4.0, Europe

This Is England

2007 / Shane Meadows > The biggest problem for This Is England has to do with how often in the stateside it’ll be compared to American History X. The latter was notoriously lacking in dimension, filled with more artificial punches and a biased tweak that did little to explain the foundation of supremacists groups. But Meadows’ latest venture is far cleverer and reverent, utilizing the Falklands War as a backdrop to dissect the rationale behind the sort of fascism that Thatcher’s term brought forth in England. Centralized around a 12 year-old (played brilliantly by newcomer Thomas Turgoose), the film rarely judges and generally lets emotions adjust to the social situations as they are seen fit.

Both character and subplot development are somewhat erratic, but once Stephen Graham enters the screen, much is forgotten. His portrayal of “Combo” is worthy of much praise, and shocks and awes the viewer into being glued to the cinema. In addition to that, This Is England’s multi-layered discussion of racial tensions, class relations and national identity drive the film into being a touching, memorable experience.

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1.5, United States/Canada

Man of the Year

2006 / Barry Levinson > Immense is the level of frustration involved in watching Man of the Year. Levinson drops the balls on a premise that we’ve always joked about, packing it tightly and sweetly at the front and then quickly letting the air out of the bag until there’s nothing left in the bag. It’s a film about problems, but not solutions. It would have been impressive to actually see what a comedian does once he takes the oval office, but here the action is curtailed into an incredulous scenario which does nothing to advance the initial premise. The endgame is one that reads like an amateur parable, filled with one-sided morality and Hollywood cliche. After the wondrous Wag the Dog, this is a truly misguided film that could learn a lesson or two from Warren Beatty’s Bulworth. Skip this, watch Robin Williams: Live on Broadway instead.

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4.5, Southeast Asia

Be with Me

2005 / Eric Khoo > Be with Me is structurally flawed. On a pure fundamental basis, the trio of stories that create the network within the film should each have a similar level of importance and screentime to keep the balance, right? Khoo decides otherwise and starts to increase the focus on a specific one as the film progresses, weaving in a documentary style because, as we find out, one of the characters is actually a real person—Theresa Chan, the Singapore equivalent of “Helen Keller.” This mismatch of fact and fiction is jarring to us because we don’t know whether to take this as entertainment or a life lesson.

The film’s style, with a total of 2.5 minutes of dialogue in its ninety-three minute span, is sparse but elegant. Each shot is gorgeous in its own right, and the transitions are apt and don’t reek of style over substance. The unfolding of each story is judiciously spliced and paced to keep enticing us. The real meat, once it gets rolling into its third and final act, is its open-ended theory on love and loneliness. It’s a thesis of sorts in understanding the have and have-nots, and its true beauty is in the manner in which it translates this fiction into a real-life perspective. It’s heartwarming but strong, quaint and unforgettable.

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3.0, Latin America/Spain

Volver

2006 / Pedro Almodovar > The worst thing about Almodovar most people can say is that he’s got his own unique style—so unique that once you’ve seen a decent amount of his films, you start taking him for granted. With Volver, for once, I’m not taking him for granted, but unfortunately, I’m also not letting him slip by so easily either. The film may be my least favorite in his oeuvre, and although it’s better than the barrage of films the industry puts out, it strains the soul in getting started and then challenges the mind in its plotting audacity.

Talk to Her, my favorite by the director, is gracious in its unfolding of events while Volver continuously hints before spilling the beans with simple dialogue. The twists are nearly predictable and fairly lazy—not what I expect from a masterful storyteller. Thankfully, he’s skilled enough to not make them the cornerstone of the film, but that doesn’t keep Volver’s center of gravity from shifting away ever so slightly so that the characters’ plights suddenly have less meaning, and we lose sight of some of the original dilemmas presented.

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2.5, United States/Canada

Black Snake Moan

2007 / Craig Brewer > The “Black Snake Moan” scene is one of the most memorable this year, but aside from that, the film is a hard nut to crack. Brewer deserves notice for trying something different, but it may just be that he’s wrapped this up in something fancy as to hide the fact that there’s nothing inside at all. Surely, the story seems to unwrap that way, where by the end, nothing much has happened, but there is something almost taunting about the film that keeps you from turning away at times. Ricci is as strong as ever, Jackson is, well, himself and Timberlake, unfortunately, really drops the ball and makes me want to erase him off his scenes. Still, with Hustle & Flow and this under his belt, Brewer might be credited with a little more praise than he deserves, but thankfully his vision remains fresh and undiluted.

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3.0, United States/Canada

Ocean’s Thirteen

2007 / Steven Soderbergh > I had such distaste for the first sequel that I had little initial inclination to see this regardless of positive word of mouth. Thankfully, I let that slide because this is arguably more satisfying overall than even the original, albeit the level of disbelief you must suspend to thoroughly enjoy it is quite inexplicable. The overall show is as sharp and sleek as ever, and the addition of a spicy Ellen Barkin adds a nice bit of spunk on top. Ultimately, the fact that the bottom doesn’t fall out of the plot in the first twenty minutes is a great reason it should survive most attention spans, if not overwhelm them.

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3.5, Europe, Latin America/Spain

28 Weeks Later

2007 / Juan Carlos Fresnadillo > While it lacks the overt philosophical base of its predecessor, it overwhelmingly makes up for it in its incredible, adrenaline-based pacing. Guided by Boyle, Fresnadillo kicks it up a notch with a simpler plotline that becomes more hectic, flashing a surprise or two in the pan as time passes. Only after the film has ended does one realize that the plot was fairly thin, but that’s fine because the experience is bafflingly good. Add to it a maddening score and you’ve got one of the finest, if slightly more intelligent, popcorn films of the year (at least for those who aren’t so afraid of the dark).

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3.0, Hong Kong/China, United States/Canada

TMNT

2007 / Kevin Munroe > Harshly misjudged by critics who never appreciated the original cartoon series in its heyday, TMNT is incredibly beautiful, often funny, sometimes serious and overall enjoyable piece of work. It’s not great cinema, and it doesn’t go beyond its safe zones, but it does what it does well. I simply couldn’t help at times to think that the animation was completely outsourced from Hong Kong, with its production values as good if not better than anything Pixar’s put forth. Obviously, the story remains the key, and while it doesn’t compete with Brad Bird’s output, it ends up having a slightly more mature tone that should satisfy those who have grown with the turtles themselves.

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1.5, Europe, United States/Canada

The Last Legion

2007 / Doug Lefler > As a huge fan of anything related to Ancient Rome, I was very much anticipating The Last Legion and its take on the dying days of the empire. Not shockingly, of course, disappointment rose up and stamped its feet well within the film’s first fifteen minutes. Now, it would be silly to expect an accurate depiction of a period of such mayhem and corruption, but what amazes me is the absolute lack of imagination put forth by the writers here. The only thing they could come up with was to somehow link Julius Caesar to King Arthur, but even that is a weak, fleeting piece of amusement amidst a barrage of cliches and a plot that’s driven by a game of cat and mouse. Moreover, Aishwarya Rai says she’s turned down Hollywood offers where the scripts did not suit her, but this? I imagine since she got a chance to play a hardened female warrior while being held tightly in Colin Firth’s bosom is enough to make up for a forgettable experience.

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2.5, Japan

Sakuran

2007 / Mika Ninagawa > Having been unable to watch more than 10 minutes of Memoirs of a Geisha, I delved into Sakuran with a level of skepticism. But Ninagawa’s depiction of oiran lifestyle is a drastic difference in mood, style and enjoyment. (Of note is that oiran are high-class courtesans while geisha are usually considered entertainers. As it turns out, the rise of geisha led to the eventual decline of oiran culture.) Taking a cue from Marie Antoinette, the film’s best attribute may be its successful mixing in of contemporary pop music within an Edo period setting. Otherwise, the pacing isn’t half-bad, and there’s something magnetic about Anna Tsuchiya’s portrayal of Kiyoha that finds one glued to the screen. The story itself isn’t particularly novel, but as it stands, it’s a fine romantic drama on its own right.

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