2007

Finding words to describe David Fincher's new film is difficult, because I think like when many classics were critiqued at the time of their release, the magnificence of the picture was so overwhelming that it transcended words. Thus is the case with Zodiac, the most sadly overlooked masterpiece in recent memory. Fincher demonstrates a fierce directorial prowess reminiscent of the glorious work of Francis Ford Copolla in his peak. Fincher's work is stylish, yet subtly so, and the pacing of this epic is some of the best in movie history. The focus is evenly distributed among his leads, and the film quickly makes it clear as the poster suggests, it is about less the names and characters in the film, but rather what it does not show. The very idea of this Zodiac killer. The intrigue and ambiguity of the real leading character is the real driving force in the picture, as the audience gets powerfully sucked along into the mess of mystery surrounding the case. We, like Jake Gyllenhaal's character, become obsessed by this unknown antagonist and swallow each scene up eagerly, then eagerly begin to devour the next. The acting is all, like in other masterpieces such as The Godfather and Goodfellas is sufficient. There are no real moments of brilliance, but everyone fills their parts exactly how Fincher needs them to. Reports of Zodiac's dull story and tedious length have been completely falsified. This is an engrossing mystery of genius construction for the most mature and appreciative audiences.

Watching Sunshine in theatres was incredible. Sitting there watching something so special and unforgettable unfold before my eyes was a movie experience that makes me remember exactly why I fell in love with film in the first place. This masterwork of sci-fi is a breath taking and nerve-racking thriller, but it's even more effective if not taken literally. The metaphorical implications of the light and sunshine, and the burning question (pardon the pun) posed; are we really worth saving, is enough to boost the film to the level of true greatness. Boyle and his DP and film editor work together brilliantly, and Sunshine marks their best collaborative effort to date. The score will undoubtebly be considered one of the best of the year, and while some of the acting is a little sketchy, on the whole everone is well cast and fills their parts well. To compare, Sunshine reminded me consistently of 2001: A Space Odyssey in tone and in both directors keen eye for memorable and haunting imagery.

It's easy why to see how Julian Schnabel managed to snatch the director's prize away from the Coen Bros at the Cannes film festival last year. His exciting and innovative direction overcomes the limitations of the story marvelously, and his narrative powerfully drives this movie through the desperate experience of one man trapped in his own diving bell. It was an excellent choice on Schnabel's part to have the audience empathize with the Jean-Do character rather than sympathize, which may have been the instinctive choice. It makes for a different movie-going experience to live what this character lives rather than view it from afar, and I really enjoyed the change of pace. The lighting and photography compliments Schanbel's style beautifully, and you can see heavy influence from his French filmmaking counterpart Michel Gondry. The music is subtle and spare, but used to tremendous effect, and the performances are all fantastic given the difficult of some of the roles. It's too bad that most audiences will blindly name a mess of epics like There Will Be Blood, American Gangster, Michael Clayton, and even No Country for Old Men when there's a brilliant film like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly going virtually unnoticed.

Gosling's devastatingly realistic portrait of a reclusive and awkward young man grounds this very effective drama. The film is full of quirks and laughter, but the real hilight are the tears it draws. Loved it, reminiscent of the Jimmy Stewart classic 'Harvey'.

A recent re-watching of this film provided tremendous insight into how underrated this film really is. The mincing of the bleak photography (some of the best i've ever seen) with Nick Cave's score, the eloquent and effective voice over narration, the casting and performance of Brad Pitt, the complete personification of the Robert Ford character by Casey Affleck. The Assassination of Jesse James is a movie that begs to be viewed more than once, as it's depth and Andrew Dominik's comprehension of the material is expansive and thorough. This is a true work of art that requires a patient and attentive audience, but they will be well rewarded by the end of the picture.

There's an element of horror to this thriller that make it more than just great. It sends out a much different vibe than previous Coen Brothers movies. It seeks to provoke fear in an audience rather than to chase thrills and find black humour. I was genuinely terrified often in this movie by Javier Bardem's psychopathic killer character. A definite must see.

Blisteringly hysterical and quirkly perceptive is Knocked Up, the return to respectability from the maker of 40 Year Old Virgin. This film is full of oddball humour that never becomes offensive or spiteful (unlike 40 Year Old Virgin) and still manages to take it self seriously enough to have an emotional impact on the audience. Top notch original writing and a superb cast. Very well done, loved this.

Dan In Real Life is the most awkward mincing of comedy and tragedy I have ever seen in my life. If this is regarded as a flaw, then perhaps I love this movie because of its flaws. I was dying of laughter at times, but then moments later was cringing at the horrible situational drama that Carrel's character gets thrust into. Despite any preconceived notions the viewer might have about Dane Cook, Carrel, or even Juliette Binoche. They all eventually gel together so well the movie is as convincing a drama as anything seen this year.

Juno contains some of the freshest writing seen out of Hollywood in recent memory. Maybe we should let the guild continue to strike, because those formulaic idiots could never provide us with anything this original. Reitman's direction borrows heavily from Wes Anderson to compliment the bizarre characters and strange situational comedy. The performances are all very unique, and the comedy seeps out naturally. The real joy of the movie however is to see it work on an emotional level. It draws an authentic sympathy for Juno on an intimate level, to my personal delight.

Haggis shows fabulous versatility both as a writer and a director in this heart wrenching examination of American identity following the war in Iraq. While elements of the screenplay are somewhat cliche, they seemed to work well due to the restrained emotional volatility the film bristled with throughout.

The complexity of Alzheimer's and the relationship between Pinsent and Christie is overcome by the simplicity of the storytelling. While the audience may never truly understand what's going on in the heads of the characters of the film, it's still heartbreaking to watch two people in love be torn apart by this disease. Polley's direction is pleasantly gentle, and she creates some terrific visual and character moments in Away From Her. Oddly enough though, as good as Julie Christie is, I thought Gordon Pinsent's performance was the real show stopper.

This unromantic historical drama is gritty and enveloping thanks to the vision of Ridley Scott. While his direction isn't distinctly brilliant as it has been in the past, the way he pulls together the movie certainly is. To my great surprise Russel Crowe's performance actually outshines Denzel's, but these two great performances unfortunately can't charm me into loving this great film.

This film not talked about often this year was an irresistibly cute from start to finish. Cusack's uncertain vulnerability is very charming, and his chemistry with the young actor is undeniably energetic. The comedy is adorable, and the tears are authentic. Really overlooked, check it out.

Ang Lee's direcotiral follow up to Brokeback Mountain is no less potent, and some viewers may be surprised to find out, no less shocking. This disturbingly brute portrait of sexual obsession and the twisted webs that entangle men and women is very articulate but also very difficult to watch due to its borderline pornographic content.

It's delicious to watch all the characters in Margot at the Wedding say the wrong things at the wrong time. It's so human, and it's all so depressingly natural. Baumbach's cast beautifully executes a less charming script than 2005's the Squid and the Whale, but no less insightful into the nature of human behaviour.

One of the most well penned King adaptations, but Darabont's direction is unusually boring. But the acting is all excellent, and the story cripplingly compelling.

While the art design and story of Sweeney Todd are decidedly Burtonesque, it was odd to see one of my favourite directors re-imagine himself somewhat for this piece. Burton's camera work adapts beautifully to suit a musical, and he plays the scenes perfectly, letting all the ideally set pieces fall neatly into place. Disappointing though is the shoddy editing and poor pacing. That being said though, I did enjoy this despite having trouble settling into it.

A simply plotted, truly scary horry film. Unlike 28 Days this piece sticks to the basics, isn't confusing, and has a narrative just strong enough to follow and enjoy. Really liked this flick.

Daniel Day Lewis' enveloping performance and Jonny Greenwood's fucking brilliant score are the hilights of There Will Be Blood. PT Anderson reinvents himself to direct this elongated character study, showing versatility but none of the flair from his previous three movies. His writing however is as strong as ever, and each scene plays itself out very smoothly. My only problem was with how the film came together. I thought that the focus jumped around in the first act, and the third act was pretty aimless. The movie seemed more like a series of great scenes than a great movie. The film also lacked in development, but to be fair was never not compelling because of it.

Not the parody that I expected. Hot Fuzz unlike Shaun of the Dead doesn't poke fun at the established genre stereotypes, but eagerly gives into them. This film is less a comedy than it is a straight up action thriller with a comic twist every now and again, somewhat similar to the Shane Black noir spoof Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

One of the best ideas out of Hollywood in years. Rodriguez and Tarantino's double feature is filled with conceptual flaws and self indulgence (on Tarantino's part), but for the most part this duo delivers one of the best movie experiences anyone could ever have. Ideally it's best for those who lived through the grindhouse era and have enjoyed exploitation cinema, but really anyone who enjoys a loudly fun popcorn tossing good time will like this film. Inarguably the better of the two is Planet Terror, the ode to b-horror is hysterical and horrifying, calling to mind the 1996 cult favourite From Dusk Till Dawn. Rodriguez really buys into the style perfectly in the way he writes, and the film actually feels like it came from some crummy movie studio in the 60's. Watching Rodriguez push the limit and have a great time making a movie just makes the whole experience even better, and leaves you chomping at the bit for part two. But first, we get to sit through trailers from Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and Eli Roth. Roth and Wright's trailers are both charming in a grotesque way, and I personally would love to see Roth's "Thanksigiving" become a full length feature. Zombie's trailer while a idealistic stroke of genius fails because it looks too polished and clean. Then we're led into QT's segment, Death Proof. My worst nightmare came true before my eyes as Tarantino soils a great idea by shamelessly flaunting his linguistic skills and spending endless amounts of time on bullshit. When what matters begins, it works perfectly, but the self-righteously brilliant QT is his own worst enemy, and squanders the opportunity. On the plus side the car sequences are thrilling, and Kurt Russel as Stuntman Mike is completely effective. One edge Tarantino does have over Rodriguez is his photography, which makes the film actually look like it's from the 60's, as is Tarantino's style anyway. But the new-school Rodriguez shoots his piece with too much of a modern mindset, and at times Planet Terror looks more 21st century than it should. As the doors of the Grindhouse close, I can exclaim this is a must see for cinema buffs, and must be seen in a theatre to be seen at all. It's everything movies aren't nowadays, and filmmakers everywhere should take note of two of the best doing something new and exciting.

Definitely doesn't have the masterful structure that Fahrenheit 9/11 had, nor the intelligent insight of Bowling for Columbine. But Sicko is none the less a superbly compelling documentary, marred perhaps with more heart than brain, but more effective on an emotional level than any of Moore's previous efforts.

A well directed Vietnam flick, lacking exceptional quality in everything except the acting. Some top notch character work from the three leads. Bale deserves heavy commondation for his best work to date, and Zahn and Davies both come up with some very unique and distinctive performances. The story, which I found totally engrossing, is what will really determine how much you enjoy this film though.

The Farrelys are surprisingly on form in this movie. The Heartbreak Kid is constantly bombarding the audience with outlandish but effective humour, and Ben Stiller plays the pathetic to-be-pitied loser so well it's hard not to be sympathetic to his horrible plight in the movie. A really pleasant rom-com, with the exception of the stupid ending.

Despite some lame character moments and cheesy melodramatic lines, this drama is very powerful. Simply because Benicio Del Toro manages to suffocate the audience with his character, and refuses to allow us not to believe every word out of his mouth, and every move and motive behind his performance. The story is told in a refreshingly European style, and only the bad casting of Halle Berry really irked me in this one.

A satisfying drama, crafted in an old style that was almost nostalgic to watch. Clooney and the rest of the cast emanate confidence in the material. The whole movie is a little dry and unexciting, but it doesn't feel at all empty.

The ultimate guy movie. An balls out action flick that's a wet dream for fans of Die Hard and The Matrix and other such films.

A family film well-worth checking out if you enjoy clever wordplay and Seinfeldesque observational comedy. I do, and practically died laughing at a couple points. The voice over work in particular is above average.

An extremely successful heist picture, fueled by the charm of the all-star cast and a deliciously dislikable performance by Al Pacino. Unlike the previous Ocean film, this one strays along a simple plotline without being distracted by it's own cool factor. Great summer entertainment, on par with Ocean's 11.

Emotionally distant and lacking the brilliant situational drama of previous work, Wes Anderson's new comedy is disappointingly empty and shallow. Though the laughs come often and with his distinct flavour, they consistently seem forced and a requirement of the film instead of an added delight. The best soundtrack of his to date though, and still a pleasure to watch.

Although the introductory first act to this film is flimsy and totally unconvincing, I thought that the stylized recreation of the original film that took place in the second and third acts was genuinely scary and well done. Zombie's not a great director, but he has a keen eye for horror movie iconography and memorable images. Overall as a horror movie lover, I enjoyed this, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

Disney's big live action surprise is funny more often than not, and feature some likeable. easy going performances from the whole cast. Definitely worth checking out on DVD for a laugh, especially if you're a middle aged man having a mid life crisis.

An exciting and pretty damn cool movie, the ultimate guy experience really. Mark Wahlberg the tight lipped anti hero gets fucked over by the man, and goes on a killing rampage to set things right. Lots and lots of fun. Directed with effortless efficiency by Antoine Fuqua the strange story zips along at a brisk pace and the movie only really suffers from a lack of depth and a shoddy attempt to make the movie smarter than it is with a semi relevant post 9/11 social commentary.

Excellent action thriller. Some shady acting from Julia Stiles and the woman who plays the CIA agent who helps Bourne. Not much to complain about, but not much to write home about either. Seen it all before really.

Fun popcorn movie, nothing exceptional. Cool visual effects, some bad acting, poor dialogue, undeveloped story, great action sequences. But David Wenham is the one glaringly poor aspect. His voice over work was so awful it made me want to wretch.

An interesting little piece, pleasantly adapted from a Dutch script by Buscemi and his writing partner. The structure is refreshingly European, simple but elegantly personal. Roughly shot, but it's totally a performance piece, and both Miller and Buscemi are in fine form.

This is a cute little offering powered almost solely by the amusing nature of the story and Hugh Grant's endlessly charming persona. While Drew Barrymore struggles to find a unique performance, and the movie seems slow and sluggish at times, it's still funny and light hearted enough to make it worth watching.

A surprisingly entertaining b-movie. Doesn't take itself seriously, aware of the film's lame script the actors capitalize well with big cartoonish performances that are pleasently silly and well rounded. A pleasant surprise.

Despite Edward Norton's magnificent performance this film falls short of any success due to the ineptitude of the screenplay and of Naomi Watts. Watts who historically is a very hit and miss actresses, blows it way off the mark, and shrinks in every scene with the potent Norton. The story is very interesting, but the dialogue will knock you flat with it's horrific lack of realism and poor structure. This a well photographed and directed, but unfortunatelly underwhelming as a drama.

Joel Schumacher's latest effort is pretty good concerning some of his previous piles of shit, but he puts his faith into a terrible script, and for that his film is a failure. While the nightmarish imagery and suspense elements are pretty well done, the plot and development of Carrey's character are both very poor, and the whole concept seems pretty silly. The twists and turns are unecessary and occassionally just stupid. I think it's a movie with promise, and Carrey does an excellent job trying to haul it around and make it believable. But when you start with garbage on the page, it's hard to make the finished product anything but.

Disappointing prequel is satisfying, but cheaply so. The script is lame and full of cheeseball moments, due to the inexperience of Thomas Harris, who should not have penned the adaptation to his own book. The directing's good, and the story interesting enough, but the movie is too long and full of unimportant crap to garner it a higher rating.

While 1408 starts well and finds success in the normal horror/thriller methods, it quickly leaps into the bizarre and leaves the audience behind scratching their heads. The film then proceeds to suffocate itself in its own absurdity, and move on to Adrian Lyne-like twists. But all the while, it is still Stephen King's imagination up on screen for you, and Cusack does a good job keeping everything midly believable.

An interesting idea, executed poorly due to the insistance of the screenwriter to focus on a horrible detective character played by the horrifically casted Demi Moore instead of the psychotic Mr Brooks and his talking dark alter ego played by William Hurt. But this is still a midly successful picture, with a bit of a b-movie air to it. If not for that damn Demi Moore. Hope she gets struck by a bus.

An unintelligent piece of triviality that exists in a state of perpetual pointlessness. Despite the terrific leads doing their best to drag the film along, everything about the plot and the character's written actions is insultingly dimiwitted.

A cheap, would-be cool, glorified teen popcorn movie. Don't be fooled by the previews, this is nothing more than a stupid adolescent thriller, with little going for it at all. The comparisons to Rear Window are justified, but ultimately insulting to the Hitchcock classic. It utilizes none of the techniques that made ithe 1954 classic special, and soils most of the things it does borrow. The story structure and direction is messy and unfocussed, and all the cool parts of the movie are squandered by not spending enough time on it. But Shia La Beouf is a confident young actor, and it's great to watch someone who you know will be a star someday in their early days. Daivd Morse is a well cast bad guy, and there's a few funny and scary moments in it to make it entertaining.

Evan Almighty is a well intentioned but ill fated follow up to a personal favourite comedy of mine Bruce Almighty. Unlike it's predecessor it provides no character development, which makes it hard to get attached to or find any shred of empathy for the characters, the chief reason for Bruce's success. The first act of the film moves along far too briskly, and the preceeding two acts painfully slowly. It certainly does have funny moments, but more often than not the laughs are accidental, and the bits of scripted comedy feel formulaic and stale.

A love-sick musical mess.

An unstoppable ball of cheese barreling out of control. Beresford's work is very good, but wasted on such bad material, as are the talents of Morgan Freeman and the always fun to watch John Cusack.

Ferrel's weakest venture to date is the figure skating comedy Blades of Glory. While past flicks like Anchorman and Old School have successfully utilized moronic protagonists to provide laughs, Chazz is just an obnoxious and senselessly stupid hopeless blob. There are a few scattered laughs in the absurdity of the story, and the surprisingly enthusiastic performance of Will Arnett.

I saw enough to know it was a badly written, lame duck thriller.

While this film is chalk full of blatant errors in photography, editing, and directing, the weakest link in this historical drama is the script. It bumbles along like a drunk trying to get laid, spouting off ridiculous lines, with no clear direction and without any expectations that it can hope to meet. It fills the screen with absurdity constantly, and all the actors, none bad, all struggle mightly trying to heave the dying carcas off the ground. The director of this project seemed to have no idea what to do with the written work he was given, and merely complacenctly shoots the movie, adding and subtracting nothing. If it weren't for the interesting story, this would be a half star piece. The cinematography and bad writing is enough to make you cringe, but the topic of slavery and making changes in that time was enough to keep me from leaving my seat. Overall it looks like a BBC TV-movie that someone threw a lot of money at.

A prententious, contrived and overbearing film that poorly tries to present a would-be thoughtful view of life and regret. There's not a single likable performance in this mess of an ensemble ranging from the downright terrible (Natash Richardson going for the first Oscar worthy performance by a pair of eyebrows) to the barely tolerable (Patrick Wilson). The plot structure is hideous, and the editing only worsens the stumbling nature of the scene splicing. The exagerated dream sequences of the dying old woman are so bad I was actually barking laughter in the theatre, the director ought to be slapped silly not only for the design of those dreams but the bad casting of the old lady's nurse. The Irish lady who only talked out of one side of her face was the real hilight of the movie, quite chuckle worthy. Ah this movie was so bad it was ludicrous, I could go on for hours.

This flimsy effort was so poor it almost seemed like a parody of itself. A nonstop satire of the first Pirate film, poking fun at everything that the original did well and mocking the audience with reckless disregard for their sense of dignity. The whole cast, including the fabulous Johnny Depp, reeks of stale performance cliches and badly spent large paycheques. The plot is staggeringly atrocious, making about as much sense as a fantasy novel would if it was written by a four year old. Each scene insists on being infinitely more pointless than the last, and by the end not even the CGI spectacle that is the last fight sequence can save this summer dud from the garbage bin.

The Spider-Man trilogy ends the worst of possibly every cinematic trilogy in history. The movie sucks for so many reasons it's hard to list them all in a review, but here goes. It's unfocused because there's too many characters the director wants to examine and not enough time for them all, nor is it necessary to go into as much detail on all of them. It seems every five minutes we are going off on a tangent watching the backstory on another character, so the film feels like it's jerking you back and forth like a hyperactive kid in a toy store. Next the acting of Tobey Maguire never ceases to amaze me with how awful it can be, certainly not helped by the story telling incompetence of Sam Raimi, Maguire is constantly irritating the audience with unbelievability, and the Peter Parker character in this film is monstorously stupid and short sighted. The depth forged by the second Spider-Man is ruined by this trashy, hastily thrown together character development. Another thing, even with all the things this movie had to do in it's two and a half hours, it manages to not do anything. It tries too much, and then it fails at everything. So the whole movie just feels like filler for nothing. There is one action sequence when a crane goes nuts on top of a building (?) that is kind of cool and well shot. But other than that this Spider-Man is an excruciating piece of nincompoopery to sit through.