The first film (and effectively the lowest ranking) on the 20 most anticipated films for 2011 is The Dilemma. It's also going to be upon us soon, with a UK release date of 21 January 2011.
There are always a few films in my most anticipated list that require some explanation. It's not just a question of why I rank them in a particular order but why I would even include them at all. What could I say right now about the unholy alliance between Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn that could persuade you this film might be worth seeing?
I don't believe it can be done. Even my own confidence in the project has been under pressure from my subconscious. At first I thought it was a great concept - do you tell your best friend if you find their wife is having an affair? It's a situation we must all have faced at some point. Then the cast and director were announced: Ron Howard's OK, and family comedies are what he used to do best (remember Parenthood?) but he's never an exciting director and the combo of Vince Vaughn and Kevin James is quite horrid (although Winona Ryder and Jennifer Connelly are good value in the female cast).
Finally the first trailer arrived with it's "Gay" joke. I confess I now want to see this movie out of morbid curiosity rather than genuine enthusiasm. Will this be the first stinker of 2011?
Sunday, 9 January 2011
20 for 2011: 20 - The Dilemma
Janet Suzman
Happy Birthday to
Janet Suzman
72 today
South Africa born Suzman is best known for her stage work, including most of Shakespeare's heroines during her time with the RSC and a professional and personal pairing with Trevor Nunn which led to a number of Evening Standard awards. She's not had a significant film role since 1990's Nuns on the Run.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
The Voice of the Nation (Out this week - 07/01/11)
Suddenly we've stumbled into 2011, into the thick of the prestige awards season and naturally the quality of the films has increased. Whilst there is no doubt which of this weeks movies seems to be the most interesting you could easily see 5 of them and not be really disappointed. You may notice as the weeks go on that I have slightly changed my scoring mechanism - this should aid films that previous would have got between 1 and 5 blobs, although this week you can't tell because the overall quality is excellent and we also have a one blob that couldn't get anything more! I went to the cinema last night and the biggest queues and consequently the box office champ (I just love anecdotal evidence) is set to be Danny Boyle's latest but my top pick would be 
The King's Speech
It's been winning audience awards at festival after festival and is hotly tipped to be among the top performing films at this years Academy Awards. It's also a fascinating look at the relationship between George VI (Colin Firth) and his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Helena Bonham Carter completes the acting trio headlining the movie.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
The Next Three Days
Russel Crowe can't cope with his wife behind bars so decides to break her out in this English language remake of the French thriller Pour Elle. Almost certainly hokum but will it be enjoyable hokum?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
127 Hours
Danny Boyle dares to bring the true story of Aron Ralston to the big screen complete with (spoiler alert) graphic scenes of bone sawing. James Franco spends almost the entire film alone as the clock ticks for our trapped hero.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Abel
Diego Luna's directorial debut broke Mexican opening weekend records back in 2010 when it opened to universal praise. With it's tale of shifting family dynamics in modern Mexico and it's focus on the young boy in the family this could be one to watch.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
It's a Kind of Funny Story
Keir Gilchrist is the teenager who checks himself into a mental institution following a bout of suicidal thoughts. With Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directing and Zach Galifrankias and Viola Davis offering support it's difficult to know where this teen One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is heading.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Amer
Not to be confused with Abel above this is a French movie about three key sensual moments in our heroine's life, it almost looks like arthouse porn as "her carnal search sways between reality and fantasies becoming more oppressive".
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
No One Killed Jessica
In our first Bollywood release of 2011 I'm guessing that Jessica is already dead but the provenance of her departure is in question. It's a thriller not an inquest by the way.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Season of the Witch
On the flipside to January seeing the release of award fodder we also get some prime turkeys that the studios struggle to find the best time to release them. Nicolas Cage is outacted by his wig in this 14th Century action horror.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Midgets vs. Mascots
Dire looking sub-Jackass mockumentary about two teams (Midgets and Mascots, natch) competing for a place in the will of a millionaire porn star dwarf. Probably not how Gary Coleman would like to be remembered.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●○○○○○○○○○
Friday, 7 January 2011
2010 in Review: Best Film
I don't feel the need to write too much about why I chose the films that for me define 2010, instead (where possible) I have linked to my review. Each one of these films has been important to my year, and I would recommend catching up with all of them if you haven't done so already.
I don't however pretend to be anything more than a casual film watcher with my own set of biases and as open to media influence as the next man. Indeed it could be argued that I'm just following a trend with my top pick. If you disagree with any of these choices, please feel free to tell me in the comments and if you think I've missed anything particularly special then tell me and I'll look into it.
The Film of the Year:
1. The Social Network Directed by David Fincher. Read my review here.
And the rest:
2. Up in the Air Directed by Jason Reitman. Read my review here.
3. Precious: Basd on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Directed by Lee Daniels. An extraordinary telling of a bleak novel which in spite of it's Dickensian journey of the protagonists maintains haelthy optimism for her future. No review.
4. Shutter Island Directed by Martin Scorsese. Read my review here.
5. Tetro Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Read my review here.
6. The Way Back Directed by Peter Weir. Read my review here.
7. Inception Directed by Christopher Nolan. Read my review here.
8. Brothers Directed by Jim Sheridan. Read my review here.
9. The Ghost Directed by Roman Polanski. Read my review here.
10. The Last Station Directed by Michael Hoffman. A delightful period film with solid performances and easily digestible morals. A lot better than it's reputation would have you think. No review.
Jeremy Renner
Happy Birthday to
Jeremy Renner
40 today
Like Robert Duvall a couple of days ago Renner is likely to pick up a nod from the Academy this year. He was electric in Ben Affleck's The Town, building on his already solid reputation. He's set to be eveywhere over the next couple of years as he's in both The Avengers and Mission: Impossible franchises.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Love and Other Drugs
2010. Dir: Ed Zwick. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria and Josh Gad. ●●●○○
If the thought of seeing lots of Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in the buff was what attracted to you to Love and Other Drugs then I have to say you won't be totally disappointed, there are boobs and bums all over the place, but not once does the flesh on screen seem gratuitous, indeed it's a film focussing on a relationship that (initially anyway) is based purely on the sexual connection and - forgive me if I'm unnatural - generally you're naked when you're having sex. The fact that I'm talking about the nudity at this point is rather odd, the film has been marketed heavily on the premise that Jake and Anne are naked a lot and this may well have clouded what this story is all about.
Here is where I agree with the marketing team, you can't isolate one strand that the film is about because it tries to be so many things it ens up falling over trying to please itself. It's a sex comedy, an expose of the pharmaceutical industry and Love Story rehash all in one; and that simply doesn't all gel together.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jamie Randall, master salesman and legendary lover, who meets bohemian waitress Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway) and whilst he's climbing up the greasy pole of pharmaceutical sales just around the introduction of Viagra she's coping with early onset Parkinson's disease (not that you can tell apart from the odd finger wiggle). They both start off not wanting a fully fledged relationship because they're both terrible afraid of bing abandoned but of course one develops and then they must learn to cope with the way things are.
Most of the satirical parts work well, Gyllenhaal and Oliver Platt as his supervisor, have a wonderfully crass on-screen chemistry and you they are scenes when you truly wonder how far these companies will go to ensure their product is prescribed. Enter Hank Azaria as a horndog doctor whose medical ethics extend to lying to patients, accepting bribes and prescribed whichever drug that the company will guarantee him getting laid. He has a nice speech about integrity later in the flm, utterly wasted in the background of a pajama party. In fact these sections come across as a medical Thank you for Smoking and perhaps had director Ed Zwick, who's TV experience with comedies such as "thirtysomething" and "My so-called life" has proved very useful.
The other sections don't work nearly as well. Hathaway simply doesn't convince as a Parkinson's patient, as a reluctant lover or even as a waitress. There's also a scene with real sufferer's talking about their illness which frankly belongs in another movie.
You wonder if the whole thing would have worked better if Maggie was just a girl disgusted by the industry who slowly taught Randall the error of his ways? (And yes I know it's based on a true story but surely they could have ignored that part for the sake of dramatic cohesion).
Overall I would say this is part of a good movie, interesting to get an insight into drug culture and miles above any other romantic comedy I've seen this year, but messy unfocused and stretched too far to work.
2010 in Review: Best Actor
The Leading actor choice this year was easy, whilst I remain ambivalent about the film few could deny the power and commitment in the lead performance, indeed it should have won the Oscar last year (and yes I did see Jeff's work). Maybe they'll make up for it this year.
1. Colin Firth as George Falconer in A Single Man. I expect you guessed it from the intro. Colin gives one of the most convincing portrayals of grief in screen history, using the British stiff upper lip and the homophobic worldview as excuses to hide his emotions they are there and leak out in poignant and realistic ways throughout the movie. 
2. Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerman in The Social Network. In the race to heap laurels on The Social Network by American critics it's surprising that more kudos hasn't been given to Eisenberg's central role. Taking on such a infamous character must have been a daunting task for the 27 year old but he manages to capture the essence of a man who needed to create Facebook.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island. Leo had two opportunities this year to present characters obsessed with their ex-wives in movies that aren't all they first appear to be. It's the sweaty claustrophobia of his role in Shutter Island that works the best for me, and the final line delivered to Mark Ruffalo on the steps of the Asylum is delivered perfectly.
4. George Clooney as Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air. I think many people wrote off this performance as George Clooney playing himself. But ask yourself this: could any other actor carry off this blend of self assurance and disguised contempt for his life over this sort of character arc?
5. Alden Ehrenreich as Bennie in Tetro. From the moment Ehrenreich appears in his ill-fitting naval uniform you know that here is a star in the making. He carries the film rising above the petty squabbling of his family and slowly realising the truth about his brother.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
The Way Back
2010. Dir: Peter Weir. Starring: Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Mark Strong. ●●●●○
Peter Weir makes a very odd choice in the early stages of his latest cinematic outng. During the opening credit sequence The Way Back is dedicated to the three Gulag escapees who survived the ordeal depicted in the movie and made it to India. Admittedly when you have a story that is, however loosely, based on factual events the concept of spoilers shouldn't really exist however Weir is gambling on the film succeeding in spite of the release of tension that is a result of this announcement. It's a bold move that tells the viewer that this movie is not about the result but about the attempt, it is less important to focus on who survives but on why the protagonists are making this journey.
The plot is very simple, Jim Sturgess' Janusz has been falsely imprisoned by the Soviet Government under Stalin following his wife's testimony against him - it is inferred that she must have been tortured in order to name him however no evidence of this is seen - after a brief section in the Gulag it becomes clear that most prisoners will either not survive or will lose their sanity so he organises a break with American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), career criminal Valka (Colin Farrell) and four others. During the journey they als pick up a lone teenage girl played by Saoirse Ronan who helps the group of men to open up to each other in a way they couldn't do as fellow prisoners.
Very early on we are introduced to the hopelessness of the situation when the Prison warden explains the fences are not in themselves the wals but also are the thousand of miles of inhospitable terrain between them and civilisation. The message is clear, break out and you will not survive. Yet our ragtag group of mechanics, priests and accountants do, led by Janusz who's only one generation away from farmers.
The story telling is episodic, we follow the group from one terrain to another, icy forests, rocky escarpments, scorching deserts, with each small section ending either with the death or leaving behind of a character or a lesson learnt. All aspects of survival technique are stripped fom the telling so much so that we don't even see the method of escaping. This methodology doesn't let the movie flow as well as it should do, but it does help build the portrait of the men and reinforces the importance of why over how.
Whilst we may start the movie with the knowledge that many characters will not see the final credits that does not dim the emotions, with the first death there are fantastical images that they see, with another there's a feeling of escape. Janusz even underlines the fact that at least they die free men.
Sturgess is a subdued leading man, Janusz is almost embarassed by his status borne purely out of luck, and perhaps lacks the presence other actors may have brought to the role. The entire supprting cast are superb, Ed Harris has the biggest arc to his story - presenting a distorted mirror image to Janusz - and carries it off extremely well and Farrell is electric whenever he's on screen you can't look away. Gustaf Skarsgaard also stuck out for me as an ex-priest, his wary eyes and resigned attitude perfectly encapsulate a man who knows he has gone so far and understand what the next chapter in his life will bring.
The cinematography is as beautiful and as dramatic as you would expect from a film funded by National Geographic, and I very much doubt there's a shot in the movie that couldn't be used on the cover of the magazine.
There is an odd coda at the end which I feel doesn't work, although I can understand why it's tere dramatically and to tie up some comments and imagery from earlier in the film.
Peter Weir is a unique director in that he isn't an auteur, preferring to let the story be forefront, but at the same time you can see the mark of quality and painstaking accuracy in his movies, there's also an acceptance that the movie may be slow and that that's OK. This isn't Weir at his peak but it is still a superb movie and one that I would heartily recommend.
2010 in Review: Best Actress
I missed out on some performances this year that are bound to get attention (both The Kids are Alright and Winter's Bone will wait until DVD) and some I did see failed to live up to expectation (hello Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren) but these five actresses were all at the top of their game:
1. Gabourey Sidibe as Precious in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. Both inexpressive and natural the subtlety of Gabby's work could easily have slipped through the net, but it's a wonderfully committed performance as her character falls further and further into a spiral of despair.
2. Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill in Brothers. Next year I expect I'll view this as just a precursor to her work in Black Swan but as the lost and confused wife of Tobey Maguire in this remake she stole my heart. 
3. Maribel Verdú as Miranda in Tetro. Many women fell for the wrong man at cinemas this year but few seemed to be as aware of this as Verdú in Francis Ford Coppola's Soap Opera. A former psychiatrist who now lives with a patient Maribel balanced the resentment and motherly instinct extremely well.
4. Lesley Manville as Mary in Another Year. An alcoholic harridan; it would be easy to lose all sympathy for Mary as she spouts vicious innuendo and desperately tries to hide her age, but Manville manages to show what lies behind the cracks. 
5. Alicja Bachleda as Ondine in Ondine. Is she a mermaid or just an illegal immigrant? The beauty of Bachleda's performance is that she keeps you guessing right until the final credits of this modern fairy tale.
