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• August, 2008

• The Dark Knight (2008) 4/5

  2008-08-09 20:00

  

  A very solid action flick, with enough meat on the bones to leave a little bit to think about afterwards. I really liked the character design and costuming, especially the Joker's persona and colours.

  0.3

• July, 2008

• The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) 3/5

  2008-07-20 20:00

  

  My second Ken Loach film, and a decent one. Beyond the standard war story, the spectacular cinematography and the interesting fragments of class conflict were worthwhile.

  0.3

• WALL·E (2008) 4/5

  2008-07-05 21:30

  

  Very compelling, and surprisingly political for a Pixar effort. The purely visual explanation of an environmental was elegantly done, and the movie plays incredibly well at both the kid and adult levels.

  0.3

• May, 2008

• Iron Man (2008) 3/5

  2008-05-19 20:30

  

  Minimal content, but an entertaining caricature. I find action movies interesting for their portrait of America's self-image: in this case, the Afghani setting shows that Iraq is too sore a point to discuss, and the fantasized "civilian/enemy" targetting techtoy suggests a country wishing for a simpler world...

  0.3

• Lust, Caution (2007) 3/5

  2008-05-17 22:00

  

  It's rare and interesting to see an Asian World War II picture away from the front. The story and its interests are superficially similar to Verhoeven's Black Book, but with more drama, and a darker, unsettling flavour.

  0.3

• April, 2008

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) 2/5

  2008-04-30 20:00

  

  Eminently forgettable, but occasionally funny.

  0.3

• In Bruges (2008) 3/5

  2008-04-19 22:00

  

  Dark humour, violent and aimed squarely at the cult market. I left the theatre with an unpleasant taste in my mouth thanks to the third act, but I'll admit that some of the comic parts have stayed with me for a few days.

  0.3

• March, 2008

• Close-Up (1990) 2/5

  2008-03-17 20:00

  

  Kiarostami, genius, blah blah blah. This one just didn't do it for me... maybe it's conceptually interesting, but it's not what I'm looking for in a film, I'm afraid.

  0.3

• Hulk (2003) 3/5

  2008-03-10 21:00

  

  Not quite the promised secret success, but still interesting. Ang Lee makes a very different comic movie, and I really liked the gimmicky comic frames he sprinkled throughout; a simple idea, but actually quite attractive and innovative. Mostly though, I just like imagining frat boys sitting through the slow cerebral bash-em-up.

  0.3

• Persepolis (2007) 4/5

  2008-03-08 21:30

  

  Seductively competent animation, and some appealing tricks for combining the political and the personal. The framing of the politics through a child's eyes makes it a much gentler and more nostalgic film than it could have been.

  0.3

• February, 2008

• Black Book (2006) 3/5

  2008-02-28 12:17

  

  A glossy and entertaining flick, notable mainly for its Dutch connections. The twists and turns were a little tiresome by the end, but the main war/sexuality themes were an interesting twist on the typical WWII story.

  0.3

• Waitress (2007) 3/5

  2008-02-18 20:00

  

  Very definitely a woman's movie. You can tell Adrienne wrote the main character for herself and you can see the occasional Hal Hartley influences, although it's not pushed too hard. Quite entertaining, with way-over-the-top male stereotypes.

  0.3

• January, 2008

• Cloverfield (2008) 3/5

  2008-01-29 20:00

  

  Quite entertaining. The handheld camera and videotape premise were used to good effect; considerably better than the Blair Witch, for example. A great followup to my first New York trip the week before.

  0.3

• December, 2007

• The Lives of Others (2006) 3/5

  2007-12-17 22:00

  

  Entertaining in its way but a little too schlocky-Hollywood, and definitely history-written-by-the-winners. Despite that, the interesting slice of recent history makes it worthwhile. So does the excellent retrofuturistic jacket the hero wears.

  0.3

• I'm Not There (2007) 4/5

  2007-12-03 19:00

  

  Despite knowing little more than the Wikipedia entry on Bob Dylan, I quite enjoyed this film, particularly Todd Haynes' formal stylishness. The Cate Blanchett sequence was extremely well done, and many of the other segments were also solid.

  0.3

• November, 2007

• Wheel of Time (2003) 3/5

  2007-11-24 14:00

  

  An interesting take on Buddhist ritual, in pleasantly understated Herzog style. I really liked the shock of the transition from India to Austria... it really underscored the strangeness of a Western appearance of the Dalai Lama (or other foreign dignitary).

  0.3

• No Country for Old Men (2007) 5/5

  2007-11-14 10:19

  

  A week later, I'm comfortable giving this five stars; the shots and scenes burrowed deep into my brain and keep coming back to me, a true sign of a five-star film. The characters and settings got under my skin, the suspenseful editing was incredible, and the use of off-screen violence as the movie went on was surprisingly effective. Having just spent some time in Texan freeway-side motels, I found those scenes extremely true-to-life. In a few cases, the Texan setting felt a little more stereotyped than the Coens' usual midwest, but still better than 99�f the rest.

  0.3

• Three Kings (1999) 3/5

  2007-11-05 21:30

  

  A worthy watch given the state of Iraq after the second war. The dark, dark first half is particularly gripping, although it stumbles on the way to resolution in the second half. The unexpected acting turn by Spike Jonze was curious, but nothing special.

  0.3

• The Darjeeling Limited (2007) 4/5

  2007-11-02 21:40

  

  Classic Wes Anderson, and thoroughly entertaining fare. The Indian train ride is a great backdrop for these misfit characters. I'll confess that I felt it dragged a bit towards the end, though, especially the "climbing the mountain" scenes and thereabouts. But still, fun stuff.

  0.3

• October, 2007

• Zodiac (2007/I) 4/5

  2007-10-27 20:00

  

  Smart, compelling and well acted. I can't speak for the accuracy, but it's a good story.

  0.3

• Death Proof (2007) 3/5

  2007-10-03 22:11

  

  Sorry, Quentin - it's interesting, an okay ride, some decent revisions to a misogynist standard, and the second half is quite strong... but it's neither my era nor my genre, so I can't follow all the witty references. Quentin's female dialogue drags at times, and I suspect the shorter cut was probably stronger.

  0.3

• September, 2007

• A Simple Curve (2005) 3/5

  2007-09-26 21:00

  

  A surprisingly solid piece of Canadiana, telling the story of post-hippie life in the Kootenays.

  0.3

• The Exodus 4/5

  2007-09-15 10:00

  

  A tight, intriguing, deadpan dark comedy with just the right level of weirdness. Mostly a study in contrasting tones: the serious detective movie combined with a whimsical implausible subject of investigation (an alleged conspiracy of women intending to assassinate all men). Good cinematography, an excellent opening shot, and entertainingly deadpan.

  0.3

• Madame Tutli-Putli (2007) 4/5

  2007-09-13 20:00

  

  Stunningly fluid and lifelike stop-motion animation, bizarrely charming. Seen in Short Cuts Canada programme 2.

  0.3

• Dada Dum 3/5

  2007-09-13 20:00

  

  Strange, freaky and violating the laws of gravity. Seen in Short Cuts Canada programme 2.

  0.3

• Boar Attack 3/5

  2007-09-13 20:00

  

  A charming and quick animation from Short Cuts Canada programme 2

  0.3

• Can You Wave Bye-Bye? 3/5

  2007-09-13 20:00

  

  An interesting subject (fear of motherhood) and ominous tension throughout. Perhaps too clearly inspired by recent events, and occasionally uneven.

  0.3

• M 1/5

  2007-09-12 15:30

  

  It felt like a two-hour music video in terms of the sophistication of its themes, the coherence of the narrative and the lushness of the visuals. The director clearly has a good eye for colour and light, and draws a lot of inspiration from manga. Unfortunately, he crosses the line from cryptic and incoherent into schmaltz at several points, and several sections of the film could easily have been plunked into some romantic J-Pop video. And it really, really didn't need to be this long.

  0.3

• Silent Light 4/5

  2007-09-09 21:00

  

  A rewarding love triangle story set in a Mennonite community in Mexico. The style was interesting, with very formal and detached acting with minimal dialogue, and using particularly slow pacing and long shots. Some beautiful photography, interesting reflections on culture through the transplantation of Mennonites to Mexico, and largely a comment on the universal nature of the love triangle dilemma. The slow pace and detached formality is not going to appeal to many, but I liked it, and it was great to see on a big screen with a rapt audience.

  0.3

• The Mourning Forest 3/5

  2007-09-07 12:00

  

  A different slice of life in Japan, with a good view of a inwardly-focussed approach to mourning. While there were some beautiful forest shots, I was kind of hoping for more...

  0.3

• August, 2007

• The Simpsons Movie (2007) 2/5

  2007-08-24 20:48

  

  Nothing special. Mild chuckles and a few good laughs, but not up to the standard of the best episodes in the TV series.

  0.3

• Superbad (2007) 5/5

  2007-08-21 19:00

  

  Incredibly funny and raunchy, yet still touching and true. Far better than the trailer suggested.

  0.3

• Bottle Rocket (1996) 5/5

  2007-08-18 21:00

  

  More consistently hilarious than The Life Aquatic, the only other Wes Anderson film I've seen so far. Quirkily excellent. I was quite surprised to discover that the leads were Owen and Luke Wilson; I barely recognised Owen. This was his feature debut, and he cowrote the script.

  0.3

• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 4/5

  2007-08-12 19:00

  

  A fun ride. The fights and chases were cleverly assembled, but I was a little disappointed that there was so little plotting, twisting or turning to the movie. Still, the choreography and camerawork were definitely first-rate.

  0.3

• July, 2007

• The Good German (2006) 3/5

  2007-07-29 22:22

  

  An entertaining little thriller. Not particularly special, but I really enjoyed the high-contrast black-and-white cinematography and the noir take on a World War II movie.

  0.3

• Sunshine (2007) 2/5

  2007-07-22 21:25

  

  The first two-thirds were worth the while, but the final third really left a sour taste in my mouth. I liked parts of the premise (especially the sun-defying machos) and I was quite impressed by the direction of the spacewalk sequence, which gave a visual sense of the peril of leaving the shadow. After a good set up, the descent into B-grade horror-movie was painful to watch, and the characters and plausibility completely fell apart. Ah well.

  0.3

• Ratatouille (2007) 4/5

  2007-07-21 19:10

  

  While the movie is a bit more of a typical kid-oriented movie than Pixar's best flick (The Incredibles), it's definitely the cream-of-the-crop. From a technical perspective, it's simply astounding: with gorgeous shots of bread, vegetables and cheese (notoriously tricky lighting problems); effortless fluids everywhere, from sauces to wine; and considerably better hair, mussed or otherwise. And the character animation continues to hold up Pixar's high standards, including an entertaining rag doll gag. The only disappointments were the slightly-middle-eastern villain and the weak female character.

  0.3

• Blood Diamond (2006) 3/5

  2007-07-15 22:28

  

  A run-of-the-mill action movie, but with one helluva performance by Leo DiCaprio. As he also showed in The Departed, he can play mean and nasty extremely well, but this time he adds a very convincing Rhodesian accent to the mix and his character is almost utterly unsympathetic. I'll admit I'm not sold on the action-movie-with-a-message format; it still feels like blaxploitation at the end of the day.

  0.3

• Transformers (2007) 1/5

  2007-07-05 22:24

  

  The TV series was off-limits to me as a kid, so there was no real nostalgia here. Big explosions, a surprisingly entertaining Shia LaBoeuf, and overly-glossy CGI. But most of all, it's one huge advertisement for General Motors and the US military. Still, the unabashed sponsor-friendliness makes me interested in re-evaluating summer blockbusters from my formative teenage years.

  0.3

• June, 2007

• Knocked Up (2006) 5/5

  2007-06-23 19:00

  

  Wow, this was utterly hilarious. A lot of memorable, funny characters and relatively few cliché setups for the jokes. The trailer covered a surprising amount of ground, hitting many of the best jokes, but there was still plenty more worth seeing.

  0.3

• Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 3/5

  2007-06-08 00:00

  

  It had its quirky charms (mostly Steve Carrell and Paul Dano), but it didn't blow me away. Overhyped, perhaps?

  0.3

• The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) 3/5

  2007-06-03 20:30

  

  For a sex comedy, it was surprisingly sympathetic and entertaining.

  0.3

• May, 2007

• The Ice Storm (1997) 4/5

  2007-05-22 00:00

  

  It felt like Ang Lee was trying too hard to ground his film in 1970s America, with too many kitschy shots of toe socks or other period-referencing details. While the acting was excellent and the story of shifting sexual mores was interesting, the directing was at times heavy-handed. Nonetheless, the story is compelling enough to warrant seeing, especially for fans of American Beauty and other tales of suburban family angst.

  0.3

• Shrek the Third (2007) 3/5

  2007-05-21 13:11

  

  I really disliked Shrek 2, since it relied almost entirely on pop-culture and Hollywood-insider references for its humour. So I went in with very low expectations for this film, and was surprised to find that it didn't suck. And the graphics were gorgeous.

  0.3

• Hot Fuzz (2007) 4/5

  2007-05-20 13:12

  

  Careful set ups made this movie really, really funny by the time the final twist had ended. The gore will turn off many, I'm afraid, but it was otherwise hilarious.

  0.3

• Inland Empire (2006) 2/5

  2007-05-15 18:10

  

  Astoundingly weird, even by David Lynch's standards. Plotless and indecipherable, only the hardcore fans might enjoy this. I am a fan, but still only had occasional moments of enjoyment: I liked some of the weirdness, the Lynchian images, and some parts of Dern's performance.

  0.3

• Spider-Man 3 (2007) 2/5

  2007-05-10 18:15

  

  Too many plots, not enough development, and pushing past cartoonish into kitschy. The first two were substantially better. There's a clear break near the end of the movie where they clearly realised they needed to wrap things up and cut to the finale; it's an unfortunate end to the character development that was a highlight of the series.

  0.3

• Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and... 3/5

  2007-05-01 18:19

  

  A quiet and satisfying bit of Buddhist fable. There's little stunning or extraordinary about it, but I enjoyed the cultural excursion and the film-making.

  0.3

• April, 2007

• Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel (2007) 3/5

  2007-04-28 18:21

  

  Strong content and even-handed portrayal of the issues of heritage development and gentrification, as seen in the renovation of the Gladstone Hotel in Parkdale, Toronto. Both informative and touching.

  0.3

• Howl's Moving Castle (2004) 3/5

  2007-04-15 18:24

  

  While it doesn't live up to the standard of Spirited Away and falls apart towards the end, there are some charming characters, some great Miyazaki steampunk oddness, and typically high-quality animation. I found the voicework a little lacking, in both Japanese and English.

  0.3

• Pan's Labyrinth (2006) 5/5

  2007-04-10 18:28

  

  A fairy tale in the spirit of the brothers Grimm: dark, gruesome and horrifying, with some spectacularly creepy imagery. It reminded me of the first fantasy novels I read as a timid, easily-frightened child.

  0.3

• March, 2007

• Kes (1969) 4/5

  2007-03-30 18:31

  

  My first Loach film, and I liked it. A very real portrait of working-class England (or anywhere, for that matter). The child protagonist makes for at least one sympathetic character, and a good vantage point for observing this particular life.

  0.3

• Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic (2005) 3/5

  2007-03-15 18:33

  

  I'm not one for stand-up comedy, but I found this show downright hilarious. Fantastic delivery, and refreshing to see a woman on stage.

  0.3

• The Departed (2006) 4/5

  2007-03-10 18:35

  

  The final third lagged a bit, but I did really enjoy the expert setup and rising tension in the first half. While Nicholson's character was mostly annoying, Di Caprio was completely riveting and Matt Damon was certainly competent.

  0.3

• An Inconvenient Truth (2006) 4/5

  2007-03-05 18:38

  

  It's important. Watch this. It's nothing special as documentaries go, but it conveys the points well, counters the skeptics, and covers complex science with good visuals.

  0.3

• February, 2007

• Paris, Texas (1984) 5/5

  2007-02-25 18:43

  

  Excellent, both as a character study and as an criticism of the often vacuous nature of contemporary American life.

  0.3

• Children of Men (2006) 5/5

  2007-02-20 18:44

  

  A brilliant psychoanalysis of western guilts and paranoias. Our worst recent offenses against the world (like Iraq, Guantanamo, Woomera and Kyoto) are taken from remote geographies and concentrated together in our back yard, London. The sight of bombs exploding in trendy coffeeshops and guerrilla warfare beside red phone booths is guaranteed to send a shudder down your spine. While it is science fiction at its best, there's definitely a big lull in the middle third of the movie. But the final third convinced me to forgive them.

  0.3

• Bad Education (2004) 2/5

  2007-02-10 18:50

  

  Sorry Almodovar, but this just didn't do much for me. I'll admit that I have a hard time relating to gay love stories, particularly when the characters are more flamboyant than anyone I know.

  0.3

• January, 2007

• Babel (2006) 4/5

  2007-01-25 18:52

  

  The Brad Pitt storyline was undoubtedly the strongest, but while the other two had their weaknesses, I still felt they added up to an interesting storyline. The theme of poor communication ties together both the personal and the political elements of the three stories, and is a decent focal point for a film.

  0.3

• Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) 2/5

  2007-01-20 18:55

  

  Flawed without a doubt, but still somewhat entertaining. The dynamic between the two cops was amusing, and I'm definitely a sucker for the bilingual crosscultural premise.

  0.3

• Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) 2/5

  2007-01-15 18:56

  

  Zhang Yimou is going downhill, and clearly needs Christopher Doyle on cinematography. The rainbow palette makes for an elaborate setpiece, but lacks the elegance of the earlier collaborations with Doyle. The plot makes even less sense than their last picture, the martial arts are minimal, and the moral seems crafted to kowtow to authoritarian film censors.

  0.3

• Touch of Evil (1958) 3.5/5

  2007-01-06 19:01

  

  I don't know enough film geekery to understand the historical importance of this film, but I still enjoyed it. I'm a fan of the skeptical, corrupt flavour of film noir in general, and this film holds up well.

  0.3

• Thank You for Smoking (2005) 3/5

  2007-01-02 19:00

  

  Smarmy evil has never been so funny.

  0.3

List generated by WP Movie Ratings.