The Men Who Stare At Goats by Grant Heslov

For the first half of The Men Who Stare At Goats I was overwhelmed with the sheer audacity of what I was seeing, that I didn't care that the story was moving at such a snails pace. But the second half of the film sinks and sinks quickly and gets too bogged down in trying to tie all of the strands of the story up, which is a real shame because the first half is a riot.

Grant Heslov who wrote Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney has what it takes as a director. He directs proceedings with a fresh and unique eye, a lot of the angles used reminded me of Clooneys directing debut Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind but here they are showing up the absolute lack of war that is going on in Iraq. It's just a shame that more time wasn't put into the script but I guess when you get the likes of this cast together you either go with what you've got and hope they make the most of what's there or loose some glorious performances.

Everyone in it are at their very best and all look like they are having a ball. Stephen Lang plays it straight but is hilarious, is there anything finer then seeingg him decked out in his best tennis clothes reading a book too seriously. Hilarious. Jeff Bridges plays the dude but it's as if this film is the prequel to 'The Big Lebowski' an origin story of the dude. And that is A-okay with me. Kevin Spacey is a hoot and I much prefer George Clooney in this mode of acting that he does, all wild bug eyes and far too serious for himself than his style of acting that he invokes in films like 'Up In The Air' which I seem to be one of the few people that was bored by. And finally Ewen McGregor plays the straight man in the piece and does it superbly well.

ALl up if your up for a bit of a surreal take on the Iraq go along for the ride but just know that at some point the film does sag under it's own story.

Thank you for everyone involved.

The Blind Side By John Lee Hancock

I finally got around to watching 'The Blind Side' last night and it wasn't nearly as bad as I predicted. That being said the film is by no means memorable.

The film is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, who has been around for a while but hasn't got too many credits to his name. He is however responsible for writing one of my favourite films of all time 'A Perfect World' which was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Kevin Costner. I found that film until it's final moments to be a subtle character study, which hit hard with some emotional truths about the welfare system in the USA.

'The Blind Side' however lacks all of the subtlety that 'A Perfect World' had and due to this I never fully went along for the ride. It is based upon the true story of Michael Oher and Leigh Ann Tuohy and how he went to become an NFL draftee due to her guidance and support. An amazing story truth be told, that is found wanting in this film and really is more movie of the week fare.

So I come now to Sandra Bullocks performance of which she won the Best Actress Oscar. Now her performance is restrained when it comes to letting off the tears but it does play to Bullocks strengths which has always been her quick tongue. The film belongs to Bullock but to me it is not enough to rate this as Best Actress performance.

Gabourey Sidibe in 'Precious' allowed me into a world I had never seen before and did it with such openness, I thought she might just overcome the behemoth that the Bullock Blind Side had become. This however does not surprise me considering for my money the best actor performance of the year wasn't even nominated, Sam Rockwell in 'Moon' a film that I have seen four times already now and can't wait too watch it again due in large part to Rockwell's blistering, emotionally charged performance.

Brothers By Jim Sheridan

Brothers By Jim Sheridan is adaptation of a Danish film by the same name.

I don't know what to make of this film. Its equisitely made, the performances are all of the highest calibre, there is even a great U2 song used to poignant effect but some how I left the cinema feeling hollow.

The three leads are all there and emotionally honest but there was just something missing between their connections. The film belongs to the two young girls who play the daughters. Their scenes are harrowing and not like anything I have seen since In America another Jim Sheridan film. He seems to have a great knack of coaxing sublime performances from children. Nuanced, emotional but never trying to be the smart child in the room that so many child performances out of hollywood seem to succumb to.

But this doesn't make up for the fact that the ending does have the emotional punch that the film had had me geared up for. It sort of peters out.

Green Zone By Paul Greengrass

The Green Zone is a loud, fast and for most of it's time a smart action film. And really is a Bourne film in many ways, only that it isn't.

Unlike The Hurt Locker, Green Zone wears it's politics on it's sleave. The whole film is damning indictment n those political leaders that chose to believe the lie of WMD's in Irag, so a war could be raged, and a puppet regime installed to take control of the countries vast oil reserves.

And for a clear majority of the film, I was on the edge of my seat, flying through each sequence not knowing where I was going and this has a lot to do with how Greengrass lays out his story but also due to the fact that he himself didn't know the ending of the film while they were making it.

All the performances are solid, every one plays their part.

But the film really belongs to Greengrass of Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum fame and his editor. He seems to have finally found a film that perfectly suits his style. There is a sequence which I ill not describe as it comes at the end of the film that is breathtaking. It twists and turns and you never quite know how it will end.

Thank you to all those involved.

Precious by Lee Daniels

What can be said about this little film that seems to sweeping the independent film world.

For all intensive purposes this is a film that not many should see because of the dark subject matter but somehow seems to be playing everywhere and what a relief that is.

The film belongs to the two central performances. Mo'Nique is sensational as Precious' mother. She scales every bit of emotional terrain with such tenacity and heartfelt honesty that it truly is a wonder. The charter could have so easily fallen into caricature but due to the strength of the performance we get a portrait of a shattered woman who's only way of getting by is through pain. And her Oscar win is well deserved.

Gabourey Sidibe as Precious is miraculous. There is not a wrong foot in this performance who in my mind should have walked away with a best actress award. It truly is special performance that she has give the world, the complete anti-thesis to her mother. I was mezmerized by her and thought that she gave the film so much warmth and hope.

Lee Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher have crafted a very dark film. The first half really reaches out of the screen and whacks across the head, so much dastardly shit happens to Precious. But by films there is such strength and resolve from the this young woman you can't help but think that this is a woman who can not only take on the world but bend it to her will.

So thank you to all involved for this miraculous film.

OSCARS EDITION

I won't bother with any of the techinical awards because with out a doubt Avatar has changed the way we view cinema and without a doubt deserves every single one of these that it gets.

So best orginal screenplay. I say would be a tie between Up and The Hurt Locker and of these two I'm putting the buzz around the hurt locker to take it over the line.

best adapted screenplay will go to Jason Reitman for Up In The Air but I think District 9 should get it.

Original song I would like to see go to Crazy Heart.

Original Score I would like to see Up take it but have a feeling the Avatar may squeeze in.

Editing will certainly go to The Hurt Locker but without a doubt I think District 9 should get it.

The Hurt Locker will take best direction.

I think Inglourious Basterds will take cinematography.

Animated film will go to Up.

Precious will get Best Supporting Actress.

I'd like to see Precious also get Best Actress but I think it will go to The Blind Side.

Inglouroius Basterds has a firm hand on the Best Supporting actor award.

And the biggest test of the night is in in the best actor award. I think Crazy Heart will take it but A Single Man is just as deserving.

Best Film will go to Avatar.

Although due to the way the voting is done on this this year, there is a chance that District 9 or Up could slide in there.

There you have it. We will see tomorrow if I am right. Enjoy the day or evening whenever you so choose to be watching.

Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton

Oh how I long for the old Tim Burton to come bursting into my life. It seems to me apart from The Corpse Bride and to a lesser extent Big Fish, that Mr Burton has been gobbled up by the machine that is hollywood.

Where all his old films had a practical visual and very much gothic aesthetic even in his two Batman films now a days its all CG and lifeless.

Alice In Wonderland promised so much and delivered on nearly none of it. A great director, great material with one of our great character/lead actors in a supporting role. But it is all to no avail.

It is truly a lifeless and depressing affair. To see so much talent wasted, so much money wasted on something that seems to have been made purely on the account that it was this materials time to get remade. And while there will be a lot made about the fact that this is a sequel to the original Disney animation, I think it tries to give us all the stuff that people remember from the original and just repackage, I'm sorry reimagine it, I'm sorry I mean sequel.

It's lowest point comes near the end of the film, where there is a truly horrible dance. That is all I will say on the subject.

Daybreakers by The Spieirig Brothers

There is a lot on show in Daybreakers I just wish more care had gone into making a cohesive interesting film.

There is much to like style and concept wise especially in the first 20 to 30 minutes of the film but not long after that it goes way down hill.

The Spieirig Brothers know how to direct but writing is not their forte. They brought us the fantastic almost off the cuff horror film Undead a few years back and have since then been trying raising the money for their second helping. While the feat of getting Lionsgate to back this film and get upwards of twenty million to shoot the film, you just wish more time had gone into the script then to getting the money.

It really is fantastic premise with great allegories to the oil crisis but there is little else to like about the script.

The world they create through the use of special effects is fantastic but I left wanting to watch Dark City again rather than talk about Daybreakers.

The acting is all one note pretty much with a few standouts but that ain't too hard when everyone else seems to phoning it in.

That's all I can say about it.

Fantastic vision, poor execution.

A Single Man by Tom Ford

A Single Man by Tom Ford is one of the most immaculate films you will get to watch this year.

Every frame of it is lush and constructed in the hope of it being perfect. And by looking at it you would be hard pressed to say it wasn't so. The main problem though is that this striving for perfection at points strangles the life out of the piece.

A Single Man, based on the novel with the same name by Christopher Isherwood, tells the story of George and his final day before he intends to kill himself. Not a film that you would think would have much humour and warmth to it but that is why this film succeeds because there is so much laughter in the piece and a whole lot of love as well. This is reflected in the grading and the sound of the film, when George comes up against something that he is overwhelmed with, his normal drab life abounds in lush warm colours and every heart beat seems to be registered. It is a fantastic device used through out the film. My only misgiving about it is that it does teeter over and seems to be directed like an old 1970's french advertisement. But I guess this is bound to happen from time to time with such a device.

Colin Firth as George is quite brilliant. A deserved BAFTA win and OSCAR nomination. Nuanced and heart achingly at sea without his love. He's never been better. There is such texture to this performance that he hasn't really been given a chance to show before that you forget how great an actor he is. This is a man that made a very two dimensional character in the bridget jones diary series come alive with some a little bit more. Recently he was seen in Michael Winterbottom's Genova and again was quite brilliant there.

The funniest thing about the casting of this film is that you have two exceptional english talents in minor roles playing American and the one American in the piece is playing English but they all do it with such aplomb that you forget where they come from.

Matthew Goode as George's lover, Jim, nails it right on the head. Goode who has recently been seen in Watchmen and has just finished shooting Cemetary Junction is turning into quite a reliable character actor. The scene between George and Jim as they read is just fantastic, you get the real sense that this is a couple that have been together for 16 years.

Julianne Moore as George's neighbor Charley, is beautiful as woman who fell in love with a man that she could never have and has never wanted to let go.

And Nicholas Hoult as one of George's students, Kenny, has the uncanny sense to rock Firth from his intended goal. You never doubt that Hoult is able to this.

A fine film that would not have happened if Tom Ford didn't want it so much, didn't care for the story and the people so much that he was willing to risk his own money for it. And in the end that is what rings out that this is a very personal film that the film maker was desperate to tell.

Thank you Mr Ford and to everyone else who was involved in the film.