The Golden Compass

Release date: 27 November 2007 (London)

Based on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, and specifically the first novel, Northern Lights, The Golden Compass is a fantasy story centered on Lyra, a young girl who lives in a parallel universe where people exist side by side with their daemons, animals of various ilks who hold your spirit. When Lyra's best friend, Will, is kidnapped by the dark forces of the Magisterium, a veiled version of the Roman Catholic Church, she heads north to the land of the armoured polar bears to rescue him. In her possession is the alethiometer, the "golden compass", which only she can use to see into the future. There is a lot going on in this movie and its ravishing mix of cultures, time periods and animal and human characters makes for a fantastical journey. The movie is 'heady' and says much about philosophy, theology and physics. Replete with star power including Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Sam Elliot, Ian McShane, Ian McKellen and Freddie Highmore, The Golden Compass - while requiring focused viewing - is a treat for transporting you to a world unlike any you've seen.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Enchanted

Release date: 20 October 2007 (London Film Festival)

If you're looking for a wonderful twist on a classic fairytale, look no further than Enchanted. Starring Amy Adams (as Princess Giselle), Patrick Dempsey (as Robert Philip, her modern-day Prince), James Marsden (as Prince Edward, her fairytale Prince) and the great Susan Sarandon (as the oh-so-evil Queen Narissa), Enchanted challenges the line between modern-day love and fairytale love. When Queen Narissa whisks Giselle from the saturated, colourful world of fairy tales to modern-day New York City, she begins to rethink all her fairytale notions of love. Soon after arriving, she meets Robert Philip, a lawyer, who befriends her unaware she is a real fairytale Princess. The comedy that results is great and is enhanced when both Prince Edward, nasty Queen Narissa and her sidekick Nathaniel all appear in NYC. Charming in its innocence and revealing in its morale, Enchanted is a watch.

My rating 8 out of 10.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Release date: 9 May 2008 (Festival Internacional de Cine Acapulco)

Andrew Adamson directs this second installation of the Pevensie siblings adventures in Narnia. Based on the classic set of books by uber-Christian C.S. Lewis, the story has the kids enlisted to help ward off an evil King Miraz and restore young Prince Caspian as the rightful heir to the land's throne. The look of the film is great, but sadly the story creeps along at such a tiresome pace - all 2 hours and 29 minutes of it - that you quickly lose any interest in what's going on. This, even despite the 'will-Aslan-return-or-not' plot devices. All battles all the time does not a movie make. Prince Caspian proves bigger and louder is not the right formula for a squeal.

My rating 4 out of 10.

Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Release date: 18 May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival)

You can get too much of a good thing as this latest installation of the mega movie juggernaut proves. The usual stars return for another romp with mystery, Nazis and adventure. Granted, older and more creaky; Shea LeBeouf being the (aggravating) exception. This time out, Professor Henry Jones is on the hunt for an ancient Peruvian city, leading a ragtag band of misfits constantly in hot in pursuit from a group of mystic Nazis headed by Cate Blanchett. Fantastical stuff yes. And while the film is utterly predictable and continues its far-fetched jumps in logic, it does maintain the always great Spielburg pacing and framing and is worth a look if only to bring back the memories of when Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was fresh and new.

My rating 6 out of 10.

The Sky Crawlers

Release date: 3 September 2008 (Venice Film Festival)

Hiroshi Mori wrote the original story and book back in 2001, which Kenji Tsuruta then animated. The story is set in an alternative historical time – vaguely reminiscent of Europe in World War II – and concerns Kildren, genetically engineered teenagers who never die until shot down in an air battle. At its core this film examines an essential truth about life and whether knowing you will live forever, makes living worth it or not. This theme is explored in simply gorgeous detail through 122 minutes of magnificent anime. Directed by the genius of Mamoru Oshii, The Sky Crawlers is one of the most subtlety perfect movies – in any genre – in a long, long time. It is, in a word, a masterpiece.

My rating, a rare, 10 out of 10.

El Greco

Release date: 11 October 2007 (Crete, Greece)

Sadly when you take a great story, the life of the Greek painter, Doménicos Theotokópoulos, made famous during his time in Spain as “El Greco”, and place this story in the hands of an over-wrought director, Yannis Smaragdis, with a panache for melodrama and ensuring his actors over-act each and every scene, the result is never good. Such is the fate of El Greco. This film should be used by film school instructors to demonstrate the worse in archaic film style, including the creation of one dimensional characters. Most irritating is the mix of languages the film uses, it seems everyone in the 16 century could easily speak Greek, Italian, Spanish, English … and subtitles to boot. It is all too bad as the story of El Greco’s lifelong relationship and battle with Cardinal Niño de Guevara, Toledo’s Grand Inquisitor, does make for a good story. To sum-up, this dreadful film is an embarrassment to have shown at TIFF and worse, an embarrassment to El Greco’s art.

My rating, mainly for the fact Vangelis did the music, 2 out of 10.

Elephant

Release date: 3 October 2003 (Italy)

Elephant is Gus Van Sant’s take on and testament to the Columbine shootings in 1999. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2003, Van Sant shows us a gaggle of teenagers going about their day, an utterly ordinary day, except for the machinations of two disturbed boys at the Portland high school portrayed in the film. The plain ordinariness of it all and Van Sant’s quiet direction, following the school’s photographer, the prom couple, the library nerd, makes the horror that follows at the end of the film even more impactful. Elephant is a bold, disturbing film. A film that does not moralize what happens but simply shows us an event stripped of biases. The title could not be more apt, there is an elephant in every high school in the nation, and in most cases we don’t even know it’s there.

My rating 8 out 10.

Awake

Release date: 30 Novemeber 2007 (US)

Joby Harold wrote and directed this intriguing little movie that uses a a rarely known medical condition as the starting point for neat thriller. The condition is anesthetic awareness whereby a patient though anaesthetised remains 'awake' and paralysed during an operation. A great starting point I thought but poorly executed thanks to the machinations of two B-rate actors, the vapid Hayden Christensen and poor little Jessica Alba. The story concerns uber rich kid with a wonky heart, Clay Beresford (Christensen), his wife Sam (Alba) and a nasty plot to make some money. The creaky acting and ridiculously contrived plot twists make the film fun to watch and it's worth a rental if you're keen for a laugh one night.

My rating for the brilliant starting point of it all 5 out of 10.

Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

Release date: 17 September 1998 (Toronto International Film Festival)

Long before director Jennifer Baichwal made herself famous filming Manufactured Landscapes, she visited the mysterious expat American musician and author, Paul Bowles, as he lay dying on his bed in Morocco, his home of more than 50 years and a central aspect of many of his great works, including Let it Come Down and The Sheltering Sky. Both great reads, I may add. We see a man who talks but truly says nothing about his life, his marriage to the playwright Jane Bowles, his association with the 'beat' generation writers or his homosexual life. We see an enigmatic man as unfathomable and as intriguing as the sands of the Sahara itself.

For the tiny glimpse Baichwal gives us of this pillar of American literature my rating 7 out of 10.

Gone Baby Gone

Release date: 5 September 2007 (Deauville Film Festival, France)

Based on the Dennis Lehane novel, this Ben Affleck directed film was a challenge to watch. I actually started it four times before being able to get through it, which is usually not a very good sign. Casey Affleck stars, and talks funny with a Bostonian accent, as private eye Patrick Kenzie hired to assist the Boston Police search for the missing girl of a drug addicted single mother. When the little girl shows up (apparently) dead, Kenize and his wife Angie (Michelle Monaghan) wander about all sad and miserable wishing they could have done more. Despite being told by Boston Police captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and his number one detective Remy (Ed Harris) not to worry, the pair continue to dig for 'the truth'. And is often the case, searching for the 'truth' can lead to things you'd rather not learn. The premise is good and the story great, and, in the hands of a more skilled director, may have even been a real winner. Sadly, even two of Hollywood's best actors can't pull the mess together and so you're left struggling to finish a film that is flat from the outset.

My rating 5 out of 10.

The Brave One

Release date: 6 September 2007 (Toronto International Film Festival)

The usually ever-wonderful Jodie Foster has had a couple duds of late and no one larger than this dreadful pro-vigilante movie, The Brave One. Directed by Neil Jordan it has poor Erica Bain (Foster) struggling to get over the brutal attack in Central Park that took the life of her fiance. The radio host soon finds herself purchasing an illegal gun and - predictably - becomes a new form of justice on the New York streets as she stumbles into various criminal situations. Toss in a wonky link whereby Bain starts to get close to the detective assigned to track down the vigilante and it all becomes just too much. In true Hollywood style, Bain manages to hunt down and murder the folks who killed her fiance and the dear old police detective Mercer hushes it all up. Awful stuff.

I'm loath to give films that support Americans taking justice into their own hands any rating but since Mary Steenburgen had a small role in the film as Foster's radio show boss, and was fabulous as ever, I give this miserable film 2 out of 10.

Ryan

Release date: 2004 (Canada)

Canadian Chris Landreth created this great Academy Award for Best Animated Short (2005) film that reflects on the life of filmmaker Ryan Larkin who produced some of the most influential animations of his generation. Sadly, years later, a victim of drug abuse and alcoholism Larkin was destitute and living on the streets of Toronto. Landreth's film is strangely animated and combines interview of Larkin with macabre computer generated characters. It is a sight to behold and you can understand why this won the Oscar.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Last Time in Clerkenwell

Release date: 2008 (UK)

Alex Budovskiy directed this delightful short animation of a bird's conquest of a dream world inspired by London. The stark black and white animation is just gorgeous and the music by Real Tuesday Weld is as catchy a tune as I've heard in a long, long time. It is a perfect match to the on-screen visuals.

My rating a wonderful 10 out of 10 for the sheer its inventiveness and wonderful music.

I, Robot

Release date: 15 July 2004 (Thailand)

You can’t often go wrong with movies based on great books and I, Robot proves this point. Based on Isaac Asimov’s story of a robot with a conscious it is directed by Alex Proyas and stars the ever wooden Will Smith. Yet even Smith’s performance as Detective Del Spooner fails to derail the film. The movie’s strength lies in its storyline of robots who think – sometimes – in order to protector their creators they have to supersede their programming and break the ethical laws humans have written into them. It is a great premise and the detective story that results when the robots’ creator, a scientist named Dr. Albert Lanning, is found murdered is a great ride. Full of action, philosophy and some great special effects, I Robot works to show us the err of our ways and the dangers that may eventual result when robots attain a consciousness similar to our own.

My rating 7 out of 10.

Yellow Sticky Notes

Release date: 2007 (Canada)

Canadian Jeff Chiba Stearns wrote and animated this short 6-minute story of his life – thus far – using the ubiquitous yellow sticky notes we’re all oh-so-familiar with. Motivated by the realization that his film-making journey and to-do lists of yellow sticky notes had overtaken his life, Stearns uses the same medium as a means to self-reflect on events since 9/11. This short piece is a joy to watch with more revealed with each viewing of the some 2300 sticky notes. The catchy original soundtrack is courtesy Genevieve Vincent.

My rating for a great idea captured in an experimental and fun fashion 8 out of 10.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Release date: 13 December 2007 (New York City, USA)

The usual suspects gather in this second, poorer, version of the box office hit from 2004. Nicholas Cage is back as cagey historian Ben Gates, Diane Kruger returns as his (now) wife Abigail Chase, Jon Voight is back as just as aggravating as ever as dad, Patrick Gates, and sidekick Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) returns to continue to add some comic interest. New to the adventure are the ever brilliant Ed Harris as bad guy, Mitch Wilkinson, and the ever brilliant Helen Mirren as Ben’s mom, Emily Appleton. The story is an over-the-top silly concoction concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; a secret book passed from President to President that reveals the truth about some of history’s greatest events, and a secret city of gold hidden away by Mt. Rushmore. It is all thoroughly dumb and sadly does no justice to the brilliance that was the first National Treasure movie. It is all way too much and as such leaves the viewer bored as the chase unfolds.

My rating 4 out of 10.

Mama Mia

Release date: 30 June 2008 (London, UK)

Pierce Brosnan has no worries about preparing a speech for Oscars this year. In Mama Mia, he demonstrates a classic example of a (good?) actor utterly out of his depth. He is wooden, uncomfortable, and – yikes – even sings … horribly granted, but he does give it a screechy try. Based on the music of ABBA and a direct steal from the Broadway theatre production that won umpteen Tonys, the movie version illustrates, vividly, that not all Broadway shows can translate to the silver screen. This is no Chicago. Meryl Streep does a fine job as the woman, Donna, who doesn’t know which of three men fathered her daughter Sophie. Her two sidekicks – Julie Waters (as Rosie) and Christine Baranski (as Tanya) are particularly good, Baranski especially. Newcomer Amanda Seyfried plays the girl at the centre of the story. If you are not a fan of ABBA or the theatre version of Mama Mia, avoid this movie like the plague.

I am a fan of both but would still only give this lame, absurd movie my rating of 4 out of 10.

Across The Universe

Release date: 10 September 2007 (Toronto International Film Fest)

Julie Taymor directed this very long music video trying to pull itself off as a motion picture. The innate problem with the film is lies with Taymor and her reach. In trying to be a all things - sloppy romance between Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood); homage to Beatles music; commentary on the social environment and upheaval that was witness in America during the Vietnam War; and Julie's attempt to one-up Baz Luhrmann and his Moulin Rouge masterpiece - the film crashes, and badly. What's left is a film full of Beatles songs slowed down to the point of tedium, a love story as compelling as watching paint dry, and a journey that will leave you feeling like you've crossed the entire universe (beam me up please, Scotty). Such a shame.

My rating, for the music and some of the great visuals Taymor gives us, 5 out of 10.

I Am Legend

Release date: 5 December 2007 (Tokyo, Japan)

Francis Lawrence directs this third remake of Richard Matheson's novel of the same name, this time with ever-woody 'actor' Will Smith doing his usual - yawn - shtick. Previous, and better versions were, The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston and The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price. Lawrence's version is oh-so-slow to start and doomed from the outset by Smith's acting, which left me cold and rooting for the vampires, if only to shut him up.

That said, the night creatures are brilliantly executed in this film and for that - and that alone - my rating 4 out of 10.

Bewitched

Release date: 24 June 2005 (USA)

Wow ... bad ... real bad despite the star power of her highness Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrel (to whom I apply the moniker 'star' in very, very loose terms), Shirley McLaine and even Michael Caine. Based on the television series, the story ... oh ... heavens ... why even bother. It's an awful film. No amount of witchcraft can save this embarrassing Hollywood film.

My rating 2 out of 10.