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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