Another Year

Another Year is one of those film where not much really happens, but you come out feeling like you could quite happily sit through another two hours of it. It also might be director Mike Leigh's greatest achievements to date.

Leigh's method of making films, gathering a cast who improvise in rehearsals and generate script and characters between them, here creates a reality and depth to the relationships that really works. Leigh also takes the unusual step of having a central couple with effectively no problems or issues. Jim Broadbent's Tom and Ruth Sheen's Gerri are a couple in later middle age, happy with each other and fairly sorted. There is little in the way of character development. Gathered round about them are a range of the more damaged and lonely - notably Lesley Manville's Mary, slowly realising her dependance on Tom and Gerri.

Leigh is a very human director, and whilst he's not blind to his characters foibles, nor does he miss the opportunity to bring humour out of their situations, he never allows things to descend into mockery or caricature. There is almost an affection, for even his most ridiculous characters that allows both humour and feeling to co-exist quite comfortably. He also has a keen eye for the awkwardness of much human interaction, especially in one scene where Mary turns up at the house to find only Tom's recently bereaved brother at home.

Leigh is helped by an excellent ensemble performance by a superb cast. Manville grabs the attention with the showiest part and deserves plaudits for making Mary a very real person, rather than an alcoholic caricature. However, the strength of Broadbent's and Sheen's quieter turns shouldn't be overlooked, lovely understated turns with the power to convey much by a single look. Kudos also to Imelda Staunton's not perfect cameo early in the film.

Overall - 9/10 This might be Leigh's best ever film. Melancholic at times, but warm and funny and above all, very human. One of the films of the year.

Chico & Rita

Chico and Rita is, in many ways, an animated Buena Vista Social Club with added romance and a dash of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (the book, not the film - there's a crucial difference that has echoes here).

Chico is a piano player, Rita is a singer. They meet and fall in love, despite complications, in Havana and then proceed to lose and find each other again across many decades and two continents as events and their own mistakes intervene.

Despite the scale, it never feels epic, but a personal and often quite initimate film, helped by some beautiful handr-drawn animation. This a gently, romantic film whose characters feel more human and fallible, rather than heroic. That said, there's enough action in the story to keep you entertained, and if that fails there's always the music.

Overall - 7.5/10 An animated film that makes a refreshing change from talking animals/toys/aliens, etc... A very human tale, lovingly drawn and told.

Burke & Hare

The film of Burke and Hare is something of a mystery. The decision to tell the story as a black comedy could have resulted in many things - it could have produced, given the talent involved (the director responsible for The Blues Brothers and Animal House and veritable who's who of British comic actors), a superior dark comedy with a touch of satire, it could have produced something overly puerile with an excess of gross-out gags, it could have produced something overly gory. All of those would have been more likely than what was actually the result. Thus it is something of a mystery how you can take an engaging story, a talented director returning from a long absence, a talented and likeable cast, a plot that has all the right elements and mix it all together to produce something so completely bland.

Its difficult to put your finger on exactly where things go wrong. There are a few funny moments. The plot has a few ridiculous stretches - like the all-woman production of Macbeth and Burke supposedly doing it all for love - but there are better films with much sillier plots. One or two of the accents are a bit a stretch, but even Isla Fischer's scottish beats Mel Gibson's. The Michael Winner cameo is cut mercifully short by a long drop of a cliff. The performances (Ronnie Corbett aside) are generally decent and Tom Wilkinson, as ever, excels and Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg make invlolving enough leads. Landis handles the action well enough and the setting has enough period detail and atmosphere.

And yet the whole feels somewhat less than the sum of the parts. The gags just feel a bit too familiar. What could be sharp satire about the rich and powerful getting away with their involvement feels blunted.

Overall - 5.5/10 There are many worse films around at the moment, many more offensive films. This isn't bad, there's just nothing particularly good about it either and you can't help feeling their should be.

The Hedgehog

I saw this film during the French Film Festival - as yet it has no general release in the UK, which is a shame, as its a great film.

Adapted from Muriel Barbery's novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the story concerns three characters living in the same apartment building - 11 year old Paloma, who is a bright observant girl who sees much that the adults miss, but is convinced that she wants to avoid life in the goldfish bowl and is counting down the days until she plans to kill herself. Then there is the building's concierge, Renee, who hides her passions for books and Japanese films behind the stereotypical image of what is expected of a concierge. Finally, there is the new resident,  the widower Mr Ozu, who sees them both more clearly than others and forms a friendship with both.

The three central performances are superb, especially the two adults, creating believable and engaging characters, despite minimal backstory, through understated gestures and nice character touches. Togo Igawa Mr Ozu) has a real quiet sparking presence about him, whilst Josianne Balasko is amazing as Renee gradually emerging from her hiding place. She is the emotional heart of the story, whilst Paloma as the observer, expounds its key themes of life and death and hiddeness.

"What matters isn't the fact of dying or when you die. It's what you're doing at that precise moment."

The direction, too, is understated, but beautifully handled, bringing humour and feeling together with some wonderful grace notes.

Overall - 8.5/10 Superbly acted and put together, funny and moving. If it does come to a cinema or DVD store near you in the future, its well worth checking out.

Despicable Me

Despicable Me is, in some ways, the evil twin to The Incredibles, showing a world where super-villains are normal - they even have their own bank (formerly Lehman brothers!) and lairs that Bond villains could only dream about.

One such villain is Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), who in order to hatch one of his plots, needs to adopt three orphans as part of the plan. Needless to say, this being a family friendly animation, the girls soon start to melt his hard heart (not to mention those of his army of yellow minions).

It never quite achieve Pixar levels either in visual beauty, depth or emotion or story-telling, but is certainly among the better of the second division efforts. The action is entertaining for both young and old, there are some good gags both visually and verbally and a healthy dose of inventiveness. And whilst that is going on, it does manage to sneak in some heart without it becoming overly sentimental. Oh, and the minions are both funny and adorable. (Plus the film shows that Russell Brand is much more bearable in cinema as an animated old man than in person).

Overall - 7/10 Good solid entertainment for the family.

Due Date

Director Todd Phillips last film, The Hangover, had broad humour that might not have been to everybody's taste, but it had a sense of fun, originality and energy that was quite infectious and was frequently very funny.

The follow-up, Due Date, is allegedly a more mature film, although what exactly mature means here I'm not totally certain. The humour is often more puerile and the heart is completely missing.

The plot is in many respects a re-hash of the John Hughes classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles with the birth of a first child substituted for Thanksgiving as the reason for the trip. Robert Downey Jr takes the Steve Martin role and Zach Galifianakis taking the John Candy role. As a comedy its hit and miss - more miss than hit, but in a few of the moments when it does hit, it is genuinely funny.

However, unfortunately most of the time it mistakes being shocking for being funny and lumbers of with two main characters who are just unlikeable. Galifianakis is in danger of being typecast as the odd loser, but here is missing something likeable that makes you realise just how much both Hughes and Candy are missed. But the real bum-note comes from Downey Jr, spectacularly breaking his recent almost infallible run. His is supposed to be the normal character, the one we're supposed to relate to, but is just plain unlikeable for most of the film. He also displays such extreme anger-management issues, one must question whether he is fit to be a father at all. So, we're supposed to laugh as he punches a small child hard in the stomach or spits on a dog?

Its also difficult to buy his eventual warming to his travelling companion as being lasting or either of them having learnt anything, coming as it does under the influence of large quantities of drugs.

Overall - 4/10  Fitfully funny, but that really doesn't make sitting through the rest of the film worthwhile

Skyline

Firstly, apologies - not had the chance to update for a wee while, so a few things to catch up on. Let's start with one of the most recent.

Skyline is the first of a wave of alien invasion movies to be hitting our screens soon. Its directed by the Brothers Strause who have quite an impressive track record in visual effects, but in direction their previous effort, Aliens vs Predator Requiem, hardly inspires confidence.

It starts boldly enough - jumping straight into the moment the aliens arrive without any preamble. Then it winds back 15 hours, presumably to allow you to get to know the characters. This might be worthwhile if there was anything remotely likeable or engaging about any of them - stock characters played by supporting actors from TV shows (24, Scrubs, Dexter, etc...). Instead by the time the aliens show up for the first time (again!) you'll be praying that the first one they zap is the scriptwriter.

From here onwards it plays like a mash up of other, better films. You have the plot of War of the Worlds, in the style of Cloverfield with leftover special effects from The Matrix. All the while the cast run around a luxury apartment building doing all the brain-numbingly stupid things you might expect in this kind of film. To be fair, if you want to check your brain in at the door, most of the action and tension are well enough handled and on the whole it looks quite good.

Then it reaches the point where it really should finish, but instead launches into a final act of such mind-numbing daftness (not to mention yuckiness) that it almost takes your breath away. You can't help thinking that  there was some poor misguided attempt to rip off District 9 in there somewhere, but it misses the mark by a long, long way.

Overall - 4.5/10 There are some really good movies around at the moment - this isn't one of them.

Too Soon

I was taking a coffee break in a cafe last Monday (which would have been only the 8th November). I'm ashamed to admit that it was one of the big chains - Starbucks in this case - and was horrified that not only did they have all their Christmas merchandise out, but that they were already playing Christmas music - horrible, tacky, sickly sweet (a bit like their cream-laced fancy drinks) versions of well known tracks at that. Too soon, too soon!

Now I can put up with cards and wrapping paper and decorations appearing in shops earlier in the year - there are even some good reasons for this to enable people to plan ahead for posting overseas, etc... I'm not in favour of decorations and lights appearing in November, especially early November, but its a bit easier to ignore that. There is something horribly invasive about music that worms its way into your consciousness evenly if you're not consciously listening (and believe me with this music, why would you?). My tolerance for this kind of music stretches to a few weeks right before Christmas at most. The start of NOvember is way too early, with the smell of bonfires still in the air. Enough, Starbucks, enough - leave us in peace at least until the start of advent, please....

The Kids are All Right

Julianne Moore and Annette Benning play a couple who both have children from the same sperm donor. When the oldest of the children, Mia Wachowski (Alice in Wonderland) turns 18, she follows  her younger brother's (Josh Hutcherson) request to contact their biological father, Mark Ruffalo, who then proceeds to form relationships with different members of the family.

This low-key indie drama/comedy works well by not making too much out of the unusualness of the family, but rather from nicely observed moments that they share in common with most families - the tensions between parents, the desire of children for their independance, etc... The performances are good and understated - Ruffalo does well to convey the confusion of his character and the gradual realisation that he does want a family. It is somewhat unfortunate that his character arc gets a bit lost at the end, but ultimately he is the interloper in the central focus which is on the relationship between Moore and Benning, who make a very convincing couple.

Some moments are funny, some uncomfortable and some moving. There is the odd moment that drags a wee bit, but generally it is a engaging look at family life.

Overall - 7/10 A gentle, low-key but acutely observed look at family life

The Social Network

A movie about Facebook, whatever next? When first announced, this sounded like a horrendous attempt to cash-in on the internet phenomenon, but when you started to look at the talent getting involved - David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Benjamin Button) as director, Aaron 'The West Wing' Sorkin as scriptwriter and you began to realise that there's something more going on here.

The film is a suppositional account (most of the key-players remain rather tight-lipped about what actually happened) of how Facebook was created and went from a tool for Harvard students to being a global phenomenon. It tells the story through the two law-suits that creator Mark Zuckerberg ended up defending (one from two rich twins who claim he stole their idea, and one from his former business partner who claimed he had been wrongfully forced out of his share of the company). What emerges is a completely compelling movie.

It has many strengths - the script from Sorkin is sharp and funny, whilst not missing the emotionals beats, as fans of The West Wing would expect. Right from the opening scene of Zuckerberg getting dumped in a bar the dialogue flies thick and fast and positively crackles at time. Fincher handles the action well and together they wisely make the decision not to answer the rights and wrongs of the various lawsuits and disputes, but to leave all the characters in a morally grey area that makes for a far more interesting film.

The cast is strong too. Andrew Garfield provides perhaps the most sympathetic route into the story as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's friend and business partner who becomes jealous and gradually eased out of the way by Zuckerberg's growing friendship with Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake - again proving he is one singer who can act well). Meanwhile Arnie Hammer and Josh Pence's privileged Winklevoss twins provide more in the way of comic relief as the Olympian rowers who think they came up with the idea in the first place.

However centre stage goes to the breakout performance of Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Adventureland) as Zuckerberg himself. The casting is perfect and not just down to certain physical resemblance. Eisenberg convinces as the geeky, super-intelligent creator, whilst also being able to bring a hardness to the role that, say, Michael Cera wouldn't have been able to manage. This is crucial to the ambiguity that the film maintains towards its central character. Zuckerberg is often not very likeable - he starts out out of drunken revenge after being dumped by his girlfriend and comes across in some of the lawsuit scenes as completely arrogant. However, he is never quite a hard-headed monster. Whilst refusing to definitively answer any questions, the abiding impression of the man who created the world's biggest social network is of a lonely man, uncomfortable in social situations (maybe even with Aspergers tendancies). He is always on the outside of parties and the final shot of him is him continually hitting refresh, waiting for his ex-girlfriend to accept his friend request. How close is this to the real Zuckerberg, we may never know, but Eisenberg creates a compelling character.

Overall - 8.5/10 A fascinating and compelling take on a modern phenomenon.

Woolas vs Watkins the verdict.

I must admit to be surprised at the verdict handed down yesterday in the appeal of the Oldham East and Saddleworth General Election result. Along with a lot of people, I had assumed that Phil Woolas would get a slap on the wrist and sent back to the Commons being told not to be a naughty boy again. However, it comes as a pleasant surprise to see the judges decide to stand up for some level of standards in campaigning and I wholeheartedly welcome the decision.

Whilst standards in campaigning generally have been pretty low and all parties have been guilty of some pretty nasty leaflets and campaigns in recent years, Mr Woolas' campaign was particularly distasteful. For the immigration minister to be so blatantly playing the race card in an area which has, in the not too distant past, had race riots is just unacceptable and parliament will be a better place without him. His statement after the verdict that parliamentary candidates need to be open to question from their opponents and voices should not be gagged, etc... is absolutely irrelevant - there is a huge difference between candidates being open to fair and honest questioning and them being subject to unsubstantiated libel posted to voters.

Which leaves the parties to try and deal with the fallout. Hopefully this verdict will be a warning shot across the bows of all parties to clean up their act. IT will also inevitably call into question the judgement of Ed Milliband as the new Labour leader, who appointed mr Woolas to a front bench position whilst he was under investigation for his campaign. Although the Labour party has quickly moved to expel Mr Woolas, some damage will already have been done.

And then we will have the by-election (probably early-ish next year). It will be an interesting election. In theory the three main parties could finish in any order, having finished fairly close together in May. Under different circumstances, I’d say the Lib-dems were out of it given their current unpopularity, but Watkins standing as the victim of these accusations might just stand a chance. Similarly, if there is a backlash against Labour, the Tories vould come through the middle (especially if they keep the same candidate).

I would make Labour favourites, as I don’t imagine the CSR plays well in this area, but they will have a selection dilemma. Pick somebody local and they could be tarred by the previous campaign. Parachute somebody in and it might not go down too well either.

I suspect that the campagn itself will come down to a past vs present focus. The Conservatives and Lib-Dems will both want to focus on the previous Labour campaign and Labour's failures in government. Labour will choose to focus on the present and future cuts to services under the coalition.

An early prediction, Labour will hold on with an increased majority, but Mr Woolas won't be missed at Westminster.