is more a miss than a hit for me. Gay lovers Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po-Wing (the late Leslie Cheng) head to Argentina from pre-reunion Hong Kong to try and rekindle their failing relationship by visiting the beautiful Iguaza Falls. On the ride there, however, the two argue and break-up setting the stage for the 2 hours that follow as the couple alternate between violent abuse of each other to reuniting to breaking apart again. On the surface, how two men who fight continually can possibly be 'happy together' remains a mystery. The deeper plotline though deals with the ties we create through intimacy with another human, and how those ties are challenged by the baggage, history and natural inclinations we bring as we enter and move through a relationship. Ho is destructive by his nature and adverse to commitment; Lai, nurturing, kind and forgiving. The themes are universal. Where Happy Together fails for me is not so much in the actors, but with the direction. Wong Kar-wai films the story as though it's a music video and while I get what he's trying to do contrasting the men and their histories with the heat and passion of Latin America, I found the juxtaposition too forced.

That said, for its visual feast and assault on the senses and the brilliant acting of two of China's greatest modern day actors, my rating of 7 out of 10.

Away From Her

Release date: 27 April 2007 (UK)

Based on Alice Munroe's short story, "The Bear Came Over The Mountain", this Sarah Polley directed film deals with the story of Fiona (played by the immortally beautiful Julie Christie) and her husband of 44 years, Grant (played oh-so-well by Canadian Gordon Pinsent) as they struggle with Fiona's slide into Alzheimers disease. Within 2 hours Polley reflects on two of life's greatest themes woven beautifully together on several levels. There is a story of loss: the loss of memory, of connections; of partners; and of love. And the greater story of the endurance of love in our golden years and what it means in letting go, in moving on, and in looking back. Olympia Dukakis (as Marian) and Michael Murphy (as Aubrey) give great supporting acting roles as well, and I suspect this film will see Oscar nominations in a month's time.

For perfect performances and showing us retirees as real people, my rating of 8 out of 10.

300

Release date: 9 March 2007 (Canada)

Bloody, sweeping, fascinating (from the motion picture making point of view), and, while historically inaccurate on several levels, 300 is one bold, beautiful movie. I loved it. Directed by Zack Synder and starring a beefed-up and digitally morphed cast of Gerard Butler (as King Leonidas), Domenic West (as Theron) and Lena Headey (as the movie's token female, Queen Gorgo), 300 is graphic novelist's Frank Miller's version of the Spartan's stand against the Persian King, Xerxes, at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE (as done by Hollywood). Shot entirely in bluescreen then digitally enhanced, the film is easily the most original thing - visually - seen this last year. And while it is an archetypal example of style over substance ... my-gawd, such style.

My rating 9 out of 10.