The Box

Release date: 17 September 2009 (Lund Fantastick Film Festival)

Camera Diaz plays Norma Lewis, the far-too-older looking wife of Arthur (James Marsden) in this psychological sci-fi thriller built in the X-Files and Twilight Zone vein. Using Richard Matheson's short story Button, Button (which was actually made into a Twilight Zone spot) as his jumping off point, director/writer Richard Kelly takes the film into the pseudo-spiritual world casting a very good Frank Langella as Steward, a born-again NASA bigwig whose job it is oversee the testing of humankind. Clear? Well, the test is the box, which, if you hit its big red button will kill someone you don't know somewhere in the world and leave you $1M richer for it. The premise is intriguing and this reviewer thoroughly enjoyed the ride Kelly gives us - as outlandish, silly and outrageous as it all is. Kudos to Pallet, Butler and Chassagne for their perfectly realized music for this film. While frustratingly murky to the nth degree, it's still worth pushing The Box's button.

My rating 7 out of 10.   

Robin Hood

Release date: 12 May 2010 (Cannes Film Festival)

(Yawn) yet another Robin Hood movie. Ridley Scott, no less, directs this version and opts to pack plenty of star power into his merry film in hopes - we think - to distract viewers from the fact this is yet another Robin Hood movie, and a bad one at that. Scott even tries a new angle to distract us by tackling Robin Hood's before-the-merry-gang life as a crusader with Richard the Lionhearted, his return to England and his saving of King John's throne from the French. Sadly, despite a decent Russell Crowe as Maximus (oops, I mean Robin Hood), Cate Blanchett as Marion, William Hurt as Marshall, and a great Mark Strong as evil Godfrey, this movie is a dreadful mess. Raspberries to a dreadful Oscar Issac (as King John) and a morose Matthew Macfadyen (as the Sheriff of Nottingham). Scott's film delivers no heart so we are left adrift with characters so similar in their construct they seem cutouts. Too long by half, this Robin Hood is lost in the Nottingham woods from the get-go and ought to have stayed there.

My rating 2 out of 10. 

Leap Year

Release date: 6 January 2010 (New York City, New York)

Leap Year gives us a romantic comedy done a little differently with the arrival of a tightly strung American lass Anna Brady (Amy Adams) in County Nowhere Ireland. She's en route to propose to her geeky fiance Jeremy (Adam Scott) in Dublin. Problem is Anna doesn't carry much travel luck and enlists the help of Declan (Matthew Goode), an Irish innkeeper, to help her get across the Republic safely into the arms of her betrothed. But as Irish luck has it, she and Declan - fighting the whole way - end up in love. Directed by Anand Tucker, Leap Year is a solid film that's fun to watch for both the interplay of its characters and the stunning Irish scenery.

It is, in a word, endearing. My rating 8 out of 10. 

The Class aka Entre les murs

Release date: 24 May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival)

Winner of the 2008 Palme d'Or at Cannes, The Class follows french teacher Francois Marin's (Francois Begaudeau) work with a multi-racial group of 14- and 15-year-olds who live on the other side of the tracks, so to speak, in Paris. Director Laurent Cantet utilizes the much-a-rage shaky-camera-syndrome to give the film a documentary feel. Everyone has baggage in the class, the teacher included, and the film is a poignant examination of people struggling to understand each other despite the biased perspectives their upbringing has bestowed. The subtlety of the class trying to comprehend the archaic rules of French grammar adds a je ne sais quoi to the whole process. Gritty, honest and familiar to anyone who attended an inner city school, this class is worth attending.

My rating 8 out of 10. 

A Single Man

Release date: 11 September 2009 (Venice Film Festival)

A Single Man starts and ends with death. In between are several gorgeously constructed - if rampantly artsy - moments of English professor George (a brilliant Colin Firth) dealing with the loss of his gay partner of sixteen years, Jim (Matthew Goode). The film is fashion designer Tom Ford's coming out directorial debut and my, what a triumph it is. Ford captures both the beauty and tragedy of moments perfectly and knows how to linger on shots to allow all their Joycean detail to emerge. Working with a fine novel by Christopher Isherwood and supported by an excellent  Julianne Moore as Charley, George's 'f*g hag', and Nicholas Hoult as Kenny in full Tadzio splendor, A Single Man is a singularly beautiful film for its resonant depth.

My rating 9 out of 10. 

Push

Release date: 29 January 2009 (Los Angeles, California)

Push is interesting first because it's intriguing despite being frustrating, and secondly because it uses American actors set against the backdrop of Hong Kong. Directed by Paul McGuigan, it is a rift of Matrix, Blade Runner, and, none-too-subtlety, X-men. Starring Dakota Fanning as Cassie Holmes, a 'watcher' who can see the future, who is busy convincing Nick Gant (Chris Evans) that he needs to reconnect with his girlfriend Kira (Camilla Belle) before the big bad 'Division' folks lead by Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou) get to her. Got all that? Push is so wrought with goings-on that you tend to grow mute to the telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities of everyone: screaming Invasion-of-the-Body-Snatchers-like asian brothers aside. The best advice with this one is to suspend reality and cede yourself to the silliness, action and great views of Hong Kong. It's actually worth pushing yourself to do so. 

My rating 7 out of 10.  

Sherlock Holmes

Release date: 24 December 2009 (Worldwide)

Any new iteration of Conan Dolye's classic is always welcome and director Guy Ritchie's version adds another layer to the myth that is Sherlock Holmes (a just-on-the-edge Robert Downey Jr) and his sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law). This version has evil - and recently risen from the grave - Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) out to create a new world order by doing in the British Parliamentarians as a start. Ritchie adds some fabulous fun to this version by adding Rachel McAdams to the story as Holmes' American femme fatale. Full of witty repartee, some heady high jinks and plenty of action, this reborn Sherlock Holmes is a welcome addition to the family.

My rating 7 out of 10. 

Chloe

Release date: 13 September 2009 (Toronto International Film Festival)

Chloe, a film directed by Atom Egoyan, gives the viewer a great tour of Toronto and really, that's about as much as you can say about this film that marries psychological thriller with sexy romp - neither successfully. Liam Neeson stars as David, a professor with an eye for his students that gets his wife Catherine (Julianne Moore) to wondering when he misses his surprise birthday party and she finds a picture of him with a student on his cell phone. Enter young-prostitute-with-a-problem Chloe (a doe-eyed Amanda Seyfried) whom Catherine hires to tempt David. Problem is Chloe has a thing for Catherine and begins telling fibs about her relations with David in order to further her own attempts to bed his wife. Yawn. Chloe is a darn awful film that fails to be entertaining, sexy, or scary. Egoyan who is known for - one could argue - too many films of this ilk should perhaps consider venturing down some new paths.

My rating solely for the great architecture shot in the film, 2 out of 10.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Panassus

Release date: 22 May 2009 (Cannes Film Festival)

From the opening shots this is undeniably a film directed by Terry Gilliam. Christopher Plummer stars as Dr. Parnassus, a man given immortality through a deal with the devil (a brilliant Tom Waits). The deal requires he sacrifice his own daughter Valentina's (Lily Cole) soul when she turns sixteen. Parnassus runs a traveling road show that takes people into his imagination where their dreams and wishes come true. This premise is used in a new deal with the devil to save his daughter's soul with help from a corrupt charity CEO, Tony (variously Heath Ledger and Johnny Depp and Jude Law) they discover hanging under a bridge. It's all very Brazil, of course. The Imaginarium of Dr. Panassus will forever be known as the last film of Heath Ledger and Gilliam does a fine job adapting the screenplay to accommodate Heath's death. The movie is a fantastical journey and fans of Gilliam's work will love it. Others will reach for the remote.

For the sheer audacity of his imagination, my rating 5 out of 10.

Eat Pray Love

Release date: 13 August 2010 (Canada)

Eat Pray Love is Julia Roberts' version of the film Shirley Valentine. Roberts plays Liz, a lass who is down on love, out of love with her husband, and lost within a new relationship to David (James Franco). To mend she flees: to Italy to eat; to India to pray; to Bali to reflect. On route she meets people who give her what she lacks - perspective. With their advice she is able to find love again with a divorced Brazilian Felipe (Javier Bardem). While a great travelogue, Eat Pray Love plods and director Ryan Murphy should have edited the film with more vigor. That said kudos to Richard Jenkins for his role as Richard the Texan and the richness of the scenery throughout (Ms. Roberts included).

My rating 6 out of 10.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Release date: 26 March 2010 (Canada)

Dumb title, sure, yes, let's admit that from the start. When three longtime buddies - just dumped Adam (John Cucsak); Nick (Craig Robinson) and a recently suicidal Lou (Rob Corddry) head back to a ski resort they partied at during their college days - accompanied by Adam's nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) - the strangest of things takes place. Thanks to too much booze, and a can of Russian Red Bull-like drink spilling on the hot tub's control, the foursome find themselves transported back to 1986. Remember those days? Reliving their lives again reveals all sorts of truths and allows the guys to reconnect, reflect and heal. While Hot Tub Time Machine is inconsequentially silly with no greater meaning than filling screen time, it's still worth digging out the bathing suit and heading to the water.

Love Actually

Release date: 7 September 2003 (Toronto International Film Festival)

Love Actually is an ensemble piece whose characters are all in varying stages of infatuation. Some are madly in love; others are busy falling out of love; still others are finding their first love. Directed by Richard Curtis, it stars the likes of Hugh Grant (as the Prime Minister nonetheless); Liam Neeson (as Daniel); Emma Thompson (as Karen); Bill Nighy (as Billy Mack); Keira Knightley (as Juliet); Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Peter); Alan Rickman (as Harry); and even Billy Bob Thornton (as the US President). Set in London at Christmas, the film is wonderfully engaging as the lives of all these characters collide and intermingle with nary beat missed. Love Actually works. Works because we see in every encounter some semblance of ourselves. 

My rating 7 out of 10.

Legion

Release date: 21 January 2010 (Hollywood, California)

Seems the world is always ending in America and Legion continues this trend with a fallen St. Michael (a wooden Paul Bettany) arriving in Los Angeles on the prowl for a new age Mary named Charlie (Adrianne Palicki). The premise of this gawd-awful film directed by Scott Charles Stewart is that God - it seems - is fed up with all our bullsh*t and has opted to use humans themselves (rather than a flood) to end the world. But God has been watching too many B-rate zombie movies and has possessed sort-of-dead Los Angeleans driving out to the desert to kill our new age Mary who is holed up with the renegade St. Michael and the occupants of a diner - Jeep (Lucas Black), his dad (Dennis Quaid), Kyle (a good Tyrese Gibson), Percy (Charles S. Dutton) and the Anderson family. Mayhem ensues until St. Gabriel arrives, bringing with him one of Hollywood's most stupid entrances ever, a mace, and a nasty case of Father-infatuation. Production value aside Legion gives new meaning to bad film-making and is, in the worst sense of the word, a horror to watch.

My rating - may God strike me down - 1 out of 10.