Shutter Island (2009) - not sure how much of the flawed narrative is the book's fault but even if it is, I think some changes were warranted in the adaptation to film. Plays its cards way way too early and then the eventual resolution is so logically flawed, it takes away quite a bit from the reasonably well crafted film that otherwise takes place.
Scorsese the film buff is on full display, skilfully homaging many of the great noirs, particularly the works of Jacques Tourneur, and some of the sequences are from his heyday as a director, but the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/
5.5-6/10
Dexter Season 3 - the show's writers have a history of creating intriguing and morally ambiguous setups and then letting themselves down with an easy and morally simple resolution. And they are at it again this season, but this time with probably the worst example of the above. The setup for this season is brilliant, with Jimmy Smits excelling in his role as Dexter's new friend and secret sharer, but the denouement just gets silly and features leaps of logic that just should have been better through.
6.5/10
Young Torless (1966) - Volker Schlondorff's disturbing debut is a pre WWI drama set in an Austrian boarding school at which a young boy becomes a target for humiliation and torture by a group of other boys, each of whom have different reasons for participating. It works as both a claustrophobic drama that unfolds with uncompromising starkness and also as a thinly veiled parallel of the rise of nazism in civilised society.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060574/
7.5/10
A Prophet (2009) - Jacques Audiard has made a string of fine films but his latest is a modern crime classic. The rise of a young arab man in a french prison to mafia kingpin is not the most original of plots but Audiard's direction and Tahar Rahim's central performance elevate this to a much higher plane. Frequently brutal, always menacing, immaculately constructed and absolutely compelling from start to finish.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235166/
8/10
Genova (2008) - the new film from Michael Winterbottom takes more than a few cues from Nicolas Roeg's classic
Don�t Look Now, having a grieving family looking to an italian city for solace and sharing supernatural overtones. Its nowhere near the quality of Roeg's film, suffering from a rambling script and being repetitive in both form and content, but it makes a fascinating use of its backdrop and is blessed with some fine performances, particularly from its young cast.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0791303/
6.5/10
Germany Year Zero (1948) - I cant believe this was allowed to be shot in Germany 3 years after the war. Roberto Rossellini's neo realist depiction of post war life in Germany is hardly a flattering view, featuring a demolished landscape and also a demolished society. The film centers on a handful of characters, all of whom move around Edmund, a 12 year old german boy who takes on responsibilities that you would not wish upon anyone anywhere.
The location shooting and use of non-professional actors lends it a remarkable authenticity and although I found it to be a little predictable narratively, its never less than engrossing.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039417/
7-7.5/10
Che Part 1 (2008) - this is as unconventional a biopic as there has ever been. Steven Soderbergh is not exploring Che the man, but Che the icon and his approach seems to be to analyse his subject by comparing his leadership during two of his campaigns, the successful revolution of Chile, which is this film, and his unsuccessful attempted revolution of Bolivia, which is Part 2. Its not quite as narratively simple as that description because, in Part 1, he also goes back and forth between Che's 1964 United Nations General Assembly address.
Its not an easy film to watch, the first 20-30 min are particularly confusing but once you cotton on to what its trying to do, made easier by Benicio Del Toro's fantastic acting, its utterly compelling. Very keen to see Part 2.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892255/
7.5/10