Drottningen och jag (aka The Queen and I)

Release date: 20 November 2008 (Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival)

This wonderful documentary captures a journey two women take together from a past where they were enemies to a present where they are both displaced Iranian compatriots. The two woman are an interesting mix: the filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani, who as a teen, participated as a communist in the revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran, and Farah Pahlavi, the Queen of Iran and wife of the late Shah. Shot over two years as Nahid visits the Queen in Paris, Egypt and the United States, the documentary beautifully illustrates the history that overtook both woman, the tragedies that struck their lives as a result and the scars they've left, and perhaps most poignantly, the realization that some 30 years on - despite it all - they have reached the same destination. Its only flaw, and it is considerable, is Nahid's inability to grill the Queen on the truths of the Shah's regime and his tactics. As a story of two woman, fabulous; as a documentary trying to wean some insight from a witness that was as close as anyone could be to the fall of the Shah, not so fabulous.

My rating 8 out 10.

Julie & Julia

Release date: 30 July 2009 (New York City, USA)

Not half as good as the book (and the book wasn't that good to start) Julie & Julia is saved by Meryl Streep (as Julia Child) and Stanley Tucci (as her husband, Paul). Nora Ephron directs the half-baked screenplay cobbled together from the novel by Julie Powell. A wasted Amy Adams tries hard but falls as quickly as a souffle from the oven as the bureaucrat looking for meaning in her life, Julie. The scenes with Meryl shine and give us a wonderful sense of the woman who brought French cuisine to American housewives. The proof is in proverbial pudding, they say, and this dish is dead on arrival.

My rating 5 out of 10

Casablanca

Release date: 26 November 1943 (New York City, USA)

A hallmark of fine film-making with thanks to director Michael Curtiz. An exquisite balance of intrigue, romance and subtle comedy, Casablanca remains timeless despite the nearly 70 years since it was made. With a perfectly structured story and wonderful cast that included Humphrey Bogart (as Rick), the beautiful Ingrid Bergman (as Ilsa), Paul Henerid (as Victor Laszo), Claude Rains (as Captain Renault), Peter Lorre (as Ugarte) and Dooley Wilson (as the iconic Sam [who, in fact, was a drummer and couldn't play the piano]), Casablanca gives us a magnificent example of a great Hollywood film. Central to the film's success is the banter between Bogart and Rains; these two different yet like-minded souls trapped in Casablanca are - despite the romance and music - the heart and soul of this masterpiece set in Morocco.

My rating 10 out of 10.

Anchors Aweigh

Release date: 19 July 1945 (New York City, USA)

When two sailors, Clarence (a very young Frank Sinatra) and Joe (Gene Kelly) find themselves on leave in Los Angeles, they end up caught up in an adventure to get a beautiful opera-wannabe Susan Abbot (Kathryn Greyson) a screen test before the still famous music producer, Jose Itrubi (who played himself). Anchors Aweigh is a perfect marriage of comedy and music and is as accessible and fun today as it was upon its release in 1945. Directed by George Sidney with a full-on Hollywood style that has since vanished it has several great dance sequences, most notably when Kelly does his "Mexican Hat Dance" piece with the wee Mexican girl (played by Sharon McManus).

For the music and dance sequences (and ignoring the rest) Anchors Aweigh gets my rating of 6 out of 10.

Gran Torino

Release date: 9 December 2008 (Burbank, California)

A film that stands as a testament to all that is seen is not necessarily so. While Gran Torino was marketed with a Dirty-Harry angle, the film in fact, is a treatise on aging and perspectives and certainly race. Clint Eastwood stars (and directs) as Walt Kowalski, a disgruntled and retired auto worker with no love for anyone. Yet, when a Hmong family moves in beside him and the family's youngest son, Thao (a superb newcomer Vee Bang), ends up at the wrong end of an asian gang, the movie morphs into a bittersweet drama that speaks volumes to the ends we'll go when friendship trumps race. Gran Torino is a pure gem of a movie with a tempo that is perfectly placed thanks to the steady hand of a master director and actor.

My rating 8 out of 10.

The Haunting in Connecticut

Release date: 27 March 2009 (Canada)

Saddling up to vie for the latest successor to the creepy-house-with-evil-inside genre is director Peter Cornwell's The Haunting in Connecticut. The film, based on the purportedly 'true' experiences of Al and Carmen Snedeke, stars Virginia Madsen (she of Sideways fame, who clearly was in need of cash taking on this schlep of a movie) as Sara Campbell who's son Matt (Kyle Gallner) is battling cancer. In order to save driving time and have him closer to the clinic, she rents the house in question. Course, turns out the house is a former funeral parlour with a funeral director who had a decided love of things clairvoyant and otherworldly and who's son, Jonah, has remained haunting the house. There are some okay scares here and there and Elias Koteas (as Reverend Popescu) is especially good, but in the end, The Haunting in Connecticut is no successor to the creepy-house-with-evil-inside genre.

My rating 4 out of 10.

Away We Go

Release date: 17 June 2009 (Edinburgh Film Festival)

Directed by Sam Mendes (he of American Beauty and Revolutionary Road), this film is an ode to finding home. It stars John Krasinski (as Burt Farlander) and Maya Rudolph (as his very 6-months-pregnant commonlaw wife, Verona) and has us journeying with the couple as they crisscross the continent looking for a place to settle down when baby is born. The search is necessary after Burt's parents, Jerry and Gloria (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) announce they are skipping town for Belgium. Without grandparents to rely on, or lay roots for, Burt and Verona venture to Phoenix, Tucson, Madison, Montreal, and Miami meeting up with an odd assortment of relatives and friends. In the end, as is so often the case, they find 'home' by returning home. Sweet, quirky, and decidedly not for everyone, Away We Go works by allowing us to remember - as James Joyce so often wrote of - that home is where the hearth is. And that is not a typo.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Release date: 20 January 2008 (Sundance Film Festival)

This documentary, directed by Alex Gibney, shares the story and suicide of America's greatest 'gonzo' reporter/author, Hunter S. Thompson, probably most famous for his novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and his reporting in Rolling Stone. Thompson's hollowness was filled with a mix of rage, alcohol, drugs, super-libido, and a genuine concern to make America (or Aspen, Colorado at least) a better place where everyone could, as he did, live with twenty-odd guns loaded and ready to bear. Gibney gives us the man raw, highlighted with insights from his two wives, politicians - whom he generally loathed - including Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan, and the team that stood with him in his unsuccessful run for Sherrif of Aspen. In the end what we see is a man ruined by the very character he created. A brilliant writer, sure, but a tragic man.

My rating 8 out of 10.

The Happening

Release date: 11 June 2008 (Bahrain)

Suffer poor M. Night Shyamalan, who despite trying has not yet been able to give us anything like the great twisty stories in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. But like the Energizer Bunny, this overrated director continues to deliver films with the look and to a lesser extent ‘feel’ of these two gems but without their catch-you-off-guard turns. In this one Mark Wahlberg stars as teacher Elliot Moore who with his wife and ragtag collection of others flees over hill and dale towards Harrisburg, staying just ahead of the wind in the willows. And why are we worrying about the wind? Well, seems plants and trees are eking out their revenge on Americans by infecting them so they want to commit suicide just as quickly as possible (rolls eyes). This – ok, let’s say it – dumb movie has nothing happening.

My rating, just to keep my orchid happy and from doing me in, 3 out of 10.

Normal

Release date: 2007 (Toronto International Film Festival)

(Yawn) This Canadian effort did nothing for me. Directed by Carl Bessai, it takes a sort-of Babel approach giving us three grouped stories that eventually reveal a traffic accident as their connection. Carrie-Anne Moss stars as Catherine, the mother trying desperately to deal with the death of her son in the traffic accident, while her youngest son and husband roam about. Kevin Zeggers stars as Jordie, the paroled lad who had a hand in the accident and Callum Keith Rennie as Walt Braugher, a college teacher with an autistic brother and a love for co-eds, and some connection to the accident. These folks are all trying to be normal, or find normality post-crash. Shot in too many tight frames and with no real connection to any of the characters, the film flounders in its bleak, depressing, and woeful self-indulgence.

It’s abnormal and earns my rating of 2 out of 10.

The Grudge 3

Release date: 12 May 2009 (USA)

Toby Wilkins directs this middling thriller originally conceived by Takashi Shimizu. As is wont with American adaptations of Japanese movies, the fact Americans cannot understand the subtlety of Japan nor its culture, turns these flicks into very basic horrors. They are all style no substance unlike the original which had both style and a depth of substance that was, in itself, hororific. In this latest version, set in a Chicago apartment complex, our creepy little lad returns as a precursor to the arrival of the evil spirit Kayako. Meanwhile Kayako's sister Naoko (Emi Ikehata) heads to Chicago to put an end to the curse once and for all. There she meets Lisa (Johanna Brady), her brother Max (Gil McKinney) and their wee charge, the sickly Rose (Jadie Hobson). Let's just it all ends, um, predictably with plenty of room - sadly - for Grudge 4.

Well filmed in the spirit of the original but poorly acted (Ikehata, aside), Grudge 3 gets my rating of 5 out of 10.

This Is It

Release date: 28 October 2009

Director Kenny Ortega took the hours and hours of film of Michael Jackson preparing for his never-to-be London tour and distills it down to give us a but a glimpse of what may have been Michael’s grand return to King of Popdom. While hindered by its fawning start showing Michael’s dancers ooohhing and aahhhing about Michael, the film does justice to Jackson’s preparations and reveals him to be on top of his game – both physically and vocally – at 50. It demonstrated to this reviewer that despite the media’s panache to portray Michael as a total wonk, when it came to his music, he was a perfectionist and a master in conveying what he wanted us, his fans and audience, to see. It is difficult to rate this film as surely as it was difficult for Mr. Ortega to construct a sense of a concert we’ll never see. Yet despite it all, Michael, his dancing, and his music shine. This Is It is a perfect, if hurried, testament to the world’s greatest pop star. Taken too soon.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Gothika

Release date: 13 November 2003 (USA)

A gothic ghost story set in an insane asylum. The tables are turned when the asylum’s chief psychiatrist, Dr. Miranda Grey (a pre-Monster Halle Berry) sees a ghost on a rainy drive home one night and finds herself a patient in her own asylum. Among the patients, Grey struggles to recount her meeting with the ghost and what message it was trying to convey. Along the way, a dreadful story of kidnapped women brutalized forms with her husband (Charles Dutton) and the local sheriff (John Carroll Lynch) implicated. With the help of fellow patient Chloe, a perfect Penelope Cruz, and Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr) Miranda unlocks the true story and faces her own brutal act. Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, Gothika is a good movie with enough thrills among its twists and turns to make it worth watching.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Halloween

Release date: 25 October 1978 (USA)

Way back in 1978 director John Carpenter reinvented the slasher movie with ‘scream queen’ Jamie Lee Curtis starring as Laurie Strode. Donald Pleasence co-stars as Dr. Sam Loomis, the psychiatrist on a mission, searching in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois for his patient, the newly released Michael Myers, who 15 years earlier – as a 6 year old – murdered his sister. Halloween started the genre of the boogeyman-that-never-dies film and is as suspenseful today as ever. Carpenter’s iconic music only adds to the horror and despite its dreadful acting and low budget feel, continues to freak the hell out of any viewer. A perfect movie for Halloween.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Les temoins (aka The Witnesses)

Release date: 12 February 2007 (Berlin International Film Festival)

Directed by André Téchiné, this wonderful film recounts a year in the life of a small group of friends in 1984 France as the spectre of a new disease appears. When a doctor, Adrien (the very fine Michel Blanc) meets Manu (Johan Libereau), a gay lad from the country living in a brothel with his opera singing sister, and is in turn introduced to Adrien’s good friends – a married couple, Sarah (Emmanuelle Berat) and Medhi (Sami Bouajila) – a gorgeous, perfectly played story of love and loss and regret results. At the couple’s summer cottage, Medhi saves Manu from drowning and from that single act a slow love affair evolves that engulfs the foursome. Told in voiceover after the death of Manu by Medhi’s wife, Sarah, Les temoins draws beautifully real portraits of four carefree souls caught as witnesses at the beginning of a tragedy that still haunts millions of people today. Finer than Philadelphia by a long shot, this film adds a grace, dignity and honesty to what we now know as the AIDS epidemic.

My rating 8 out of 10.

X-Files: I Want To Believe

Release date: 30 July 2008 (London, UK Premier)

Chris Carter, the longtime creative force behind the mega-hit television series, directs this – essentially – 1:40 long television episode that reunites Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). The plot is a odd construct involving the disappearance of an FBI agent (hence the need to bring Mulder back into the fold, so to speak), a priest with visions and a pedophilic background (hence the ‘X’-factor and reason for holier-than-thou Scully to get all worked up) and Russians gruesomely harvesting Marylanders for organs (which just is like, huh?). Anyway, it all unfolds with predictability and even as a diehard X-File fan, and with a nod to the subtle tongue-in-cheek humour, it’s just way too schmaltzy and not worth the effort. The fault, I think, of bringing a franchise back far too long after its shelf life had expired. This film certainly gets my X.

My rating 3 out of 10.

Le Clan (aka Three Dancing Slaves)

Release date: 15 May 2004 (Cannes Film Festival)

Frenchman Gaël Morel directs this tale of three brothers trying to put the pieces together after the death of their mother. The middle brother, Marc (Nicolas Cazalé) anchors the story. He is a petty criminal at odds with his father (Bruno Lachet) while trying to keep his sensitive younger brother Olivier (Thomas Dumerchez) on the right path until their older brother Christophe (Stéphane Rideau) is released from jail. Le Clan is a family drama with plenty of woe and that classic French movie tendency to film nuance to the point of boredom. Sadly, there is just far too much going on here to develop any interested in anyone. While the cinematography is gorgeous and the story of young Olivier's affair with a capoeira dancing arab lad Hicham (Salim Kechiouche) makes the watching tolerable, you leave Le Clan both bored and confused. Not for children as there is a very brutal scene of Marc's dog meeting its demise and full frontal male nudity.

My rating 4 out of 10.

Another Gay Movie

Release date: 28 April 2006 (Tribeca Film Festival, USA)

A lighthearted and silly gay comedy of four thirty-something actors playing high school grads who make a pack to get laid by the start of their freshman year. While Another Gay Movie is clearly meant to be a parody of every straight movie of this ilk ever done, spoofs that continue to reiterate gay stereotypes raze the ire of this reviewer to the nth degree. Directed by Todd Stephens, it stars (and I use the term very loosely here) Michael Carbonaro as Andy, the good boy with a panache for vegetables; Jonah Blechman as Nico, the flamboyant queer; Jonathan Chase as Jared, the gay jock and Mitch Morris as Griff, the geeky lad. Canada's own Boys In The Hall star Scott Thompson does a great job as Andy's bisexual dad and Survivor winner Richard Hatch joins the fray - nude throughout - as Nico's obsession. A nod to Ashlie Atkinson here as Muffler, a bull dyke with attitude who steals every scene she's in. Not for children as there are plenty of full-on sexual scenarios here including a shot - heaven help us - of Richard Hatch's, um, member.

My rating 3 out of 10.

Tan Lines

Stealing themes from several iconic movies including Great Expectations and My Own Private Idaho and with a talking statue of the Virgin Mary and a talking picture of Pope John Paul II, Tan Lines is one riddle of a film. Contrasting heavy themes with plain weirdness, director Ed Aldridge gives us the story of Midget Hollows (Jack Baxter), a gay surfer boy growing up in a going nowhere town in Australia. When Midget's best friend Dan's (Jed Clarke) brother Cass (Daniel O'Leary) returns to town after a four year absence, the two start a secretive love affair that launches questions about Cass's disappearance and Midget's own identity. Tan Lines is an exceptionally odd film, with many faults yes, but is utterly engaging thanks to the real connection (and great acting) of Baxter and O'Leary. And with the surreal Miss McQuillan (Theresa Kompara) and her niece, Alice (Lucy Minter) storyline aside, works to show us the trials and trials of growing up gay in nowhere-ville. Had it a better title, my guess is this little gem would have done better everywhere.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Jumper

Release date: 6 February 2008 (Rome, Italy)

Based on the novel by Steven Gould Jumper has us meeting David Rice (Hayden Christensen), an Ann Arbor lad who discovers he has the ability to instantaneously 'jump' anywhere on the planet. And being a teenager David does just that, jumping into and out of bank vaults to make himself a wealthy man. His talent though attracts the attention of the paladins, a group of assassins bent on killing folks like David as they represent an affront to God, led by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson). When David uses his talent to woo his childhood sweetheart, Millie (Rachel Bilson), by taking her to the Coliseum in Rome he haphazardly comes face-to-face with a group of Roland's paladins and another jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell). The two jumpers agree to work together to hunt down Roland and bring a end to the cat and mouse game once and for all. Directed by Doug Liman, Jumper has more holes than a good slice of swiss cheese, but if you suspend the intellectual bits of the story and simply sit back and enjoy the wonderful ride it provides to Egypt, London, Tokyo and Rome, it is great fun. The most shocking thing about this film is that Hayden Christensen's acting is better than Samuel L. Jackson's, which is truly saying a lot of both actors' efforts in this outing.

For that feat, the great special effects, and for giving us the always tremendous Diane Lane (as David's mother, Mary), Jumper gets my rating of 6 out of 10.

Mayerling

Release date: 16 February 1936 (Denmark)

Directed by Anatole Litvak, Mayerling recounts the tragic, real life, love affair of Archduke Rudolph, the son of Emperor Joseph (played by Jean Dax) and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his mistress, Marie Vetsera, a minor noble. This 1936 effort is based on Claude Anet's novel and stars Charles Boyer (as Rudoph) and the beautiful Danielle Darieux (as Marie). Filmed in the classic style the French New Wave directors so loved to hate, Mayerling captures the liberalization so rampant within Vienna at the time as it efficiency spins the tragedy of Rudolph and Marie. When his father demands he break off the affair, the couple spend one final weekend at Mayerling, the royal hunting lodge. There, early on a cold January morning in 1889, the crown prince shoots Marie and then commits suicide. Roll the 'fin'. With no heir, Rudolph's cousin becomes crown prince only to be assassinated with his wife in Sarajevo, an act that ignites World War I.

Rich and engaging and for highlighting one of the last century's enduring mysteries, my rating 8 out of 10.

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

Release date: 16 July 1982 (USA)

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy sees the very first pairing of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow before they married. Based loosely on William Shakespeare's play but morphed as only Allen can do, it is lighthearted fair. Woody stars as wonky professor Andrew Hobbs who, not surprisingly, is having a challenging time with his wife, Adrian (the always great Mary Steenburgen). When the pair invite friends - a very old philosophy professor Dr. Leopold Sturgis (Jose Ferrer) and his very young fiancee Ariel (Mia Farrow) and a horny doctor Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty) - to their countryside cottage all manner of sexual intrigue ensues. While not acknowledged as one of Allen's greatest films, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a joyous take on sex with plenty of classic Allen humour, some great romps in the woods, subtle magic, and a musical score courtesy of Mendelssohn that fits perfectly with what's on screen. I never tire of watching it.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Knowing

Release date: 9 March 2009 (New York City, USA)

Alex Proyas directs Nicholas Cage as John Koestler, a MIT professor and astrophysicist whose son, Caleb (Chandler Canterbury [unfortunate name isn't it]) ends up in possession of a letter written by an odd little girl named Lucinda (Lara Robinson) way back in 1959. That letter, not more than a series of random numbers, Koestler discovers, actually predicts the dates and number of casualties of every major disaster for the past 50 years. Naturally, the letter still has a couple dates pending so Koestler begins his quest to understand these final entries, including the letter's last which gives a date for destruction and the letters "EE" meaning "everyone else". The film up to this point is actually quite engaging, the lack of character development aside. But enter the end of the world predictions (this time via a solar fare) and the appearance of "whisper people" - aliens who arrive to whisk off the Koestler's kids to start over again and the whole film goes off the rails. Knowing proves the old adage that having a great story premise and pulling it off on the screen is often harder than you think. Yet, for the rank silliness that arrives about two-thirds of the way into the film, Knowing makes a great go of it at the beginning including two utterly amazing scenes: a plane crash that is stunning and a subway crash that demonstrates all that's good about CGI. Is Knowing a good film? Not particularly, but it's certainly worth a rent.

My rating 5 out of 10.

Le scaphandre et le papillon

Release date: 22 May 2007 (Cannes Film Festival)

The true story of French Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who at age 43 suffered a stroke that left him with trapped-in syndrome, completely aware and cognizant but utterly paralyzed save the ability to blink his left eye. Trapped within himself, he took to dictating a series of letters, conveyed by blinking each letter to his assistant Claude (Anne Consigny), that convey the joy and sorrow of his experience. Director Julian Schnabel takes us literally into Jean-Do's world filming much of the movie through his left eye. It is a daring and effective device that serves to heighten the poignancy of Jean-Do's situation. While tragic certainly, and while Jean-Do was no saint and lived a crazy life, he comes to terms with his situation and shows us all we should never feel sorry for ourselves or take our wondrous time here for granted. Le scaphandre et le papillon is a brilliant film, brilliantly directed and brilliantly acted, with a special nod to the regal Max Von Sydow who gives us some gorgeous scenes as Jean-Do's father. The real Jean-Do sadly passed away from pneuomia two days after seeing his book published. A film everyone should experience.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Peur(s) du noir (aka Fear(s) of the Dark)

Release date: 21 October 2007 (Roma International Film Festival)

Peur(s) du noir is a montage of six uniquely different vignettes laced together piecemeal in the fashion of a dream. Two pieces anchor the film, Blutch's highly stylized - but ultimately meaningless - story of a macabre nobleman and his pack of brutal dogs who ends up getting his comeuppance and Pierre di Sciullo's beautifully woven geometric animation voice-overed with our common fears. The other four stories are all stunning in their graphic nature but hit and miss in their delivery. A young lad who ends up trapped by a sado masochist girlfriend-cum-insect was kooky, well drawn and fun; the Japanese-anime inspired story of a little girl possessed by the spirit of a dead samurai was strange but engaging; and the late-night traveler who ends up in an Edward Gorey-esque home with its resident ghost was excellent. With voice over by the late son of Gerard Depardieu, Guillaume, and directed by Blutch and Charles Burns Peur(s) du noir has enough great animation to make it a must for any anime, animation or art-house filmgoer even if the horror is, despite the great use of black ink, rather light.

My rating 6 out of 10.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Release date: 25 June 2008 (Edinburgh Film Festival)

Starring Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew - a for-hire nanny with very high morales and a panache for getting fired - and Amy Adams in an anything but nun-like role as Delysia LaFosse, an American wannabe singer/actress bedding three lads in London at the start of World War II, this gem of a movie is perfect from start to finish. When the matronly Miss Pettigrew slyly cheats her employer and ends up on the doorstep of Miss LaFosse at the perfect time to aide her in extracting herself from a delicate situation involving two of her three lovers, she is suddenly seen as the guru of all things romantic, even when all she's after is a bite to eat. Director Bharat Nalluri nails London in all its 1939 glory and mirrors the foss of fashion (Shirley Henderson as maven Edythe DuBarry is great) and the silliness of the storyline with two genuine love stories and some great life lessons. Acted brilliantly by all involved, including Miss Pettigrew's subtle love interest Joe Boomfield (Ciarán Hinds), this film is charming from start to finish.

My rating 8 out of 10.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Release date: 8 April 2009 (Sydney, Australia)

We go back to the origins of Wolverine in this latest installment of the X-Men genre. Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) returns along with his menacing brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber). We learn all about their early roots as mutant lads and prolific soldiers from the Civil War thru to Vietnam, and how Wolverine - moved by love (awwww) - swears revenge after his girlfriend, Kayla (Linda Collins) is (supposedly) murdered by Victor. But all is not as it seems as the (faked) death is but a ploy by the evil government lackey and leader of Team X, Striker (Danny Huston), to build the ultimate weapon: a soldier morphed from the strengths of each mutant, Wolverine included. Got all that? Directed by Gavin Hood, there are plenty of fights and action here but not much else. What's lacking is the deeper psychological examination of each characters' actions to ground all the mayhem. Think of this one as X-men Lite.

All fluff no substance gives this effort my rating of 4 out of 10.

Twilight

Release date: 17 November 2008 (Los Angeles, USA)

Based on Stephenie Meyer's dreadfully written novel of the same name, Twilight surprised me. It takes the usual story of a common girl who moves to a new town, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), and has her fall in love with the town's misfit student, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). It's all been down before yes, but the twist here lies in the fact Edward is a vampire. Despite the overt corniness of the premise and the pedestrian acting (especially on Stewart's part), director Catherine Hardwicke makes a great go of it. Filmed with the perfect amount of darkness, dread and romance the result is a film better than the sum of its various parts.

A film certainly worth sinking your teeth into gives Twilight my rating 8 out of 10.

The Moguls (aka The Amateurs)

Release date: 6 February 2005 (Santa Barbara Film Festival)

An ensemble piece starring Ted Danson, William Fitchner, Jeff Bridges and Joe Pantoliano (among others). Down and out Andy (Bridges) decides to film an adult entertainment video - read: porno - as a way to make some cash, employ his ragtag group of going-nowhere friends and most importantly, impress his son. That premise could be dangerous but director Michael Traeger handles the topic exceptionally well with the right balance of humour, romance and, erm, sex. That said, this film will not be for everyone and opened to, well, bad reviews. Yet I found it endearing with a sort of tongue in cheek simpleness that was perfect for movie watching as an escape on a summer Sunday afternoon.

My rating 7 out of 10.

C'est pas moi, je le jure! (aka It's Not Me, I Swear)

Release date: 5 September 2008 (Toronto International Film Festival)

Philippe Falardeau directs this wonky Quebec film of a 10 year old lad, Leon (Antoine L'Écuyer), his passion for suicide attempts and his very wonky family. Leon is a loner who terrorizes his neighbourhood but is protected by his artsy, eccentric mother (Suzanne Clement) until the day she leaves for Greece. Without her stabilizing influence and his father's (Daniel Briere) indifference Leon goes on a tear. Befriended by the neighbourhood's other oddball kid, a young girl named Lea (Catherine Faucher), the two plan their escape from the small town. It's Not Me, I Swear is filled with comedy that masks the pain buried in Leon. Young L'Écuyer carries the film throughout giving us a darker, emotionally wounded character that puts Macauley Culkin to shame. Quirky, odd, sad and absolutely worth seeing. Not for kids.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Agnes of God

Release date: 21 August 1985 (Canada)

Way back in 1985 Canadian uber-director Norman Jewison took John Pielmeier's stage play, Agnes of God, and turned it into a decent film. Taking the mysterious birth (and death) of a novice nun's newborn baby as its starting point, the movie forces us to examine our views of all things religious. Starring Jane Fonda as Dr. Martha Livingston, the psychiatrist sent to examine the unholy business and interview the novice nun; a never more brilliant Meg Tilley as the nun in question and Anne Bancroft as Mother Miriam Ruth, the film is essentially a struggle between faith, represented by Mother Ruth and fact, represented by Dr. Livingston. The real drama here lies in the exchanges of the relapsed Catholic and the zealous Mother Ruth as she tries to hide her own involvement in the mysterious birth.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Coraline

Release date: 5 February 2009 (Portland International Film Festival)

A dark and magnificent fable executed in gorgeous animation based on the graphic novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman. When wee lass Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) uncovers a secret door in her new house, she is transported to an alternate world where her parents Mel and Charlie, their eyes replaced by black buttons, do any and everything she fancies. Lulled by the beauty of a world centred entirely on her, Coraline spends more and more time with the Other Mother and Other Father but soon notices cracks within their facades. When they declare she should remain within their freakish world if she would only have her eyes struck out and replaced with buttons, Coraline, aided by a cat (the voice of Keith David) must summon all her courage and wits to escape. Directed by Henry Selick, Coraline is a tour de force examination of self and the fact the grass is sometimes never greener on the other side. Not for kids.

My rating 10 out of 10.

The Eye

Release date: 31 January 2008 (Hollywood, USA)

The Eye is the americanized version of Jian Gui, the Hong Kong film directed by the Pang brothers in 2002. Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, this version stars Jessica Alba as Syndey Wells, a blind violinist who receives a cornea transplant from a young Mexican women, Rosa, who committed suicide after being harassed as a witch. As her sight returns so do disturbing images of the young girl's life and worse, the ability to see ghosts living amid us in the real world. With the help of her doctor, Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola), Syndey travels to Mexico to confront her disturbing visions and help Rosa transition past her purgatory. As is often the case with the americanization of asian films, this one fails as poor Jessica Alba still can't figure out how to act with any measure of believability and the directors opt to give us a silly Hollywood ending rather than the fine, if disturbing, one envisioned in the original film.

My rating 4 out of 10.

The Hottie & the Nottie

Release date: 21 February 2008 (USA)

Paris Hilton stars. That is surely enough to have any moviegoer flee. Full of rank cliches. That is surely enough to make any moviegoer cringe. A done-before story of the ugly sister, this time Cristabel's (Paris Hilton) childhood best friend, June (Christine Lakin) who metamorphoses from horror to beauty thus turning the head of Nate (Joel Moore) who initially only had eyes for Cristabel. Yawn, you'd think. And you know what, despite all this; despite the cliche and cringe factor and dreadfulness is a genuine feel good film that really grows on you. I know I'm in a minority here, but I found The Hottie & the Nottie entertaining, fun, funny, and real despite its many flaws. Thanks, I suppose to director Tom Putnam for keeping things on track. Totally worth a rent on a lazy summer afternoon at the cottage.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Gui si (aka Silk)

Release date: 24 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival)

When a team of misfit scientists enlist the aid of a Canadian photographer to photograph a ghost living in a Taipei apartment house, all manner of creepiness takes flight. Inside a small room they find the photographer dead and, with the aid of a device known as the Menger Sponge, capture the spirit of the young ghost within the room. Directed by Chao-bin Su, Silk stars Yosuke Eguchi (as the crippled scientist-inventor of the Menger Sponge, Hashimoto) and Chen Chang (as Detective Tung, the lipreading specialist brought in to read the silent lips of the boy ghost). What ensues is a tight thriller/horror married to a philosophic tome on the hereafter as Tung discovers the truth of the young boy's murder at the hands of his mother and the silken threads of afterlife that connect the living with the dead. Silk is an exceptionally thought-provoking film that succeeds thanks largely to the fine acting of Chen Chang and Su's fine direction. Ease back under the covers on a dark night and be prepared to be creeped out.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Duplicity

Release date: 22 April 2009 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Directed by Tony Gilroy, Duplicity stars the always great Julia Roberts (as Claire Stenwick) and Clive Owen (as Ray Kovel), two former spies making ends meet (and more) as corporate espionage specialists working for competing firms with over-the-top CEOs - Howerd Tully (the brilliant Tom Wilkinson) and Dick Garsil (Paul Giamatti). The stakes are high as the two companies vie to be the first to patent the greatest product since sliced bread: a cure for male pattern baldness. Amid the espionage, Claire and Ray work an awkward romance that hatches a plot to out maneuver both their employers and land the patent first. Duplicity is an excellent film with fine, fine performances and an intricately woven, intellectually stimulating, storyline that requires attention and patience. And while some reviewers have found fault with this very point, the richness inherent in Duplicity on so many levels makes it one of this reviewer's favourite films this year.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Race to Witch Mountain

Release date: 7 April 2009 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Alexander Key's 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain gets a new working by director Andy Fickman. When out of this world twins Sara (AnnaSophie Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) crash land their spacecraft outside of Las Vegas, they are picked up by Vegas-taxi-driver-with-a-past Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) who soon finds himself immersed in a battle to keep the feds and a nasty 'Siphon' sent by bad-guy aliens to kill Seth and Sara at bay. Seems Seth and Sara are the linchpin to saving humankind's destruction at the hands of the bad-guy aliens. On route they enlist the help of UFO scientist Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) and the foursome, after far too many chases, find themselves captured. Resourceful as ever - this is Disney afterall - the group escapes and the the alien twins complete their mission and save earth. Yay! Race to Witch Mountain is a good film that keeps you engaged but ultimately falls short when plot is sacrificed for action.

My rating 5 out of 10.

Watchmen

Release date: 23 February 2009 (London, England)

1986. That's how long this project has been in development. And anyone who has read the magnificent original graphic novel can understand why. Watchmen's complex storyline and involved character development rest on an alternate future where Nixon did not resign, America won the Vietnam War thanks to average citizens who donned masks to become superheroes and the Cold War continued unabated, is no easy nut to crack. Even Watchmen author, the enigmatic Alan Moore, declined the invitation to give it go. So bully on director Zack Snyder for pulling it off. Watchmen is filmed in a fashion similar to Snyder's 300 and is a stunning visceral experience to its core. Odd, engaging, thought-provoking and mesmerising, Watchmen is a tour de force film decidedly not for kids. To paraphrase Moore's line: "Who watches the Watchmen?" ... we do ... and love it! In a word, brilliant, and worthy of my rating of 10 out of 10.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Release date: 6 July 2009 (Tokyo, Japan)

The regulars return for the next to last installment of the Potter juggernault with David Yates directing. Everyone knows their role here and Daniel Radcliffe (as Harry Potter), Michael Gambon (as Professor Dumbledore), Jim Broadbent (as Professor Horace Slughorn), Emma Watson (as Hermione), Helena Bonham Carter (as Bellatrix Lestrange) and Alan Rickman (as the creepy Professor Snape) pull them off with complete credibility. The film continues the genre's look and feel and recreates the world of wizardry and witchcraft with stunning realness while keeping the usual tongue in cheek laughs and budding romances in the mix. It's all very well done. But after what has been too many of these movies and the fact the film is too long by half, I just want little Harry to get on with it and knock-off Voldemort so we call it a day already.

My rating 7 out of 10.

The Hangover

Release date: 30 May 2009 (The Hague, Netherlands)

Vulgar, violent, unfunny and with a dreadful premise, The Hangover will leave you racing for the the next AA meeting. But maybe that's its point? When soon-to-be-married Doug (Justin Bartha), Doug's two best buddies Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), and his finace's strange brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis) head out on the road for Doug's stag party in Las Vegas, plenty goes wrong including what I thought was disturbing scenes with the baby in tow. Directed by Todd Phillips with "Jackass" sensibilities, this film warrants a medal for bad taste.

My rating 2 out of 10.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Release date: 5 February 2009 (New York City, USA)

Tied to every woman's worse nightmare/joy (take your pick) Confessions of a Shopaholic brings to film Sophie Kinsella's wildly popular series of books about one Rebecca Bloomwood's (Isla Fisher) battle with shopping addiction on a grand scale. Frankly, this reviewer was not expecting much as the dvd slid into the machine, but in the hands of director PJ Hogan and with Kristen Scott Thomas (as Alette Naylor), John Lithgow (as Edgar West), Joan Cusak, and John Goodman all in the mix, the film works marvellously. The plot moves along as smartly as the fashionistas and Rebecca is able to come to terms with her addiction in a way that is both satisfying, funny and utterly endearing. Well worth a rent on a Sunday night.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Dung che sai duk redux (aka Ashes of Time Redux)

Release date: 16 September 1994 (Toronto International Film Festival)
Redux: 18 May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival)

It is cinematic legend this film. Directed by the incomparable Wong Kar Wai the film, a homage to wuxia, follows the people that cross paths with a desert swordman-for-hire, Ouyang Feng (the late Leslie Cheung). Ashes of Time is a feast for the senses on many levels and is best viewed by trying to ignore the inscrutable storyline and simply immerse oneself in the gorgeous visuals and brilliant movement (with thanks to cinematographer Christopher Doyle). Brigitte Lin stars as Mu-rong yin/Mu-rong Yang, the woman central to the theme of seasons within the story and both Tony Leungs star as assassins. Why Wong Kar Wai had to remake the film is beyond me as in either format – regular to reduxed – this is more art than film.

For its sumptuous visuals and beauty, my rating 8 out of 10.

Valkyrie

Release date: 25 December 2008 (USA)

Loaded with star-power, Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer recounts the true story of the nearly successful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in July 1944. Germany. By this time, many within the German military knew Hitler had to go. The best evolved of these plans was one hatched by senior officers Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), Ludwig Beck (the perfect Terrance Stamp), General Olbricht (Bill Nighy) and Major General von Treschow (a wasted Kenneth Branagh) to blow up the Führer at his Wolf’s Den then mount a coup using the reservists. Von Stauffenberg’s plan worked but thanks to a conveniently placed table, Hitler survived the attack. Valkyrie works very well (the always-wooden Tom Cruise aside) and his support cast (especially Nighy, Stamp and Tom Wilkinson as General Fromm) carry the film. Exciting and intriguing, Valkyrie shows those of us with a rather skewed view of Germans during World War II that good guys did exist and did try to change the course of history.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Se, jie (aka Lust, Caution)

Release date: 30 August 2007 (Venice Film Festival)

Ang Lee comes back strong after the silly debacle that was his wander in the wilderness, Boredback Mountain. Tang Wei stars as Wong Chia Chi, a young Chinese nationalist charged with getting her group of student assassins close to a Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee (the always good Tony Leung) in 1940s Shanghai. Lust, Caution is beautifully rendered and Lee has done a great job recreating the feel of Shanghai during WWII (if a little too clean). What carries the story is the acting and both Wei and Leung (and Joan Chen as Yee Tai Tai) are outstanding. The film is, of course, known for its explicit love scenes and they are indeed hot. Lee is a master at detail and he doesn’t disappoint here, though he does need to be more ruthless with his editing. The ending is perfectly anti-Hollywood and demonstrates the power of Wong Chia Chi’s lust and Yee’s caution. He, more than her, remains the true victim of his situation and that tragedy redeems the entire film.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Låt den rätte komma in (aka Let the Right One In)

Release date: 26 January 2008 (Goteborg International Film Festival)

The young vampire genre is not new to filmmakers – witness Lostboys and Interview with a Vampire, and most recently, Twilight – and the trick is often not so much the function but its form. This Swedish effort directed by Tomas Alfredson is a magnificent example of the stark beauty that results when form trumps function. In its sparse dialogue and chilly scenes of Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, Alfredson gives us a tome on loyalty, friendship, loneliness and revenge. Most definitely, revenge. Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel, Let the Right One In gives us the story of Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) a young misfit who is bullied at school who one day meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), the forever 12-year-old vampire in his tenement house playground. The two form a unique friendship and when Eli’s mortal protector and benefactor, Hakan (Per Ragnar) is discovered bleeding out a young lad for Eli’s sustenance, Oskar steps into his role: the deal sealed by Eli’s dealings with Oskar’s bullies. The title refers to vampire lore that suggests they must be invited in before entering a house. With a high creepy factor that has been perfectly polished, this film is well worth the risk of inviting home.

My rating 9 out of 10.

El Orfanato (aka The Orphanage)

Release date: 20 May 2007 (Cannes Film Fest)

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, El Orfanato is a thrilling horror film built in the vein of Henry James’ Turn of the Screw. Married couple Laura (Belen Rueda) and Carlos (Fernando Cayo) take their adopted son, Simon, (Roger Princep) back to the creepy mansion that served as an orphanage when Laura was a little girl. The parents are keen to open the mansion for children with disabilities. Simon starts seeing invisible playmates throughout the mansion, in particular a hooded boy called Tomas. At the opening day party Simon suddenly disappears and the film then slides into the horror: a horror that is exquisitely executed with intelligence and a richly detailed history of the mansion’s former child residents and their creepy Nanny, Benigna (Montserrat Carula). When Laura calls in the medium Aurora (the always brilliant Geraldine Chaplin) to help in the search for Simon, the film twists yet again into a treatise on what’s real and unreal. Everything about El Orfanato works. The acting is superb and the atmosphere Bayona creates will keep you scared, riveted and entranced throughout. Highly recommended.

My rating 9 out of 10.

War Dance

Release date: 19 January 2007 (Sundance Film Festival)

Written and directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix, this fine documentary recounts the oh-so-very-sad stories of three war children – Dominic, Nancy and Rose – caught in the ongoing civil war in Northern Uganda. The three are members of the Acholi tribe. The Acholi are an internally displaced people in Northern Uganda who are being systematically brutalized by a group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. All three children have witnessed horrific events ranging from the murder of their parents to, in Domenic’s case, killing innocent farmers after being forcibly made a child solider. Living in a refugee camp, what binds them together is their desire to compete with their tiny school in Uganda’s National Music competition in Kampala, and their quest to regain some semblance of their lost childhoods. Sad, joyous, tragic and ultimately hopeful, War Dance shares the story of these children with a beauty and dignity that will leave you humbled.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Wendy and Lucy

Release date: 22 May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival)

Kelly Reichardt directs this take on Jonathan Raymond’s story, “Night Choir” concerning a young lass, Wendy (Michelle Williams) and her dog, Lucy. The duo are Alaska bound when their car dies in a wee Oregon town. Out of luck and money, Wendy shoplifts some chow for Lucy but is caught and hauled off to the police station leaving Lucy tied up at the store’s entrance. (Predictably) When she finally returns her dog is gone. Helped by a kindly security guard (Wally Dalton) she opts to stay in town and search for Lucy while her car is repaired … and that’s about it for story. This short but seemingly very long 80-minute indie film was a big hit at most of the film festivals, but did nothing for this reviewer. Quiet and minimalist its central flaw is not giving Wendy enough time to show the true depth of her relationship with Lucy (so we care to pay attention) and its lame ending. Wendy and Lucy proves one can appreciate the ‘art’ of a film while thoroughly disliking everything about it.

My rating 3 out of 10.

Star Trek

Release date: 6 April 2009 (Austin, Texas)

What a great prequel! Director JJ Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have dusted off the institution that is the Star Trek phenomenon and given us a refreshing, fun, action-filled version true to the original series. Chris Pine stars as James T. Kirk, the James Dean-ish renegade Starfleet Academy cadet, and yes that was Eric Bana as the evil and messed-up-in-time Romulan, Nero, and Winona Ryder as Spock’s mommy, Amanda Greyson. The story is your typical Star Trek romp and has Kirk captaining the USS Enterprise as it tries to recover Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) from the menacing Romulan who’s destroyed Vulcan and is now on his way to destroy Earth (but of course). The story is just a vehicle here to get us reacquainted with the characters we’ve long loved, and who, through the tragedy of time and too many Hollywood Star Trek films had become lost. This Star Trek is a real winner and it’s great to have the institution we love grounded again.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Man on Wire

Release date: 22 January 2008 (Sundance Film Festival)

Directed by James Marsh, Man On Wire – winner of the 2009 Best Documentary Oscar – recounts Philippe Petit’s own book detailing his fantastic crossing of the World Trade Center buildings in August 1974 … on a tightrope. The film uses Petit and his co-conspirators own recollections of the event and mixes archival footage with dramatization. The story is infectious, crossing personal drama with mystery and anticipation as the small group manages to haul a ton of equipment up the towers and rig the wire in the dead of night. The moment where Petit steps out onto the wire is, in a word, mesmerizing and sobering now that the WTC is no more. Man on Wire is a thoroughly engaging film that keeps the viewer on edge throughout its ninety minutes. More importantly, it allows us a glimpse into the unique mind of an artist and the mysterious force that guides his approach to life.

My rating 8 out of 10.