Harry Brown by Daniel Barber

Michael Caine is Harry Brown.

Harry Brown is a very, very grim film. The subject matter, that way it's shot, the performances. Everything about this film is dark, gritty and takes itself very seriously.

It talks of the problems that have engulfed our youth. Drugs, guns, sex, violence, poverty and no real place to call a home. Something I commend the film highly for doing so. The problem is that the film is just revenge fantasy, that feels like it has tagged a social problem on to make it seem not so gratuitous and heavy handed. Of which it has both in ample measure. It is Gran Torino but for the brits but with out the sense of humour.

Michael Caine is mezmerising as the titular role but that's about all that I can say to recommend about this film.

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

The White Ribbon is one of those rare films, where so much of the story is told through the images you are seeing, even with the use of voiceover.

It really is an astounding film, that will haunt you for days to come. No wonder it won the Golden Palm at last years Cannes film festival.

The first half is a little laboured (but I don't know whether it was the film or because I was soaking wet from the rain I had to fight through to get to the cinema and was freezing my arse of for the first half) and certainly takes it's time. But the second half really hits you in the gut.

Directed by Michael Haneke with wonderful restraint. He really allows the audience to find these characters and place their own sort of judgement on them. The film was shot in colour and transferred into beautiful black and white and you could never tell.

This really is a special film that was lucky not to pick up the Best Oscar for Foreign Film but lost out to The Secret In Their Eyes which will be released in the next few weeks. Which I am also looking forward to.

To all those who read this you should really go and see The White Ribbon. It gives a compelling insight into the people that would be responsible for World War II. This is a war film but one like you have never seen.

Thank you to Michael Haneke for giving us a truly unique perspective into something that I thought I knew all there was to know.

The Last Station by Michael Hoffman

'All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.' Leo Tolstoy.

Is the tag line and major theme for the film and sums up how I feel about the film itself.

The Last Station is an absolute delight. Written and directed by Michael Hoffman who was responsible for the directing duties on the classic Soapdish and also wrote and directed the film version of A Midsummer Nights Dream again shows us that wit and heart can belong together in a faithful marriage.

The Last Station tells the story of the last months of Leo Tolstoy life. The writer of 'War and Peace' and probably the worlds first paparazzi hounded writer.

The banter between characters in the first two thirds of the film is a joy to behold and you could tell the actors were loving it as well. It reminded me of the best sort of Aaron Sorkin script on The West Wing, flipping from humour to angst to love all in a manner of minutes. Each character runs a gamut of emotions and all of the actors do it with such finesse, such love that you wonder why more films like this don't get made.

Each of the performances; from Oscar nominees Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer (their scene when they are both trying to out chicken the other is an absolute standout); to James McAvoy's innocent writer who opens up to the notion of what true love really is; to Paul Giamatti's heartless Tolstoyan who is given a great reprieve and in a lesser actors hands would have been one dimensional but Giamatti doesn't succumb to that; are all first rate.

It's greatest accomplishment is the insight it gives us into one of the seminal literary figures of our time and does it in absorbing and whimsical manner.

My one problem with the film is that the last reel looses the rhythm's of earlier in the film and instead steaming to a wonderful conclusion it jerks its way there. That is not to say that the ending is bad it just lacks the finesse of earlier but will still make you wonder at the joy of love.

Thank you to all who were involved with this film.

Robin Hood by Ridley Scott

Oh, Ridley, Ridley, Ridley. What is going on? You are one of my favourite directors but what have you done for me lately. Matchstick Men and Gladiator I loved, everything else has left me pissing in the wind.

And the same can be said of Robin Hood. It is a mess of a film, giving us an origin story of a figure no one wants to know the origin of. We want the Sherriff of Nottingham, Maid Marion and the Merry Men. Here we get bits and bobs of all but nothing conclusive of any of them.

The biggest problem is that, you have such a high calibre actress like Cate Blanchett in role that shouldn't really come into the story until Robin enters Nottingham but they try and give a little bit more screen time and it weakens the film.

Russell Crowe is ever reliable and no one else could play this version of Robin. And all the other performances are solid. But I was just left wondering what was it all for?

And I am still wondering? It made me think of Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, and I will admit here in print that I love Prince Of Thieves. I mean it had Kevin Fucking Costner for one. Alan Rickman playing bad like no one else can. Morgan Freeman before he was THE Morgan Freeman and of course you had Bryan Adams singing his heart out with a song that stayed at number for about a zillion years.

Scott's Robin Hood, isn't about fun, its about being serious, it's about being real, it's about being epic. And in a way it gets there. But I much prefer the other partnerships of Scott and Crowe. The only reason I found to go to this film is is to watch one of the greatest actors and actresses of our time play off one another and that is where the film is brilliant. Everything else, all that comes to mind is 'Meh'.

44 Inch Chest by Malcom Venville

44 Inch Chest is the new film from the the writers of the mesmerising Sexy Beast, Louis Mellis and David Scinto. Chest however isn't on the same level as Sexy Beast.

To get it out of the way, is the film misogynist. Hugely so. Did I still enjoy myself. Yes, I did, to a certain extent. What does this make me? I don't know.

That being said, I think this would have worked wonders on the stage and I hope someone realises this and does put it up on stage because I think it would make tantalizing theatre.

All the performances are first rate. Ian McShane and John Hurt being the standouts and it was interesting seeing Ray Winstone trying to invert his hard bastard status.

Some of the writing especially the rhythms that are found between the five male leads and are fantastic to listen to. Especially one segment where they are all trying to out do each other with pay outs to the kidnapped man. I couldn't stop laughing at this point and everyone was saying it with relish.

Go to this film if you want to see the cream of English Acting and if you want to see some good ballsy dialogue that doesn't shy away from it's own dastardliness.

Animal Kingdom by David Michod

I was lucky enough last night to see an advanced screening of the new Australian crime film, Animal Kingdom. And I tell you people this film is something else. Finally there is an Australian film this year that will hold its own against any other film out there and does not need to be reviewed in a sunnier light just because it is Australian. I mean the film has already won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival and it wholly deserves it.

Firstly let me tell you a little bit about the film maker, David Michod. Michod is part of Blue Tongue Films which is a company based in Australia that is really putting out some top notch Australian work both as features and short films. Also apart of Blue Tongue are the Edgerton Brothers who brought as The Square and Luke Doolan who also edits Animal Kingdom and was recently nominated for an academy award in the short film section. Michod was responsible for two short films Crossbow and Spider that played well at festivals globally and has also co-written the American independent film Hesher that stars Joseph Gordon Levitt and also played at Sundance.

Animal Kingdom is one of those rare films that had me constantly surprised and jolted me from my seat on more than three occasions. The film is about and delves deeply inside a crime family that live in melbourne, so comparisons to other crime films, gangster films and thriller's will abound but to me this film reminded me more of Paul Thomas Anderson's sublime first film Sydney(Hard Eight). Where most recent crime films and television have fallen down (especially in Australia) is that they forget about the heart and life that these people would be lead. Well Animal Kingdom has this in spades, each character is so well wrought, so full of life that it makes it hard for you to look away and this has everything to do with Michod's deft touch at characterisation in his script of even the smallest characters.

Michod is also aided by an outstanding performances by everyone involved. Just on paper this is such a strong cast. You've got Guy Pearce as Leckie, a strong police officer that believes in the law. Joel Edgerton as one of the cody brothers and lending some great comic relief. Jackie Weaver, the matriach of the family and all too oedipal that it had a couple in front of me squiriming in their seats. And Ben Mendelsohn the glue that binds and shatters them. With that on display you would be forgiven if the other characters weren't as well formed but here you are given treats by everyone. Luke Ford so over come by Mendelsohn's Pope that he doesn't know what to do with himself is outstanding. Sullivan Stapleton nails the frenetic energy of Craig masterfully well. Mirrah Foulkes as Edgerton wife lets you in on the pressures outsiders of the family are under. Dan Wylie's slippery lawyer is all too real. And James Frecheville in his first screen role is a revelation. The film I think however belongs to Mendelsohn. His character of Pope is electrifying, you never quite know what is going on with him and this makes him that much scarier.

To say too much about the story is too give away the twist and turns of this film that had me wondering the whole time where too next. And I mean that in a good way. I think they should apply the 'Psycho' rule to this film and not allow people into the film after twenty minutes.

Now your probably thinking come on give me the negatives but I really can't think of one. Oh wait yes I can. I have to wait another three weeks before I can watch this film again because I will watch it again and I hope to see you there.

Michod has given us one of the best Australian films since, I think, Chopper and I can't wait to see what he does next. And anyone who thought Underbelly the TV show nailed Australian crime are sorely mistaken. Animal Kingdom is what it's about, sure there aren't any tits on display, but instead you get a film, a drama that doesn't pander for the easy answer.

Mark June 3rd in your diary and do yourself a favour and go see this film, your time will not be wasted.

Thank you David Michod and too all those involved with this film.

The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arriaga

The Burning Plain is the debut feature from the astonishing writer Guillermo Arriaga.

Arriaga was formerly responsible for such spellbinding films like Babel, 21 Grams, Ameros Perros and The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada. Each of these films I was absolutely enthralled by and they would often make my top ten lists of that year. The films are thought provoking yet passionately engaged.

The Burning Plain is not in the same league as Arriaga other work but is still some of the most challenging work you will see. For the mere fact that it deals with two great female characters with such depth and honesty that is rarely seen today in cinema. BOth Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger give beautifully nuanced work. I was particularly moved by one scene in particular with Basinger who is so over come with passion for the first time in a long time that her body turns into a quivering mess. It is both heartbreaking and life affirming at the same time.

The film follows a similar path to Arriaga's other screenplays in that it opens with an incident that will effect the lives of others and then shoots off and investigates all of these lives whether they be before the event or after. The problem I had was that I got to the ending before the Arriaga, that is not to say there is a twist it's just that the last 10 to 15 minutes of the film goes about trying to tie things up, not neatly but connectedly and I either knew or didn't know. So it led to a prolonged ending that really spoilt the rest of the film for me. Which is a shame because the film is beautiful.

But as drama's go, there will be very few and far between that will be as rewarding as The Burning Plain this year. Not to mention very few films will give the audience so much credit and not pander for the easy option.

Thank you to all of those people involved for making smart and challengin drama in a fresh way.

Moon by Duncan Jones

I come to you today, not with a new film due to the fact that I have been injured and bed ridden so have not been able to keep up with all the new releases, so I come to you today with a film that was released last year but got severely overlooked. I am of course talking about Duncan Jones debut feature film Moon, starring the unbelievable Sam Rockwell in a tour De force performance.

The film is basic in it's premise, what happens when a clone is awakened to the fact that it is a clone, is it its own person or do we have the power to manipulate them to do whatever we want. From this idea, Jones (who I should say right here is THE DAVID BOWIE'S son, but don't let that distract you from the greatness on offer in this film) extrapolates all sorts of issues and emotions that are both revelatory and confronting for the viewer. To give too much away of the film is to do you the viewer who hasn't seen it and great disservice. Know that I have watched this film I think at least five times in the past year, twice at the cinema and at least three times on DVD (that's right I am not upgraded to blue ray, yet. My friend Ben gives me grief about it all the time, so it will be soon.) And each time the film has left me emotionally exhausted, it really hits you right in the gut.

Duncan Jones doesn't put a foot wrong with every aspect of this film. It has a enough familiar sci fi genre conventions to make this film feel comfortable but at the same time there is a whole world (or should I say moon? I'm sorry, I know, I know a bad dad joke) of new ideas and experiences on offer to allow you fresh insight.

Sam Rockwell (I can't rave about this guy enough, those of you who haven't checked out Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, do yourself a favour hire it and love it. And love his performance in it.) is truly stunning in the duel roles of Sam Bell and Sam Bell. On a purely technical level there was never a point where I thought they weren't both in the room. But emotionally Rockwell knows exactly how to draw a viewer into the world and know the right point to show the cracks in the person that left this viewer flawed. He is mesmerizing and heart breaking all at the same time. What left me more flawed is that this film, let alone Rockwell's performance were left out of the running at the end of year awards. In my mind his performance was the best of the year.

The films is also strongly aided by a rich and atmospheric score that has just the right amount of emotional sting to it by Clint Mansell. Mansell was also responsible for Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain, two of my favourite scores (both are on high rotation in my Itunes along with the Moon score now) but this time he is working alone and he nails it.

Go and buy this film because all I can tells ya is that it is a film that is more satisfying on the fifth viewing.

Thank you to all of those involved.