25. The
Da Vinci Code. dir:
Ron Howard. Well
after all the hype and money thrown at
this film, the end result is really a
pretty good movie. Given the material
available from the hugely successful
book it seems a bit of a missed opportunity
to have made a truly great movie, and
perhaps, a slightly more serious and
less ostentatious adaptation of the book
could have achieved that. I guess the
studio wanted a blockbuster and that
is exactly what has been delivered, and
judged on those grounds it is a considerable
success, when it could so easily have
been both a commercial and an artistic
flop.
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24.
The
Squid and The Whale dir:
Noah Baumbach. The
Writer and Director of this film was the
co-writer of the terrific"Life Aquatic
with Steve Zissou", so the film had
a fair amount of expectation heaped upon
its shoulders. Luckily it does not disappoint.
The film is remarkably adept at being both
Hilarious and incisive. A tale of the inter-relationships
in between a family falling apart, and
the effects on their kids. To misquote
an english poet who could have summed up
the basis of this film "They mess
you up, your mum and dad".
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23. Brick dir:
Rian Johnson.On
of the most original and exciting movies to come
out in some time. In the same way that Tarantino
both borrowed, and added uniquely to movie sub
genres, we get Rian Johnson taking moves, and dialogue
inspiration from the classic crime novel noir's
and then subverting them by placing them in a unique
setting. The only unfortunate thing about such
an emerging talent is after the excitement of this
film, we will have the interminable wait for his
next film (currently slated for 2008!). |
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22. Pirates
Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. dir:
Gore Verbinski. Surely
everyone has seen the film by now, so I cant add
anything particularly useful. It is a superb, visceral
romp, full of swashbuckle, camp, humour but most
of all cheese. It goes to show what a blockbuster
can be when the incentive and the correct team
all come together on a project. |
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21. Lady
In The Water. dir:
M. Night Shyamalan. Since
I saw Sideways, Paul Giamatti has become one
of my favourite actors, so I had to check out
this film. It turns out to be a very good Fantasy
/ Thriller, and is a considerable cut above the
average Hollywood fare that is continually churned
out by Hollywood in this genre. A lot of thought
and imagination have both obviously gone into
making this an ultimately very rewarding film.
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20. A
Scanner Darkly. dir: Richard
Linklater. Linklater's films
are generally hit or miss, so you never know whether
you will be getting a fantastic film or a stinker.
Luckily this is up there with his very best. With
it's rotoscoped animation style it is visually
stunning, with it's story based on a story by Philip
K.Dick and the voice talent on board it had the
word hit all over it. All of the ingredients came
together perfectly for a most innovative and enjoyable
film. |
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19. The
Black Dahlia. dir:
Brian De Palma. The
film noir is back with a vengeance this year. There
are very few people to equal Brian De Palma when
he is on his game (lets forgive him some of his
movies that, shall we say, are less about art and
more about $). Here is his finest film in a decade.
A superb adaptation of James Ellroy's novel telling
the tale of two Detectives investigating a murder
a movie star. Suitably stylish, this noir drips
wuth some of De Palmas signature recurring themes
- like those of murder and obsession being principals.
Josh Hartnett and and Scarlett Johnsson star and
prove why they are rightly considered such hot
properties at the moment. |
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18. Bicycle
Thieves. dir:
Vittorio De Sica. One
of the best films ever made, but not hugely widely
known. This film was made in Italy in 1948 and
centres on the desperation of post war Italy by
focusing on a desperate long time unemployed man,
who gets a job putting up posters. He is delighted
but there is a catch - he must pawn his families
linen so that he can buy back his bike to put up
the posters. He does so and sets off for work but
he hadn't 't bargained on the bicycle thieves.
Simply a brilliant film, given a welcome DVD release
by the excellent Criterion. |
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17. The
Brothers Grimm. dir: Terry Gilliam. This
is undoubtedly one of Terry Gilliam's most complete
films. With the director always most at home in
the past, and even more at home in a settings of
fantasy and fairy tales this film always looked
likely to be a winner. Add into that mix the a
superb and challenging story by Ehren Kruger, the
undoubted chemistry between Damon and Ledger, and
the stories dark grounding in its setting in the
early 1800s French occupied Germany, and you get
a classic. I believe Gilliam is the Michelangelo
of modern cinema, and both his and his teams harnessing
of technology and design (even on relatively modest
budgets) produce some of the most stunning results
you are likely to see anywhere. |
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16. When
the Levees Broke. dir: Spike Lee. When
Hurricane Katrina commenced the chain reaction
of devastating events in New Orleans, it seemed
all to unreal. How could this happen in the richest
and most powerful country
on the planet? What seemed all the more unreal
was the authorities seeming inability to organise
any kind of relief effort, and even more concerning,
the Governments intransigence in the face of so
much human suffering. With his film, Spike Lee
has sought to engage with the very people who were
affected most, and he has given them a voice to
explain how, in personal terms, they have been
affected. In telling the story of the people, the "political" (in
the largest sense of the word) story is also uncovered.
Whichever part of the narrow political divide you
sit on, the human story here is clear, and for
the victims of the floods and of the system, they
have finally been given a voice for us all to hear
and for us all to heed. |
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15. Tristram
Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. dir: Michael
Winterbottom. One
of Britain's most inventive and consistent directors
hits the mark on this seriously overlooked film.
The film is basically split between the "film" of
the Story of Tristram Shandy, interwoven with the
behind the scenes of this "unmakeable" film
being made. This works surprisingly well, and it's
leads Rob Brydon and, more especially, Steve Coogan
turn in fantastic and hugely funny performances,
even by their own very high standards. The film
is also full of fantastic cameos. Definitely one
of the funniest and best British films made in
the last few years. |
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14. Match
Point. dir: Woody Allen. I
have always thought that Woody Allen needs to get
out of the house more. Here
he leaves Manhattan far behind and heads for London.
With his cinematic relocation he seems to have
been reinvigorated and he has produced in this
film, probably his best film in a dozen or so years.
London seems to have infused itself into his being,
and probably more than any director, Allen is the
master of making the character of a Location burn
itself in to the character of the movie. As ever
with a Woody Allen film, he can choose whomever
he wants in the film and he obviously has had some
very good advisors helping with the casting of
the more minor roles, many of which are familiar
to British audiences, but not necessarily, I'm
sure, to him. He also had the good sense and taste
to use Emily Mortimer in one of the major roles
- she is a terrific actress and terribly underused
in casting for major roles. A great return to form . |
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13. An
Inconvenient Truth. dir: Davis Guggenheim. You
will be pleased to note this review has been validated
as being carbon neutral, and in replacement for
the electricity it has taken to write and display
this mini review, I will be walking to work all
week instead of driving the RV I normally use.
Seriously though, this film serves a great purpose,
even if you do not accept the scientific thesis
that are included here, at least it has raised
the profile of the debate about the problem of
Global warming. Whether we decide or not to believe
governments when they tell us "Global Warming
- what global warming", the profile of this
movie has helped us in some way to make the debate
less easy to ignore, and that has got to be a good
thing for the future. On the downside its also
allowed two opposing sides to try and score cheap
political points over each other again - which
is not the point. For that reason I have deliberately
not mentioned Al Gore's name during the review
- doh! |
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12. Walk
The Line. dir:James Mangold. This
film was a real treat. How many times have you
seen bio pics (particularly musical ones) where
either the lead bears absolutely no physical relationship
to its subject and / or the script is so crammed
filled with anecdotes (and cheese) that it is virtually
impossible to watch. Being a Johnny Cash admirer
I hoped against hope that this would be one of
the few films that would buck that trend. Well
it certainly does that and I would venture it is
the best musical bio pic ever made. Both Joaquin
Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are are superb as
Johnny and June, and they helped make this a hugely
entertaining and integrity filled film. |
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11. L'Armee
Des Ombres. dir: Jean-Pierre Melville. Undoubtedly,
this is one of the best films ever to come out
of France. This is the first DVD release of Melville's
classic 1969 take on Joseph Kessel's 1943 novel.
The story is driven around the lives of the French
Resistance fighters in German occupied France during
the war. What sets it apart is the concentration
on the individuals relationships with their colleagues,
and their human frailties. The DVD is particularly
welcome as it contains background material on the
resistance, a commentary and a short film about
Melville. |
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10. Grizzly
Man. dir:Werner Herzog. A
superb documentary portrait of Timothy Treadwell,
a back to nature kind of a guy who spent 13 seasons
living with the wild bears in Alaska, and filming
his exploits with a mini DV camera. There are numerous
sad and tragic ironies about the film, and Herzog
has compiled here a film that not only says something
our attitude towards animals, but also our attitude
towards ourselves or more specificly others. The
portrait of these solitary animals constantly roaming,
constantly looking for something to feed its hunger
- you can't make it up. |
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9. Clerks
2. dir: Kevin Smith. I
couldn't believe a sequel to Clerks was being made
- why on earth would he take such a chance on messing
up the memory of his brilliant first movie. But
the sequel works surprisingly well. As with every
Smith film the characters are very easy to get
comfortable with, and since making Clerks he has
broadened his horizons on what he can achieve in
a film. Also like every Smith film, not everything
on show here always hits the mark, but this is
certainly his most consistent work to date. |
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8. Volver. dir:Pedro
Almodóvar. In
the past I have been somewhat ambivalent with regard
to the work of Penelope Cruz, and one can only
imagine what possessed her to accept some of the
roles she taken. But back working with the terrific
Almodovar, she gives a terrific and rich performance.
This seems in part to have been aided by Almodovar's
lighter touch in this movie which certainly helped
the characters to breathe, and work tremendously
well in one of his most accessible movies. |
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7. The
Double Life Of Veronique. dir:
Krzysztof Kieslowski. This
is undoubtedly Kieslowski's finest moment. The
film was originally released in 1991 and it was
immediately followed by the work he is now best
known for - the excellent Three Colors trilogy
of films. The DVD release we have here is the Criterion
issue, which is packed with excellent extras including
some Kieswlowski shorts, documentaries, essays, interviews
and a commentary. A suitable epitaph for a tremendous
career. |
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6. Little
Miss Sunshine. dir: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie
Faris.One
of the many delights in this film, is in the fact
that you can't tell where exactly it is going.
With the main plot surrounding, in its simplest
forms, a road trip for a dysfunctional family,
this could have easily degenerated into a weak
sub-Farelly brothers contrived romp. What we get
with the directors debut feature, is a rather good
light and dark movie, with some excellent dialogue
and a truly superb cast (Toni Collette is especially
fantastic). It left me very keen to see the directors
next project to see which they will go with their
new found success. |
This
film has not yet been released in the
USA. It has been released in the UK. |
5. The
Wind That Shakes The Barley. dir:
Ken Loach. An
undeniably bold and brave project by Ken Loach.
The approach to weave the issues of the" Irish
problem" into the personal lives of the Republican
activists, and maintain the focus to such an extent
on the personal issues was surprising. It would
have been easy for Loach to have been far more
heavy handed in order to push the narrative along
in much more of a historically referenced manner,
but to his credit he resisted the temptation and
delivered yet another great film. Certainly as
a "political" film it is would be impossible
to truly exert a huge amount of balance into the
narrative, but there certainly is a feeling nere
that Loach is looking for the truth. |
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4. Hidden
(Cache). dir: Michael Haneke. This
is perhaps Haneke's best film to date, and following
on from The Piano player and Time Of The Wolf,
the terrifically consistent standard of his recent
movies is truly remarkable. The plot here centres
around a TV host and his wife, who are terrorised
by Videos of them that are being left on their
doorstep. This leaves them feeling extremely uncomfortable
as its obvious they are being watched, but more
unsettling is why? In common with other Michael
Haneke's films, the actual story is not necessarily
the one that you are watching here, and the themes
and messages are all the more powerful for that.
Hidden certainly helps cement Haneke as one of
the best directors around today in World Cinema. |
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3. The
Producers. dir: Susan Stroman. This
is a terrific film of the remake of the play of
the film. For someone who loves the original film,
the delightful surprise is just how good this version
is. Ably supported by the unabashed enthusiasm
brought to their roles by Broderick and Lane, this
film is an absolute triumph under the direction
of Susan Stroman, and is generally even broader
and better than the original. I wonder what they
could do with a remake of my favourite Mel Brooks
film "Young Frankenstein". |
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2. Corpse
Bride . dir: Tim Burton. The
one thing about about a Tim Burton film is that
you know that you are not going to be disappointed,
and the delight with this one is that I think its
his best so far. The story and the dialogue are
both fantastic, visually his unique style has moved
on a fair way, and the amazing voice talent he
managed to get for this film was nothing less than
the film deserved. Alongside Terry Gilliam, he
is the next true genius of modern cinema. This
film is superb. |
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1. Capote. dir:
Bennett Miller. I
didn't think they made films like this anymore.
Given the huge character of Capote, and in particular
the story behind the writing of his greatest work "In
Cold Blood", the foundations of a superb piece
of work were already there. But when of the best
screenplays and performances of the last few years
comes together, this all contributes to making
this one of the best and most sublime films of
the last 10 years. Philip Seymour Hoffman manages
to maintain his meandering trajectory towards the
top of the "Thinking mans actor" lis",
and hopefully some of the recent commercial blockbusters
will mean he will have the luxury of both being
offered the best roles and having the security
to reject the less demanding roles. Check this
one out its absolute genius. |
