Some people might be tempted to ask, what is the best film of a poor year worth ? Id say no less than the best of a good year. Up in the Air, Jason Reitman's third film, after Thank You for Smoking and Juno proves he's already a better filmmaker than his father.

A film about relationships, life, solitude, choices one make, growing up, and changing how one see things. Up in the Air isnt just a light comedy. Perfectly balanced and representative of its time, Up in the Air is a charming and effective dramedy with enough depth to make you think, enough comedy to make you laugh and enough emotions to be moving.

Engaging characters are played by great actors, giving extraordinary performances. I mentioned this before, but Im still amazed to see how George Clooney has grown and matured has an actor. He gives the performance of his career, and will deserve to win some award comes awards season. Vera Farmiga is equally good, and if this doesnt throw her into stardom, nothing will.

Reitman uses a great soundtrack, suiting the mood intended for the film. He writes - with co-writer Sheldon Turner - thoughtful dialogues for his actors to speak. He is definitely one of the filmmakers to look for in the future. He's got three good films so far, out of three, which aint bad. Up in the Air never disappoints. Great film.

Precious Jones is an overweight teen living in Harlem. She doesnt like herself cause everyone around her is abusive. She is pregnant with her second child and is entering an alternative school, despite her mother not wanting her to.

Everything in Precious is a bit too depressing. The score, the story, the tone, its almost manipulative, but wait, its not. The acting is right on, with some nice cameo from Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, both actually very good. Newcomer Gabourey Sdibe is pretty amazing in the title role and Mo'Nique is solid as well. And despite a few annoying editing trick, the film is well-handled.

Its a hard movie to watch if you let it take you into its dark, pessimistic and realistic world. Its heartbreaking and shocking. There are some pretty powerful moments. Its a moving story, moving at a decent pace without the usual crappy Hollywood plot turns. A recommendation.

Blood, guns and twinkies. Thats what you get in Zombieland, yet another entry in the undead genre. This one takes itself less seriously, and could be a good companion to Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead.

There is no real plot, just fun characters trying to survive. It almost feels as if they dont care they might be the last people on Earth. They are the same as before, whether its a good thing or not.

Zombieland is actually very funny, and the gore is, well, gory. Its a fun time at the movies. Look out for the cool opening credits and an hilarious cameo appearance by, well, Im not spoiling it, everyone knows already, Bill Murray.

Little Rock: Do you have any regrets?

Bill Murray: Garfield maybe.

Here's what Werner Herzog has to say about directing a remake of Abel Ferrara's "cult" flick Bad Lieutenant: I've never even seen the original film, so we know now the films have nothing to do with each other. (It was the film's producers who insisted on the title) It was a speculation to start a franchise. And from day one, I said this is a mistake, it will backfire, it is wrong. Got it. Its not a remake.

Nicolas Cage is a terrific actor. He is fearless. Unfortunately, he never seems to know how to dose it in whatever roles he picks. Or actually, his performances are barely ever suitable to the characters he plays, making him look bad, uselessly quirky and annoying. With Bad Lieutenant he finds the shoe that fits. His paring with the German director is a match made in heaven. They both understand the material, which would have been bad in lesser hands.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is like an over-the-top parody, and I can already hear some people asking what it is that critics like about this film. The tone is subtle, and it can easily be mistaken as a badly written screenplay, when in fact, it is a terrific film.

Cage is the painkiller-addicted Lieutenant who has to solve a murder, while dealing with mobsters, drug dealers, his prostitute girlfriend, some gambling problem, etc ... There is a lot going on. At one point I was afraid it would all fall apart, but instead, every subplot is imbricated and nothing is left unresolved in the end. But Bad Lieutenant isnt really about the plots - or the subplots - but rather about the madness, almost surrealistic, but its not even close to be a character study.

Werner Herzog said of his film its the most hilarious one of his resume. I agree, but not hilarious in a laugh-out-loud way. Herzog doesnt take the script seriously and lets the story tell itself. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has nothing to do with the Harvey Keitel flick of 1992. A lot of people will be turned off by its crudeness, or they simply wont get its tone. Its not for everyone, but its a terrific film, and it features Nicolas Cage's best performance in years.

This is the fictionalized true story of how Elliot Ness went after Al Capone and brought him down. The Untouchables is most likely one of the best adaptation of a TV series along with The Fugitive. Brian DePalma goes all out here, doing great references to such great filmmakers as Seirgei Eisenstein without ever making it feel like a copy, like in previous films - DePalma's usual biggest problem - Dressed to Kill comes to mind. As usual, he uses complex camera movements and great long take making this film technically impressive sometimes. The train station scene is a classic.

The score by Ennio Morricone helps the intensity of the film and a few scenes are simply great because of his music. He also absorbs you right into the movie with the opening credits. Definitely a memorable score.

Kevin Costner had his big break in 1987, in part thank to this film, he gives a fair performance but Sean Connery steals the show as the old agent Malone while Robert DeNiro is almost overacting or parodying himself.

David Mamet's screenplay is clever, we get real characters with some development and some real struggle when they deal with killing people, even if they are bad guys. One of DePalma's best.

Based on a John Grisham novel, The Firm is nothing special, its all been seen before but its quite effective with director Sydney Pollack behind the camera, proving to be suspenseful at times and dramatic when needed.

Tom Cruise kind of reprise his role of previous year's A Few Good Men, as a young lawyer, he is less arrogant but just as smart. As usual Cruise gives intensity to his character, except maybe not enough, cause to me The Firm is one of his weakest performance. He flirts with many firms to see which one he'll choose to work for, he can afford it, cause he got some of the best result in school. He ends up picking a job in Memphis, and right from the first moment there are some very dubious behaviors from his employers, almost sounding like a sect at some point - Scientology anyone ? - but he goes in with his wife. They get a huge house, a new car and everything an American can dream off in less than twenty cinematic minutes. The alarm clock wakes him up and the film begins.

Two of his coworkers die in an accident, or was it an accident, soon, Cruise's character discover things against his will and bring him to think his employers might be crooks. He is an idealist so he cant let it happen, hires a private detective who gets killed. The FBI contacts him and he will have to find a way to help them, get out of it safe and keep his career, it wont be easy.

The Firm has the obligatory action scenes near the end, but they are rather suspenseful than thrilling, which is all good. And the film, instead of ending up in a pure Hollywood way - it does in a way though - it manages to bring everything down to the law, which is kind of an exercise in style for John Grisham, and its all good stuff.

The cast is pretty impressive, apart from Cruise, we have Gene Hackman, pretty comfortable in his role of a designated mentor. Ed Harris is fun to watch as an FBI agent and Holly Hunter as the secretary of the dead private detective is very archetypical, but always interesting. David Strathairn also appears as Cruise older brother in jail, and they have one of the best scenes together, and it would have been nice to have more scene like this one, but the film is already long enough, over two and a half hours, which is too long for that sort of films, but everything needed to be developed the best way possible. The jazzy score doesnt help, making the film feels longer as the same bit of music is played over and over again.

«It's ugly. This whole thing is so ugly. Have you any idea what it's like to live with all this? People look at us and only see bigots and racists. Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught. At school, they said segregation what's said in the Bible... Genesis 9, Verse 27. At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it.»

Mississippi, 1964. Three civil rights workers are gone missing. It doesnt take long for the FBI to invade the small Mississippian town to investigate the case, looking for the bodies and looking for the guilty. Hate grows increasingly on the members of the Ku Klux Klan side. They burn colored people's houses, threaten them if they talk to the FBI but two agents with opposite personalities havent said their last words yet.

Loosely based on one of the most important murder investigation in history, Mississippi Burning is a shocking film with the ambition to open the eyes of the audience in front of deep America's intolerance for races.

That type of film angers me a lot, I personally cant stand any type of racism and I cant really be objective when a movie like this comes along. I am personally fascinated and disgusted by all the hate, making this film a mandatory viewing for everyone.

The main characters are kind of one dimensional. We have the young agent who will do everything in his power to resolve the case. Working with him is a veteran, easy-going character, who uses shady ways to make things happen. The performances though seem to give those characters more depth than what they have. Willem Dafoe is completely committed to his character and Gene Hackman does things in the right way. The better performances though, come from the supporting cast. Brad Dourif as a racist local deputy is creepy and Frances McDormand as his powerless wife is heartbreaking.

Mississippi Burning is an important film because of its subject matter and denunciation of racism. Its predictable for sure and the script isnt particularly that strong, despite some good lines. Hard to watch but worthy.