April 4, 2007
The Job (2007) **
A group of well-dressed businessmen and women gather outside a mid-level office park. The silence is broken by a pick-up truck blaring mariachi music. The driver needs two lawyers, an accountant and a CEO. When this film was made in 2007, it was clearly a satire about illegal immigrants and the way they're treated by employers. But then, after the economic crash of 2008-2010, the film has acquired an entirely new meaning - a satire on white-collar unemployement.
Freeheld (2007) *
Même les pigeons vont au paradis (2007) ***
Peter And The Wolf (2007) ***
Excellent cartoon based on the famous Prokofiev's music piece. An Oscar-winning co-production between UK and Poland.
I Met The Walrus (2007) ***
An inventive cartoon based on an interview of John Lennon by Jerry Levitan in 1969. Levitan, then 14 years old, tracked Lennon to his hotel room in Toronto. The animation is based on Levitan's recording of the interview, which was edited down to 5 minutes. Josh Raskin's focus was on the interview itself: "I just wanted to literally animate the words, unfurling in the way I imagined they would appear inside the head of a baffled 14-year-old boy interviewing his idol". Directed by Josh Raskin and produced by Jerry Levitan, the film was nominated for an Oscar.
How To Hook Up Your Home Theatre (2007) ***
A Goofy cartoon, as good as the classic "How To" films from the 1940's and the 1950's.
March 3, 2007
February 2, 2007
There Will Be Blood (2007) **
This film is so expertly directed, so wonderfully acted, so well shot and so well designed, that it is very easy to overlook its mediocre narrative, and mistake it for a masterpiece. However, the story, loosely (but not loosely enough) adapted from a ridiculous and horribly dated novel by Upton Sinclair "Oil", is so simplistic and far-fetched, it drags this otherwise brilliantly realized movie down the drain. All characters are completely devoid of any complexity - they are like refugees from a Soviet socialist realist drama from the Stalinist era. They lack any psychological credibility whatsoever. Paul Thomas Anderson is a wonderfully gifted filmmaker; his mistake was in trying to adapt a very crappy piece of stupid socialist propaganda about evil Yankee exploiters.
Smiley Face (2007) **
Uneven, but often hilarious comedy about one very, very bad day in the life of girl stoned out of her mind. Directed by Gregg Araki.
Lars and the Real Girl (2007) **
Uneven, but often funny comedy about a deranged and dysfunctional loner (Ryan Gosling) who falls in love with a sex doll named Bianca. Emily Mortimer plays his sweet sister-in-law, Patricia Clarkson is his non-judgemental psychiatrist, but it's Kelli Garner ("Bully", ''The Aviator", "Havoc 2: Normal Adolescent Behavior") who steals the movie as Bianca's determined rival.
The Kite Runner (2007) **
Deeply disturbing, powerful tale about two Afghan boys. Memorable, but uneven. The first half is great, the second half is too conventional.
Norbit (2007) **
Gone Baby Gone (2007) **
Gritty police drama about the kidnapping of a little girl. An adaptation of a novel by Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River"). Ben Affleck's feature film debut, starring his younger brother Casey.
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007) **
Overlong, interesting, but ultimately disappointing western about the murder of Jesse James.
Copying Beethoven (2007) **
Diane Kruger plays a female composer who befriends a deaf Beethoven (Ed Harris). Directed by Agnieszka Holland.
Sweeney Todd (2007) **
Tim Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical about an insane barber in Victorian London. The art direction, the cinematography, the costume, the songs and the performances are all first rate. But the simplistic story - an insane mix of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Oliver Twist" - drags it all down. Jolting, but forgettable.
Michael Clayton (2007) **
A failed attempt to imitate a John Grisham legal thriller formula, with a bit of "Network" thrown in for good measure. George Clooney stars as a go-to man working for a large legal firm with some unsavory clients. Boring, preachy and lame. The first half of this corporate thriller is needlessly complicated and confusing. The second half is disappointingly simple and straightforward.
January 1, 2007
Surf's Up (2007) *
The "fake documentary" concept is quite original for an animated film, but after a promising beginning, this "surfing penguins" picture quickly becomes boring and repetitive.
The Savages (2007) *
The Golden Compass (2007) *
A very disappointing adaptation of the first novel in Philip Pullman's magnificent trilogy, "His Dark Materials". But then again, not much was to be expected from Chris Weitz, best known previously as the uncredited co-director of "American Pie". He turned a deliciously subversive and powerful anti-Christian parabole into a bland (and vaguely anti-clerical) Hollywood blockbuster.
Lions For Lambs (2007) *
Ridiculous and pointless film that includes every possible cliché about the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan without offering a single original idea. All characters - from Tom Cruise's neo-con senator to Meryl Streep's naive liberal journalist to Robert Redford's idealistic university professor - are crude stereotypes unconnected to any reality whatsoever. Basically a stupid MSM's op-ed piece masquarading as a movie.
I'M Not There (2007) *
A pretentious mess of a movie, all about the life of Bob Dylan, with six different actors embodying a different aspect of the musician's life and work. Good music, nice visuals, but no real story.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) *
Boring historical drama. Full of anti-Spanish bigotry and other historical inaccuracies.
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