2009. Not A Good Start In The World Of Movies...Apart From The One With The Poster...

Wow that movie is superb, it's a real shame that the next best one is a goofball comedy. I am really shocked by the quality of the movies that have opened 2009. I've seen seven movies at the cinema and half of them have been award ones. Lets talk about them shall we?

Valkyrie - Considering this is Bryan Singer, Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and er Eddie Izzard this should have been brilliant. One of the most interesting and tense periods in histroy and a plot to assassinate the greatest evil the world has ever known. Apparently Singer seems to think it's acceptable to produce a trailer which hints at a thriller with lots and lots of tension...and explosions...But what we get is disappointing half drama half documentary film with a preposterous array of English accents. Now The Reader worked with German accented English as has Schindlers List and The Pianist. This film would have worked better as a foreign language film but to attract a bigger audience they went the easy route. It is admirable of Cruise and Singer to attempt to make this film, it's just a shame they forgot to make it good. Cruise isn't bad although his deceiving opening speech in German is a let down as he then immediately goes back to English. In all fairness the opening where Cruise's Stauffenberg loses his eye is probably the best thing about the movie. The recreation of Hitler's bunker is impressive enough and there are some decent scenes involving Stauffenberg and his family but they are too few and far between.

Nighy is awful. Not even sure what he is doing in this. Wilkinson is very good and Izzard scrapes by but the film still lacks a cutting edge and Hitler carries no fear at all. The film has one tense moment when Stauffenberg deploys the bomb but apart from that the film struggles to create any tension as we all know what is going to happen. The last half and hour intrigues but ultimately you feel let down and Cruise saying 'Heil Hitler' is just embarrassing.
Despite moments of quality the film is bogged down by the ridiculous accents, poor acting and the inability to create tension.

The Reader - Winslet and Fiennes are brilliant as is the young Fiennes but this film works better as a book. The emotional impact should be greater and the opening and end sequences are dull and poorly thought out. It's actually a shame because this film has a lot of promise and I would recommend seeing it.

Slumdog Millionaire - I don't want to go on for too long but to be fair this is horribly overrated and should not be the favourite for best movie. Danny Boyle directs this with vigour and really captures the dirt and poverty of Mumbai. He also has a terrific Simon Beaufoy scripted backstory concerning the two young brothers and the girl they befriend. The music is also wonderful with a strong Indian flavor infused with MIA's genius Paper Planes. However the Millionaire story is unexciting and not really that enthralling. Dev Patel from the UK teen TV hit Skins is fine but uninspired and as for the girl? Well she lacks sparkle and their relationship is like brother and sister rather than lovers. It is too long and not really incredibly feel good as all the posters shout out. Watch Little Miss Sunshine if you want feel good. Oh and the ending is the most ill-judged and ridiculous ending I've seen for a long time. The movie's tone goes out the window...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - I really wanted to love this. I tried so hard but it just doesn't work. Fincher created Zodiac, Fight Club, Seven even Panic Room and this feels too light for him. Eric Roth's screenplay contains wonderful lines and themes dealing with death especially the heartbreaking conclusion concerning growing young and losing everyone but it is way too long. Unfortunately Forrest Gump's cliches and schmaltz seeps in at times and Roth's script bounces between great and bloody awful. Blanchett and Pitt impress but Pitt's voice over will kill you in then end, it is up there with the most irritating accents of all time. It also feels disjointed and lacks a killer ending which this film needs.

The Wrestler - Superb. The exception to the rule. Astonishing how Aronofsky recieves nothing for this movie. Astonishing how this film does not receive a nomination for best movie. And I will be astonished and a tad annoyed (putting it mildly!) if Mickey Rourke does not recieve the Oscar which should be a foregone conclusion.

Once more Aronofsky creates a brutally real and honest portrayal of a damaged character. This time it's Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a washed up wrestler who is living in a trailer park. His relationships with his estranged daughter (an excellent Evan Rachel Wood) and a lonely stripper (again a wonderful Marisa tomei) are handled superbly and with real emotion. There is comedy though with some outstandingly brutal but amusing matches in the ring, shot with gusto by the legendary Aronofsky. Add to that one of the best scenes you'll see in cinema with Rourke losing it in a deli and a gut wrenching finale and you have the film of the year so far.
Oh and Springsteen's The Wrestler is a stunning theme song.

Role Models - We move on to a movie seen a long time ago in the USA but here in the UK it came out in early January. PRedictable but still fantastic fun and Seann William Scott still proves that his old Stifler-esque performance will always be legendary in the world of comedy. He shines as does Rudd and Christopher Mintz Plasse proves that Superbad wasn't a one off. Bobb'e J Thompson is also superb as little Ronnie.

He's Just Not that Into You - I've discussed this before. I do not think this movie achieves anything apart from showing the incompetence of Ben Affleck to act. Too long, few moments of genuine comedy and only one story where you can truly connect to the characters and even that is dragged out. Don't watch this movie, you might as well just re watch Love Actually.

Just to finish I'll say that I went and saw Twilight again and I loved it once more. I'm not ashamed and Mr Stein would enjoy it if he gave it a chance. Gorgeous backdrops of Washington's rich forests and brilliant acting putting the whole trio of Harry Potter to shame. Great soundtrack and vampire baseball, that frankly looks awesome! Terrific movie.