The Indian Runner

Release date: 7 September 1991 (Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto)

The Indian Runner was Sean Penn's first foray into writing and directing and was released way back in 1991. The movie did very poorly at the box office, not surprising as the story of two brothers very different approaches to life is sad and unrelenting. The two brothers - Frank (played by Viggo Mortensen) and Joe (played by David Morse) - simply cannot find common ground to stand on as their history and perspectives on what life is all about clash. The Indian Runner is a complex character driven movie with nary a happy moment. Joe is the town's sheriff and is happily married; Frank is a drifter and clearly still haunted by his time in Vietnam. Joe is at a loss to understand why Frank can't just settle down with his girlfriend (played by Patricia Arquette) and Frank bristles at his brother's constant attempts to rein him into a way of life he just can't accept. Mortensen is outstanding in this film (and I'm not just speaking to the fact we see him in fully frontal nudity. His performance alone makes this difficult film worth a rent.

My rating 7 out of 10

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Release date: 10 March 2008 (SXSW Music and Film Festival, USA)

Nicholas Stoller takes a seat behind the camera as director of this romantic comedy starring Jason Segel (as Peter), Kristen Bell (as the film's namesake) and an oh-my-gawd beautiful Mila Kunis (as Rachel). When Peter is dumped by television star Sarah, he opts to take a trip to Hawaii to mend his soul. Sadly, when he arrives at Turtle Resort his ex, Sarah, is vacationing there with her new boyfriend, a rockstar with zen, Aldous Snow (played by Russell Brand). What ensues is the common fare of such films - awkward run-ins at dinner, a rebound love affair, competitive noisy sex to outdo each other, to name but a few of the devices. While this could be very tiresome (as movies of this ilk usually are), what makes this one work is the ensemble cast of oddities and oddballs that staff the Hawaiian hotel. Forgetting Sarah Marshall will ultimately be a forgettable movie, but there are enough laugh-out-loud moments and gorgeous vistas of Hawaii to make it worth taking a mini-vacation.

My rating 7 out of 10.

La Vie en Rose

Release date: 8 February 2007 (Berlin International Film Festival)

Olivier Dahan directs this fair film made watchable thanks to Marion Cotillard's fine (and Academy Award winning) performance as the chantress with demons, Edit Piaf. The film traces Edith's life from her grimy childhood as the daughter of an acrobat, to her worldwide success, to her sad, lonely death at a very young forty-nine. Dahan uses a nonlinear approach cartwheeling between the young Edith living in her mother's bordello to her bedridden, morphine riddled older self. A technique which I found bothersome/annoying (take your pick). La Vie en Rose, however, is ripe with the gorgeous, unmistakable music of Piaf (Dahan correctly used Piaf's original recordings in the film) and does show us a woman who never really escaped her upbringing, or sadly, the tragedy of her love affair with boxer, Marcel Cerdan. Sadly too, the film glosses over Piaf time in Paris under the Nazi occupation during World War II - a time that truly made her famous, which left this reviewer wondering what she was hiding.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Orange County

Release date: 11 January 2002 (USA)

Though this 2002 film, directed by Jake Kasden, was filled with stars - Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara and John Lithgow to centre out a few - it is essentially a watered down version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and not one tenth as good. Colin Hanks stars as Shaun Brumder, a spacy surfer kid from - you got it - Orange County, California - who's only hope of escape from a thoroughly dysfunctional family is applying to Standford and becoming a writer. The plan goes awry when his guidance counsellor sends Standford the wrong application. Nonplused and determined to get into the school, Shaun concocts several ill-advised plans to make the grade, so to speak, including a disastrous meeting with Standford's Dean of Admissions at his parent's home, which was probably the funniest part of this film. Orange County is a film trying to have an independent edge but is really just a poor parody of films of this genre (and ones better done at that).

My rating 5 out of 10.

Mary Poppins

Release date: 27 August 1964 (Los Angeles, California)

Any movie that can take a word like 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' and turn it into a song is a fine movie indeed (with thanks to the music writing duo Richard and Robert Sherman). Directed by Robert Stevenson, who must surely have been one of Disney's longest serving directors, this fantasy story stars Dick Van Dyck as Bert (the film's storyteller of sorts), Julie Andrews as the most practically perfect Nanny ever, and David Tomlinson as Mr. Banks, the father of Jane and Michael Banks. While a children's movie at heart, the movie's central message is really targeted to adults. In this case, George Bank's slow realisation that his children, not his job, are the most important thing in his life. Tomlinson is perfect in this film, and the spot-on acting of Van Dyck and Andrews (as a sterner version of Maria from Sound of Music), not to mention the special effects team who married live action with animation some fortyfive plus years ago, make the film beautiful and rich to watch.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Release date: 16 December 1968 (London, UK)

Released in 1968, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang remains to this day a children's 'cult classic'. The film stars Dick Van Dyck as Professor Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious and is based on the book written by - of all people - Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame). The incredible Roald Dahl prepared the screenplay and brothers Richard and Robert Sherman did the music. The story is a fable of sorts guided through a story Professor Potts tells to the children whilst picnicking on the beach. Like the Wizard of Oz, where reality stops and starts is left up to the viewer, despite the wavy screen action that occurs when Baron Bomburst's ship appears in the harbour. While the film was wildly over-budget, it received good reviews from all corners (Hollywood excepted, but Hollywood rarely knows a good movie when it see it!). And while Chitty Chitty is not a great movie by any standards, the acting is solid, the music delightful and catchy (if difficult to actually sing - try singing "Me Ol' Bamboo" one day), and the pure joy it brings in watching it again, proves its staying power as a classic.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Release date: 25 April 2008 (USA)

John Cho and Kal Penn return to their Harold and Kumar roles in this lowbrow and tasteless comedy, directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. The problem with this road trip is its tastelessness. In particular, Guantanamo Bay is still too fresh a subject to be mocking, and using it as the basis for the film is just plain weak script writing. Cho and Penn are still as great as the potheads for sure but the film isn't as fresh as its original. Neil Patrick Harris plays himself and the adventures the lads take with him are the highlight of the film. The love story, such as it is, was well done and it's unfortunate there couldn't have be more love, and less rude and lewd.

My rating 5 out of 10.

Ironman

Release date: 2 May 2008 (Canada)

The latest Marvel Comics superhero to make his screen debut is "Ironman". Robert Downy Jr. makes a triumphant return to his (almost) derailed career starring as Tony Stark, the arms manufacturer who has a revelation (courtesy of some nasty Afghan warlords), and resolves to undo the harm his weapons have wreaked. It's a classic premise and in the hands of director Jon Favreau, it is brilliantly done. A bald Jeff Bridges is great as the bad guy and (sigh) Gwyneth Paltrow is as lovely as ever playing Stark's version of Batman's butler, Pepper Potts. The film is great thanks to a perfectly conceived script and writing that builds the story patiently. It is full of superhero action, a well tensioned romantic angle between Downy and Paltrow, and Downy's portrayal of Starck's transformation is just plain (and subtlety) gorgeous to watch. This film is winner on every level and will certainly birth many Ironman sequels.

My rating 9 out 10.