Review of 2007 in Cinema (Part 2) - The Best of te Year

Here, in a format ripped directly off from Empire, my favourite films of the year. The top three are probably quite predictable as 3 films have really stood out this year. Among the others some choices which were highly acclaimed, a few it seemed like I was the only one who liked.





Honourable mentions also go to: Zodiac, Superbad, Ratatouille, Sicko and The Upside of Anger.





25. The Fountain - Not many critics liked this multi-stranded reflection on loss and letting go, but I really enjoyed it - beautifully shot and thought provoking.





24. Knocked Up - Mainly genuinely funny comedy, doubly so given the unlikely subject matter of an unexpected pregnancy following a





23. Venus - Peter O'Toole was magnificent lending this potentially dirty old man some grace and dignity. Newcomer Jodie Whittaker was up to the task matching him as the much younger woman who captivates him.





22. Into the Wild - Surprisingly, Sean Penn's warmest film to date. Emile Hirsch shows he can handle the leading man duties as the young drop-out heading into the Alaskan wilderness.





21. Blood Diamond - let down by going a bit Rambo at the end, but still a powerful action drama, driven Djimon Hounsou as the man trying to get his family back. Leo wasn't bad either. Not the most realistic portrait of African conflict, but it did at least serve to highlight the issue of conflict diamonds.





20. Across the Universe - Another one that didn't meet universal acclaim, but this Beatles inspired musical had some great visuals and enough of a story to hang it all together.





19. This is England - Shane Meadows powerful look at 80s skinhead culture, with youngster Thomas Turgood outstanding in the lead.





18. The Counterfeiters - An Austrian film telling the extraordinary story of Jewish counterfeiters employed by the Nazis in bid to undermine Allies economies. Powerfully acted and really moving.





17. The Bridge to Terabithia - a children's movie with both real heart and real intelligence and, for those unfamiliar with the story, one of the biggest shocks in any film this year.





16. Hot Fuzz - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost follow up Shaun of the Dead in very funny style. Frost is hilarious, only eclipsed by Timothy Dalton as the best baddie of the year.





15. Once - The low key folk musical with little plot that charmed audiences and critics alike.





14. Stardust - not quite the new Princess Bride, but one of the most fun movies of the year - puts fellow spoof fairy-tale Enchanted in the shade, plus it has De Niro and Pfeiffer hamming it up in wonderful style.





13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - The best Potter film yet, from the weakest book. Imelda Staunton was chillingly wonderful as Dolores Umbridge and the final showdown at the ministry was the best of the series so far.





12. Sunshine - It gets a bit messy at the end, but from the opening shot looks amazing and i borrowing from the best in the genre, Danny Boyle creates a gripping Sci-fi tale.





11. Letter from Iwo Jima - interestingly by far the stronger of Clint Eastwood's pair of Iwo Jima movies was the one telling the Japanese side, commissioned as an afterthought, but giving us a much better sense of the horrors of the battle.





10. Lions For Lambs - The most intelligent of the batch of war on terror films released in the UK to date, with some stunning performances, especially from Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.


9. The Last King of Scotland - a towering performance by Forrest Whittaker (fully deserving of an Oscar) and ably matched by James McAvoy.


8. Days Of Glory a stirring account of the african troops who fought to liberate France which has already gone some way to redressing historical injustices.


7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - longest title of the year, slow moving revisionist Western, but captures the desolate landscape (both geographic and emotional) with great beauty. Combined with stunning performances from both Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.


6. Tell No-One - the best thriller of the year, and its French (albeit based on an American novel) slightly let down by a poorly executed ending, but genuinely gripping stuff with a believable hero.


5. Babel Another multi-stranded tale from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and possibly his weakest yet, but still well done. Another good turn from Mr Pitt and jaw-dropping silent on from Rinko Kikuchi.

4. The Science of Sleep - more charming quirkiness from Michael Gondry (the man behind the lens for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

So the top three:

3. Atonement - stunningly shot. The Dunkirk scene is possibly the best of the year. Great tense atmosphere created and wonderful performances across the board.


2. The Bourne Ultimatum a fitting conclusion to the best action trilogy in a long time with some stunning set pieces. Watch the Waterloo and Tangiers scenes again - they're worth it.


1. The Lives of Others - when this yet to be released film beat Pans Labyrinth and Day of glory to the best Foreign Language Film Oscar, there were fears that Oscar might have goofed again. No such worries - this utterly mesmerising and compelling film shows both the worst and the best of people living under the communist regime in East Germany. It represents the enduring triumph of humanity and is handled with an intelligence and subtlety you couldn't imagine Hollywood managing.


It was a good year for:

Well, Brad Pitt had a good year - strong turns in Babel and Jesse James counterbalanced by the entertaining fun of Oceans 13. James McAvoy's star continues to rise with Last King of scotland and Atonement. Matt Damon combined Bourne with being voted the sexiest man on the planet.

However the biggest breakthroughs were undoubtedly:

Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow as the men behind Knocked Up and Superbad were responsible for some of the years biggest laughs.

Linked, Katherine Heigl seems to have finally made the move to the big screen successfully after Knocked Up.

But top of the breakthroughs have to be Casey Affleck and Shia LaBoeuf. Mr Affleck finally stepped out from the shadow of his brother, almost stealing oceans 13 from his more illustrious counterparts and then going toe-to-toe dramatically with Brad Pitt in Jesse James. Mr LaBoeuf had strong performances in A Guide to Recognising Your Saints and Disturbia, before almost managing to steal Transformers from the CGI robots - next up a small, arty film called Indiana Jones. The future's bright.

Review of 2007 in Cinema (Part 1) - 10 Turkeys for Christmas

In a year where many threequels and other films fell flat and disappointed, there were some which really stank. Here are 10 of the worst which it has been my misfortune to sit through this year - either for work or out of boredom or blind optimism.



10. Evan Almighty - the deeply unfunny follow up to Bruce, which not even Morgan Freeman's twinkling turn as the Almighty can lift.



9. Eragon - Jeremy Irons should have learnt to avoid dragon movies by now. Poorly written, poorly plotted and poorly acted.



8. Mr Bean's Holiday - Rowan Atkinson discovers France and loses his sense of humour



7. Rush Hour 3 - Another film moving to France with unhilarious results. A poor excuse for lacklustre Jackie Chan moves and inflicting more of Chris Tucker on us.



6. Employee of the Month - A film that labours under the belief that giving Jessica Simpson big ears equals humour.



5. Wild Hogs - Messers Travolta, Macey, Allen and Lawrence in mid-life crisis. A real mid-life crisis would be more enjoyable than this tosh.



4. Goya's Ghost - the director seems to enjoy inflicting various degradations on Natalie Portman and Javier Baardem gives us the worst Spanish accent by a Spanish actor ever committed to film.



3. Mr Woodcock - Billy Bob Thornton on auto-pilot in unfunny and borderline offensive comedy about bullying



2. Epic Movie - Further proof that the whole spoof genre has completely run out of steam - tired and unfunny. Plus, if you're going to spoof recent epics - the Chronicles of Narnia is far from the most obvious place to start.



1. Norbit - A film without a single redeeming feature. There should be a law against this sort of rubbish.














A Bad Year For:

The following need to seriously consider a change of agent:

Billy Bob Thornton: Mr Thornton is clearly a gifted guy, both as a comic and a dramatic actor, but this year he has given us the poor School for Scoundrels and the much worse Mr Woodcock. Must do better in 2008.


Thandie Newton - from awards and plaudits for the likes of Crash to playing Eddie Murphy's love interest in Norbit. Run Fatboy Run was at least an improvement and thats saying something.


Whilst Hugh Dancy needs to take care - following the bad werewolf flick Blood and Chocolate with turns in below par chick flicks Evening and The Jane Austen Book Club, admittedly being the best thing in them, but the gut is in desperate need of a decent action role, or at the very least a comedy.

Time-fillers

Both movies this week I saw when I had some time to kill and they happened to be on. First up:


Hitman - 1.5/5





Computer game adaptations always make bad movies, so it must have either been blind optimism or boredom that took me to see this. To be fair to myself, a cast that includes both Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Die Hard 4.0) and Dougray Scott indicated some potential. At the end of the day, I have to be impressed with the effort that must have gone into producing a film with not a single original element in its entire running time. Not one line of dialogue, not one plot element, not one scene or shot seems to have been original - even some of the flashback footage is lifted directly from James Cameron's Dark Angel TV series.



To be fair, there is a certain amount of guilty pleasure to be had from the film, mainly from Olyphant's performance (even though he manages the seemingly impossible task of over-acting in an emotionally dead role), but in general approach with extreme caution.



The second was much more of a pleasant surprise:



St Trinian's - 3/5



To be honest, the world probably wasn't crying out for a new St Trinian's movie and the trailer didn't do much to raise expectations - they even dared to rip off one of the most famous lines in British cinema ("You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off"). But surprisingly the finished article manages to be genuinely funny a lot of the time.



It's a fairly faithful re-make of the original Belles of St Trinians with some touches to bring it into the present day - so all the expected cliques (Emos, Chavs, Posh totty) are now present and correct. And then there are those pop culture refereces - not only to The Italian Job, but to just about anything they can think of - the presence of Colin Firth in the cast provides particular ammunition (and sure enough, there's a shot of him walking dripping wet. having just emerged from a pond). They manage to keep this just the right side of the too clever over-the-top self-referentiality of, say, Ocean's Twelve.



It maintains some of the originals idiosyncrasies - for example, this is a school where there seem to be no pupils between first year and sixth year. The girls do well enough to keep the film going and entertaining. Russell Brand astonishingly manages to be not irritating stepping into the George Cole role as Flash Harry. Lena Headley and Celia Imrie are underused as teachers and some of the humour falls a bit flat, but on the whole they manage to offer enough to amuse both adults and younger viewers. Rupert Everett does well in the dual role as Headmistress and her brother, but his performance only really takes off in the moments of re-lighting an old flame with Colin Firth's hardline Education Minister (stay for the credits to hear an amusing duet between the two).



There's nothing amazing here and the odd moments jar - like the girls suddenly becoming successful honestly on School Challenge after being told being smart is sexy, but on the whole its surprisingly funny and entertaining.

Magic at Christmas

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium -3.5/5



The follow up feature from Zac Helm - the screenwriter who brought us the delightful Stranger Than Fiction, and this time he takes on directing duties as well. It's simultaneously both highly original and containing many of the cliched staples of magical children's films.



The story follows Mr Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) - toy impressario and avid shoe-wearer, who at the tender age of 243 decides its time to move on and pass his magical toy shop on to his young assistant (Natalie Portman). On one level many of the plot elements are genre staples - the kid with no friends who feels at home in the store, the up-tight adult who doesn't believe (in this case an accountant played by Jason Bateman) and a central character (Portman) who just needs to learn to believe in herself. On another level there are huge amounts of invention that go into the shop - both in its look and its role in the story as a character.

Mr Magorium himself is also a wonderful invention, brilliantly played by Hoffman managing to avoid both being too twee or too creepy. Portman brings the quirky oddball charm that worked so well in Garden State and Bateman is a delight to watch. The film also touches some unusual places for kids film - covering both the change from childhood to adulthood and dealing with death and loss. As such it could be seen as an interesting but very different companion piece to Bridge to Terebithia, out earlier this year.

At times the makers get too carried away with their own inventiveness and plot strands and ideas are lost - the film starts with a bookmaker in the basement who seems to have walked in from an early Jean-Pierre Jeunet (whose inventiveness is a clear influence) movie, but the character is largely lost. The end of the second act flags a wee bit and, in contrast, the conclusion is rushed over. But these flaws not withstanding, its still a very entertaining film with nice original touches, some great fun characters and enough to keep audiences of all ages charmed and entertaining.

Higher profile is:

Enchanted - 3/5

Enchanted has a neat concept - a princess from a Disney-esque fairytale is cast into modern day New York, then various other characters follow to either save or kill her. The fairy-tale has been pretty well de-constructed over recent years by likes of Shrek, and this film (coming from Disney itself) was never going to rip into its favoured genre (although there are maybe one or two sly digs at Shrek itself in the early animated sections). This inevitably means that some of the comic potential that was there in the set up is lost - although there are still some nice moments - like when Giselle (the princess) calls for animals to come and help clean up the apartment and gets a mixture of rats, pigeons and cockroaches.

Instead what we have plays more like a greatest hits of Disney as Giselle more or less transforms our world into a magical fairytale land, albeit one with a few twists - the damsel ends up saving the day. Amy Adams does superbly as Giselle to make the Pollyanna character not only not irritating, but also fun and watchable. Grey's Anatomy's Patrick Dempsey is rather bland in the lead male role, but James Marsden (building on his role in Hairspray) is an absolute hoot as the brainless prince charming. Susan Sarandon is also wonderful, but criminally underused as the evil-stepmother.



This is still an entertaining watch, but will appeal mainly to younger viewers. The idea had more potential than is realised here, and the movie falls some way short of Mr Magorium or Stardust.

The Christmas Contenders

So which films will be capturing the Christmas audiences this year? The first two up for inspection:





The Golden Compass - 3/5





Leaving aside the rather amusing irony of this (however toned down) attack on religion being marketed as a Christmas film, it certainly is (presumably because its got lots of snow in it). New Line are also clearly marketing it as the new Lord of the Rings, which is a strategy that does the film a huge dis-service as it only highlights its inadequacies. It falls short for two main reasons - firstly, the source material is not as good or as well loved. In my personal opinion, Philip Pulman's Northern Lights triology are slightly over-rated - they're good enough, but not deserving of the fuss and adulation they receive. There's probably one-and-a-half good books in there - the first half of the first novel works so hard at creating its world that the narrative almost doesn't cope and the third novel is almost drowned by the ideas it has to carry. They also create an interesting dilema for the film-makers as to what audience to aim the film at, because the supposed children's book probably have far more fans amongst adults than children. The PG certificate suggests they're going for the younger market, which may prove a mistake.



The second reason that The Golden Compass falls some way short of The Rings is that, where Peter Jackson had the courage to make some bold cuts and depart from the text quite significantly at times, Chris Weitz (American Pie, About A Boy) sticks fairly rigidly to the story and rushes through the events in order to bring it in in a child-friendly running time. Where Jackson created a vibrant and lively world you could believe in, Weitz presents one that seems to have some good idea going into the visuals, but comes across as rather flat and lifeless. Thus the film is better compared to the early Potters or Narnia - a fairly faithful adaptation, but rather uninspired. Much has been made of the toning down of the anti-religious stance, but when the heads of the Magisterium (the bad guys) look rather like senior catholic officials and their regional office looks like an Eastern Orthodox Church, its hard to argue that's its been taken out.



Of the human element, fans will be relieved to hear that Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra does a creditable job. Its the adults who fare much worse, lacking space for any sort of characterisation - Daniel Craig comes off particularly badly with no room to do anything much, his Casino Royale co-star Eva Green might as well not be there. Only Nicole Kidman (as Mrs Coulter) and Sam Elliott (as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby) really manage a performance worthy of the name. In fact, most the adults are out performed by the two Ians - McKellen and McShane, who appear only in voice as the two fighting polar bears.



In fact the fight of the bears is one of the few real highlights of the film, along with the final battle on the polar snow, but even these fall a long way short of the excitement and grandeur of even the smaller Rings action moments. It's not a bad film, but it will disappoint fans and fail to inspire those unfamiliar with the books.



On the other hand, there's



Fred Claus - 2/5



A real Christmas film - its about Santa's disreputable brother, after all. The first relief is that its not dreadful - in fact, its probably the best actual Christmas film since Elf, but that's not really saying much. It's like saying Sven is the best England manager of the past decade - probably true, but rather depressing. The thing is given the talent at work here, it should be much better. Paul Giamatti should be an inspired Santa, Vince Vaughn is always watchable, Kevin Spacey as the villain should be a good move and director David Dobkin, whilst never great has produced some good comedy moments with the likes of Wedding Crashers.




To be fair it has some funny moments - the Sibling Anonymous meeting with Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton and Stephen Baldwin all cameoing is an inspired hoot. There's the odd good line (unfortunately, mostly in the trailer) and Vaughn does a creditable job of making it watchable. There's also a nice in-joke of having the man who played Lex Luther secretly longing for a Superman cape. That aside, though, its just plain lazy - the effects, especially with the elves, look cheap and step backwards from most things in the past five years and most of the cast seem to be stumbling half-heartedly towards a Christmas bonus, before they can go back to making real movies.




Watchable, if you're desperate, but not one to rush out and see.

The Film That Wouldn’t Die

Southland Tales – 3/5

Donnie Darko, the debut from writer-director Richard Kelly, was a stunning and original debut and seemed to announce the arrival of a major new talent on the scene. So it was with no small sense of anticipation that critics approached the premiere of his new film, Southland Tales, at the Cannes film festival in 2006. The movie they saw, rather than having them standing in ovation, had them sharpening their knives – by all accounts it was dreadful – a complete mess with no regard for either narrative or character. Eighteen months later a drastically re-cut and re-edited version finally arrives on our screens. And to be honest, it’s still a complete mess, but it’s a mainly entertaining one, which makes it simultaneously a crushing disappointment and a pleasant surprise.

The first three chapters are gone – replaced by an animated introduction giving the background story. The narrative is still a mess, character motivation unclear, if not totally lacking. The dialogue veers from odd quotes from poetry, to the knowingly and amusingly bad (“scientists now say that the future will be much more futuristic than we thought”) to the just plain bad. The acting is just as varied – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, in the lead role is hammier than William Shatner on a bad day, but still watchable, Seann William Scott and Justin Timberlake surprisingly good, Sarah Michelle Gellar does dumb blonde again, whilst Miranda Richardson looks for some scenery to chew.

To be far to Kelly, the narrative in David Lynch’s Inland Empire, released earlier this year, was just as confused and fragmented, and the critics loved that (possibly because they were too scared to admit they didn’t get it). And Kelly seems to have borrowed some of Lynch’s favourites, especially a predilection for mysterious dwarves who pop up to spout pretentious nonsense. Kelly’s crime is that he does so without the reputation of Lynch and with his tongue veering sharply into his cheek for most of the film.

The story shares some of the ideas of time paradoxes with its predecessor Donnie Darko, but throws in thoughts of unintended consequences of the war on terror. Set in the near future, America is at war on many fronts around the world. An actor (Johnson) with political connections disappears only to re-appear with a porn star (Gellar). Then there’s a cop and his twin brother (both Seann William Scott), a scarred veteran of the war who watches all from the pier (Timberlake) and various politicians, scientists and neo-marxist rebels. As previously mentioned, it’s a mess, but one with moments of inspiration. A bigger budget than Darko seems to have bought a less convincing visual style.

All in all, you can’t shake the feeling that, come the DVD issue, this film might exist in more versions than Blade Runner or Alexander and all equally messy. Still worth checking out though, if you can cope with a dose of weirdness.

Werner's back in the jungle

Rescue Dawn - 3/5

Director Werner Herzog seems to have a predilection for jungle stories after Aguirre Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo. He also has a reputation for pushing his actors to the limits and beyond. So the pairing with Christian Bale, an actor who in the likes of The Machinist has demonstrated a willingness to really punish himself physically for a role, seems a good one. Bale is once again on pound-shedding form to tell the true story of Dieter Dengler - a US pilot who crashed in Laos at the start of the Vietnam war, but managed to escape to freedom.

The story clearly fascinates Herzog as he has already made a documentary about it - Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

He handles to details of Dieter's survival well and the friendship formed with fellow prisoner Duane (Steve Zahn) is well done, as are some of the gruesome things they need to go through both to get free and to survive. And this despite Herzog's style being rather detached emotionally. Its the big action moments that lose focus and are less convincing - the plane crash is a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous as a realistically disintegrating plane has an unbelievably unharmed pilot just plop down right next to it. Similarly, Duane's exit doesn't quite work whilst the eventual rescue feels somehow anti-climactic and unsatisfying.

Bale is as good as you would expect from him, but Zahn, in his most serious role to date is an absolute revelation and actually provides the film with what emotion it does have.

Its still a good film, but not quite what it might have been, given a genuinely fascinating and heroic story.

De-mythologising the West

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 4.5/5

A film that saddled not only with a title that is more of a plot summary, but also with a delayed release that would usually have most people smelling an early Christmas Turkey. What has actually arrived is probably not what was expected, certainly not a traditional western, so slow paced that its almost ponderous, largely lacking in action, but, despite all that, utterly compelling.

In only his second feature after 2000's Chopper, director Andrew Dominik has produced a beautiful, elegaical look at one of the American Wild West's legends, which does not buy into the myth, but instead offers a thought provoking look a man whose popular image in the media served to disguise a brutality and savageness in his dealings. Brad Pitt is superb in the role - moody, melancholic, increasingly mistrustful of those around him. James' (and Pitt's charm comes to the fore in early scenes and is then shattered by the odd moment of complete brutality). As the film progresses he becomes increasingly haunted, but remain powerful and in control of the situation, even, interestingly, in the moment of his assassination. Above all, he is a man who rules by fear.

Contrasted with him is Casey Affleck's Bob Ford - a nervous, but eager young man who gradually shifts from sycophantic idolising of James to plotting his downfall. If Pitt is superb, Affleck more than matches him and as the film explores the shifting relationship between the two it calls into question not only its own unwieldy title, but also the way that the two men have been viewed in popular perceptions. Was Ford a coward? Did James know what was coming and had he reached a point where he wanted it to end?

The is also able support from the likes of Sam Rockwell at his more restrained as Ford's older brother. The women, unfortunately are much poorer served - the excellent Mary-Louise Parker and Zooey Deschanel with barely a line between them.

The whole is beautiful shot, showing the barren bleakness of the country in a way that is eye-catching. It's certainly one of the darkest westerns you'll see, not just in terms of mood, but also in lighting - much of the action happens by fire or lamplight or at twilight or on dark winter days. It certainly creates a foreboding yet beautiful vision of the times.

For a film that's well over two hours long, but contains surprisingly little action, this is wonderfully done, brilliantly acted, beautifully shot and surprisingly engaging.

Playing with the fringes of reality

The Nines - 4/5

The Nines belongs to the reality bending genre of film-making. If you think in terms of some kind of cross between The Truman Show, The Matrix, Donnie Darko and Lost - you wouldn't be too far of the mark. Which means its quite difficult to say too much about the plot without giving things away. The movie begins with movie-star Gary (Ryan Reynolds) on an alcohol and coke fuelled binge, discovering that his belly button has gone missing and getting into his car to drive to hospital only to discover halfway there that he has two passengers in the rear seat, both of whom are also him. The movie then comes in three parts. The first part deals with Gary being under house arrest in a borrowed house. The second follows gay screenwriter Gavin (also Reynolds) being followed by reality TV cameras as he tries to get a pilot for a TV show made. The third part might be that TV show and features computer game designer Gabriel (yes - Reynolds again) who disappears.

Writer-director John August is best known as a screenwriter with a good track -record (Go, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride - Ok, he was also responsible for the Charlie's Angels scripts, but nobody's perfect) and here he's produced an intelligent, intriguing and playful script, which throws out ideas and red herrings in equal measure, always circling around the theme of different realities (none of the main character's occupations should be seen as entirely coincidental). He teases the audience with differing clues as to what the nines might actually be. Unfortunately the set-up is rather too good for the pay-off which feels slightly unsatisfactory after what has gone before, but the whole is so engaging and entertaining that you won't mind that much.

Star Ryan Reynolds has always had enough about him to suggest that he's rather better than the usually dire material he ends up with (Van Wilder, Blade Trinity, Waiting) and his performance here confirms whilst not being quite as good as you might hope. To compare with Jim Carrey, this is his Truman Show, rather than his Eternal Sunshine. He's ably supported by the always good Hope Davis (also playing three roles) and a rather creepy mostly mute Elle Fanning (who is also creepily like her big sister Dakota).

It's not quite in the same league as the films it borrows from, and the dialogue occasionally strays into the just too-knowing ("you're looking a bit a Beautifil Mind-ish"), but its well done, with enough playful wit to keep you guessing and keep you interested. Well worth checking out.

Whimsical Wes

The Darjeeling Limited - 3.5/5

Director Wes Anderson's films have always rather divided audiences. It seems that people either loved or hated the likes of The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore. The Darjeeling Limited will do little to settle that divide - if you liked those films, you'll probably enjoy this, if you didn't - move on. It displays Anderson's usual traits - a slightly detached stance and characters who are simultaneously underplayed and totally extreme oddballs. What he does amazingly well is to use those characters to capture something of the dysfunctionality of relationships, especially family relatonships.

And, of course, there's Owen Wilson - Anderson has never made a film without him, but its equally as arguable that Wilson has never been as good for any other director. I've seen his performance here described as "deadpan mania", which is a pretty good description. He plays one of three estranged brothers who join up for a train journey across India. He is ably supported by Adrien Brody, displaying good comic talent, and the underated Jason Schwartzman. Also watch out for cameos from Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston.

Whilst this never quite hits the comedic heights of Tenenbaums or Rushmore, it is perhaps Anderson's warmest film to date and, at times, surprisingly moving. This is especially true in moment of unexpected tragedy halfway through the film, when the film moves into new terrotory for Anderson. Yes, some of the metaphors are slightly heavy-handed - like the luggage standing for emotional baggage, but there's also a good depiction of an India which is neither mocked nor exoticised.

In terms of Anderson's films, this probably ranks somewhere between Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic, which makes it well worth checking out if you like his sort of thing.

Adaptations Good and Bad

Brick Lane - 4/5

Director Sarah Gavron's adaptation of Monica Ali's controversial novel tells the story of Nazneen, a young Bangladeshi woman who arrives in Britain for an arranged marriage with an older man, Chanu. Almost two decades later, she has two daughters and lives a very subdued life until hot-headed young muslim Karim comes knocking at her door, setting her off on the road of self-discovery and coming to life.

The cinematography is beautiful and stunning throughout, especially in the early scenes in Bangladesh, but also in the some of the later London scenes as Nazneen awakens to the world around her. I've not read the book, but I understand that the film makes large omissions including many of the more controversial elements, but what is left is an engaging story that flirts with being a romance and edges onto political drama as the events of 9-11 dramatically alter Nazneen's world, but is ultimately a very personal tale.

Tannishtha Chatterjee gives a superbly restrained performance in the lead, conveying as much with her silent looks and with her words. Christopher Simpson is edgy enough as Karim to cast doubts over the romance (note the clips from Brief Encounter in the background) without ever becoming a real bad guy. Whilst Satish Kaushik as Chanu is brilliant - he brings the film much of its humour through his attempts to better himself and deceive himself and others. At other moments he seems to be veering towards an abusive figure but always manages to pull himself back and finishes the film with a considerable amount of respect and dignity and, probably, sympathy from the audience.

All in all, its a wonderfully shot and well-acted engaging story of one person's experience of changing culture's.



Sleuth - 2/5

The original movie of Sleuth, starring Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier, is a wonderful film - managing to be both dark and fun and utterly engaging in the battle between two men, trying to outwit each other whilst fighting over the same woman. That said, its little enough seen these days to make a remake worth while and on paper this should be brilliant - Caine in the Olivier role, Jude Law in the Caine role, directed by Kenneth Branagh from a script by Harold Pinter. What results is a bit of a ghastly mess - OK, if you've not seen the original, it might make for passable entertainment and its probably not quite as bad as some reviews make out.

So where did it go so wrong. Not with the acting - Law and Caine both do excellent jobs with the material that is presented and make it at least watchable. Branagh's direction is interesting rather than effective and sometimes distracts rather than compliments the action. But the real weakness is in Pinter's script. Strictly speaking this is a re-adaptation of the original stageplay, rather than a remake of the 70s film, but that matters little - the script has little of the subtlety and none of the fun of the original. He replaces coherent character motivation with having Caine and Law say f*** and c*** alot and by changing the underlying tension between them from a matter of class to one of sex, loses alot of what made it such an enjoyable two-hander. What we are left with is dark and twisted, but not much fun.

The best that can be hoped for from this is that it might prompt a high profile re-issue of the original on DVD for more people to discover its delights.

Epics Ancient and Modern

Beowulf - 3/5

The oldest tale in the English language, filmed using the most modern of techniques. Director Robert Zemeckis returns to the motion capture (mocap) technique he used in The Polar Express. For those of you not in the know, motion capture is the pricess where actors perform against a green screen and the performance is then animated on computer, adding costumes, props and background. The technology has clearly advanced since The Polar Express - the faces are alot more realistic and there's a lot more depth to the visuals. However, they still can't seem to get hands quite right and most importantly the performances come across as slightly muted. There is also an odd mental disjunct listening to a voice which is clearly Ray Winstone's (in the title role) whilst watching a body which, with no disrespect to Mr Winstone, clearly isn't.

That said its not all bad - its visually spectacular (especially in the 3-D version) and as you might expect from a story thats lasted over a thousand years, there's enough to keep the interest. There's also some added character depth and some interesting thoughts on temptation, falleness and owning your mistakes in the additions they make to the original story (even if, at times, the script takes a sledgehammer to a nut). It's the villains who probably come off best in terms of performance - Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother and there's fun to be had in watching John Malkovich's weaselly character.

So, its worth a look, but not quite there yet.

American Gangster - 3.5/5

After indifferent reviews, I've got to say I was quite pleasantly surprised by this one. Part of the problem, I suspect, is looking at the talent involved - director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator), stars Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington - and a story that draws obvious parallels with both The Godfather and Heat, left many expecting an absolute classic. And this isn't. But its still a good film and keeps you interested and watching throughout its long running time.

Visually it lacks the panache of some of Scott's other films, coming off in a low-key manner more reminiscent of some of the film of the early seventies era in which its set like Serpico or The French Connection. It also lacks a major action set-piece like the shoot-out in Heat. The takedown, when it does come is far more low-key.

It tells the based on true-life story of Frank Lucas (Washington) who rose to be head of New York's largest drug group, importing direct from the far east in the coffins of dead servicemen being flown back from Vietnam. Against him is about the only straight cop on the force (Richie Roberts - played by Crowe). What we get is an interesting character portrait of contrasts - the honest cop but serial womaniser up against the drug lord but loyal family man. Crowe is as solid as you might expect, but this is Washington's show and he is superb - tapping the brutality of Training Day to some of the more human aspects of other roles to offer a fascinating character - and this is both the film's greatest strength and weakness. Scott is clearly too taken with his subject to have a clear moral stance and this leaves things slightly unbalanced - at times he strays perilously close to holding Lucas up as an idol for Black America in his rise from the streets. Where scenes of Lucas' brutality are shown, you almost feel the director is giving a reminder to himself as much as the audience.

As with Heat, the two principle characters (again two of the best actors in their generation) spend most of the movie not meeting, but when they do (again, over coffee) the scene just crackles with brilliance - its an acting masterclass as the power and control subtly keeps shifting. In a way, its a shame that the film doesn't have more of the aftermath, because one of the most remarkable aspects of this story is that Roberts and Lucas went on to become friends.

The other remarkable aspect of this film is it features Cuba Gooding Jr in his first decent role since winning an Oscar all those years ago - there's maybe a chink of light at the end of his career nightmare.

So, not quite the classic you were maybe expecting, but still an interesting and engaging film with a stunning turn from Washington.

The SNP budget - broken promises?

So, what to make of the SNP's first budget in power. All in all, I see it as a bit of a mixed bag - some good, some not so good. Yes, they have backtracked from some promises, especially over student debt, and completely fudged the issue of new police officers and reducing classroom sizes. To a certain extent this was inevitable - even without getting less money than they would have like from Westminster, it was always going to be debateable whether they could afford everything they'd promised, so, yes, I accept the argument that they have to prioritise what they think they can get through parliament.

And there is some good stuff in there - free prescriptions must surely be listed among these.

On the cautionary side, I would say that they are giving out a very mixed message environmentally - scrapping schemes which would promote air travel, putting more into public transport, but at the same time embarking on large road building/improvement schemes and removing tolls from the forth and tay bridges. The net result of which is probably a zero sum equation - little done to lower carbon emissions, but neither should they increase. My personal view, that's not good enough.

I also think, as Unison have warned, its a very tight budget for public services and it wouldn't take much in the way of unforeseen circumstances to break it.

I have yet to be convinced that the freeze on council tax is little more than an eye-catching gimmick until there are concrete plans to replace it. It will be interesting to see which authorities go along with it - given their dire financial situation currently, here in Edinburgh will be the most interesting one to watch.

Now, to get it through committee and parliament. From his responses to the various party leaders, Mr Salmond is clearly trying to woo the support of the Tories. He was far less dismissive to them and the tax incentives for small businesses will appeal to them. It remains to be seen if he has offered enough to get the greens on board as well. I kind of doubt it, which by my maths leaves him a vote short, but I may have got that wrong. Expect more serious negotiation - this is not the finished budget yet.

Living Alone in very different ways

Into the Wild- 4/5

"Happiness is only real when shared" - this is poignant conclusion of central character Christopher McCandless just days before he dies alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

Writer/Director Sean Penn is not well known for being a bundle of laughs. In fact his features so far as director (The Indian Runner, The Crossing Guard, The Pledge) are all fine films, but maybe somewhat lacking in light relief. So some might approach this true story with some trepidation. After all, after graduating college McCandless drops out of the system to get away from his violent, arguing parents and travels America under the name of Alexander Supertramp, before trying (and failing) to survive by himself in the Alaskan wilderness. Surprisingly, the film turns out to be a rather warm picture of humanity. It could almost be seen as Penn's (whose politics have laid him open to the charge of being un-American) lovesong to his native country - taking in the majestic sweep of the varied countryside, the variety of wildlife and most of all the kindness and goodness of the people through the many different people McCandless meets along the way and who help him out. At times this borders on the over-indulgent - the film is slightly over-long and at times verges too close to being a wildlife documentary.

Emile Hirsch, who plays McCandless, has done good work in the past as one of a number of youngsters in films such as (Lords of Dogtown, Alpha Dog, The Girl Next Door), here he has to carry the film himself - often all by himself a la Tom Hanks in Cast Away. That he succeeds with some style and great charm confirms his graduation to a genuine leading man. He is ably supported by the ever-reliable likes of William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his parents, and Catherine Keener and Vince Vaughn as those who meets along the way. Penn's direction is more inventive than previously, trying to visually match the emotional states of the characters, usually successfully, sometimes distractingly.

So don't put be off, there is a lot here to enjoy as well as to ponder and some fascinating slices of America.

In the most tenuous of tenuous links - another leading man with an inclination to live by himself in French romantic comedy:

I do /Prête-moi ta main - 3/5

Luis Costa (Alain Chabat) is a confirmed bachelor, but his mother and sisters are trying to bully him into getting married. In order to get them off his back, he hires the sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Science of Sleep) of his best friend and colleague to stand him up at the altar. Predictably, through many complications, the pair fall for each.

Yes, it's utterly predictable, but Chabat and Gainsbourg make for very likeable and watchable leads and most of the funny bits are genuinely amusing. Neithe character in entirely believable and, in particular, you see little reason why she would ever fall for him. That said, believablity has never been a particular staple of the rom-com and there's enough lively sparring to keep things ticking on.

Undemanding, low-key entertainment, but with subtitles.

Sundance's Masterpiece or liberal tub-thumping?

Lions for Lambs - 4.5/5

Robert Redford hasn't directed a film since 2000's disappointing golf fable The Legend of Bagger Vance. That he chose to return with a film around American policy in the war on terror might feel some with a sense of dread of the overly-worthy tub-thumping. The subject matter and Redford's well-known liberal leanings might spell box office poison stateside and that would be a real shame, because what we have here is an intelligent, thought-provoking and brilliantly shot and acted piece of film-making. It's also possibly Redford's best movie as director to date.

The title comes from a quote by a German commander in the First World War on the British Army that never had he seen such lions led by such lambs. The plot follows three strands - in Washington an ambitious senator (Tom Cruise) unveils a new military strategy to a morally compromised reporter (Meryl Streep). At a university elsewhere in the country a politocs professor (Redford) tries to inspire a brilliant but apathetic student (newcomer Andrew Garfield). Linking these two threads two of the professors former students, implementing the senators new stategy find themselves pinned down on a mountain in Afghanistan.

Whilst it may not be completely balanced it is far from a piece of liberal propaganda. Instead the script by Michael Carnahan (who also scripted the far less impressive The Kingdom) is intelligent and thought-provoking, making a good attempt to engage with the complexity of situations and ask questions rather than provide easy answers. The targets are not just the politicians, but also the complicity of the media in cheerleading for war in Iraq and, most interestingly, the apathy of the majority that allows things to just happen. The running time is kept lean and the action happening almost in real time, with dialogue in the different strands informing each other. The action is mainly static - two sit down conversations and two soldiers who can't move. It is to Redford's credit that the whole is leant such an enthralling sense of energy.

In the interview, Cruise's unnerving charm is put to great effect in what is one of his best performances ever. He offers us an ambitious politician who slides away from the questions he doesn't want to answer almost without you noticing. He is a chilling man who can refer to the attrocities at Abu Grahib as "Bad PR" and use all the right rhethoric but seems bound to repeat the mistakes of the past he won't learn from. Opposite him, Streep gives one of her most nuanced performances for many years as the morally compromised reporter who doesn't quite buy what she's being sold.

Redford's professor is, one suspects, a character very close to his own heart - trying to inspire people to take a stand, but despairing at the apathy around him. This section offers more of a consideration of ideals in abstract, but also the need for engagement of some kind with the issues that surround us. The surprise here is newcomer Garfield (most recognisable here for appearances in the last series of Dr Who) who more than matches Redford blow for blow through their discussion. The question that is asked here is is it better to try and fail than fail to try when you end up in the same place anyway?

The Afghan section is potentially the weak-point of the film, but rising stars Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher, Catch the Fire) and Michael Pena (World Trade Centre, Shooter) prove more than up to the task, lending their characters enough charisma for it to work. In fact it becomes the moral and emotional core of the film - here is the very human reality which is governed and affected by the talk in the other sections.

If you want to quibble, you might argue that the film buys into the current Hollywood trend that the troops serving in the Middle East are themselves above reproach. The evidence of Abu Grahib would suggest otherwise. Its also true that it makes no attempt to understand or even cover the other side of the conflict. The Taliban fighters remains indistinct blurs in the distance. However such quibbles seem rather churlish - there is only so much one film can tackle and this is more concerned about the political process in America and its effects. Its ultimate message is more one of whatever your views, stand up and do something about it.

It might not quite turn out to be a classic masterpiece, but is certainly the most intelligent film on the conflict to emerge yet. Don't be surprised if there are Oscar nods - especially for Streep and Cruise. Well worth checking out.

Owen vs the Spanish

And no, that's not a football headline, but rather a pretty accurate summary of the daft plotting in

Elizabeth the Golden Age - 2.5/5

In which Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) almost single-handedly defeats the Spanish Armada. The original movie, Elizabeth, was by no means the classic it is sometimes made out to be. Lest we forget it did contain the combined acting talents of Eric Cantona and Joseph Fiennes in full pouty mode. What it did have going for it was an interesting account of the creation of historical myths and an amazing performance from Cate Blanchett.

The sequel, a decade later, has another great performance from Blanchett (possibly the most talented actress in her generation) and that's about it really. OK, it looks stunning and there is some good work from under-used members of the supporting cast - Geoffrey Rush is his usual so-good-you-hardly-notice-him, Tom Hollander is solid, Samantha Morton adds some dignity to her role as Mary Queen of Scots which is written precariously close to pantomime villainess and Aussie Abbie Cornish (Somersault, Candy) holds her own admirably.

Gone however is the myth busting approach to history, instead this film can't really decide what it wants to do or be. You kind of feel that they aim for historical political thriller, but miss by a country mile and lurch between history as melodrama, history as Mills and Boon and history as boys own adventure. In fact the Spanish are presented with such a degree of high camp that it almost feels that you've wondered into a Monty Python sketch and if Michael Palin popped up saying "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition" it would probably improve matters greatly.

Far too much attention is given to the supposed romantic triangle between Blanchett, Cornish and Owen, which means that the badly miscast Owen gets far too much screen time. Clive Owen is not a bad actor, but he is a long way from being the most versatile character actor and sticks out like a sore thumb here, coming across as if he's in a completely different style of movie. In fact, by the time he (literally) swings into action to defeat the armada you're left with the distinct impression that this is Sir Walter Raleigh via Pirates of the Caribbean.

The other big weakness here is that the climactic showdown with the Spanish falls so flat despite Owen's boys own antics. Sea battles are notoriously difficult to film, but there's not enough here to make a satisfying action spectacle, whilst continual inter-cutting with the anxious Elizabeth awaiting news fails to build any real sense of tension and the ending with Blanchett looking over the cliffs at the shining horizon is pure hackneyed hokum.

Another great performance from Blanchett and some of the supporting players which deserved a better film.

Two kinds of Brutal

Eastern Promises - 3/5

Director David Cronenberg and star Viggo "Aragon" Mortensen combined two years ago to critical and commercial success in A History of Violence. Their re-teaming in Eastern Promises marks both what is possibly Mortensen's most interesting performance to date and Cronenberg's most mainstream offering - most mainstream and least interesting.

Cronenberg gets stuck into the London gangster genre and gets stuck in it - the end product is an average thriller lifted only by the complexity surrounding Mortensen's character. Echoing his role in A History of Violence, we again have a fundamentally decent man struggling to exist in violent circumstances and Mortensen is utterly compelling in the role. The trouble is that most of what is around him is paper thin. Vincent Cassell offers us another in a long line of Euro villains, whilst even Naomi Watts heroine is rather two-dimensional.

The plot follows Watts as a nurse trying to trace the family of a girl who died in childbirth on her ward. The trail leads her into the murky world of the Russian mafia and people smuggling. The action when it comes is very brutal and gory, so those who are put off by that should avoid. The film also really fails to get to grips with its subject matter.

So, if you're not put off by the violence, worth watching for Mortensen's portrayal, but the rest is little more than average. If you want a film that really tackles the trade in people for the sex industry, check out Lukas Moodysson's powerful and disturbing Lilja 4-ever.

Interview - 3/5

A different kind of brutality here as Steve Buscemi and Sienna Miller engage in a battle of wits to try and unravel each others secrets during the course of an interview. Buscemi (who also directs and co-scripts) plays a washed up political journalist sent, against his wishes, to interview a starlet who's more famous for her private life than her work (Miller, bravely playing with type).

The film is an adaptation of a film by dutch filmaker Theo Van Gogh who, tragically, is now best remembered for being murdered by an Islamic extremist.

Buscemi handles the direction well enough and both stars are on form with the performances. Some of the ideas to do with secrets and guilt are intriguing as they dance around each other both literally and figuratively, but some of the dialogue strains at credibility. The nearest comparison I can think of would be a movie like Tape, but neither the characters nor the motivations are as coherent or as credible here and, ultimately, neither character is actually likeable enough or totally believable to give enough pay-off to the revelations in the second -half of the film and, strangely for an adaptation of another film, the whole thing feels like it would be better on stage.

It makes for interesting and thought-provoking viewing, but never compelling.

A Very British Genre

Death at a Funeral - 3/5

Nobody does a farce, especially a black farce, quite like the British, whether it be on stage or screen. Death at a Funeral has all the right elements - a dead body, blackmail, accidentally ingested hallucinogenics. If the resulting film is slightly hit and miss, it is certainly more on the hit side. The moments that fall flatter are when it strays into more gross-out territory - one toilet gag being particularly unnecessary and unfunny. Lets leave the gross out to the Yanks. Oh, and old people swearing lots is no longer shocking enough to be funny by itself.

This marks something of a return to comedy form for director Frank Oz after the disappointing remake of The Stepford Wives, and he has assembled a veritable who's who of British B-list stars for the cast with the addition of The Station Agent's Peter Dinklage as the blackmailer. With the exception of Ewen Bremner whose attempt at posh English is jarringly unconvincing, the rest of the cast are on good form, even if Rupert Graves does look and sound more like Ricky Gervais with every performance. Special credit to Serenity's Alan Tudyk as the hapless recipient of the hallucinogenics, whose performance is a delight to watch.

This was never going to be a classic, but manages to hit enough of the right notes to be more entertaining than not - a perfectly good bit of light-hearted fun in a fine British tradition.

Subtle Charm

Once - 4/5




Once is the small film which arrived on the scene having attracted quite a following at the festivals - Spielberg is apparently a big fan. Given that, its a surprisingly low-key affair and very hard to define. It's kind of a musical, but not in the usual artificially breaking into song and dance kind of way, rather it follows characters who like to sing. It's kind of a romance, but the central relationship remains a platonic friendship.






The Dublin-set story, such as it is, follows a guy (Glen Hansard) who's a busker and hoover repairman who meets a girl (Marketa Irglova), they get to know each other, become friends and make music together, in a literal sense, rather than a naff metaphorical one and its as simple as that. He's still hung-up on his ex and she has a husband back in the Czech republic.



What it is fresh and engaging in a subtle way. Writer/director John Carney chose to use non-professional actors - his leads make their living as musicians, although Hansard did appear as the guitarist in The Commitments. That said, Hansard makes a natural and very likeably watchable lead. Irglova is more obviously a non-actor, but brings such an enthusiasm and innocent energy to the role that its impossible not to warm to her. The music works well to keep the film together and add shades to the emotions.

There is the odd off-note - the moment when the sound engineer suddenly realises that this ia actually rather good feels a bit hackneyed, but the rest of the film is delivered with a freshness that alternately amuses and moves ands is utterlt charming.

Two Cases of Plagiarism

Dark is Rising - 2/5

Hollywood seems to think that children's/teenage fantasy is easy money at the moment, so any suitable books will be looked at for adaptation. The problem is that it's difficult to do well. Dark is Rising, adapted from Susan Cooper's novel, at least makes a decent attempt, but comes up some way short of the mark.

It at least avoids the trap of starting with a dodgily scripted narration explaining all the legends and mythology we need to get our heads round to understand it. In the fact the start is quite promising.

The story follows Will Stanton, an American boy moved to rural England. The youngest of 6 sons, with a younger sister, two of have his brothers have left home, the two immediately above him are twins with a taste for practical jokes. (And if that family arrangement seems rather familiar, Ms Rowling, it should be pointed out that Cooper's novel was written several decades before the Potter books). A bit of a loner, Will discovers that he is The Seeker, the chosen one who can step through time to retrieve the signs which will help light overcome dark. (Ok, thats the mythological mumbo-jumbo done - and at least it gets done by Ian McShane with a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

This potentially sets up an intriguing mystery to follow through, but the film entirely fails to grasp this opportunity and the Seeker doesn't so much seek and stumble blindly across said signs. On the way there is some passable special effects and some genuine scares (with some liberal borrowing from other sources (The Birds springs to mind at several points). The running time is kept short, but certain subplots are so condensed (like Will's brother being lured over to the Dark) that you wonder why they were included at all.

Alexander Ludwig is a bit too whiny and unengaging in the title role, but the biggest disappointment is Christopher Ecclestone as the villain of the piece. Despite a suitable look, he keeps it too straight and underplayed to make a really compelling bad guy. It is left to McShane to give proceedings a lift - he at least doesn't seem to take it all seriously and the few moments of light relief all involve him (my personal favourite being the part where he asks the teenage lead to express himself, with predictable results).

The film is not dreadful, although the mystery elements are all rather predictable. Its a step up from the likes of Eragon, but still some way short of the likes of Narnia or Potter, let alone Lord of the Rings. Despite its Christmas setting, the decision not to go for a Christmas release against The Golden Compass says it all really.

The Last Legion - 2.5/5

An attempt to bring together the likes of Gladiator and Rome (even to the extent of casting star of the TV series Kevin McKidd, confusingly as a barbarian) with Arthurian legend, it all ends up almost as much of a confused mess as Ben Kingsley's accent. The grainy look suggests an attempt at realism, but the action involving an Indian warrior-woman and castles that look decidedly medieval point the other way. At least the cast have the sense not to take it all too seriously.

As the barbarians take over Rome, the child emperor (Thomas Sangster from Love Actually and Nanny McPhee doing his earnest staring thing) flees to Britain accompanied by his loyal general (Colin Firth, doing his permanently bemused thing), teacher/mentor (Kingsley, doing the what accent is that meant to be thing) and said Indian fighter (Aishwarya Rai, Bride and Prejudice, doing the totally out of place but nice to look at thing). In Britain they find the lost ninth legion and make a final stand against the evil barbarians. The final battle wants so badly to be Helm's Deep from The Two Towers it hurts, but has nowhere near the budget to pull it off.

The whole effort is complete nonsense from start to finish, but the cast at least have the grace to realise it and manage to pull it off with enough of a hint of self-deprecation to make it quite entertaining and amusing with some nice fights scenes thrown in for good measure.

Spot the Difference - thoughts political

OK, so I haven't blogged politically for some time - this is probably less from being busy as from a state of despair at the current political situation. Here now are some scattered thoughts on events of the last few weeks.

Firstly, some credit to David Cameron for turning things round, which led to us not having a snap election - but less of the crowing about Brown's cowardice please - we all know very well that if the situation had been reversed, he would have done exactly the same. And please, can we cut out the classroom arguments about who stole whose policy. I mean, is there any difference between this lot and that lot any more? And if they sincerely believe these things for the good of the country (rather than a means of catching votes), then there should be a celebration that these things are actually happening, but thats just naive optimism.

Now its time for Gordon Brown to stop with the eye-catching press releases and prove that he can actually govern. Similarly Cameron needs to stop fighting a campaign for an election which ain't happening and provide what this country hasn't had for over a decade - a strong but constructive opposition.

Some sympathy for Menzies Campbell - with the universal rush towards the centre-ground it was always going to be difficult for the Lib-Dems to find somewhere to stand. However, its probably good for the party that he's gone now - whoever they find to replace him needs to have a bit more dynamism in establishing a new direction and new identity for the party, because voters need some other alternatives to the identikit offerings on both sides of the floor.

Now to Europe - and to be controversial, I don't think there should be a referendum on the new treaty. Under our system the democratic means of considering such things is through parliament. Furthermore, on the whole, people are pretty apathetic when it comes to Europe and there is little chance of a referendum debate properly tackling the complexites of the treaty. So, if there was a referendum it would either have such a low turn-out as to be politically meaningless or be twisted into a debate on whether we should be in Europe in the first place - in which case the vote would not represent an answer to the question being asked. Of the the membe states, only the Republic of Ireland is going to have a referendum on this treaty.

North of the border, in Scotland, I think its time for Mr Salmond, like Mr Brown, to stop with the eye-catching press releases and prove that he can actually govern. My feeling is that he is more suited to fighting of a campaign than the collaboration needed to govern in Scotland. I'm interested to see just how he plans to pay for all his spending - where the money is to be taken away from. I also feel that whilst he says they will win the argument for independance by governing well, what he is really looking for is to be able to say we could have governed well without Westminster. He seems, at the moment, like a man spoiling for a fight - whether that be over the budget settlement or trident. And whilst I do not favour the replacement of trident and would support any legal use of the devolved powers to stop it, Mr Salmond writing to the heads of states of other countries when foreign policy is not a devolved area seems to be deliberately trying to stir up a shit-storm with Westminister in ways which won't actually be productive to resolving the issue.

And finally, the review of abortion laws - whilst I welcome the review and feel a change in the law would be a step in the right direction, I think its important to remember that in and of itself it is not enough - firstly only a small percentage of the horrendously high number of abortions carried out in Britain each year would be covered by the proposed changes, but mainly it does nothing to address one of the main issues - which is how to reduce the huge numbers of unwanted teenage pregnancies in this country. Somehow the messages that our youth are being given aren't sinking in. So what do we do about a generation growing up with little understanding of the moral value of relationships, what do we do about the large numbers of teenage girls whose confidence and social skills are so low that the concept of informed consent is meaningless? There is some common ground here for many on both sides of the abortion debate and I can't help feeling this might be a better direction for energies to channelled in.

Less is Moore

Sicko - 4/5

Let's get one thing straight from the start - Michael Moore is not a documentarian (at least not in the sense that most of us would understand that word). He's either an entertaining polemicist or a polemical entertainer. He does not provide a balanced argument, what he does is try to stir things up and stir things up he does (which is usually no bad thing) - witness the rash of anti-Moore websites and films (many of which, rather than defending the things he attacks use the same methods they descry him for using in order to attack him). I rather suspect that Moore revels in all this attention - witness the moment in this film where the gut who set up one of the largest Moore-bashing websites is threatened with having to shut down in order to pay for his sick wife's treatment and Moore anonymously (but the announced to the world in the film? Work that one out) sends him the money he needs to keep it going.

At the end of the day, alot comes down to whether the issue he picks is deserving of the Moore treatment. In Sicko he finds a worthy target and the result is a much better film than the overblown Fahrenheit 911, which was too much of a personal attack and ended up being as much about Moore and George Dubya. (In reality, of course, Dubya doesn't need to be countered with a larger than life figure like Moore - just let him open his mouth and speak for himself). It's probably not quite in the same league as Bowling for Columbine, but is still a powerful attack on the American healthcare industry. Moore wisely keeps himself much more in the background for the first half of the movie, letting his interviewees tell their own tales. In doing so he seems much more in touch with his humanirarian side than he ever did in Fahrenheit.

And his target - well you have to say that when an industry rewards doctors with bonuses for the number of patients they are able to deny treatment too and hospitals put disorientated patients in taxis and have them dumped in the street outside homeless shelters when they can't pay their bills, then maybe they are deserving of all Moore's bile. Yes it is totally one-sided and the pictures he paints of our own NHS and the French welfare state are maybe rather too rosy, but they do at least say there are other ways of doing this. His faux-naif mugging during these sections is also rather grating after a while.

But these are minor faults at the end of the day - the film also includes much more in the way of meaningful contributions from others - witness Tony Benn in passionate form on the benefits of democracy and some genuinely moving stories from those affected by failures of the American healthcare insurance industry.

And what of the final act and its vaunted publicity stunt of taking 911 rescue volunteers to try and get free medical treatment at Guantanomo - yes it is a complete stunt. But far from exploiting people, as he has been accused of, Moore does succeed in getting these people much needed medical attention (in Cuba) and there is a really touching scene where the Cuban firefighters pay respect to their American counterparts. Neither is there the level of Bush-bashing that you might expect from the trailer. In fact, whilst there are side-swipes at Bush, Reagan and Nixon, it is Hilary Clinton who gets the worst treatment having moved from trying to reform the industry to taking contributions from it.

You should know what to expect from Moore by now and this ticks all the boxes - its one-sided, but also both entertaining and moving in its argument. Worth watching even if it is with a pinch of salt at times.