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!

All about Contempt

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!

All about Brothers

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!

All about The Town

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!

All about The Exterminating Angel

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!

All about Pinoy Sunday

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!

All about Pride and Glory

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!

All about Atonement

Dogville

Director - Lars von Trier

Genre - Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Von Trier directed the hell out of this movie. To call this 'stylized' would be putting it mildly. Employing the concept of a staged theater but filming as if the characters in the script were lab rats to be studied (extensive crane shots of the open, barely there set remained throughout), von Trier gave the story utmost honor. And what a story it was! Written by the incredibly gifted director himself, the words which came out of the actors' mouths were like jewels formed in the mind of a great literary giant. We couldn't believe the level of complexity and scope of depth it had. Nicole Kidman plays a woman on the run who seeks refuge in a town filled with destitution and despair. In the course of wanting the townsfolk to accept her, her character goes through a baptism of fiery oppositions which threaten to destroy her own humanity. Kidman turned in a first rate performance the likes of which if she never again acts in another film, will surely carry her name proudly in the history of cinema. It won't kill you if you don't watch this, but you would've lived a little less.

5 STARS!

All about Dogville

The Wrestler

Director - Darren Aronofsky

Genre - Drama

Darren Aronofsky is usually a rebel director who doesn't feel the need to conform to the rules of a conventional filmmaker. In 'The Wrestler' however, this recognizable imprint is untraceable. The movie on the whole didn't live up to Aronofsky's previous dalliances in taking cinema beyond the tried and tested waters. At times, we even felt that it wasn't any different from watching a bio-documentary on Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin. Mickey Rourke wasn't, isn't and never will be the great actor some have tagged him as. He was right on the money for the role being a washed up public figure himself but that is all there is to it. Mind you, he wasn't playing a character which required a miraculous transformation like what De Niro did to himself in 'Raging Bull' or Will Smith's solid turn in 'Ali'. To call Rourke's acting any better than being average in view of these extraordinary performances is unfair and off the mark. An unimaginative script and a safe directing style also contributed to this being Aronofsky's biggest letdown so far.

2.5 STARS!

All about The Wrestler

The King's Speech

Director - Tom Hooper

Genre - Biography/Drama

Colin Firth finally finds a meaty role he can chew on and boy, did he take a big bite! He gave it his all and we feel his win at the Oscar was truly deserving. Based on the real story of King George VI who hires a speech therapist in a last ditch attempt to cure him of his speech impediment, this picture owes its success not only to Tom Hooper's understated yet controlled direction (Hooper took home Best Director) but also Firth's spectacularly regal performance. Geoffrey Rush provided solid support of course, but it is Firth whom your heart goes out to when as the king his clumsy stammers threaten to make a mockery of his reign. It is also Firth's King George that we root for when he tries to overcome what for commoners may be a trivial obstacle, but could mean the end of the monarchy for him. Faced with such an enormous undertaking, he is further tested when Britain faces imminent war. It is easy to make light of a person's stutter as it is to overlook this deceptively unassuming film. Thankfully, the Academy had fittingly bestowed upon it a Best Picture win, ensuring its rightful place on the throne.

5 STARS!

All about The King's Speech

The Fighter

Director - David O. Russell

Genre - Biography/Drama

Directed by David O. Russell this is a movie about professional boxer Micky Ward who rose from nothing to become the toast of his small town Lowell. Feeling pulled down by his own family, in particular his manipulating mother and drug addict brother Dicky, not so young Micky has to choose fast in order to have a shot at glory. Playing Dicky, an almost unrecognizable Christian Bale completely hijacked the picture. With a script written in such a way that 'The Fighter' in the title refers as much to Dicky as it does Micky, Bale made sure he wasn't playing second fiddle by giving the performance of a lifetime. Dicky fights to redeem himself from the ashes of past failures and addiction. Micky fights to prove himself worthy. There are two stories running simultaneously here. We have never seen a film until this in which the supporting actor (Bale won an Oscar in this category) outshined the lead so thoroughly. It works however and Wahlberg being outpunched in the acting ring by Bale doesn't mar the outcome at all. In fact, it is curiously enriched because Dicky is the more interesting brother. The one we paid to see. Christian Bale's dedication to his craft is well known. Now it's unquestionable.

4.5 STARS!

All about The Fighter

The Man Who Fell To Earth

Director - Nicolas Roeg

Genre - Sci-Fi/Drama

This has all the hallmarks of a bad movie. An irreverent script and wooden acting by its cast especially one by the name of David Bowie (screen debut) should have hurt this film to its core. Remarkably, it still presents an interesting watch because of good editing, unique cinematography and lastly, Bowie despite his inability to act. Playing an alien who assumes the role of a big conglomerate titan, he is visually suitable mainly because of his own physical oddity. Making out of this world music, gaunt and gazelle-like with his left eye a different color from his right one, Bowie in real life is already like an alien. The ultimate clincher for us though is the off the cuff cinematography, turning this 'should be bad film' into a work of unrestrained artistic release outside the usual realm of what counts as a good picture.

3.5 STARS!

All about The Man Who Fell To Earth

Public Enemies

Director - Michael Mann

Genre - Biography/Crime/Drama

Michael Mann has a knack for making violent features with really dramatic possibilities. The opening of this film lunges straight for the jugular as we are introduced to John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), a dashing and reckless bank robber who is in the middle of a daring jailbreak. From that explosive start, we are let generously into the lives of Dillinger and his crew, with the former being the main focus. When Christian Bale enters the frame, it is in the guise of a determined lawman who is gunning for Dillinger's arrest as a career advancement. With Depp and Bale locking horns, apt attention is guaranteed. Depp is perfect for the role of a notorious 'folk hero' type bandit. We've never really like Depp's roles except for 'Donnie Brasco'. He usually lets his characters have too many 'ornaments' which kill the believability factor. This time we have to say we can't imagine anyone else acting the part.

3.5 STARS!

All about Public Enemies