A Tale Of Two Fishies (Parts 1&2)

Fish Tank (2009) Writer/Director: Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold established herself four years ago (after winning a short film Oscar for Wasp) with Red Road, the murky thriller set in a Glasgow residential high-rise. It was a startling debut with excellent central performances and a story that had you hooked from start to finish. Her 2009 follow up Fish Tank manages to create a different but equally nightmarish story based in a high rise council estate that still grips from start to finish.

It centres around 15 yr old Mia, a troubled girl that has been expelled from school and spends her days practising street dancing whilst drinking cider. She has no friends and seems to incite trouble wherever she goes. Things are not helped by the lack of any decent parenting from her layabout mother. Then things change when her mum starts seeing Connor, a charming Irishman that shows kindness to Mia, her mother and baby sister. He encourages Mia to go to a local audition for dancing jobs after seeing her perform and his support makes Mia confused towards his feelings for her, and vice versa. Sadly things take a turn for the worse when Connor puts Mia's mum to bed and gets drunk on vodka. Mia goes downstairs and ends up dancing her new routine for Connor. Then one thing leads to another....

Fish Tank bravely plants itself in morally ambiguous area's. For one thing would anything have happened had Mia not went downstairs to Connor, knowing her Mum was unlikely to waken from her drunken coma? She is not blameless in this but she is still under-age and vulnerable and Connor feeds off this, mixing up easy going charm and kindness with almost stomach turningly subtle flirting. Michael Fassbender yet again proves what a phenomenal actor he is, channelling such a charming malevolence throughout the film until he makes his disgraced escape. However the lion share of the plaudits must go to the wonderful Katie Jarvis for her powder keg performance as Mia. Simmering on the edge of a breakdown throughout, the outward vitriol masking what at heart is just a young girl needing someone who actually cares is brutally savage, heart breaking and spellbinding to watch. Sure it is a little strange how easy Mia finds Connor after his disappearing act and maybe her form of cack handed revenge was a tad over the top and potentially cruel but all that is forgotten with the heart breaking audition scene, when she realises exactly what kind of dancers the club is looking for. It ends on what could be called an uplifting note (Mia's goodbye to her sister stays true to the outward spikiness but hidden sentiment of the film) but you will not forget what has went on before. Not an easy film to

get out of your head but it features one of the most dangerous, and best film pairings of recent times.

4/5

Fish Story (2009) Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Screenplay: Tamio Hayashi

Time travel related films have been quite common over the last ten years. Some have been brilliant (Donnie Darko), some promising but flawed ( The Butterfly Effect) and a lot (The Lake House, Deja Vu, fucking S.Darko) have been total wastes of time. So it is excellent to see the formula get abused in such as delightfully ludicrous way as you see in Yoshihiro Nakamura's Japanese gem, Fish Story.

The plot (?) is spread over 37 years and revolves around a failed punk song called 'Fish Story', a song with ridiculous lyrics but kick ass music. The band released the song to deaf ears in 1975 (a year before the 'Sex Pistols' took the world by storm) and promptly disbanded. 37 years down the line the song is the point of discussion in a record store between two men when an old man comes in informing them that a comet is about to collide with Japan and end their lives. The record shop worker informs them of 'Fish Story' and the myths surrounding it and then tells them the song will save the world. The story jumps back and forth showing (sometimes clearly, sometimes not so) how the song has come into each person's life, including one of the song's myths helping a cowardly man prevent a rape. The strands that hold the film together are like the song itself; there are spaces to be found and you can make your own mind up as to what it's about but ultimately the film is pure entertainment. Hilarious, breathtakingly plotted and actually really sweet, Nakamura has made a film that may not make much sense, but it definitely makes excellent viewing. The final scene will leave you smiling inside - this world is one worth living in.

4/5

Proof That Uncaged Nick Is The Best

BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
(Dir: Werner Herzog, Scr: William M. Finkelstein)

Nicholas Cage may well be the most frustrating actor ever to have worked in film. The ultimate Jekyll & Hyde performer, think of his best work - Raising Arizona, Wild At Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation & Matchstick Men to name the cream of the crop - all of these are master classes on how to act on the edge of your emotions, full of wild (sometimes insane) energy and conviction in your ability to end up with something spectacular when the film wraps. For these aforementioned films Nicholas Cage is quite possibly the only actor capable of this brand of performing. However he also has a fondness for crushing the life out of those fine performances by appearing in a mix of ill judged films (8mm, The Family Man, National Treasure) or in quite a few cases pure drivel (The Wicker Man remake being Crime #1). Obviously a man still needs to earn his money but when you see him performing to such a phenomenal degree in his latest film, Bad Lieutenant, you can’t help but feel a pang of regret that he chooses to do some many films that are in all honesty beneath a man of his calibre.
The film revolves (and lives off) Cage’s turn as Lt Terence McDonagh, a cop trying to solve a grisly murder case in post Katrina New Orleans. The main obstacle in his pursuit of the bad guys is not a lack of evidence or witnesses but himself, as he has descended into a grim world of multiple drug addiction, gambling and general all round badness. He uses bribery to get sex, steals drugs meant as evidence and, in quite possibly the acting scene of the year, threatens two elderly patients at gunpoint to find out where a key witness is. It is a decadent whirlwind that has little moral fibre to it but it is blisteringly fast paced and ridiculously entertaining. Veteran German Director Werner Herzog gets something out of Cage that has not been seen since Wild At Heart. You can see he feels comfortable enough with Herzog to go completely off the leash and deliver a truly ingenious performance that will go down as his career best, and is helped by Herzog’s brilliantly constructed direction. Herzog has an eye for the intense, but he also knows how to throw in something completely absurd and make it work well within the narrative of the film, which is why we end up seeing Soul’s Dancing, Iguanas singing and a POV from an Alligator.
The film has some fine supporting turns, including Eva Mendes showing a real appetite for the dark side again (stay away from chick-flicks) but it is easily the Nick Cage show. From his hunchbacked gait to his ability to be such an inherently immoral character whilst still maintaining the semblance of a human he has reached a level that may well be set as a future benchmark in acting. When you see the final scenes you will feel deeply for McDonagh. The movie is very good, Cage is at his blistering best. Just try your best to ignore The Sorceror's Apprentice when it comes out.

Film: 4/5
Cage: 5/5

Best Scene: Has to be the second trip to the Nursing Home ("Nobody saw me come in").
Spellbinding.

Step Aside Mark Morrison, it's the Return Of The Cack

No posts in three months is a terrible thing, even if I am writing to an audience that consists of myself and my glove puppet foxy (he’s a tickler) so I am returning to blogland with a super duper bumper blog™ to catch up on all thats been going down in my world of cinephilia, probably the most friendly form of -philia. Well the Oscars were indeed awesome for once with the fantastic Hurt Locker sweeping up both Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow’s ballsy direction. Re-watching the film recently just proved to me how an action film can still be a real spectacle with top suspense and drama without having to stand in front of blue screens swinging at imaginary enemies. Another quality Iraq war film was Green Zone. Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon managed to bring the same level of intensity as their two Bourne outings, and although at times the film was limited by the subject it still featured some excellent action scenes and left its audience with some real thinking to do about how the origins of a war sometimes can be more blurred than they should be.
Another great director/actor duo to re-appear in the cinema this year was Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio in the twisted thriller Shutter Island. The film moved along with gusto and there were some truly excellent moments contained within but the twists can be easily spotted from the outset and the ending is slightly annoying because of this. If this can be ignored however you are in for a real treat as Scorsese shows off his best directing since Casino and coaxes yet another top notch performance from DiCaprio. Shutter Island arrived too late for any chance of even a sniff at an award but one film that landed in plenty of time and got criminally ignored was Duncan Jones’ remarkable debut feature Moon. The film revolves around Sam Bell (played with devastating poignancy by Sam Rockwell), an astronaut sent to the Moon in a three year contract to mine the Moon’s resources to provide the earth with energy. As the end of the contract returns and his return to Earth looms things start taking a turn for the disturbing when he has an accident in his moon buggy and wakes up in the infirmary to find an exact clone who claims to be the real Sam Bell. This is the sort of Sci-Fi movie that harks back to the classic age of cinema and Rockwell’s double performance is completely engaging from start to finish and quite often will leave you emotionally drained. Moon is one of those rare films that will leave you feeling rewarded for investing your time in it.
Another film that will leave you rewarded but for different reasons is Kick-Ass. Seeing it at the cinema was brilliant as an entire room were caught in two hours of synchronised hysterics. The plot is simple; Young nerd decides to become a superhero only to find a few better one’s exist, as well as a few bad guys but it is the script (co-written by director Matthew Vaughan & Jane Goldman) that cracks with hilarious set ups and one liners perfectly delivered by the cast. Some parts will shock, others will make you split yourself in two laughing but all together it is easily the best alternative superhero film ever made; even though its crackling originality will probably be sullied in light of a franchise opportunity.
Other films that have been pretty darn enjoyable to watch include The Joneses, a half satire, half family drama about how consumerism is reaching in to every aspect of everyday life, featuring likeable performances from Striptease and Mulder, er I mean Demi Moore and Californication (dammit, David Duchovny!). Super fun will be had if you watch Hot Tub Time Machine. Any ill feeling towards the plot's possible flimsiness (see title) instantly disappears with the guaranteed seal of a watchable film, John Cusack. He heads up a brilliant foursome that includes the scene stealing Rob Corddry, US Office alumni Craig Robinson (excellent) and a gladly welcomed larger part for Clark Duke. Don’t worry about the plot, just sit back and prepare for a lot of lol-ing (Oh how I hate myself right now). Last year had The Hangover, HTTM is even better in my opinion.
Next up are two 80’s set rom-com’s, Adventureland and 500 Days Of Summer. Adventureland see’s Greg Mottola taking a softer approach after the sex obsessed bromance that was Superbad. This is a much softer film featuring the wonderful Jesse Eisenberg as James, a teen forced to work in a theme park over a summertime to afford college funds. He falls madly in love with Em (Twilight Highlight Kristen Stewart), a super cool co-worker that is secretly having an affair with guitar playing handyman played by Ryan Reynolds (who once again proves that when he steers away from flat out comedy he can turn in affecting performances). The love triangle is played out with real feeling and subtlety by the three protagonists and a quality script that balances the tender with the hilarious coupled with a great supporting cast including Bill Hader ensure you are left smiling from cheek to cheek after this lovable film ends. (500) Days Of Summer (Director: Marc Webb) is a much more introspective story, right from the start where the voiceover proclaims “this is not a love story but it is a story about love.” The voiceover is provided by greeting card writer Tom (played with bang on accuracy by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls head over heels for new co-worker Summer (the spellbindingly aloof Zooey Deschanel). The course of the love affair is told with a distorted narrative, the titular 500 days jumping from different periods throughout, no better illustrated than the jump between day 34 where Tom enters the lift euphoric after a successful night with Summer to day 303 where he leaves the lift completely broken hearted. This simple twist in convention makes the film that much more special, and the two central performances ensure it will be a minor classic in years to come. Neither Tom nor Summer are faultless, the former being too in love with the romantic notion of love and the latter slightly too fickle and immature but they both show off those traits we all can relate to when it comes to falling in (and out) of love with someone. Adventureland may well be the more entertaining of the two but in my mind (500) Days Of Summer is the better picture. Watch both though!
To finish up I will talk about two dramas, the first being A Single Man, fashion designer Tom Ford’s debut about a gay college lecturer trying to cope with the heart breaking loss of his partner. The film is an almost ritualistic take on what could potentially be a devastated man’s last day alive and it is treated with real dignity and cinematic beauty. Some may find Ford’s use of colour saturation to denote his mood a cheap gimmick but I feel it is an effective visual tool. However the film would be absolutely nothing without the career best performance given by Colin Firth. He dominates nearly every second of the film and with it delivers one of the most stunning performances I’ve ever seen from start to finish as he slowly starts to fade away to the brink of complete detachment only to find some salvation to be had in the fleeting beauty of the world. The film itself is visually good but could have been missable if not for the power and pathos Firth brings to the table. A supreme performance that will go down among the greatest ever. The second Drama is a war film with a twist, The Messenger. Starring Ben Foster (best known for Six Feet Under) and Woody Harrelson it centres on a war hero Sgt. Will Montgomery (Foster) who gets reassigned for his final months of service to become a messenger to family’s of killed soldiers. His commanding officer is Captain Tony Stone (Harrison) who teaches Will the script he must stick to and deliver to each and every family member as stated in the deceased soldiers form. Will soon realises what a horrific task this is to do, and especially to do whilst keeping a professional level of deatchment from the recipient of bad news and it creates inner turmoil for him, and in turn starts affecting Tony too. This is an exceptional take on the much worn out War genre with two stunning performances by Foster and Harrelson. You see the pain and aggravation etched as much on Harrelson’s face as he tries to keep his feelings from bubbling up as you see them it in the newbie Foster for being treated undeservedly, in his opinion, as a war hero. Such a film lives in the memory long after the credits roll and deserve a bigger audience on DVD than it received in the Cinema. It treated it’s topic with amazing grace and dignity for an American production and called to my mind the wonderful Japanese film Departures.
Phew, so there you go, suitably caught up I hope my non existent fans. Up next for me will be the hopping mad Bad Lieutenant and the Swedish insta-classic The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, both of which I have the highest of hopes for so I shall yak about them at a soonish date. Oh God, I almost forgot - I also had the pleasure of watching the delightfully shite Trees: The Movie courtesy of Zone Horror on Sky. In a league of its own for so-bad-it-makes-you-cry-but-so-watchable-that-you-must-bear-with-it-anyway entertainment. Oh yes, that tasty subgenre. Laters.

Green Zone: 3.5/5
Shutter Island: 4/5
Moon: 5/5
Kick Ass: 4/5
The Joneses: 3/5
Hot Tub Time Machine: 3.5/5
Adventureland: 4/5
(500) Days Of Summer: 4.5/5
A Single Man: 4/5 (one extra solely for Firth)
The Messenger: 4/5
Trees: The Movie: -/+ 5/5

Top Scene: Sam Rockwell’s heartbreaking ‘I Just wanna go home’ moment in Moon
Top Acting: Sam Rockwell in Moon & Colin Firth in A Single Man
Best Film Synopsis: Trees: The Movie - Barking (eh) mad horror about a homicidal tree that starts sapping (eh eh?) the life out of locals. Can a botanist, a park ranger and a grizzled lumberjack cut it down to size?…….Genius, and also ten times better than the film itself.

Whipped Shit and Whip Smart

I recently re-watched Woody Allen's 1979 masterpiece Manhattan and it is a film that still astounds me with its frank and forthright approach to the twisted melee of love. The comedy is acerbic at times and firmly placed as Allen's most truthful picture, and as a director he has never surpassed the monochrome beauty in capturing his favourite love, New York. To think he wwas ready to pay off studio execs so the film would never see the light of day astounds me still. Especially when the same man has recently made 'Whatever Works', a film so appaling that all reels of the film should be given an excorcism. First of all for all his good work in improv comedy Larry David just cannot act, and the man dies a slow painful death onscreen. Of course it is not helped when he is given lines so limp they need support bandages ("Let's face it, our marriage hasn't been a garden of roses. Botanically speaking, you are more of a Venus Flytrap" being the pick of the bunch). Theres no doubting Allen is a funny man but sadly this has not really come across in film since the whole Soon Yi business. The only truly great film he has directed since the 80's has been Sweet & Lowdown and it was a gently told story of a jazz guitarist whose demons overtook him. He's had many interesting films since the 80's but they have not been solely comedic in tone. However seeing as the man is 74 we should be glad he is still around to give us hope that one day he will make another true masterpiece. Waiting for that will be easy in a world where he has given us at least five bona fide masterpieces and about fifteen more great films. Shame Whatever Works has to exist on the same filmography as Manhattan or Sleeper though.

Now for my vote for the cheesiest and most surprisingly fun film of the year. Drum Roll.......It has to be 'Whip It', the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The film stars Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar, a misfit teen forec by her mother to compete in beauty pageants. She and her friend Pash (the excellent Alia Shawkat) both as desperate to leave their small Texan town. Pash has dreams of going to an Ivy League University but Bliss has no idea what she wants beyond escape. That is until she finds out about a roller derby on a shopping trip to Austin. After going to one and falling in love with it she enrols in tryouts and gets selected to be a member of the 'Hurl Scouts', the perennial losers of the roller deby league. Spurred on in her new life as 'Babe Ruthless' she helps her team to grow from a ragtag group happy to be "second out of two" to a polished squad ready to do battle with the big guns of roller derby.
At heart the film is the typical underdog sports story but the use of roller derby and female protaganists sets it out from the rest of the pack. T be honest if you'd have heard the plot of the film you'd be forgiven for thinking Ben Affleck had found a follow up for Dodgeball but the oddness of roller derby is quickly forgotten about and the adrenaline of the whole proceedings take centre stage. Barrymore shows great enthusiasm for the sport and it's characters and really comes out of this with many plaudits. She has made a film with great action, some terrific performances (Page is soild as ever but Juliette Lewis as her rival Iron Maven is wonderful and Barrymore herself shows off her comedy chops as the wonderfully monickered Smaslee Simpson) and real heart behind the action. The scenes Page shares with Shawkat and her parents, played by Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern are handled with a gossamer touch, never going over the top and being all the more authentic for that. Sadly there has to be a love interest and the one between Bliss and musician Oliver is contrived, pretentious and in the scene where she loses her virginity to him, it's rather hateful, grinding the film to a halt and putting a sad black mark over Page's character (why should she fall for such a cliche?). However the relationship dwindles and so does the memory of it and we're left with a great final third, culminating in the big final, which coincides with a big beauty pageant!Oh no, whats going to happen?
Ok, the plot is not original but it's the performances, a sharp script and a fine turn behind the camera from Barrymore that sets its apart from most of the fodder that passes for sports films. Take a chance on this film and you are in for a true treat.

Whatever Works: 0/5
Whip It: 4/5

Oscars, Funny People and Fucking Men

Since the last time I posted the Oscar nominations have been announced it has proved to be one of those rare occasions where the right films have been given the nominations, excluding perhaps Avatar, which really is not a great film in itself, but will definitely pick up effects Oscars that are thoroughly deserved. My thoughts are that 'Up In the Air' will win best film, Morgan Freeman may grab best Actor though the Clooney, Colin Firth or Jeff Bridges deserve it more and the fantastic Carey Mulligan will fight off surprisingly strong opposition from Sandra Bullock and reliably strong opposition from Helen Mirren to be crowned Best Actress, but in all honesty if any of these three win it they will have deserved it. As far as Screenplays go I personally cannot see past Up in The Air and up winning adapted/original, as well as Up claiming Best Animated Feature. And the big one for me, Best Director, I feel will go to James Cameron, though personally I would hand it over to Jason Reitman for his wonderful command of the camera in ’Up in The Air.’ Also worth noting are of course all nominations for ‘Precious’, the heartbreaking Lee Daniels film which is reviewed in my Previous post. I would not be surprised at all to see it pull off a double victory in the Actress/Supporting Actress category and maybe even (though it would be unlikely) a statue for Lee Daniels. Less likely would be for 'The Hurt Locker' to grab one of the ones it well deserves, for Kathyrn Bigelow's direction and a stunning lead turn from Jeremy Renner. And if you have a few quid to spare for a rank outsider bet then stick it on District 9 to run off with Best Picture. If it does I may just book myself into that clinic everyone says needs me.

With that out of the way it’s time to talk about some films what I just watched. ‘In The Company Of Men’ is an acid sharp satire about two businessmen who, recently dumped by their ladies, decide to turn the table and regain their masculinity by picking a vulnerable woman for them to both charm, romance and then dump at the end of their 6 week business stopover just to see how much it hurts her. The concept in itself is cruel but made even worse when they pick a deaf secretary as their target. What unfolds is some of the most misogynistic and detestable scenes ever put to film, made even worse by the fact they are coated in an almost likeable charm; you know they are the bad guys and yet sometimes you are made to forget this by their seemingly kind attitude. Aaron Eckhart is a revelation, an alpha dog who is 99%charm and 100% bastard, a role that is hard to eclipse. Neil LaBute draws out fantastic tension throughout the film and special mention has to go to the way he handles the final reveal, maybe not the most hard to figure out twist but definitely one of the most brutally executed. It’s a perfect piece of drama with a resounding message about the male species and their struggle to feel like the dominant gender. One can only presume David Fincher used this as a point of reference before he started ‘Fight Club.’

‘Departures’ just came into my radar last week which is a shame for if I had seen it upon it’s release then it would be flying high in my films of the decade list. A hilarious, touching and deeply human film about a young cellist Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) that returns to his hometown after his orchestra disbands to start afresh with his wife. He finds a job advertised for what he thinks is a travel agency (it says helping you with your departures) but when he arrives he finds out that due to a misprint he has found himself working in a funeral parlour. Due to the nature of the job he finds himself hiding what exactly he does from his wife but as he sees how his boss (Ryoko Hirosue) helps people in their most vulnerable moments he begins to question why he should be ashamed of this job. It’s a deeply moving film from Yojiro Takita and it deservedly won Best Foreign Film at the 2009 Oscars but it is also up there as best film of that, or any year. It is a must see film.

Finally, 'Funny People’ stars Adam Sandler as George Simmons, a stand up comedian turned major movie star whose shallow life is thrown a curveball when he is diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. He decides to return to his stand up roots and hires struggling comic Ira (a delightful Seth Rogen) to write new material for him as well as trying to reconnect with his lost love Laura (Leslie Mann). He then find himself possibly cured of his disease and struggles to find out if he has grown any from his experience. The film struggles between cock heavy hilarious and inner soul demon purging, and like every single film Judd Apatow has made it could do with 15-20mins being trimmed off the running time (pretty much the entire duration Eric Bana is onscreen ) but with all that taken into regard it goes down as Apatow’s finest film to date. How much of this is down to Sandler and Rogen you can only figure out for yourself but I was incredibly annoyed when the Best Actor category shunned Sandler for his devastating performance. Yes, some may say he is only playing a more exaggerated version of himself but ten years ago you would be not mistaken for thinking it would be a stretch for him to even do that. The transformation from the Adam Sandler in Little Nicky to the one post ‘Punch Drunk Love’ is possibly the acting miracle of the last ten years. Sure he throws out the occasional piece of empty fun like ‘Click’ and the occasional piece of utter crap like ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry’ but his growth as a dramatic actor is immense, with a shocking turn in ‘Reign Over Me’ supplemented by his performance in this film. The film has plenty of stand out comedy moments, mainly provided by Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman , and in one scene Eminem and Ray Romano (“I thought everybody loved you”) but it is the dark heartbeat of Sandler’s return to the stand up circuit and his inability to grasp the meaning of second chances that make the film edge out Apatow’s previous comedies. If you are looking for a laugh fest then avoid this, but if you are wanting substance and a chance to see the best incarnation of a comedy performer since Jim Carrey’s Andy Kaufman then give this a chance.

In The Company Of Men: 5/5
Departures: 5/5
Funny People: 4/5

Memorable Moments: The final 5 mins to ‘In The Company Of Men’
Shooting the corporate video in ‘Departures’
“Why did you eat Bjorn Borg” - Funny People

Final thoughts: How sexy has Jason Schwartzmann become in the twelve
years since ’Rushmore’? Did not see that a-coming.

Next Up: Crazy Heart
A Single Man
The Last Station

And off we go with 2010.....

Up In The Air (Dir: Jason Reitman)
Precious (Dir: Lee Daniels)
Invictus (Dir: Clint Eastwood)

2010 starts off with the typical award baiting films, and I have just wrapped my peepers around three of the main contenders. So, are they worthy of a few statues over the coming months?

Up In The Air is the third feature from Jason Reitman, who has made a considerable mark on the industry with the acid sharp ‘Thank You For Smoking’ and the uber-hit off beat comedy ‘Juno’ so expectations were high for this movie, especially after George Clooney signed on the dotted line to be lead. The great news is that expectations have not only been met, but surpassed as Reitman has delivered a gem of a movie, with a performance from Clooney that may see him holding the Best Actor Oscar. The movie revolves around Clooney’s Ryan Bingham, a professional hired by big companies to make their employees redundant. His job involves non stop travel and it is a life he has embraced and crafted to perfection. Just watch him at airport security; something everyone else who travels treats as an extreme pain is something he sees as an everyday part of life, something he has honed to a fine art. Bingham’s life goal is to reach the magic target of 10 million air miles and he seems to be coasting towards it, until his blissful life gets torn apart by the arrival of two women. Typical. First comes Alex, another business woman that lives mostly on a plane. Bingham sees her as a female version of himself, and their scenes crackle with a chemistry that is all in ambiguous wordplay and deft looks. It is a relationship that is a real throwback to the golden age of cinema partnerships, all whip smart exchanges and subtlety. Bingham finds himself drawn to Alex’s similar view on life to begin with but his attraction turns into genuine feeling, leaving the viewer to wait for the inevitable happy ending. But Reitman leaves us guessing and guessing, constantly pulling the rug from under us. The second lady is Natalie, a college graduate who brings Clooney’s jet set life in severe danger with a proposal to make the redundancies over video link, cutting out the need to travel. Suddenly Bingham has to face the end of his dream life and the start to living like everyone else, but not before having to guide Natalie across the Country to train her how to be an efficient downsizer.
The scenes between Bingham and Natalie are a complete joy, with Natalie trying her hardest to remain as professional and failing miserably whilst he fails to keep his level of icy indifference towards the young upstart. Reitman guides everything along with a real sense of authenticity, hiring people who had been made redundant in their own lives to do the interview scenes with Clooney, a smart move with a film that has so much of its heart steeped in the modern economic state. Reitman proves that his mastery of filmmaking is getting stronger with each feature, becoming as strong in stature as Alexander Payne. Reitman draws out perfect performances from Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick and knows when to let the actors own the camera, and when to change it up, as he does so splendidly in the scenes involving Bingham’s wedding. Overall the film is near impossible to fault, giving us a modern day battle of the sexes with a most modern feel to it. The film and Clooney start off ice cool but as he melts then you are left feeling that rarest of things in a romantic movie - joyful and surprised. Clooney for Oscar, yeah, and a few more for the ladies and their helmer.

Precious is a film made of nothing but raw emotion. Believe me when I say this, it is as hard to watch as anything you will see. The story revolves around Precious, a severely overweight teenager with a harrowing home life; her father rapes her and she is pregnant with their second child (he is also nowhere to be seen in the film) and her mother is a monster; abusive towards her daughter and instead of protecting her daughter against the evil father, she is jealous of her, accusing her of stealing ’my man.’ Precious gets through by living in a fantasy world where she is a superstar, adored by millions. She ends up attending a special school for kids who for different reasons have not been given a good education. With the help of her teacher, and a social worker the pain of her life gets exposed and Precious starts to get a semblance of a life, not the one she fantasies about, but a dream one all the same.
Lee Daniels has made a film that is basically just a showcase for the story and therefore relies on the actors to be convincing enough to engage the audience due to the lack of any technical frills. So eyebrows may have been raised when Mariah Carey was cast as the social worker. Do not fear however, for Ms Carey has pulled a ’Glitter’ hammered nail out of her acting coffin with a solid, strong performance as the person that finally uncovers what Precious has had to endure all these years. In fact, she adds greatly to the highlight of the film, as she brings in Precious’ mother for a three way conversation. In it, the monster is finally exposed and with it go the plaudits for Mo’Nique as Precious ‘mum.’ She is terrifyingly excellent throughout but is her extracted confession that leaves you drained of all emotion, a performance so good that you forget that it’s a film. There can not be enough said about her and if her name is not already attached to the Best Supporting Actress Oscar than I will be extremely shocked. Finally, unstoppable kudos goes to Gabourey Sidibe as the title character. It is not an easy task to play a character with such a miserable existence but she handles it with such skill that you are glued to her every minute, though the sadness, into the joy and finally, into a real life. Best Actress? We can only hope. Plenty of tears will fall during this film but it is a must see.

Finally Invictus is the latest film from the veteran of veterans, Clint Eastwood. It tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s involvement in getting the South African rugby team to win the World Cup in 1995, the year they hosted the event. Mandela saw it as the perfect opportunity to get South Africa back on the map as a unified Country and finally shake the apartheid tag away for good; not easy for a team with only one black player, and with a squad that were generally seen as whipping boys in recent years. When stripped away of all it’s political content Invictus is that age old cinematic cliché film, the underdog sports film. However in Eastwood’s masterful hands it surely must become something better.
Sadly, it doesn’t. Despite another solid directorial performance from Eastwood, the script is nearly killed with cheesy scenes, showing the team as a unified world beaters, when they were weeks before drinking in the changing rooms. Not only that but Matt Damon does not look natural in his role as Francois Pienaar, the team captain. He tries his best to nail the accent but it seems as if he is trying so hard that he stiffens up in his performance. He still has some pretty good scenes but you are left in no doubt that it is Matt Damon acting, rather than Francois Pienaar.
Thank God then for Morgan Freeman, in a role of a lifetime as Mandela. He brings all the mannerisms of the great man to life, and we are transported into the mind of a living legend and the mechanics that made him such a worldly respected man. If it were not for his performance than I would say that the movie was quite disappointing. It’s not that it’s a bad movie, in fact the final half hour shows off Clint’s ability to film wonderful, suspenseful sport scenes. In fact, if the action all took place on the field then the film would be a very good film. However a mix of clunky image clichés (watch the borderline hilarious trophy raising at the end - black hand and white hand joined as one) and even clunkier dialogue stifle the promise that shimmers underneath. Not classic Clint, but he has directed Freeman to a probable Oscar again.

Up In The Air: 5/5
Precious: 4/5
Invictus: 3/5

A Few More Personal Awards

Before I start concentrating on the new decade I feel obliged to give a few shout outs to special moments in the decade passed. So bear with me as I gush about my fave things in the 00's. Then, onto the business of 2010, including my opinions on Up In The Air, Invictus and Precious, which may indeed be the strangest film of the year due to the rumours that Mariah Carey puts in a wonderful performance. Pah, can't be...can it???? Anyway, onto the roll of Honour.

Best Performance Of The Decade (Male)
Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road

Having bested himself on many occasions with staggering turns in The Departed, Blood Diamond and The Aviator it seemed like he had reached the pinnacle of his acting career. Until we saw his performance as Frank Wheeler in Sam Mendes' bleak suburban drama. DiCaprio dominates the scenes as his character turns from a youthful innocent full of dreams to a run of the mill business and family man and all the way down to the bottom as his wife April (Kate Winslet) discovers his affair. To say the final half hour is bleak is to put it mildly but where other actors would rely on over gesticulation to carry themselves DiCaprio manages to break the heart with a look, a furrowed brow and, in the most startling and human piece of acting I have ever seen, with a despondant gaze. Kate Winslet reached a career peak with this film and she even publicly stated that Leonardo was on another level. A performance that comes around once every ten years and further proof that the Academy Awards don't know their arse from their elbow. Up there with DeNiro's Travis Bickle and Brando's Terry Malloy.

Best Performance Of The Decade (Female)
Amy Adams in Enchanted

Narrowly beating off competition from Bjork, Amy Adams has grabbed my top actress award for her amazing grasp of comedy as the fish out of water princess Giselle in this live action Disney fairytale/parody. Adams has proved a fantastic actress with great range (as great turns in Doubt, Junebug and Sunshine Cleaning all prove) but the believability she brings to Giselle is frankly a miracle. Never do you think of her as a cardboard cutout in a film that does suffer a few spots of incredulity and for this she should be applauded. And on top of this she generates great laughs alongside both James Marsden and the poker stiff Patrick Dempsey. A true showcase for an actress set for even bigger career highs in the coming decade.

Achievement of the Decade
Roger Deakins in 2007

Director Of Photography Roger Deakins wins this hands down for his three pronged output in 2007. An amazing trilogy of 'In The Valley Of Elah', 'No Country For Old Men' and 'The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford' saw filmgoers enjoy three of the most beautiful shot films of the decade, all in the space of two months. Each one has unforgettable images and it is nigh on impossible to pick an outright winner but it's 'Jesse James' beautifully soaked portraits that stand out from the bunch. All in all, as perfect a year as anyone in the film business has ever managed.

Moment Of The Decade
The Oil Rig Explosion in There Will Be Blood

There have been some unforgettable scenes of all varieties in the last decade, from the whispered goodbye in Lost In Translation, the growing old montage in Up and the heartbreaking conversation in Before Sunset when Jesse and Celine find out they lived in New York at the same time but for a moment that perfectly encapsulates a movie it has to be the rig explosion in There Will Be Blood. As imagery it is the most beautiful scene in modern cinema, as the eruption gathers pace and the sky literally blackens to darkest night with the oil clouds but its the repercussions that devastate. Daniel Plainviews son loses his hearing and after a short while of working with a sign language reader Daniel ships him off, seeing his own son as a liability. The scene itself is one of fury, the precursor and motion setter to Day Lewis character sliding towards the madness of the finale. Paul Thomas Anderson has a calling card for life.

Worst Film Of The Decade
Little Nicky

A lot of films are worthy of this including Saw 3-6, Most of Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence's films and 99% of spoof films but Adam Sandler's skid mark of a film wins hands down. Thankfully Sandler has moved onto better things with some fine dramatic turns but this laughless comedy was as painful as it got to watch a movie. i fell asleep three times during it and still remember way too much. Each performance is clanky (don't know if that word translates well but it pretty much means shit) and it is topped off by Quentin Tarantino making an absolute twat of himself in the worst cameo OF ALL TIME. No one comes out of this film smelling anything less than diapers filled with dead rats. Avoid like it's the local sex offender.

Shock Ending Of The Decade
The Mist

Just watch it...i won't say another word

Script Of The Decade
Shane Black for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Yes there have probably been more worthy scripts out there but to hell with worthy. the long awaited script from Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black was as crisp, knowing and downright funny as they come. It was so good in fact that it drew a great performance from Val Kilmer, and that's no easy feat. A script dipped in 40's film noir mixed up with the spiky edge and humour that only Shane Black seems capable of writing. Watch and you won't be disappointed.