ATONEMENT – Dario Marianelli
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A romantic drama based on the acclaimed 2001 novel by Ian McEwan, Joe Wright’s film Atonement is a period drama about lies, regret, and redemption. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy star as Cecilia and Robbie, two young lovers in 1930s England whose blossoming relationship is halted by the intervention of Cecilia’s 13-year-old sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan), who accuses Robbie of a heinous crime – but is he guilty, or simply the victim of a young girl’s fantasy? As a result their two lives diverge: Robbie becomes a soldier, fighting on the beaches of Dunkirk in World War 2, while Cecilia becomes a nurse caring for the sick and injured returning from the trenches. Briony, meanwhile, grows up to become a successful novelist – but is continually haunted by the consequences of her childhood actions. Read more…
THE GOLDEN COMPASS – Alexandre Desplat
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most successful, popular and well-respected children’s fantasy books in history, Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials is a breathtaking, intelligent examination of religion, science and philosophy presented as a fantasy adventure tale, which features a young girl as its protagonist. New Line Cinema’s big-screen version of the first novel, The Golden Compass, is an ambitious attempt to condense Pullman’s expansive vision into box-office gold, and if all goes well will be the first installment of a three-film series. Newcomer Dakota Blue Richards stars as Lyra Belacqua, a young girl in an alternate-reality England, whose best friend Roger is kidnapped by The Magisterium, a mysterious organization allied to the Church, led by the icily evil Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman). Teaming up with a group of ragtag stragglers known as the Gyptians, and Iorek Byrnison (Ian McKellen), the deposed king of the Panserbjørne (a race of intelligent armored polar bears), Lyra journeys to the frozen north of the Arctic to save her friend – but encounters a greater adventure than she could have ever imagined. The film has a stellar cast, including Daniel Craig as Lyra’s adventurer uncle Lord Asriel, Jim Carter and Tom Courtney as the leaders of the Gyptians, Eva Green as the witch queen Serafina Pekkala, and Sam Elliott as the heroic hot air balloon pilot Lee Scoresby, as well as Ian McShane, Kathy Bates, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Christopher Lee and Derek Jacobi in smaller roles. Read more…
ENCHANTED – Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It occurred to me recently that Disney animated movies are entering a second period of decline. The first Golden Age lasted roughly 20 years from 1937 to 1959, and encompassed classics such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. After a lean period through the sixties, seventies and early eighties, the second Golden Age (Silver Age?) began with The Little Mermaid in 1989, and continued on through Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame – and it is probably no coincidence that this was also the time when Alan Menken was the King of the Mouse House’s musical department. Recently, though, their output has been lackluster at best; it’s highly unlikely that The Emperor’s New Groove or Chicken Little will be mentioned in the same breath as their esteemed predecessors. Again, and ignoring the horrible misfire that was Home on the Range, it’s also likely to be no coincidence that Alan Menken has largely been absent from their most recent efforts. Read more…
THE MIST – Mark Isham
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I’m a fan of director Frank Darabont. I like his steady direction, and I like the way he gives the characters in his films time to breathe. His adaptation of the Stephen King story “The Shawshank Redemption” is one of the most beloved films of all time, frequently being mentioned in the same breath as “Casablanca”. Darabont turned to King again for his next film, “The Green Mile”, a moving drama with some good characters. Yet another Stephen King story is the basis for Darabont’s latest film, “The Mist”. Unlike the first two King stories, “The Mist” is not an uplifting drama, but rather a straight-ahead horror story. I knew that the film would have to be different in tone than the first two King adaptations Darabont directed… but this? “The Mist” is absolutely bonkers. Read more…
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING – Adam Gorgoni
Original Review by Clark Douglas:
“Do you think people will still be reading your work in 100 years?” “I wonder whether people will still be reading in 100 years.”
That statement represents the heart of “Starting Out in the Evening”, one of the saddest and most reflective films of 2007. It is being promoted as a must-see piece of Oscar bait (Frank Langella’s performance is getting some attention), it is being promoted as a May-December love story, it is being promoted as an interesting human drama. However, it is not really being promoted as what it is, which is a quiet meditation on writers and the world of literature. There is a sad irony that would suggest that the reason the film is being promoted this way has something to do with the fact that most people simply aren’t interested in literature anymore. Read more…
BEOWULF – Alan Silvestri
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The story of Beowulf is a classic of English literature, and the oldest single surviving work of Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, having been written roughly in the year 900 by an unknown author. It deals with a noble Scandinavian warrior, the Beowulf of the title, who ventures from his homeland to come to the aid of Danish King Hroðgar, whose kingdom is being threatened by repeated attacks from an evil beast named Grendel. This film version of the classic tale has been brought to the screen by director Robert Zemeckis, using the same rotoscoped motion capture technique he used on The Polar Express. The cast of actors providing the movements include Ray Winstone as Beowulf, Crispin Glover as Grendel, Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mother, Anthony Hopkins as King Hroðgar, and Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow. Read more…
MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM – Alexandre Desplat, Aaron Zigman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most gratifying things in any industry is to have the respect of your peers; for Aaron Zigman, working on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium must be one of the most gratifying projects of his career to date. French composer Alexandre Desplat was the composer first hired to work on this film (he was brought in very early in the project to compose some brief thematic material to be performed on-screen). However, when his scoring duties on Lust Caution and The Golden Compass clashed with post-production on this film, Desplat found himself unable to finish the task – so he specifically requested that Aaron Zigman be brought in to work with his themes, and flesh them out into a final score. The finished product is truly magical – a perfect amalgam of the two composer’s styles, which stands as one of the most enjoyable and excellent fantasy scores of 2007. Read more…
FRED CLAUS – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Why are Christmas films always so dark and gloomy? Every year, I find myself asking this same question. Christmas is supposedly a time of cheer and goodwill and warmth and so on, but ever since Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol”, we’ve had holiday stories centered around very unpleasant people who only find redemption and happiness during the final moments. “Fred Claus” is another one of these dour Christmas tales, and one of the least effective ones I have ever seen. The movie is 45% gloom, 45% saccharine Hallmark material, and 10% worldly wisecracking. Not only is this a most unsuccessful mix of ingredients, there’s simply no humor to be found. Read more…
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN – Carter Burwell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I hesitate to write about “No Country for Old Men”, because I fear my words can’t do it justice. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a motion picture. It is a film that is frightening and breathtaking, crafted with enormous levels of skill by two very gifted filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coen Brothers have been making very good and sometimes great films for a couple of decades now, and in the past few years some began to wonder if they had lost their touch. “Intolerable Cruelty” and “The Ladykillers” seemed to be missing the magic that the Coens brought to their films. “No Country for Old Men” brings them back to the front of the battlefield with a mighty vengeance. This is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time, kids. Read more…
AMERICAN GANGSTER – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2007, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is an intense look at the life of 1970s New York drug dealer Frank Lucas, and the determined New Jersey detective who finally brought him to justice. Headlining the cast are heavyweight actors Denzel Washington, who gives Frank Lucas a unnerving sense of gentlemanly charisma crossed with ruthless violence, and Russell Crowe, whose performance as detective Richie Roberts is simultaneously vulnerable and obsessive, almost mirror-imaging Washington’s polite and refined criminal. With a supporting cast that also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante and Carla Gugino, and with the critics hailing it as one of the potential main players as the 2007 Oscars, it is perhaps surprising to see such a high profile film being scored by a relative unknown: Marc Streitenfeld. Read more…
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD – Carter Burwell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
2007 has seemed like a bit of a dismal year at the movies for most of it’s duration, but during the final stretch, masterpieces continue to trickle in. One of the latest is director Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”, a non-linear crime story. If the name Sidney Lumet sounds familiar, it should… he’s been directing high-quality dramatic films for some fifty years now, a remarkable feat. If you’re any kind of movie fan, surely you’ve seen some of his work… “Twelve Angry Men”, “Serpico”, “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Network” are among his achievements. However, his career was generally considered to be coming to a quiet close by many critics, as Lumet turned out decent but generally middling efforts like “Find Me Guilty”. The Academy Awards gave Lumet the Lifetime Achievement Award, speeches were made, and everyone moved on. Read more…
30 DAYS OF NIGHT – Brian Reitzell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An angry, vicious beast of a horror film, 30 Days of Night is a vampire movie with a difference. Based on the popular graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and directed by David Slade, the film stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Mark Boone Junior as inhabitants of a small Alaskan fishing town who, each year, must endure ‘thirty days of night’ when the sun dips below the Arctic horizon and doesn’t re-appear for a month. Usually, life goes on as normal – but during this particular period of perpetual twilight, things go horribly wrong when the town is attacked by a gang of shrieking, brutal vampires led by the mysterious Stranger (Ben Foster) and the ghastly Marlow (Danny Huston), who seem intent on turning a once-peaceful community into a blood-soaked human buffet with an orgy of death and violence. Read more…
THE COMEBACKS – Christopher Lennertz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A comedy that spoofs the inspirational sports movies like Rudy and Miracle, The Comebacks tells the story of an out-of-luck coach named Lambeau Fields (David Koechner), who takes a rag-tag bunch of college misfits and drives them towards the football championships – and, in the process, discovers that he is a winner after all by redeeming himself, and saving his relationship with his family and friends. The film is directed by Tom Brady (no, not the New England Patriots quarterback – although that would have been funny!) and co-stars Carl Weathers, Melora Hardin and Matthew Lawrence. Read more…
GONE BABY GONE – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In the beginning, around the time of Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck was seen to be one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood. He put in a scintillating supporting performance in that film, won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay with his childhood friend Matt Damon, and looked to be well on his way to becoming one of the young leading lights of the film industry. However, while the box office takings remained high, the critical acclaim for Affleck quickly vanished: his unfortunate performances in movies like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil and Gigli made people forget just what a talented individual he really is. It’s interesting that, with Gone Baby Gone, he’s gone some way to getting some of that acclaim back. Read more…
O JERUSALEM – Stephen Endelman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An ambitious, expansive drama about the creation of the modern Israeli nation in 1948, O Jerusalem attempts to condense decades of political turmoil, ethnic tension and social upheaval into a workable feature movie by using it as a backdrop for an allegorical tale of two American friends – one Jewish, one Arab – whose lives are forever altered by the political ramifications of the time. Directed by Elie Chouraqui and starring JJ Field, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ian Holm as Ben Gurion, and Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir, the film somewhat surprisingly slipped below the cinematic radar, despite its talented cast and important subject matter. Read more…
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