The film of the week this time is DONNIE BRASCO!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119008/

This is one of my favorite Johnny Depp films. He and Al Pacino are a great team and Michael Madsen is good too. Its odd that the same director make Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, and he is directing the new Prince of Persia film. I think he does better with these slower character based films. This is one of the more underrated mob films. It is similar to The Departed, but in some ways I think it is better.

The band of the week this time are the MANIC STREET PREACHERS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd3C9aAupQI

This band were one of the best bands of the 90s. Their lyrics were some of the best of the time. Their lead singer Richey Edwards famously vanished. They are still around today, in fact their new album Journal for plague lover is one of the best albums of the year.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/

Wow I thought public Enemies was a disappointment. This was just bad. The Lovely Bones is one of the most emotionally hollow and lifeless films I have seen in years. I am amazed that Peter Jackson directed this piece of crap. I am not a huge fan of the book to begin with, but it was pretty good and it had some interesting ideas and characters even if it was nowhere near as good as something like What Dreams may come by Richard Matheson. This was literally painful to watch at times. It was like a lifetime original movie but with better effects. It starts off in an interesting way and it shows all the characters that need to be shown. It even throws in a cute romance element without any background or reason to care, but hey there is still a chance for something interesting to happen. The only good thing about this film aside from the ridiculously overdone special effects is the acting. Saoirse Ronan is remarkable here as Susie Salmon. I can't think of anyone else who could have done it better than her. She really tries her hardest to bring life and soul to her character. Marh Wahlberg is surprisingly fantastic too. You can really feel his grief and frustration with the police when his daughter dies. Rachel Weisz is good as usual and Stanley Tucci is great at being weird and creepy. The rest of the film though is complete crap. The idea is good, little girl dies and watches as her family tries to go on without her. This could have turned into one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful films of the year, but instead Peter Jacksons decided to show off with his damn special effects. He treats the death of a child with the understanding of a mentally challenged infant. The death of a child is one of the most tragic and terrible things that can happen to a family, we expect to see tears and heartbreak and family trauma. We expect to see people lose it and lives be torn apart. Instead though we get to see a little girl dancing around a stupid CGI paradise that changes from a lush green field to a ridiculous looking giant record player that Susie and her boring friend dance on. It's almost as if Jackson can't handle the emotional heartbreak of a child's death, so he tries to distract us with pretty things that I couldn't care less about.

They look quite nice at times though so he can take some comfort in knowing that his pretty CGI effects look better than the tragedy of a child's death. Congratulations Peter Jackson, you can make pretty things you heartless prick Susan Sarandon was also in it as the pointless comic relief. She is one of the most wasted characters in the film. She appears every now and then smoking and getting into comic situations like setting food on fire, falling asleep smoking, and dancing with a small child while suds pour out of the laundry machine she is trying to use. I understand that these scenes are meant to lighten the mood and show that she brings some heart to the film, but she doesn't change anything because everyone in the film acts exactly the same as before. Jackson has an odd fascination with the man who killed Susie. Not only does he look like an ex porn star, but Jackson wastes time showing him moving around his house acting like a creepy person and building a dollhouse. Eventually even he gets bored and decides to kill Susie's sister. Why? Shut up thats why. It would have been interesting to go into this guy's mind to see why he does these things, but instead he just does them for the sake of the plot. Eventually Susie's dad becomes paranoid and starts accusing everyone of killing his daughter. He figures out that the guy next door did, but only because Susie can somehow communicate with him from beyond the grave. I am almost disturbed that Peter Jackson finds a serial killer's life more important that family trauama. He turns what could have been a magnificant family drama into a poorly done mystery film without the mystery. We know this guy killed Susie, we don't need the rest of the film to be dedicated to the Dad and Susie's sister finding out why. There is no mystery or tension there. Oh yeah and the mom leaves too, which seems to an effect equal to poking the characters with a marshmallow. Not only is this the most disappointing film of the year, but it is also one of the worst and cheesiest. Peter Jackson is a good director, which is why it is almost depressing that he would make a film this bad. The film just went on and on, I got so bored I considered turning it off. This is not a film I recommend, and I try and find the good parts of all films.

Overall I give it a 2 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152836/

I really wanted to love this film. It has so much potential story wise and character wise. Problem is, it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It is set in the 30's but everything looks overly glossy. The film is shot in HD, it has a very odd look for a gangster film of the 30's. I will disagree with many people though when it comes to the look. I quite liked how it looked, the HD handheld format made the shootout more exciting in a way. Many films try and be exciting with shaky cam, but this film nails a good balence between realistic and seizure inducing. I thought the film was a bit miscast, Depp played his part pretty well but I thought he was a bit dull at times. I think someone like Guy Pearce, or Viggo mortensen would have done a better job. I want to defend Christian bale though. I hated his character when I first saw the film. He has no expression on his face most of the time and he didn't seem to react to anything. He looked bored in his role, but I can understand why he was like that. His character was meant to be very repressed and emotionally closed off to everyone. He is trying to seem calm throughout the film even when things get crazy and his boss Hoover gives him ridiculous orders.Though his voice sounded a bit off at times I thought he worked pretty well. Christian Bale is a fantastic actor who seems to be getting more and more uninteresting parts recently. Another problem I had with the film was the deaths of several gang members who didn't die in real life until after Dillinger. This doesn't take away from the film itself since it is meant to be entertainment and not a history lesson though so even though there wasn't much of a reason beyond adding drama for killing them off I can kinda understand why it was done.One character I found pretty bad though was Marion Cotillard's character Billie. She is a good actress, but she had absolutley no chemistry with Depp whatsoever. Maybe this was done on purpose to show that Dillinger is a very cold person when it comes to having a relationship, but in the film it just comes off as poorly done.

This film isn't all bad though, there are several shoot outs that are very exciting like a forest one that stands out as being one of the best. Michael Mann shouldn't have directed this film though, he turns what could have been a great character study into a somewhat dull cat and mouse game. He is horrible at developing characters. He has made a few good films but they never really go below the surface of their characters. To be fair though they never needed to much before, but here he really shows his inability to write an interesting film. Nobody in this film is given much background beyond a few brief explanations by the characters about where they come from and why they did something. This just comes off as lazy directing. This film has no emotional impact because it doesn't give you any reason to like anybody. It just assumes you care about these boring and lifeless characters. The film is tecnically pretty well made and it has some fun moments, but overall it just seems like a bland overly glossy gangster film. It is set in the 30's and it mentions that great depression at the start, but it never gives any indication that they are living in a time of great torment and stress for America. We are given a vague idea that the people of America admir Dillinger because he is robbing banks in a time when nobody trusts the government. Yet everything in the film seems very high class. The depression era could have added a lot to this film. We could be given some insight into how Dillinger comes at a time when people everywhere are losing are their job and they need someone like Dillinger in way. But instead Mann wastes all the potential of the story on poorly acted romance and a vaguely interesting cat and mouse story. Sure its a fun film with some intense moments. It is still worth seeing, but I couldn't help feeling very dissapointed by it. Maybe if it was done by a better director like Martin Scorsese or John Hillcoat it could have been better.

Overall I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/

I think Jason Reitman is a better director than Ivan Reitman. While Ivan Reitman has only made 3 films worth seeing which are Ghostbusters, Dave, and Stripes, Jason actually seems like he has more substance. Heck I even really enjoyed Juno despite it's sometimes annoyingly hip dialogue. Up in the air, and Thank you for smoking prove that he is better than his dad in every way. This is one of the most memorable films I have seen in years. It is cast perfectly, nobody other than George Clooney could have played this role with the right mix of charm and quiet loneliness. While Ivan only entertains with goofy films with a bit of heart, Jason does much more. His characters feel like people trapped in their own worlds. While Thank you for smoking was a dark and sometimes goofy satire about a man whose job disgusts people, this film is much more bleak in a way. Clooney's character Ryan's job is to fire people. He travels around America firing people. His only relationships are brief and casual at best and his family almost seems to forget he exists. He is happy in this life despite how it may appear to be horrible. His life is in the sky traveling around America. His content is upset by a newcomer Natalie played very well by Anna kendrick. Many have hyped her performance as a best actress nominee and while she was quite good I still think Abbie Cornish, and Carey Mulligan are my choices this year. Vera Farmiga plays a woman Clooney meets and has a casual relationship with. They meet every now and then and spend some time together that he loves more than he realizes for a while. They even text each other while in different cities. Ryan appears to be happy, but Natalie's new ideas for the life he leads are changing him in ways he doesn't realize.

She is the hopeful and optimistic girl who wants to make all firing done by computer. Ryan hates this, he thinks that firing someone is one of the most painful and hard times in someone's life and to do it electronically is soulless. He wants the people he makes redundant to have some dignity. The computer firing won't happen yet though, so Ryan, and Natalie are sent out on the road so Ryan can show Natalie how to do the job she thinks she understands. Ryan's boss is played by Jason Bateman, who has a majestic yet pitiful beard. While Ryan and Natalie are on the road they meet Vera Farmiga's character Alex. Of course this brings up many emotions he doesn't understand yet and Natalie tries to make him realize how important it is to have someone and to be loved. Ryan is ever the cynic and shrugs this off. The rest of the film is him dealing with his life and how it effects people and how it will change in the future. This is destined to be a classic, I can see it. Some may not like it as much as I do but I couldn't care less. This film is everything I wanted it to be. It has heart, sadness, and the occasional funny moment to lighten things. However this is not a comedy, this is a sad film about a man who spends his life without anyone he can really relate to. It is not a happy film, but for that I respect it even more. Ivan Reitman could never make a film this good, heck look at the crap he has made recently. Danny Mcbride also has a brief but well acted role, and there is a ridiculous yet glorious cameo by a man with a legandary mustache. I cant recommend this film highly enough. I am sure people could find some faults with it, but I couldn't care less right now. I loved it and that is all I care about.

Overall I give it a 9 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1315981/

Wow this film came out of nowhere. I never found Colin Firth very interesting, heck he seemed very bland to me before. Here though he shines as a man whose life is spiraling downward after his gay lover of 16 years dies in a car accident. The film takes place in the 1960s, which I didn't notice at first but then the vintage cars, and the occasional TV and radio broadcast about the Cuban missle crisis made it pretty clear. This is a very interesting film. Most gay films I have seen show a relationship that is limited to one or maybe two men and sometimes a woman as a cover for being gay This however shows Firth's character as having had sexual relations with women before and he even says he sleeps with women but falls in love with men. There is also not much sexual content in the film. A lot of sexual stuff is hinted at and for a while you think firth's character will either sleep with another man, or woman. This is all part of his life though. He seems like he tries to get closer to people but can't since his last love died. He even keeps a gun with him and practices shooting himself in various ways and places. He tries putting a pillow behind his head, and in the shower. He is also a college teacher who finds most of his students unbearable to teach. They clearly don't care about what he is saying and even when he gets emotionally involved about how we are all scared of something and how fear is used constantly whether it is by the government to make you afraid of communism, or Cuba. What I liked about the story in this film is that while it is slightly predictable at times, it never goes where you expect in the way you think it will. The film hints at a new romance with several people, both male and female. He watches his lady neighbor while she plays with her kids and seems to have a relationship with an old friend Charley who is played by the excellent Julianne Moore. All of this though is simply a distaction for him and whenether he finds himself getting close to someone he can't take it all the way because it hurts him too much.

The film is shot in a very odd way, almost like a fashion commercial or something. There are a lot of seemingly random close ups of eyes and lips, and the film is shot in a strangely dull way. Every color in the film seems to be washed out and bland, except when Firth see's something or someone that brightens his life. I mean that literally, colors bloom and become radiant at times when he feels some kind of strong emotion toward somebody. This is a very unique idea and it works most of the time. Another part of the film I thought was very well done was the music by Abel Korzeniowski. It has an odd ambient sound to it mixed in with some beautiful orchestral segments. It fits the film perfectly and it is one of the best scores of the year by far because you can even hear it outside the film's context and enjoy it. Firth also has a relationship with a student of his, but not one you would expect. It does get a bit more sexual later on but weirdly enough it never gets taken to the point you would think and it is more like two lost souls finding each other and discovering how similar they are. I found it very sweet and touching. I have many friends who like the idea of gay films, but find the sexual scenes uncomfortable. I don't feel this way but I can understand why some would. This film doesn't have any of that, it merely hints at it. It may seem a bit aimless, but that is the point. This man is going through his normal life routine but keeps getting interrupted by people he has either loved or wants to be able to love. He cannot accept that he has to move on and live, and that is the point of the film and what makes it stand out from other gay films. I highly recommend this film, even if you find gay scenes uncomforable you should give it a shot.

Overall I give it a 8.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

John Hillcoat will become one of the best directors of our decade. This film and The Proposition show that not only is he great at creating atmosphere, but his films also have some fantastic characters. I consider The Proposition to be the best western of the decade, and this just might become one of my favorite overall films of the decade if it can stand a second viewing. The plot of this film is kept vague on purpose. All we know is that the world has ended. Why? Because it has thats why. We are never given a reason as to why the world ends, we are just given these characters and a couple of brief flashbacks. Before I spend too much time praising the film I want to mention the only bad things about it. The flashbacks were all done well, but a couple were a bit less needed than others. Also the music by Nick Cave, while being mostly fantastic wasn't always needed. Now on to the good parts. The acting here has got to be some of the best of the year by far. I have always liked Viggo Mortenson, even before the lord of the rings films. Here though he was amazing as the father. His struggles to protect his son and teach him how to survive if he dies are heartbreaking. You really feel his pain and he wanders the desolate world. Kodi McPhee is also great as the boy. Not many kids could have done his role well, but he does it better than any kid I have seen in years. The way the dad and his boy interact are some of the most touching scenes in the film. Their trust in each other feels real and it is beautiful yet tragic at the same time. Charlez Theron also does well as the wife in the flashbacks. These exist to show that the dad clings to his memories to keep him going. Whether they are positive or negative, he seems to need them to stay sane and he finds it difficult to let them go. The visuals are also fantastic, they really set the tone and make the world look dead. Many have complained that this film is plotless and the characters dont evolve. I strongly disagree. What plot could a film like this have? Would a search and rescue plot where the boy and his son have to find the mother who was kidnapped be more in line with what the mainstream want?

Sure the film could throw in some more plot, but that is not the point of the film. There is no end to this film, there is only the road the characters follow.Nothing is certain in this film, you never really know who is good and who is bad. Most people appear to be bad, but there are some exceptions like a 90 year old man played by the excellent as usual Robert Duvall who the boy and his dad meet on the road. What is his point? Well he doesn't have a point. He, like the boy, are in the film to show some hint of humanity. That there is a always some hope to be found even in the darkest of times. The boy is meant to be the hope that his father his in the world. Even the film's ending doesn't explain the future of anything in the film. Most of it is open to your interpretation. I can understand why some people wouldn't like this film. It is very bleak and depressing and essentially plotless aside from a vague idea of reaching the coast. However I loved it. Reminded me of films like Stalker. I think this will probably be a love it or hate it film. It has scenes that will warm your heart and others that will make you want to take a shower. However bleak I make it sound though it is still one of my favorite films of the year. The relationshop between the boy and his dad is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking I have ever seen. Viggo should be nominated for an Oscar for this, he really deserves it. I highly recommend this film, though I know it won't be for everyone. Nobody but John Hillcoat could have made a great book like The Road into a film like this. He really knows how to make bleak films and he understands that this is a film about a boy and his son trying to survive. There doesn't need to be any complex plot, the world is over and this shows how these two people deal with it. Thats all you need to know.

Overall I give it a 10 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/

I am not a fan of Quentin Tarantino. I just thought I would get that out of the way. I don't hate his films, but I only really liked Reservoir Dogs, and Jackie Brown. The rest are fun but very overhyped. This however is the first time in years he has made a film I very much enjoyed. This has got to be one of the most fun, and tension filled films I have seen in ages. Very few films make me want to punch the air or yell random swear words in excitment, so to me it is quite an achievement that I did that a few times with this film. Not out loud of course. WW2 films are very over done, it may be a tragic war with an infinite amount of stories to be told but after a while they bore me. This manages to inject some excitment into a tired genre by pretty much making it a western. I saw this film when it first came out and I liked it but not as much as i do now. Lets get the bad out of the way first, and there is very little bad thankfully. Eli roth is one of the worst casting choices in the film. I understand the point of his character, but he and Tarantino being good friends probably got him this role. It sure couldn't have been his acting, because every time he talked he ruined a scene. I wouldn't have minded if he came out, beat people up and either walked away or stood silently. But most of his lines are turned into trash when he speaks them. Also this may have been intentional, but I thought Brad Pitt was a bit overly cheesy.

That could just be the point of his character so I will not consider it a fault yet. Back to the good though, Christoph Waltz. Holy crotch goblins that guy is good. I haven't been so impressed by a villain in years. He is great because he appears kind and even goofy but can instantly switch and be terrifying the next. I am glad Tarantino cast him rather than a big hollywood star. I see good things in his future if he picks the right roles. I also loved how the music was a mix of other films rather than an original score. It may have sounded odd at first but it got better later on. I won't go into the plot too much, but I will say it involves nazis being killed. Some people have critisized this film for almost being juvenile in it's depiction of violence and it's idea of revenge. While some of the violence like the scalping didn't need to be shown, I can understand the point of it. It may be a bit juvenile, but it isn't meant to be a highly intellectual film. The massacre at the end may have made me think that one man's hero can be another's terrorist since maybe not everyone in the theater was evil but I can forgive the film that. There are some scenes of tension in this film that Tarantino did better than most films this year. The bar scene, while very long and drawn out was fantastic, and the intro scene are the two stand outs. I am glad I gave this film another chance, it is by far Tarantino's best film. I have always respected Tarantino as a great writer of dialogue and he is pretty good at making homages to older films. This though is his most consistant film and one I highly recommend.

Overall I give it a 8.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765010/

This film surprised me. I like Jim Sheridan despite how awful Get rich or die tryin was. I have no idea why he did a piece of crap like that, but this film slightly redeemds him. I really enjoyed the original Danish film, it was well done with a message and it had a hint of subtlety to it. This though is a bit more blunt. Everyone was hyping tobey maguire's performance in this, and while I agree it is better than most of his roles I was not that impressed. His freak out scene at the end was great and very well done, but there wasn't enough tension and build up before it so it just felt a bit random and thrown in to end the film in a dramatic way. Also maybe it is just me, but I thought Tobey maguire was slightly over the top. Especially the scene where he has to do something horrible to live when he is captured. The face he pulls is very weird and unintentionally campy and slightly funny. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as brutal and convincing as the original film. The scenes showing what Maguire and the other Army private are put through are done well enough, but they almost feel like filler. Not much really happened in them for a while and when it didn't it didn't really have enough context to be as emotional as intended. The original film gave a good reason for the brutal act while this one just seems a bit thrown in for dramatic effect. I think Tobey Maguire's part could have been played by someone more convincing like Paddy Considine. Maguire tries his best to look slightly unhinged and emotionally distant to his family and friends, but a lot of the time he ends up either looking unintentionally campy with his crazy wide eyed glare, or slightly over the top emotional scenes. He is good overall though, and I am glad to see him try something different. The scenes with him and Jake Gyllenhaal are the best emotional wise. I think Jake Ghyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman were the most impressive in this film actually. Portman especially pulls off a very convincing portayal of a woman trying to reconnect with her husband she thought was dead.

Carey mulligan also had a brief role as the wife of the man Maguire was captured with. The best parts of this film to me were Jake Ghyyllenhaal's relationship with his dad played by Sam Shepard. They had some context and were done well, while the parts with Maguire's character Sam fell flat for me a lot of the time. There is a scene at a birthday party dinner which is one of the best in the film and it is where Maguire really shines when doing the quiet crazy eyed stare. Another part of the film I liked was the two kids. The older one was annoying at times, but they were both very well acted. It is not easy for kids to appear emotional especially in a film like this but I thought they pulled it off. Their relationship with Ghyllenhaal's character were my favorite parts of the film. I really wanted him and Portman to be together while I didn't feel as much about Sam. I don't think I was supposed to though, his character is meant to have an emotional disconnect with his old life. Overall I would say this is a pretty good remake, despite how blunt and melodramatic it can be. I prefer the original Danish film but I still recommend this one too. It is one of the better remakes I have seen, though I think The Messenger was a much better film about how Soldiers deal with emotional issues. Ben Foster could have played Maguire's part very well not that I think about it. Another problem I had with the film was the ending, that last narrated line was not needed and it's only purpose was to point out the obvious. But heck anything is better than Get rich or die tryin, so I would say that Jim Sheridan did a good job with this film.

Overall I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780511/

Robert de niro doesn't owe us anything. People complain that he picks bad roles these days, but so did many great actors. Look at Michael caine in the 80s, he was in Jaws 4: The revenge! De niro has always been a good actor, and in this film he shows a kinder side. This film has had one of the worst trailers I have seen in ages. The trailer makes it look like a slightly goofy feel good family film. It is the exact opposite, in fact it is a pretty depressing and sad tale of a father trying to reconnect with his family after his wife dies. To do this he surpries them by visiting via train, and bus. On his journey we find out he is very sick. He takes pills to help, and his doctor advises him not to travel. De niro's character is one of his more sympathetic, usually I find him quite cold even when doing emotional scenes. Here though he plays a very sympathetic character. We feel his pain and repressed frustration as the family he is visiting thinks of ways to lie to him throughout the film about his other son David and why he can't stay. Sam Rockwell is good as usual as a struggling composer son wasting his talents as a drummer, and Drew Barrymore is one of his daughters. She was pretty forgetable though, but Kate Beckinsale is quite good. One of the problems with this film is how it uses kids. De niro see's his grown up family as children sometimes when they walk toward him or talk. This is sweet at first and it shows how he remembers them as young kids, but then they turn back into lieing adults. After a while though it starts to get a bit cheesy, especially when he has a dream conversation with them about why they lied to him and why they can't feel like they can connect to him even though they connected to their mom. He was only lied to and told all the good news while being spared the bad.

He is trying to get back into their lives and have a family dinner like they used to when their mom was alive. But this time he wants to be let into their lives.Back to the dream scene though. It drags out way too long and it has all these little kids discussing grow up problems and having and argeument with de niro's character. At first it was cute, but then it just seemed like lazy storytelling. It summed up every single plot detail left hanging and explained all the characters of the film too easily. Aside from de niro's character you never really get a sense of the family. They are given personalities but they hide things from their dad and dont seem to find lieing to him a big deal. Which of course is the point, when it comes to your family you have to hear everything whether it is good or bad. This is one of those nice films that is really nothing special when it comes down to it. It will not be remembered as one of de nirp's best, but for what it is worth I quite enjoyed it. If you want to watch a lovely film about a man reconnecting with his children and you don't mind a slightly sad story then this is worth watching. it wont win any awards, but it is still worth seeing despite how predictable and generic it can be. I found it quite heartwarming and heck thanks to de niro's acting it even had some emotionally powerful scenes. Sometimes you don't want to watch a gritty drama, and if you just want to relax and watch a nice film you don't have to ponder over then I recommend this. It has something for everybody, drama, comedy, tragedy, and Robert De niro. What more could you want from a film like this?

Overall I give it a 7 out of 10.