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Certificate: 
Director: Mark Herman
Release Date: 12 September 2008
Tagline: A timeless story of innocence lost and humanity found.
Main Cast:
Asa Butterfield … Bruno
Jack Scanlon … Shmuel
David Thewlis … Father
Vera Farmiger … Mother
Set in wartime Germany, the story is seen through the eyes of a young boy whose father is a high ranking Nazi who has been promoted to a commander of a concentration camp. Forced to leave his grand home in Berlin and his friends, Bruno finds himself in a modest house in the middle of nowhere with no peers. From his bedroom window he can see what he thinks is a farm. It is, of course, the camp but he has no idea of the nature of his father’s work and his assumption is not corrected.
Forbidden to leave the front yard of the house, he becomes fascinated with what lies beyond, and curiosity soon gets the better of him. He stumbles upon the outskirts of the camp and meets Shmuel, a boy his own age sitting behind the fence.
I shall end the review here as this is a film that should be allowed to unravel at its own pace.
Simple yet so incredibly powerful, TBITSP will leave you silent as the credits roll.
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Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: 10 February 1995
Tagline: The true story of a crime that shocked a nation.
Main Cast:
Melanie Lynskey … Pauline Parker
Kate Winslet … Juliet Hulme
Sarah Peirse … Honora Parker Rieper
Heavenly Creatures is the true story of the infamous Parker-Hulme murder that took place in New Zealand in 1954. Jackson chose to focus on the intense friendship between Pauline and Juliet rather than make an historical look back at the events. This was an excellent decision, because in order to understand how they came to murder Honora you need to understand their relationship.
After the initial prologue which introduces us to 1950s Christchurch, the film starts with what should be the final scene (in much the same way as The Accused did). This scene is taken from testimony from the witness and is therefore extremely accurate.
The film takes its material not only from testimonies of those involved, but most importantly from Pauline’s diaries. Although some of it is disputed by the real life Juliet Hulme (now the author Anne Perry), it is pretty much how things happened. She claims that their relationship was not physical (although the ‘night of the saints’ is taken from the diary), and that they did not make clay figures. If the latter was indeed not the case, then I would suspect that those scenes were in the film as it was the best way of portraying the characters and events of their imaginary world of Borovnia. However, I may be totally wrong about that.
Heavenly Creatures introduced both Lynskey and Winslet and both are superb.
There is a fantastic website called ‘Fourth World – The Heavenly Creatures Website’ and it contains extensive material on both the film and the real life events. In fact, you may find it beneficial to know the background before watching the film. I have seen it twice now, and the film finds a new level when you watch it after reading all about it.
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Director: Mike Leigh
Release Date: 7 January 2005
Tagline: Wife. Mother. Criminal.
Main Cast:
Imelda Staunton … Vera
Richard Graham … George
Eddie Marsan … Reg
Deserving of all its awards, Vera Drake is another superb film by Mike Leigh. It is set in 1950s England and is about a woman who is totally selfless and devoted to her family and to humanity in general. Vera is a hard working woman who ‘helps girls out’ i.e. she performs abortions. She takes no payment and is unaware that Nellie, a lifelong friend and the woman that puts the girls in touch with her, charges them. Nellie also runs a black market on scarce goods. Although her method is the safest possible, unfortunately, one goes wrong and the girl nearly dies. Vera is then arrested and sent to prison.
Imelda Staunton is simply stunning.
One final note – giving this film a rating of 12A is ludicrous. Not only are scenes of abortion not suitable for young children, but I can’t think of many more films that any child could be more bored by.
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Director: John Patrick Shanley
Release Date: 6 February 2009
Main Cast:
Meryl Streep … Sister Aloysius Beauvier
Father Brendan Flynn … Philip Seymour Hoffman
Amy Adams … Sister James
Doubt is an undoubted masterpiece! A truly brilliant performance by Meryl Streep (no surprise there though, as she is one of, if not the best actresses of all time). A (main) cast of three with one setting makes for a very powerful film, and at no point did I find myself anything other than totally engrossed. If only there were more films like this.
Sadly though, Joe Public just doesn’t want to pay good money to see excellence. I went to my local Vue the first Sunday after release and they had relegated it to the back of the cinema in a screen that holds less than 100 people. I had a private screening too – nobody else bothered to go and see it. Shame.
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Director: Andrew Stanton
Release Date: 18 July 2008
Tagline: An adventure beyond the ordinar-E.
Main Cast: (voice)
Ben Burtt … WALL·E / M-O
Elissa Knight … EVE
Jeff Garlin … Captain
Sigourney Weaver … Ship’s Computer
Guess what? Pixar have come up with yet another masterpiece! WALL·E is utterly charming and totally brilliant from start to finish. The first part of the film has practically no dialogue, and the animators at Pixar have managed to create such a wonderful character that we need no words to follow the story.
WALL·E is the last of his kind – a clean-up robot on a barren and completely deserted Earth of the future. Whilst doing his job, he collects items that take his fancy, and he furnishes his home with them. In amongst his collection are a tv & VCR on which he plays a video of Hello Dolly! and is entranced by the love songs and the companionship he sees on screen. His loneliness is plain for all to see, and within a matter of minutes you get a real feeling of sympathy for this little robot.
Whilst going about his daily business, he has an encounter with a space ship which deposits a robot who has a rather destructive streak and clearly has a mission, although we don’t find out what the mission is until later on. WALL·E befriends EVE and the adventure begins.
Everything about WALL·E is exceptional. Watch it – and make it soon!
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Director: Ki-duk Kim
Release Date: 14 May 2004
Main Cast:
Yeong-su Oh … Old Monk (as Young-soo Oh)
Ki-duk Kim … Adult Monk
Jae-kyeong Seo … Boy Monk
Yeo-jin Ha … The Girl
SSAW&S is a pure joy to watch. It’s perfect in its simplicity and is simply perfect! It’s a film of understated beauty both in the visuals and the story, and it’s very hard to put into words just how good it is. It tells the story of a monk from childhood to adulthood and is all about the cycles of life and the journeys we take through it.
It’s visually stunning and so calm and peaceful that it creates a kind of serenity in the viewer (rather like the surface of the lake). There is hardly any dialogue and this just adds to the film’s brilliance.
I can’t even come close to doing justice to the film in this review. It really is an experience and should not be missed.
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Director: James Mangold
Release Date: 3 February 2006
Tagline: Love is a burning thing.
Main Cast:
Joaquin Phoenix … John R. Cash
Reese Witherspoon … June Carter
Ginnifer Goodwin … Vivian Cash
I’m going to start by saying that I’m not a Johnny Cash fan. Sure, I can listen to his music and appreciate his very unique style and even hum along sometimes. However, I’d heard a lot of rave reviews about Walk the Line and as I am a fan of both Phoenix and Witherspoon I thought that was three very good reasons to watch it. And I’m sure glad I did!
The acting and vocals (both sang and did not lip-sync) are astounding, as is the chemistry between the two. Even if you are unfamiliar with the life of Johnny Cash, it’s still a great love story (best of all though, it’s not remotely schmaltzy – I don’t think Cash was capable of it!)
It really felt like you were watching Cash himself – Phoenix is that good. At the time of writing, he has declared that he is retiring from acting. I sincerely hope he reconsiders as it will be our loss.
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Director: John Carpenter
Release Date: 25 October 1978
Tagline: The Night HE Came Home!
Main Cast:
Donald Pleasence … Dr Sam Loomis
Jamie Lee Curtis … Laurie Strode
Nancy Kyes … Annie Brackett (as Nancy Loomis)
P.J. Soles … Lynda van der Klok
Ah… The quintessential horror film and, arguably, the daddy of all stalk & slash movies (see my review of Black Christmas for a comparison between these two films).
Halloween is a masterclass in how to make a truly scary horror. It’s power comes not only from the increasing tension but also from the score (I only need to hear the first few bars and I get the chills!) It’s not a gruesome film (barely a drop of blood is spilled) but this just makes it even better. There’s an eerieness about the whole thing. The streets and houses seem to be largely empty and this adds to the feeling of isolation and helplessness that Laurie finds herself in.
If you were to watch it for the first time now, you may be tempted to think of it as rather clichéd. Please bear in mind though that the modern clichés come from somewhere, and that somewhere includes Halloween.
For the ultimate experience make sure you watch it alone on Halloween night with the lights turned off. It just can’t be beaten!
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Director: Paul Haggis
Release Date: 12 August 2005
Tagline: You think you know who you are. You have no idea.
Main Cast:
Sandra Bullock … Jean Cabot
Don Cheadle … Detective Graham Waters
Matt Dillon … Officer John Ryan
The first thing that struck me about Crash (no pun intended!) was how strikingly similar it is to Magnolia. If you loved that then you’ll love this. Even if you didn’t care much for Magnolia then don’t be put off by it.
Crash follows a series of individuals who are seemingly unconnected. However, as the film goes on, their lives begin to become intertwined. The film is basically about how racism, no matter how overt or subtle it may be, affects not only society as a whole, but us as individuals too. It often makes for uncomfortable viewing, not only for the more reprehensible acts of racism, but also because it makes us think about and question our own prejudices whether they be racially motivated or otherwise.
Crash has a fantastic ensemble cast (just three are listed above) and each and every one is brilliant in their role. A worthy Oscar winning film, and should be regarded as a must see.
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Certificate: Originally rated
Director: Richard Donner
Release Date: 25 June 1976
Tagline: It is the greatest mystery of all because no human being will ever solve it.
Main Cast:
Robert Thorn … Gregory Peck
Lee Remick … Katherine Thorn
Billie Whitelaw … Mrs Baylock
Harvey Stephens … Damien
A true cinematic classic. It’s one of those rare instances when the film is just as good as the book. Even after all these years and several viewings it still has the power to create a real feeling of unease. The scenes at Windsor Safari Park are especially powerful, as the young Damien is taking delight in seeing the animals, but they are somewhat less than delighted to see him, much to his very real disappointment.
It’s this depiction of innocence together with demonic undertones that makes it a very powerful film. This is going to be one of the more ridiculous sounding sentences that I’ve ever written, but here goes! Damien is not aware that he is the Antichrist, and come the ending where his ‘father’ has to murder him, you can’t help but feel for him.
The Omen is a masterpiece, and should be seen by all!
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