Contempt

Director - Jean-Luc Godard

Genre - Drama

The title of this picture could be in reference to what Godard feels towards conventional, mass-produced cinema. It could be the feeling of Bardot's character towards her husband (Michel Piccoli) and vice versa. This is something that is meant to be experienced atmospherically and aesthetically, like a painting coming to life, talking to you. All through the film, we see Bardot in various stages of undress. Her sensuality is undeniable, exquisite. You can feel that Godard the director is obsessed with her just as Jack Palance (playing a contemptible producer) and her husband are. She is unattainable, a tease and a goddess all in one. Just like the perfection in art which all artists strive to create, we will never possess her. We feel Godard's love of women drives him to make movies and this is one of his many odes to Eve.

5 STARS!

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Brothers

Director - Jim Sheridan

Genre - Drama/Thriller/War

As a character study on the effects of war towards soldiers, this is quite an eye-opener. Expected to leave everything at the drop of a hat, a soldier's life is treated as belonging to the country and not his own. What we fail to acknowledge though is that they have family too. There are fathers, husbands, wives and mothers in the army. Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal play siblings who are as different as night and day. Maguire is the disciplined marine who is also a responsible father and husband. Gyllenhaal stars as the bad seed who can never do anything right and has just been released from prison. However, after a terrible mistake and setback occurred to Maguire, everything changes. Maguire carried himself like a seasoned pro here, embodying the mental hurt inflicted on him in war with such intensity it actually pained us as well to look at him. Natalie Portman who starred as his wife and Gyllenhaal provided the necessary back and forth but Maguire's role was the heart of the story.

3.5 STARS!

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The Town

Director - Ben Affleck

Genre - Crime/Drama/Thriller

If this is Ben Affleck's way of saying his 'Gone Baby Gone' wasn't just a fluke, he has proven his point without a doubt. What is worth mentioning here is that Affleck's skills and swagger as a director feels as if he has been doing it for as long as Clint Eastwood. And this is only Affleck's second picture! By playing the lead in this story about a gang of bank robbers who find their source of livelihood precariously compromised when their leader (Ben Affleck) makes a decision of the heart which affects everyone, Affleck has also given himself a golden opportunity to shine as an actor. While he didn't exactly make the cut here as a formidable actor, it is quite adequate given that this is a heist film, not heavy drama. Jeremy Renner is menacing as one of the robbers though and is half of the anchor alongside an always believable hall in grounding the film. We noticed Affleck has a knack for making action scenes look realistic and fresh. This is something that we appreciate very much as sometimes action scenes are shot with so much disregard for ingenuity we find it hard to watch on.

4 STARS!

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The Exterminating Angel

Director - Luis Buñuel

Genre - Comedy/Drama/Fantasy

There is an air of sardonic humor aimed at the bourgeois throughout this film. The premise is quite peculiar but being a Luis Buñuel outing, it's really right up his alley. A party is held at a mansion with the who's who of society, the cream of the social strata. Bizarrely though, when it had gotten late and everybody was going to excuse themselves, they can't seem to leave! It's as if an unseen force is keeping them from the front door and they are trapped against their will in the place. Days and days go by. Will these well-mannered gentlemen and dainty ladies succumb to their baser instinct? An attack on high society by master surrealist Buñuel that hits the bullseye. This is a one of a kind experience in cinema not to be missed.

5 STARS!

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Pinoy Sunday

Director - Ho Wi Ding

Genre - Comedy/Drama

Malaysian director Ho Wi Ding proves his mettle with this exceptional independent feature. Set in Taiwan, Ho's movie is about the lives of Filipinos working as manual labor and domestic help in the country. The story picks up and hits the road with two Filipinos who's friendship is tested by twists of unfortunate fate which seem to latch onto them with no mercy. Funny and blessed with the ability of being able to provide an insightful look into the lives of those who have to sacrifice being away from their homeland in order to earn a decent living, this is not your usual "make do with the pitiful budget and just try to make it look artsy" type of indie. It isn't easy to direct a film in a foreign land using a cast (very natural, capable acting) who speak in an entirely different tongue from yet another country. Ho Wi Ding did just that and hats off to him. Heroes of the indie movement should be celebrated and we're hoping he hears our toast of approval.

4 STARS!

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Pride and Glory

Director - Gavin O'Connor

Genre - Crime/Drama/Thriller

A cop drama which pretty much went under the radar, failing to pique the interest of both critics and moviegoers. The presence of Edward Norton and Colin Farrell made it watchable but when the dust settled, what we have here is something the world of cinema has seen a thousand times before. Bad cops take money on the side, something unfortunate happens, blowing the lid off the whole shady operation and in comes good cop to save the day. Farrell got the role of a cop who cooperated with drug dealers for dirty dead presidents and Norton is the clean detective. It would've been better we feel if Norton were to play the officer on the dark side rather than Farrell. If they were to switch roles, it would've been more interesting. We love Colin Farrell but his bad boy act is getting, truthfully speaking, quite stale and repetitive.

2.5 STARS!

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Atonement

Director - Joe Wright

Genre - Drama/Mystery/Romance

In our lives, we sometimes have certain moments that we wish we could erase. To go back and redo, to make amends and start over. Alas, there are times when our beds are made and the path we've taken is one without return. This film takes us into the live of a girl who made a really damaging mistake. Lets just say her faux pas would have made your usual ones innocent and instantly forgivable. Keira Knightley to us is the new Audrey Hepburn of this millennium and all the shots in this film are so radiantly captured that it seemed as if we were witnessing beauty itself for the very first time. As the Frenchies say, "c'est magnifique!"

5 STARS!

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