Doubt - Cineworld, Edinburgh, 6/02/09

Meryl Streep?

Check.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman?

Check.

Oscar buzz?

Check.

Plot dealing with the ghastly goings on in a Catholic school?

Check.

Put them all together and what do you get?

a) A self-righteous, self-indulgent, pompous, dull, vanity project with the sole purpose of garnering Oscar nods for all involved?

b) An entertaining, moving and emotionally engaging movie that deals sensitively with a controversial subject?

Hands up who had "a"?

Well done you.

This should have been terrific. Streep and Hoffman are quality and, even here, they are good but they are let down by a screenplay and direction that are just ridiculous at times. Thunder storms and crows herald bad news! The question of "doubt" is sledge-hammered into the skulls of everyone in the audience. It just doesn't ever work.

Originally "Doubt" was a stage play and, like a lot of stage-to-screen journeys, it never shakes off the "theatre". The subtlety that film affords is never given in to and instead there are loud voices, big gestures and theatrical glances all over this.

There is plenty to enjoy in watching Streep and Hoffman...they could read the telephone directory and it would be entertaining...but "Doubt" has too many flaws for it ever to reach the "classic" status it so clearly wants.

Frost/Nixon - Cineworld, Edinburgh, 4/02/09

Gasp in wonder as Michael Sheen plays yet another icon of British popular culture!

He is the thinking mans Alastair McGowan.

Isn't anyone else getting a bit fed up of Sheen?

Isn't his role as rent-a-Britbloke schtick wearing a bit thin?

Doesn't anyone else want to see him actually "act" as opposed to impersonate?

Nope?

It's just me then is it?

Fine.

Here the true story of David Frosts meeting with Richard Nixon is played out over a couple of hours.

Really, this film lasts for two hours...two hours to get to the bit where Nixon shames himself by declaring that anything he did as President couldn't be illegal because he was the President.

That's not really much of a hook for a two hour film is it?

Anyone interested in politics (heaven knows I am, I teach politics in my "real" life) would already know about this and, in all probability, have seen the real interview. Why on earth anyone needs a dramatised version of something that you can see the real version of is beyond me.

It's a bit like going to see a film of your own wedding video...a film version where better looking people play you. What's the bloody point of that? You could watch you...you being you.

I digress.

Go and buy the real interviews on DVD then do a bit of reading on Watergate.

You'll learn more and be more entertained.

Revolutionary Road - Cineworld, Edinburgh, 31/1/09

Ah.

Revolutionary Road.

It's a good film you know.

I really don't want to say too much more than that.

I have to though.

The problem with "Revolutionary Road" is that it presents, all too accurately, all too honestly, all too gloriously and all too terrifyingly the realities of my own experience of the Holy state of matrimony...and a right state it became too.

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation"

That's true isn't it? I don't know if it's true of women...I don't even know if it's true of all men but I know that it has been true of my own life for large parts of it.

That's the heart of "Revolutionary Road"...the quiet desperation that passes for the "life" of Frank and April (played with a genuinely awe inspiring realism by Di Caprio and Winslet). As the reality of their desperate life dawns on them...hell breaks loose and runs amok.

Lots of marriages become performances. There is a public "front" that the protagonists play to perfection and then there is the reality of their life together...the two are never more than a hairs breadth apart.

Infidelity.

Love.

Betrayal.

Lies.

Honesty.

Brutality.

Joy.

Laughter.

Love.

Passion.

Lust.

Dishonor.

Violence.

Emotion.

Hurt.

All of these are right there at the heart of "Revolutionary Road" and, oh how sad, they were there at the heart of my own relationship. I could see and hear myself in almost every line from both characters. At times I could see myself as Frank...boorish and brash. At times I could see myself as April...filled with a real, awfully real, desire to break free from the husk of a life I had created.

It's a film I can't "review" without reviewing my own performance as a husband, as a partner, as a "married". That won't help you decide if you want to watch it. It might help me though.

Milk - Cineworld, Edinburgh 25/1/09

The story of Harvey Milk the first, openly, gay politician elected to public office in the USA.

With Kirby Dicks next project, "Outrage", due to expose a number of anti-gay yet gay politicians in office in contemporary America, this film acts as a powerful reminder of how intolerant many people can be over an "issue" which is, at worst, a decision over where one man decides to place his penis or where a woman decides not to place the same!

Milk was an important figure in American politics...he was a barrier breaker and an inspiration to thousands of other gay men at a time when life in the closet was not a choice but a necessity. Here Sean Penn portrays him sensitively and accurately.

To see Milk simply as an important gay figure would be to do him and his legacy a great disservice. He was an inspiration to people of whatever "creed" who feel the oppressive nature of society bearing down on them. Get up, stand up...stand up for your rights.

Josh Brolin also gives an excellent performance as Milks eventual assassin, Dan White...a mass of contradictions and inner-demons. His ultimate decision to shoot Milk is portrayed with incredible tension and delicacy.

It's a cliche but this is an inspirational film. What makes that more impressive is that director Gus Van Sant isn't known for the inspirational nature of his work ("Elephant" and his icy "remake" of "Psycho" being good examples) but here he makes something that while tragic is also uplifting and, at times, very funny. A real triumph.

Love and Honour - Filmhouse, Edinburgh 23/1/09

Yoji Yamada presents us with the story of Mimura, a young samurai who has the less than glamorous life of a "taster" for his master. Each day Mimura and some of his comrades must sample the food prepared in the kitchens to ensure that it has not been poisoned by enemies. One day Mimuras life unravels when, rather than poison, an inadequately prepared piece of seafood leaves him blind. This leaves him devastated, depressed and on the brink of poverty.

To alleviate the financial worries Mimuras beautiful young wife is duped into sleeping with a local politician who promises to help ensure financial aid from his master. What she doesn't know is that that assistance is already promised as thanks for Mimura ensuring that his master did not eat the poisonous fish!

This third in Yamadas samurai trilogy ("Twilight Samurai" and the "Hidden Blade" being the first parts) was equally beautiful. Historical detail and reverence for the story ensure that you are never less than completely involved in the film. It looks marvellous too...costumes and sets are simply stunning.

This is not the samurai of Hollywood but the reality of life for these most complex of warriors and, as such, is much more compelling than any swords and stunts fare served up by the big studios.

The Wrestler - Cineworld, Edinburgh (16.1.09)

It is really tempting to simply say "perfect"and step away from the keyboard.

This is an example of how good film can be.

A central performance from Mickey Rourke that has to be seen to be believed, support from Marisa Tomei that is a career best for her, a story that grabs you, holds you and never lets you go, a screenplay that is full of moments...perfect.

At times this is bleak, bloody and brutal but it never leaves you out on the floor of the ring...it constantly picks you back up, dusts you down and readies you for what comes next.  Emotional punches and physical head knocks come reigning down on "The Ram" (Rourke) but he just keeps on keeping on.

Aronofsky has given us arthouse gems like "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream" but with this he proves himself more than capable of delivering a mainstream hit that doesn't sell out his artistic sensibilities.  The performances he drags from Rourke and Tomei are stunning and if this is a hint at what he can deliver with a bigger budget then we should all be very excited about whatever comes next.

The Spirit - Cineworld, Edinburgh (13.1.09)

Frank Miller directed "Sin City"

Just remember that if you find yourself in a dark room watching "The Spirit"

"Sin City" was good wasn't it?

I mean, it was really flippin' good.

Amazing visuals, great performances, shocks, thrills, spills and all the rest.

Frank Miller..."Sin City" everyone.

Round of applause for Frank and "Sin City"

OK.

You have that in your mind...good.

"The Spirit" was, probably, one of the most distressing experiences I have ever had in a cinema...unless you count that time I tried it on with Jill Rae in the back row of the Odeon in Edinburgh during "Wilde" and getting the knock-back.

Actually, this was more distressing than that.

I hated this film.

By the end of it I wanted to take a rusty meat-hook and drive it through the skulls of everyone involved to ensure that they never, ever, inflict a sequel to this monstrosity on the cinema going public again.

Honestly, you have no idea how bad this was...try to imagine the worst film you have ever seen and then remember that that film was probably so bad that it made you laugh.  This film doesn't even give you that...this film is just bad.

Really bad.

"Sin City" was good though.

Slumdog Millionaire - Cineworld, Edinburgh (11.1.09)

"The feel good movie of the decade"

How anyone involved with this film ever felt that this was the right strapline for the posters to promote it is beyond me.

Here is a film that has poverty, death, mutilation, murder, child poverty, slavery and corrupt police officers...feeling good yet?  Thought not.

That's a small gripe though because here Danny Boyle has managed to deliver his finest film.  After the horrors of "A Life Less Ordinary", "The Beach" and "Millions"...after the hysterical over-reaction to "Trainspotting" (don't believe me?  Go back and watch it now...it's embarrassing) and the false promise of "Sunshine" Boyle has given us a film to match his own reputation.

Jamal (Dev Patel) finds himself competing on Indias version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and with each question more and more of his remarkable life story is unveiled.  It is all utterly unrealistic and fantastical but that's the point...this is not a piece of realist cinema, it is a fantasy and a fable.  As such it works very well.  In amongst the fantasy Boyle manages to remind us that the issues of homelessness, poverty and child slavery are real issues in modern India.

This is a film that manages to do those things that only the best films manage; it will make you smile, feel good, cry, feel ashamed and leave you feeling like you have seen something remarkable.  

The Reader - Cineworld Edinburgh, 6.1.09

I read Bernhard Schlinks novel back in 1995 and thought then that here was a story that could make the move from the page to the silver screen with ease.

Of course what the book didn't have was Ralph Fiennes giving a performance so wooden that you have to keep reminding yourself that this is a live action feature and not a puppet show...actually that might be a great idea for a childrens film,

What saves "The Reader" is the performance of Kate Winslet who is, again, fabulous.  I know it's a bit of a cliche to bang on about how good Winslet is and how awful it is that she hasn't received an Oscar...I know it doesn't make for entertaining reading to hear how good something is...but I have to be honest with you!  Surely that's the least you expect?

When young Michael Berg (David Kross) meets and falls for Hanna Schmitz he has no idea that she hides a dark and unpleasant past that will, eventually, come back to haunt him and scar him in the most terrible of ways.  His pubescent journey of sexual discovery at the hands of this older woman is the stuff of schoolboy fantasy and, at times, it doesn't quite ring true.  

As Hanna's secret is revealed (a Nazi past) the now mature Michael is a law student who is witness to her downfall during a war crimes trial.  It is in these moments that Winslet really delivers...her confused, ignorant Hanna cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of what she stands accused of and her shame will not allow her to save herself.

It's not possible to watch this without remembering Winslets performance in Ricky Gervais' "Extras" where she talks about taking a role in a holocaust movie is a guarantee for an Oscar as is playing someone with learning difficulties...here she hits both birds with the same stone.  Art immitating Art immitating life eh?

As with all films that deal with this era in history there has been much high praise in the mainstream media and while I cannot find fault in Winslets performance or in Daldrys direction this is still a film that never quite manages to be anything other than a sort of Nazi Rainman with sex.