Sunday, October 4, 2009

top 10 cinema News

October 04nd Sunday








More often than not, it's the people you know and being in the right place at the right time. The Soloist is an inspirational true story about a musical prodigy, crippled by schizophrenia, who unexpectedly gets a second chance at his dreams thanks to an influential journalist. The fractious relationship between the two men is at the heart of Joe Wright's third feature, which trades in the frocks of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement for the grime of 21st century Los Angeles. However, it's squalor with polish because as with those earlier films, Wright cannot convey emotion in a single image when he can orchestrate an intricate tracking shot or a complex sequence littered with hundreds of real-life homeless extras on a graffiti-strewn recreation of Skid Row. It becomes abundantly clear that he has one eye staring down the lens, the other on a second Academy Award nomination.

Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr) is a columnist on the Los Angeles Times in 2005, whose daily portraits of metropolitan life are missing their old spark. With a failed marriage to his editor Mary Weston (Catherine Keener) behind him, Steve attempts to concentrate on his work, always looking for that one, great story. And he finds it one day on the streets where a homeless man called Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx) is playing a battered, two-string violin. Nathaniel claims to be a student at Julliard and when Steve checks, the tall tale turns out to be tethered in fact. A reader responds to the column by sending a cello and Steve arranges for David Carter (Nelsan Ellis), who manages the Lamp Community homeless shelter, to take care of the instrument. Steve then arranges an apartment for Nathaniel and lessons with Graham Claydon (Tom Hollander), a cellist from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. However, no matter how hard Steve struggles, he has no control over the voices in the musician's head. "You can't fix L.A., you're never gonna cure Nathaniel. Just be his friend and show up," advises Mary tenderly.

The Soloist is a worthy drama about the unlikely friendship between two men: one looking to re-discover life, the other embracing it with a volatile passion. Downey Jr and Foxx give powerful performances, the latter ricocheting between violently confused and playfully sarcastic. Screenwriter Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) successfully conveys the desperation of people living on crowded streets, their hopes washed down the gutter many years ago. Yet everything feels contrived, right down to the comic interludes with Steve trying to ward off raccoons using bags of coyote urine, which invariably slosh down his front. Grant also tinkers with the facts - Mary and Claydon are both fictional - and the emotional pay-off with Nathaniel's estranged sister (Lisa Gay Hamilton), who thought he was dead, is forced.










Reclusive genius Dr Lionel Carter (James Cromwell), who is confined to a wheelchair, is the M.I.T. genius responsible for this technological breakthrough. He makes surrogates an everyday part of life, only to be unexpectedly banished from the boardroom of the company he founded, never to be seen in public again. Some years later, Dr Carter's son is murdered, seemingly whilst connected to a surrogate. The scientist entreats FBI Agent Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) to apprehend the man responsible, Miles Strickland (Jack Noseworthy), who is in possession of an Overload Device, which literally fries the brain of a surrogate and its user. In his pursuit of justice, Greer breaks with protocol and strays into the Dread zone, an area of the city ruled by The Prophet (Ving Rhames) and his followers who vehemently reject surrogates. The cop's robotic doppelganger is badly damaged and Greer is forced to re-enter the real world, where the grief over his son's death is still raw and he his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike) refuses to leave her room. "It feels like we never spend much time together," Greer tells his wife's surrogate. "We see each other every day," replies the robot. "Surrogates," laments the cop. "It's better," responds the wife dully. As he risks life and limb to locate Strickland and the Overload Device, Greer discovers a deadly and far-reaching conspiracy involving the upper echelons of power that will test his faith in humanity to breaking point.

Surrogates is an intriguing premise, clumsily executed by director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines). There is half a decent film here but in 88 plodding minutes, screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris barely touch upon the moral implications of a mechanised society. Presumably, all of the characterisation and snappy dialogue, which are painfully absent on the big screen, are still on the pages of Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's celebrated graphic novel. Real Bruce and fake Bruce, the latter sporting flawless skin and a full crop of hair, are equally inexpressive while Mitchell and Pike appear almost entirely as their robotic alter egos, performing duties in heels and sharply tailored suits. The 'surprising' revelations of the final chapter are glaringly obvious and poke large holes in the film's logic. Action sequences are well orchestrated if short on thrills, including a hilarious car chase, which sees the real Greer collecting surrogates on the bonnet of his pursuit vehicle as he races after a target. The best set piece of the entire film is saved until the denouement and the dawning of a new age of human experience. Until then, there's predictable, generic fluff like Surrogates.







Casting real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the pre-eminent scientist and his wife, Jon Amiel's beautifully crafted biopic focuses on the turbulent period before Darwin committed his radical theories to parchment and changed the course of science. To suggest that homo sapiens and all other species were the result of millions of years of evolution was nothing short of heresy: natural selection trumps divine intervention. "I'll bet half of the nation would cheerfully see you burned at the stake if they knew what you were writing," confides Darwin's closest friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker (Dominic Cumberbatch). Yet to finish the book, Darwin risks his marriage to Emma, a deeply religious woman, whose faith in the Almighty is as unshakable as her belief in her husband.

Based on the book Annie's Box by Randal Keynes, Darwin's great great grandson, Creation meets Darwin (Bettany) in his early forties in the throes of grief. His favoured, eldest daughter Annie (Martha West) has died aged 10, possibly from scarlet fever or tuberculosis, estranging the scientist from his wife Emma (Connelly) and remaining children. His mental state is fragile and his health failing, and to add to Charles' woes, he is at the centre of a violent tug of war between science and faith - between Thomas Huxley (Toby Jones) and Reverend Innes (Jeremy Northam), the former urging Charles to finish his book, the latter condemning it. The embattled father finds salvation in the ghost of his dear departed daughter, who inspires him to believe in himself and repair the damage to his marriage.

Creation is a restrained and artfully composed leaf through a chapter in history that plays out these upsetting years in Darwin's life as a mosaic of waking dreams. Pacing is languid and considering the maelstrom of emotions that engulfs the characters, there are desperately few outbursts from them. In the mid 19th century, feelings were concealed behind breeches and bustles, which doesn't make for exciting drama. Bettany looks suitably haggard and the on-screen chemistry with an equally dour Connelly is evident but it is newcomer West, making her screen debut in a role which has echoes of Anna Paquin in The Piano, who breathes life into otherwise pedestrian scenes. Slavish adherence to historical detail is of greater concern to director Amiel than dramatic momentum, leaving us feeling rather restless as Darwin takes his children for a walk in the countryside and educates, "The fox has to eat the rabbit otherwise its children will starve. It's just the way it is." Creation is meticulously crafted yet somewhat uninvolving. That's just the way it is.








Produced by Peter Jackson and shot on location in Johannesburg, District 9 has taken America by storm - and now the alien invasion begins on these shores. Director Neill Blomkamp establishes his heightened reality through a breathlessly-constructed patchwork of 24-hour newsreel footage from the South African Broadcasting Corporation, documentary excerpts, interviews and tour-de-force action sequences. Amid the miasma of film-making styles, all expertly interwoven by editor Julian Clarke, a heartbreaking morality tale about humanity's intolerance emerges, augmented with state-of-the-art visual effects from the wizards at Jackson's Weta (also responsible for his Lord Of The Rings trilogy). It is truly remarkable for a first-time feature film director to keep a tight rein on all these disparate elements and meld them with such dynamism and style.

Blomkamp opens in the early 1980s with faux news footage of a giant spaceship hovering over the largest city in his native South Africa. On-board, the military discovers thousands of malnourished aliens, which are granted refugee status on Earth and segregated in the titular containment facility, away from an increasingly xenophobic human population. Over the next two decades, the camp becomes a ghetto, rife with crime, and locals turn against the extra-terrestrials known by the derogatory nickname of 'prawns'. In response, the Alien Affairs Office of Multi-National United co-ordinates the mass relocation of refugees to a new facility outside of the city. In the process, field operative Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is infected with an alien virus and begins to change into a xenomorph, losing his human form with each passing hour. Friends and family turn against Wikus and he seeks sanctuary in District 9, where he discovers an unexpected ally in an alien called Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope). "I will fix you, but first I must save my people," explains the refugee. Thus Wikus helps Christopher and his son Little CJ to board the mothership, with gun-toting chief enforcer Koobus (David James) and Nigerian warlord Obesandjo (Eugene Khumbanyiwa) in hot pursuit.









Are intelligence and cruelty hard-wired at birth, and are we therefore predisposed to certain behaviour before our first glimpse of daylight? Or does the love and support of the family shape our conduct towards others? In which case, are children from violent or broken homes doomed to repeat the mistakes of their parents? In Away We Go, an expectant couple contemplate moving halfway across America so that their child will be raised in a safe, loving environment, surrounded by positive role models. The irony is that the beleaguered parents-to-be are far more emotionally stable and well-equipped to raise their baby than almost everyone they encounter during a madcap road trip scripted by novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. After the emotional 'sturm und drang' of Revolutionary Road and Jarhead, Oscar-winning British director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) returns to the comedy genre with aplomb, demonstrating a light touch with his dysfunctional characters.

The film opens as it means to go on, with a hysterical bedroom scene introducing Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), who are blissfully happy in their ramshackle cabin. With Verona six months pregnant, the couple try to find a new place to raise the baby with the help of Burt's parents Jerry (Jeff Daniels) and Gloria (Catherine O'Hara), who live close by in Colorado. The old-timers throw an almighty spanner in the works by announcing that they are moving to Belgium before the baby is born, leaving their son and his partner with no support network. So Burt and Verona ponder moving to a new city. The couple kick-starts a journey of exploration, visiting old boss Lily (Allison Janney) and her hen-pecked husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan), who give parents a bad name. "She's only 12 and I already know she's a dyke," cackles Lily cruelly, referring to her shy daughter, who can hear every stinging word. Feminist bohemian friend Ellen (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has very strict views on raising her brood: "No separation, no sugars, no strollers!" An emergency telephone call forces a detour to Miami, and the expectant parents reconsider their definition of 'home'.









Based on two memoirs set more than 50 years apart, Julie & Julia is a frothy and entertaining tale of cuisine, l'amour and the art of killing lobsters. As a film of two distinct halves, Ephron's confection is hopelessly unbalanced. Scenes involving Streep in post-Second World War France are utterly delightful and every time she is off-screen, we hunger for more. Present-day sequences headlined by Amy Adams, Streep's co-star in 2008's Doubt, are a mere amuse bouche in comparison, lacking the warmth or the depth of emotion that takes hold in late 1940s and early '50s Paris. Julia Child (Streep) is an inspiration to generations of women across the Atlantic. She was the first American woman to study at the esteemed Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, and then introduced authentic French cuisine to the kitchens of her homeland, signing off her television show with the catchphrase, "I'm Julia Child. Bon appetit!".

Ephron's film opens in the French capital as Julia and her doting US diplomat husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) settle into new lodgings. Blessed with an indefatigable spirit, Julia yearns for something productive to keep her amused. "What is it you really like to do?" asks Paul as they tuck into a hearty lunch. "Eat," replies Julia with gusto. So Julia flouts convention and attends Le Cordon Bleu, where teachers deride her initial efforts. Meanwhile, in 2002 New York, enthusiastic cook Julie Powell (Adams) feels emotionally worn down by her work for an organisation connected with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. She decides to work through all 524 recipes in Child's seminal tome, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, in just 365 days and pen a blog about her exploits. Ephron cuts back and forth between the two storylines, contrasting Julia and Paul's rock-solid marriage with Julie's foundering relationship with her husband Eric (Chris Messina), who grows weary of his wife's obsession with rich sauces.

















From the opening frames, we're acutely aware that this romance on the sun-dappled streets of New York City has no happy ending. Love can be uplifting and inspiring, but it can also be cruel and unforgiving. Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber's polished screenplay piques our interest at the legal disclaimer in the pre-credits: "The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental... Especially you, Jenny Beckman... Bitch." If revenge is a dish best served cold, then the writers are serving up a deep-frozen, three-course meal here and inviting us to tuck in. Tart one-liners are tossed hither and thither, and Webb even conducts a glorious song-and-dance sequence through Central Park complete with an animated bluebird that recalls Amy Adams in Enchanted. But once again, as the omnipresent voiceover keeps reminding us, this is no fairytale.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has a passion for architecture and he is enraptured by the Big Apple with its mix of old and new: skyscrapers next to churches, urban sprawl separated by the verdant tranquillity of Central Park. During the day, Tom writes platitudes in greetings cards, impressing his boss Vance (Clark Gregg) and co-workers McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) and Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) with his ability to find the perfect phrase for every occasion. His humdrum routine changes with the arrival of Vance's new assistant, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Tom is smitten, and within days he tells McKenzie and Paul confidently, "It's official. I'm in love with Summer". However, the courtship doesn't match up to Tom's old-fashioned ideals. He's a hopeless romantic, while Summer speaks plainly when she confesses: "There is no such thing as love. It's a fantasy." As the 500 days unfold, Tom comes to realise that while Summer might be perfect for him, he's not her 'Mr Right Now' or even her 'Mr Right Ever'.







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