SUNSET STRIP
DIRECTED BY ADAM COLLIS
RATING 
The film is a nostalgic look back at the rock n roll lifestyle of the ’70s: the music, the genius, the fashion, the long hair, the girls… Human drama unfolds with the plight of 4 individuals trying to get inside the industry that waits for none. Their struggles aren’t always fruitful, but those who make it aren’t necessarily happier either. I have an especial soft spot for the era; obviously, I loved it.
GOODBYE LENIN!
DIRECTED BY WOLFGANG BECKER
RATING 
East and west Germany are unified after years of seemingly insuperable tension and disagreements. How does a son conceal this monumental change from his patriotic socialist mother who wakes up after an endless coma? It is a social satire, a documentary and a family drama all at once, masterfully directed by Becker.
WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
DIRECTED BY NICK PARK & STEVE BOX
RATING 
I love the plasticine heroes to pieces. Aardman animation usually delivers and this time is no different. If I had to choose between Wallace and Gromit, I’d rather die than make that choice! Aha! Ralph Fiennes is blisteringly funny as Victor Quatermaine. And those adorable rabbits…aww… like those sheep in A Close Shave.
CHICAGO
DIRECTED BY ROB MARSHALL
RATING
This is the work of a fetishist. However, I’m not complaining. It’s brassy and sexy in that innocent American way. I suppose Zellweger was ok with her reedy pipes, obnoxious face and willowy figure but I was entranced by Zeta-Jones, who looked every bit a part of the Jazz age with that formidable bob and smouldering eyes. As for the smug Mr. Gere, I’m uncertain as to what the Academy saw in his performance that deserved a nomination.
BABETTE’S FEAST
DIRECTED BY GABRIEL AXEL
RATING 
The simple and ordinary daily existence of a village in Jutland is exquisitely captured in this timeless classic. When Babette prepares her sumptuous feast for all the senses, the formerly skeptical puritans are won over and even reconcile with one another by the end. Pure, beautiful, breathtaking movie.
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL RYMER
RATING 
Wax figures from Madame Tussaud’s writhing around in semi-copulating mode. Check. Terrible music that gives you a bloody headache. Check. Vital characters missing. Check. What do we have? An experiment in bad film making. Anyway, stupid Lestat, the perennial adolescent, makes anything unbearable. And my goodness, Marius (the vampire I would bare my neck to) was a crushing disappointment. Who was that ugly man? The only reason, and I mean the only reason, I gave it a star is due to the swoon-some presence of Paul McGann.
THE LADYKILLERS
DIRECTED BY ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK
RATING
A chance circumstance induced my watching this movie. I was thoroughly entertained and wonderfully delighted by Alec Guiness. He is utterly impeccable as Professor Marcus. I can’t stress how much I enjoyed his portrayal: such a decrepit slouch, an insinuating look. Those exaggerated English teeth and dark circles under his eyes! A slightly seedy but ably malevolent character that outshone everyone.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
DIRECTED BY ANDREW ADAMSON
RATING 
An overkill of mythological furries and flat green or white landscapes just don’t cut it. The score attempts at heights of new-age, grandiose sophistication but ends up wishy-washy. Only Neeson’s Aslan and Swinton’s White Witch are outstanding in an otherwise bland depiction of Narnia. His quiet baritone is aptly streaked with measured dignity and stentorian command while she is subtle, sometimes vulnerable, as the wintry usurper. The child actors are collectively plain and have bad teeth.
KING KONG
DIRECTED BY PETER JACKSON
RATING 
Jackson possesses an inveterate B-grade horror flick soul, which is demonstrated by his depiction of Skull Island and its perfidious inhabitants. The monstrous insects scenes are interminably painful to watch. A lacklustre Brody isn’t as dishy in his period costume here as he was in THE PIANIST. The ingenue, Ann Darrow, is likeable with her complicated affairs of the heart; so is the captain who always comes to the rescue with his brooding airs and duh lines.
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
DIRECTED BY JOE WRIGHT
RATING
Granted, the BBC series is the accepted nonpareil take of Austen’s beloved if slightly overrated classic. Joe Wright took a decided risk and that alone deserves praise. I’ve nothing earth-shattering to contribute to the divided camps of fans and detractors. Actors looked their respective fictional years here whereas Jen Ehle and co. resembled blustering matrons. Absolutely hated the giggles-stricken younger Bennets and of course, Knightley as Lizzie is understandably dreadful. But you already knew that.
IRMA VEP
DIRECTED BY OLIVIER ASSAYAS
RATING
Skin tight costumes and self-conscious cinema. LES VAMPIRES is remade by a director on the verge of a breakdown. Maggie Cheung is the unlikely new Irma Vep, a character encrusted with an aura of “Parisian underground” that nobody understands why an oriental is cast for the role. The plot revolves around the actress defending her director’s eccentricities, a mooning lesbian, jewellery theft and an uber-cool song by iconoclast Serge Gainsbourg. Po-mo cinema worth catching.
ROAD TO PERDITION
DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES
RATING
Old Testament morality pervades this atmospheric movie. Cinematography is breathtakingly executed in stark lines and clinical interiors. A bravo ensemble of actors; good, if predictable, plot. The industry’s stalwart Hanks is credible as the coldly efficient hit man. Props to Jude Law, the parlous comic of the piece. See, he can look ugly too.
KING ARTHUR
DIRECTED BY ANTOINE FUQUA
RATING
Forays into Arthur’s Britain by Hollywood, et al., end in the predictable category of bad cinema. TNT’s take on Zimmer Bradley’s cult series is fit for the spittoon. Fuqua’s ambitious flick fails because it takes itself too seriously, has bad acting, and the script doesn’t help either. It’s the version of Arthur epicures of fantasy and myth don’t care for or acknowledge. The Insufferable, Knightley, can be excused- for she is congenitally that. But stiff, monotonous Owen is sheer misery to watch as this legend among kings. Ioan Gruffudd can play a so-so Arthur in a so-so production so, so much better anytime!
WIT
DIRECTED BY MIKE NICHOLS
RATING
Emma Thompson is her usual talented self playing a cancer-stricken professor of 17th century metaphysical poets who waxes lyrical about the bedfellows, Death and Donne. It’d have been a one woman show if it weren’t for the wonderful supporting cast. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
WHALE RIDER
DIRECTED BY NIKI CARO
RATING
I learnt more about the Maori culture from the movie, and that’s always a good thing. I wasn’t blown away by the familiar story-line. Furthermore, the Kiwi accent took some getting used to. Credible performances all round, but Keisha shone with heroic purity as Paikea. Such determination hiding behind that cherubic, quiet countenance!
THE AVENGERS
DIRECTED BY J. S. CHECHIK
RATING 
The English thespian and the effortless glam queen are convivial as the cult super-sleuths John Steed and Emma Peel, but even they can’t save the movie from its nightmarishly corny dialogue and awkward scenes. The producers milk the gamut of English stereotypes: constant chatter about the weather, displaying harmful amounts of the sangfroid in one’s nature, etc., etc. A potentially dynamic cast of reliables wasted on what seems to be a pet project of rich fan-boy gone porcine.
I AM DINA
DIRECTED BY OLE BORNEDAL
RATING 
Beautiful scandinavian scenery peopled by provokingly passionate characters and an outlandish heroine worth cheering on. Dina is droll, unrepentant, gifted, vitriolic towards men who either fear or love her headiness. The energetic Maria Bonnevie is scintillating in the title role. Luckily her emphatic performance doesn’t overshadow that of the supporting cast, though Eccleston ruins his signature sensitive lover role with a dodgy stage-Russian.
8 WOMEN
DIRECTED BY FRANCOIS OZON
RATING
Much ambivalence, casuistry, dissapation and a patriarch with a knife stuck on his back, cold in the room upstairs. The movie explores gender roles and sexuality with a playfulness Freudians would revel in. 8 pretty women, wicked story- nicely done.
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
DIRECTED BY FRANK CAPRA
RATING
Raymond Massey was such a laugh! His Jonathan Brewster is a Boris Karloff look-alike with those dead hands that never move a muscle. Haha! I couldn’t help but stare at his hands whenever he was on-screen. The old aunts were a pain to endure: god! awful high-pitched, saccharine voices they had! *shudders* Well paced, intelligently wicked storyline.
HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
DIRECTED BY HAYAO MIYAZAKI
RATING
Not as fantastic as SPIRITED AWAY. I’m not familiar with Diana Wayne Jones’s juvenile fantasy lit., so I watched this without knowing it’s based on a book. So what did I see? Many similarities between S. AWAY and this one. The ending’s a tad uninspired. I wasn’t sure about the purpose of the time vortex and what Sophie sees in it that changes everything, etc. Howl’s such a dream though, so I’ll let my slight displeasure slide.
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
DIRECTED BY GEORGE CUKOR
RATING
I am eternally bored by such movies. There was one with a near identical plot, but starring Grace Kelley and Sinatra I think. I can’t remember because it was a drag too. Seen this done millions of times by the early Hollywood studios. I can’t understand acting like this: they deliver their lines in a newscaster fashion (even whilst romancing each other for god’s sake!) that you start getting drowsy before long. I thought Stewart was the worst of the lot. Even chinny Grant saved his too static performance with an occasional smirk or facial twitch. Hepburn was all horse’s teeth.
GASLIGHT
DIRECTED BY GEORGE CUKOR
RATING
Ingrid looks like a Rossetti with her cherub’s face and man’s neck. Charles Boyer does an affected east European accent in a haphazard fashion. Maybe he always talks that way, I dunno. It was slightly similar to du Maurier’s REBECCA but darling de Winter would never torture his wife so! I liked that Ingrid got to throw little tantrums here and there; sometimes she was very good at it. The final scene was cheesy in that quaint, old Hollywood manner: the busybody neighbour hag discovers the now safe heroine and her slightly seedy looking saviour man exchanging pleasantries to which she (hag) declares, “Well!” in that scandal-mongering, breathless tone. I was perplexed.
HOTEL RWANDA
DIRECTED BY TERRY GEORGE
RATING
Films such as this NEED to be made. How many genocides happen that go unnoticed, ignored by the powers that be? And how can anyone ignore what happened in Rwanda? Are the Jews the only people who deserve our special attention and universal guilt? This is a very moving, very vital movie to our martial era.
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
DIRECTED BY TERRY GILLIAM
RATING
I was sorely disappointed with this one. I mean, whatever happened to the Pythonesque humour and queerness? And all I get from the guy who made that fabulous BARON MUNCHAUSEN movie is this rubbish?! It’s a confused sort of fairy tale.
NANNY MCPHEE
DIRECTED BY KIRK JONES
RATING
Simon, the eldest, looks like the little elf boy I drew years ago. He’s so cute! Actually, all the little people were adorable. Anyway, I don’t know why Emma Thompson bothered with this project. Also, she was notoriously underused. Very bad sort of role for such a talented woman. Ok, I’ll admit there was some slapstick comedy involved that made me laugh- the Mrs. Quicly proposal scene comes to mind. Colin Firth is blah as always and simply ruins the magic.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
DIRECTED BY ANG LEE
RATING
This is the best adaptation of Austen yet. Forget PRIDE & PREJUDICE and the rest of them. I found very little to dislike here. The casting is near perfect (no, I don’t think Emma Thompson looked old), the costumes are actually not drab and the movie is true to the spirit of the book. Ok, so the story is less complex than EMMA perhaps but it works as a movie.
THE RING
DIRECTED BY GORE VERBINSKI
RATING
I’m not one to be easily scared but the JAPANESE ORIGINAL freaked me out that I couldn’t sleep for a week. I didn’t even watch it completely- I switched it off after an hour but it didn’t help. I was haunted by images of the petrified victims. So yes, coward that I am I watched this remake from Hollywood to learn what goes on. It wasn’t half as good as the original; it lacked a certain uncanny creepiness the original possessed. And I thought the score was reminiscent of THE HOURS.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
DIRECTED BY MEL GIBSON
RATING
For some strange reason, Father wanted to watch it and so we rented it. What else can one expect from Gibson but excessive violence. The movie had vision but it lacked a certain subtlety that could have done wonders. Alas, Gibson lacks this quality on an epic scale.
THE DA VINCI CODE
DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD
RATING
I didn’t bother to read the book, I didn’t give a damn about the worldwide rave reviews. So why did I spend $9 to watch the movie?? Just for the heck of it I suppose… Too fast, too ridiculous. Hanks and Tautou are terrible to behold together- there’s something wrong about it. McKellen is fun- I didn’t have to take him seriously for once.
GIGI
DIRECTED BY VINCENTE MINNELLI
RATING
The plot is fairly simple: a high society Parisian bachelor realises his increasing interest in frolicsome little Gigi; he proposes to keep her as his concubine naturally, in accordance with accepted practices of the day, but Gigi has other plans. I found Maurice Chevalier to be quaintly wonderful.
