For 2013

10. Byzantium

Director: Neil Jordan
Writer:Moira Buffini (play)
Stars:Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley

Nearly 20 years after his star power fuelled Vampire Romp Interview With The Vampire (1994) Director Neil Jordan returns to the genre with one of the years more underrated films.  Byzantium brings together a pair of contrasting beauties with Arterton’s spitefully seductive good looks and Ronan’s laser blue eyed innocence both preserved in eternal life as Soucriants (Vampires) living a transient lifestyle in order to both survive and escape the darkness of their origins. The Seaside setting which becomes our subjects adopted home transcends the vampirism they exhibit, with its transformational qualities of day and night, light and dark with the coming and going like the tide making it a less than ideal place to hide in the plain sight of normality. Sexy, dark and loaded with expositional back story Byzantium is a must see for Vampire fans.

9.Don Jon

Director:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Writer:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Stars:Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore

The personal nature of debut movie making has never been more evident than in Joseph Gordon Levitt’s razor sharp writing and directorial effort Don Jon. There is the imposing presence of the film that arguably made his name in (500) Days of Summer, Levitt for at least half of the movie sets out to recreate a similar style of reoccurring motifs and busy camera tricks which catch the eye and draw the audience in. Jon is an oily haired lothario obsessed with his six pack, sin, casual sex and internet pornography but somehow managing to conjoin them all into a lifestyle in which he is overly content. When love interest Barbara (Johansson) arrives on the scene her own obsessions of outwardly projecting success and romantic movies mix like oil and water with Jon’s and in this we have the films key dynamic.

8.Spring Breakers

Director:Harmony Korine
Writer:Harmony Korine
Stars:Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson

The year’s most controversial and outrageous movie was without doubt this tale of 4 girls turned bad in the pursuit of the ultimate spring break. Spring Breakers directed by Harmony Korine boasts an orgy of flesh and violence but also delves deep within the psyche of his characters to find what makes them tick. When a group of Friends are left behind due to financial constraints they embark on an odyssey of crime to satisfy their hedonistic hunger. In the process they form an incongruous alliance with James Franco’s gangster which threatens to destroy their friendship. Detractors will argue the film is dripping with male fantasy and only exists for that purpose, but in actual fact the Spring Breakers is a far more inclusive experience expressing strong feminine thoughts, feelings and actions.
 
7.Arbitrage

Director:Nicholas Jarecki
Writer:Nicholas Jarecki
Stars:Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling

When a seemingly successful Investment Specialist (Gere) seeks to sell off his firm and live off the proceeds, his private, family and business lives begin to unravel in the most unimaginable way. Arbitrage explores the narrow path which divides everyday dishonesty with that of corporate corruption and overt criminality, doing so with a small measure voyeurism we peer into these sets of lives watching on whilst the subjects ride each dramatic wave with ignorance of the cross each other has to bare.

6.The Butler

Director:Lee Daniels
Writers:Danny Strong, Wil Haygood
Stars:Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo

The Butler can and will be criticised for its sprawling tale of revisionist history, but revisionist history rarely felt this poignant and heartfelt. The Butler reflects on a 40 year chunk of the American civil rights movement through a triumvirate of souls, Forest Whittaker’s Cecil Gaines represents the subservient African American who journeys from farm house to Whitehouse soaking in the political and personal quirks of each passing administration. Louis Gaines, Cecil’s eldest son fights from the front and is implanted into every major civil rights event throughout the period in an attempt to take the audience into the heart of those moments and offer insight. Thirdly Cecil’s wife Gloria played beautifully by Oprah Winfrey reflects the inner struggler, places where at times the heft of freedom fighting and pain of the times strike deepest, whilst at other times barely at all instead the creating a loving family environment take precedent. 

5.Blue Jasmine

Director:Woody Allen
Writer:Woody Allen
Stars:Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard

The year’s best performance came courtesy of Cate Blanchett’s not so blissfully ignorant socialite looking to rebound from the despair of her personal oblivion. Through Blanchett’s stunning performance we start with the recovery and work back, landing at her sisters San Francisco pad escaping her documented New York Heaven turned Hell of shady husband (Baldwin) whose bout of financial and fidelitous indiscretions have plunged all connected into a sea of hardship and heartache. Blue Jasmine is a film about opposites; blonde and brunette, rich and poor, east and west, past and present; Woody Allen of course brings his obsession with cheating partners and elusive romances to this most poisoned of dinner parties.

4.Prisoners

Director:Denis Villeneuve
Writer:Aaron Guzikowski
Stars:Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

Possibly the highest praise one could heap upon Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is to suggest that it really is the closest thing anyone has really come to emulating David Fincher’s classic Thriller Se7en (1995). What begins as an ostensive cat and mouse kidnap narrative turns into something far more profound and metaphoric. Keller’s (Jackman) young daughter and her friend go missing under mysterious circumstances he grows frustrated with the pace of the investigation led by an unconventional detective (Gyllenhaal) and takes matters into his own hands.
Villenueve fills the screen with visual puzzles and recurring patterns, whilst the psyche of those on screen are challenged by moralistic dilemmas and deeply buried emotions.   

3.Kick Ass 2

Director:Jeff Wadlow
Writers:Jeff Wadlow (screenplay), Mark Millar (comic book),
Stars:Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz,

Even with Iron Man and Superman being amongst the year’s many superhero releases somehow a purple clad teenage girl managed to kick both their asses and claim the crown as the year’s best Comic book hero.  Kick Ass 2 in many ways is a typical sequel doubling up on new characters, gags, action and profanity but what it does do is find a narrative to support the extra baggage, whilst holding onto the unique cross genre chemistry of its predecessor dipping in between spoof, satire, comedy and thriller. Mindy Macready aka Hit Girl is still reeling from the effects of the first chapter and as a result decides to forsake the purple wig in order restore what is left of her childhood. Kick Ass meanwhile is left to join a band of

 masked crime fighters lead by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim

Carey), however when a deadly rival gang emerges will they be up for the challenge?

2.Behind the Candelabra

Director:Steven Soderbergh
Writers:Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Scott Thorson (book),
Stars:Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Michael Douglas

There is a real sense of tragedy and sadness which tinges the riotous offerings of Behind The Candelabra. Matt Damon plays Scott Thorson who whirlpool like is sucked into the flamboyant, extrovert but also lonely heart of his lover; the great pianist Liberace. Few would have contemplated Michael Douglas taking on such a role when for much of his career he has been entrenched as the snarling alpha male, here his performance is full of the camp zest required to effectively and convincingly don the plethora of sequin attire.  Tucked beneath the extravagant exterior Director Steven Soderbergh creates a spiteful, controlling and disingenuous world born of an emptiness created by the shallow entities of fame and fortune.

1.Rush

Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan (screenplay)
Stars: Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth,


Ron Howard’s Rush is towering success of a movie, creating and immersive experience which binds thought with pure thrill in this tale of sporting rivalry which transcends its own deeply philosophical intentions through its character’s lives. Centred around a pair of juxtaposing heroes who through their intense personal battle within the F1 arena find a piece of themselves within each other. Austrian Niki Lauda played meticulously by Daniel Bruhl is coldly and calculating whose driving reflects all that he is and does, Lauda is adverse to risk and weighs up each pro and con in order to seek his advantage. James Hunt (Hemsworth) is the fire to the Austrian's Ice, his brash cocky persona is absorbed into his driving style where he embraces the dangers of his vocation.  Both sets of idiosyncrasies’ can’t escape the added strain brought about by relationships Lauda lacks passion and emotional intelligence, whilst Hunt’s reckless pursuit of opposite sex leads to added and messy tabloid attention.
Rush has a something in it for everyone even those not enamoured with motorsport or sport in general, a truly must see gripping drama.

Somethink Old Somethink New

Old: Time Masters (1982)

Director: René Laloux

French Animation wizard Rene Laloux’s first feature the wondrously curious Fantastic Planet (1973) opted to reflect the face of humanities future with that of its savage past, such regression is absent in this superb follow-up which is a fusion of parable and paradox, fable and fairy tale in the incredibly imaginative world of the Time Masters.

The Magical journey begins with a 7 year old boy named Piel who at one point lived a sheltered existence with his parents on the distant planet of Perdide as the only human presence, however his parents are killed leaving him to traverse the near barren world alone with his innocence and salvation acting as both his biggest hope and greatest danger. Peridide proceeds to offer an Alice in Wonderland-esque collection of oddly formed creatures and twisted natural structures.

Piel’s salvation rests in the hands of an incongruous bunch, Jaffar is the friend of his father tasked with his rescue, aboard his ship is a cruel Prince Matton and a loving Princess Belle (both operating in exile aboard Jaffar's ship), a wise old man with knowledge of the planetary system and a pair of telepathic aliens. The dynamics among crew lead them into harms way in particular a haunted planet inhabited by faceless angels, a form of religious symbolism detailing the contradiction of spiritual identity and conformity. 

With its eclectic approach to style, tone and narrative Time Masters is an enigmatically elusive experience which will provide plenty of need as well as reward for repeat viewings; puns aside a timeless piece of animation.

9/10

New: Enough Said (2013)

Director: Nicole Holofcener
Stars: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini

The late James Gandolfini in one of his last roles before his passing will go down as one of his best, casting aside the tough wise guy aura with which we have become accustomed to. In his portrayal of Albert , Gandolfini finds a seldom seen openness and subsequent vulnerability which affords him a magnetism with both the audience and their sympathies.

Providing the Ying to Albert’s Yang is an inspired piece of casting with Julia-Louis Dreyfus whose petite feminine grace is juxtaposed by the oafish qualities of her would be love interest. Dreyfus effortlessly transitions from her familiar domain of the small screen, bringing with her Elaine from Seinfeld’s propensity for physical humour; few could make dragging a masseuse bed up a set of stairs look so arduously funny.

Director Nicole Holofcener works wonders in delivering this 40-something centric naturalistic love story, capturing the essence of a blossoming mature love which pierces the exterior and finds a level of depth that enables our damaged divorcée couple to successfully search and find a mutually slow developing attraction.

It wouldn't be a romantic comedy without the misunderstandings and misjudgments which don’t require detailing here, but with the help of its subplots Enough Said looks into the challenges of finding love later on in life and how relationships of the past leave lasting legacies; some good some bad.

8/10

For Big Jack

News broke earlier in the month of the retirement of a true great in the shape of Jack Nicholson, a man that has produced some of the most inspiring and memorable performances to grace the big screen over the best part of the last 4 decades. So I thought I’d compile my favourite Jack Nicholson movies.

5. The Departed (2006)

Arguably in his last notable offering Nicholson fulfils one of the key functions of any noteworthy crime/thriller picture; that of the villain. Jack’s performance is every bit the contradiction of the Boston crime lord he depicts who alongside his Irish hoodlums possess a terrifyingly brutal snarl and swagger, yet is piloted by an intense cunning and calculative measure to stay ahead of the game, pitting Matt Damon and Leo DiCaprio against each other.
 

4. The Last Detail (1973)

 

This particular detail maybe Big Jack’s most humorous, two Navy men are tasked with transferring (by land) a hapless Randy Quaid to a Navy Prison for stealing for $40 from a collection box, however “Badass” Buddusky  (Nicholson) has other ideas and turns the job into an Odyssey of Booze, Broads and brawls by way of big city delights  in order to show his new found charge a good time before his 8 year stretch.

3. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining  really is as good as horror can get and Nicholson’s contribution as twisted patriarch Jack Torrence is an essential piece of the puzzle. The Torrence family must endure the on screen descent and disintegration of Jack’s psyche in to a murky murderous mental state caused by the fortified surroundings of his temporary employment in a Colorado hotel with its mysterious effects. 

2. The Passenger (1975)  

 

Nicholson pairs up with Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger as he plays a Journalist going the extra mile for a story whilst stuck in sub Saharan Africa. When Locke (Nicholson) assumes the identity of a recently deceased gun runner it sets into play a gripping journey of chicanery, romance and escapism of attempting to live the life of a stranger.

 

1. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) 

Randal P. McMurphy (Nicholson) is born of a fiercely simplistic combinational philosophy: the love for the freedoms and liberties of life with a disgust for any form of restrictive and joyless boundaries. Mac as he likes to be known is faced  with a torturous test of his sensibilities, opting to spend the rest of his short jail term in a mental  ward in order to escape some hard time, he struggles to cope with his fellow patients physical and mental incarceration, which is embodied through his  newly acquired nemesis Nurse Ratched who sets out thwart and repress any form of emancipation.

New: The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine (2013)

Director: James Mangold

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima

There is no doubt about it The Wolverine feels somewhat like a breath of fresh air amidst the blizzard of exploding buildings and planes and crashing and banging which has been a feature of the summer blockbuster season of 2013. Director James Mangold offers up the years more mature entry into the bottlenecking pantheon of modern day superhero movies, rich in thematic substance and decorated with a “more is less” approach to its action sequences Mangold shows what can be done with a smaller budget and a willingness to invest in time tested film making conventions and attention to detail.

Returning Hugh Jackman produces arguably his most polished performance as the gruff and embattled mutant, banishing the wretched stink of X-Men Origins before it. Jackman embodies two separate characteristics, when duty calls and wrongs need righting he is the hack and slash indestructible hero Wolverine. The flipside to the Wolverines rugged coin is Logan, a tortured soul bearing a gift of near immortality that is a curse, whose dreams serve only to haunt him and his good deeds return to punish him. Logan with all of his baggage is summoned to Japan to the deathbed of an old friend but soon discovers that there is something more sinister afoot.

The Japanese setting is a key contributor to the Wolverines success as such the film infers and speaks of the complexities of Eastern Cultures, the mesh of grounded traditional values entwined with the endless possibilities of science and technology. Themes of mortality and the near morbid relationship East Asia has with death and notions of mortality are established early on as we witness grizzly acts of Hara Kari, Mangold then refines this into reoccurring motifs and plot strands which drive the narrative. Yashida the aforementioned aged old pal reduced to his death bed is not ready to let go of life and embrace his end, whilst mutant Yukio has a similar cross bear in that she can foresee the deaths of others.

The Pan-Asian tone also filters through into the cinematography taking on the look of an authentically Eastern picture, even the set pieces such as a blistering foot race and battle through a crowded downtown Tokyo has respectful and proximal qualities. In much the way Nolan’s Dark Knight skilfully placed a comic book villain in the world of a gritty crime thriller Mangold’s work here is of a similar essence with Logan embroiled in the world of Yakuza, Ninja and some explosive family dynamics which make for his best big screen outing to date.

8/10

Top Five Japanese Films

Ran (1985)

Master Japanese Film Maker Akira Kurosawa’s take on Shakespeare’s King Lear is a stunning and epic Japanese period piece which tells the story of a power struggle between three sons as their aging Warlord father decides to abdicate rule of his empire. What ensues is a tale of betrayal, treachery and revenge as the family unravels as we watch on helplessly.

Memories of Matsuko (2006)

When Shou learns of his estranged Aunts death and is subsequently asked to clear out her apartment, he begins a journey back in time through fragments of memories to discover the way she lived and how she died. The result is a most unforgettable film made of part musical, comedic and tragic components amounting to something of a cinematic obituary. 

Departures (2008)

Departures as with many Japanese films concerns itself with mortality, however what makes this unique is its exploration of the vocational properties of death. A classical trained Cellist through unemployment unwittingly lands work as an undertaker, but his new career carries little honour and plenty of stigma in the eyes of his family as well as his own self imposed reservations. Winner of a Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Tekkonkinkreet (2006)

Tekkonkinkreet certainly possesses many qualities regularly found in the superhero genre. Two homeless young orphans with special abilities look to traverse the line between law and order with that of the criminal underworld to protect their city (name Treasure Town) from a new nefarious force which threatens to destroy it. Street violence is presented through the pseudo infantilised imaginations of our young subjects which manifests in the surrealist nature of the animation and the world they operate within.


Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)

A heartbreaking story of how innocence is both lost and found in the doldrums of war and the fight for survival during World War 2. Infant Child Setsuko becomes dependent on her 14 year old brother Seito as their family is separated during a series of Air Raids. The pairs initial sanctuary with relatives turns hostile and the two are soon homeless, this leaves Seito with little choice than to steal and loot in order to provide sustenance for Setsuko’s ever increasing state of vulnerability. Grave if the Firefiles is a moving venture into the siblings unconditional love for each other right to the bitter end of the war.      

Not For Valentines

The night after the night before, here are 5 films you shouldn't have watched this Valentines Day (or maybe you should have)


5. Catfish (2010)

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Stars: Yaniv Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost

In an age where millions of us are hooking up online, Catfish highlights the potential pitfalls of dating in these technological times of near infinite anonymity. There is still debate over the documentaries merits (a result of the involvement of Paranormal Activity creators Ariel Shulman and Henry Joost) but the narrative renders such thought irrelevant, a sort self fulfilling prophecy,Yaniv Schulman (brother of Ariel) is the central character who is in a typical  "on-line relationship"  and we must believe that he himself believes the basis of said relationship is all that it appears, so to convince us the team track the plethora of phone calls, letters, and facebook antics to unveil the truth.

4. Tokyo Decadence  (1992)

Director: Ryû Murakami
Stars: Miho Nikaido, Yayoi Kusama, Sayoko Amano


Ai (Ironically the Japenese word for love) is an escort going through a crisis of confidence, her life has spiraled into a world of bizarre bondage, kinky threesomes and generally every hedonistic impulse her body can be used for. All the while she pines for a lost love which along with a visit to an eccentric fortune-teller fuels her epiphany. Stylistically there is heavy European influences with lingering shots and deeply silent voids, but ultimately this is a film exploring a nations relationship with its own dark sexual desires and fantasies


3.Shame (2011)
Director: Steve McQueen
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge

Michael Fassbender plays Brandon a man incapable of love or loving, but well versed in the physical urges one might associate with it. Director Steve McQueen's follow up to 2008's Hunger relies on a similarly visceral thematics as we observe the same ritualistic, opportunistic, and catastrophic abuse of the body, here it takes place in office restrooms, strangers beds, hotel hookers and nightclub alleyways. Throw into the mix the arrival of sister Carey Mulligan who has her own set of problems and Brandon's life is about to implode into the myriad of dramas their clashing life styles bring about.


2.From the Life Of The Marrionettes (1980)

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Stars: Robert Atzorn, Christine Buchegger, Martin Benrath

One of regular features in the vast back catalogue of Ingmar Bergman is his take on marriage, 'Life of Marrionettes the follow up to the acclaimed Autumn Sonata (which also concerns itself with holy matrimony) is a dark and murky journey. Set in West Germany the film charts the psychological breakdown of a German couple whose relationship is beyond oblivion, punctuated by the opening scene murder of a prostitute by Husband Peter (Robert Atzorn) we then investigate events before the grisly crime and interrogate the mental profiles of those who knew him, chiefly Wife Katarina (Christine Buchegger) in an attempt to piece the murderous puzzle together.

1. Blue Valentine (2010)
Director: Derek Cianfrance

Stars: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams

The title says it all, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are tasked with providing an insight into the struggles of the modern day American marriage.Husband Dean (Gosling) is made of a fierce simplicity, he works ordinary job with his bare hands, has an irksome outlook on life and a hunger for emotional contact. Wife Cindy is a more calculated configuration of aspirational intelligence, passive aggression and sporadic extroversion. Director Derek Cianfrance expertly fragments and patches together the couples past and current states and allows us to judge for ourselves where it went wrong, if it was doomed from the start or if they can make it through their troubles.

New: Django Unchained

Django Unchained (2012)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio

It’s difficult to know how to treat Quentin Tarantino films of late, his film making hasn’t in anyway matured since his stunning arrival onto the scene 21 years where he produced landmark moments in 90’s cinema; influencing a generation of film makers in the meantime. In fact when you think back to the grisly sharp teeth of Resevoir Dogs, the alluring malignance of Pulp Fiction and the Jackie Brown’s fierce sense of humour you can make the case that if anything there has been a regression in Quentin’s development, his films have become over reliant on a tired arsenal of unmistakable “Tarantinoisms” which are beginning to fail the and belie his talents, Django Unchained his latest release is a perfect example of this.

Djano, essentially a Western concerns itself with the cultural politics of mid 19^th century America, an America still very much embracing the hurt and pain of slavery with seemingly no remorse but instead a sense of pride and entitlement. Scars of subjugation manifest in tangible marks of branded flesh and distorted whip afflicted skin, yet the real damage is evident in the less striking devotion to servitude, custom and an collective acceptance of fate. Tarantino has always used conventional narrative in his features revenge, good, evil and this is no different when a sophisticated Germanic bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz frees Jamie Foxx’s eponymous slave they form a deadly yet profitable alliance collecting high price Bounties for villainous scum; a Riggs and Murtaugh of their time if you will. Django’s end game though is to rescue his wife from the clutches of sadistic Leonardo Dicaprio and his veil of suave southern eccentricity. 

Django's problem are for all of the well written dialogue and characters which are handled superbly by the star cast, Tarantino's inability to quieten the discord between the salience of capturing the distressing plight of slaves who are subject to torture, murder and even the human dog fighting of “Mandingo bouts”, with the kitschy stylistic devices such as the incongruously eclectic sound track accompanied by the overtly graphic and comic violence he seems to have become enamoured with since Kill Bill. All of which only serve to cheapen and diminish the films meaning and strength, perhaps Quentin could one day not make a Tarantino movie and we could see how truly talented the man is.

7/10