Slings and Arrows Season 3 - the final season of the show continues the excellent blend of drama and comedy and actually manages to avoid the pitfall of season 2 where the format followed was identical to that of season 1.

It seems as the makers were aware that this was going to be the final season quite early on, and as such, the show focuses on different themes than previous seasons (also reflected in the play being mounted in this season, King Lear).

The writing is still top notch and the performances are consistently impressive across the board (sarah polley also guest stars).

7.5/10



A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) - one of sergio leone's unsung films, coming in between his Dollars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, probably not surprising given that it's unlike most of his other westerns.

The focus is very much on character and not on atmosphere as is usually the case. That focus is the key to the film's success because otherwise it's a bit of a mess, a film that constantly feels like its struggling to find the right tone throughout its overlong running time.

Rod Steiger and James Coburn provide engaging performances though, and coupled with the interesting character development, make the whole experience worthwhile.

6.5/10


Hud (1963) - Great film, pretty much faultless in all departments. Its one of those movies which you can tell will be great within the first five minutes when elmer bernstein's score gels with the cinematography so well. And once the actors get on screen, its hard to take your eyes off them.

Of all the great Paul Newman performances, I have always thought Cool Hand Luke and The Hustler to be the most definitive. However, his work here is quite possibly even better. And it's matched by equally brilliant work by Melvyn Douglas and Patrcial Neal.

On top of all that, the script is great, one of those works where the dialgoue is able to give voice and articulate its themes without sounding phoney, preachy or overwritten.

9/10 

This just worked. The strong characters (especially Keyes!)
No nonsense really. My parents liked it too.

Not the movie of a century or an epic, it was just a good film, clean in its style.
Billy Wilder was the director and participated in the script too according to IMDB, based on James McCain's novel.

I generally feel that novels often make better movies and sometimes plays too, than scripts made for movies or plays. 

personally think of it as one of the greatest dialogue scripts. 

El Aura (2005) - minimalist masterpiece. Argentina's 2005 oscar entry is a brooding, moody and Melvillian drama/thriller which unfolds in a careful and captivating fashion. The plot is deceptively simple, an introverted taxidermist preoccupied with the notion of a perfect crime finds himself in cirucmstances that allow him to try out his fantasy, but the movie is a complex and intelligent affair.

Also, late director Fabian Belsinki goes a bit Rashomon with his camerawork in the Patagonian forests and the cinematography and sound design are brilliant. The lead performance by Ricardo Darin is also pretty compelling.


8/10 

Monsieur Hire (1989) - well made, interesting story and characters but I just don�t like it. Patrice Leconte was obviously going for enigmatic and touching in this movie about a middle aged social recluse who is a suspect in a murder of a young girl and does not help his situation by watching a young woman Rear Window style every evening, but I found it to be predictable and dull.

It's really strange because the plot explains all motivations for the characters but I still didn�t buy any of them.

5/10



Oceans 13 - I really liked the retro look and feel that Soderbergh got going in this one and overall found it be reasonably entertaining and enjoyable even though the story is extremely weak and it is not in the least way realistic (I don�t think it ever tries to be). But it's definitely fun, which is more than what could be said about the last outing.

6/10 

Angels in America - had never seen the whole thing on tv so finally got around to it.

It must have been a very difficult thing to adapt because even though the writing is of a very high quality, it's always remindng you that it's from a play. But Mike Nichols does enough, without being showy, to make sure that the visuals become just as important as the words.

Similarly, the actors (with the exception of Emma Thompson who I thought was the weakest of the ensemble) also make small and varied adjustments to their dialogues to make it seem more conversational and natural.

Having said all of that the real star is the writing, stagey or otherwise, with Tony Kushner doing a staggering job in combining humour and drama in beautifully complex and layered dialogue that is just a pleasure to hear.

9/10 

Casablanca

Yes.


The Golden Compass

No. 

this begs for a huge "ORLY?"

Golden Compass has a good idea tho, and some say that the books are good 

Was laughably bad. Even if I had enjoyed it, I would be furious because the ending literally was like "OK well nothing at all has been resolved, but if you want to find out more, we plan on making 8 more of these movies so see ya then!!"

It had some nice art and animation and stuff, but there were a *LOT* of scenes that had really bad looking animations. The girl riding the bear across the snowy terrain comes to mind.

The acting was shitty, the plot veered off in 800 directions and everything that happened was completely predictable. 

Guys, don't watch the Dark Materials movies (Golden Compass etc). Read the books if you think you might like them. They are so wonderful and no movie (especially no hollywood movie) could ever grab the magic. They are stories meant for reading and fantasizing, not for watching as a movie.
I've been trying to avoid getting my fantasy ruined by the terrible pictures I have seen of it so far. Seriously, even less filmable than Lord of the Rings. 

Apocalypto - nothing more than a chase flick with high production values and an interesting setting, and it never really tries to be anything more, but its very well made. Yes it's violent, and because it's not a mob movie or a "horror" movie or a Tarantino movie, that's apparently unacceptable and wrong. Seriously speaking, it's gratuitous every now and then, but given that it was set in a society that was built around sacrifice and survival, it is not out of place.

Anyway, enough with the ranting. Its suspenseful, exciting, has characters that you can connect with and transports you to the ancient Mayan world, and later on into the jungle, pretty commendably. I also quite liked the music and sound design.

Having said all of that, there are a couple of eye rolling moments and for what it is, its also slightly overlong. And the ending is interesting.

7.5/10


Shooter - its movies like this that make the Bourne films, good as they are, look like masterpieces. Completely banal, predictable as clockwork, may as well have been acted by correspondence and poorly shot. And to top it all off it seems to think its an intelligent film because it makes a few statements about the current state of the world, right before Mark Wahlberg says another corny line and continues on his vigilante spree.

3/10


Scandal (1950) - minor early Kurosawa that doesn�t quite work, you can see he is still trying to find his feet, but its still quite an interesting watch because moments of genius still shine through and its theme of celebrity obsession and media attention are inescapable today.

Toshiro Mifune puts in another great turn as a famous painter who is inadvertently snapped by paparazzi in the company of a famous female singer but is unwilling to be exploited by the media without a fight. The opening is brilliant, Kurosawa setting up proceedings very efficiently, but things start to get a bit overly melodramatic when Takeshi Shimura's morally dubious attorney turns up to defend Mifune's character.

I am not quite sure the scenes with Shimura's character work and in this case it probably would have been better if Kurosawa stuck with making a film that focused solely on the main plot.

6/10 

Die Hard 4.0
^ Yeah that's the UK title, I guess they conjectured that Live Free or Die Hard would cause British people to vomit uncontrollably, and rightly so. I wasn't expecting great things as I hadn't heard almost anything about it, and almost no one in the UK went to see it I think, but this is one fucking awesome action flick. Pure entertainment in the exact same vein as the first 3 films, but better than all of them combined.

Granted, the scheme being executed by the bad guys is absolutely retarded, and the main bad dude is certainly no Alan Rickman, but the action and stunts are good enough that it just doesn't matter. The computer hacking stuff is hilarious, literally up there with 'Hackers' for sheer unfeasibility. In the Die Hard 4 world, you could use your mobile phone to hack into your neighbour's microwave so that it overheated their pizza, no problem.

I don't want to over-analyse this film, but it's probably more entertaining than you think it'll be... the 'Mac' kid from the apple adverts isn't bad at all, and McClane has a hot daughter. That is all.


Enchanted
Completely deserved what I got for going to see this. Horrible even if you can handle and enjoy most Disney. Also, why is the Disney cartoon girl such a hottie, but when she comes into the real world she's a 7 at best? 

I think they have been doing the marketing campaign for this movie too far ahead of time, but most of what they've released makes the movie look awesome. I just hope they have the Joker do _really_ fucked up stuff, not the usual comic book villain "rob banks, fight police, take hero's girlfriend hostage." (which 1989 Joker did too) I'm talking Hannibal Lecter stuff, torture and so forth, the character needs to be disturbing, he is a psychopath not a dastardly evildoer. 

looks great. 

I saw it too, while I sort of agree with starbucks review I cant believe he rates it above die hard 1, which is undoubtedly the best in the series by far!

Yes the whole hacking thing in 4 is hilarious, made more funny by the old lady sitting behind me asking her grand daughter if people can really do all this stuff with computers, the reply was a disturbing "of course!" ...

And mmmmm dark knight trailer, looks fantastic! 

Klute (1971)<b/> - a little dated now in some aspects, I'm sure it was quite frank and provocative when it came out, and as a mystery/thriller it's pretty average.

But what it does have is some well done characterisation that is brought to life by some excellent acting from Jane Fonda (and to a lesser extent Donald Sutherland even though his character is underwritten) and some highly impressive cinematography by the great Gordon Willis (its not pretty or anything just very effective and suitable). The end result is a reasonably good film that although predictable excels in its character moments.

6.5-7/10 

the dark knight trailer looks pretty cool. never liked the 90's batman films, but i did like the design on the penguin batman one.

anyway, this one looks like i'll be pretty cool stuff. :)

still, if its out in june, i agree they are showing this stuff too early. 

proper comments later along with other stuff I have seen recently, but the hype's true, No Country For Old Men is instant classic material. 

seen a lot lately, some reviews :

Atonement - I wasnt a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice, mainly because of the leads' performances, but you could tell Joe Wright had talent. That talent's on full display for pretty much the entirety of his followup, which is an excellent film (even Keira Knightley puts in an above average performance).

The first half period drama is much better than the second half at war, even though the second half is established with that astonishing tracking shot. Its almost as if Wright manages to say all that he needs to say with that 5 min shot at the start of the second half and ends up repeating rather than adding to what he managed to achieve with that shot.

However, the ending manages to overcome the not quite so potent second half, with Vanessa Redgrave outacting anything in sight with her face. The four-five minute closeup of her is as good and makes just as much an impact as the Dunkirk tracking shot.

7.5/10


The Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson bounces back after the abysmal Life Aquatic and even though its not really any different to his previous stuff, its still a funny and well etched character comedy.

The 8 min short before the film that sets up Jason Schwartzman's character is also quite good and is pretty much necessary viewing because otherwise Schwartzman's character comes off as fairly one dimensional.

Owen Wilson and Schwartzman do well, even though its kind of repetitive as they've done this sort of stuff before with Anderson. But Adrien Brody surprises, showing deft comic timing and a sense of dry laconin humour.

Anderson provides some nice touches too, such as the cabin epilogue at the end, but I thought he got a little too cute at times especially towards the end.

7.5/10


No Country for Old Men - Easily the best film of the year and the jewel in Joel and Ethan Coen's filmography I think. They've made some excellent stuff over the years but this is a highpoint.

At first glance, it seems to be a very non-Coen movie, lacking the quirky characters and humour that are the staple of pretty much all their films. But on closer inspection, the film style is basically a more refined version of what they did in Blood Simple.

For close to two hours, its a perfectly executed suspense film, with no scene or shot out of place. Then it flips itself over in the last ten minutes to become a different beast, and I think its those last 10 min make it great and yet, at the same time, are also the movie's slightly weak point.

Its not the content of those last 10 min, thats great, but the manner in which the themes of the film are turned on their head is a bit jarring. I dont think the last ten minutes should have been changed or omitted, they are perfectly done, but th transition could perhaps have been slightly better executed.

Still, instant classic.

8.5/10


More to come. 

more :

The Bicycle Thieves (1948) - genuine classic from Vittorio de Sica about a poor man (and his son) in post-war Rome looking for his stolen bicycle on which his livelihood depends.

Extremely simple in almost every aspect but very very effective. Its almost as if De Sica simply stumbled upon the man on the street and decided to shoot around him during this part of his life.

Essential viewing if you are at all into films.

8.5/10


Brief Encounter (1945) - another classic from David Lean, this is very unlike his later epics but is still an extremely well made melodrama set in post war middle class Britain. The performances are great and the direction is delicate, focusing on small gestures that say a lot.

Stays with you well after the end.

8.5/10


Breach - above average followup to Shattered Glass by Billy Ray. It takes a while to really become interesting and even then its better when it focuses on the relationship between Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe's characters than the standard thriller cliches.

6.5/10


The Bourne Ultimatum - the weakest of the three but still quite a good film. Lacks the character moments of the first two films, which is really what separated them from your usual crap action movie, but the pacing is fast enough for that to not be a huge concern. Still not a fan of the shooting style, but having said that, I enjoyed most of the action set pieces.

7/10


The Cider House Rules - very unfocused and oversentimental, two aspects that usually ruin a film for me, but this time it works. I dont know why, the direction is nothing great, the performances are ok. It may have been the story venturing into areas that I wasnt expecting every now and then.

6.5/10 

Broken Flowers (2005) - It's slow paced but theres plenty on offer for those looking for something a bit different. The performances are quite good and the writing is top notch, carefully revealing details about Bill Murray's main character thrugh each encounter with one of his previous lovers.

Theres also some nice dry humour throughout.

7/10


Cries and Whispers (1972) - when he's not on song, watching an Ingmar Bergman movie is still interesting but not all that satisfying or engaging. When he is going, they are *very* emotionally involving and thats certainly the case here in this swedish period piece about two sisters looking after a thrid sister that is close to death.

It's probably one of the most painful movies I have ever seen (although I should add that its not necessarily depressing) and contains some incredible acting and stunning cinematography.

8-8.5/10


Full Metal Jacket - rewatch after many years and I still think its terrible.

Sure there's things to like, mainly on a technical level, but I found the tone to be way off. More importantly, this is probably the most disconnected I have felt with any movie I have seen.

A lot of people like at least the initial training half, but I find even that to be fairly weak and unconvincing in its execution.

4.5/10 

I LOVE that film!

I remember January 1st 2000 - I was suffering from alcohol poisoning from the night before, sat at a friends house being sick repeatedly into a bucket, watching that film!! I'll never forget it, truly amazing performances specifically by the person who played Pvt Gober Pile and the Drill Sargent, but also (I should know his name) Pvt Joker at the end - a true sense of the reality of the horrors of war. The message for me was that, when left wandering what the point of it all was, there is no real point to war... 

well if thats what you got out of it, great, because that's definitely what it was going for.

With me though, it just left me saying hmm... 

Are you a film critic by profession? I'm astounded by the number of films you manage to watch :)

Or are you just trying to watch every film ever made before you die? (sorry if that's the case :) 

I guess he is watching the movies in "fast forward" mode :P Otherwize, how could he have time to watch them all ?